2008 Upper Deck Artifacts - A Piece of History (they say...) II

So lets see the so called hits I got in the box.

And I got a (base) numbered Timeless Moments insert card of Chipper Jones.

Since he was the main star retiring last year is just great to get his card.

The thing about this kind of cards (the same happens with Topps) is that the middle spot, right where is the '3B' looks really designed to show a bat or jersey patch.

I usually look to the numbering to see if I can spot some kind of 'algorithm' to it.

And this card is a great example.

The card number is 244 and the total number of cards available are 699.

So we have an even number to start (2xx and 6xx) and then two equal numbers (x44 and x99),

Should the card number end in two equal odd numbers and the card would be awesome!

(Yep, I'm that geek!)

And the assured hit in the box is a (base) Stadium Scene jersey patch of Jim Thome.

I know that this patch might have come from the dusting fabric from the Upper Deck offices.

But is not that that makes me grit my teeth.

Is the fact that the jersey patch is a different colour from the one in the photo.

Make it the same uniform colour in the photo and I might think it is really from the pictured uniform.


I got happy with the 'hits'. And I think I might go and spend some money on comc.com to finish the set.

Getting some oddballs for the weekend

I've read so much about oddballs in other blogs that I got curious to know more about it and to try and identify an oddball if I saw it.

It seems I finally saw one and understood on the spot it was a real oddball.

So here is an envelope full of 64 '82 Kellogg's cards.

I only passed through some of them but they simply look great!

It seems I already had other oddball in my possession: a '87 K-Mart special edition set of 44 cards.

And if it wasn't enough I got an other.

An other K-Mart special set but this time a few years back for the '82 release.

Will be having much fun seeing and getting to know both sets.

2008 Upper Deck Artifacts - A Piece of History (they say...)

Some might say it's a piece of something else other than history but I like it.

So I ordered this box months ago.

I did got it right on time but I do not have much time to post right on the day I get cards. That's why I tend to start the posts this way, with some packs or boxes I got months ago.

And somehow it's a way of remember and appreciate the cards once again.

After writing this I'd probably get home and go through them again.

If the jerseys and bats were really from the store and not from the players body I understand why they could put one of those in every box.

Really I don't mind.

The cards look great just the same.

And if you are a fan of Yankees there is nothing better than getting a Yankee card in every other pack.

2008 were really a great year for that.

Upper Deck threw those cards in all of their sets.

Only seven packs. Could have been more. Or like Topps does: 7 plus 1 extra.

So lets see the base cards I got.

I like the design. The frame would be better if it would not resemble a gravestone.

But after what I saw from Topps GQ designs I cannot say that this Upper Deck try is the worst.

#74 Jimmy Rollins SS@PHI - Seems like his throwing the Upper Deck logo. The Chris Sabo spectacles style is a plus.
#100 Ryan Zimmerman 3B@WAS - I like alternative uniforms.
#145 Jeff Ridgway P@TB RC - One of those rookies that no one gets why they have a card in a set like this. Or in any kind of set for the matter.

#9 Brian McCann C@ATL - Catchers playing catchers is always a great card to have.
#31 Todd Helton 1B@COL - Comparing Helton and McCann cards side-by-side they look like one is silver and the other is gold. But I checked the checklist and the coloured parallels are numbered. That is probably the 'noise of the lights'.
#35 Gary Sheffield DH@CLE - Almost sunset card.
#132 Jonathan Albaladejo P@NYY RC - I remember him with the Yankees. He has a nice ERA for 5 games and same IPs.

#30 Troy Tulowitzki SS@COL - Rockies are doing well so far! Troy usually is one of the best in Colorado. Lets see what he can do this year.
#69 Mariano Rivera P@NYY - The Great.
#96 Alex Rios OF@TOR - I really prefer the new/old Toronto uniforms.
#146 Justin Ruggiano OF@TB RC - He goes between the minors and the majors.

#57 Delmon Young OF@MIN - Is he finished? He seems to be with Phillies now but have yet to play a game after coming out of the DL.
#61 Johan Santana P@NYM - His Perfect Game will be always in doubt for the inside/outside line...But Santana struggles to be a better pitcher but he tends to be a bit unlucky no?
#131 Ross Ohlendorf P@NYY RC - Don't know why but he has a sounding player name. If that exists...But besides pitching an Immaculate Inning nothing more to sign. I didn't even know what an Immaculate Inning. But that's one good thing that comes with this hobby is learning.

 #4 Chris Young OF@ARZ - An other Pink Card. Pink wrist bands means it's from the Breast Cancer awareness day/week. Like it.
#104 Brandon Jones OF@ATL RC - Disappeared since 2009. One hell of a smoky rookie no?

#48 Victor Martinez C@CLE
#87 Troy Glaus 3B@STL - Gone MIA since 2010.
#118 Josh Anderson OF@ATL RC -  Nice touch the broken bat. But an other player that do not play since '10.
150 Justin Maxwell OF@WAS RC - Finally a rookie that is playing! And do not look bad at all his stats.

#22 Aramis Ramirez 3B@CHC - I think Aramis goes well with both Cubs and Brewers.
#96 Alex Rios OF@TOR - An other Rios.
#108 Lance Broadway P@CWS RC - An other rookie that no one hears of since '10...
#117 Chris Seddon P@FLA RC - Wiki says he's now playing in Korea.


A good looking set with a bloody trash checklist.

Sorry but that is true.

Upper Deck would have been the best if trading the rookies for historic players and HOF players. Or they couldn't because of the licenses? Well, at least well known players for a small set (200 cards is small comparing to the usual Series 1 and 2 plus Update)would be preferable.

Will show the insert cards and the relic I got in a future post.

2013 best base cards - Just me saying

At the moment I'm writing these lines my last post about Will Clark has almost 900 views.

That is a record to me!

Specially because I started a blog just because I got pissed off about a value box I got a long time ago...

I don't know if it is normal just by writing Will Clark's name or not.

Or perhaps is really for the post itself.

Well, I think it's the first and that it's a one time thing.

Or you truly are very interested in knowing what we women think about sports cards.

But today there is no woman perspective is simply me showing my highlights for the 2013 Topps Series one base cards I got.

Some of them I already posted about but since I like them you'll see them again.

First of all I got the cover boy. But if you haven't noticed before, like me, the photo is not the same as in the pack.

The photo used on the pack not only Fielder has the bat more behind the head than up the head.

That was the first thing I noticed, if I may say, even if the main difference is really the uniform. On the base card Fielder in wearing the home uniform while on the pack he is wearing the away uniform.

And If it was for me the card would have the pack photo. I like it way better than the other!

Next is the playoffs collection.

Got at least one Yankee card. They only played well against Baltimore.

Great to get a Bumgarner card to my collection! And looking good!

The rest is history.

Now I have to highlight again here Mister Gallardo whom my have the best pitcher photo of Series 1.

Daniel Descalso is floating in the air!

After his terrific 2011 RC he gets an other great one. It's in his destiny.

Here a great example of the old dirt being better than the current dirt.

Imagine Gonzalez sliding with the '70s and '80s dirt and it would be like a dust cloud all around him!

But since we don't have it anymore...I'll be glad to get more of this.

Mister Gonzalez is heading for the Dust-is-in-the-Air binder.

With Alex Rios we get one of a kind contrast card.

Having the card design with White Sox theme colours and Rios with one of those retro uniforms being none less than bright red looks fantastic.

It's one of those cards I don't get tired looking at.

An other binder theme I finally started is the diving catch or diving for the base.

Here is great that, even almost out of the crop, we have the ball.

Photos with the players diving for a ball but without the ball in the picture is not *that* great. So this gets extra points for having the ball.

One of the players I collect. Joey Votto convinced me to let him get in the binders.

And he must be only player that do not tend to escape me on the packs. I still manage to get a Votto card in almost sets I buy packs of.

He was also the only Red I got in 22 packs.

An other player I started collecting is Miguel Montero. The only catcher for the matter.

I first noticed him because he has a dusty card too.

Montero tends to have his cards with him as a catcher and not batting.

What I found funny about this photo in particularity is the person behind him.

I don't know if you get the same impression as I do looking in person the card, but the person looks huge! It's like there is a giant behind Montero or that him is quite small, like a kid's size.

Got to love!

This is the true and only Pink Card.

This was a photo taken on mothers day or around it when they play and use pink all around because of Breast Cancer awareness day or week.

Love the fact that Castro is one of those players without any problem using a lot of pink - both wrist bands and bat. And the woman back in the stands wearing a full pink shirt makes this even more pink.

The catcher seems to be using a pink wrist band too.

So I don't care about pink parallels or so. This is being Pink!

Now all my Yankees!

Got 6 in total if not counting with Alex Rodriguez gold parallel.

I actually got 2 Jeter. For the times I don't get any.

But my favourite is the great Andy Pettitte! With the Record Chase for 250 wins.

He did a very well done job last night showing he is not finished yet.

The mythic Cubs wall. But DeJesus got the ball no matter the headache.

Everytime I look at this card I think Nieuwenhuis is making this strange gymnastic to keep the card frame straight without falling upon him.

I know an SP when I see one.

Or not.

I was searching the internet for the SPs list and it seems there are only a few called "Out of Bounds".

Are those really the only SPs out there?...

...Because I thought this was an SP but it seems it's simply a fun base card.

Dugout action rules!

And for the same example this Reddick splendid card is again a base card.

Because Reddick got the ball is not "Out of Bounds"?

I don't really mind. I simply collect without the SPs fever about it. But for organizing it better I need to know which are and which are not.

My A.J. Burnett.

"They may say I'm a dreamer" but I'll see Burnett as a very good pitcher in the end of his career!

I know he has not a nice ERA and that he tend to lose the strike zone. And not all catchers can catch Burnett game.

But still.

Correia has Portuguese ascendancy.

And for a brief lesson...If he had Spanish ascendancy his name should be Correa. In Portuguese is a bit different because we add a letter: CorreIa.

That's just like in TeIxeIra.

I got mixed feelings about this card because I don't quite know where to look: if to Moustakas or to...

Errrr...who is he? At first I thought it was Mauer but I canmot picture 'Mauer' in the back letters.

But I can picture...

Errrr...tight pants.

But again back to Moustakas!

Was he safe?

And to end here is McCann again sliding and getting some dust in the air. Again also I imagine the dust cloud.

The nowadays cards should be 'Dirt-is-in-the-Air' because there is no dust per say.


And that was all folks. I don't know if I'd be buying some more packs in the future or not. If I see some seller from my eBay sellers list selling more packs I'll give it a try maybe.

But any pack except hobby.

Will Clark - Woman Perspective Post (Vintage Edition)

Here I am with more woman perspective on the field.

And in vintage mood again.

Blame the fact I'm new to this hobby and to baseball history and I'm getting to know vintage stuff.

And back then there were a couple of players quite interesting.

By the title you akready know I'm talking about Will Clark.

I have cards of him from his early years in the ML so I got to know his younger side.

1988 Topps Big #9

Look at that gentle smile. He looks like the boy next door.

Still trying to grow some beard.

But then looking at the action photo we see a sports boy. One of those that never leave the field until the last minute.

That is one good looking sporty boy!

And there is always a special thing about dirty uniforms...and tight ones too.

1988 Donruss Diamond Kings No. 21

This card is not very flattering for Will but I've seen worse! But got to say that if it was for this single card I would not pay attention to Will.

I proclaim at this very moment that the Diamond Kings series are quite the enemy for women. It scares the hell out of us and keep us away from sports cards.

1990 Upper Deck #556

What is so good about early '90s in Upper Deck is that we get almost 2 full photos of the players. And that is a great example for Mister Clark.

On the front a giggling Will.

Yes.

That is giggling in my book.

Man giggling.

But giggling.

And that is what draws me to Will Clark. The fun going on. The good vibe he passes with his smile.

I think of Will like the vintage Hunter Pence.

All smiles most of the times but when he is at bat he has this serious and committed face.

Just look at the back photo. I think he was caught looking but the look on his face shows me he is up for quite the swing in the next pitch.

1986 Fleer Baseball's Best Sluggers vs. Pitchers #6

This is the rookie card of Will in my collection.

I know that the '87 cards of him are the ones regarded as his rookie cards. But this one is the one for me.

And it's from '86. A year before the ones released in '87. That's why the AVG stated in the card says it's from Minor League.

This card made me think if Will has something going on. Like a small accident or so that made him have the lip a bit turned upside down on the left.

But really. It makes me want to pat him.

Yep.

Pat him.

That twisted smile makes me want to pat him.

1987 Fleer Limited Edition #8

'87 was the true rookie year for Clark in the Majors and here he is in the dugout.

The first year is always scary. He seems a bit lost.

I want to pat him again.

And those black eyes...uhhhhhh Makes his face longer!

Can I say I want to hug him?

1988 Fleer Sluggers vs. Pitchers #8

Ahhh the sophomore year.

Even the black eyes are bigger! No more longer face but a man face.

Young Clark has grown up quite nice!

Except for the spectacles. Was it fashion back in the '80s?

But in Will everything looks great.

And he seems more accustomed with all the people.

But really, where are the women? With Clark in the field the women should be the majority in the stands!

Ahhhh ok. I understand. They have all fainted already.

1989 Fleer SuperStars #8

This is the last card of Will Clark I have in my collection.

I have saved the best for last.

I don't know why, and cannot really explain why I like this card so much.

There is no smile nor a great pose to the photo.

It's simply Will Clark.

Fantasy Baseball 2013

This year is no different from the others so I signed in once again in the mlb.com site to play some fantasy.

Last year I tried the new way of playing, where the players with more points count and then we don't have to care that much about chnaging the lineup to set the active players and the bench players.

This year I got that lazy too.

And I decided to get lazy too when selecting the players ranks.

I always lost a lot of time making the ranks to try and get the players I want and never get them. Except for the first year I played back in '09.

And so I let the ranks just like they were and for my surprise...I got the players I wanted. Well...some of them.

I don't know if it's mister Murphy pulling the strings or not but here is my fantasy players list. Number means the draft round.

1 Miguel Cabrera (3B, U, DET) 

2 Dustin Pedroia (2B, U, BOS) 

3 Adam Jones (OF, U, BAL) 

4 Ben Zobrist (2B, SS, OF, U, TB) 

5 Austin Jackson (OF, U, DET) 

6 Elvis Andrus (SS, U, TEX) 

7 Mark Teixeira (1B, U, NYY)

8 Torii Hunter (OF, U, DET) 

9 Ryan Doumit (C, OF, U, MIN) 

10 Oakland Athletics (P, OAK)

11 Brian McCann (C, U, ATL)

12 Cliff Pennington (2B, SS, U, ARI) 

13 Brett Gardner (OF, U, NYY) 

14 Starling Marte (OF, U, PIT) 

15 Ryan Howard (1B, U, PHI) 

16 Alberto Callaspo (3B, U, LAA)

From all of this I didn't know Ryan Doumit. I did some surch by his cards and they were pretty 'old'. I don't have any card of him.

Just like Pennington and Marte. I really had the impression I had at least a card of Pennington but maybe I'm making cunfusion about having Pennington in a past fantasy team.

Marte I cannot remember him too. So I'm pretty curious to see what this trio can do.

That's what is so good about playing fantasy. You get to know a lot of players whom may seem underdogs but turn out to be quite the players!

And of course it makes us look for their cards.

But for these players I didn't know or do not have cards I have all of the others.

The main highlight goes to Mark Teixeira.

Taking out Molitor is Teixeira to make the first place in my book.

The card I'm showing is the last I got to my collection. It was sent by one of my favourite eBay sellers as a bonus in my last purchase. It's a nice jersey relic. And I don't care if it is from a cleaning fabric. It still looks good.

The last time I had Texeira in my fantasy team he gave me a lot of points. So I'm counting that he will not get injured.

Then the obvious highlight too for the most recent triple-crown winner. I can see a lot of points comming from my 3B.

For 2B I have Pedroia and Zobrist. Zobrist is a hard-worker but usually doesn't get in the spotlight. Pedroia is what we all know. A image of the hard times Red Sox has been through. The best image I have of Pedroia is fielding. That's what a dirty uniform means.

Besides the uknown, to me, Doumit I got other catcher but one I know very well because it's one of my favourites. Mister McCann is probably the face of Atlanta after Jones has retired. His also pretty good with the bat so I'm hopping for some points.

Even if I got other 2 players that can play as SS I think Andrus is the best suited to play there. At least in my fantasy team. Here his rookie card from when we got great photos from Upper Deck.

Adam Jones did well last season in the playoffs so I'm counting on him. Austin Jackson I do not know that well. But Gardner I know! Hope, like with Teixeira, that he will play more and will keep injuries away. Gardner is great to get points from stolen bases and if bunts-get-to-first would count Gardner would give me even more points! He can hit and run pretty fast!

Torii Hunter is a fun player to watch but I don't think he can play at top level anymore. Let him show me I'm wrong.

The last 2 players, Callaspo and Howard I see as bench players. But let them play well and give me points if they may!

In fantasy we have to support some players that in real life we don't care.

To finalize I got for my pitching rotation the A's. I'm full of doubts. And probably I'll trade some field player to get an other pitching team.

But let come the season and see if I can get to the playoffs again!