eBay Mailbag: Ricardo Rodriguez

I purchased a game-used jersey card from an eBay seller recently for a grand total of 65 cents. The card featured Ricardo Rodriguez from the 2001 Bowman Draft Picks set. My first task upon receiving this card in the mail was to determine who the heck this guy is. Thanks to baseball-reference.com, I discovered that this guy spent parts of 4 seasons in the big leagues with Cleveland and Texas. Although featured as a Dodger on the card, he never played for them in the big leagues. He didn’t do anything spectacular while in the majors, but he had his cup of coffee. Good for him. I should probably do this kind of research before bidding. But I can’t really complain. I got a game-used jersey card for some loose change.

Who Are These People?

You may remember that I purchased a box of 2010 Allen & Ginter a while ago. Included in that box were a bunch of cards of non-baseball players. I thought this was unusual since I purchased a box of baseball cards. What gives? I wound up with 21 of these non-baseball cards. I don’t even know who half of these people are nor do I care. I like Allen & Ginter but these non-baseball cards are a pet peeve of mine. Anyway, I would like to trade them for a handful of Allen & Ginter cards of any year as long as the cards feature actual baseball players. If anyone is interested, just leave a comment or email me.

eBay Mailbag: Garrett Atkins

I recently stole 3 cards of Garrett Atkins from a seller on eBay recently. I actually didn't steal them but I did pay 6 cents for all three. I received a 2008 Allen & Ginter which is my favorite since I now love Allen & Ginter. My second favorite is the 2008 X-Ponential followed by the 2007 SP Authentic. Two of those cards are inserts by the way. Atkins spent most of his career with the Rockies. Atkins now struggles with the Orioles. But then again, most of the Orioles struggle.

eBay Mailbag: Clint Sammons

I recently purchased a total of 5 Clint Sammons cards on eBay. I paid a total of 11 cents for these cards. I received 4 2008 Topps cards and a 2006 Bowman. Sammons is not a big name player. In fact, he spent all of 2010 at AAA Gwinnett. If that’s not bad enough, he hit .162 in 271 at bats. Brian McCann has nothing to worry about. In his limited big league time in 2007, 2008, and 2009, Sammons boasts a sub-.200 batting average. Anyway, I don’t think I can go wrong with an 11 cent purchase.

Contest Winnings from Drew

I recently won a contest that was held by Drew at Drewscards. Actually, I was a co-winner, but that’s not the point. Anyway, my prize was a Tri-Star Obak box topper of Roy Hofheinz. He is the man behind the Astrodome. This is my first Obak card. It is quite a neat looking card as you can see below. Big thanks to Drew for the prize.

eBay Mailbag: Luke Hochevar

My most recent eBay purchase was a 2010 Allen & Ginter card of Luke Hochevar. The card cost a total of 7 cents. I now have a thing for Allen & Ginter and this was a cheap pickup. I like the matte finish and I like the old timey design. Hochevar's 4.81 ERA led him to a 6-6 record in limited duty. He's on the Royals so cut him some slack.

2010 Allen & Ginter Box Break

I finally busted my box of 2010 Allen & Ginter. This was a fun box to rip open. There are a lot of different inserts and parallels in this set. Anyone who wanted to build the entire set would quickly realize that such a task would be expensive and time consuming. Anyway, without further ado, here are the highlights of my box.
There were 13 Short Prints in the box.
I received 8 Regular Minis (Ad Backs and Regular Backs) and 3 Black Minis.
Each box contains 3 hits. Unfortunately, the first 16 packs yielded 0 hits. I started to get nervous. Could this box be a dud? No. I received all 3 hits of the guaranteed hits in packs 17, 22, and 24. That’s a strong finish. The hits are pictured below. I received a Hanley Ramirez Bat Card, a Melky Cabrera Bat Card, and an Autograph of Ricky Nolasco. I also pulled a bunch of cards featuring non-baseball personalities like Copernicus and Leonardo DaVinci. I hope to trade those cards at some point. I guess I could have done better and I could have done worse. Overall, I am satisfied with this box. I did not pull anything spectaular but it was fun to bust and I got some nice cards out of it. I probably could not recover my initial investment but that’s OK.

eBay Mailbag: 2006 Topps Astros

I purchased two cards on eBay for a total of 7 cents. The first is a 2006 Topps card of Charlton Jimerson. Jimerson was last seen playing in the Angels organization. The other card is a 2006 Topps SI for Kids card of Craig Biggio. This is why I purchased the lot. For some reason, I own very few Biggio cards and a ton of Jeff Bagwell cards. Both are probably going to the Hall of Fame. So for a few cents, I made a small contribution to my collection of Craig Biggio cards.

2010 Allen & Ginter Hobby Box

My latest eBay purchase was a Hobby Box of 2010 Allen & Ginter. I paid $78.00 for the box. That's big money for me. I haven't bought a hobby box of cards since 2007 Topps. I never bought a box of Allen & Ginter before. I’ve actually never purchased a pack either. The box contains 24 packs containing 8 cards each. I am guaranteed 3 hits in the box which is part of the reason that I made the purchase. I imagine that I’ll get stuck with three no name jersey cards. I will share the contents in a subsequent post.

eBay Mailbag: 2007 Topps Commons

I purchased three 2007 Topps base cards on eBay for a total of 9 cents. The first is a NY Mets team card. I am not a fan of team cards but whatever. The next card features career backup catcher Mike Redmond. Redmond is currently a man without a team, but I don’t think he is officially retired. The final card features Jeff Francis who is still a part of the Rockies starting rotation. Overall, not a bad purchase for 3 cents a card.