Poll Time, When Was Jeter Green?

Hey all Buffet readers. Today I have 3 questions for you. Over the course of time I have picked up a few of the Vintage brand "player jersey" cards that are assembled seperately from the swatch. Here are some examples from my collection.

Manny Ramirez

Keith Hernandez

Darius Watts

Mike Piazza

Now the first question. Like, Hate, Undecided?? Vote on the poll in the sidebar.

I fall in the undecided catagory. The size makes storage an issue. The only binder page they fit in is a 2 slot page and they slide around because they don't fit right. You can pop the perforated part on the backs and stand them up like picture frames.

I am not a big fan of this. Where do you keep them, next to Grandma's pictures or your vacation pics from Disney? I do like the layout of the  the cardboard frames. They look pretty nice, especialy the ones that have the ball stitching backgrounds.

Next Question. Where are the jersey pieces from. Clearly they don't always match the picture or even the year on the card. The Piazza has an orange swatch with a Dodgers card. I don' think so. It's either a Mets batting practice or 05 all star workout jersey like these two cards state on their backs. Back in 93 I think they still wore their regular uniforms for the all star festivities.

                     

So where do they come from? According to Vintage they come from Upper Deck.

Quite a generic statement. Vintage assembles and distributes. Upper Deck wouldn't lie to them, would they? So what happens, they go to Upper Deck and are given a zip lock bag with a few hundred swatches and they guess what cards to put with them? The Darius Watts sure looks like a Broncos patch how ever upon closer inspection the patch has a round shape to it and his Bronco number was 17, all straight lines. Things that make you go hmmmm. I am not even going to speculate on the Hernandez ball piece.

Around the Christmas holidays I was in Toys R Us and saw a rack with some of these on clearence so I figured why not and grabbed seven of them for fun. This is what I got.......

                      

Two Doug Meintkiewicz Yankees

2  more Doug Meintkiewicz Yankees

Derek Jeter Yankees

Two more Derek Jeter Yankees

Ok, third question. When the hell did Jeter wear GREEN?!? I have to guess if these are actually Jeter swatches they must be all star swatches but I don't recall what year the AL has green practice jerseys. I looked around the net but couldn't find any info. The white swatch looks pretty sharp though. Also I know Doug Meintkiewicz only was a Yankee for one season but still get the jersey right. I get four, yes four of his cards and not a peep of a pinstripe on any of them. One has some cool threads sticking out and another one has a nice dirt stain but not a hint of stripe. As a Mets fan I like to hope they are from his Mets days but who knows.

Let me know what you think, shed some new info on these, and don't forget to vote on the poll.

                                                          

Thanks for Reading!

I'm Back! Some Trades and Stuff.

Hello All! It's been a really busy week but I am back to post and am glad to be back. I spent much of the week after work building a bookcase, 2 CD cases, and a DVD case for my new media/card room. As most of us know, or at least in my house storage is always an issue. I have somewhere over 1200 CD'S, 700 DVD's and who knows how many baseball cards. Up til now they were spread between my bedroom, basement, and den and the wife was (rightfully so) not pleased. I finally made the move to make the basement my sons room and I took his old room to organize my stuff. As of now 95% of my stuff is on the shelf units and is semi organized. I should have taken before pictures but I didn't think about it til I was too far involved in the project. I will post some pics when I get all organized, well mostly organized since I don't think I could be completely organized ever. The rest of the week went to my daughters softball games and also a friend passed away so that took us away from normal daily life for a bit.
    Anyway I will get to some trade packages I have recieved from around Blogoland. First I have a barrel of fun from Ed at Roll Out The Barrel. You guessed it, I sent him Brewers and he sent me Mets and Yankees cards.

2009 Topps T-206 Joba Chamberlain Auto

2009 Topps T-206 mini Joba Chamberlain

2010 Topps Attax Opening Day CC Sabathia (shiny version)

The Joba auto and CC Attax are the 2 cards we talked about so the Joba mini was a real cool surprise as well as these.

I never bought a single pack of the 07 SP Rookie Ed. so these are awesome for my collection. These are my faves of the 15 or so surprise cards. Thanks Ed, I will continue to save some Brew Crew cards for you.

Next up is nice package of Mets and Yankees from Jason the Brooklyn Met from Clear Cut Cards. He's A big Mets fan like myself so we trade some doubles and he always includes some Yankees for my crosstown collection. Here are just a few from the mailer.

He doubled up on some 08 UD Heroes from a box break we were both in over at Thorzul's. He beat me to the Mets so I ended up with the Rays. I ended up with 6 of his base doubles to go with my Rays so I did ok by that break.

A few others out of a fun batch. Judging from thr few 2010 Heritage I have gotten through trades I think I like them, they are certainly growing on me. I may have to buy some. Thanks Jason, I look forward to our next trade. Let's Go Mets!

Moving on to a trade venture with Chris of On Card Autos. I had some Cubs cards looking for a loving home and he was kind enough to take them in. He sent me some nice rewards for saving them.

03 (08) Sweet Spot Bucky Dent gu Jersey

01 Fleer Feel the Game Richard Hidalgo gu Bat

The Bucky Dent is actually a 2008 Upper Deck buy back. I forgot to photo the card that came with it. Richard Hidalgo is one of those players I collect heavy for reasons I just don't know. I will post some day on my hoarding of his 04 Bowman Sterling bat cards.

09 Topps Historical Commemorative Patch Lou Gehrig 1928 World Series

04 Upper Deck Peak Performance Jose Reyes gu Jersey

I have said it before but I really like the manupatches as I call them and this one is a nice one. The Reyes is actually from a prior trade but it snuck out of the mailer when Chris wasn't looking so he sent it along this time. Thanks Chris, I am looking for more stray Cubs for you to take in.

Last up for now is a trade with Beardy from the world famous Mojo and Beardy's. Both of their original solo blogs were the first two that I read and "followed" so I was glad to hook up with Beardy on a trade from one of his trade bait posts. Out went some O's and Ravens and in came ............

04 Topps Pristine Mike Piazza Going Going Gone gu Bat

05 Topps Pack Wars sn'd 40/56

I actually saw some of his Pristine pack breaks and decided to do a few of my own as I have posted before. He got the Piazza bat and passed it along. The Pack Wars is a "shiny" one and looks much better in person. I cant call it a refractor bur it has some refractive qualities like the 2010 Attax specials in the Opening Day packs.

05 Pack Wars Gary Sheffield gu Bat

04 Topps Pristine Kazuo Matsui sn'd 403/499

A way cool Sheff for the Yankee book and a nice first year rare of the Kaz. Thanks Great Bearded One for a fun trade and I hope to trade again sometime.

Well I have rambled on long enough for my first post back but just a note about a soon to happen contest here at the Buffet. Only request I will have to enter is that you are a follower of the blog. More to come soon.

Thanks for Reading!

Off To A Good Start!

         
1 down, 161 to go.

            1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
FLA    0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 6 3
NYM  2 0 0 0 0 4 1 0  - 7 9 1

W: J. Santana (1-0)

Lets Go Mets!

Contest Coming Soon.

Just a quick note as I am redoing my home office/card/media room. Been busy building bookshelves for my card collection binders and boxes, cd collection, and dvd collection.that  Just wanted to drop a note  I will be running my first contest in the next week or two. Ok, one hint, brush up on your Scrabble skills.  Back to staining shelf unit #2.

Thanks for Reading!

Mailbox Happiness Times Two

Hello Buffet readers. I am back with a couple of mailbox goodies from a trade and from an E-bay score. First a few finds on E-bay.

The search for Dwight Gooden yielded this 2004 Donruss Elite Career Best Doc Gooden #CB~12 Game Used Bat sn’d 094/200. I have a few of the parallels from the base set of this card and love the design, colors and refractive qualities of them so when I saw this bat card I had to jump on it. I waited it out and won it for a very reasonable price. The seller had cheap combined shipping so I had to find a few other cards to make it worthwhile, right. Next win is a 2009 Upper Deck Ballpark Collections Teammate Timelines Quad Jerseys Rios, Halladay, Delgado, and Glaus sn’d 064/500. I like the four swatches but the picture of all four players in Jays uniforms while the card lists their current (at the time) teams is really annoying to me. This is a pet peeve of mine like some people hate sticker autos. For example Delgado is a Mets player as it states on front and back but it shows him in a Jays uniform. I know they used to be teammates but not anymore. What team is the swatch from? I like to think Mets but who really knows. Anyway my pet peeves should be another post another day. The card is pretty nice looking and is a great combo of players.

Next I won a 2009 Ballpark Collection Gary Sheffield sn’d 652/699. There aren’t many Sheffs out there as a Met so this was a cool find. I found this Carlos Beltran 2002 Donruss Studio “Spirit of the Game” Game Worn Hat sn’d 096/100. I love the “odd” relic like a hat, shoe, glove, etc. They should do more of them.

Finally I grabbed these two on the cheap at the end of my bidding list. 2008 Donruss Threads #142 Greg Halman silver rookie sn’d 26/50. 2009 Upper Deck Dan Uggla Game Used Jersey. I figured they are nice cards but I could trade them also.  Not a bad bunch of cards.

Now I have a trade with Justin from Tampa Bay Sports Wasteland. He had a bunch of football cards he was thinning out of his collection so I asked for his Jets, Saints, and Giants (the 3 teams I collect). The Jets were gone but he said the Saints and Giants were mine. Last Saturday a long box appeared in my mailbox, well hanging out of my mailbox since it was too big. I opened it up and a little more than three quarters of it was full of the Saints and Giants cards. Way cool as my football collection is a bit lacking in the base and insert department so this is what the doctor ordered for my Saints and Giants collections. Then there was the rest of the space in the box filled with cards I thought were more football and to my surprise it was Mets stuff. Here are just a few of the highlights of an excellent trade.
First up is a couple of 2003 Topps Gallery

Jose Reyes and Aaron Heilman. These cards look so great in person. I wish the camera did them justice.


Next up a couple of 2009 A & G minis

2 John Maine minis. I figured a duplicate til I flipped them over.

A regular and an A&G back. Nice!

Now we have an oddball and an Invincible

A 1986 Drakes Doc Gooden and a 2000 Invincible Robin Ventura. Gotta love the oddball food product cards. They really take you back to your youth. The Ventura is half transparent with a sky background, pretty neat looking.

Then we have a redemption and bat card.

2008 Topps David Wright Highlights Game Used Bat and 2008 Topps Red Hot Rookies redemption Nick Evens. You can never go wrong with a David Wright card, especially a game used and I really liked the 08 Red Hot Rookies. Being a chrome fan, these really stand out with the orange background.

There are just a few of the highlights from a great trade. Thanks Justin! I look forward to trading again in the future.

 

Thanks for Reading!

2010 Topps Opening Day Blaster Break

Welcome back to the Buffet! Tonight we have a serving of 2010 Topps Opening Day blaster style.

I don't usually do blasters because it is generally less cards then if you buy loose packs but this one had 10 packs with 7 cards for 10 dollars (the same as loose packs) plus a bonus pack of Attax cards so I jumped on it.

Lets remove the cover and see what's inside.

Here are a few base cards just in case you forgot what they look like. 2 superstars in Pujols and Longoria and hopefully a breakout season for Murphy.

I got several more for the base set and am down to needing 7 more to knock it out. 7, 51, 82, 95, 108, 124, 194.

Now for the Inserts

Blue Bordered

Wade Davis 0942/2010

Brian McCann 1028/2010

I had a wade blue Davis from my box break a while back and traded it and out pops another one.

2 "Shiny" Attax. Greinke and Markakis

I already have these two so no help here.

ToppsTown Upton 2, Lincecum 24, Teixeira 19, Ichiro 25

2 more of my list.

                            

Superstar Celebrations #1 Braun.

 Where'd You Go Bazooka Joe #8 Chipper.

Needed Superstar but not the Joe.

                          

Mascots Nats, Royals, and Mr. Met.

I needed the Royals and Mr. Met. Still need one more Met for the team collection but is good to get first one.

                               

Sizemore, Buehrle, Rolen, Bay

The bonus pack of Attax. Bay goes into Mets book.

There it is. Not a bad blaster.

Sorry for the boring post but been a long, wet, rainy day at work and much running around after so I tried. 

                                                    

Thanks for Reading!

A Stop At Baseball Dad's Trading Post

I stopped by   Baseball Dad's Trading Post a little while back and Jack sent me this nice little package in exchange for some Indians cards I had for him. As I overstate time after time, I am a big Mets fan but I am not a Yankee hater, I just dont like most Yankee fans as they tend to be arrogant. Before I get hate mail this is just a generalization and I have many Yankee fan friends who are not anoying but there are many out there who think they are the greatest thing since sliced bread and look down on we Mets fans. That's just a fans life here in NYC. It makes for fun "subway series" games though. Anyway it's all in good fun. The point of this little offshoot is the card I got in this trade.

09 Upper Deck Ballpark Collection Quad Swatch sn'd 066/400

Teammate Timeline

Jason Varitek

Josh Beckett

Jorge Posada

Chien Ming Wang

I think it's kind of rude for Upper deck to put Yankees and Red Sox on the same card. I think it funny to tourture Yankees fans to have to look at 2 Red Sox swatches and Sox fans must love to look at Yanks swatches. All I can say is I am glad it isn't Braves or Phillies. All in all I think it's a great card.

The Dad also hooked me up with some surprise Mets to help me foget about the Sox on the quad. Here are just a few from the dozen or so.

My first 2010 Heritage, A fan fav in Leiter, and an Alomar Classic.

A Jeff Kent (why did they ever let him go!), one of the classiest in Olerud, and a Doc.

Thanks for some great cards Jack, I'm saving up some Indians and hope to trade again soon.

I am behind on trade posts but I will get to them as soon as time permits. Been busy with work and family stuff.

Thanks for Reading!

Great Contest over at Troll's place.

The Collective Troll has some kick ass cards he is contesting away so check out one of the best blogs out there and take a swing at winning.

2 Packs Topps Pristine Go Head To Head.

Hey Buffet readers. Today I have 2 packs of Topps Pristine 2004 Edition and I decided to have a little fun and have them compete side by side for your vote of the better pack. Check out all the cards and vote for your favorite. Feel free to be bias toward your team, player, card color, or anything else that catches your eye. Lets get started. As usuall there are several layers to get through.

The outer shells

Lets peel the first inner layer........................

The two uncirculated refractor cards and another pack each. A closer look............

Akinori Otsuka #155 refractor sn'd 799/999

vs

Connor Jackson #132 refractor sn'd 015/399

For me I have to go with the Connor Jackson in this battle. A better player, I like the D-backs a little more then the Padres, and the lower serial number run seals it.

From here on each pack will be based on these cards.

Score:

Team Otsuka ~ 0

Team Jackson ~ 1

Next layers up

A game used in each. Both from the Fantasy Favorites subset. A closer look................

Mark Grudzielanek #FF-MG

vs

Rafael Furcal #FF-RF

Two nice looking cards of players I have no favortism towards. Grudzielanek played 14 seasons to Furcal's 10 with a little better career numbers. Furcal has won a couple more awards and is still playing. I give this a draw. A point for each.

Score:

Team Otsuka ~ 1

Team Jackson ~ 2

On to the next layers

Six cards in each, five base and one sn'd first year. A closer look......................

Team Otsuka

Bobby Brownlie #113

Paul Maholm #136 rare first year sn'd 494/499

Mark Prior#17

Team Otsuka

Sammy Sosa #20

Miguel Cabrera #14

Brett Boone #42

Team Jackson

Jim Edmonds #63

Lastings Milledge #139 rare first year sn'd 409/499

Connor Jackson #131

Team Jackson

Larry Walker #15

Mike Mussina #85

Billy Wagner #7

Here are the matchups:
First year Milledge vs Maholm. No contest, Mets will win 99% of the time. I do like the design on these cards. As is the case most of the time, my camera skills don't do any of these cards justice but I gotta work with what I have.

Score:
Team Otsuka ~ 1

Team Jackson ~ 3

The rest of these matchups come purely from my personal opinion and have very little statistical backing. Your feelings may be quite different and that is what makes this such a great hobby.

Larry Walker vs Brett Boone. up to this point in 04 Boone was a good offensive second baseman but Walker's power numbers just over power him. Walker wins.

 Score:
Team Otsuka ~ 1
Team Jackson ~ 4

Sammy Sosa vs Jim Edmonds. Jim Edmonds is another classic power hitter with more then just home runs on his resume and quite frankly I just do not like Sosa at all.  No contest for Edmonds.

Score:

Team Otsuka ~ 1
Team Jackson ~ 5

Mark Prior vs Billy Wagner. Prior showed so much promise early on and had sucess with the Cubs while Wagner showed signs of greatness as a closer but then went quietly into the tank plus he annoyed   me greatly in his time with the Mets. Prior wins.

Score:

Team Otsuka ~ 2

Team Jackson ~ 5

Miguel Cabrera vs Connor Jackson. Jackso scores points for a cool card color and the fact that it goes with the uncirculated refractor but Cabrera's on field performances give him a slight edge. Cabrera by a nose.

Score:

Team Otsuka ~ 3
Team Jackson ~ 5

Bobby Brownlie vs Mike Mussina. Mussina had a borderline HOF career while Brownlie (who?) wasn't a blip on my radar. Mussina in a landslide.

Final Score:
Team Otsuka ~ 3
Team Jackson ~ 6


As you can see I liked the Team Walker pack better and quite honestly I tried to make the matchups even but 3 is all I could muster for team Otsuka. Let me know how you would score it and vote on your favorite pack on the side bar.

Thanks for Reading!