2011 Summary

2011 was a very interesting one for me, both in the card collecting arena and outside it.  I think I was more excited about baseball card collecting in 2011 than ever before and I think I probably bought more 2011 cards than any other year.  I'll probably also continue pursuing 2011 cards even in the years to come, which is very unusual for me.

This, in large part, was because my first child was born this year and I wanted to have a nice binder of cards to give him from his birth year.  Well, I'm up to two binders and I've got a lot of cool stuff.  I decided to collect both Mets and Cubs cards this year since my wife's family are fans of the Cubs, but the nicest cards I got somehow ended up depicting the East coast version of the lovable losers: aka the Mets.

Here is what I think is the nicest overall card I grabbed this year.

I say it is the nicest because of the combination of the caliber of the player, the coolness of the card (my blog is called clear cut for a reason), and the print run.

Here is the shortest printed card I picked up this year.

A Mike Pelfrey Bowman International Cyan Printing Plate.  By the way if anyone out there has the card this plate helped make, let me know I'd be interested in trading for it.

And just to show people I did actually try to get some cool Cubs cards here is a dual relic/auto of Andrew Cashner.

Hey, it is not my fault they traded him.  It was an interesting trade, and I think it can work out for both teams. I think Cashner will succeed as a starter, despite what some people in the Cubs organization think about his ultimate destination as a reliever.

Oh, and thanks again go out to Tony and Ike over at Ike's Cards for this Starlin Castro relic.

As long as Castro is innocent of the recent accusations and Rizzo takes advantage of the differences between Petco and Wrigley the Cubs might actually have the beginings of a good infield.

Rain Out Theater: World Series Edition

I've been away for a while taking care of my new baby boy and already doing my best to raise him a Mets fan despite living in the northwest suburbs of Chicago (the Mets won the first game I had him watch with me against the Cubs).

Well, I decided yesterday since there was not going to be any baseball on I'd stop at the local card shop and see if I could add anything interesting to the 2011 baseball card collection I am working on for my son.

I found two cool adds.

First, is this Ike Davis Allen and Ginter relic.  I've mentioned before that the Allen and Ginter relics are my favorite, and I went into the card shop hoping they would have this one for cheap and they did!

Davis was far exceeding my expectations in 2011 before his collision with David Wright.  I am hoping desperately that the ankle injury he suffered is not something that lingers throughout his career and stops what Mets fans are hoping is a stellar homegrown player from staying on the field and productive.

The second 2011 Met card I picked up was this 2011 Triple Threads numbered to 75 of catcher Josh Thole.

Now most of the Mets sources I've read indicate that Thole had a disappointing season, and I too admit that I had higher hopes for him.  However, he did show a bit of promise.  I think he is worth starting again next season.  I don't expect McCann numbers from him, but I think he can be as good as Jason Kendall was in his prime.  His upside comes from the potential for a high batting average (.280 against Righties last year) and OBP (.349 against righties).  Now obviously he'd have to improve on last year's numbers, but those numbers are a good start and his K/BB ratio is solid.  The big question is whether a platoon is necessary with him, and it might be (though he only has 74 MLB ABs against in his career so it is hard to say).  However, the Mets also have youngster Mike Nickeas that could offer that right handed complimentary hitter to Thole.  Anyway, I picked this up because I still have hopes for Thole and did not think his 2011 season was that terrible.  Plus, maybe the lefty friendly new dimensions at Citi Field next year net him another HR or two and he is only 24.

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.  

A Different Kind of Baseball Plastic - Soda Cups from Around the Nation

Well Throzul Will Rule decided to assign those in the card blogosphere to write a post about cups we have amassed from sports stadiums we have visited.  I have always collected these, so I was happy to comply.  Unfortunately, for me, my cup collection went through a purge two years ago (one of my wife's demands) so I am left only with my favorites and the ones I have obtained since the purge.  Well here they are:

I start where most players do - in the minor leagues.

The left most and center cup are from Orioles farm teams: The Frederick Keys and the Bowie Baysox, A Carolina League and AA respectively.  Both are from the summer of 2008 when I was living in Baltimore and able to attend four different minor league games, an couple of Orioles games, and a couple of Nationals games.  The right most cup is from the Greensboro Grasshoppers.  I was a big fan of their logo which is part of the reason I kept this cup.  They are in the same A league as the Keys, but much further South.  I attended their game in 2007 when I got to see a whole slew of minor league teams around the Chapel Hill area.

Next, onto my baseball team, the Mets.

The first two cups are from Shea and the right most cup is from Citi Field.  Now, I would have kept more Mets cups, but for some reason the tops always start falling apart.  I'm not sure if that is because I use them more than my other cups, or just because they tend to mimic the team whose logo they bear.  Anyway, the center cup is from the final year at Shea.  It was a heart-breaker, but I was there at the final game to see it in person.  The right most cup is from the first year at Citi Field.  It is interesting for a couple reasons.  First, it is the smallest souvenir stadium cup I have ever seen.  I was kind of pissed because it seemed to me that I was getting jipped out of soda despite the fact that it is so much cheaper than the cup itself.  However, on the bright side this cup has held up a lot better than the previous souvenir cups, so that has tempered my anger over time.  It is also interesting because that year the Mets had different souvenir cups throughout the season.  This was the first in the series.  I kind of liked that idea, because as a Met fan who attended a bunch of games throughout the year I was kind of tired of getting the same design cup at every game I attended.  Unfortunately, that was also the year I moved out to Chicago so I did not get any of the other designs.  I have also found that many of the food stands at Citi do not carry the souvenir cups, which is strange.

Next, here are the cups from after the purge.  These are all from my 2010 baseball road trip with Q, chronicled here.

The left most cup will look familiar to those who read Thorzul's original post.  It is from a Brewers game, the first stop on the trip.  The second is a White Sox cup.  I was kind of disappointed by the design on this one.  The third is from the Twins' new stadium Target Field.  The right most cup depicts Fred Bird, the Cardinals mascot.

Finally, here are two of my other favorite cups from over the years that I saved from the purge.

The first is from an Atlanta Braves game.  That was from 2007, and is probably the furthest I have ever driven for a single game (not part of a road trip).  The second cup is by far my favorite: a Red Sox cup from a 2006 game when I sat in the Green Monster seats.  Now the seats enough could have won this cup a spot in my cabinet, but the graphic on the cup actually uses the same effect as a Topps 2020 insert card.  It is kind of cool, and also surprising that a team would spend the extra money to embellish a cup that people would buy no matter how cheap it was to make - see the White Sox cup above.  I also do not remember it being priced much higher than other souvenir sodas, but I could have just forgotten.

Well, thanks for reading and if you are still with me, then I would like to reward you with a heads up.  I am going to post my first ever contest on February 15th, the day the Mets' pitchers and catchers report.  It will be easy to enter and the prize will be a small set of relatively unique cards.  The rest you will have to wait until the 16th to find out!

Studio Stained Glass

I've mentioned before how much of a fan I am of stained glass and the inserts that mimic it.  Below is Studio's 1996 Stained Glass Stars number six.

It's my third stained glass looking Piazza card.  I think it would look a lot cooler with a Met logo in the background, but perhaps that's just me.  I was a big fan of Studio as a kid, I spent a lot of money on packs from its inaugural set in 1991 up through 1995.  I'm not sure how well those sets stand the test of time, but the 1994 set still reminds me of the team locker setups that they used to have at the Hall of Fame.

1994 Mike Piazza Studio - I don't have this one.

 So anyone else out there a fan of Studio when it first came out?

The back of the clear Piazza Stained Glass Stars

Congratulations Rangers

Thanks in large part to this man, who was involved in four of the six Rangers runs in the clinching game, I will now definitely have a rooting interest and reason to watch the World Series.  If the Giants can beat the Phillies, it should be really fun.

I actually just picked up this card the other day at my local card shop.  I have always liked the way Ginter does relics: a combination of plastic, card stock (I think), and the game used material which is wood in this case.

Thanks again Vlad!  With the way you rebounded this year, you could actually make it to 500 HR with over 2500 hits, and I think those are Hall of Fame numbers.

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.

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:

Card of Day #1

Todd Hundley E-X2000 1997 #85
Construction: Cardstock frame with blue sky style translucent plastic window


So why in a blog entitled "Clear Cut Cards" do I choose a card that is not really clear at all as my first choice?

Well, for one eX was one of the first brands that I became aware of as using non paper based materials well in card construction and I was hooked right away. Unfortunately, I did not have the means to purchase packs at the time, so I stuck to a few reasonably price singles such as this one. Happily, several of eX's subsequent releases continued to up the ante when it came to using plastic as the card's base.

Another reason is because Hundley, definitely my favorite Met of his era, worked in New York during the most productive part of his career while being from the Chicagoland area and I find myself in the opposite situation: being from New York while working in the Chicagoland area. So, I guess part of the reason for this selection is in way of an introduction. Hi!

Oh, here is the back of the card. You can tell that the card certainly has its flaws (missing thumb and cut off brim to the helmet), but it is interesting!

I hope to be updating the list of cards I have in the coming weeks. I decided to start with my Piazza collection, probably the largest of any player I own.