Stru-ggl-ing

Man, it's been a tough ride around here lately.

You may have seen the news about the D.A. and his wife that were killed in their home by a former Justice of the Peace down here in Texas.  Well, that happened about a 1/2 mile from my house on a street I drive down EVERY day.  It's a small community where crime is virtually non-existent so it came as a great shock.  Initially, when the people who committed the crime were unknown, it was quite stressfull to be working nights while my wife was home with the kids.  I was worried about them every night. 

Stack on that the death of two family members AND the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas and I've had my fill of tragedy.  I don't know anyone in West, but we stop there every time we go to Austin which is pretty frequently.  It's a great midpoint stop for restroom breaks and they have the regionally famous Czech Bakery which has loads of great food. 

I'm not slighting the Boston Marathon tragedy, but I didn't know anyone involved in that and it didn't happen in my backyard.  Still, it was a sad day for all of us. 

I've got a backlog of trade packages that need posting and a major stack of packages that need to go out.  I haven't forgotten you guys/gals and I promise to be working on these slowly, but surely.  Thanks for your patience!

I've been reading along even though I'm not commenting much.  Baseball cards and baseball in general hasn't been front of mind lately, but they still make a great distraction from real life and that has been a blessing.  Thanks to all of you who have sent me cards recently or in the past.  It's a moment of joy to open those packages. 

Back soon.

Still Here

Sorry for the absence.  We've had a couple of deaths in the family and I'll be back to normal posting soon I hope. 

I know I owe a number of you a package or prize and I'll get those out as soon as I can.

Thanks.

These packs are supposed to have 6 cards Topps!!!!

It says so right on the pack. 

6 cards*.

Packs of Gypsy Queen are supposed to have 6 cards*.

Mine only had two.

The first one was this Aroldis Chapman mini.  Not an SP or anything!

The only other card in the pack was this one.

 (Someone needs to clean his scanner)

Holy patches Batman.  That is one thick card.  It's an Austin Jackson mini patch relic.  I guess that's the black version, even though the mini isn't black.  These are inserted 1:3697 packs. 

It's hard to see, but in the upper right corner, under the word Queen, it's #6/10.  Now that's a nice retail hit. 

Even if it is Austin Jackson. 

That must be what the * means.  Packs can contain between 1 and 5 fewer cards than stated on the pack.  I wish all my packs only had two cards. 

This came in what is my final GQ purchase of the year, which was the third value pack from the ones I posted last night.  I'm saving my pennies for Ginter now. 

A GQ Live Blogging Event: Rangers vs Angels Round 2 bonus pack

No Rangers yet again. Cards, Reds and Royals, oh my.

I'm going to get a 1 hour nap in before work. I'll save the other value pack for later.

A GQ Live Blogging Event: Rangers vs Angels Round 2 pack 3

Another nice black bordered mini. I'll reveal it this time. It's Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies. Two black bordered minis in two value packs is beating the odds in a big way.

A GQ Live Blogging Event: Rangers vs Angels Round 2 pack 2

Cardinals and Yankees. Double puke pack. Gross.

Nothing personal if those are your favorite teams.

A GQ Live Blogging Event: Rangers vs Angels Round 2

Captain Canuck isn't going to be happy about this. I pulled some spare Mets mini and a sweet Collisions at the Plate Brian McCann. Way to go me! The fact that he's tagging out Mark Teixeira makes it even better.

A GQ Live Blogging Event: Rangers vs Angels bonus pack

Three white framed bonus cards. No Rangers. Meh.

Mets, Indians and Braves fans rejoice. I've pulled zero white frames Rangers. I'll have a list soon of white framed cards that are available.

A GQ Live Blogging Event: Rangers vs Angels pack 3

A couple of SPs. Not to shabby. The white borders are next.

A GQ Live Blogging Event: Rangers vs Angels pack 2

Nothing special here. A Brewer mini and some dude named Verlander. Couldn't even beat the sorry Yankees today.

A GQ Live Blogging Event: Rangers vs Angels

I bought three more GQ Value packs and lets bust em live during the Rangers game.

Pack 1 gave up a goody. A Glove Stories Insert, a Dealing Aces insert and a black bordered mini. Sweet.

Any guesses who it is??

April Contest Winner

Five people got the right Collision at the Plate. 

Two people got the right autograph. 

One of those people got them both right.  Showoff.

Sweet Johnny Bench play at the plate.  That one is great.  My only complaint about these cards is that the back doesn't have a write-up of the play on the front.  That's ok, it gives me something to do in my free time. (Ha.)

P-Town Tom, Kirk Jacobsen, irondequoit36, Rod and Cynicalbuddha picked Bench.

The auto was Darin Ruf.  Umm...uhhh...yea.   Ok.  I'm not going to complain about pulling an auto from retail.  That said, I don't have the whole list of autos in front of me, but I'll bet I would have been happier with ANY other one. 

jamicfin picked Ruf and so did irondequoit36.  You'll notice irondequoit36 made both picks correctly.  That's some good picking. 

I randomized everyone 3 times at Random.org and here is your winner.

Congrats to jamicfin!  Let me know if you prefer a gift card from Target or Walmart. 

Thanks to everyone for playing along. 

The April Contest: Better Late than Never

I wasn't foolin' you when I said I'd have the April Contest up yesterday.  I had every intention of getting it posted and then I ended up fighting with a vacuum cleaner for an hour and a half.  I had to disassemble the thing to get a clog out of the hose only to find someone (couldn't have been me, could it?) had sucked up some type of small stick. Of course it was wedged in there and all the dog hair was making quite a plug.  Gross. 

Did I really just type all that?  Just skip that part. 

As I mentioned yesterday, I opened two GQ blasters and a couple of the value packs.  One of the value packs gave up an auto and I got two of the best inserts of all time from the blasters. 

I'm talking about the Collisions at the Plate inserts.

I pulled this Salvador Perez CATP card.  Sweet! 

NOW FOR THE CONTEST! 

You get two chances to win.  First, guess the second Collisions at the Plate card I pulled.  Here is a list of those cards so you don't have to go look it up yourself. 

CP-BM Brian McCann

CP-BP Buster Posey
CP-CF Carlton Fisk
CP-CR Carlos Ruiz
CP-GC Gary Carter
CP-JB Johnny Bench
CP-MM Miguel Montero
CP-SP Salvador Perez
CP-WR Wilin Rosario
CP-YM Yadier Molina

Second, leave a comment with your guess for which auto I pulled. Here is a list of the autos from this year's GQ.(I took the liberty of removing a few of the autographs to improve your chances.  I'm swell like that.)

Autograph Set Checklist
GQA-AR Anthony Rizzo
GQA-BH Brock Holt
GQA-BHA Bryce Harper
GQA-BJ Brett Jackson
GQA-CR Carlos Ruiz
GQA-CRJ Cal Ripken Jr.
GQA-DR Darin Ruf
GQA-DS Dave Stewart
GQA-FF Freddie Freeman
GQA-GR Garrett Richards
GQA-JA Jim Abbott
GQA-JB Jose Bautista
GQA-JK John Kruk
GQA-JM Jesus Montero
GQA-JP Jurickson Profar
GQA-JR Josh Rutledge
GQA-JS Jean Segura
GQA-JSH James Shields
GQA-JU Justin Upton
GQA-JZ Jordan Zimmermann
GQA-MT Mark Trumbo
GQA-MTR Mike Trout
GQA-NC Nelson Cruz
GQA-NM Nick Maronde
GQA-NR Nolan Ryan
GQA-TF Todd Frazier
GQA-TG Tony Gwynn
'GQA-WM Wade Miley
GQA-WMA Willie Mays
GQA-WP Wily Peralta
GQA-YC Yoenis Cespedes
GQA-YG Yovani Gallardo
GQA-YGR Yasmani Grandal
GQA-ZC Zack Cozart

If you guess the right Collision at the Plate card, you get one entry in the randomizer.  If you correclty guess the auto, you'll get two entries in the randomizer.  If no one guesses either one, you'll all get randomized together. 

The prize will be a $10 gift card to Wal-Mart or Target (winner's choice) or a prize of similar value if you don't live near one of those stores. 

Good luck!

2013 Gypsy Queen SPs really are SPs

Yesterday I bought two more value packs and two blasters of Gypsy Queen.  I know, I have a problem. 

I got an auto out of one of the value packs and a jersey mini relic out of one of the blasters. 

I got ZERO base SPs out of the blasters.  ZERO.

They are seeded 1:4 packs so I should have gotten two SPs in each blaster, but I got ZERO. 

Did I mention I got ZERO SPs in my two blasters. 

Good luck set builders.

(I'm not April Foolin' either)

Check back later for the April Contest.