Jose Reyes Gypsy Queen Relic

It's always tough for us collectors to decide whether we are going to continue collecting a player who leaves via trade or free agency.  I've decided to continue collecting Jose Reyes cards.  What is especially nice about this particular 2012 Jose Reyes card is that he is depicted in his Mets uniform, and that made my decision to pick it up to compliment my David Wright relic from the previous post quite easy.

I think it is appropriate since the relic is clearly from a Mets uniform.  At the same time it is kind of odd, since Reyes is depicted in his Marlins uni in both the base Gypsy Queen card and the sliding stars Gypsy Queen card (both of which I still need).

Nevertheless, it made me happy to pick up a nice 2012 MET Reyes relic card to add to my collection hopefully to be followed by the non-Met Reyes cards from Gypsy Queen soon.

Mets Triple Threads Unity Completed (Two Versions)

I know it has been a while, but I am sparked to post again by a couple of posts by fellow bloggers, one over at Crinkly Wrappers and to a lesser extent the series of posts over at Tomahawk Chopping.

I am still here!  There have been a few reasons for the lack of posts, one of the big ones being that I no longer have a working scanner to scan my cards.  I know many of you know how annoying that can be.  Also, though since I don't partake of the high end stuff much I have not gotten too many cards in the last few months.

However, while it took me several months, I did finally complete a Triple Threads Unity three card set depicting Citi Field in the background.  I'm not sure why the Triple Threads Unity "gimmick" sparked my interest, but it did.  Anyone else get dragged into completing a unity of their own?

Here are my results (I know they aren't a perfect color match, but hey I'll take it)

Version 1: Thole, Reyes, Niese

Version 2: Santana, Reyes, Niese

I'm a fan, I like the way they look next to one another, especially in my binder.

So, anyway, I am still here and interested in Mets cards, and am quite excited about the start of the 2012 baseball card season despite the fact that I am not thrilled with the flagship set's design.  But, hey, maybe it'll grow on me.

Finally, I am kind of interested in putting together a Cubs unity set.  I already have the right most card, and am looking for a center and left most card.  Or if anyone has another center Met to trade, I'd be interested in that as well since Reyes is now gone.  If anyone has some to trade, let me know.

Anyone Need Gypsy Queen Mets?

Anyone in the market for these let me know.  I also ended up with a couple duplicates of mini base cards and a duplicate of the Seaver Great Ones Insert.

I participated in a case break of Gypsy Queen over at A Cardboard Problem.  Of course, I grabbed the Mets.  I ended up with about five complete team sets.  Now Ike Davis was the short print, and while I did not get any of those in the group break, I did end up with one mini parallel of the card so that worked out.  Additionally, I ended up with about five Ike Davis Future Stars Inserts.  This means I have about five of these:

My big hit of the break was this Jon Niese stamp card numbered to 10.  I was happy with it, but I was also hoping for an auto.  There is still hope, though, since I might end up with one of the shorted autos from one of the boxes.

What do people think of the stamp cards?  I think it is interesting more for the design of the card (inserted plastic window) but do not quite get the relevance of the stamp.  

Two Cool Dual Relics

So I stopped by my local card shop yesterday afternoon and I picked up a bunch of game used cards of various players I like or did like before they retired including Randy Johnson, Tony Gwynn, Justin Verlander, another David Wright and the two cards below.

Both are from the 2009 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts insert set called Generations Dual Memorabilia.  I have always found those Dual Memorabilia cards to be hit or miss depending on whether the two players depicted together made sense and were both players I liked or at least respected.

First, is this Chase Utley and Joe Morgan card.  Though Morgan might not be the best announcer in the world, he is a Hall of Fame second baseman.  His Stolen Base numbers are great and he got caught less than once in four tries.  Utley, if he continue to be productive and play at Citizen's Bank for the next five years, will also have hall of fame numbers.  So this pairing made sense to me.

Next, Jose Reyes and Tim Raines.  The pairing here has to do with the two players' stolen base prowess.  Raines got caught less than once every five and a half tries and had over 808 steals in his career.  He is a boarder line hall of famer and, as a bonus, is depicted in his expos uni.  Reyes, if he can stay healthy and develop the power he has shown at times could end up being an infielder's version of Raines.

Anyway, I liked these two and I'd be interested to know what you think of them.  The Utley and Morgan card might even be up for trade, but only in the right deal for something interesting and/or 2011 related.

The Hatless Horsemen aka Topps 206 Mets

So I stopped at a mini card show this past weekend.  Many of the dealers were packing up, but I found one that had a bunch of 2010 stuff unsorted in large boxes and was happy to wait around as I poked through them.  One of the benefits to being a Met fan in the Chicagoland area is that Mets are pretty much thrown in with the commons.  This guy had a whole bunch of Mets mixed in with his 2010 Topps 206, so I picked up a bunch.

First, I found a Jackie Robinson.  Not a Met I know, but he still fits in with this theme since the Citi Field entrance is a fitting ode to him.

Look ma, no hat!

Next came a trio of pitchers.

The Ace

The Up-and-comer

The Kid

And a trio of hitters, now more question marks than exclamation points unfortunately.

This card perfectly summed up Beltran's season, nice work Topps!

The one Met hitter who had a very good year.

 His smile can still light up a field.

And finally, one I picked up in a trade rather than at the card show.  A Tom Seaver mini piedmont!

Hats off to madding over at Cards on Cards for this terrific, puns intended, throw in.  I will probably get around to posting the central card in the trade another day.

I'd be interested to hear what other Mets fans think of these.  I don't mind these hatless cards, but maybe the Mets just have interesting looking heads even without the caps.

Happy Days Are Here Again

How sweet it is to sweep rather than be swept.

Well now that the Mets are at one of the peaks in their incredibly up and down season, all us Mets fans have to enjoy it and hope that the worst troughs of the season are behind us.

Tonight, to culminate the shutout sweep of the Phillies, Mike Pelfrey pitched. I have relatively few cards of Pelfrey (I'm in the market for more), but I do have a few nice ones like this one:


Jose Reyes, for the third consecutive game, made a difference offensively by scoring some runs. Here is an appropriately patriotic card of his in honor of Memorial Day this weekend.


Finally, Jason Bay is hitting and driving in runs which has finally gotten the Mets offense going.


It is hard to believe that the Mets have not shut out a team through an entire series sweep since 1969, and that they would do it both in 69 and 2010 against the Phillies.

It has been a very good six games for the Mets. Hopefully they can keep it up while in my current neck of the woods this weekend.

The Mets Exchange: Second Trade with Mike of BA Benny's Buffet

So Mike and I are both Mets fans, fortunately for me he is also a Yankee fan. That works out because I send him my Yankee cards and any Mets doubles I may get and he generously returns some of his own Mets doubles like this Reyes Topps Unique (It is kind of hard to tell from the scan, but "Reyes" is in glossy black on a black mat running vertically down the left side of the card).


However, this time around I was captured by the design of some Topps Pristine cards he had posted. He pulled some non-Mets players that he did not collect, but that I do. This particular Kerry Wood really stood out to me.


For some reason I really like how the geometric line behind Wood plays against his picture in the foreground. Not sure why, but I guess I just like the design of that set. Therefore, I was able to get a Brian Giles, Prior (yep I still collect both the Cubs busts), and Jeff Kent along with this Kerry Wood card.

Weekend Bonus Card of the Day: An Ambitious Start

2007 Upper Deck Elements #111

Jose Reyes

Materials: Acetate (PETG)

The Card:

So when Upper Deck came out with a set called "Elements" I was already excited by what eX had been doing and looked forward to getting my hands on some cards from the set.

As you can see in the scan, if you look closely, the card is translucent and made completely of the acetate (you can barely see the white rectangle containing the statistics on the back of the card through Reyes' torso).

I actually just purchased my first several of these cards at the end of the 2009 Baseball season, and I am pleased with them. I was quite happy to obtain this Jose Reyes gem along with some other nice ones.

Elements was an interesting set as you can see from this press release, which was the best information I could find on the set: http://sports.upperdeck.com/news/article.aspx?aid=2643. Each player had three different cards: one in acetate, one in foil board (which is textured), and one in light fx (which seems like a smother foil card). Each had its own distinct picture on the front.

I have to say, though, that the acetate cards were the most special of the bunch. I have all three versions of Johan Santana and while the foil board and light fx are nice, to me they do not appear much different from many of the traditional inserts. Though, they are all base cards. The acetate base cards are some of the nicer alternate material cards in my collection; however, I think Upper Deck could have made more use of the transparency of the acetate than they did in the design of the cards.

The Acetate:

Chemical Name - Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol

(aka PETG)

Brand Name - Vivak

Description - "VIVAK is a transparent thermoplastic sheet. In the point of purchase industry, VIVAK is the brand and market leader for all clear plastics. Among its advantages, VIVAK offers superior impact strength over acrylic and cost effectiveness compared to polycarbonate. VIVAK offers deep draws, complex die-cuts and precise molded-in details without sacrificing structural integrity. It die-cuts and punches easily and can be bonded or fastened with adhesives, ultrasonic welding or rivets. In addition, VIVAK is easily decorated by painting, silk screening or hot stamping. Easy to fabricate, form, bond and decorate, VIVAK is well suited for a variety of point of purchase and sign applications.

Applications: Typical applications include video tape shelves, greeting card displays, revolving merchandise racks, indoor signs, point of purchase displays, menu displays, photo frames and slat wall inventory displays."*

* This information along with additional technical information on PETG can be found in the following pdf file: http://www.plasticsintl.com/datasheets/PETG.pdf