The Newest Thing In Jersey Cards - Joisey Cards!

 
The New Jersey lifestyle invades the card hobby!

Now I'm not saying I think that these Yankee guys are really douchebags (OK maybe A-Rod) even though I'm an Orioles fan and have many reasons to hate on them.  This is more a What If? or alternate reality concept.   Collectors are always looking out for new innovations.  And the New Jersey phenomenon has become rampant (if not popular) in the media.  So I figured why not make the connection between super quad jersey mojo and Jerzguid Bros?

I was going to do individual cards of some of the more notable (douchiest) players, but the foundation of this card is a picture of the fellas from Jersey Shore, which worked well with the four players.  A-Rod looks the best as Pauly D, and the others came out pretty decent too.  Nick Swisher is more a whole body pasted over the original, while the others are mostly just heads.  The lighting is the toughest part is matching the lighting between the different picture elements.  Nick is as close as my old version of Paint Shop could get him.  Jeter's head could use a little more tweaking to match the body of The Situation better.

The custom logo was a bit of work to manufacture the "O".  And I'm not sure about the bling team logo.  It's kinda just stuck out there.  The Ed Hardy background ties it all together, especially Nick's custom shirt.  Had to make him more Officially Mockable.

I'm not sure that this card is actually proportional to 2½ by 3½, but I'm going with it.  We'll say it's a jumbo box topper.

2008 Absolute Idiot Plaxico Burress

Commemorating the well-publicized gaffe of New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress.  As you'll recall, in November of 2008, Plax got busted on a firearms charge after shooting himself in the leg in a New York City nightclub.  He was released from the Giants in April of 2009.  Vowing to return to the NFL, he is scheduled for release on June 6, 2011.  (Update: he's out!)
The name and position are a little generic, but I think the rest works pretty well.  Note the bullet icon after the name.  This is the first of several potential cards from this product line - (Panini/Playoff) Absolute Idiot.  (April 2011)

Millions cards have arrived!

Package showed up last week.  They came USPS, naturally, since I ordered them via UPS, which was cheaper. Priority Mail shipping was just under $5.  My cost was $16.  Guess that paid for the new top loaders and sleeves.  I don't have much of a beef with that.
And I'm surprisingly pleased with what I got.  The vast majority of the older cards are in a lot better shape than I had expected.  My '55 Pascual RC is pretty sharp:

It's off-center a good deal, but that's the total of the defects, really.  The tape at the right side is just what's keeping it in the standard size toploader.
I also got a couple of '57s that I had a lot of offers on.
 

One is great and the other is probably the worst shape card in the bunch.  Could have entertained an offer for that one, especially since I saw it at a show for about $3.
The next one is another Senator card, this time from 1960...

He's a bit rough on the edges, and has a crease across the SK, but otherwise nice to look at.  The more I see '60's in person, the more I like the set.  I just don't enjoy the prospect of collecting the set in 8 pocket sheets where they tend to slide out.  That will be a while down the road, though, since I just started the 1959 set before it...
Next up is a card that I couldn't manage to trade, so I had it shipped since it was an older one.

Ol' Jimmy boy has an ancient piece of that tape with the threads in it from the front, over the top to the back.  Otherwise, this would be a pretty nice specimen too.  I managed to peel and scrape the tape off for the most part, but he's wounded for life.  Anyone starting a beater set of '61s?
This next one is a cool looking card,
 

Tiger Bill has mostly beat up corners, but I like the photo and design.  Plus I know some people up in Tiger country that could move this one pretty easy if I decide to.
This next one was the most anticipated card in my batch.  It fills a hole in my player collection...

This is not a cropped scan however.  The back is centered properly, but the front is way low.  You can see the bottom bit of the circle on the card above at the top.  Oh well, for a high number, it was worth it.
The rest of these were targeted to backfill my sets after I had originally pulled my player collections out of them, so they are all second copies.

Everybody here is a player collection replacement, except Earl.  When I got him, I figured he was just a bonus, but it turns out he was an upgrade of my set copy too.  With the exception of Patek, these are all basically pristine.
Bonus Earl was a good thing, considering this next bunch:

These are all condition replacements (and a few player 2nds) for my '79 set.  These were the bulk of my Millions trading successes.  And they really were upgrades, being mint across the board (except again for Patek).  Unfortunately, when I went to put 'em away, I discovered that I had already replaced about nine of them.  I'm normally really good at keeping lists updated, but dropped the ball on my upgrades this time.  Not a big deal, I didn't have many good '79s to trade.  Kinda sucks paying for shipping of dupes though.  But all was not lost, the team cards I got to upgrade marked checklists showed up like this:

All nice and clean, sharp and unmarked!

Kudos to Topps for a successful program.  I think the Diamond site is a downgrade as far as performance, as well as look & feel.  I liked the Millions site better because you can see more than a couple of your collection items on a screen.  But that's for another post.

Houston, We Have Vintage!

Redeemed my first 20 codes for the new giveaway tonight.  There actually is vintage!  Got a '59 on my second code.  Still got some 2007, 2001, a couple late 90's, but most are just like the first go-round ~ late 70's commons. 
The Diamond Dig is up and running.  Got a ring on every spot.  I figure that's the way it was designed.  Got my bonus code (Pujols - '79 Luis) and a skin-it that I'll never use.  I love how the scale goes from 15 to 45 in the middle.  The idea is to collect 60 unique rings and trade your dupes.  Not sure if there are different prizes for groups of each kind of ring - current teams, legacy teams, and vintage players.  Guess we'll find out soon as some case breaker can trade for enough.
Can't wait for the trading to start.  I think I might try for more '59s, but I'll probably have to drain several cards at a time to do it.
Kudos for Topps for an original innovation on the giveaways....

Comments on Topps giveaway(s)

 

The Topps Million Card Giveaway is almost over [Edit: tomorrow].  It is, of course, transitioning to the Diamond Giveaway after the first of March.  As the new chapter unfolds, there are a few things I've observed or adopted as policy while trading on the site.

• Any card offered for one of mine must be same year or older.  There must be a lot of young people out there who think that 200x semistars are worth vintage cards from the 60's just because they've heard of the newer guy and not the old one.  I won't be accepting your 2002 Todd Worrell for a 1963 Senator.  Call me the grumpy old man....
  
• If you offer the same thing twice, you are automatically refused.  Pay attention to the offers you make.  Making them more than once does not equate to shouting louder than everybody else.  You're just being obnoxious.  Stop it.
  
• You will be refused repeatedly if you offer each individual card you have for any of mine without at least trying to group them together to make it somewhat equal.  One 1985 common will never win even a newer star card, but if you put three together, you might just spark my interest.
• Some people are clever enough to lead a combination offer with a nice vintage card, but they usually round 'em out with 90's or 2K stuff.  Nice try.  You must be in sales.
  
• You will also be banned for life for ever making a successful trade with me if you offer each and every card you come across for some of mine and then offer me the same ones I have for others.  And do it twice or more.  I'm talking to you, mark882 et al.
  
• I will accept no trades for a 2001 Pudge Rodriguez.  I drew one myself and traded it away.  I don't want any more of them.  Blame Topps for putting a billion of them in the system.
  
• I strive to make every trade offer I create to be in your favor.  Almost all of my pending offers say "Offered card(s) are higher in value".  Take advantage.
• There's no reason to try to compete for any of the contests as long as there are case breakers out there.  No regular middle-wage Joes are ever going to match the numbers of these guys with the occasional handful of packs from Wal-Mart.  I use the Giveaway to fill in holes and upgrade my vintage player and set collections.  Besides, half the contests are biased toward the big market teams.  Feh.
  
• Topps, you need to hire more people to code your pages.  The arrows at the bottom of each page of the collection lists don't work when you try to make an offer and select one of your own cards.  It's a pain to have to scroll up and down all the time.  Also, half the names that "autocomplete" in the search form have two entries - one with two spaces between the names.  That one yields no results.  Not sure if the webmasters plugged in all the names, or they're just what people have entered into the form.
  
• Sunday evening I finally requested delivery of the cards I wanted to keep.  None of my last batch of trade proposals had any bites.  So I ended up with 44 cards out of 61 for delivery.  Came to $16 and change via UPS.  I must say they could have made the explanations of the shipping options a little more consistent.  For the post office, there was an initial charge for "the first card" and addtional cost for "each addtional card".  That makes sense.  For UPS, it said the first rate was for the "first Card Shipment" and then the other rate for "each additonal shipment."  That makes it sound like you could ask for your first "shipment" of 44 cards for the initial rate, and then, later on, get more cards delivered for the smaller charge.  Just word them the same, willya Topps?  Anyway, I hope all mine are in good shape.  Most of them are upgrades for 70's cards I already have.

I saw where one popular blogger had redeemed their new Diamond codes and hadn't pulled anything earlier than 2007.  It was only five or six codes, but it's not a good sign for the second phase if that proves to be the common result.  Hopefully, that was just a fluke.

2010 SeX Minnesota Yacht Club #3/4

The infamous Vikings boat scandal immortalized in an "event-used" multi-swatch card.  Allegedly, there were strippers, gambling and drinking going on, so you have swatches of cash, lingerie, dice, and a jersey patch.  Numbered 3/4 since Culpepper was cleared of charges.  Not sure if the others were ever exonerated or not.

It's been forever since I posted, mostly due to other things taking my "screen time".  It takes me hours to put one of these together - I need to go get a more modern graphics program that does layers.  Any recommendations?  With what I've got, I spend a lot of time cutting and pasting stuff on top of each other and trimming edges to combine items. 

Next ideas I have been considering are Pete Rose gambling, and a reality TV version of the jersey card.  Stay Tuned....

Tiger's Tail dual relic - 1 of 120

This one was just too obvious.  As part of his rehab, Tiger apparently confessed to 120 affairs during his five year marriage.  There were about 15 notable mistresses in the tabloids.  Rachel Uchitel was the first on the list.

I started this design with a dual autograph card as the template, and had a nice background of the tabloid front pages, but couldn't fill the space with anything constructive or visually pleasing.  So I revamped the design with the dual swatches and filled in the rest around it.  It's a lot simpler than I originally imagined, but looks pretty good IMO.  I may play around with the design some more for other mistresses.  (Oct 2010)

Original Design - 2010 SeX Swingin' Singles

This begins a new series of relic cards featuring the seemier side of sports.  First up, a moderately scandalous relationship between A-Rod and Madonna.  Swingin' Singles sounded like a baseball term, so I went with it.  (Sep 2010)

1st attempt at original design - 2010 Perfectos

Prototype for a set or subset depicting perfect games.  I really need a much more robust graphics program than an old version of Paint Shop.  I think the idea is sound.  The execution came out OK, but not spectacular.

These are the kinds of inserts I'd like to see once in a while instead of the same old concepts repeated year to year...

(c. August 2010)

2016 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks & Prospects Special Edition Super Chromatographic Pack Rip Party Short Print #226 /5

This is my satirical take on future Bowman.  I'm not bashing the prospectors and those who love the set every year, but I'm just not into it myself.  Maybe I'm just too old.
To me, Bowman has become such a confusing product that I won't even look at someone's want lists unless they have the full numbers and player's names listed.  All the BCPs and BDPPs would be OK if the fronts looked different too, but they don't.
Anyway, enough ranting.  The fictional player above was created with cards from Evan Longoria, Justin Upton and Stephen Englund.  (July 2010)

Tribute to 1976 Topps Father & Son

Update: An observant commenter noted that the original picture of Justin was actually Scot Shields.  That's what I get for snagging pictures from another site.  Now I have four versions of this card.  With different cropping, this one could have looked like Justin was climbing out of the frame the way his leg is kicked up.

Another relatively simple cut & paste job.  I'm sure I'll get comments for not using the five word Angels team name, but screw that.
I've been contemplating a couple original insert sets, but haven't found all the graphical elements yet.  Stay Tuned.  (July 2010)

Tribute to 1968 Topps - Priest Holmes

  

My favorite football design picturing my favorite player.  (July 2010) 

Tribute to 1974 Topps - Priest Holmes

A classic but simple design.  Was able to patch the lettering together.  It makes things much easier if you use perfectly straight pictures to customize.  (July 2010)

Tribute to 1965 Topps - Brian Matusz

Toughest part about this one is the lettering.  I couldn't find enough even gray backgrounded names to cut and paste the name.  So I compromised and used Arial Black and just typed it out.  Photo fits nice though. (June 2010)

Tribute to 1971 Topps - Livan Hernandez (x2)

'71 Topps is my all-time favorite design, so you may see more of this tribute set from me later.  Promise I'll start using other players too.  Once you get the white frame isolated and the lettering culled from actual card photos, these are a snap.  (June 2010)

2009 Goose Joak Livan Hernandez

(c) 2009 Goose Joak

 The front is from the 2009 line of Goose Joak originals, designed here.  I designed the back by culling together pieces from the Fox Sports and Yahoo! Sports player listings sites.  The Career Trends charts work better for players with a few years under their belts.  (June 2009)

Hiatus

This entry actually posted in July 2010.  Posts prior to this were miscellaneous topics not necessarily related to cards.  I stopped in 2005.

Haven't figured a way to archive them and not have them show up right under the new stuff, so I'll space 'em out....



































GCA

Redskins Score At Will, Then End Up With Nil

Oct. 23 Washington, DC - Attended my first game at FedEx Field (thanx MS & MH!). We arrived at the stadium minutes before the parking lot gates opened. Then we set up at MH's usual spot and tailgated until game time. Dined on wings, sausages, snacks and sodas (The others had beer). Our seats were in section 416 in the end zone looking up the San Francisco sideline. The view was fantastic. Couldn't have asked for a better day, either. A far contrast to the rain and misery of the preceding few days. And what a glorious day it turned out to be! Brunell took 'em up and down the field all day, while Arrington brought the crowd to frenzy every time he joined the defense. Rookie 'Niner QB Alex Smith was welcomed to the league with a couple ball-jarring hits. Final score 52-17. And it wasn't even that close.

Oct 30 Meadowlands, NJ - Uh oh, I think they used up all the scoring last week. Glad it was a road game at least. New York's defense was only one spot above the 49'ers in the rankings up to this week. The Giants, however, were inspired by the death of their owner, Wellington Mara, who was beloved by the team and had done so much for the whole league. Redskins couldn't do anything right. Final score 36-0. Ouch. Hard to believe, but I think Philly may be an easier game.

At least my fantasy team has won two in a row....

Cognitive Byproducts ~ Part Seven

A continuing series of random thoughts, questions, and musings accumulated over time.

• Why do they put the laundry instructions for shirts on a seperate tag along the bottom seam? I have several shirts that have a tag for the brand name inside the collar and another along side it for the size, but they put the washing directions on a totally different one that you have to go searching for. I understand that maybe the company makes all their brand and size tags at once, and the fabrics they use may vary, but mount the thing up there with the rest of them willya?
• OK, gas has come down more than a dollar since it hit a high of around $3.50 a gallon several weeks ago. (See previous article for reasons gas prices rise). They haven't really fixed all the damage from those hurricanes already, have they? Now I'm even more annoyed because this proves that the ridiculous prices were basically caused by the speculation of petroleum futures traders and not supply and demand. Which translates into "Greedy suits - who contribute nothing in the way of products or services - are trashing the economy for the rest of us by driving up prices." Don't even get me started again....
• I recently changed jobs, going from phone support to field work. The most interesting part of the transition has been meeting a lot of the personnel face-to-face that I had previously spoken with on the phone. It's funny how you form an image of someone by their voice or their name, but when you actually meet them, they are entirely different. This hasn't held true in every case, but a lot of them. I am also discouraged by the other technician's report that the vast majority of the female staff are married and generally disinterested in techie types on a social basis. Guess I'll keep waiting for the sale at eHarmony....

Cognitive Byproducts ~ Part Six

A continuing series of random thoughts, questions, and musings accumulated over time.

• Yeah, I know, I continue to slack hard on posting regularly. This site was even refused from one of those blog collecting websites because there was too much time between posts. A lot has gone on in my life lately: I'm changing jobs and starting field work soon, my father discovered and started treatment for a medical condition, my mother was injured in a fall (she's fine), and it's both NFL season in full swing and the baseball playoffs. (Search parties have given up on my social life.) And frankly, I just haven't been inspired to speak volumes about anything in particular. Unless I was to turn this into a sports blog. And it's just not the right time to do the "religion post".
• Here's one of those burning questions: If you use a dish or utensil that's part of a set - say a glass or cereal bowl - then wash it, is it improper to use it again right away? Maybe even without putting it away first? I sometimes feel a little guilty that I'm wearing out one piece while the others aren't getting used at nearly the same rate. Or maybe it's that I'm dirtying up what is probably the cleanest of the set. My concern usually lasts about thirty nanoseconds, but I figure maybe there are rules somewhere in the back pages of a dusty volume sitting on a shelf in the reference section of the main library in Heaven....
• Hey Cingular! I don't WANT more minutes. What I'm really looking for is a plan that's about an hour's worth of minutes that I can use from anywhere to call anyone. Throw in free or cheap 'mobile to mobile' and a phone that I can read that doesn't have a lot of extra crap on it, all for about $20 a month and we can talk. I would consider a deal that includes more minutes per month with Catherine Zeta-Jones, but her hubby might object. :)