Wall of Addiction

We have a saying in my family...

Anything worth doing, is worth overdoing.  We've lived and died by that phrase for generations.

Although a lot of the frames are worth about the same as the Orioles stuff in the frames, I can always slip in upgrades should they come my way.

 

In the meantime, I have a fun hallway that makes me happy every time I walk by.

And reminds me just how much I love my Orioles through thick and thin.

Longoria Auto Redeemed! (Should it be this curved?)

Today was a joyous day.  I received not one, but two redeemed auto cards from Topps!  Evan Longoria and Jay Bruce.

Evan Longoria came from a December 15th box break: Topps Hobby Box (Longoria).

Jay Bruce came from a a December 23rd box break: Topps Hobby Box (Bruce).

Mighty fast turn around I'd say.

The 2008 Red Hot Rookies must be about the best looking cards in the history of the universe.

The card does seem dramatically curved.  I've taken some shots at an angle to better illustrate:

 

So here are my questions to you folks out there in the card collecting world:  Is this card curved to the point that I should be worried?  Is this curve a common thing for these cards?  

I don't have much experience with redemption cards and none with Red Hot Rooke cards.  I'm very happy with it but don't want to make a mistake if this curve thing should be addressed. 

The Jay Bruce card isn't curved much so I know not all of these cards come this way.

Any advice or feedback on this is much appreciated.

2009 Topps Updates & Highlights Jumbo Box Break (Mountains of Inserts)

2009 Topps Updates & Highlights Jumbo Box

10 packs, 44 cards per pack

1 Auto and 2 relic cards per box

Each pack contains 44 Topps Updates & Highlights Baseball cards, + (1) Gold Parallel, + (1) Ring of Honor Insert, + (1) Legends of the Game Updates Insert, + (1) Turkey Red Insert, + (1) Propaganda Poster Insert, + 1 Ticket to Toppstown.com card.
Cost:  $77.99 (Blowout Cards)

There are a lot of stars to show, and a lot of stars I won't bother showing, but there are also a handful of spectacular action shots that must be shown.

The pics showing multiple cards can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Ivan winning the war again. 

 The announcers in Seattle fell in love with Endy Chavez (he was soon injured).

Hey pal, you sliding...you gotta be able to touch second base or it's an automatic out on both ends.

Tony Gwynn Jr. hard at work.  A lot of his cards no longer have Jr. tacked on, and now that he is on the Padres, every time I pull a Gwynn Jr., my initial thought is that I am getting a retro card of his dad.  It's always a let down.  No offense to Gwynn Jr., but he has yet to hit over .270.  His dad had 19 straight seasons of .300 or better.  Tough shoes to fill.

    

This card is perfect.  We are in the dirt with everyone.  Right at the ground.  Two players down from diving.  Edgar Renteria holding up his glove to show he held onto the ball.  The umpire pointing at the bag or Edgar or something.  And in the background, behind all this essence of baseball drama, we have cartoon cars painted on the outfield wall, their goofy cartoon smiling faces giggling at the action around them.

Those cars also giggle when the left fielder dives and dislocates his shoulder, or when two players collide at full speed.  Those cars seem quite callous at times.

This set has so many visual twists that it's hard not to enjoy it.  When in the world do we see Youkilis, Wright, Jeter, and Victorino all smiling and celebrating together?  Even if you hate all these players, you can still love this card.

Pence and Braun.  Braun is again looking rather sleepy.  He has another card other bloggers have posted that shows him looking absolutely sleepy, as if someone roused him from deep slumber, took his blanky, and left him in a daze.

I wonder what Hunter is explaining.  It looks important.  "So, to reiterate, that tall pole down there, they tell me that's the foul pole.  Anything to the left of that pole is fair."

King Felix, Adam Jones, Lincecum, Pence, Tejada, Greinke, Ichiro, Cain, Michael Young.

I received about 65 cards with the All-Star logo on them.  Most depict the players in their traditional uniform as opposed to the All-Star jerseys.

Rookie cards galore.  A lot of super rookies to boot.  This Josh Reddick may not be an example of one of the better rookies, but it has to stand as one of the best looking rookie cards out there.  The bat extended right into our living room, the confident look on Reddick's face, and the infinite black behind him.  If this guy makes it big people will remember this card forever (or at least I will).

As an Orioles fan the Updates and Highlights set is a boon.  Rookie cards of David Hernandez, Chris Tillman, Brad Bergesen, and Nolan Reimold.

Netali Feliz, Tommy Hanson, Gordon Beckham, Chris Coghlan, Andrew McCutchen, Daniel Schlereth, Michael Saunders (heavily damaged), Derek Holland, Daniel Bard.

You also get a one card pack that contains a rookie chrome refractor.  Powell will be 28 at the start of the 2010 season.  An unfortunate pull.

The famous Toppstown collection (sarcasm).

Gold inserts serial numbered to 2009.

Hanley Ramirez, Cain, Holliday.  Getting a Hanley serial numbered card never gets old.

More...

Ah, Turkey Red.  I miss 'em.  Ruth in Boston.

Scherzer, Rivera, Oswalt, Sabathia, V. Martinez, Crawford (uh-oh), Haren, A. Ramirez, Cueto.

Legends of the Game.  These inserts along with the Propaganda Poster inserts are my two favorite in this set.  Reggie on the A's is always welcome.  We need more cards with Reggie in an Orioles uniform though.

Carlton and two Nolans.  Right on!

Foxx, Ruth, Cy Young, Speaker, Molitor, Boggs.  I've noticed there is a trend to show Ruth in a Red Sox uniform lately.  A refreshing change.

Another nice insert, but several of these had some damage.

Garland, Miguel Cabrera (love da Cabrera), Reese, Cy Young, Hornsby, Foxx, Walter Johnson, Mathewson, Mize.

I can't get enough of these Propaganda Poster inserts.  This was the first time I've seen them in person, I believe.  Maybe I have one somewhere.

Lincecum, Albert, Howard.  I wish there was a 400 card set of this design.  I'd put the commons in binders.  I swear by God I would.

Dunn, Miguel Cabrera, Longoria, Hamilton, Ichiro, Wright.

Short Print Nolan Ryan and Honus Wagner.  I was hoping for the Roger Maris so many of us are smitten with.  That makes two different cards of Nolan Ryan in a Mets uniform in this box.  How often does that happen?

Peter Moylan auto.  Moylan is a sharp middle reliever.  In 183.2 lifetime innings his era is just 2.45.  (Whistles).  Nice.

Even more interesting, when I looked up Moylan's career on Baseball-Reference, I found a fellow baseball card blogger, Waxaholic, sponsors Peter Moylan's page on the site.  Waxaholic writes:  'Congratulations to Peter for breaking the All Time Braves record for consecutive appearances without allowing a home run!'

How cool is it that Waxaholic sponsors a page there?  And Peter Moylan of all players!  It's super cool, that's how cool it is.

Ted Lilly black, s/n:  #38/58.

All Star Jersey.  Creative way to incorporate the jersey into the skyline.

George Sisler, Legends of the Game Team Letter Patch, s/n:  #10/50.

Although this patch is manufactured, the card is pretty striking.  I haven't seen many old school cards like this so I did audibly ooohhhhh.

There's another 40 or so star cards I didn't scan.  Mostly just moments from the season and some cards of players on new teams.  Also there's a lot more rookies I didn't scan.

At $77.99 this is not a cheap thrill.  The hits weren't great (g/u, black Lily, auto).  Quality control was a bit lacking as I received more damaged cards than I expected.  However, just look at all the loot you do get:  fantastic inserts heap plenty, interesting cards, nice photography, strong rookies.

I probably won't buy another Jumbo box unless it drops to $60 or so, but I am glad I got to open one.

It will be hard to trade some of these inserts since I may not be getting more for quite some time.  These were my first 2009 Updates and Highlights packs so I didn't own any of these cards (or almost none of them).

This box made me think opening several blasters would be fun as well.

Good times!

Obak Tristar Hobby Box Break (Just the Hits)

Obak Tristar Hobby Box
20 packs, 6 cards per pack
9 hits per box:  2 Autos, 2 parallel cards, 1 mini parallel card, 3 short print cards, 1 special 4-card T-212 Mini Uncut Strip (my 4-card strip had Ted Williams on it)
Cost:  $38.95  (Blowout Cards)

I'll just show the main hits since so many have already reviewed this product.

s/n: #22/25

Steve Dalkowski was said to have been the fastest pitcher ever.  Some estimate he threw about 110 miles per hour!

In 1960 he had one of the most bizarre seasons in minor league history.  In 170 innings he struck out 262 batters while also walking 262.

His entire career was similar.  He once pitched a game in which he struck out 24 hitters, walked 18, and lost 8-4.  Not surprisingly, Dalkowski never made it to the majors.

Dalkowski did face Ted Williams in spring training one year.  Williams said Dalkowski was the "fastest ever," and "I never want to face him again." 

s/n:  #43/50, mini

Lars Anderson.

s/n: #10/25

This is my first Ted Williams serial numbered card.  What a beaut.

s/n:  #2/5

Wow.  Kittle hit 50 home runs in AAA in 1982.

Then in 1983, as a rookie in the majors, he smacked 35 bombs with 100 rbi, made the all-star team, won the Rookie of the Year, and played in the American League playoffs.

He would never again hit that many hr, drive in that many runs, make an all-star team, or play in the playoffs.  That must have been a let down for Kittle.

s/n:  #003/200, auto

Jordan Danks is the brother of White Sox pitcher John Danks.  I don't know if Jordan was one of these "favor" draft picks that sometimes happen (Jeremy Beckham/Tim Beckham).  I hope not.

s/n:  #32/50

I remember expecting Gregg Jefferies to be a superstar.  Even though he was still just a teenager, Jefferies was the Minor League Player of the Year in both 1986 (.353 ba) and 1987 (.367 ba).

He looked like he was going to be an infielder with a Tony Gwynn type bat.  Why he ended up just a solid player is still a bit of a mystery to me (.289 ba, .765 ops lifetime).

This box was tons of fun.

The information on the back of the cards makes me wish someone would write a book about the most interesting minor league seasons/careers in history.  They really made me interested but there's not enough information online to satisfy me.  Perhaps someone knows of such a book and can recommend it to me.

Is This Wrong?

Is it wrong to have cards in my kitchen cupboard?

If it is wrong, how wrong is it?

And does the degree of "wrongness" increase once you learn it's not just cards, it's junk wax commons?