Pack Break: 2007 Fleer Ultra

I found a lonely pack of 2007 Fleer Ultra and decided to liberate it.  Here are the results:

Tim Hudson
Brad Lidge
Hunter Pence
Hideki Matsui
Jim Edmonds

That's not a bad haul.  I got a Pence rookie and a Yankee card.  I like the design of this set.  But Fleer could have given us a few more cards in the pack.

Listia Mailbag: Eric Chavez

I picked up this 2007 Bowman Heritage game-used jersey card of Eric Chavez on Listia recently.  It cost me about 1,000 credits.  It has a couple of minor imperfections, but it's a really nice card.  Chavez is best known as an Athletic.  He retired as a Diamondback last year.  He also spent a couple of years with the Yankees. 

Pack Break: 2007 Upper Deck

Here’s a quick pack break.  This is a 2007 Upper Deck pack of just 5 cards.  It came out of a repack at some point.  I pulled Jeremy Accardo, Jason Frasor, Mike Jacobs, Johnny Estrada, and Delmon Young.  Meh.  I hate the dark Blue Jays uniform.  At least a poisonous lizard didn’t emerge from the pack and attack me.  That’s a positive. 

Pack Break: 2007 Topps Series 2

I would like to be on the record as saying that 2007 was probably the worst Topps design of all time.  For some reason, I seem to have a lot of the product.  And the product continues to find me.  This pack of Series 2 came to me as part of a repack.  There were only 6 cards.  Here they are:

Jon Lester
Francisco Rodriguez (above)
Mark Teixeira (above)
Juan Morillo
Jason Michaels/Travis Hafner
Brian Giles

More 2007 Topps Cards

I bought a small lot of 2007 Topps Cardinals cards on eBay for 12 cents shipped.  I don’t know why I did this.  I guess the price tempted me.  2007 is probably my least favorite Topps set.  I hate the black borders.  Yet I have purchased and continue to purchase the product.  Go figure.  I got one card of Kip Wells, one of Juan Encarnacion, and two of Todd Wellemeyer.  Not exactly an All-Star Team, but at least I didn’t overpay. 

Listia Loot

I picked up this 2007 Bowman Autograph of Chris Seddon on Listia for just 499 credits.  Why did the card sell so cheaply?  Seddon was originally a Rays prospect but never played for the big league club.  He had a couple of cups of coffee elsewhere but is currently playing in Korea.  Now that’s obscure.  One of his teammates is Jo-Jo Reyes, another former MLB player. 

Yankee Game Used Relic

I bought a 2007 Upper Deck game used jersey card of Johnny Damon on Listia.  It only set me back 804 credits.  The card has a small crease in it but on the plus side the jersey swatch has a Yankee pinstripe through the center. 

Another Dontrelle Willis Card

I picked up this 2007 Goudey Green Back Card of Dontrelle Willis on eBay for 6 cents shipped.  Willis is one of those players that I have unintentionally collected over the past few years.  I never set out to collect his cards.  I sort of just wound up with a bunch of them over time.  Willis had a pretty decent career until he forgot how to pitch.  Willis is now with the independent Long Island Ducks.  Their roster is like a garbage list of washed up big leaguers.  I fear this may be the end of the end for this former 20 game winner. 

Autograph from Upper Deck SP

I picked up this 2007 Upper Deck SP Autograph of Kory Casto on Listia for only 581 credits.  Casto had a brief stint with the Nationals in 2007 and 2008.  He has been out of baseball since 2010.  The price was right.  Also, I think I was buying the card brand rather than the player.  I have always liked the SP brand.  There’s something about all that foil. 

Pack Break: 2007 Topps Series 1

I picked up a pair of 2 2007 Topps Series 1 packs at a flea market for $4.00.  I am not sure why I did this.  I bought a ton of this stuff in 2007.  I really don’t like the design or the inserts or anything about this set.  Yet I still buy more.  I didn’t get anything great.  But here are the proceeds.  

 

My Newest Alfonso Soriano Card

I received this 2007 Fleer card of Alfonso Soriano recently. Best of all, it was free. I signed up for Swagbucks and had enough points for this card in about a day with little effort. You earn points by taking surveys and doing web searches and such. I was shocked that baseball cards were available as an award. That’s kind of why I signed up. I like the 2007 Fleer cards because they weren’t too expensive and didn’t have a glossy front. They’re great for autographs. Sure he is wearing a Nationals uniform on a Cubs card but it doesn’t matter. Soriano has been a bit of a nomad since he left the Yankees. He is not the player that he was several years ago. He is now 35 believe it or not. He hit 26 home runs this year, but at the expense of his batting average which was only .244. However, he did make $19 million this year. That’s pricey.

TTM Mailbag: Adam LaRoche

My latest TTM autograph return comes from Adam LaRoche c/o his home address. He signed a 2007 Topps card in just 19 days. The card was signed in black Sharpie. LaRoche will play with the Nationals this season.

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.

Trip to the Bargain Bin

I purchased 5 common cards for a grand total of 20 cents. They is something addictive about hunting through nickel boxes. Anyway, in chronological order they are:

2007 Upper Deck First Edition Curt Schilling – As a Yankee fan, I naturally hate this card but I had a lapse in judgment. Is his sock still bloody?

2008 Topps Stephen Drew – I’m starting to get sick of 2008 Topps. Drew is only having a so-so season.

2010 Topps Francisco Cordero – I like the design of 2010 Topps. I also like closers.

2010 Upper Deck George Kotteras and Jeremy Hermida – Both players are actually with different teams. Hermida is with Boston and Kottaras is with Milwaukee. But don’t say the actual team names or Upper Deck will get in trouble.

2007 Fleer: Jose Castillo

I recently made a modest purchase on eBay. I bought a 2007 Fleer card of Jose Castillo for 6 cents. Why? I don’t know. I like the designs on 2006 and 2007 Fleer. I like the lack of gloss. At the end, I guess I was bored and my finger got a little twitchy. Castillo has not appeared in the big leagues since 2008. Where is he now? Castillo is currently playing in Japan for the Yokohama Bay Stars. Who would have known? Among his teammates are former big leaguers Chris Bootcheck and Terrmel Sledge. No offense to Castillo but I think I may have overpaid. Oh well.

eBay Mailbag

I finally received my latest eBay purchase yesterday. It's a 2007 Topps Generation Now card of Justin Morneau #GN214. The card commemorates Morneau's 32nd of 34 home runs in 2006. I'm not really a fan of these Generation Now cards. There are too many of them. Do we really need a separate card for each home run or double hit by a player? Also, I really don't like the design. That black stripe on the bottom makes the card too dark. In fact, the base 2007 Topps cards are also too dark because they have too much black in the borders. So why did I buy this card? Well, it was only 6 cents with free shipping. How can you go wrong with that price?

Pack Break: 2007 Fleer

This is my final 2007 Fleer pack. It’s sad in a way. I didn’t really get anything great until I got to the rookies and inserts. The rookies were Bourne and Murphy. The inserts were Hamels and Jeter. Any pack with a Derek Jeter card is a friend of mine. Anyway, here’s the loot.
- Marcus Giles
- Carlos Guillen
- Felix Hernandez
- Tim Corcoran
- Mike Sweeney Mini (I would have preferred the entire card)

- Michael Bourne RC
- David Murphy RC
- Jose Vidro
- Cole Hamels Rookie Sensations

- Derek Jeter Perfect 10

Pack Break: 2007 Fleer Ultra

This is my last pack of 2007 Fleer Ultra. It wasn’t a great pack either. Here why:

Gary Matthews Jr. – A multimillion dollar bench player
David Ortiz – A Red Sox
Eric Chavez – I think he has more baseball cards than games played. His cards show up everywhere even though he’s always hurt.
Greg Maddux – I’ve got nothing against Maddux – He’s a professional and a Hall of Famer
Jamie Burke – A 40 year old rookie catcher

Thank you for preventing this pack from being an utter waste Mr. Maddux.

Pack Break: 2007 Fleer

I opened up yet another pack of 2007 Fleer. I have to say that I’m impressed by this product. It has 2 inserts per pack and each pack costs next to nothing. Also, I’m on record saying that these cards were perfect for TTM autographs. The rookie cards in this set are hit or miss but that’s OK. Anyway, here is the haul.

Brian McCann – I don’t have anything bad to say about McCann, but I don’t really know much about him
Livan Hernandez – How old is this guy? He must be in his late 50s.
Ricky Nolasco – He recently signed a $3.8 million contract…and his ERA was 5.06 last year
Angel Berroa – Berroa is a former Yankee, All Star, and Rookie of the Year. But he is a current bench player
Shane Victorino – Believe it or not, this is only the second Shane Victorino card that I own
Shane Youman – Who?
Justin Hampson – Who?!!
Brian Schneider – Dead Weight
Ian Kinsler – This is a Rookie Sensations insert. It’s actually my second Rookie Sensations card of Kinsler but these are pretty cool looking so it’s OK.
Carlos Beltran – This is a Perfect 10 insert. Note the retro uniform. So, overall it could have been worse. It also could have been better. But how can you lose when you are guaranteed 2 insert cards in every pack?

Pack Break: 2007 Fleer Ultra

This is my latest pack of 2007 Fleer Ultra. I pulled my share of washed up players in this pack. With only 5 cards, a couple of cards can ruin a pack.

1. Gary Sheffield – Shef is a role player at best these days. He is well past his prime. Also, he has a reputation as a professional jerkass.
2. Conor Jackson – Jackson is still young but he missed a bunch of time due to desert fever or valley fever or some kind of fever. If Jackson can stay healthy, he could be productive.
3. Matt Morris – Morris is now retired after some good years with the Cardinals. He fell off the cliff pretty quickly and last played with the Pirates.
4. Richie Sexson – Sexson is one of those home run or nothing type of players. But he quietly faded away, didn’t he?

5. Daisuke Matsuzaka – This is definitely the pull of the pack. It’s a Dice-K Lucky 13 Rookie Card. I know it’s a Red Sox card, but it’s still nice.