A Full C(a)rd of Lumber

Thanks to Check Out My Cards, I have finally finished what I think is the coolest insert set ever.  I now have all 18 Lumber Yard inserts from 2002 Upper Deck 40-Man.
The fronts of the cards are actual (bat? - BB Cardpedia says no.) wood, laser etched with the player photo, team logo and set logo.  The backs have the same photo in real color and a brief blurb about the players exploits.  You can tell these came out mid-season, because a few of the write-ups on active players include details about their performances up to mid-May 2002.  (CardPedia says July)
I just like the way they look and how much detail could be carved into the wood.  The streaks in the scans are just the penny sleeves....

I pulled most of them from boxes of 40-Man as I was building the set, sometimes even from partial boxes (Pujols).  Don't think I ended up with more than one duplicate.
I got the last few from eBay, notably Mantle (for which I probably paid the most), Griffey Jr., and Frank Thomas.  One night last week I arbitrarily Googled the Chipper Jones - the last missing one - and found that Amazon had a listing for it for $12.50.  Upon further investigation, I found it was actually sold by COMC.  So since I had recently created an account, I went in and jumped on it.  Then, to make the shipping worthwhile, I shopped for some other stuff I haven't been able to find - namely inserts from 2005 UD All-Star Classics.  Then I searched for my two latest player collection guys - Brian Matusz and Dan LeFevour.  I ended up with about $60 worth of stuff in that order.

I've seen the whole collection for sale by Kruk Cards on eBay.  Can't remember how much he wanted for them, but I think it was approaching four digits.  I tried not to spend more than just below high book value, keeping it closer to low book in many cases.

 

Here is a bigger scan of A-Rod's card, front and back.  Click on them to see 'em bigger (same goes for any of the other scans).  You can see they replicated the stripes from the back, which ties both sides together nicely.  I like how the wood grain shows in some of them too.

 Now all I have left for a "master set" of this 1182 card monster is to finish the Mark McGwire Flashbacks.  I still need #1  4  7  19  27  30  31  33  34  38  and 39 out of the 40.  When I say master set, I mean all base, and these two insert sets.  I didn't try for the three jersey subsets, or the Electric and Electric Rainbow parallels.   The McGwires can be had for a couple bucks apiece on either COMC or SportLots.  I'll probably clean them up there after I check at this year's National in Baltimore.  But the best part is now over.  I've never seen Lumber Yard inserts at a show, ever.  I always glance at dealer mojo hit cases, but not once did I spot an all wood beauty like those above.  Now I don't have to search any more!

Star Trek - The Retro Football Card Set - card #6

1934 Diamond Matchcover Dr. Leonard McCoy.  Fonts match better to the green example of these covers.  The name over the football came in a couple different fonts.  I didn't have anything to match the one in the tan original.  Also had a hard time figuring out what to substitute for the football.  Not many sketches of the original NCC-1701 starship out there.  Nice oddball item instead of the same old Topps or Philadelphia designs.  I'm running out of cool designs to use.  There aren't as many nice ones for football as there are for baseball.

My Concise 2012 Topps post

Since there are a ton of posts about Topps' new release, I'll make this quick and efficient.

Base set - Great photos.  Fun shots that aren't overprocessed like 2009 and 10 looked to me.  Numbers are clear and easy to sort.

Parallels - Not real impressed with the golds.  Haven't seen the retail ones yet.

GUs, SPs and giveaways - As usual, didn't pull anyone impressive.  See inserts rant below.  I don't expect to see any of the SPs.  Curious to see what comes up for all my codes this time.

Inserts - Topps has (re?)hired the Panini football design team and they are still lazy bastards.  What they came up with are auto jersey cards and then just removed the good stuff to make the regular insert.  Each insert looks like a football card from Panini's past.  To wit:

Not bad, but why is there still a space for an autograph?

Look familiar? Sorry, no autograph for you!!

Plain

Auto

Relic

Plain (though crummy Chromey)

Auto

 

Relic (in a crappy location)

Only difference is that it seems the 2012 baseball guys are either relics or autos, not both.

Nice design, but it's not finished.

This one has the gall to put it in writing that you got
gypped out of an autograph. Kinda rubs it in your face.

Now what they should have done with this....

...Is finish the coloring.  Now that's not a bad looking card.

 This is the most hideous design of all - redundant pictures that you
can see, and a different one that's faded for no reason. 
Huge blank areas, and a dinky logo that doesn't fill the space. 
Plus, silver foil on grey?  Eccch.

Now that would have been better.  No gaping holes.

Worst part about the whole thing is that I'm still going to go after all of them except the Walkoffs.

Super Bowl summary

 

My condolences to all the sportscasters who are depressed over their man-crush's loss last night to the 9-7 NY Giants.

Good game, but would still have preferred a Harbaugh rematch.

Fausto to Roberto correction - 2011 ToppsTown

The former 28 year old Fausto Carmona, was revealed to actually be 31 year old Roberto Hernandez Heredia after being arrested in his native Dominican Republic.  He was charged with using a false identity, which isn't actually that unusual for Dominican players, so it's been reported.

Too bad the card year is just turning over next month, or Topps et al may have had the opportunity to issue corrected cards of Mr. Heredia.  They might look something like this:

Happy Birthday to me (and the Duchess)

Celebrating my 45th today.  Only two weeks after Christmas, so I don't make a big deal about it.  Missed Elvis by a day, so I've been stuck with Richard Nixon.  Though this morning I learned that Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge was also born this day in 1982.

She's a lot prettier than old Tricky Dick!  Bit far to go for a birthday kiss though...

Questionnaire from Nachos Grande: Autographs

Stumbled upon a questionnaire about autograph cards while browsing a blog linked from another regularly read blog.  Figured I'd post it here so maybe my traffic might increase...


Autograph Questionnaire:

1.  What is the best autograph you own?  2008 Topps Heritage Bill Mazeroski red ink
2.  What is the best autograph that you've ever pulled from a pack of cards?  See #1
3.  What is the worst autograph you've ever pulled from a pack of cards?  Any one of a few early 90's rookie scrubs from a value blaster.  I'll never get rid of them.
4.  Do you try to get autographs through the mail?  If so, what sort of success (or failure) stories do you have?  Nope, never really tried.
5.  Who was the subject of your first ever autograph?  Rocky Colavito (as KC coach) on the back of an Orioles program at a game circa 1982-3.
6.  Do you actively collect any autographs (certain players, teams, brands, etc)?  Priest Holmes (all) and the occasional Redskin or baseball player collection guy that I don't already have.
7.  Which is better:  Autographs or Relics?  Autos are better, but I'd take a multi-color swatch/patch (easiest to find in hockey) over a two-letter scribble signature.
8.  What do you think of cut autos?  Deceased players are fine, otherwise cheesy, especially when they cut up an autographed card and put a piece of it in another card.
9.  What is your favorite autograph design (say in the last 5 years)?  2005 SP Chirography
10.  If you could get the autograph of any five people (dead or alive) who would you want a signature from (and why)?
Harry Truman (favorite president)
Christy Mathewson, Rube Marquard, or John McGraw (for my 1909 NY Giants collection)
Gene Kranz (Apollo Flight Director - always awed by that whole program)
Leonard Nimoy or William Shatner (see posts below)

Star Trek - The Retro Football Card Set - card #5

 

1955 Topps All-American Mr. Sulu.  Building all the letters took the longest.  Out of the eight or so images that I captured, nobody had a K in their name.  And then there is no common football position with a V, G, or O in it either.  The All Federation text came out the best.  My art program doesn't have a function to make a picture grainy, so the background looks more like video than the newspaper photo pictures in the originals.  Was hoping to get back to these sooner than a month and a half, but since PRP went silent for a while, I don't feel so bad :).   Was Sulu's official title Helmsman or Navigator?  I should know....

Star Trek - The Retro Football Card Set - card #4

 

1894 Mayo Cut Plug (N302) Mr. Spock.  Tough to match tbe sepia toning.  And all the original subjects are from Harvard, Princeton or Yale.  Had to fudge some letters that weren't available.  Hopefully, you'll find it fascinating.

Star Trek - The Retro Football Card Set - card #3

 

 1952 Bowman Mr. Scott, engineer of the original USS Enterprise.  Shown here with his second love, Scotch whiskey.  Scotty always had the ability, and the courage (sometimes from the bottle), but he didn't always have the power !

Star Trek - The Retro Football Card Set

The premiere releases from my tribute to PunkRockPaint's Star Wars... The Retro Baseball card set.  I commented that I was inspired to do a Trek football set but didn't want to copy his idea.  The response was that it wouldn't be copying, it would be an homage, so here we go...

 

 

The first ever football set design (1935 National Chicle) for the most important characters - the captains.

As soon as I saw Rockne's head, I knew which character would go there...

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....