Mail from the Hairylemon

Got this gem in the mail today from Simon AKA the Hairylemon. He emailed me last week saying he picked up a Lind for me but I had nothing to trade for it, as usual! Simon was nice enough to send it on to me anyway for a card to be named later. So cheers for that Simon, much appreciated!

I thought I'd do things a little different this time. I'm going to list the pros, cons and my thoughts about this card.

Pros -

1. Its Adam Lind!
2. Clean design. I like that there's only one border.
3. Good picture. Sure hes not doing anything but if you look at a few of his other auto cards out there, it was always the same batting pose or mid swing action shot. It was getting old.
4. Great auto. Yeah its a sticker (see cons) but its a sticker that works. Its not loud or poorly placed, it generally fits into the design of the rest of the card.

Cons -

1. Its a sticker auto. Sure I just said it fits in with the design but its not on card.
2. No stats on the back. This is the case with the majority of autos that I get. Cant they just include a line of stats? It would be better than the usual 'Congratulations'.
3. No jersey number on the front. They have his position, DH, although I would have preferred his jersey number or both position and number. I'm sure they could have squeezed a 26 on there somewhere.

Final thoughts: Does this card look like it could have been made by Fleer? Its hard to explain what I mean it just reminds me of a Fleer design from some product of theirs. Yes that's vague, I just cant remember the exact product. Does that make the card bad? Of course not! Its still a cool looking card and the pros outweigh the cons. There weren't really any cons to speak of. The ones that I listed above would be the same as I would list for most autos that I possess or have possessed in the past.

I would give the card 4/5 and that's because its a sticker auto.

Some new additions to the Lind collection

Hi folks.

I have picked up quite a few cards over the last week or so. Most of which were for the sets that I'm working on but there were four new Lind cards.


First up from the Hairylemon we have a 2010 Bowman numbered 125/520.

My pictures suck! I really need to get a new lead for my scanner. Anyway that's the Bowman. Its a nice simple design, which I like. The red 1/1 hit ebay this past weekend and went for only £15. I didnt bid and now regret it. Thanks Lemon for my first Lind Bowman, hope to get some more.

Next we have a card that I featured a few days ago but didnt go into to much detail about it.

2010 Allen and Ginter Adam Lind game used pants. I got this very cheap with shipping to the UK. My only issue with the card is the tiny scrap of fabric you get in the frame. It looks really loose inside and does not fill the whole window. I have since learnt from Captain Canuck that this is very common with this years A&G. I'm not complaining though, it is after all another Lind for the collection and only my second stand alone jersey card of his. Next to the relic is the A&G auto that I wrote about a while back. Speaking of that auto the buyer refunded my shipping costs and then yesterday left me positive feedback. Just waiting for the refund to clear, its only $4 but it will go towards something nice.

Next up, another piss poor picture.

This is my Finest gold refractor. Its numbered 6/50 and looks great with the other 3 that I have. I was going to leave the 'rainbow' at this but have since decided to go for the red /25. I wont be going for that for a while though because my next few pick ups are going to be just trade bait.

And finally we have this little beauty.

2010 Allen and Ginter Adam Lind mini NNO short printed to 50 copies. Picked this up on the bay about a week or so ago. Very pleased with this pick up and didnt expect to get it as cheaply as I did. Not the best picture to have on the card. Lind's glove is covering his face and he's also more know for his hitting than fielding so a batting picture would have been better.

Whats also cool about the card is the mini toploader. I knew you could buy mini pages but had no idea there were also penny sleeves and toploaders available. I will need to be on the look out for some of them at some point to because the other minis that I have don't look to good in the full size toploaders.

That's it until next time. Thanks for reading.

More minis!

Part two of my recent trade that I made on CCW with Dlacky contains more minis! Also I got a few more minis from redsox101 from sports card radio, he also sent a lot of other things that deserve their own post, so we'll just focus on the minis.

Last time I showed off the inserts that I was sent now its on to the rest of the minis, the regulars, A&G backs and black bordered.

Here are the black bordered cards. I already had the Randy Wolf (anyone else find that name funny?) so the other three were new to me. The Hawpe card, on top, doesn't look too good. The picture is way to small. They should have blown it up a bit so there isint a HUGE white space between the pic and the border. I also received another few black bordered cards from Redsox101.

We have Chase Utley and Nyjer Morgan. The black bordered cards are very nice, I would love to put a set of these together! I think I will stick to the regular minis for now though.

I also got a bunch of A&G backs from Dlacky.

The fire card in the bottom left is sweet! Ginter is such an awesome set, I love the non sports cards... so far! I'm sure I'll tire of them eventually, especially when I get the revolving door or Regis Philburn

I also got a bunch of base minis from Dlacky and some more inserts from redsox101

I got another dinosaur card and a cool Nemesis. I enjoy the subsets much more than the regular set. I cant wait to get my hands on more.

So far I haven't 'paid' for a single mini (except one, that I'm going to show in another post soon and I don't include the 6 packs I bought). It would be great if I could finish this set off without having to pick up any on ebay. I need to update my lists now with what I need and then I can start hitting the forums and trying to work some trades.

On another note, the Hairylemon is fed up with all the criticism that the Rays and James Shields have received over the last week. Well I can think of one guy who thought that the Rays and Shields did great against the Blue Jays

Incidentally that Ginter jersey is the most pathetic jersey I have EVER seen! The jersey is far to small for the card and doesn't even fill the whole window on the card. Is this normal for Ginter relics?

Next up we have heritage...

Six packs of Heritage

So the Hairylemons sister went to the states and picked up some Heritage packs for me! I don't have the highest of hopes for these packs because I have almost all the base cards and around half the short prints. I'm expecting a large number of dupes! But its still fun to rip packs so its not a big deal. Anyway there are 6 packs, each with 8 cards and one stick of gum. Short prints fall 1:3 so I should hopefully get 2. Here we go:

Pack one

57 - Billy Butler Royals - have it

397 - Micah Owings Reds - have it

BF1 - Roger Maris - have it

115 - Kerry Wood Indians - have it

63 - Nick Blackburn Twins - have it

61BR10 - Babe Ruth - NEED!!

385 - Hideki Matsui Angels - have it

230 Chone Figgins Mariners - have it

Pack two

87 - Juan Uribe Giants - have it

415 - Luke Hochevar Royals - have it

330 - Jamie Moyer Phillies - have it

340 - Magglio Ordonez Tigers - have it

270 - Vin Mazzaro Athletics - have it

25 - Reds heavy artillery - have it

41 - NL league leaders - have it

C71 - Cliff Lee Mariners #0375/1961

So after two packs of 16 cards I needed one! But I did get a nice Cliff Lee chrome.

Pack three

54 - Daniel McCutchen Pirates - got it

120 - Chipper Jones Braves - got it

383 - Frisco first liners - got it

306 - Game one of the 2009 WS - got it

185 - John Danks White Sox - got it

105 - Tim Hudson Braves - got it

176 - Howie Kendrick Angels - got it

110 - Willy Taveras Reds - got it

A pack of dupes! And no short prints yet.

Pack four

319 - John Maine Mets - got it

394 - Emilio Bonifacio Marlins - got it

224 - Bob Green Athletics - got it

313 - The winners celebrate - got it

409 - Baseball thrills - got it

119 - Royals bashers - got it

413 - Andrew Miller Marlins - got it

C79 - Hanley Ramirez Marlins #1024/1961

After four packs I have one set need, two chrome cards, no short prints and a butt load of doubles! Two more packs...

Pack five

138 - John Russell Pirates - NEED!!

182 - Adam Jones Orioles - got it

387 - Jeff Niemann Rays - got it

232 - Max Scherzer Tigers - got it

321 - Aramis Ramirez Cubs - got it

214 - Tyler Colvin Cubs - got it

347 - StLouis Cardinals team card - got it

308 - Game 3 2009 WS - got it

Pack six

40 - A.J. Burnett Yankees - got it

136 - Joe Torre Dodgers - got it

20 - Cole Hamels Phillies - got it

103 - Jimmy Rollins Phillies - got it

74 - Russell Martin Dodgers - got it

289 - Carl Crawford Rays - got it

7 - White Sox team card - got it

201 - Beasts of the AL & NL east - got it

So that's it.

Out of 6 packs I needed only two cards. I did get two chromes but I'm going to trade these away, I hope. And not one short print!! Still that was fun and now I want some more packs!

Another one of my top cards and also some paypal woes.

Been a while since I posted a card, cant remember what number I'm up to so we'll forgo with the numbering for this post.

2010 Topps series 2 Hat logos.

When I first saw these cards on the bay they were going for more than I was willing to pay. The ones that I saw listed with reasonable shipping to the UK were all BIN's for between $12 -$20. I was tempted but knew the second I hit buy it now another one would be listed for half the price. My patience payed off and at the end of last month one came up at auction with good shipping rates to the UK. Good shipping rates for me are between $2 and $5, although I have paid more. I managed to snag the card for $7, shipping was an extra $4. So for a grand total of $11! That made it cheaper than all the BINs that I saw so I was happy with that.

The card is numbered 97/99 and as usual features Adam Lind. It is of course manufactured and not a genuine GU or player worn item. I'm ok with that because I liked the look of it, to be honest even if I didnt like the look of it I'd still want it because I needed it for the collection. The card does look much better in person, looking at the picture I have posted it does look a little bit frayed around the edges of some of the stitches but trust me its not like that at all when you take a good look at it.

I was hoping to post my Lind 2010 A&G auto by now but it still has not arrived. Its now the 18th day since it was shipped. I have contacted the seller to explain I have not received it yet and explained that it may be held up somewhere. The seller was fine with that and requested I keep him updated, which I will. Maybe it will arrive today, its now 1330 so the post should be here any minute. I feel like a kid at Christmas everyday when I know I have cards coming!

Now onto some paypal issues that I'm having. I don't do much selling on Ebay but this month I had to get rid of some Formula one tickets for silverstone. I put them up for sale 5 days before the race as a BIN and they sold within an hour of being listed, made a nice profit too. Now because I don't sell often and because the item was classed as high risk my payment was held by paypal until either I was left feedback or 21 days had passed. The person who bought them has not left me feedback, and that pissed me off because I included a few extras with the tickets. And its now been 21 days and the funds are still showing as pending! I'm not desperate for the cash its just that I've set myself new rules when it comes to buying cards. The rules are anything I make on Ebay sales I get to spend on cards or anything else I might want. This way it keeps my bank account out of the red and gives me an exact budget of what I can spend.

There are two things that I want to get and I refuse to break my new rules. So here I am waiting for paypal to say 'Here's your money! Thanks for choosing Paypal!'. I had no choice when it came to using paypal because I don't want the hassle of cashing cheques or money orders so they have me over a barrel and I just have to grin and take it. On the other hand I LOVE paypal when I'm buying because of the convenience, they should just make it more a little bit more equal for buyers and sellers.

The two things I want to buy are some Heritage packs that the Hairylemons sister was nice enough to pick up for me when she went to Florida and also an Adam Lind Finest gold refractor. I hope these funds are released by the end of the day. We shall wait and see...

Favorite cards part 6

After seeing the Hairylemons blog earlier I thought I'd show off another one of my Exquisite cards.

I picked this up on a COMC binge a while back and was the most expensive Lind card that I picked up at $20. Is it wrong to be thankful Lind is having a bad year so I can pick his cards up cheap?

Its numbered 10/35 and features 2 other guys ruining a perfectly good Lind card. Only joking. I really wanted this card because I didn't own any multiple auto cards at the time, in fact I think this is still the only one that I do own. When I saw it pop up on COMC I had to have it. It was actually listed moments before I was going to complete checkout. I just thought that I'd have one more quick scan at the Lind cards on offer before I finish and there it was! I quickly loaded a little bit more credit onto my account and snapped it up.

Also featured on the card are two other players. From the top we have Kansas City Royals player Billy Butler. I don't have anything bad to say about this guy. Hes having a great year when you compare him to Lind. 27 doubles, 111 hits and a respectable 314 average.

The second guy is Brandon Wood of the Anaheim Angels. Wood is struggling this year with a 168 average. I believe hes currently back in the minors but at least hes still trying and is still signed with a major team.

The clear sticker used on the Exquisite cards really work in my opinion and I think this is something Topps should do if they cant have the players sign on card. The only problem I have with exquisite cards is their thickness. I DO love the thickness of the cards but hate the fact that I cant find any toploaders that fit them! I have a few toploaders that I can place my exquisites in but I'm screwed if I pick up another one and it doesn't have a toploader because I don't have any more to spare. If your selling a card like this then the least you can do is send it in the appropriate protection. I don't mind getting base cards that have been placed in sleeves and then sandwiched in between two thick pieces of cardboard but when I receive a card like this and its sent in the same fashion it really pisses me off!

Perhaps someone out there can educate me on the size of toploaders to pick up for exquisite or slightly thicker cards. When I do a search for them online they don't indicate what cards they fit. They have a point system to describe the different sizes available and I have no idea what the hell they are talking about! So if you know whats what and can tell me what size the different points fit then please drop me a line.

Hairylemons new blog - check it out!

Hi folks, the Hairylemon, who I have mentioned in one or two posts in the past has started his own blog. You can view it here.
Check it out and welcome him to the blogosphere!

Favorite cards part 4

No Lind this time! Here we have another Bobby Thomson card. It is a little newer than the last Thomson that I featured and is very shiny! I like shiny and I like this card.

I picked up this card in a trade with the Hairylemon from SCF. He held onto this card for me while I ran around making trades in order to prise it from his grasp! I cant remember exactly what I traded for it, I want to say it was a Carl Erskine auto but I honestly cant remember. I suppose I could load up SCF and check but that would be to easy.

This card is from Topps Tribute and was released in 2002. This is my only relic card of Thomson but I hope to add a jersey card and an auto to the collection as soon as I can, although this collection is on the back burner at the moment so I'm not going to actively seek out either the jersey or auto until I finish off a few other projects. That's not to say I wont trade for either an auto or a jersey card if one was offered, I'd even consider buying if the price was right.

Tribute was re-released last year and it looked good. But there were some issues with the cards and the questionable relics that were included. Where did they come from? People who opened these packs were met with a disclaimer on the back of the card 'The relics contained in this card are not from any specific game, event, or season' ( It actually says this on most, if not all relic cards now). It soon came to light that many of the so called bat relics were in fact stadium relics, pieces of seats from the stadium. This upset quite a few people who thought they were getting a genuine piece of history and not a piece of wood that had endured years of abuse from the sweaty cracks of overweight baseball fans. The card I have from 2002 says 'Authentic game used bat'. Now I haven't looked into to it very much and for all I know Topps pulled the same trick back then that they did last year. I can only go with what is written on the back of the card. No where in the small print on the back of the card does it mention where the bat came from. I suppose with a player like Thomson there are plenty of GU bats available and to be honest the guy is still kicking so what would stop Topps putting a bat in his hand now and throwing a ball at him and calling that game used? Like so many relics available in this hobby we have to use a little faith and a lot of trust in where they actually came from.

With that said and done this is still one of the prize cards of my collection and I'm proud to own it.

Tribute is being released again this year, quite soon I think. I guess that it will still be an expensive product ( last year was around $200 a pack) so I will not be picking any up. I'll just wait for the big spenders to bust a bunch of cases and then pick up their 'big mojo hits' on Ebay for a fraction of the price of a single pack.

Just a reminder from a previous post - The Sheffield card mystery has still not been solved but I have had some interesting answers. There will be a prize for whoever can tell me where it could have come from. If a definitive answer is not found I will give the prize to whichever answer seems to be the most likely. I don't know what the prize is yet but it will be an auto or a relic card, maybe even both.

Favorite cards part two

My second post on my favorite cards features a fellow Brit. Born in Glasgow before moving to the states at a young age this player hit one of the most famous home runs in baseball history.

Every baseball fan knows the story of the "shot heard 'round the world" which occurred in 1951 between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. Thomson hit a walk off home run off of Dodger pitcher Ralph Branca at the polo grounds which allowed the Giants to win the pennant. The Giants went to the world series only to lose in six games to the Yankees.
The card above is a 1953 Red Man tobacco card. Issued in pouches of tobacco, I think the last time a card was issued in a smoking product. The card was part of a promotion in which you had to remove the tab at the bottom of the card and send them in to receive a baseball cap, which a lot of people did and so making it a little harder to find the card in a complete form with the tab intact. As you can in the picture above, my card has the tab intact.
Considering the age of the card it is still in great condition. The corners are a little rounded and there are a few wrinkles on the card but overall the card is awesome!
This card was brought to my attention by another UK collector who trades on the sports card forum under the name 'Hairylemon'. He was aware that I was trying to put together a Bobby Thomson collection and thought that this little gem would fit in nicely, he was right. I picked this up from Ebay for about $12 shipped to the UK. I think this was a fair price and I was very happy to get it.
The card was much bigger than I expected it to be, I thought it might have been around the size of a typical early 50's card and was surprised to see that it was even bigger! Due to its size its a little bit hard to display and so unfortunately it stays in a box out of sight, living with a few other cards from the 50's that I have.
It should also be noted that Bobby Thomson was inducted into the Scottish sports hall of fame and had a baseball field named after him in Glasgow.

Up next is another Adam Lind card.