One of a Kind

Derek Holland takes the mound for his fourth start of the season tonight.  He'll be looking to add to the stink that is the A's last 50 games and hopefully spoil their wildcard hopes.

Derek is 1-0, but should be 3-0.  He has 21 IP and has 17 strikeouts and zero walks.  His ERA is 0.86 and his WHIP is 0.95.  Sure, it's a small sample size, but I think Derek was ticked about the Rangers poor season and the fact that he missed out on most of it.

Here's to Derek adding to his impressive totals tonight and giving the Rangers their 5th straight win.

And here's another Derek 1/1 to go with it.

I think that's the White Ice version from 2014 Bowman.

I KNOW it's a one of a kind.

Go Rangers!

Sad

My days as a night shift worker are rapidly coming to a close.  I've been working in my new position for a while now, but until all the other job openings get filled, I've been splitting time between days and nights.

One bad thing about working days is the traffic.  Another bad thing is the fact that I can't do anything with my cards.  I know, I know.  You're all feeling soooooooooooooooo sorry for me.  Poor little PATP can't do the collecting/trading thing at WORK!

You should feel sorry for me, but not just me.  My ability to write the blog has suffered as has my time to mail out packages.  That's a really sad thing for you and your mailbox.

 

This is my locker at work.  It used to be stuffed with cards.  I've been in the process of taking them all home.  Most of what is left in here is part of the stuff to be mailed out.  Some of it is Rangers stuff and some it is just a hodge podge of stuff that needs to be sorted.

I hope to get the writing and trading back on track once the transition is complete.  In the meantime...check me out on Twitter @patpdude.  I might even Tweet something.  

How do I put these in order?

As a rule, baseball cards are easy to put in order.  Card companies put a number on the back and you put them order.  Maybe you have the whole set, maybe it's a team set.  Either way, you just put them in number order and you're done.

Sometimes, you get a few crazy cards just like these.

Sure, they look like normal Ginter minis.  They are not.  They are hiding a dirty little secret.

You see, these minis don't have numbers.  So sad, I just don't know how I'll put these in order without numbers.

Derek Holland doesn't have a number either.

Prince Fielder didn't have a good start with the Rangers and his mini doesn't have a number.

I guess I'll just have to live with these pesky no number minis.  At least I know there are only 49 others out there in baseball card land.

This Joe Mauer mini has a number.  Unfortunately I might add.  I just showed it to complete the package I received from an Ebay seller who had all the no number Rangers.  Joe's happy.  I'm happy.
Everybody's happy.

Laughing all the way to the bank

I think a lot of non-Dodgers fans were blown away by the 7 year, $180 million deal the Dodgers signed with Clayton Kershaw before the season.

After posting (so far) an 18-3 record with and ERA of 1.67, 210 K's to go along with only 27 walks, it's clear the Dodgers are laughing all the way to the bank.  Clayton Kershaw is head and shoulders above the rest of the league.  You can throw out all the names you want, Hernadez, Cueto, Scherzer...list them all and none of them can carry Kershaw's jock.  Not that they'd want to because that's just gross.

As long as Kershaw keeps pitching like this, the Dodgers are getting a bargain.

Speaking of getting a bargain, I got a few from the same seller on Ebay the other day and Kershaw was one of them.

I was buying a couple of cheap Rangers Bowman Platinum parallels when I checked the sellers other items.  I got this 2014 Bowman Platinum Clayton Kershaw gold parallel for a whole quarter.

I got a little carried away and accidentally bought a Cub prospect while I was at it, but I also ended up with a purple Rougned Odor and a purple Jorge Alfaro.  A quarter each so not to bad.

I have hopes of putting together the ugly 1970 Topps set someday because that's my birth year.  I bought a little well-loved star power towards that goal.  These 6 gems set me back a whole 99 cents.

I was just about finished shopping when I spotted this 1963 Post Don Drysdale.  I thought it was fitting to start and finish with a great Dodgers pitcher so this was perfect.  The cost?  If you guessed a quarter, you were correct.  That's a grand total of $2.24 for a great little lot of cards.

Like the Dodgers, I got a good value.  Unlike the Dodgers, my team won't be in the playoffs.

Signs of the apocalypse

A card section with three 2014 Topps Blaster and two types of Panini crap.

They are on the bottom right, third row from the bottom. The rest is at stocked to to hilt with untouched gaming and Pokemon drivel.

Yuck.

Hi Yo Silver...

I recently joined in one of the case breaks over at Layton Sports Cards before the National.  One of the reasons I did so was to get some of the silver Panini packs that Rich was giving away in conjunction with the breaks.

That’s right.  I just used the word conjunction.

After the National, I think Rich got overwhelmed with all the stuff he had to mail out and my one little silver pack slipped through the cracks.  I notified him via Twitter (yes, I’m on Twitter @patpdude) and he responded almost immediately.  I have to say his customer service is top notch.  This morning, I found a package from Rich in my in-box.

I know you can count and that’s more than one silver pack.  Rich sent me five silver packs and I truly appreciate it.

 

As you might recall, the National was in Cleveland so the silver packs are loaded with Cleveland Browns. 

You can’t complain when you pull a Jim Brown card.  How about Johnny Manziel?  I’m not interested, but maybe someone else is. Five packs equals ten cards.  With four Browns, that leaves 6 other cards.  

Unfortunately no baseball players showed up. 

I got one numbered card.  I’ve never heard of Joel Embiid of the 76ers, but I’ve got card #406/499.  The other basketball players were John Wall and The Admiral, David Robinson. 

I also pulled three non-Cleveland football players.  Jeremy Hill, Logan Thomas and Mike Evans.  

I’m not collecting any of these so feel free to let me know if you’re interested in any of these.  I think Logan Thomas may be headed to Wes over at Jaybarkerfan. 

Many thanks to Rich Layton for the packs.  

Now We're Cookin'

The Rangers are 53-84.  They have 25 games left and need to go 10-15 to avoid the dreaded 100 loss season.  I know there is only a one game difference between 99 losses and 100 losses, but that's BIG game. No one wants to look back on their career or their favorite teams history and see triple digits in the loss column.

Hopefully the Rangers will get at least 10 more wins and spoil some other teams' seasons in the process.

The good news is that the one and only Dutch Oven, Derek Holland, will be making his first start of the season tonight.  I know, I know, it's very late in the season, but better late than never.  Unlike Yu Darvish wrapping it up for the year (which I am completely on board with), Derek has something to prove to himself.

He must be like a racehorse in the starting gate, barely containing the energy and excitement of finally getting back on the hill.  No matter how the game goes tonight, it will be a win for the Rangers just knowing that Derek Holland is back.

I wish Derek all the best in his 2014 Debut.  Seeing as how his appearance will set a new Major League record of 60 players used in a season, I think a nice 1/1 Derek Holland card will be a nice way to show my favorite Rangers player.  

A shiny recap

I recently posted the good (to me) news about finding some 2014 Topps Chrome.  Oh sure, I lamented the fact that I had planned on saving my money, but who was I kidding?  Topps Chrome is probably my favorite set after Ginter.  In fact, I like shiny so much, I'd forego Flagship before I'd give up Chrome.

Wait, don't unsubscribe just because I'm addicted to shiny stuff.   We all have our weaknesses.

I'll show you the Value Pack and the Blaster and you can tell me which was the better "Value".

I showed off the "Bonus" Pack of Orange refractors from the Value Pack, but considering I got Masahiro Tanaka and Mike Trout, I thought I'd show them again.

The Value Packs come with three regular packs as usual.  Pack 1 was National-centric with a Carlos Gonazlez Chrome Connectors Die-Cut insert, which come 1:12 packs.  With only 4 cards, any insert has to be considered a win.

Pack two was all A.L.  No Rangers of course and all kinds of Sox.

Pack three gave up another Red Sox player, this time a David Ortiz X-Fractor.  You might get a refractor, you might get an X-fractor, but don't count on getting any color in retail.  Here are the odds for the various refractors:

Refractor--1:3 packs
X-fractor--1:6 packs
Blue (#/199)--1:40 packs
Black (#100)--1:80 packs
Sepia (#/75)--1:105 packs
Gold (#/50)--1:160 packs
Red (#/25)--1:320

If you like color like I do...good luck!  I know it  can be pulled because I've seen it.

This is the back of the David Ortiz X-fractor.  It doesn't say X-fractor on the back, but it does say "REFRACTOR".  Do you see it?

Maybe this will help.

That's it for the Value Pack.  One Chrome Connections insert, one X-fractor and no Rangers.  Oh yea, the Orange Tanaka and Trout are nice.

Let's move on to the Blaster.  

Pack 1 already wins with a Ranger, even if it is Alex Rios.  Nothing personal, but I don't know if he'll be here next season.  I also got my first regular refractor, Wilmer Flores.

Pack 2 gives up a Chrome Connections Die-Cut of former Ranger, Chris Davis.  I get a pair of catchers from New York too.

Hey now, another catcher it's 1st baseman Joe Mauer. And three other base cards.  Yes, yes, I know it's Oscar Taveras.  ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

How about another regular refractor?  It's a Pirate this time so like the first one, it's not getting me too excited.  Hey look I got a er...arru...Dodger shortstop too!

Man, that is a lot of black and orange.  A pair of Joneseseseseses...and Hunter.  At least I got an X-fractor too.  I'm sure there must be an O's fan out there somewhere who could appreciate this one.

PUIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!  It doesn't have the same ring as it did last year.

Pack 7 yields another refractor, this time from the Evil Empire.  Double meh.

Can you say "Bonus pack"!?  Can you use lot's of exclamation points when you do!?!!!!!!?!!!!!!?  My bonus pack had a Fowler chasing an Oriole and a Medical Homer.  I know that's a stretch, but it's 5 in the morning and I'm tired.

I didn't get any hard to get shiny colored refractors, but I still like Chrome.

Sue me*.

*No don't.  It's just an expression.