Mike Piazza Collection Over 150 Cards

While Saturday was a sad sports day after the Mets and US Soccer team lost, I checked my mail late and was greeted by a package that brightened the day. Reader Eli and I worked out a huge trade in which he sent me a whole bunch of cards for my player collections while I sent him a bunch of Ryne Sandberg, Ivan Rodriguez, Vlad Guerrero, Jeff Bagwell, and Craig Biggio cards.

Part of Eli's incredibly generous package of cards for me were 38 different Mike Piazza cards that I did not already have. That brought my collection of Piazza cards to one short of 160. I happen to think that is pretty impressive. Anyway, I thought I'd highlight some of the Piazza cards Eli sent me.


I'll start with one of the Piazza's from the Dodger years. This one has a cool foil effect and is die cut a 1997 Upper Deck Star Attractions:


Next, here is a 2001 UD MVP Drawing Power insert.


I kind of like cards with geometric patterns, so here is another from Upper Deck (though the lines are less obvious).



Finally, perhaps my favorite of the bunch is this 1999 UD HoloGrFX StarView #S7.


Though I could not afford the packs when these came out, I always liked the HoloGrFx set and inserts. I don't like them quite as much as I did back then, but I still enjoy them. They are much nicer in person than this scan shows.*

Anyway, thanks again Eli!

*PS All these scans are from COMC.com, so they are not the actual cards that Eli sent me, but this was a lot quicker than scanning them all myself.

Topps Series 2 Retail Pack

So, I lost power at my house on Friday and decided to do some shopping at Target. While there I picked up my first pack of 2010 Topps Series 2. It ended up being a relatively nice pack with several subset cards.

First, a Target Red Back Nolan Ryan.


Second, a Cards Your Mom Threw Out 1995 Babe Ruth (CMT 102)


Third, a Topps Million Card Giveaway (TMC-16).


Which turned into this:
Finally, a Felix Hernandez Topps Town/Attax


Oh, and here's a list of the base from the pack:
Clay Buchholtz #572
Kyle Kendrick #474
Rafeal Soriano #514
Brandon Lyon #571
Nick Blackburn #334
Dice-K #483
Sean Rodriguez #540

All of these (except for the Felix Hernandez) are up for trade. Let me know if you are interested.

I also have TMC 3 and 8, as well as HOTG7 and TOG-22 from series one if anyone is interested.

Mets Sweep and New Background Pic

Big Pelf did it again, the Mets sweep, and I finally figured out how to use my own background image. Nice!

In celebration here is another of those autographed cards of mine I found a while back.

Franco was one of my favorite Mets and is underrated as an all time closer in my opinion, I was disappointed when Armando Benitez was awarded the closer's role over him. I was overjoyed for him that he could save a playoff win after Benitez blew the save earlier in the game.


As for the background image, much like my header it contains some old and some new. Enjoy!

Card(s) of the Week & New Layout

First off, I got a new layout which I like a lot better than the old one in part because of the translucence of the foreground in this template that I think matches well with my blog's concept. Now if I could only figure out how to use my own background picture rather than using one from blogger's selection I'd be set.

Anyway, in celebration of the new layout here are two cards of the week. I'll show them both together first to give you some appreciation of their respective sizes (the smaller one is the size of a normal baseball card).


So these are both from Topps Gallery's Gallery of Heroes subset. The 1998 and 2000 versions. They are both made of acetate, which I have already described here. The great thing about these is that they are made to look like stained glass. The larger 1998 version was a box topper in 1998 Hobby Boxes of Topps Gallery and does an amazing job of replicating the feel of the famed Tiffany Stained Glass.

If you are a fan of Tiffany Stained Glass or Stained Glass in general, I highly recommend the Museum of Stained Glass which always offers free admission at Chicago's Navy Pier. They do have some sports related stained glass there including a Michael Jordan window, but unfortunately nothing as nice as either of these.


The textured look accomplished by modifying the acetate is incredibly cool, and cannot be done justice by these scans. So, these are some of my favorite cards because 1. They are clear and made of an alternate material (acetate) and 2. They are made to look like a second material (glass) of which I am also a big fan.

Free Mini Break at the Buffet

Quick, head over to BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet for a free mini break while supplies last!

Anyone Have This Card for Trade?

So apparently 2010 Bowman does have an Ike Davis card. Unfortunately, no one at the last card show I went to a couple weeks back had it. If anyone out there has this Ike Davis card or another one and is willing to trade it, please let me know.

Blue is my favorite color, especially when next to Orange

David Wright just hit a homerun to put the Mets up by five runs on the Marlins on this fine Saturday. That reminded me of a card, which I got in the mail this week from EdS over at Roll Out the Barrel.


Now refractors are pretty cool, I mean even the name is cool. However, a BLUE refractor is another step up from refractors of other colors. It just looks so right on a card of a Met like this one.

Now EdS sent me a bunch of other David Wright cards and Mets stuff in general, all of which I am very appreciative of. Yet, I wanted to highlight this gem: A Julio Franco card.


First, this is fun because I did not already have a Julio Franco card in a Mets uni. Second, this card is hilarious because Mr. Franco clearly has a sawed off bat on the front of a card lauding his hitting prowess. Third, I find a foil card of old man Julio to be funny in itself. It seems to me that Julio Franco, at his age in this card, should only be on nice cardboard only cards.

Anyway, enjoy your Saturday, thanks again EdS, and hopefully Jon Niese and the Mets can hold off the Marlins the rest of the way.

Let's Go Mets!

Goodbye Ken Griffey Jr.

I was a big Griffey Jr fan as a kid. In fact, I really liked the 90s Mariners and several players on the team (including Jay Buhner). I'm sure this had a lot to do with their victory over the Yankees in 1995, but there seemed to be a lot of likable and good players on the team.

The Mariners remain my favorite AL team today, despite their lack of success in recent seasons. I thought it was cool that Griffey Jr returned there last year and had some moments of success. I kind of stinks that the limited success of last year could not carry over into this season, but it is nice that Griffey Jr is the one to say he is leaving the game.

Anyway, here is my only clear (Acetate) card of Griffey Jr, a fitting way to honor him on this blog: