A Very Donruss-y Trade

I don't buy much Donruss (or Panini) but it does make it to my wantlists from some weird part of me that misses junk wax and middle names on backs of cards, so here are two need additions to the Nolan James Arenado collection.

Gyspy Queen Pick-ups with Some 1/1 Action

I'm getting really bad at not scanning and posting thing, so I am making a point of getting back to it, starting with a compilation of recent Gypsy Queen additions. I am pretty excited about the above card, a Charlie Blackmon 1/1 Framed Black from this years GQ. I got this for $11 plus shipping probably due to the auction being listed with an un-descriptive title. I think this is only my second "true" 1/1 as I don't really count printing plates.

My First "Too Many" Trade

A long overdue post with a trade from Too Many Manningham/Verlanders, he already posted his side here and here and I am finally getting around to posted what came my way. The coolest card is above, a Topps Stars 'n Steel of Dante Bichette, I have never seen these before, really cool card printed on metal stock. 

Recent Rockies Additions

Another "clean out the scan folder" post loaded up with Rockies that I have picked up over the last who know how long. Starting with my favorite of the bunch, David Dahl. One thing Bowman Platinum did right is parallels. Not just different color borders, but changing the whole background, and the camo parallels are the nicest of the bunch. Topps is lacking big-time in this, while Panini is doing it fairly well in the Prizm line.

Another Subjective Trade

I still have no idea who Kennys Vargas is. After posting my Gypsy Queen box break including an autograph of Mr. Vargas, I noticed a comment by Brian from "Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary" saying Vargas was his favorite Twin and he had the power of two regular guys called Kenny and he wanted to trade for the card. Once I realized he was being serious, a trade was born. Starting with some Gypsy Queen for my set, including two short prints and Wilin Rosario that as far as I can tell is the only card in set featuring catcher gear.

Zistle Trade #30

After being fairly quiet for a while, the trade winds are blowing again, starting with this package from kesslerm through zistle.com. Starting off with a couple nice horizontal shots, a great double dip from Jason Bates and one of my favorite inserts from the last few years with a CarGo chase it down.

Heavy Metal Mainiac

A Recent addition from the bay, a Wilin Rosario framed metal card from 2013 Museum Collection. I usually don't bother with the budget-breaking high end stuff, but I will make an exception the odd time, and if I can get my hands on one of these for a reasonable price, I will jump at it. These are super thick metal framed and really need to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. For all the things that Topps does wrong, this is an example of something that they do right.

Rockies from Japan

A sort of odd ball mail-day with some Rockies cards from the Japanese Sega Card-Gen set. These cards show up on the bay from time to time so they are not really that rare, but still pretty different. The Helton and Rosario are from the 2013 set and the Belisle is from the 2012 edition. I believe these are used in an arcade game, but most of the info is in Japanese so I'm not sure the details. Most of the text on the card backs is in Japanese other than a few lines, one of which has Rosario as a "Strong Plate Blocker" and Belisle as a "Dependable Relief Workhorse".

2013 Orange Rockies Catchers

Another installment of 2013 Topps flagship parallels. This time it's the orange border from the Factory Set, numbered out of 230. These are challenging the pink borders for the ugliest version of flagship, and look even worse with the Rockies purple in the design. This brings me up to 12 different versions of the 2013 Ramon Hernandez and a pink parallel should be making it's way here via the COMC mailbox service to complete the rainbow.

2013 Topps Series 2: Just the Catchers

Something I have been meaning to do for a while is to break down just the catcher cards from sets, it's something I do anyway, I am just taking the time to post it now. I am leaving out cards of catchers batting, so no Evan Gattis, just cards that might land in the catcher binder. Starting off with John Buck, Buck is the only catcher allowed to custom paint his mask. This card does a poor job of showing it, a major disappointment for me considering how awesome his 2011 Topps card was.

Trade with Dutch Card Guy

Everyone's favorite European baseball card blogger recent posted his side of our trade and after getting the post today here it's my turn. Upon opening the package I got thinking that American baseball cards coming from the Netherlands to Canada, these cards might have had a more adventurous life than I have. Starting off with an autograph of Greg Smith who was traded with Carlos Gonzalez among others from the Diamondbacks to the A's for Dan Haren, then traded with Cargo and Huston Street to Colorado for Matt Holliday. Smith went 1-2 with the Rockies in 2010 posting a 6.23 ERA, but probably provided more value with the bat, going 4-13 with 2 doubles, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. Smith recently signed with the Phillies and is pitching in Double-A. The trade came to be based on 2013 Gypsy Queen, in return for a stack of minis, Jeroen sent me 19 base cards, leaving me 13 short of the base set. (Want/Trade list here if you can help me out).

A Heroic 2 x 3 Trade

A trade with 2 x 3 heros with some really nice stuff coming by way. First off a 1994 O-Pee-Chee Walt Weiss, I have never seen a '94 OPC before and this one of the new Rockies manager is a pretty nice addition. The floating heads card is the only Rockies card of Giovanni Carrara and was one of my most needed cards. The Rafael Betancourt is my first and checks off another Rockies from the list along with some always appreciated Rockies catchers and an old favorite in Darren Holmes. Finished off by some Rockies mini's, some catchers from 2012 Topps and a couple of the 1971 style Archives from this year. Thanks for the great trade!

Eutaw Street Cardboard Mailday

Just a quick post showing of some finds from the Eutaw Street Cardboard "Selling out for the National" sale he did.It's not a secret that I love Gypsy Queen so I jumped on the chance to add a new black and green mini, the black minis are my favorite cards from 2012 so far by a long ways. Also got a couple Rockies catchers, who doesn't love Jayhawk Owens,  and a former Rockies catcher in Blanco, one of my favorite cards of 2011 looking really good as a red bordered D-Backs card, and a couple young Rockies pitching prospects in Tago and Matzek. The Cal Ripken leaves me 45 cards short of the 1992 Pinnacle Series 1 set.