by Matt | Aug 3, 2012 | Baseball
Thanks to a quick trade with Sam last week, I’ve knocked out the Red Sox base cards and SPs from this years Allen & Ginter. I’ve mentioned before my thoughts on 2011 vs 2012, but I really do like these. I think this is probably one of the strongest Ginter designs that I’ve personally collected.
Anyway, Sam hooked me up with two of the short prints, the “What’s in a Name” inserts and all the minis seen below, which was a huge help. Now there’s only a couple of WiN cards left to chase.

That’s a nice looking set right there. That’s in “binder position” as well.


Next, the SPs and the What’s In a Name.

Finally, the mini’s.
There’s a total of 6 Red Sox “What’s in a Name” cards, so I have 4 left to find, plus the “Highlights Sketch” of Fisk as well. Here’s what I’m still looking for…
BH-19 Carlton Fisk – Baseball Sketch
WIN13 Carl Crawford – What’s in a Name
WIN47 Jacoby Ellsbury – What’s in a Name
WIN64 David Ortiz – What’s in a Name
WIN70 Jonathan Lester – What’s in a Name
If anyone has any of those, I’d be very interested in them.
Edit: Found the WiN cards. Still need the Fisk Sketch card!
by Matt | Aug 1, 2012 | Aggravation
So, as you know (from my post a couple weeks ago), I recently cut off my TV service. I’ve been watching the Olympics coverage with a set of OTA “bunny ears”, which brings in the local NBC station. Last night we were busy and I missed Team USA winning both the swimming relay, giving Phelps the record for most gold ever, and the Women’s Gymnastics final, in which Team USA won Gold for the first time since 1996.
I figured I’d watch them online this morning and catch up on coverage. Nope.

Followed by…

Followed by…

What the fuck? I’m sorry, that is complete and utter bullshit. NBC locked the coverage of the events themselves behind “Olympics Live EXTRA” and you have to have a cable subscription to see it. EXTRA? No you dumb fucks, “extra” is something above and beyond what you’re expected to provide. The coverage of the event, what you show on TV, even OTA, is what you’re EXPECTED to provide. It’s not “extra” to assume I can watch it again later. And, for the record, my old cable subscription didn’t have CNBC anyway, so even if I was still paying for it, you wouldn’t let me in anyway? How messed up is that?
You know what… no, no we’re not playing this game. You’re a corrupt, bullshit system. One I removed myself from on price as well as principle. Fuck you and the horse you road in on. Eat this…

That is all.
by Matt | Jul 26, 2012 | Baseball
I have a not-so-secret secret. I love Bowman Platinum. In hand they are absolutely awesome. Right up there with Pristine and Finest. They’re shiny, and chromed, and just plain neat looking. Yesterday was the actual street-date, but I picked these up on Monday since my Target seems to not give two flips about street-dates in general. I bought a blaster and a rack pack. Scans after the break.
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by Matt | Jul 23, 2012 | Baseball
I’m just going to post this right up front…

Normally, I would be posting my various goodies from a recent group break but I think this is a far more interesting topic for discussion. Plus, you don’t really want to see any more Opening Day and Topps Unique anyway. I can tell.
I need to say, right off the bat, that I think Kyle is even more upset about this than I am, and that things like this simply happen, and that it’s no one’s fault, and certainly not his. Kyle hosts some of the best group breaks around, and I’m extremely happy to have been and, going forward, continuing to be a part of them. He always opens great stuff and is just an all around great guy. When he opened this last week, I know his heart sank when he saw it. He deserves major kudos for contacting me personally and trying to make it right, even though there was no need to on his part.
So, the question is, what to do about it? I’ve reached out to Topps via email, and on Twitter, and haven’t heard back yet. I’ve heard that in the past they’ve made good on missing swatches and patches and at least offered something in return. The problem with this one might be that it’s a product from 2009. I can’t see them giving me a 2012 product for it, and I doubt they have any of these just sitting around.
Has anyone ever has Topps replace a card, or offer a different card in exchange for something? If so, who did you contact, and how did it get resolved?
And, as a follow up, if Topps won’t do anything, what should I do with it? Is it completely worthless, or does the limited (49/50) printing hold at least a tiny bit of residual value, perhaps to a big Thome or Indians fan?
Thoughts?
Oh, and in case you want a close up view of fabric adhesive, click to enlarge…

by Matt | Jul 20, 2012 | Baseball, Personal
No, not that kind of size guide, get your minds out of the gutter, geez. lol.
This post has actually been a long time coming. It’s something that’s annoyed me quite a bit in the past and, while I’m sure it’s old news to most of you, I thought a handy guide couldn’t hurt.
I’m talking about CARD sizes, specifically thickness. The sizes provided by most binder page, magnetic holder, top loader manufactures make absolutely no “real world” sense. For example, there isn’t such a thing as “180pt” card stock. If you go to a printer and ask for that, perhaps to make your own cards, they’ll look at you like you’re an alien. Even the unit of measure, “points”, isn’t really the correct term. Most of the printing industry uses “pounds” to express paper thickness. Even then there’s a difference between “Bond lbs.”, “Offset Lbs.” and “Cover lbs”. It really depends on what you’re printing.
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