HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

    Happy New Year to all. I wish everyone a happy, healthy, and successful 2011. May all your boxes contain major mojo this year.

     Thanks to all who have stopped by BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet in 2010 and I look forward to more fun here in 2011.



A Rant, The Contest Winner, and a Tidbit!

    Hello all. As we all recover from the blizzard that hit the northeast, I have to give a big FAIL to the NYC Sanitation Dept. here for their response to this latest storm. We have had similar storms in the past and they always managed to get us all back up and running within 24 hrs but as I write this (6:00 pm Wed.) it has been 60 hours which is two and a half days since the snow stopped falling (22 inches)and my street has yet to see a snow plow. I can say the same thing about the side streets around my work garage 4 miles from my home. Monday afternoon, our jackass mayor (Bloomberg) was boasting how this was just another day in New York City and how all the Broadway plays were open for business and that all would return to normal shortly. What he fails to realize is that NYC is 5 boroughs and not just Manhattan so while his precious little kingdom of downtown was taken care of, the rest of us have been struggling to just get around and go to work. I won't even get into the fact that I couldn't even get my car out of my driveway until last night and that is still a big pain in the ass and dangerous to be driving on these unplowed streets. I wasn't even going to write about this crap but as I started typing it just came out. A good rant once in a while is good for you I guess. Anyway, thanks for putting up with that and now onto a good topic.

    The winner of my little jumbo repack contest is now to be revealed. HERE is the original contest post in case you forgot about or missed it.

   Here are the keepers from the 32 that I set aside from the original 100 card repack.

 

    By my count there are 16 that I need for my various collections. Funny how it ends up being exactly half. Once again you can see the Greg Nettles auto in the center (I am going to say it's real like a couple people commented) and the bottom left corner is the Ken Griffey Sr. that I forgot to picture in the contest post.

    Here is the other half of the cards which I already had so they will go into the pile with the rest that are going to the winner.

    Here's the winner's pile.

   And as promised I will also include some cards from the team of the winner' choice. So now the winner is................

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 Nathan!  Congratulations on guessing 16 for the winning number. Nathan is my latest follower and seems to have just found my blog recently. That guess happened to be the last guess and was made yesterday. Send me your mailing info and what teams you collect (baseball and football) and I will send out your prize.

And I leave you with another tidbit.

    In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. However, how to prevent them from rolling about the deck? The best storage method devised was a square-based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine, which rested on sixteen.. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem...how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a 'Monkey' with 16 round indentations.

   However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make 'Brass Monkeys.' Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled.
   Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs would come right off the monkey.. Thus, it was quite literally, 'Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.' (All this time, you thought that was an improper expression, didn't you.)

Thanks for Reading!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

This is a rerun of my post from last night for all who missed the Buffet's Christmas post. I did change the Mets picture at the bottom.

  Merry Christmas to everybody out in Blogoland from BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet. I have seen a few posts out there looking for Christmas themed baseball cards so I figured in honor of the big day I would show off a few that I have. These first two are die cuts from the 2000 Pacific set. I believe they are part of a 20 card insert set of "Ornaments" but I don't have much more info so if anybody can elaborate, feel free.  See Update at bottom

Mike Piazza

Roger Clemens

    I got these two in a trade a while back from Dennis over at Too Many Grandersons  and have saved them til now for this Christmas post. They look great and have both holographic and refractive qualities that work very well together.
    Next I have a Santa Claus set that Topps released back in 2007. The set features cards of Santa representing 16 different years of Topps designs along with a Santa relic and auto. I bought this back in 2009 and when I opened it the card #12 (1987) was missing. I kept forgetting about it and when I finally called Topps this past November (when I thought of this post) they actually had a replacement card and sent it out for me within a couple of days. I picked up one of those display frames at the craft store and it actually looks pretty good. (I will post about the cards that came in it at a later date)

All 18 cards

   I took closer pics of each row for a better look.

   Let's see who can name all 16 years. Sorry no prize on this one, just bragging rights.

   There is a prize HERE and a couple of days left to enter my latest contest. There are still a few numbers left and I still don't know the answer because I haven't checked which cards I need yet.

Once again, MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you and your families. Enjoy.

Update:

Mark from Mark's Ephemera provided me a checklist of the Pacific Ornament cards.

Thanks for Reading!

Merry Christmas!!! Two "Ornament" Cards and Some Santa Hits 2007 Topps Style

  Merry Christmas to everybody out in Blogoland from BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet. I have seen a few posts out there looking for Christmas themed baseball cards so I figured in honor of the big day I would show off a few that I have. These first two are die cuts from the 2000 Pacific set. I believe they are part of a 20 card insert set of "Ornaments" but I don't have much more info so if anybody can elaborate, feel free. See update below

Mike Piazza

Roger Clemens

    I got these two in a trade a while back from Dennis over at Too Many Grandersons  and have saved them til now for this Christmas post. They look great and have both holographic and refractive qualities that work very well together.
    Next I have a Santa Claus set that Topps released back in 2007. The set features cards of Santa representing 16 different years of Topps designs along with a Santa relic and auto. I bought this back in 2009 and when I opened it the card #12 (1987) was missing. I kept forgetting about it and when I finally called Topps this past November (when I thought of this post) they actually had a replacement card and sent it out for me within a couple of days. I picked up one of those display frames at the craft store and it actually looks pretty good. (I will post about the cards that came in it at a later date)

All 18 cards

   I took closer pics of each row for a better look.

   Let's see who can name all 16 years. Sorry no prize on this one, just bragging rights.

   There is a prize HERE and a couple of days left to enter my latest contest. There are still a few numbers left and I still don't know the answer because I haven't checked which cards I need yet.

Once again, MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you and your families. Enjoy.

Update:
Mark from Mark's Ephemera provided me a checklist of the Pacific Ornament cards.

Thanks for Reading!

It's Starting To Feel Like Christmas Here At The Buffet, Secret Santa Included

     Hello again all. With Christmas rapidly approaching, the mailbox has been full with holiday cards from friends and family and the UPS man is a regular at the door with the online orders of gifts for the family. I received a couple of surprise Christmas cards this week from out in Blogoland as well. First I got a card from Larry (aka Mariner 1) of  Emerald City Diamond Gems .

   To my surprise when I opened it up to read, these cards came falling out.

 Some sweet vintage Mets! The Al Jackson is my first 1963 card and I may have had maybe 7 or 8 Saints cards from before 2000 so the two Manning's are great additions to my limited football collections. Thanks Larry!

    Yesterday another holiday card arrived from Tim, a reader who I've also traded with and he too had a surprise inside for me.

    A Tom Glavine card I didn't have. I like the fact that Willie Randolph has a cameo in this one too. Thanks Tim!

    Now today the Christmas Spirit continued to invade my mailbox when a package game from my Secret Santa. Sarah from A Rookie Baseball Card Collector put together a Secret Santa group and I joined up for some of the fun. As the rules go, you don't know who the person is getting a present for you and the return address on the mailer was addressed Secret Santa. The address didn't ring a bell either so I still didn't know who it was that drew me in the random. Inside was some great stuff of blue and orange so the mystery giver obviously knew me well.

   A Gooden on steroids along with a sweet Wright insert, a Beltran, and a Thole RC. Still no note so I still don't know who sent these.

    Next in line, a hit! 

    A Mike Cameron First Name Bases auto. Awesome, this is my first Cameron auto for the collection. Still no note but another card.

   A John Maine Inkredibe auto. I for some reason have very good luck with John Maine hits as I have pulled a few myself and have gotten several others through trades. This one is a great one to add to the collection. I sure hope he comes back strong next season.

  Here  are the backs.

   And stuck to the back of the Maine auto top loader was this business card.........

    Colbey (aka Fly Wheels) was my Secret Santa, way cool!!  We have made several trades so he knew exactly what I would like and nailed it, plus he is an all around great guy. I am very happy with the package, thanks Colbey, you rock!

There you have it, some holiday cheer, mailbox style.

Thanks for Reading!

A Contest Reminder

    Hey all. Just a reminder to get in on my latest contest if you haven't already. Go HERE , read the post and make a guess, there are still a bunch of numbers left. While the prize of the rest of the repack cards is ok, I will also add something up your collecting alley.

Million Card GiveAway Goals

  Hey all. It seems like a lot of people are having their Million Card Giveaway cards sent and there seems to be mixed reviews. I have decided to focus on my team card collection through the codes I have redeemed. I currently have 49 cards in my portfolio with 21 being team card keepers. (I have a 78 Angels also that I don't need). I have 10 other cards that I am looking to keep so I do have some traders left over. I have decided to go after the 1972 Team Cards as a set. I have 9 in the portfolio .....

UPDATE: Brewers Obtained

  I also have the Yankees here in my collection so that makes 10 of the 24 team cards from the 72 set. If anybody has any of the 14 that I still need (ironic that I still need the Mets) in your portfolio (or at home too) Shoot me an e-mail and we can make a trade. I have some older cards I can trade in my portfolio, I wouldn't expect to trade a 2001 Ivan Rodriguez for them like people keep asking me to so lets make a deal. I also would be happy to make a real through the mail trade too. Let me know.

Thanks for Reading!

Lottery Style Contest at Community Gum

   Hey again all. Community Gum is holding a lottery style contest base on the 2008 Moments and Milestones release. Head on over and get in, it looks very interesting.

Thanks for Reading!

Make a Difference, Help Those In Need.

    Hello all. Today is a plug for a fantastic idea that the Big Kahuna over at Enough Already. He has proposed a push for holiday charity that really we shouldn't need to be pushed to do but sometimes we forget how lucky we all really are. He has a few easy suggestions on some great things we all can do to help those in need. Most are easily accomplished with what comes down to the price of a few packs of cards. This is stuff we all should do year round but especially this time of the year with the holidays being here so head over there and get involved.

Every little bit helps so don't be shy, get involved and make a difference. Check it out over at Enough Already.

Thanks for Reading!