Trading with JABO - Printing Plates & Hostess Panels & Yankees !

A few weeks back Kyle at Juuust a bit Outside (JABO) showed some interest in one of the cards on my Trade Bait Page, a red Topps 2011 Finest Eric Hosmer. We e-mailed a bit back and forth and worked out a great trade ! Here's what Kyle send me, just a warning...it's awesome !!

First up is a 2008 Topps Update CC Sabathia Printing Plate !! Although not in pinestripes (it's a Brewers card) it's still awesome and my first Sabathia printing plate !!

Also, Kyle send me a great 1975 Hostess Panel with Nolan Ryan, Reggie Smith & Joe Coleman. When opening the envelop I just sat there for a minute and watched the card, a beauty !!

and if that wasn't enough Kyle included several great looking 1993 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes cards, these look really great as well and the scans don't do them justice

Don't they look just simply awesome, really a great addition to my Yankees collection. But if you thought that was all then you don't know Kyle well enough. As if this was not enough he threw in a box (100+) of Yankees cards. Here is a small selection...

Two cards from my Topps 2012 Want list that I was still looking for !!

Two very nice 2002 Topps Archive cards of Munson and Ford

Two missing Yankee Stadium Legacy cards ! Only some 5,000 more to go so if you have any spares let me know !!

Two Topps Finest cards, really nicely looking !

and Nick Swisher cards, one of the most fun Yankees on the team !

To be honest, whatever I would show you does not do justice to the pile of cards Kyle send me, it was simply awesome.To top it off he included some old-fashion gum !! I haven't made up my mind yet if I am going to take a bite or not :-)

Kyle, after this great package the ball clearly is in my court again so at some point I will send you a, hopefully great, package again !

Thanks so much for a great trade !!

And now for something completely different !

And now for something completely different !! Well, not completely but at least not another post about baseball cards this time. For today's post I thought it would be fun to do a book review (sort of) ! When I was in London a few weeks back, waiting for my plane to arrive, I noticed an interesting book at the airport bookstore: Moneyball - The Art of Winning an Unfair Game!

I assume that all you guys know exactly what the story is all about but for a Dutch Card Guy from Europe the only thing I thought when seeing the book was "hey, isn't that the book about the movie with Brad Pitt that's currently playing"! So clearly I was unfamiliar with this story. Well, given that I had read other great books by the same author (e.g. Liar's Poker), I didn't hesitate and bought the book on the spot.

I didn't regret it one bit. It's a great book for baseball fans that gives you a peek behind the scenes of the Oakland A's, its GM Billy Beane and the gradual "acceptance" of "Sabermetrics" in baseball as well as the dynamics of trading players. I really loved the story and the 300-pages were all digested before I knew it !

For me, this was one of the best books I have read about baseball (although that doesn't say much) so I would recommend Moneyball to anyone. I will definitely check out the movie as well at some point and I even think my wife could be joining me as well if I mention the words Brad Pitt !

What are your favorite baseball books ? Which books should I read next ?

1000th Yankees card !!

This weekend my first ever package from COMC arrived. I have been checking out that site for a while now and recently pulled the trigger and selected some great Yankees cards. The envelop that arrived this weekend included several awesome Mariano Rivera cards and while doing the admin Zistle told me I just entered my 1,000th Yankees card in the system, another milestone in my, still short, baseball collecting career !! Well, to be honest, I still have plenty of boxes and binders lying around that need to be put into Zistle but oke, seeing the ticker going above 1,000 was a nice feeling !

The card that did the trick was a great card, a 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings Crowning Moments card of my favorite player, Mariano Rivera !! A green parallel, so serial numbered to #50.

If you are curious about Zistle or my collection, now at 12,000+, in Zistle check it out here !

Look out for a more detailed review of what COMC delivered in the coming days !

Trade with the Sandlot !

The best start to a Sunday is opening some envelops and see what's inside ! A while back, Joe at the Sandlot contacted me for several of my Piazza relic cards I pulled in a few box breaks I participated in. After only a few e-mails we had a nice trade going on. Yesterday, a great package dropped in my mailbox !

The first card Joe send me was a great looking Relic card of Tom Glavine while he was at the Mets

Next up are several Triple Threads cards including Verlander (#/1350) and two Yankees, Yogi Berra (#/1350) and a gold Willie Randolph (#/99).

Furthermore, Joe send me a 2006 Bowman Heritage game-used Bat card of Gary Sheffield in a Pinestripes.

To finish it off, Joe send me a selection of Yankees from the 2005 Upper Deck Classics set. Take a look !

All in all, a great trade so thanks very much Joe !! The next envelop with Piazza I just send your way today so hopefully that one is arriving soon as well !

Loot from JABO !

A big box of cards arrived at my doorstep today from my friend Kyle at Juuust a bit Outside. Close to 200 cards were in the box !!! A few weeks ago Kyle organized a fun box break, breaking 2012 Heritage, 2011 Bowman Platinum, 2007 UD SP Authentic and 2004 Fleer Platinum. I had the Yankees and the Tigers and had some great pulls ! In addition, Kyle did a break break a few weeks before as well and also threw in those cards. If that wasn't enough, Kyle added a big pile of random Yankees cards which made my day (those I will show in the next few days). Thanks Kyle for your generosity !!

Here is a selection of the box-break cards. First up, 2012 Heritage

Two of my favorite Yankee Pitchers, Rivera and Sabathia 

Two Heritage stickers, again of some of my favorite Pitchers !

More Verlander and Sabathia, this time from Bowman Platinum

The hit of the break (at least for me) was a Bowman Platinum Autograph by Hector Noesi. In the mean time of course he has been traded and is no longer a Yankee. Still, a nice on-card auto !

The break also included some SP Authentic, above two of my Yankee pulls, Jeter and Wang

To finish off two more of the pitchers I collect: Rivera and Glavine !

Thanks Kyle for another fun box break (or actually two box breaks). Note that Kyle is organizer two (!) more box breaks over the coming weeks including 2012 Gypsy Queen so do check out his blog !

In the coming days I will post the pile of random Yankees cards Kyle send me which contained some great cards !!

Have a good weekend everyone !

Even more Trade Bait !

The great thing about taking over a collection of 15,000 baseball cards is the fact that you keep on discovering new ones as it takes a long time to check them all out ! So today I am adding yet again a few more cards to my Trade Bait list. Check them out and if you are interested in one or more let's set-up a trade !

First up, two nice serial numbered cards from the 2005 Playoff Prestige set: Barry Zito(#/350) and Carlos Delgado (#/900).

Furthermore, a nice 2008 Spectrum Retrospectrum Swatches of Austin Kearns of the Reds

A 2008 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Lorenzo Cain Auto

A Donruss Elite Passing the Torch of Scott Rolen of the Cardinals (#/1000)

Two 2007 Topps Finest cards of Ryan Howard (both #/459), 17 and also 24.

Lastly, a Topps Stadium Clubcard of Kosuke Fukudome (#/999)

Thanks for checking them out and let me know if you are interested in any of the cards or anything else from my Trade Bait list !

Next week I will try to make some time to show you some of the vintage cards that were part of this collection !

More Tribute & Glavine !

Today it was eBay delivery day !! As I discussed before I really like this year's Topps Tribute set but given the steep price of the boxes I am skipping those and only chase the pitcher cards I want for my collection. A few weeks ago I found a great CC Sabathia Superstar Swatches card (#/99) for a very decent price. The scan does make it look much more blue that it is in reality !

In addition, I also noticed one of the base card variations (blue, #/199) for a cheap price so I picked it up as well

Lastly, I found a few nice Tom Glavine cards for my collection, the first being a Playoff Prestige Xtra Bases

Also noticed a Leather & Lumber Rivals cards I didn't have yet...

...and lastly a 2004 Tools of the Trade card, limited to #200

All in all some nice additions to my pitcher collections. As you might have noticed I am working on a complete overview of the PC cards I own so hopefully I can finish those soon !

Lastly, if anyone knows where to get a full overview of e.g. all the Tom Glavine or Mariano Rivera cards ever made please let me know so I can start collecting in a more structured way !!

Thanks for reading and watch out for more Trade Bait tomorrow !