It Is So Hard...:Packers Playoffs

It is such hard damn work looking this good...I can't tell if he meant to combine "Y" and "K" but damn, it's hard being a card and looking this good.

Ones That Got Away: Jim Palmer 2005 Origins

There are only three reasons why I am ok with having let this go(despite having no money at all)
1. Jim has an insane sig and I want the right version of it for my collection, and I've seen better.
2. Jim has a relatively extensive on-card selection to chose from
3. I f&^king hate the little glove. history be damned, that cutesy little diorama sucks except for the banner.

Sell Now?:Joey Votto On Card

I bought this little guy in 06 for 8.50 including shipping. I was bolstering what would become a full-blown preference for ONcard autos. This one is selling for around 30-40 dollars in various arenas, and I am thinking of pulling the trigger and letting it go. Even mine is one of the more attractive version of Joey's sig including the pseudo-star double "t". I know powerful little of Votto the player so...
...as for the card design...when have the "SOF" auto cards from bowman not looked super awkward? (especially when they switched to stickers)

eBay: The Dollar Store?

I have read so many posts, starting from when I started reading Cardblogs, in which I thought the writer was lying about the price they won an eBay item for. I have been working eBay for glass art, Sneakers, and most of all, cards. I have seen people winning cards for $.99. Now, I have won my fair share of auctions for good prices, but it all seemed too good to be true.
After reading a post by Beardy about a card he did not expect to win, I thought I would bust out the one I had to talk about.
I put in the minimum bid on this Pena auto, 1.01. I have wanted this card for so long. L0s' auto is one of my favorites and I don't love the look of the Topps base auto.
I check back in the other day, and it was mine for 99 cents. (FREE shipping)
Finally, I believe you all. I apologize for thinking you were all a bunch of filthy liars.

Sick. I am going to renew my dedication to checking auctions that end at 4am or have misspelled names.

where it's at.....got two burned fables and a bike with chrome.

EDIT:upon further review, this card had FREE shipping as is edited above.

I have one more auto coming in the mail that was .99 with free shipping, but it has none of the starpower this one has, if I can even say that.

2010 Bowman:When Worlds Collide

Bought a few Jumbos of 2010 Bowman, I had some luck. no golden ticket here, and I did NOT pay 20bucks for these jumbos, that would be stupid no matter who is in the set. I have seen the jumbo boxes going for well over 200 on eBay alone. I don't even want to check any of the retailers. The Shop I got them from was only opening one hobby and one jumbo box for pack sales. All of the other boxes were now sealed $100 and $220 lottery tickets for people with more money than brains.

I am pumped that the lame blue parallel that I got was of a Brewer, and that I got all the big guys, except for Harper (but Cardboard Problem has more on that). I got a great looking Blue refractor, Dustin Ackley chrome, and a peculiarly poular ($20+) Jose Iglesias auto.
The auto pull is tight. It's nice to be happy with a pull from any of several teams, a nice thing about moving every 3.4 years.

I will not have to buy any more of this product, and will hope to trade for the base I want. Then I got the "sorta flashback to fleerUltra" inserts of two of the biggest stories in baseball including the kid who will be pitching for the geographically closest baseball team to my heart. (to say nothing of my growing enthusiasm for the team) Oh, and a cubs guy. do not want.

that title is extremely dramatic. Save for the design, which I love because I am a simpleton when it comes to cards, 2010 Bowman has caused just such drama. It is all alot of us have to write about. I am still wishing someone else would help me out with HertChrome, but now this set of "epic" proportions is upon us. It is nice to see people and writers lose feathers over this one, and the stir has gone nationwide and mainstream and all that.

CardWeblogger Fact # 342: Non-refractor chrome cards scan like crap. Refractor chrome cards look gorgeous.

Best improvement: silver signature overlay (so sick, but I bet I'll get sick of it) worst "improvement": continuing the "base rookie auto"...that is some bullshit. I just want a real Heyward RC in chrome dammit. (and still making those "gold" cards in every pack...that is just plain stupid)

Verdict:
Still beats the shit out of everything 2010 Topps has to offer save for TMCG.
If you have 2010 topps needs, I am your man, I am keeping about zero of those cards. (not ONE made it into my top 100 best-looking cards. The auto above is automatically in my top 60 or so favorite autos and that Cody wheeler easily cracked the top 40 best-looking chrome cards.

GALLERY: Brewers Autographs

Ones that Speak to Me: Jordan Schafer

With the advent of 2010 MLB action, there will be a few people watching out for this year's version of Jordan Schafer. Some lanky kid to come in hot and make you think twice about prospect lists enough to earn an A&G SP status. This kid was named 2009 starting centerfielder without ever playing a game past AA. He kills his first at-bat against a hot Brett Myers for HR and people want to know what's good. unfortunately, for those who did some research, he had recently served a 50-day suspension without ever testing positive OR being caught purchasing or possessing HGH. So that was a wash, I guess? either way, he couldn't sustain any power or plate discipline in 09 and was optioned to AAA Former Richmond Braves (we was robbed), and I would have been all over that park-aquired auto. (I have the last foul ball hit by the Braves at the Diamond, and still can't figure out who I want to sign it.)
I am freaking crazy about this kid's sig, and believe that I have reason to be. To my knowledge, he is the first baseball player to sign his name with 3 1/2 letters punctuated by two horizontal lines. Jordan's auto is incredibly consistent, and I am still looking for the right card for me. I do not like the design of either of the two 2009 flagships, and with both of those auto editions being on-card, i am having dif. (difficulties) My want for this autograph on a well-concieved design is literally unparallelled.

Gentlemen:The Curve vs. The Straight (things I already miss about UD)

I just wanted to point out that the Pep auto is so sick It's like he knew what Pokemon were in 1988, like visionary. Anyway. What we have up top is the fail at UD to produce something unique. The font, the boxes, even the proportion have been used again and again in the last 10 yrs...So sick of it.

Press Pass, with no MLB licence, and not a huge signing base, is looking like they may be able to fill those empty spots on your Dance-card in the coming years.

Now both of these signatures are exceptional by modern standards, but what I want to look at here is the "curve" theme vs. the "straight", or "classic", theme. I am speaking of vertical cards. Obviously PressPass Fusion took a line from Ultimate's recent playbook and it doesn't play badly necessarily. The step-sister seems to have learned the older sister's dance moves pretty darn well. The batter in the lower corner seems a little forced, but all in all, by not using blinding colors (or even color photos) but the foil is in moderation and the suto is on card. big points.

I'm just sayin.

I have no money and no one shops for cards at my target but me. 2010 blasters are still there...I now officially hate how well Yo Momma's Trash Promo is working, but only because I can't play right now.

No, no. The Computer plays chess...Mr. Campbell is it's interpreter.

You say you developed the concept behind "Deep" what? Blue?
and it could play chess?....that's nice.
Oh! A scientist! well, why didn't you say so?

Craftsmen: Randy Johnson

The fact that this dude was one of the most intimidating pitchers to take the mound since Nolan Ryan does not escape me. What has escaped me, until now, has been the quality of Randy's signature. I have really only seen but so many of his Autos, due to his generally short print-runs. Our tall, lanky anti-hero here seemed as inaccessible as the fourth post of the cauldron, until I came across his crafted, unassuming signature. It is almost always the same, and has not changed a tremendous amount over time. I would have pegged randy for an AD, or at least, Hanley Ramirez style scrawl, but we get the mark of a gentile sportsman, a gentleman even. Congrats on the retirement Randy, Remember that time you killed that bird when you were with Seattle?...and then refused to acknowledge it to the press afterwords?, I have been scared shitless. point made.

Duelling Autos: Jordan and LBJ

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Go Cavs.
This card is obviously far out of my league, but I couldn't resist posting this dual on-card beauty.

Why I Write: Huston Street Culture

Look at this big, bad RED muther.
It's in your face, but dignified.
It's thick and deliberate, yet practiced and legible.
I can understand some of the reasons Upper Deck stopped using windows and trapped paper for Graphs a while back. They are fragile, expensive and, well....nobody likes a bleeder. I am sure they have an exclusive with Sharpie or Staedler or some shit. I personally used to do a lot of drawing.
When I was a young kid, 14-15, I got into Graffiti. Mostly I actually got to the traintracks, or an overpass, or some random wall to "write" in color like once a month. The rest of the time I was getting down to it with my two best friends in my basement, or on a school wall, mailbox, street sign etc. I had my own "black book", I practiced my tag for hours at a time, entire college-ruled notebooks consumed by scrawling attempts at "getting it right", and changing and evolving your transfer of these written letters.
I think that my experiences and practices in the art of Graffiti (that has only gone underground and gotten legal. not dead) is one of the main roots of my appreciation for the autographed baseball card. I mean, pretty simple really. Combine my interests, and it sticks. Ex. Adidas+starwars, Baseball+autographs, lego+starwars,
old stereo speaker+small aquarium...see? I can't lose.
Everyone has their own "tag"...of course it is your signature.

Some have style, some have grace, some have the kind of line that's in your face.
Bring back the thickpen, for you to sign
I bring a used sharpie to the ballpark every time.

Outside the Boxes: Gold, Jerry.

I am not sruprised that a Diamond King got slightly off path on its way to a binder I have yet to set up, but a Sweet Spot Classics Gaylord Perry auto? ok. no clue how that got in there. I definitely pulled it because I found some SSClassic base in a different box a while back.
Never really had a feeling about Perry either way. This Sig looks like it is from a ball where the curvature of the sphere often warps the way a hand pens a name. I personally am not so sure the man was looking at the scrap he was signing, but he signed a lot of stickers et al. for UD in the 00's, and I have another one I like much more. If you have a preference for this card, get in touch.

Why did I put these two together, why gold, of course. Kevin Mitchell made it big after he left the mets organization and hade a short spurt of fame with the Giants. enough go gold fo one tooth. Maybe it is his most important tooth? Anyway, funny I was reading a post on gold over at dinged corners just this morning...and this post was already in the chamber...

Craftsmen, NASCAR Edition: Denny Hamlin

From just down the road from me in Chesterfield, VA, I saw Denny lead an entire RIR (Richmond International Raceway) night race and then lose in a close last three laps to some red Bud car. This signature screams "well-trained rook" to me. NACSAR is a different beast indeed.
"...every signature must be a work of art, and smile wide, boy. you got to sell ya'self"

Controlled Chaos: Pedro Guerrero

...and in retrospect, I am sad to have had to sell this card a while back. To be fair, I really hated the extremely asymmetrical auto-zone (no affiliation to the car care outlet). Very few of these signatures I have seen fit "well" in the pennant. Pedro's is damn-near out of control but I bet he could point out what letter is represented by what loop. His picture is awesome, and I wish I could see more of it...and how could this signature even exist on a sticker? I heard somewhere that freedom wasn't free. check.
The other complaint I had about this Autograph set is that the base cards looked great with silver embossed accent lines...and they couldn't muster so much as an UD logo in foil for the Autos? Come on.

Sketch Factor 10

Holy Cow!? and up to now I never thought twice about scetch cards... until this recent post from Trader Crack's. I used to watch Voltron in French when I lived in Paris as tot. Check the practically patented "Artist Stamp" of a signature. The perspective and motion of this scetch eliminate all of the inherent goofiness of piloting a man-shaped craft constructed of multiple tiger-shaped attack craft.

...feeling generous?
Click Here to Buy me my first. (I used to be quite the stippler myself)

For Your Consideration: Mat Gamel's Rainbow of Style

We'll start with the ugly ones... I would like you all to take a look at all of the 2008/9 topps sticker autos, and notice the sheer variegated nature of it. I liken Mat's signatures for topps and Upper Deck to date to Darwin's finches. Each one's existence a sum of gradual adaptation and evolution over time. The only thing wrong with this theory is that these stickers were most likely procured all at the same time or in several seperate sessions, nonetheless, you find me sigs that vary like this (seriously, if anyone out there knows of a great signature, please leave a comment).

This one flows, which asks relaxed? in a hurry? or sloppy drunk? no. but there are others...........(I have to say upon further inspection, this might be his best...but there are so many to choose from. How could someone like me decide which Mat Gamel AUTO I will actually pay for.

Super tight flow, Mat. I totally see the "M" in there...

On to TTT. ok, I bought one single, and it is not Mat Gamel. It's Justin Masterson, but that's another post. Observe as Mat's signature transforms and contorts in a vain attempt at escaping the cruel holographic hell in which they are captured (a la zod).....

.....and then gives up and seems to return to a more "natural shape". At least it doesn't look like he signed it while on a treadmill like we will see below.

Below is probably my favorite overall, but the whole Parabell look is so 1261. Notice that in this example, the loop around the "M" is clear and round and equidistant from the "M" shape. The "T" to the right of center sealed a sweet deal with the Brewers.

Here, things get kind of hectic. I am not sure how this is the same guy as the one who signed those stickers. This one has my vote for being purchased. The boy's a flat-brim. I can't lose. This is the first time we see the "triple feature" in Mat's sig. the first to the left is the loop around the M, then the G and L curves follow. They are really more scratches than curves here.

Here he went with the "less is more" technique. fail. I have seen a few of these with better autos, but the picture and design are a turn off.

Hands down winner of best card, although I was never a huge fan of the whole "floating head" trend, wasn't it Pete Rose who had a floating head RC. Plus this is ON-CARD. It could have been placed better, but the full M, triple feature, and beautifully horizontal line catch my eye again and again. Which one of you doesn't want to collect things that catch their eye no matter how many times you look at it? I had to close out with at least one photo of Mat after the call-up and hair cut. Too bad it's wasted on this garbage dump of a card.

You are the best mat. get to MKE soon as possible. (and bring up your strikeout-to-walk ratio for us)

Brewers: Paul Molitor

Paul's the kind of guy that signs his name enough that even he can't read it. It's on card. It's Molly, but I hate the "jetes pop-up at the bottom. That is whay I have no interest in 2008 Goudey, Sport Royalty exempt, the authenticity ruined the remake(?).

Best Card, Worst Auto: Emmitt Smith

I implore you Mr. Rodgers...Please steer clear and find your way out of this god-awful storm. This is as bad as it gets...I know I have picked on your shitty sig in the past, but ignore me, I don't even live in wisconsin anymore. Carry on, do not be phased.

Peterson