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. 

Gypsy Queen Needs from Zistle

A quick little zistle trade chipping away at 2015 Gypsy Queen. This trade check two short prints off the list, I absolutely love that Johnny Bench, I almost always want in-game actiony photos, but there is something about the laid back feel of this card I love.

First Taste of 2016 Topps

This post started out much longer, but there is really nothing new here, just some of my thoughts on 2016 Flagship, so I cut it down to the basics. My first and so-far only 2016 Rockies card, Chad Bettis. After going through the blaster I really like the design, I like the lack of a defined border, I like the hat logo instead of the primary team logo (CR vs. mountains for the Rockies). I like the foggy corners.

Casper the Friendly One-Card-Mailday

If you followed my Justcommons posts, there was mention of the one card that I actually wanted and was out of stock. This is the card. Nolan Arenado 2010 Topps Pro Debut with the Casper Ghosts. When I think of the Casper Ghosts, I think of the glow in the dark hats more than the prospects that went through. Sadly the awesomely named Casper Ghosts moved to Grand Junction in 2012 and become the boringly named Grand Junction Rockies.

Just Commons, The Rest and Some Thoughts

After showing off the catchers portion of my first JustCommons order, here is the rest. The Weiss above is by far the best looking card so it gets top spot. The one card I really wanted was in my cart, but I was informed after my order was processed that it was out of stock. I was refunded the amount for this card, and a few others they didn't have, but if I wish I had known that before my order was finalized. I found the cart system the used to be really lacking, leading me order cards they didn't have in stock and ordering 2 of a couple cards that I only needed one of.

Spoiling Myself, Bobby Orr Style

I recently ended up with a nice little bit of cash in my Paypal after doing some custom graphic design work, and instead of doing something responsible, or even saving it for the two boxes of 2016 Gypsy Queen I will inevitably buy, I sent out to spend it on cards I normally couldn't afford. Above was the first purchase and the one I wanted the most. I opened a few packs of Masterpeices when it came out and really liked it, and have always wanted an on-card auto of Bobby Orr, or Saint Robert as he is know in this house, so this was high on my list of "someday, maybe, I might own one of these" cards. It's absolutely gorgeous and is currently, and will be for a long time, displayed most prominently off all the cards in my collection.

Acetate Appreciation: 2015 Topps Strata

A fairly new release for the Acetate Apprec series featuring an autograph of the only Rockies player in the set, DJ LeMahieu. Why Topps chose DJ over Nolan Arenado or Cargo I have no idea, but here it is, probably the cheapest auto in the set, so at least it was easy on the wallet for an all autograph set. As you can see by the scan there is not much use of the clear part, just the auto basically. Not a bad card design, but what really bugs me is the clear area is in such a noticeable box, it really takes away from the card. I know Strata is more about the Shadowbox cards, which I have yet to get one of, but I feel Topps really could have done something better here with the base or regular autos.

Just Commons, Just Catchers

Justcommons.com is hardly a new thing, but I finally had enough cards to dive in and make an order. I ended up with 63 cards and will summarize what I thought of the site in my last post, the first few will just be shown off what I picked up. I don't know how many catcher collectors there are out there, but this post is for them. One of my first Justcommons quests was to finish the 1998 Collectors Choice "Masked Marauders" subset. They didn't have the Piazza, but had the rest I needed. Some nice late 90's painted goalie style masks, the most famous probably being Charlie O'Brien, and Sandy Alomar with a sweet Chief Wahoo painjob.

LCS Trip with a Nice Pull

The standard LCS trip for one-touches and a sampling of packs, spreading it around to a couple sports, a jumbo pack of Bowman Draft, a couple packs of Upper Deck Full Forse Hockey and some Panini Complete Basketball.

Black Friday (The Rest, Finally)

I know these are pretty late, but a few cards I wanted to show off before putting away. I might have to stop trying to convince myself I don't like relic cards as my favorite pick-ups were a 30 year old sock card, a couple tie-dyes and this quad relic of Paul Lo Duca. As far as I can find this is the last of the 4 mask cards made that I needed to go along with the Johnny Estrada, Ivan Rodriguez and John Buck.