A&G's Red Auto, Printing Plate and more...

As most of you know, I have not been a long time baseball card collector (like most of you) but I only started collecting last year. Since then I have bought several boxes, just to get a feel for what's out there these days and to see which products I like. One of the products I like a lot is Allen & Ginter given its great look and feel. Today I just wanted to share some of the nice pulls I had from the few 2008, 2010 & 2011 boxes I opened in recent months. The first great pull is a nice Auto of Matt Kemp, really like the look of this card !

My second great pull was a Tom Glavine relic card, not a super special card for most of you I guess but for me it brings back some good memories as Tom almost threw a no-hitter in the first baseball game I attended in 2004 against the Rockies. 

From the 2010 set I pulled my first ever printing plate !! Never pulled one after that and it's not even a baseball player but still it's always special to pull a 1/1 printing plate !!

From the 2011 set I have pulled some fun stuff, two very nice cards in particular. Firstly, my only red auto out of the A&G set, a 6/10 red auto of Ranger Josh Hamilton !

Furthermore, another non-baseball card but one of a boxer, Pacquiao !!

Thanks for checking out my best A&G pulls. Later this week I will share with you my best non-A&G pulls so stay tuned !

Verlander & CC additions !

I recent months I have opened a few boxes of UD Masterpieces and UD Piece of History, two sets I really like. I thought it would be fun to show you what I felt were my best pulls (of players I collect, more other pulls later this week). Two Masterpieces boxes I arranged from Tanner at 6,000,000 Cards and Counting (thanks again!) while I bought 2 Piece of History boxes over the internet. Below is what I got in terms of cool additions to my Pitchers collection. First up a CC Sabathia relic (#/99), not yet in Yankees gear but when he was still an Indian.

Furthermore, I pulled two great Justin Verlander cards, the first being the Stadium Scenes relic in the UD Piece of History set.

Secondly, I pulled Verlander's relic card in the Masterpieces sub-set, Captured on Canvas. I really like the Masterpieces set and this subset and I am progressing nicely in completing it (check my wantlist for what I am missing!).

Later this week I will do a post on my best pulls since I started collecting baseball cards last year, pulls that include a printing-plate, Chipper Jones, Matt Kemp, Pacquio, Jordan Walden, Brett Wallace, Jerry Sands, Darwin Barney, Tom Glavine, Josh Hamilton and several others so stay tuned and I hope to see you back soon !

Trade with Robert at $30 a week habit !

I recently came across Robert's blog $30 a week habit and noticed he was looking for a lot of UD Masterpieces cards. As I had loads of those I contacted Robert to set-up a trade and a smooth trade it was. I aways like Allen & Ginter and I still need a lot of minis as well as several relics from the set. Luckily, Robert had some in store for me so a trade was born !

Firstly, Robert send me 2 minis which I was still missing

Furthermore, he send me two cards of the animal insert set. I am still not sure why I am collecting these but I just want to finish the complete Allen & Ginter 2011 set so that includes these (call me obsessive) !!

Now back to baseball....Robert also send me one of the relic cards I was missing: Johnny Damon, almost became a Yankee again this year

Lastly, Robert send me a very nice A&G Auto card, Torres from the Giants

For me another nice trade so thanks very much Robert and enjoy the UD Masterpieces cards ! Do check out his blog $30 a week habit as well !

Thanks all for checking out my blog again. Have a good weekend everyone !

More European baseball cards collectors !

Apparently I am not the only one collecting baseball cards in Europe ! I am happy to have discovered that fellow Europeans Tony MC and Martyn have a blog called Cards Beyond Oceans and are based in the UK, not far from Holland (for those of you that have no clue where my tiny little country lies!).

They are organising what seems a fun contest with a great free give-away, a very nice auto/relic Duke Snider card (numbered to #10) !



In addition, he is planning for some additional give-aways so go and check out their blog Card Beyond Oceans here and join the contest !

Thanks for checking out my blog again, really appreciate the visits !

JABO's box break loot arrives !

I recently participated in Kyle's Topps 2012 box break at his Juuust a bit outside blog and it was again a lot of fun and well organised. As usual I picked the Yankees and the randomiser gave me the Marlins as well.

As you might recall I recently broke some boxes myself so I actually completed the base set already. Still the break give me one missing card, one of the great pitchers I collect: a CC Sabathia's mini !!  

Granderson's mini was also included, guess he just finished a nice slide...

2 more minis were pulled, both up for trade !

I like these Golden Greats cards, still needs some to complete my set so check out my want list !

3 nice Golden Standard cards ! Sadly enough the white spaces were not filled with an auto...

To conclude, a fun break and again a bit closer to completing the insert sets ! Thanks Kyle for doing the break, keep an eye on his JABO blog as I expect more breaks coming up in the next few months (no pressure Kyle !).

Silk Rivera Arrives !

When looking at my player collections I can honestly say I like collecting Mariano Rivera the most at the moment. As rumoured, 2012 is likely going to be his last season after a really great career with the Yankees. Therefore, when I saw his silk Topps 2012 card appearing on the bay I couldn't resist myself. The mailman delivered it this morning !

I like the look & feel of the Silk Collection (numbered to 50) ! Are you chasing these silk versions as well ?

Trade Bait Draft !

Wes at Jaybarkerfan's Junk is holding a Trade Bait Draft. I have participated in one before, done by Cameron at Cardboard Heaven, so I decided to jump at this one as well. Wes still has 5 spots left so go check it out, it should be a lot of fun and he already has some interesting teasers on his blog.

Here is the link to the Trade Bait Draft at Jaybarkerfan's Junk

Hope to see you there !

Honus Wagner

Since I started collecting baseball cards a while back I kept hearing the name Honus Wagner, being the one on the oldest or most expensive baseball card. Well, I assumed that as a new collector (based in Europe to make it more complicated) I was not going to see this Honus guy anytime soon. I was wrong !! A few weeks back when I pre-ordered some Topps 2012 box I also noticed a Topps 2009 box clearance so I figured, why not add one to my shopping cart. At the end of the break I pulled a nice Honus patch card, I know it's not one of the original Honus cards but still, I can now say I have a Honus in my collection (although at parties here in Europe that line doesn't do wonders yet, also not with my wife, as no-one here has a clue who he is :-)).

Here it is, a nice patch card numbered to #50 ! A shame Topps didn't really make the effort to make the patch fit nicely (as you likely noticed it's sticking out a little). 

Enjoy your Monday everyone !

Still Free Redemptions left so join my Contest !

I recently launched my first contest to promote this new blog The Dutch Card Guy a bit. I had some fast participants that took the first redemption cards. However, I still have several Topps Prime 9 Redemption Cards left so go check it out here !

Enjoy your weekend everyone !

Dimwit's loot arrives !

I recently participated in a fun box break, organised by Sam at TheDailyDimwit opening several boxes of 2007 UD SP Rookie Edition and 2009 UD Signature Stars. I chose the Yankees and Rangers and the randomizer gave me the A's and the Marlins as well. The package arrived this week with some nice cards !

Several Yankees from the nice SignatureStars set

My teams got me no less than three, yes three!, autos, I really like the Derek Holland Auto and not because I am from Holland !! A shame all 3 are sticker autos...

Some nice Ranger cards from the SignatureStars set as well !

 Some more Yankees for my collection !

Thanks Sam for a fun break, looking forward to the next one !