Who has time to blog?

Here is what I've been spending my spare time doing.  

So far I've sorted through nearly 3 full boxes and have this one and half another one that are going out to the following people:

Baseball Dad

Once a Cub

Captain Canuck

Caitlyn

Cynical Buddha

Angels in Order

$30 a Week

Capt Kirk

Brady Umfleet

DGAO

Bob Walk the Plank

Night Owl

Nachos Grande

Need More Cardboard

Mark Hoyle

AdamE

Junior Junkie

Cards on Cards

Tony L

Bigbern28

Hiflew

Mark Aubrey

Chuck Bertz

Ryan G

Most of these people asked for cards when I posted the contents of the four 5000 count boxes I bought from my friend.  A couple of them didn't ask for anything, but I'm digging for them anyway.  I still have one whole box to go through, but I'm guessing I'll end up with somewhere around 8000-10,000 cards to send out.  That's going to take a bit of $$ so I'll send them out a couple at a time.  I'll let you know when I've finished sorting.  I have a job interview on the horizon so my blogging/card time is limited right now. 

Have a great weekend.   

Feeling Lucky?

One of the best contests of the year is back and you can enter over at Autographed Cards.  I can tell you from experience, the prizes are fantastic!

Go get entered!

From troubled waters to silky smooth

The last two weeks have been crazy.  My wife was involved in a wreck that may have totaled our car (I find out this morning).  The wreck wasn't her fault and she has had pretty significant back and neck pain which is getting worse, not better.

Things at work may be changing soon.  I'm sure you're holding your breath so I'll let you know when I find out.

The unknown with my wife, my car and work is stressing me somewhat.

I thought I'd find comfort in some silk.

Silky Jurickson came via Ebay.

Silky Elvis came via my buddies over at Community Gum.

The cards aren't making me feel any better.  Yet.

Maybe when all the uncertainty is over, I can appreciate them more.

Thank you

For all who served and didn't come home...

and all who still stand watch around the world.

Thank you.

A Familiar Face

You see it all the time.  An image of a baseball player that is used on different cards from different sets. Sometimes the image may be used in different years and even over a period of several years if it's one of the many cards now being produced each year that feature "legends" from the past.  

I don't generally see that kind of stuff happening with the Rangers for a couple of reasons.  First, the Rangers don't have the pedigree of actual baseball legends like some other teams.  Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, Stan Musial, Ted Williams...the list could go on and on.  Sure, Nolan Ryan played here for a few years, but there aren't 200 different cards being made of Ryan every year.  It seems like there are that many "new" Jackie Robinson cards every year and many of them are using the same photos.  

I did happen to notice one picture of a current Ranger that was used on a couple of different products.  

This is a 2014 Bowman Silver paper parallel of Derek Holland #1/75.  When I got it, I knew I had seem that same expression on another card.  

This is a 2013 Triple Threads card of Derek Holland.  If the 'stache wasn't disturbing enough on the Bowman card, you get a close-up on the TTT card.  Same expression, same grip, same red laces on the glove.  Regardless of the re-issue of the same image, I'm getting more into chasing Derek Holland cards.

I wonder what image has appeared on the most cards (insane Topps parallels of every color not included). I'm sure someone out there has a pretty good idea.

Feeling up to a challenge?

Breakin' Bad can be Good

I'm a team collector first and foremost.  I've discovered that can lead to much heartache as the reality that I'll never have a complete Rangers collection.  The advent of parallel cards alone will see to that.  The pursuit of the a complete team set from every product can be approached from different directions.  You can bust packs.  That gets expensive very quickly.  You can trade with others and quite honestly, that's my favorite way to get my Rangers cards.  There's also box or case breaks.

About 10 days ago, I saw a break on Ebay that was really cheap.  It was a 1/2 Jumbo Case of 2014 Bowman.  That's 4 Jumbo boxes.  I'd been watching these off and on since Bowman had come out.  The Rangers, I believe driven by the ridiculous Russell Wilson SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSP, had been selling for about $40-$45 for a 1/2 case break.  The one I was watching was sitting under $20.  I ended up winning the auction for $19.50.  I just hoped that I'd end up with something worthwhile for the price of a blaster.

I think it was one of the best breaks I've been in Rangers wise.

I got all the base cards and dupes and some of the State Flag cards.   I also got a few nice parallels.

I got two of the Blue Wave Minis.  They were both of Rougned Odor and are numbered /250.  I watched the other half case break by the same seller (where the Rangers sold for $44 and pulled one base auto by the way) and these were the only two blue wave minis in the whold case.

I also got a blue refractor auto of Yohander Mendez #120/150.  That was nice, but the hit of the case for me was this card.

That's a Luke Jackson green refractor auto #69/75.  Those are selling pretty well.  As pretty as it is, I think I'm going to end up trading it to Judson for his pursuit of all the Jackson autos.  He's promised me $$$ worth of cards.  Or maybe I made that up.

Anyway, I was very happy with the results and if I had pulled all that out of a blaster, I would have probably passed out right there in the Walmart parking lot.  That's where I open all my cards you know.  At least it was before the card aisle shrank down to nothing.

Working hard for you...

I've been working hard going through the 5000 count boxes I bought from my LCS buddy.

Shhhhhh.....I have those boxes at a place that isn't my house.

It was a particularly slow night at that place that isn't my house so I got a good start on one of the boxes.  I don't know how many different stacks that is, but a bunch of you will have cards coming in the next few weeks.  I'll have to space out the mailing a bit or I might have to get a second job.

I'll be adding to the stacks until I get through all four boxes.  If you don't hear from me in a week, send help. I might be under 16,000 cards.

(Sorry for the black boxes..my co-worker wanted me to edit her out!)