Listia Mailbag: Ricky Nolasco

I recently picked up this 2013 Allen & Ginter game used jersey card of Ricky Nolasco on Listia for about 5,000 credits.  I think that's about two bucks.  Or, it might be five hundred dollars.  I'm not sure.  In any event, it's a cool looking card.  I like how the A&G relic cards have the mini card inside the frame.  It's like a Russian nesting doll.  Nolasco was a Marlin on the card, sporting the then new Miami Marlin jersey. 

Insert Card Goodness

I bought a 2013 Allen & Ginter insert card of Ian Kinsler on eBay recently.  It’s kind of a pointless insert set, but whatever.  A lifelong Ranger, Kinsler was traded to Detroit for Prince Fielder.  I have to think Texas got the better part of that deal in terms of talent and production.  But second basemen are hard to come by and Prince Fielder will have to be paid a zillion dollars over the next few years. 

A Quarter Well Spent

I picked up a lot of 4 cards on eBay for less than a quarter.  That’s not too bad considering the players in the lot.  I received a 2011 A&G Ryan Howard Sketch card, 2012 Topps Opening Day Carlos Gonzalez card, 2012 Topps Ryan Braun card, and a 2012 Topps Cut Above card of Hanley Ramirez.  Unfortunately, the Howard card came with a small ding to the corner.  Otherwise, it was a great lot. 

2012 Allen & Ginter Blaster Box

I picked up a 2012 A&G Blaster from Wal-Mart as an impulse buy.  I didn’t get any hits.  The best card in the box was probably the Brett Lawrie A&G back mini.  But the box was full of Yankees as you can see.  Out of the 7 Yankees cards, only 3 were present day Yankees.  Go figure. 

eBay Mailbag: John Lackey

My latest EBay purchase is a 2006 Allen & Ginter card of John Lackey.  It cost me 6 cents shipped.  This card is technically a short print.  That really doesn’t impress me since I don’t collect short prints.  But, in 2006 that would be a big deal.  In 2006, this card would probably sell for $6 instead of 6 cents.  However, in 2012 this card is reduced to a mere common card.  And, John Lackey has been reduced to an injury-prone bum.  He is also a Red Sox now so that’s another strike against him. 

2010 Allen & Ginter Black Mini: Jose Lopez

I purchased a 2010 Allen & Ginter Black Mini of Jose Lopez for only 60 cents on eBay. I like Allen & Ginter in general and I like any kind of parallel. The black border looks really cool. I just wish the card was full size. Lopez had a rough year in 2010, but he is technically a former All-Star. Much like Mark Redman is a former All-Star. Lopez happened to be the best player on a bad team. Hopefully, next year turns out better. In 2010, he hit .239. Compare that to 2008 when he hit .297. I think I got a good deal especially if Lopez can turn things around next year.

Topps Replaced My Card!!

You may recall that I purchased a box of 2010 Allen & Ginter a while ago. I had a lot of fun opening that box even though I didn’t pull anything that great. However, contained in that box was a mini card of Vasco Nunez de Balboa that was badly damaged. It really wasn’t that big of a deal, but I paid $78.00 for that box. So I wrote a letter to Topps demanding justice. And to my surprise, I got it. Topps sent me the same Balboa card in perfect condition. They even threw in a polite form letter. I was hoping for a few extra goodies, but that would be greedy. Thank you for your customer service Topps. I salute you.

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: 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.

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.

East Coast National: Part Four

I picked up this card from a dealer on stage at the East Coast National in White Plains. The card was a 50% off bin. Even at 50%, everything in the bin was way overpriced except for the one card that I bought. It is a 2009 Allen & Ginter Game-Used Jersey Card of Dontrelle Willis. It was marked $2 and I bought it for $1. I think this is a pretty decent price even though Willis has basically fallen off the face of the earth. Willis is actually trying to come back as a member of the San Francisco Giants. Hopefully, Willis can be successful at the big league level once again.