Nate's Cards Blog

Consolidating Blogs

2010-08-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to unite all of my split-up blogs into one, NathanielEdwards.com. There's a new 2010 Allen & Ginter box review up there now.

"Hittin' Fool" Quest for .400 Update, 6/28

2009-08-28T14:34:00.001-07:00

Diaz went 3 for 6 yesterday in the Braves' blowout victory over the Padres. So he's on track, only 46 or so more hits to go!

Let's Play Oddball: Boy Scout Cards

2009-08-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

As far as I know, I was in an almost unique position to get these two cards I'm showing you today. It says at the bottom of the back of the card: "Only boys that are members of the Boy Scouts of America and in good standing are eligible for this commemorative BSA World Series Championship Baseball Card." Well, I'm an Eagle Scout, and these Braves cards at the time seemed like more reward to me than any one merit badge. So, we've established that these are a little odd, but Greg Maddux is a perfectly sane choice for a Boy Scout card. He may be the most cerebral pitcher ever. What's so odd about these cards?

The next year's player was John "the worst thing about New York is all the foreigners" Rocker. John Rocker can easily be seen to represent everything that's wrong about the Boy Scouts, with his homophobia, xenophobia, and unforgiving stupidity in his judgement of everyone else. In case you were wondering, East Bound and Down's Kenny Powers is based off of this guy. His Wikipedia article is a somewhat entertaining read. But, Rocker's best friend was apparently an Eagle Scout, according to the card back, so why not?

Matt Diaz and the Quest for .400!

2009-08-26T17:58:00.001-07:00

"The Hittin' Fool" is here to stay (at least while the Braves keep having injury problems) and he's hitting leadoff tonight against the Padres. Anyone who saw his "take a step back once you see the pitch come then hit it" approach to batting can tell that this guy knows how to do it, even if it's different from everyone else, ever. He'll go down 1-2, 0-2 in the count, then hit a double to the gap, and at the rate he's set over the past week, I'm proud to announce, Matt Diaz will reach .400! Fangraphs predicts that Matt Diaz will get another 63 at-bats this year, and he only has to turn 49 of them into base hits to reach the magic number for his batting average.

Let's check tonight on how he's doing... Jesus Christ, the Braves are losing to the Padres again. But Matt Diaz is on target with 2 hits in 3 at-bats! Just remember, Nate's Cards Blog is your home base for Matt Diaz's historic run at .400!

By the way, no set except for O-Pee-Chee even saw fit to print a Matt Diaz card this year (and Topps Attax, but, come on). O, ye of little faith.

Why the Generic Name?

2009-08-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, this blog probably the least interesting name of any baseball cards blog you've heard of (Indians, Baseball Cards, and Random Wax... may have me beat, though). Well, I wanted to just let everyone know that I tried, and it didn't go so well. Let me tell you what other ideas I had:

The Gem Mint Club - Why doesn't that name work? First of all, I don't like graded cards. Second, that name sounds more like a strip club than a blog.
Rough Break - Like breaking wax, right? I googled "rough break" to see if anyone else was using it, and found this Urban Dictionary entry. Nope, ain't usin' that name, either.
[Insert Braves Pun Here] - I'm a Braves fan, and I could make that immediately apparent by calling the blog "A BRAVE New World" or some lame pun like that. But, it's been done everywhere already, and the title wouldn't say "baseball cards" anywhere in there.
BASEBALL CARDS! - I thought shortly about just coming out with it and claiming the name BASEBALL CARDS!. Then I sniffed some smelling salts and came back to my senses.
Nate's Cards Blog - I got lazy after those all didn't work out. I ran the slight risk that someone would think I was a Cardinals fan and picked this title. After all, not all my posts are even baseball-related. I did that CFL post recently.

There you go, issue over. Prepare for a post on Boy Scout baseball cards.

2007 Sweet Spot Tin, er, Break, I Suppose

2009-08-24T16:57:00.000-07:00

I bought a tin of 2007 Sweet Spot (normal, not classic) off of an eBay seller for $48. I got about ten times that in the value of my cards. Wow. The best break I've probably ever had. Here's the rundown:

Mike Mussina base 8/850
Jake Peavy base 721/850 (You hear that he might make a rehab start vs. Tim Hudson in the minors? That's a big sell.)
Luis Gonzalez game-used jersey (meh.)
Cole Hamels game-used jersey (w/ stripe, so pretty awesome)
Hunter Pence Sweet Beginnings autograph with helmet thingy (may get sold, or traded if there are any Astros fans in the house here)
Cliff Lee black leather silver signature 4/25 (pictured above)
Redemption for this card (not my eBay listing, but that link should give you a picture) Hunter Pence & Billy Butler dual auto black leather gold ink #/10.

In case you haven't checked that eBay listing, that last card is on sale for $300 from someone else. I can probably assume that means it's worth a lot. I can't find any listings for my Cliff Lee card, but I can probably guess it's a nice one as well. Definitely more than $48 in this tin, anyway. I've never come anywhere close to getting this kind of stuff in a box. I've never even had a redemption before. Can anyone tell me if the redemption process (with Upper Deck) actually takes 3 months or more? I'll have moved into a dorm at Northwestern University by then, but it'll all work out. Awesome stuff.

2008 Topps Stadium Club Guide

2009-08-22T12:12:00.001-07:00

I've created a guide to 2008 Topps Stadium Club on HubPages. I thought that the site would be a pretty good place to put up these definitive guides to individual sets, with links to where you can get them and everything. Check it out and give me some suggestions for what else you'd like to see, either in additions to this page or what set I should do next.

Let's Play Oddball: CFL Cards

2009-08-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

While entering in the last cards of my collection into my Beckett.com collection database, I came upon several 1991 Canadian Football League cards. Where did I get them? Maybe a junk box from a flea market a long time ago, I really can't say for sure. But regardless, this set has some of the most awesome names you may ever find on sports cards. Peter Giftopoulus, Roger McAdoo, Herman Heard, Paul Osbaldiston, Greg Battle, and Irv Daymond are all pretty good names, and those are a full half of the CFL cards I had.

Rocket Ismail above isn't just a good name, but this is one of the oddest photos I've ever seen. "Rocket" Raghib Ismail did go to Notre Dame, but you still don't see an awful lot of Africa pins (with either an Ivory Coast or Ireland coloring to it) on Notre Dame hats. This combined with how odd CFL cards are to me anyway, and the French on the card backs! It's a worthy first entry in my series of posts, Let's Play Oddball.

2 Contests to Watch

2009-08-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

Here are two more interesting contests you should enter.

1. HoF Contest: Follow the blog, and give your picks for the Hall of Fame for a shot at a gigantic grab bag of hall-of-famer autographs, cards, etc.

2. Allen & Ginter Giveaway: Follow the blog for one of several A & G related prizes.

Trade and Win Contest for Robin Yount Card

2009-08-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

I'm participating in a little contest over here for an autographed Robin Yount jersey card, 13/15. If you trade the blogger there some cards off of his wantlist, then you'll get a chance at winning the card yourself. I sent over six of his needed 1992 Upper Deck cards, and that was unfortunately all I had. Somehow, I don't have any 1982 Topps, only Fleer and Donruss, and that would have been a big hit for me in this contest if I did have any. 1984 Topps and I would have been gold. Anyway, head over and see if you have anything there.

2008 Stadium Club Dimaggio Cutout

2009-08-17T13:36:00.000-07:00

I bought a box of 2008 Topps Stadium Club off of eBay for $50, which seemed extremely cheap compared to all the other listings, a regular old hobby box. (EDIT: I guess it was some sort of special retail version, with less autographs. Hm.) Regardless of whether or not $50 was cheap, I got nothing but the border of a card inside, which I didn't find particularly exciting. I looked it up, and found this thread, which said that Topps apparently had to cut out all their Dimaggio cards from the set (there are lots of other historic players, not just Mickey Mantle). Unfortunately, I'm rather late for this party, as apparently some folks were offering up to $100 for the card. One eBay listing succeeded in pulling $60 for the card. Could it be worth something?

No. An eBay search reveals one listing this month, and it sold for.... $0.99. And that's even with the seller pretending it could have been a 1 of 1. So, this card makes for a nice first blog post, but that's probably about it. Hm.