Redemptions & My First 1 of 1 Card!

Yesterday I got some good surprises in the mail. My redemptions from Upper Deck that I have been waiting for finally came in. I got both 2007 Sweet Spot cards I had been waiting for and the signed 5x7 box topper from 2007 Masterpieces. Have a look!

SS2-KH Dual Signatures Black Stitch/Black Ink - Ian Kinsler/Matt Holiday
My first ever 1/1 card! When I pulled the redemption card, I knew I was getting a dual-signed card which would be somewhat rare, but not this rare. Obviously this isn't listed in any price guide and the closest I found were dual-signed cards limited to a 5-15 production run (no prices due to scarcity). It does seem an odd pairing (Kinsler-Holliday) but hey, it's a 1 of 1 and nobody else has this card; which seems really cool for some reason!


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SS-RM Tier 1 Signature Red Stitch/Black Ink - Russell Martin
While not as cool as the 1/1 above, this is a great card all the same. Martin had a nice rookie year and this is the 2nd somewhat rare rookie card I have of his (last year I pulled a triple swatch signed rookie from 2007 Topps Triple Threads. Obviously I'm hoping he has a long, productive career.


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MP-18 5x7 Painting Box Topper Signed - Ken Griffey Jr.
This was another surprise for me when it got here. No it's not a 1/1, in fact I have no idea of the production run for this 5x7 over-sized card. The surprise for me was that Griffey is shown in his rookie year Mariners away uniform. Obviously since it's a 2007 product I was expecting him to be in his Reds uniform. To me this makes this card even more special. I have it framed already and am looking for a good place to hang it. PS. the tape in the photo is obviously (or not) not on the card but a plastic holder the card came in.


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Overall it was a lot of fun to actually receive the 'real' cards in the mail! I didn't expect the two surprises that I found (hence the word surprise) but I don't mind being redundant because before now I always hated pulling a redemption card. It's still not the optimum way I'd like to have it done but it is a hobby-wide necessity and my recent experience will help me get used to it.

Last note is... always be aware (if possible) if the product you buy contains redemptions and that they haven't expired at your purchase time. For example both my 2007 products which had redemptions are both widely known to include them and each had an expiration date of 11/9/2009. That may not seem important now but speaking from personal history, sometimes you may buy older product which is discounted price-wise after a few years. Then you pull a redemption but the date is past. You have no recourse for this, so just be aware if you can. How? Beckett.com, TuffStuff.com and plenty of blogs/msg boards.

Little Pieces of History

Normally, when I buy sports cards, I buy unopened boxes of newer baseball product. I just love to rip open packs. I love the uncertainty of what you might get. In a sense, it's like opening many different little Christmas presents.

Recently I decided to go another route and buy some vintage cards where the only suspense involved was waiting for the mail. So, I went to a retailer I'm comfortable with 'Dave and Adam's Card World' and picked out a selection of pre-1960 cards to purchase. I didn't want to spend that much money so I capped myself at $100, but ended up only spending $75. I wasn't concerned with resale much, I just wanted to go back in time and see what the hobby used to look like.

I bought 6 cards. Here's a closer look at each:

1941 Play Ball #16 Hal Trosky. $18

I thought this was a great start and didn't expect to be able to purchase a card from 1941 for under $20. True it was my most expensive purchase but how cool is it! The player, Hal Trosky' was born in 1912. The card is even in decent shape for being 67 years old.


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1952 Topps #18 Merrill Combs. $9

I've never heard of Mr. Combs but I definitely wanted a 1952 Topps card in the mix. The card shows a ton of surface wear but so what.


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1953 Topps #192 Wally Westlake $6

I've never heard of Wally either. I scanned the photo oddly so you should know the card isn't cut off like that. I just got lazy and didn't want to re-scan.


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1955 Bowman #130 Richie Ashburn. $15

I love the TV set look. :-) Bowman must've been fighting Topps and obviously went with a somewhat unconventional look. The back's came with personal baseball memories from the player, interesting.


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1956 Topps #165 Red Schoendienst. $14

I dig this set. Love the design of them, what a great set. I have a different older card of 'Red' Schoendienst (what a last name) that I need to find in a box somewhere (sigh). I had to get this one too.


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1958 Topps #484 Frank Robinson AS $12

I thought this card was under priced and when I saw it, I know it is. It's really in very good shape -- definitely the best of the six I bought. Sure the centering is off and it might not grade that high but I am very happy with this one. The back of the card has the traditional look that was standard until around 1990.


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So, I had fun looking back at sports cards from bygone eras and am glad I own these 6 as examples of that history. I'll keep you posted as to whether I expand upon this tangent of my sports card collecting.

Birthday Card Ripping Fun

Every birthday I like to treat myself to some good old fashioned pack ripping. I order up some hobby boxes from one of my favorite retailers and wait for UPS to knock on my door. This time I decided to buy 3 boxes; 2007 Upper Deck Future Stars Baseball, 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces, 2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Signatures. I went to Charm City Cards's Web site and found the prices in line with what I expect and made the order. I like their selection, their easy-to-navigate Web site and their customer service. I chose 2-day air shipping which I never ever do but I wanted to make sure it arrived on my birthday.

Well, 'ship happens' as they say and UPS delivered my product 2 days late. Since I paid the extra $30 to get it 2-day, I went back to Charm City Cards and they gladly reimbursed me the price of the shipping. Just so you know they said UPS guarantees their air deliveries so they would reimburse Charm City -- for future reference.

Below are the Box Breaks for each.

1. 2007 Upper Deck Future Stars Baseball
2. 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces
3. 2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Signatures

Box Break - 2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Signatures

It's not very often that I will take a stab at products where I'm paying anywhere near $75/pack, but I made an exception and was pleasantly surprised with the results. You're guaranteed 2 autos but I got 3, including a dual-signed card. Of course I'm still waiting for 2 of them because they are redemptions. I hate redemptions but they're a part of the hobby as companies race to put out product in a timely fashion while also securing autographs and game-used materials to build the cards with.

Overall I like the product and I would've been ecstatic if I'd hit one of the bigger rookies, but hitting the extra auto makes up for that. I'll give a pricing update after I receive the redemptions and can match them up with a current price guide.

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Description:
1 pack/6 cards. 100 card base set (#'d). 2 game-used, 2 autos/box.

Box Topper:
none

Signatures:
#142 Sweet Beginnings Signatures - Zack Segovia
SS2-KH Dual Signatures Black Stitch/Black Ink - Ian Kinsler/Matt Holiday (Redemption)
SS-RM Tier 1 Signature Red Stitch/Black Ink - Russell Martin (Redemption)

Game-Used Memoribilia:
SW-BA Sweet Swatch Memorabilia - Bobby Abreu
SW-PF Sweet Swatch Memorabilia - Prince Fielder

Regular Cards:
#15 Brandon Webb #407/850
#42 Ivan Rodriguez #406/850

Rookies:
#142 Sweet Beginnings Signatures - Zack Segovia (listed above)

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More Information:

- Video Box Break by Beckett Media

Box Break - 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces Baseball

This is a cool product and I've had nothing but great luck with it. This is the 2nd box I've purchased since it's release and that's unusual in itself; I don't buy many repeat boxes. The cards all use a canvas-like surface which represent paintings of players and/or historical baseball moments. You can even win the original 1 of 1 paintings through a scarce redemption process. This brand is good for set-building as well because you get over 70 cards from the 90 card set so conceivably you can build your set with 2 boxes (if the short prints fall right).

You also get a 5x7 box topper card in each box and sometimes even autographed versions. So far this has been my biggest surprise. In both boxes I opened I have received redemption cards for an autographed 5x7 box topper (in addition to the non-signed box topper which came with the box). These should only be seeded 1 per 288 packs (one per case) on average. Which means both boxes I've bought have been the one (out of 16 boxes) that came per case with the right pack/redemption inside. Even odder still when you factor in that I bought both boxes from the same vendor.

Other than the box topper bonanza, I like the cards themselves. I like that you get a lot of rookies as well as a lot of older/historical players. Lastly, one of the best benefits from this set are the coupons you get for upperdeckstore.com which a lot of people will probably throw away. They come in packs as substitutes for game-used or autos so when punks are trying to measure packs in open boxes in their local hobby store to see which pack to buy -- they get burned. :-) That makes me smile. But for goodness sake, use the coupons. You can get 15%, 25% or 50% off at the upperdeck online store. Now, here's the tricky part. DON'T put the coupon code into upperdeck.com until you are ready to start thinking about a purchase. The coupons expire after about 3 months now (they used to last for a year but they stopped that), so just check out the upperdeckstore.com and find some potential items you might want before you put the coupon codes in. I have used these coupons for 'every' purchase I have made at their store. The savings adds up quickly.

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Description:
18 packs/4 cards. 90 card base set. 3 game-used, 1 auto, 1 5x7 box topper/box. $79.00

Box Topper:
MP-19 5x7 Painting Box Topper - Jason Bay

Signatures:
MP-18 5x7 Painting Box Topper Signed - Ken Griffey Jr. (Redemption)
SG-JH Stroke of Genius - Josh Hamilton

Game-Used Memoribilia:
CC-BS Captured on Canvas - Ben Sheets
CC-DO Captured on Canvas - David Ortiz
CC-TH Captured on Canvas - Tim Hudson

Parallel Cards:
#38 Black Linen - Albert Pujols #83/99
#81 Ionized - Chris Chambliss #37/50
#28,#34,#39,#46,#60 Green Linen (no serial numbers)

Rookies:
Alex Gordon
Andrew Miller
Andy LaRoche
Billy Butler
Dice-K
Delmon Young
Kei Igawa (2) 1 reg, 1 green linen
Phil Hughes
Tim Lincecum
Troy Tulowitzki (2) 1 reg, 1 green linen

Extras:
(4) Upperdeckstore.com coupon redemptions

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More Information:

- Tuff Stuff Magazine breaks 2 boxes.
- Video Box Break by some dude on youtube

Box Break - 2007 Upper Deck Future Stars Baseball

I've never purchased this product before, nor really heard much about it. For under $60 a box and promising 4 rookie autos, I thought I would give it a shot. Overall, I'd say it was worth the price. I didn't hit any of the huge rookies which would make this a no-brainer but I did score one extra autograph (Kinsler) and was happy with the serial numbered inserts. This product has no game-used items (or at least none guaranteed) but so what, this product is about rookies and I would recommend it as an affordable attempt at scoring some rookie gold. For example, as of this writing the Dice-K and Joba Chamberlain rookies are both going for around $250 each. :-) My big rook was Chase Wright, currently listed at $15.

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Description:

24 packs/4 cards. 190 card base set. 4 rookie autos/box. $59.00

Box Topper:
none

Signatures:
MVP-IK MVP Prospects - Ian Kinsler
#117 Clear Path to Greatness - Matt Chico
#163 Clear Path to Greatness - Chase Wright
#164 Clear Path to Greatness - Dallas Braden
#169 Clear Path to Greatness - Dennis Dove

Inserts:
#29 Future Stars - Todd Helton #69/99
AS-BI All-Star Prospects - Billy Butler #029/500
MVP-TT MVP Prospects - Troy Tulowitzki #309/500
RD-CG Rookie Dated Debuts - Carlos Gomez #750/999
RD-RD Rookie Dated Debuts - Alejandro De Aza #547/999
TS-BB Two for the Bigs - Michael Bourn/Joseph Bisenius #759/999
TS-CF Two for the Bigs - Kory Casto/Jesus Flores #462/999

Rookies:
All cards listed above are rookies except for Helton and Kinsler