Another Trip to the flea market

Another trip to the flea market this weekend. My friend, Mr. Bill, was not in. The Going out of Business sign still hangs there. I went around to see if anyone else was selling cards. I picked up a number of older Topps NY Mets. Here's what I got:

My wife asked me if I would organize and move some of my cards so that the "office" space was a little neater. She allowed me to buy a couple of notebooks and I've been sorting cards most of the weekend. Jeff@cardjunkie posted a quick post on the cards I sent him. I enjoy watching cards I've sent being opened on-line. I've got tons of recent doubles, e-mail if you need something.

I have been out bid on a number of cards that I had my eye on on e-bay. That's a bummer because I want to finish my 2008 Topps Stadium Club. I'm a little peeved that a card I bought two+ weeks ago hasn't arrived. I've e-mailed the seller a couple of times. Has this happened to anyone else? I'm sure I'm not the first. What did you do? Is a trip to Judge Judy (a hero of mine, so be nice) in order?

I need to get rid of some cards

I've published a list of cards I have for trade here. If you're looking to trade e-mail me or post a comment.

I never published the cereal box break I did after Team USA beat Puerto Rico. I tested the waters but chickened out. Maybe in the future.
Here are the inserts:

Chrome Refractor: Babe Ruth
Topps Turkey Red: Cole Hamels
Legends of the Game: George Sisler
ToppsTown: Evan Longoria

Honestly, if I finish the whole set I'll be happy but, I really would be satisfied just collecting all the Chrome Refractors and Legends of the Game from this series.

I'm just 11 cards away from finishing the 2008 Topps Stadium Club set. This should include the caveat that I'm not looking to collect all the variations. That would be crazy. Very Crazy. (If anyone is or has done this I would love to hear about it. I've collected a few autos, one beam team (that I traded), many 1st days, and some other variations. I've enjoyed collecting the set and will do so again.

I spied some Topps Heritage packs in Wal-Mart on Tuesday, but opted to buy the Topps cereal box instead. I have a feeling that since I'm such a new collector and already so far behind, starting yet another set would break me. I'm going to hold out.

"Going out of Business"

The last time I was up to visit Mr. Bill at the Flea Market he told me he hadn't been doing well and had been in the hospital for nine days. He's got diabetes. His health is deteriorating. He obviously has other ailments. He had told me a few visits ago that he was going out of business. He would sell everything he had in stock and call it quits, but that could take a year or more. He said he would put together a box of Mets players for me.We talked some more and I bought a box of Lenny Dykstra commons from him. He's the guy who sold me the Mets autograph photos.

I hadn't been up to visit Bill in almost a month. His booth was closed today. The plastic blue tarp was pulled closed. Then I noticed the big yellow sign hanging below his sign. "Going out of Business." I walked down the aisle. Very sad. I went to visit another vendor. Gene is also an older gentlemen. He said, "Bill probably wasn't feeling well." I bought three packs of 1989 Fleers. We talked for awhile about the state of baseball and how lousy of a commissioner Selig is. I'll have to wait until next Saturday to find out how my friend is doing.

No Heritage for me

I still can't find any Heritage packs here. So, I broke down and bought a cereal box of Topps. There were two in the local Target. Mantle and Ruth. I choose Mickey. I wasn't going to collect Series One but after this I might. First, I really like the boxes.  Inside was a Ted Williams Chrome refractor. Nice. Very Nice. I also pulled a Roy Campanella legends card and a David Price Rookie Gold border.  Not to mention a Turkey Red Curtis Granderson. Also, are the toppstown cards inserts? I don't think so but the one I got was Longoria. I'm holding on to it. 

After I opened it my wife asked if I had checked the mail. It had been raining most of the afternoon. I trudged out to the mailbox. Inside was a envelope from Greg at nightowl. He had scored some Stadium Club cards and had even thought of me and picked up a Chase Utley that he knew I needed.  He also included a bunch of 2008 Topps U&H's I needed. That list is getting short. Thanks, nightowl. 

Later that evening, after a great dinner at Pane y Vino, downtown Charleston, we ran by Target again. I grabbed the Ruth cereal box off the shelf and a $4.99 repack thingy. My wife shook her head. The cereal box contained a Carl Yaz legends card, a Topps Turkey Red Jimmie Foxx, (Red? Foxx? haha) and another Chrome Teddy Ballgame. No other doubles for the base set. Well, darn. I guess I'm collecting 2009 Topps Series One. 

Jeff's pack, Part 2

Also in the package, protecting the cards were four 1990 Fleer Action Series Sticker Cards with a Baseball Quiz on the back. The 7-year-old in me wants to paste the stickers on my closet doors. The 41-year-old in me will get his butt kicked by his loving, devoted wife. Let's just take the quiz. Good Luck to all and no peeking.

Who is Yamid Haad?

This evening I returned home to find a very thick package waiting for me. Honestly, I'm finding that the best part of card collecting is trading on line. I get great mail all the time now. Before it was all bills and junk. 

     Occasionally, ESPN the Mag or Inside Pitch. Now I never know what will be waiting for me. Card bloggers are the best people. 

The package was from Jeff at Card Junkie. Thanks, Jeff. He had a bunch of Topps stuff he needed so I happily sent him what I had. He did the same for me, slashing my '08 Series 2 and UH in half. I won't post all of the cards but, the last one I was inserting really caught my attention. 

UH6 Yamid Haad. I'd never heard of him so I flipped the card over to see his stats. I assumed this guy was some young rookie.

This "rookie" has been playing ball professionally since 1997. He was twenty when he started in Erie hitting .290 in 43 games. He has played in 18 major league games.  1 game with Pittsburgh in 1999 and 17 games with the Giants in 2005. In his time with the Giants he had 10 starts (playing behind Pat Methany). Then he was suspended for steroids for 50 games in May of 2006. He played in the D-Rays system but was traded to the Indians. He was called up but never appeared in a game with the Indians. 

That, my friends, is living the dream.

Who knew?

Like so many I'm waiting on the '09 Heritage from Topps to be released. I was going to swing by the store on the way home, but luckily I checked a couple of my favorite blogs and they mentioned that the release was delayed. That's probably for the best. I'm not exactly flush with cash right now. 

Speaking of flush. I have twenty cards left to finish the 2008 Topps Stadium Club set. I'm not being picky about cards. The variations in this set could make a grown man cry. I just want to finish with at least one card of each player in the base set 1-150. I've been lucky enough to pull a couple of autos and a beam team of Delwyn Young (which I traded to nightowl). But, basically I just want to finish the set. So, last night I headed to ebay to see what it would take to go that route.  I managed to find all the cards I needed from the same dealer. The cost, however, gave me pause and I will continue to search for more trades.

The Spring Training exhibition season has started. If you can't get down to Florida (or Arizona) I suggest swinging by Matt Cerrone's Metsblog.com.  Matt has posted videos, interviews with players and coaches, updates and fun stuff  from Duffys. It's like I'm there. Matt has the fans in mind. He asks the questions you would want to ask. He does a great job. Or if you want to check out photos from my trips in the past, then read the posts below. 

My boss came by my office and asked, "Now that Spring Training is underway, are we going to get any work out of you?" My reply, "You don't get much from me to start with." haha funny guy.