SP Saturday

I recently picked up some 15/$1 cards at one of the card shops I frequent. I should have looked at my Needs list before making the purchase because I could have avoided picking up a couple extra cards, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that not only did I need three out of the five 2016 Allen & Ginter cards that I purchased, but all three were short prints.

I still need 3 additional short prints for the Diamondbacks team set from that year. 6 short prints for one team seems a bit extreme, but what are you going to do. Maybe I'll find the last 3 in a 15/$1 box someday. I can afford 7 cents each.

Why Topps? Why?

I picked up this 2018 Topps Postseason Performance Autograph Relic of Paul Goldschmidt on eBay recently. I bought it knowing that the "game-used memorabilia item is not from the 2017 postseason". I also bought it knowing that the autograph is on a sticker.

Just because I bought it knowing its flaws, doesn't mean that I like it. I've seen multiple Postseason Performance Relic cards and Postseason Performance Autograph Relic cards of Paul Goldschmidt and almost all of them have a purple pinstripe through the jersey, so I picked this one specifically because it didn't have a pinstripe and so I can pretend that the jersey matches the jersey in the picture.

But why should I have to pretend? I get that postseason jerseys are probably hard to come by, by why make the set if you can't get them. How about using baseballs or a base, something that they could actually get and it would be from the postseason?

I paid decent money for this card, but had it featured a ball or base from the postseason I would certainly have paid double. If it contained a piece of jersey or bat that was used in the postseason I would have paid triple or more. I know some people might not think that Topps cares much about the after market price I'm willing to pay, but I think they have to care about that because it would help determine the price they could charge for boxes.

What are your thoughts on cards like this?

Goldschmidt cards from CMMDTO

As a Diamondbacks collector and specifically a collector of Paul Goldschmidt, I often get Goldy cards as part of packages.

So when Jared, of the blog Cards My Mom Didn't Throw Out (CMMDTO) sent me and my boys a package filled with D-Backs cards it wasn't a surprise to find some Goldschmidt cards.

The surprise was that Jared sent 22 Goldschmidt cards. But an even bigger surprise was that of the 22, I needed 11 of them.

Note that I emphasized the word package. I did that because Jared didn't send a bubble mailer, he sent a box of awesome D-Backs. The Goldschmidt cards were only part of the goodness that was found inside the package.

With these 11 Goldschmidt cards I moved past my goal of adding 50 new Goldschmidt cards to my collection this year and have 271 different Goldschmidt cards.

Thank you Jared!

Last week was busy, but awesome!

It's been a busy week. Last Sunday was Opening Day and the Diamondbacks hosted the San Francisco Giants at Chase Field.

Zack Greinke vs. Madison Bumgarder.

Bumgarner put on a show; not just on the mound, but at the plate as well. Mad Bum took a perfect game into the sixth inning and homered not once, but twice.

The Diamondbacks battled back against Bumgarner and the Giants bullpen and ended up winning 6-5.

I mentioned in a previous post that I was given a half season ticket package from the D-Backs. Here is the view from our seats.

The World Baseball Classic trophy was on display at the D-Backs Authentics shop.

Tuesday I took some time off work and pulled my two oldest out of school to attend the dedication of Paul Goldschmidt field. The Diamondbacks and APS (local power company) have partnered over the years to build fields all over Arizona for youth baseball and softball.

Paul Goldschmidt Field is the 39th such field and is located in Goodyear, AZ. It will be one of the fields that my kids will play their Little League games on.

We got there early and had a great time. We knew Goldschmidt would be there, but Luis Gonzalez also attended.

They were handing out D-Backs hats, so we got him to sign a couple.

Former closer J.J. Putz was also in attendance.

After all the speeches, a ceremonial first pitch and the unveiling of the scoreboard, Goldschmidt sat down and signed for everyone. I got my season tickets cover signed. Hoping to add Greinke, A.J. Pollock, and David Peralta at some point.

Goldschmidt posed with all the kids that were there in front of the scoreboard that bears his name.

Wednesday my two oldest and I went to the D-Backs game. We walked in and a D-Backs employee came over and asked which one of them wanted to be the Play Ball Kid and which one wanted to be Relish in the Hot Dog Race.

My oldest was the play ball kid. He got to go on top of the dugout and yell "Play Ball" to start the game. While we were waiting down by the dugout we had to stand up and let Dick Vital go by to his seats.

My middle son was Relish and while Ketchup won that night, he did great!

Friday my oldest had a game at Paul Goldschmidt Field. I believe this was the first game and he was the game's first batter. He did great! He went 1-2 with a walk. His hit was a double to deep center field. He played catcher for three innings (his favorite position) and third and first base. 

Right after his game we changed and headed to the Suns game. We got there right after halftime. The Suns played the Thunder. Russell Westbrook was going for an NBA record 42nd triple -double, but ended up two assists short. The Suns dominated and won 120 - 99. Devin Booker took it personally that so many people in the arena were rooting for Westbrook and he put on a show scoring 37 points.

My oldest has now been to an MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA game. Took me a lot longer than that to accomplish that.

After the game, all kids 16 and under were invited on the court to shoot a free throw. My son stepped up to the line and knocked down the shot.

Saturday morning my youngest had a Little League game at Goodyear Ballpark where the Reds and Indians play their Spring Training games. I'm an assistant coach so I was able to get some pictures of him on the field. 

Saturday afternoon we headed to Chase Field early for Jake Lamb Bobblehead night.

I didn't have tickets to the game as part of my half season ticket package, but I was able to get tickets from my work for the game, so we sat right behind the pool. 

We came away with two baseballs; one from BP and one from the dugout after the game. 

Finishing off a mini team set!

Julie, of the blog A Cracked Bat: Baseball Cards and a Hot Dog, sent me a package recently with some awesome D-Backs cards. Thanks again Julie!

Part of the package was a near complete D-Backs team set of 2015 Topps mini cards. The only card missing was the Yasmany Tomas RC.

Since it was only missing one card, I quickly added it to my cart on comc and it came in a recent shipment.

I'm a bit torn when it comes to team sets. I would love to have every D-Backs card ever issued, and thus have every team set, but I just don't see it happening, so I rarely go after team sets.

But then again, when I come across a team set at a great price or am gifted one, as was the case with this one from Julie, I hesitate breaking it up and sorting it by player, which is how most of my D-Backs cards are sorted.

How about you? Do you collect team sets? How do you sort cards of your favorite team, by set or by player? Let me know.

Paul Goldschmidt All-Star Stitches

I picked up the 2014 Topps Update All-Star Stitches card of Paul Goldschmidt in my most recent comc order to go with the 2013, 2015, and 2016 that I already had. Hopefully there are many more that I can add to this page over the coming years!

Twitter Trade

I was messaged on Twitter last week by @cubsfan_4 regarding a Goldschmidt card. He mentioned that P-Town Tom told him I would be interested. Thanks Tom!

We worked out a quick trade and the Goldschmidt and a nice little lot of other D-Backs cards arrived in my mailbox a few days later. If you're reading this, thanks Dayton!

Only one this time.

I picked up another Goldschmidt lot on ebay recently. Out of the 16 cards in the lot I only needed one, but that's okay because the one card, is a nice one.

It also included this one, but like I said, I already have it, so it'll go to one of my boys.

The other 14 cards are all just base cards, but they'll get a good home as well.

Results from Trade Me Anything X

Thorzul Will Rule opened up a box of 2016 Topps Update a few months back and held his 10th Trade Me Anything event and I claimed this awesome card. You can see what I sent him in return by clicking here.

This will go nicely with my other Goldschmidt All-Star Stitches cards.

I'm missing the 2014 one, so I just added it to my cart on COMC.

It's finished! My Arizona Diamondbacks Bobblehead Collection!

I picked up the last Arizona Diamondbacks bobblehead that I needed last week. Here is my complete collection. There is one more bobblehead going to be given away this season. It is a Randy Johnson HOF bobblehead and will be given out this coming Saturday.

But for now, here is my Arizona Diamondbacks Bobblehead Collection!

This Hello Kitty D-Backs bobblehead is about half the size of most of the other bobbleheads and cost me about twice as much as most of the ones I had to pick up on the secondary market.

Josh Collmentor earned his second bobblehead in 2015. He was the Diamondbacks Opening Day starting pitcher, but has struggled as of late and lost his spot in the rotation. 

Tony LaRussa, in just his first full season in the Diamondbacks organization got his own bobblehead.

This A.J, Pollock Star Wars bobblehead was from this past Saturday. Pollock is having a career year and made his first all-star game earlier this month. 

My 60th different D-Backs bobblehead!

Last Saturday I picked up a 2003 Baxter bobblehead and that put me only needing 3 more D-Backs bobbleheads for my collection. On Monday I was looking around ebay and decided to pull the trigger on one of the remaining bobbleheads I needed.

It was this 2001 Matt Williams bobblehead. It's a nice looking bobblehead, but doesn't really look a ton like Matt Williams.

This leaves me just needing a 2008 Baxter and a 2010 Mark Reynolds (I'm bidding on one now).

2003 Diamondbacks Baxter Bobblehead

Yesterday I went to my LCS and saw that they had one of the Diamondbacks bobbleheads that I still needed up as part of their 3 PM Saturday auction. It was a 2003 Baxter bobblehead.

I wrote in a $10 bid and hoped for the best because I didn't think I'd be able to make it to the actual auction.

Things worked out today though that I was able to go and it was a good thing that I did because someone outbid me.

The auction started at $12 and so I bid $12.50 and got it! The cheapest I've seen this one on ebay is about $25 shipped and up into the $40 range (completed sales), so I was really happy to get this one for $12.50!

With this bobblehead I only need 3 more to complete my collection! That is not including the 5 that will be given out this season, but I will get those when they are given away. I still need a 2001 Matt Williams, a 2010 Baxter, and a 2010 Mark Reynolds.

The auction was for 2 bobbleheads. I needed the Baxter and the other one is also D-Backs, but it's not a SGA (Stadium Give-Away) bobblehead so it wasn't on my list. I don't think I've ever even seen it before.

I have no idea when it was issued, but it is a United Blood Services UBIE bobblehead (UBIE is the name on the back of the jersey).

Like I said, it's not an SGA bobblehead, so I don't know what I will end up doing with it.