Steal of the century!!

Picked this up on eBay today, coming all the way from Australia! I didnt think I would stand a chance at winning a card like this because I know there are many other Lind collectors out there who usually outbid me on the lower numbered cards. This Exquisite is numbered 19/20!

The same seller was selling this too. Another exquisite only this one is numbered 14/15.

So how much did I pay for these two high end, low numbered autographs?

Less than £10! Or $13 if you prefer.

Bargain!

Cards from Steal Second

I got sent two Adam Lind cards in the mail yesterday from a fellow UK blogger and collector, Martyn of Steal Second.
He emailed me to say that they were on the way but he said that after checking what Lind cards I already had he realised he was sending me some dupes. That's not a problem to me when it comes to Adam Lind cards, the more the merrier!
Martyn sent me a 2009 Bowman numbered out of 150. I now have 4/150 and 17/150. Now that I have two of these cards I'm tempted to try and pick up a few more since it wont really break the bank and I think it would look cool having a bunch of these cards together.
What do you guys think? Would you have duplicates of the same numbered card in your collection or are you happy with one?
The second card he sent was a 2010 Ginter relic. Its strange how the one that he sent and the one that I already had have slight differences.
With the one that I already had the mini card inside the frame is firm and doesn't move around but the relic moves about freely.
The one Martyn sent is the complete opposite. If you shake the card you can see the mini card shift about but the relic is held in place. The relic also feels a little different as if something has been sprayed onto it. Its kind of feels like when you get super glue on your clothes. Maybe someone at Topps tried to stick the relic down.
I was going to show some pictures of the differences but someone has taken the batteries out of my camera so that's out of action until I remember to buy some.
Many thanks Martyn! Take a look at Martyn's blog and his take on fantasy leagues, baseball cards, football (hes a Rovers fan but we wont hold that against him!) and other sports.
Martyn is also one of the contributors to Sport Jambalaya so go check that out. This week we will be predicting the MLB awards. It will be interesting to see who will be right and who will be way off. Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

The Lind collection so far.

Hi folks.
I haven't been updating this as regularly is I would have like to. Ideally I would love to post something everyday or at least three/four times a week but things get in the way. I'm either busy with work/family, too tired because of work/family or just lazy! An example of me being lazy is shown in my post about Bobby Thomson. Instead writing up a nice post detailing his career and life all I did was include a picture and a link to a news website. Very lazy considering he was one of my favourite all time players.
Anyway I'm going to try harder with this blog from now on, so i can try and get something out there every few days. I'm still active on other peoples blogs, entering contests and claiming free cards. By the way Fuji has had an amazing contest running for the past week or so and I'm currently joint second. So I want to give a shout out to Fuji and say thanks for the contest!
So for this post I thought I'd list the cards I have in my Lind collection, there will be pictures too so you can just look at them instead if you want. Some of these I may have shown before, also at the end of the post is a list of my most wanted Lind cards. Any help with those cards would be appreciated.

2004 Bowman Draft #111 Adam Lind RC
2004 Bowman Chrome Draft #111 Adam Lind RC
2004 Bowman Draft Gold #111 Adam Lind
2005 Bowman Sterling #AL Adam Lind AU Bat B
2007 Bowman Heritage #244a Adam Lind (RC)
2007 Bowman Heritage #244b Adam Lind SP
2007 Bowman Heritage Rainbow Foil #244a Adam Lind
2007 Bowman Heritage Rainbow Foil #244b Adam Lind No Sig

2007 Bowman Sterling #AAL Adam Lind (RC)
2007 Bowman's Best Green #78a Adam Lind S#35/249
2007 Exquisite Collection Rookie Signatures #190 Adam Lind Jsy AU/ 199 (RC) Mem, AU, S#118/199
2007 Exquisite Collection Rookie Signatures Ensemble Triple Signatures #BWL Billy Butler/ Brandon Wood/ Adam Lind/ 35 AU, S#10/35
2007 Exquisite Collection Rookie Signatures Endorsements Signatures #AL Adam Lind AU, S#50/50
2007 Fleer Mini Die Cuts #368 Adam Lind
2007 SP Rookie Edition Autographs #172 Adam Lind 95 AU
2007 SP Rookie Edition Autographs #130 Adam Lind AU

2007 Sweet Spot #101 Adam Lind AU (RC) AU
2007 Topps Co-Signers #116 Adam Lind AU (RC) AU
2007 Topps Heritage #458 Adam Lind (RC)
2007 Topps Triple Threads Sepia #185 Adam Lind JSY AU Mem, AU, S#1/75
2007 UD Masterpieces Stroke of Genius Signatures #LI Adam Lind AU
2007 Ultimate Collection #101 Adam Lind AU (RC) AU, S#219/299
2007 Upper Deck Future Stars #162 Adam Lind AU (RC) AU
2008 Topps Highlights Autographs #AL Adam Lind C AU
2008 Topps Moments and Milestones Milestone Autographs #AL Adam Lind A AU
2009 Bowman Chrome Blue Refractors #141 Adam Lind S#004/150
2009 SP Authentic Signatures #SLA Adam Lind SP

2009 Topps 206 #125 Adam Lind
2009 Topps 206 Mini Piedmont #125 Adam Lind
2009 Topps 206 Mini Cycle #125 Adam Lind S#18/99
2009 Topps Unique Solo Shots Autographs #AL Adam Lind AU
2009 Upper Deck Ballpark Collection #164 Adam Lind/ A.J. Burnett/ 340 Mem, S#274/340
2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions #173 Adam Lind SP
2010 Bowman Blue #46 Adam Lind S# 125/520
2010 Topps Allen and Ginter Autographs #AL Adam Lind
2010 Topps Allen and Ginter Relics #AL Adam Lind
2010 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini No Card Number #1 Adam Lind

2010 Finest Refractors Gold #50 Adam Lind S# 06/50
2010 Finest Refractors Green #50 Adam Lind S#27/99
2010 Finest Refractors Blue #50 Adam Lind S#102/299
2010 Finest Refractors #50 Adam Lind S#390/599
2010 Topps Hat Logos #MHR217 Adam Lind S#97/99
2010 Topps #177 Adam Lind
2010 Topps Target #177 Adam Lind
2010 Topps Heritage #243 Adam Lind
2010 Topps National Chicle Artist's Proof Signatures #45 Adam Lind/ Brett Farr AU S#05/10

Well that's the collection so far. As you can see I'm lacking a lot of cards from 2008, I just cant seem to find these cards anywhere, except for base cards on the bay. Picking up single base cards can be very expensive when you add the shipping charges together so far base cards I would rather trade for them.

Here are my most wanted Lind cards, in no particular order

Any 2008 Lind cards!

Any 1/1. I just want one in my collection.

2010 Finest Red Refractor #25. I just lost out to one on the bay.

Any Exquisite or Sweet Spot.

SP Authentic letter patches

2007 UD Black Pride Nation flag patch. This is probably my most wanted. These cards look sweet!

If anyone can help me out with any of those then please let me know.

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...

Gold at the end of the rainbow.

At some point this week I should be able to complete (almost) my Adam Lind Finest rainbow.

I have the regular #599, the blue #299 and the green #99. I bought the gold last week and cant wait to have it next to the others.

There is also a red #25 and a purple #1. The purple I don't think I will ever own and I have never even seen it come up for sale or trade since the product was released. The same goes for the red. They probably both came up at some point but I just missed them.

I'm happy call the rainbow complete with just the regular, blue, green and gold. But will still be on the look out for the red.

One goal I have this year is to get 20% of the Lind cards out there. I'm currently on 11%, this does not include the cards that are above the Atlantic somewhere. If you check out the list of Lind's cards that I have you will notice there aren't many base cards, simple reason for this is the cost of shipping to the UK. Why would I want to pick up a base card for $1 and then pay sometimes 5 times that for shipping? Its just not worth it. With all the collectors out there someone must have some spare Lind base cards lying around just begging to go to a new home.

If you have some Lind base then please let me know. Perhaps we can work out a trade or a price for them. Or you might even want to give them away :) If you do want to give them away then send me an email, I dont mind covering your shipping costs.

Ebay update plus looking for three cards...

First off for those of you who have been reading this blog you are aware of the problems I had recently with an Adam Lind ginter auto. In a nutshell it took a long time to get here which I thought was due to slow mail but it turned out the seller didnt mail until 19 days after I paid for it. I contacted the seller yesterday to explain I wasn't happy and a few hours later I had my shipping refunded. I'll take that, its only $4 but its $4 bucks that can go towards another card! I still haven't left feedback for the seller and don't know if I will.
With that said and done lets move onto the rest of this post and put the ebay problems behind us (for now!)

Here we have 3 Adam Lind 2009 Topps 206 cards. From left to right we have the regular base, the cycle mini (numbered to 99) and the regular Piedmont mini. I picked all three cards up from COMC a couple of months back and have meant to pick up the rest of the Lind's in the set so I can complete the rainbow, albeit a white bordered rainbow and not a colourful affair like finest or bowman.

Does anyone out there have the 3 cards that I'm missing? They are the bronze regular size and the polar bear backed mini and the old mill backed mini. I can get these any time on ebay but I don't want to! I would rather trade for them with a fellow blogger/reader. So if anyone of you has one of the cards that I need please get in touch with me and we can sort something out.

That's all I have for tonight, its now almost midnight and the wife wants to go shopping. Yippee.

Ginter auto has arrived! and another dilemma

Finally my Adam Lind ginter auto arrived!

Well its here! It arrived today at 3pm, very late for the post. I remember when the post would be there before 7am! And then at around 1pm you would get a second post...those days are long gone!

Anyway the card is here and that the main thing! It looks a lot better than I thought it would. The red border is really nice and actually feels like plastic. The card its self is really nice and is only the 2nd on card auto that I have of Lind. Its not very secure though and it actually moves about inside the frame. That's not a huge problem because its not slipping out of view or anything and its not as if I'm going to be shaking it like a magic 8 ball!

I now need to pick up the Lind Ginter relic to go with it. That can wait since it looks like every single box that was opened had one in it and its getting cheaper by the day. I have other cards that I want first.

Now there was a problem attached to the Lind auto and that was the amount of time it took to reach me. I know what your all thinking 'you live in the UK so of course it will take longer to get there' and yes your right it does take longer to reach me here but not by much. Let me give you a brief recap of what has happened.

• Won and paid for auction on the 1st of July
• Item marked as shipped on the 10th July
• Contacted seller on the 22nd of July to inform them that it still had not arrived and that it had been nearly two weeks
• Seller replied on the 23rd of July to confirm card had been shipped and I should have had it by now
• Card received today on the 28th of July (insert happy dance of your choice)
• Postage said it was shipped on the 20th of July

So it was shipped TEN days after the seller had told me it was shipped and a full 19 days after I paid for it. 19 freaking days! What's that all about?! Why didnt the seller just tell me he couldn't get it out to me in a reasonable amount of time? I would have been ok with that or could have asked for refund and picked up a different one.

Now what do I do? On one hand I'm very happy it got here, I was beginning to think it would never arrive. On the other hand I'm very annoyed that the seller lied and it took him so long to ship.

I see five choices that I can make:

1. Contact the seller and confront them about what has happened, maybe even get a little bit of money back.
2. Leave negative feedback without speaking to the seller (seems a bit unfair).
3. Ignore it and leave positive.
4. Ignore and don't leave any feedback.
5. Claim the card never arrived and get a refund (I would NEVER do this but it is an option).

I'm going to give it a day or so before I take action. I would appreciate your feedback on this. What would you do? One of my five options or something completely different?

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...

Still trading! 2010 Ginter and Heritage.

Yesterday I posted a number of 2010 Ginters that I had for trade, notice I said 'had'. Within 30 minutes of posting I had traded the majority of them away for a number of minis. I'm going to list what Ginters I have left and also my dupes from 2009 and 2010 Heritage. Let me know if you need anything.
I'm looking for Ginter minis, 2010 Heritage (check my needs page) and Adam Lind cards that I dont have.

base - 4, 6, 11, 17x2, 20, 26, 27, 46, 48, 52, 56, 57, 61, 62, 71, 85, 86, 88, 95, 100, 103, 108, 109, 111, 112, 113, 123, 143, 144, 157, 167, 169, 179, 180, 181, 184, 187, 193, 196, 212, 216, 217, 218, 235, 236, 239, 244, 245, 246, 247, 253, 261, 262, 264, 266, 271, 273, 274, 275, 278, 298, 303, 305, 313, 314, 318, 321, 322, 324, 325, 329, 333, 335, 349, 351, 352, 359, 363, 366, 375, 376, 379, 387, 391, 397, 399, 401, 424.

Inserts - NF1

2009 Heritage
Base - 3, 11, 16, 21, 24, 31, 47, 58, 60, 66, 71, 72x2, 88, 91, 93, 103x2, 107, 121, 156, 158, 159, 176, 186, 187, 192, 197, 220, 222, 223, 227, 231, 240, 246, 258, 267, 351, 356, 369, 395x2, 400, 402.

Inserts - NF1

Mayo - Ryan Braun, Dustin Pedroia

Allen and Ginter 2010

Base - 29, 59, 102, 105, 125, 148, 149, 158.

SP - 340.

Baseball sketches - AGHS1 Chase Utley

This day in history - TDH66, TDH68.

There are also a few Heritage chromes and GU from 2009/2010 Heritage. Check the for trade page.

Ebay problems

Picked up a card on the 1st of July, an Allen and Ginter Lind auto. I knew the card probably wouldn't be shipped straight away because it was just before the 4th July weekend and I accepted this. So anyway a week went by and nothing arrived, this is normal though because sometimes cards can take up to two weeks or so to arrive. On the 10th of July the card was marked as shipped, a full 9 days after payment. OK people lead busy lives and this may have been the first opportunity to get the card in the mail, so that's fair enough. Its now the 23rd of July and still no card. I didnt pay a great deal for the card, actually I paid more than I should have since I jumped on the card when Ginter had only just been released a few days before. There are Lind autos from Ginter on the bay now for about half of what I paid for it, I'm so impatient when it comes to cards!
Anyway I'm not sure where to go from here. I'm going to wait until tomorrow as that will be exactly two weeks since it was marked as shipped but then what? Should I contact the buyer and explain whats up? I don't want the seller to think that I'm ripping him off. There are many threads on FCB and Blowout about overseas buyers claiming they have never received the cards they bought. Or should I just go ahead and start a dispute and do a chargeback? Or I could just let it go and chalk it up as a loss. Don't think that's a good idea though.
In the time since I bought this card I have received three or four other packages so I know there's no issues with the mail. Do you think I've been ripped off? The seller has 99.9% feedback and about 4000 separate feedbacks left so I think he can be trusted.
What would you do?
Now on to something completely different!
I have read on various forums that sometimes when people buy cards online they stink of cigarette smoke. I smoke (and I like it so don't tell me its bad, I know it is!) I don't smoke when I'm handling cards or near my cards. Do any of you fine folks out there get cards that smell of smoke? and is the smell really that bad? I don't want to send out 'smelly' cards to anyone. Let me know your feelings on this.

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.

Trade with Redsox101 from Sportscardradio

My first trade post! And also my first trade completed on Sportscardradio.


A big thank you to Redsox101 for helping me out with some of my collecting goals. Redsox sent me a few minis from A&G 2010. I only had 5 minis to start with so all minis are welcome here.

First up we have two cards from the national animals subset. We have the national animal of Grenada, I cant really figure out why the ostrich is their national animal and the back of the card does not specify. I'll probably look into this later on when I get bored.

Secondly we have the national animal of Italy, which is the Italian Wolf. I probably wouldn't have guessed that the wolf was Italy's national animal, although thinking about it I cant actually think of another animal that would fit the bill. This card is interesting because apparently the Italian Wolf was not properly identified as a sub-species until 1999. That surprised me because in this day and age you wouldn't think that there would be much more to learn about a common animal such as the wolf. I'm very happy to know this now as I like pointless bits of information (my head is full of pointless crap!) and since I enjoy hitting the quiz nights at the local pub I hope the question comes up. This bit of information may win me a few drinks!

Next we have Barry Zito from the Giants. This is my first 2010 Giant from A&G. If you look closely (and you'll have to since my scanner is out of action and I'm stuck with my camera) at the picture it appears that Zito has a pen in his hand and looks happy. I don't know if Zito is a good signer or not but he sure looks pleased to be doing it.

The last mini was this beauty! Apparently this an ultra SP, but I'm not 100% sure of that. This is from the 'worlds biggest' subset and features the worlds biggest river, the Nile. This is another interesting card. According to the back the Nile is bigger than the Amazon by a hair, how long is a hair? At 4,184 miles long. Wikipedia says 4,132 miles, it also says that the Amazon is actually longer! Which is correct? Topps or Wikipedia? It also says on the card that the river wasn't fully navigated until 2004. I thought it would have been navigated much earlier than that! I'll take their word for it though.

The last two cards are for my Lind collection. The first was the Lind base card from 2010 Topps. I didn't have that card so it was very welcome. This was the second card.

An Adam Lind auto! Sweet! Redsox actually offered me this card a while back and I told him I had it. It turns out I didn't, I just got the card mixed up with another. This will go in with the growing collection of Lind cards The card is a 2007 SP and is a RC. I have a lot of auto RC's of Lind and not that many from other years. Still like the other cards mentioned he is more than welcome.

I was also sent a bunch of 2010 Heritage cards, all Red Sox players. I hope to send this down to John of Pursuit of 80's(ness), as soon as he lets me know which players he needs to complete his set.

So once again thanks alot Redsox101 and I hope you enjoy the cards I sent you.

Favorite cards part 5

Back to my favorite cards for this post! What we have this time is a 2010 National Chicle artist proof.

This has been signed by the artist of the card, Brett Farr, and is numbered 5/10.

I remember when this product first came out and there were a few disgruntled collectors out there who were not happy pulling an autograph that was not actually signed by the player. I on the other hand think its a great idea. I can understand why someone may get upset when they pull their favorite player or HOFer and see that is signed only to find on closer inspection that its signed by some guy they more than likely never heard of. That can be a major let down.

I picked this card up from some guy on SCF who was selling it, I forget what I paid but it wasn't much.

There were a few issues with this product when it came out. We all remember the Chipper Ruth card don't we? And I believe there were a few other cards that actually looked nothing like the player it was said to depict or the card looked like it was drawn by a 5 year old. The Lind card actually looks Lind and the artist has done a great job. I have to honest, I had never heard of Brett Farr before I got this card but after a quick look on his website I was impressed at his talent. This doesn't mean I'm going to rush out and pick up more art by Mr Farr because I would probably not appreciate it as much as I should. The one saving grace for collectors was the fact that the cards were all low numbered and so could be sold on fairly easily and for more than the average GU card.

There are a few reasons that I like this card. Firstly it looks great! The picture is nice and well detailed. The background fits in with the picture, the artist kept it simple and didn't attempt to fill it up with pointless things. Secondly there are only ten of them out there! I like having low numbered cards but don't have that many, well not as many as I would like. I don't have any 1/1's yet apart from my Ebay 1/1's! ( Here and here).

I have a few trades and Ebay purchases inbound over the next few days so you can look forward to a non Lind post then... maybe.

Favorite cards part 3

Here's another one of my favorite cards and again it features Adam Lind.



The card in question is a 2007 Exquisite endorsements. The card is serial numbered 50/50 and was the first high end card I ever bought. This was also one of the first cards I picked up from COMC. It cost $9 and I picked it up along with a number of other Adam Lind cards from the site, which was a big mistake, more about that in a later post.
Cards that are either the first or last of the print one tend to be the most sought after and as I said in an earlier post this would be considered another Ebay 1/1. I don't see it as a 1/1 because its not! Its 1 card out of 50 cards.
I was impressed with the card the second I got it. Its a very thick card, about the same thickness of about 4 or 5 cards and luckily it came in the right size toploader. You would not believe how difficult it is to find some of the bigger toploaders over here in the UK! The card features an auto of Lind on a clear sticker and looks outstanding! I was never a fan of Upper Deck when I first got into to collecting in the 90's and it was something I carried over until earlier this year until I picked up a few Masterpieces and a few more exquisite cards. I didn't think I would miss UD when they lost their license but I do. Don't get me wrong, Topps are doing a great job and have released some nice cards this year but with no 'official' competition things will go down hill.
This is not my favorite card in my collection, that will be coming up in about 10 posts or so. That's right you have to sit through more posts of Adam Lind! HA!
I have been asked on more than one occasion why I collect Adam Lind, since I'm a Giants fan and Lind is a Jay. Well the answer is all down to fantasy baseball. I got back into the game last year, right at the beginning of the season and thought I'd have a go at fantasy. Since I hadn't followed the game since 2000/01 I had no idea who most of the players were! Gone were the familiar names of Bonds, McGwire, Clemens and Sosa. In were new names Lincecum, Pujols and Longoria. I quickly learned who these guys were and added a few of them to my team. I filled my team up blind, just picked guys who I thought sounded good and how much they were worth. I needed one more player and choose Lind because he was cheap. He ended up scoring the most points for my team, behind Lincecum. I didn't win anything, infact I think I came around 600th out of 2000 other teams but still I thought that was pretty good for my first go.
So basically I collect Lind because he did well for my fantasy team. Unfortunately he is having a terrible year so far but it is picking up for him. He wont end the season with the numbers he produced last year but you never know...

Next up will either be Lind or another Thomson.

Favorite cards part one

Over the next few post I'm going to showcase and talk about some of my favorite cards. First off we have a 2007 Topps Triple Threads Adam Lind RC numbered 1 of 75.

I picked this card up from Ebay about two months ago. I remember that there was a bit of a bidding war but I managed to snipe it at the last minute. I cant remember the final price but I think I may have paid more than I should have because it is seriel numbered number one, which as you all know makes this an Ebay 1 of 1!
I do remember that the shipping for this card was cheap, probably around $5 which is the average price I have to pay for most of the cards I get from EBay. I have been ripped off a number of times with shipping charges, That deserves an entire post all by its self.
I dont own many high end cards and I would NEVER buy a pack or box of Triple threads because in my opinion its not worth the money. Dont get me wrong, you can pull some sweet cards from this product but only if your buying it by the case.
The card features Linds auto ( on a sticker!) and also three pieces of bat. Its a real sweet card and one of my favorites of my Lind collection. Over the next few posts I'll be featuring Lind. Just to let you know I'm NOT a Blue Jays fan, just a Lind fan.