2003 Stadium Club - Relic Edition

I was feeling like opening something the other day. I've had this box of 2003 Stadium Club laying around for over a year. It promised me a relic card. The cards are nice and glossy. It seemed like the right time.

Here is the cover. It damn near promises you Pujols relic. And I've never seen a box that says "Relic Edition!" before. This must be some special super duper relic I'm in store for. I know relics are a dime a dozen now, but I have a feeling that this box was a huge deal way back in 2003. I don't know. I wasn't there.

Well, that's not true. I was alive and everything. I just wasn't actively collecting cards.

My point is I have a feeling (wrong probably, but there it is) that this box was pretty cool 7 years ago, and I think it looks pretty cool now. I like Stadium Club. And I can't wait to see my relic.

I'll bet it's a Pujols. I just have that feeling.

Joe Mauer Future Star

Let's start with a few base cards to build the tension. Can't complain about a Mauer card under any circumstances. This one says "Future Star" on it. Those Topps guys really do their homework. I mean, how the hell did they know that?

One card closer to my awesome relic!

Albert Pujols

Now I'm getting giddy. It's almost impossible for me not to pull a Pujols relic now. It's a foregone conclusion. And this card is sweet. Perfect swing. A much better photo than all of the 2009 Topps Pujols cards where he's dragging his sack across the basepath.

We inch a little closer to my spectacular relic pull.

Kaz Ishii

No reason to show this card other than Kaz's face. But that was reason enough.

3 cards closer to the relic!

Paul Konerko's Ass

If Paul ever saw this card he probably had a reaction very similar to President Skroob after Snotty beamed him in Spaceballs.

We are now 1 Paul Konerko's huge ass closer to the relic.

Omar Vizquel Royal Gold

This is the Royal Gold version. These cards came one to a pack. They have gold writing instead of silver and they are twice as thick as the base cards. This is one of only 2 Indians cards I pulled in the whole box, the other being Thome.

I did however pull 4 Jacque Jones's...which sucked. But hey, Pujols doesn't hit a home run every time, am I right?

And we're 4 Jacque Jones cards closer to my Pujols Relic

Alex Rodriguez Beam Team

I don't know what a beam team is. Maybe they have all been beamed up by Snotty? It has some kind of ellipse inspired design for some reason. I don't know. What I do know is that the back of the card reads: "A-Rod's immense talent and charismatic personality make him a pop culture icon to sports fans..."

And we are one "A-Rod's charismatic personality" induced laughing fit that lasted approximately 2 minutes closer to my relic.

Alex Rodriguez Stadium Shots

If it was me, and I was designing the Stadium Shots insert set, I would have done a few things.

1. Bag the ellipses. What the hell's going on with the ellipses?

2. Try to get a shot of a stadium with, you know, people in it. Seriously, this is the best they could do?

We are 1 empty stadium closer to my relic

AND HERE WE ARE!!!!!

Albert Pujols Dual Relic!!

"I knew it! I knew I'd get a Pujols! this is my best Stadium Club pull ever! A dual relic! Can you imagine! What a happy day! What. A. Happy Day!!!"

- is what I would be saying if I had pulled this card instead of downloaded it off Beckett. This joke would have worked better if the Beckett download looked anything at all like my scans.

Whatever

I would have been very happy to pull Pujols, or any number of other good players. But I didn't. I would have been satisfied to just pull any relic at all.

But I didn't.

That's right. My box of 2003 Stadium Club Relic Edition didn't have a damn relic in it. I'm not crazy. It says "1 GAME-USED RELIC CARD in EVERY BOX!" It's right there in all caps. It even has an exclamation point to make sure that you know exactly how awesomely relicy the relic will be. And I didn't even get one.

Heck, I would have taken Sean Burroughs. I wouldn't have been doing cartwheels but at least it would have been something, right? OK, maybe not Sean Burroughs, but you know what I mean.

How can a product advertise 1 stinkin hit and then not even have one in there? Bummer, man. This is a bummer.

So, what was the big hit of the box?

Ed Rogers Photographers Proof 201/299

Ed Rogers? Future Star Ed Rogers? You've got to be shitting me Pvt Pyle!

What a bunch of bullshit.

Well That's Just Great

1. I was just on ESPN and made the mistake of clicking on the comment thread under the article. I spent about 10 minutes reading the comments and now I'm pretty sure I have a brain tumor. Thanks a lot ESPN. Jerks.

2. Here's a great quote from Calcaterra on his blog today: "There's more to life than baseball. Or so I'm told by people I don't truly trust." If you're not reading his blog daily...why aren't you? You really should be.

3. I'd like to start a movement to try to establish "flapjacks" as the prefered nomenclature replacing the much more common "pancakes." Not that there's anything wrong with "pancakes" per say. It's just that...well..."flapjacks" is far superior any way you slice it. Is there a reasonable person who would be opposed to this? Let's make it happen.

Here's one of my cards:

Nice isn't it?

Topps Cereal Box

I was either so excited to open up some 2010 Topps yesterday or so mad that I didn't get any Indians that I had to open up some more. This time I went for one of the cereal boxes that run $10. I like these for one reason. The special Chrome card that is included.

I fully intended to collect them all last year and didn't follow through. This year I like them even better. I intend to get them all this year and now I'm one card closer. I now have 1 card. Since it's the coup-de-gras as it were, I will save that card for last.

J.A. Happ

You might be asking yourself "Self, why did this moron Indians fan scan in a J.A. Happ Base card?" Well, it's because this is the 6'6" flamethrowing jewel of the Phillies farm system that the Indians didn't get in the Clifton Phifer Lee trade. No. Instead we got a 19 year old flame thrower (Knapp) who immediately upon arrival in Cleveland needed surgery on his already injured shoulder.

That's right. Mark Shapiro traded the Cy Young winner (for the second time) for a dude on the DL who needed surgery.

But I'm not bitter. I'm not bitter.

Justin Masterson

Fibally and Indian. I like Masterson. I do. We have a very thin staff this year. Very thin. And Masterson seems like as reliable a pitcher as we're going to see this year. So I like him.

Not as much as Victor Martinez, mind you. But hey. Whatever.

Indians Card!!

Ryan Braun Turkey Red

I got these 2 rules. One is whenever I pull a Turkey Red Card it gets scanned and presented for the admiring world to see. This one is pretty sweet. Ryan Braun. Watch out for this kid. He has potential.

Tim Lincecum

I love this dude. I want to party with him and Phelps, but that's neither here nor there. No, the important thing to remember about Timmy is that he was drafted by the Indians in the 42nd round after his sophmore year. He had a lot of potential but was coming off a bad year. He was demanding a cool $1mil signing bonus.

The Indians refused to meet his demands offering $700k instead. It turns out that MLB was a little pissed and putting pressure on the Indians not to go too far over MLB's stupid-ass makes no sense slotting system. They already had on a couple of picks that year.

Well, Timmy went back to school and the rest is history. If not for the pressure would the Indians caved and given him his mil? I guess we'll never know.

What I do know is that the Indians haven't won the WS since 1948. I also know that a staff of Sabathia, Lee, and Lincecum would have been pretty tough to beat.

Pretty damn tough.

Tommy Boggs 1978 Million card giveaway

This is my first card in the whole giveaway thing that Topps is doing. I didn't know much about Boggs so I looked him up. Tommy Boggs was drafted 2nd overall in 1974. That was the high. The low was his career. There seems to be no way around it...Tommy Boggs sucked.

This is bad news for me if I want to somehow turn Tommy Boggs into Mickey Mantle by trading on the Topps site. But that won't stop me from trying. I'll keep you posted.

Don't hold your breath.

Lou Gehrig Target Gold Chrome

There it is. Pretty sweet if you ask me. I like these even more than last year's version. I might just put some effort into it this time.

Nah, I know I won't. But when I buy any Topps it will probably be in those cereal boxes.

Love these damn shiny Chrome cards.

(Hey! How about posting 2 days in a row!?)

* Oh yeah...I almost forgot. My other rule (which I believe I have occasionally mentioned on here) is that I never go out with girls who say "bitchin".

My First 2010 Cards

Hey, did everyone know that they've already released some of the 2010 products? Yeah, it's true. I have some of the first 2010 Topps that you'll see this sping right here. (OK, I know it's not spring but it sure has seemed like it the last few days.)

I was at the store yesterday after work and I decided to pick up a rack pack of 2010 Topps so I'd have something quick and easy to post today. My goal of posting 3 times a week on average has been put on hold due to unforeseen circumstances. Mainly, my new boss is working me to death.

About a month or so ago we bought a dental practice for my wife. So, now I'm married to the CEO and President of a new corporation. My boss has taken away all of my time off (except Wednesday) and put me to work at the new office. And for no pay! Sunday we are both off and usually doing stuff, so it's tough to find time to post.

Wednesday I'm alone with the real boss. The real boss usually takes a nap in the afternoon leaving me a short window to post something. Instead of doing some of the other far more important or pressing things that need to be done, I play with baseball cards. When my wife comes home after work on Wednesday she asks if I got anything done. I tell her that I sure did, I got a blog post up for the first time in a week. She usually gives me a look that I can't quite decipher. I think the look means "that's OK, you're still awesome!"

And that brings us to todays post. It is very boring and uninspired, but what are you gonna do? It's my first 2010 cards, and it was a disappointment. No Indians.

Here is a small sample:

Ichiro

I'm not sure if we are still using this guy's last name. I scanned this one because I wanted to scan a base card and I got no Indians to show you. Anyone want to guess what Ichiro's OBP was last year? I'd tell you if I knew, but Topps still doesn't think that stat is important enough.

I'm not advocating putting VORP, UZR and that stuff on cards. I don't think the general public is there yet. But no OBP? C'mon Topps. It's 2010, man.

Stephen Drew Turkey Red

I love Turkey Red, and there's worse cards to pull than Stephen Drew, I suppose. I got more excited when I read the back and discovered that Stephen not only "sizzled" last year, but he also "raked" and did a fair amount of "legging" as well.

Christy Mathewson Peak Performance

Isn't this guy dead?

His Peak Performance came in 1908 when he won 37 games for the Giants. Runner up was Mordecai Brown with 29. I have nothing against Christy. She seems like a nice enough gal, but I feel fairly certain that had I been alive back then, I would have been squarely in Mordecai's corner on this one.

"Mind you don't cut yourself Mordecai." (OK, I know that's Buford (the sly one) but they never actually show Mordecai.)

President William Howard Taft History Of The Game

Every president since Taft did it has thrown out at least one first pitch, except Jimmy Carter. This leads me to wonder why Carter never did it.

I think I like Carter a little bit less after knowing that.

Ryne Sandberg Card your Mom Threw Out and Then Topps Made Again Only A Lot Shinier

My mom never threw out Ryno.

She knew better than that.

I like this card all the same. Cool Idea.

Bo Knows Defense Tales Of The Game

Now this is a sweet looking card. Bo in that awesome blue uniform all layed out and making a catch with his hat falling off. Man, what a shot. The only quibble I have is that the play described on the back is obviously not the one featured on the front. What, was this play not good enough?

On a related note, I asked a kid in my office ( I think he was around 8 or so) if he'd ever heard of Bo Jackson.

He had not.

Somewhere along the line I fear we've failed as a society because I'm not that damn old yet.

So there you go. My first 2010 cards

2009 Topps Chrome Part 2

This post is in honor of my triumphant Rose Bowl win. Well, not really my win. All I did was sit on my couch and hope like hell that the Buckeyes didn't get embarrassed again. So I sat there drinking beer and eating junk food and tried to keep my ulcer in check.

On top of it I had the now famous Rose Bowl Bet with Joe Collector. The bet was for a box of cards of the losers choosing. A few days (weeks?) ago my prize (which I had forgotten about) was revealed. I can only assume that all of you were stricken mute (or even catatonic) with jealously due to the fact that none of you even bothered to comment on my awesome prize. (Yeah, but I noticed damn near 40 of you left a comment to get a free set of 2008 Masterpieces.)

2010 Topps Chrome is the prize. Yes, Stusigpi knows what I like. Awesome. I'm not sure if he knew of my love for Chrome from my blog and the numerous questions and advice that I'd asked him about the product, or if he figured that since I was from Ohio I probably liked shiny things. Probably a bit of both.

Well, since you know that Chrome isn't due out for a few months or more, I decided to bust one of the boxes I have left of 2009 Chrome. (Coincidently I bought 3 boxes from Blowout through a sale on I Am Joe Collector).

Here is what transpired:

John Smoltz Base

I wasn't going to scan a base card, until I saw this one. This card just looks awesome with the red background and all. I'm not a fan of Smoltz. Nothing against him. He was great. I just never cared about him much one way or the other.

But this card looks great. So there it is.
Yang Yang WBC

If you think I scanned this card for any reason other than the dude's name is Yang Yang, you haven't read me very much. Not that I'd blame you.

For the record (as if anyone cared about such things as my "record"), I went to high school with a guy named Ken Kenny. I also was in college a few years behind some dude named John John John. I didn't type that wrong. John John John. John cubed for short. I didn't know him personally. But I don't know Yang Yang personally either. That doesn't prevent me from enjoying his name.
Tommy Hanson Auto

I didn't know any of those MmmBop kids played ball. Far out.

(Yes, I'm aware of how lame that joke was. What the hell else am I supposed to say about Tommy Hanson?)
Chen-Chang Lee WBC Blue Refractor 009/199

Not as interesting as Yang Yang. But it is a blue refractor, so that's nice. I'm also excitted that they put the 00 in front of the 9. I don't know why.

I also like that 199 is divisible by 9. That's exciting too.

George Kottaras Auto

This dude is apparently Wakefield's personal catcher or something. Of course that may be completely wrong, but that's how the back of the card makes it sound. I'm not going to look it up. That's George's big claim to fame according to Topps. He can catch a knuckleball without retiring the way some other nameless catcher did.

(let's see if that earlier math thing generates any comments)
Dustin Pedroia Magenta Printing Plate 1/1

Cool. I guess. I was super excited to get a Sizemore printing plate in one of Joe Collector's breaks (it was actually traded to me). I'm still excited to have it. But I have a few of these now and they really aren't that cool. Not sure what the appeal is, other than that they have 1/1 written on them, as if that's a big deal any more.

Still, better than a base card, though.
Howie Kendrick Red Refractor 16/25

Now, this is cool. Almost as cool as if they had called it a scarlet refractor instead of red. Either way it looks awesome. Especially after Topps screwed me out of a Red Refractor redemption in 1009 Finest (or maybe not). I was really excited to pull the red one. Kendrick is not bad either.

His name is Howie. So you know I like that.

Still one box to open and a shiny new 2010 box down the road, the spoils of war. Or at least the spoils of two middle aged white guys with the ability to watch athletic college kids play football on TV.

I thought it was a good box. What do you guys think?

Blog Update!

I'm still alive.

I'll get back to posting shortly. Or longly.

I'm through making promises I obviously can't keep.

Far out, man.