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!

 
 
 

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!