I Want This Guy On My Team!!!

Hey again Buffet readers. I Want This Guy On My Team!!!

Miguel Olivio (Rockies)

        Miguel Olivio passed a kidney stone during the eighth inning of Monday nights game against the D-Backs. That has to be quite painful but what does he do next? He puts his catchers gear back on and finishes the game. WHAT! This guy rocks! While I am happy with the Mets catchers this season, I wish this guy was on my team at any position. That is dedication. Olivio said he has had stones before and once the pass he feels ok. I have heard the pain associated with passing kidney stones is compared to child birth. I have done neither nor do I wish to!

         On top of this standout effort, Olivio is off to a great start to the season with his new team. Through 22 Rockies games in which he played in 14, he is batting .314 with 5 homers and 13 RBI's. This guy should be on Night Owl's Bad Ass list with out a doubt! 

Don't forget about my contest and please post about it so we can get more entries.

                                                               

Thanks for Reading!

     

What's Missing From THis Card?

Hey all. I recieved this card a while back and forgot about it until it popped out of a box I was looking through for someting else. I can't put my finger on it but I think it's missing something.

2001 Topps Finest Chad Durham auto

A very nice looking card but what's missing?  Lets take a closer look.

1. 
   
   Nice looking photo of player. Check
2. 
   
   Player's name and team logo. Check
3. 
   
   Certified Autograph logo. Check
4. 
   
   "Authentic Autograph" description. Check
5. 
   
   Topps Finest logo. Check

1. 
   
   Nice little write up about player. Check
2. 
   
   Card number. Check
3. 
   
   Card Description again. Check
4. 
   
   Official Hologram sticker with number. Check

Now I see it, or don't see it actually. The autograph is missing. I guess the Topps quality control person must have been out to lunch or grabbing a smoke when this card came accross to be packaged.  these are on card autos too so I wonder if Chad missed it as well or if he never even saw the card to sign it. Has anyone seen a "non auto" auto card before? here is what it is supposed to look like.

Thanks for Reading!

Quick Contest Update

Hey all. Only a little time today so I will just update contest real quick. Less than 24 hours in and we have 7 entries already (Padrographs please leave coment so I don't forget to add you to random.org list). I guess I should have tried to do this contest first as I have recieved some long word lists already. Glad to see people using their thinking caps. Don't forget to spread the word so we get plenty more entries.

Mets end 10 game homestand with 9 of 10 wins. Off to Philly we go. Lets Go Mets!

Thanks for Reading!

Contest Time!!!

      Hello again all Buffet readers. BA Benny's Buffet is proud to present its first contest, after a couple of teaser posts I have finally decided to pull the trigger. I have seen and entered several contests in my short time here in Blogoland and even won one and placed in another so I figured why not try to host my own.
     My idea is to have a Scrabble/Word Jumble type of contest. Below you will see 29 letter patch cards (some are autos too) in alphabetical order. Very simply make as many different words as you can out of them. This is also a chance to show off my Letter patch collection.
A few rules too follow.

•      All entrants must be followers of BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet so please join on the side if you are not already a follower. (Yes I am shameless and want to add followers)
•      Only one entry per person so take your time and write them all down and make sure before you send your entry.
•       All words must be at least three letters. Plurals will be counted as their own words. Example ~ "card" and "cards" would be 2 different words. I figure this will help build up the points a little bit.
•      Each letter/card can be used once per word. If a letter appears more than once on the list you can of course use it.
•      Names of people or places will not be allowed. The only names allowed are professional team names from any professional league. 
•      Scoring will be as follows:

Regular word = 1 point
Baseball related word = 2 points
Any other sports related word = 1.5 points

•     Prizes will be determined by the number of entries. (I stole this from The Collective Trolls contest a little while back.) More info below the pictures.
• Contest begins now and will end Tuseday, May 4 at 6pm New York time.

Now on to the letters!

There you go. The letters are:

 A, D, D, E, E, E, E, E, F, F, H, I, J, L, L, L, M, N, N, N, N, O, S, R, S, S, T, T, U.

Yes I know the second "D" isn't really a letter patch but I put it in because I think it will add more words to your lists.

Winners will be picked via Random.org. I will also send a little something to the highest point score as long as the entry isn't computer assisted. In other words, no cheating.

Prizes will be as follows:

        Cards come from the 10 pictured below. (I will give more details on the prize cards when it comes time for the winners to pick. Also all of the winners can give me their favorite teams from baseball and football and I will add some cards from my collection as well.

• 
  
  1-19 entries ~ One winner,  3 Cards + others
• 
  
  20 - 29 entries ~ First place 3 cards + others, Second place 1 card + others.
• 
  
  30 - 39 entries ~ First place 4 cards + others, Second place 2 cards + others.
• 
  
  40 - 49 entries ~ First place  4 cards + others, Second place 3 cards + others, Third place 1 card + others
• 
  
  50 or more entries ~ First place 5 cards + others, Second place 3 cards + others, Third place 2 card + others

To enter, send me an e-mail AND leave a comment that you are entered. I will random from the comment list and will number the entries in the order they are posted. (NO Word lists in comments please) In the email please include your name, blog name, word list and any other info you think I should know. When you send your list please leave a definition or short description on any words you think may cause any confusion. (I get confused pretty easily sometimes. ha ha). Note the league on any pro team names you may come up with as I don't follow every one like the WNBA, MLS, etc.

Prize Cards

                               

                          

Please spread the word and add me to your blog rolls. The more the merrier. Hope you all have fun and enjoy the Buffet's first contest.

                                                          

Thanks for Reading!

   

  

Fathead Sweepstakes, And Coupons

Hey all Buffet readers. I got an e-mail from John Lee over at http://www.smile.ly/ about a Fathead giveaway sweepstakes where a Fathead Junior is given away daily for the month of April. (Fathead Sweepstakes) Fatheads are the reusable decal like figures of famous sports stars like Derek Jeter and David Wright as well as other sports stars and more. These look like a grat idea for a kids room or sports themed room. From the contest link you can get to their main page and check out the different items they have for sale. Here are a couple of discount codes for you.
15% off coupon code for select Fathead products, SML15C

Free shipping coupon code, SMLSHP1

In exchange for this post I will be getting a free Fathead Jr. from www.smile.ly so I will let you know how it is when I get it. Check out Fathead dot com, they have some pretty cool looking stuff.

Thanks for reading! 

Card Of The Day ~ Can You Spare A Buck edition

Hey Buffet fans. Been a while since I did a "Card Of The Day" post so lets have one here. Today I have a 2001 Topps Archives Baseball Bucks card.

2001 Topps Archives Baseball Bucks Willie Mays

        These cards were a promotion where you could use your "Topps Bucks" to buy stuff from the archives catalog found in packs. They were three denominations, 1 buck which had Willie Mays on it (pictured), 5 bucks which had Roberto Clemente on it, and 10 bucks which had Jackie Robinson on it. I couldn't find the odds or insert rates but the back has the total print runs.

1 buck Willie Mays ~ 15,000 cards

5 bucks Roberto Clemente ~ 1000 cards

10 bucks Jackie Robinson ~ 500 cards

      

  I wouldn't normally feature a "contest" card but these were short printed and had the Topps hologram sticker on the back to prevent counterfeiting like on auto cards so they seem to be collectable. Besides any card with Willie Mays on it is pretty cool. Anybody interested in this card shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment and anybody with any more info like pack odds or catalog items please leave a coment.

Thanks for Reading!

Bark In The Park!

Today was "Bark In The Park" day at Citi Field and the Mets won 3-1 bringing their record back to .500. Maybe they should let dogs in the stadium and on the field before every game.

Lets Go Mets!

I'm A Winner!!

    Hey all. I am very happy to say I was the winner of Ryan's contest over at his Great Orioles Autograph Project. He ran a contest where we had to guess what team would have the best spring training record and I used my brain instead of my heart and picked the Rays to be the best team. It paid off as I was right and won. Ryan asked what I wanted so I went with my usual Mets and/or Yankees but wasn't very specific and told him to surprise me. He surely did! Here are just a few of the cards in the nice sized package he sent me.

I assume these are all ttm autos as anybody who reads his blog knows he is a big ttm collector.

1982 Fleer #542 Mookie Wilson auto

1992 Topps #195 David Cone auto

Awesome! Can't go wrong with these two Mets stars. I have a Mookie auto ball and a Cone Yankee auto but these are my first two Mets card autos of them.

1982 Donruss #434 John Stearns auto

1996 Donruss Rated Rookie #100 Bill Pulsipher auto

Stearns in my opinion was under appreciated as he put together solid seasons on some bad teams during his time with the Mets after he arrived from the Phillies in the trade for Tug McGraw. I really like the 82 Donruss set and may try to put one together. Pulsipher never panned out for the Mets as part of the triple threat of Paul Wilson, Jason Isringhausen, and Bill Pulsipher who were supposed to be the most dominant youn pitchers in the game. In typical Mets fashion none of them had any real sucess with the team and were all traded away.

1986 Fleer #473 Tim Bogar auto

1986 Fleer Update #U154 Jaun Acevedo auto

Bogar was a fan favorite who played all four infield positions. I am stoked to add him into my auto collection. Acevedo only played one season for the Mets so this is kind of cool to have an auto on his Mets card.

1997 Fleer #393 Alvero Espinoza auto

1990 Fleer #454 Deion Sanders auto

Espinoza only played part of one season with the Mets and actually put up good numbers batting .306 in 48 games. Deion is Deion. I am not a big fan but gotta respect what he did in both baseball and football. He was a true athlete.

 

1989 Topps #659 Al Leiter auto

1993 SP #262 Jim Abbott auto

Al Leiter is one of my favorites with both the Mets and Yankees annd even as an announcer he is pretty good. What can you say about a gut who pitches with one hand and throws a no hitter for the Yankees on 9/4/93 vs Cleveland. A real inspiration to ball players everywhere

 

1985 Fleer Update #U97 Billy Sample auto

1988 Topps #159 Brad Arnsberg auto

Sample only played one year with the Yankees after seven with the Rangers. He played one more year with the Braves to round out his nine year mlb career. Arnsberg was drafted by four teams and didn't sign with any until the Yankees were number five and he signed with them.

  

1994 Topps #79 Billy Maase auto

1994 Topps #772 Russ Davis auto

Masse played 7 seasons in the Yankees farm system but never made it to the majors. Russ Davis made his bigest contribution when he and Sterling Hitchcock were traded to Seattle for Jim Mecir (a friend of mine is his cousin), Jeff Nelson, and Tino Martinez.

There you have it, fourteen auto cards but that's not all............

2008 Topps J.J. Hardy game used jersey

2008 Topps Update Lance Berkman event worn all-star jersey

The surprises just kept coming, two game used I didn't have. I have accidently begun a Lance Berkman game used collection as this is the fifth one I have gotten without really trying. I've always respected his on field abilities and off the field class. I am glad to add another one of his gu to the collection.

1995 Signature Rookies Old Judge T-95 Series #29 Tate Seefried auto

2009 Topps Update #UH164 Brett Tomko gold sn'd 0410/2009

Seefried never made the big leagues after eight years in the minors. This card is from his days up in Albany. I believe this is the first Tomko card for my collection.

2009 Topps Update #UH77 Jeremy Reed gold sn'd 0277/2009

2009 Topps Update #UH250 Mark Teixeira gold sn'd 0695/2009

Reed only played the one year with the Mets. I think Teixeira is one of the best all around players in the league today.

 This is just a small sample of what ryan sent. Here is one more card next to a pile of the rest of the cards he sent my way.

A cool Mantle and a great pile of more Mets and Yankees.

Thanks again Ryan, you had a most excellent contest and superb prize. I will keep my eyes open for O's autos for your project. Thanks Rays!

Thanks for Reading!

The E-Bay Fairy Visited My Mailbox This Week

Hey again Buffet readers. Today I have a few cards that fell into my mailbox from the E-Bay fairy. Let's get to the loot.

2004 Throwback Threads Player Threads Jay Payton sn'd 18/25

A sweet looking patch card. Payton only played a few years with the Mets in the majors after being the gem of their farm system. It seems like Donruss loved him though as they released several different patch and jumbo swatch cards of him from his time with the mets.

2008 Spectrum Swatches Pedro Martinez sn'd 17/35

This card is real sharp in person. If you look close you can see some stitching on this piece of fabric. Spectrum was one of the Upper Deck products I really liked the design on. The different colors used on the base, inserts, and game used were vibrant and eye catching.

2005 Leaf Century Collection Mariano Rivera sn'd 232/250

I always like the game used with odd shapes, letters, or numbers a little more then just the square box or circle with the swatch or bat piece. I had to grab this one of the greatet closer of all time.

2004 Fleer Showcase Ivan Rodriguez sn'd 146/150

Ivan Rodriguez is not one of the players I collect regularly but when I can get a game used or auto from a great player and sure fire Hall of Famer like him, I jump on the chance.

I just noticed 3 of the 4 posted here so far are road swatches. Interesting.

Now for a couple of those manufactured patches that some love and some hate. I fall into the love catagory and these next two are awesome to me.

2010 Topps Finest Tobi Stoner auto letter patch sn'd 162/217

2010 Topps Finest Tobi Stoner auto letter patch refractor sn'd 05/75

I have really taken a liking to letter patch cards and these two are awesome. The fact that the Mets called Tobi up this week makes them even sweeter. I wished they photographed better because my pics don't do them justice.

If anybody has any of these to trade, any player or team (baseball or football) let me know. Stay tuned for my first contest coming soon as you will see these 2 letter patches again.

                                     

Thanks for Reading!

A Few Quotes To Enjoy

A friend sent me these quotes and I think they are worth sharing. They are all from the same person so see if you can guess who.

•Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.


•Always drink upstream from the herd.

•There's two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither one works.

•Never miss a good chance to shut up.

•We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.

•Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.

•If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

•I never expected to see the day when girls would get sunburned in the places they now do.

•The best way out of a difficulty is through it.

•There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence.

•What the country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds.

•Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock.

•An onion can make people cry but there's never been a vegetable that can make people laugh.

•If you're riding' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there.

•Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier'n puttin' it back.
 
Take a guess and leave a comment.
 
 
 

Thanks for Reading!

I Have Been Redeemed

Hey all. Today I have my 2009 Topps Finest redemption card to show off. I posted a little while back about a mini box of 2009 Topps Finest (here) and here is the redemption I scored.

Julio Borbon Rookie Redemption #4

As I have said in the past, I like this set a lot and this card is no exception. I redeemed it on 3/19/10 and it came on 4/12/10. Not too shabby, less then a month.
      Julio played in 46 games in 09 for the Rangers and hit .312 with 4 homers and 20 rbi plus 19 stolen bases. He is off the pace this season with a 3/36 (.083) start and it looks like he is losing his leadoff spot when they play the Yankees today. As of now he will most likely bat in the 9 spot on Tuesday to take some pressure off of him and help him return to his rookie season form from 09.

 I would be up for trading this card for something interersting in a NY Mets flavor. Anybody interested feel free to shoot me an e-mail or leave a coment.

Thanks for Reading!

My Blog Bat Around Entry. If I Had 50,000 To Spend In 15 Minutes...

So you want to give me $50,000 to spend on cards in 15 minutes on E-bay. A piece of cake, or so I thought. At first glance this topic looked like an easy one for me to participate in my first Blog Bat Around hosted by Gellman over at Sports Cards Uncensored, but when I got going I realized it would not be. Spending is easy, 15 minutes was not. I have to go back to when I was 10 or 12 years old and would see those kids who won the big shopping sprees. I would yell at the TV saying if I had that chance I would get so much more but in my little experience here I see it aint as easy as it looks. I had fun trying but fell a little short on the dollar amount. 34,071.90 was my final total. Now this doesn't include shipping and insurance but that wouldn't really add up to much more in the grand scheme of things, maybe a hundred or two more dollars. Here are the items I ended up with for my fantasy run through the "toy" store.

MIKE PIAZZA 2004 FLEER SWEETSIGS AUTO #5/50,METS



1993 UPPER DECK MIKE PIAZZA PSA/DNA ROOKIE # 2 AUTO


MIKE PIAZZA 2000 UPPER DECK SUPER SIGNATURES AUTO /100


Mike Piazza 2004 Prime Cuts Game Worn Jsy/Auto 1/1!!


MIKE PIAZZA 2004 SWEET SPOT SIGNATURES AUTOGRAPH AUTO


03 Leaf Limited Moniker Jsy Mike Piazza Mets AUTO 2/2!!


2009 TRIBUTE METS NOLAN RYAN/SEAVER+ 4 AUTO PATCH #1/1


1986 NY Mets Team Signed Jersey w/ 36 Autos - PSA DNA


2009 TOPPS ALLEN GINTER SP AUTO DAVID WRIGHT N Y METS


2009 TOPPS ALLEN GINTER SP AUTO JOSE REYES N Y METS


2005 DAVID WRIGHT ULTIMATE AUTO LOGO PATCH METS # 02/10


Topps Triple Jersey Auto Wright Beltran Santana/5 Mets
2009 Unique Triple Threats Autograph 1/5400 Pks #4/5


TOPPS M&M JOSE REYES TRUE 1/1 AUTO METS AUTOGRAPH


2002 Bowman Chrome David Wright Auto # 385 METS ROOKIE


1968 Topps Baseball Complete SET Mantle Seaver Ryan EX


2005 Absolute Darryl Strawberry Jumbo Patch Mets 1/1


2009 TOPPS STERLING Roberto Alomar METS JUMBO PATCH 1/1


DAVID WRIGHT 06 TOPPS STERLING SILVER 1/1 METS RARE


2009 TOPPS STERLING MICKEY MANTLE CUT AUTO 1/1 YANKEES


1 MICKEY MANTLE SWEET SPOT YANKEE GREATS CUTS AUTO 1/7


2008 TRIPLE THREADS JOSE REYES 6X LOGO 7 CLR PATCH METS


TRIPLE THREADS JOSE REYES JERSEY AUTO NEW YORK METS /18


2009 Topps Sterling NOLAN RYAN Mets 2 CLR 3X JERSEY /25


David Wright METS 09 Topps Sterling Quad GU Jersey#5/25
1968 Topps Baseball #177 Nolan Ryan Rookie Card PSA 9


1967 TOPPS TOM SEAVER ROOKIE, #581 PSA 8 NM-MT!!! WOW!


MICKEY MANTLE 08 TOPPS STERLING GAME BAT BARREL RELIC
A RARE OLDER BAT MODEL WITH UNIFORM RELICS 1/1


1971 O Pee Chee #160 TOM SEAVER Mets BVG 9 MINT


2008 Sterling Yogi Berra Jersey Patch Bat Barrel 1/1


1965 TOPPS YOGI BERRA PSA 9 MINT METS #470

Now I first I have to assume all these items are all legit and not fake as there wasn't any time to research. I also went with all "Buy It Now" for time reasons as well.
The most expensive item was the MICKEY MANTLE 08 TOPPS STERLING GAME BAT BARREL RELIC A RARE OLDER BAT MODEL WITH UNIFORM RELICS 1/1. This came in at $5995.oo.

Quite a nice 1/1 from the Mick. A little dissapointing that a Mets card wasn't the highest priced but when the Yankees cards are involved they usually are a pretty penny.

The lowest priced was 2009 Topps Sterling NOLAN RYAN Mets 2 CLR 3X JERSEY /25

A sweet Nolan Ryan Mets Triple Jersey

I included a 1968 Topps Baseball Complete SET Mantle, Seaver, Ryan, EX since they are from the year I was born.

As you can see, this dream shopping spree is Mets heavy and star driven. Why not, they are the most expensive and I will never be able to afford them. I went for so many Piazza autos cause I don't own many and as far as I have seen he doesn't have to many out there compared to the loads and loads of game used he has. I own over 103 of those. Over all I could only dream about adding a list of cards like this to my collection as they are some of my favorite players sweetest cards. Maybe some day when I hit the lottery, but til then I can only dream.

I appologize as each card listed was supposed to be a link but it didn't work out that way. I just don't have the time to go back and link them but they are the auction titles so if you search them on E-bay as is you can see all the cards listed.

Thanks for Reading!