This sports card of the week is provided by
Joey Zarzynski (aka UptonFan) from
Tempe, AZ:
Well, my name is Joey Zarzynski and i just got back into The Hobby. I
stumbled upon a local card shop to pick up a Beckett because I was curious about
how much my old cards were worth. To my disappointment, they weren't worth very
much... However, while I was in the shop (hadn't been in one for years) I
noticed a particular series of cards called Allen & Ginter. They immediately
caught my eye because of the unique style. I bought a couple of packs just to
see what they were all about. I pulled a 01/10 David Price cloth mini in my
first pack!
I then bought a box of it out of sheer impulse but don't regret it one bit. I
pulled a Justin Upton jersey relic (who is my favorite player) and have begun my
quest in collecting Justin Upton cards.
Thanks,
Joey
This sports card of the week is provided by
Mike B (aka BA Benny) from
New York, NY:
This card of the week is about a card I received via trade here on SCF recently.
I normally wouldn't write about a card from a trade but this one has some
meaning. I was lucky enough to have some auto cards Jay G was interested in so
he offered me some real nice NY Mets in return. The 08 UD Heroes Billy Wagner GU
Auto #'d 4/5 was sweet and bv was higher, but it was the 08 UD Heroes John
Maine GU road jersey #'d 1/25 with a piece of number that made it a 4 color GU
jersey that really made this trade great. What put it over the top was the day
it arrived. They happened to show up in my mailbox just a few hours after I was
told about my Mom's passing. Even though she was ill for a while it is never
easy to hear that Mom is gone. The arrival of those cards was a bright spot on
an otherwise dark day and I will always hold them in a little higher reverence
for that reason.
Thanks,
Mike
This week we have 2 card stories for our Card Story
of the Week!
The first one
is from Mike B (aka BA Benny) from
New York, NY:
This card of the week story comes from an hta box of 09 Topps. I went by
my usual card shop to begin my 2009 card quest with a nice box of Topps jumbo
packs. I also grabbed one Upper Deck jumbo pack just to see what their 09 stuff
looked like. I opened that first and was stoked when I pulled a David Ortiz dual
jersey sn'd /149. That was a nice start to a great box break day. On to the
Topps now. First pack was good, showed the nice 09 design and a gold /2009. By
the end of the 4th pack I had seen a nice variety of inserts and a parallel
SP.The next pack yielded the first hit, an auto of a low level player I never
heard of but I was still optimistic for the next hit. Sure enough it was a big
jump as I hit a Cy Young commemorative patch letter N sn'd /50. I figured
whatever the last hit was wouldn't reach that level but I was happily mistaken.
Two packs later it came, a Roy Halliday All Star "In The Name Of" letter patch
sn'd 1/1! The capper is that it was the letter "L" from the jersey he wore at
the 2008 All Star game at Yankee Stadium and I was there! By far this was the
biggest pull I ever had and hope to top it some day soon. I finished up the box
with a black parallel /59 but the Halliday 1/1 was by far the highlight of a
real good day.
Mike
The second one
is from Jay G (aka JayG) from
Dunkarico, NY:
The Mojo Hand!!
Missing the Wally World exit I decided to head of to the only hobby shop in town
to pick up a cheap box of wax. Upon ripping open my 30.00 box of S.P Rookie
Edition I noticed the Tim Lincecum card # 166 had an auto on it?? Unable to find
pricing on this card I wondered if it was the Holy Grail of Lincecum cards. A
week later, and 2500 emails I still cant find info on this card. Does it exist?
Anyhow it beat the 20.00 dollar blaster I was going to get in its place.
Jay
This weeks Card Story of the Week is by Chris LeBlanc (aka herc009) from
Seekonk, Mass:
Sorry I don't have a scan of the card but once you get the description you'll
know the card if you collect hockey.
I was at my store when Be A player cards first came out and learned that because
they were not sanctioned the team logos were erased from the cards themselves...
anyway while talking to Pete (the shop owner) he was telling me of the Wayne
Gretzky auto card (Because I collect Wayne) and the rarity of it. I told him
that it would be a great pull but knowing my luck I wouldn't get it. So with
that in mind I didn't by any of the packs and instead bought some football
cards. Leaving the store my next stop was to by a pack of smokes after that I
was walking to my car which took me by my card shop, thinking for a second I
decided to go back in and by some of the Be a player cards. Pete was laughing
when I came back in and said, "couldn't resist huh?" I said no and asked him for
the box. I picked out 4 packs and started to open them. My first auto was a PJ
Axelson, the next two were minor players I don't even remember who, but the last
was a surprise I stared at the card for several seconds then showed it to Pete.
He congratulated me and said "See good thing you came back or some kid would
have gotten it and not appreciated it as much as you do." He then went in the
back and retrieved a screw down holder and there it has sat since I pulled it
that day.
This week's Card Story of the Week is by Mike Guilfoyle (aka BA Benny) from
Bellerose, New York:
My card story is about a printing plate frame I pulled. I was going to pick up
my son from his high school football practice and saw that I was early so I
stopped by a card shop by his school to pick up a box of 08 Topps series 2 to
complete my set. The shop had none so I took his last 2007 heritage box. I am
not a huge Heritage collector but liked the idea of 3 hits per box. I parked by
the school and waited for my son and decided to open the box. Started out nice
with A-Rod box topper oversized card. (I am a Mets fan but like the Yankees
also) Now into the packs I go. Nice cards coming, some Mets, Yankees and Stars
that I collect then the first hit, A Steven Pearce auto, my second one of him
from 07 Heritage. Then the next hit, A Jose Reyes jersey card. I am real happy
now, get a hit from my favorite team. Then the third hit comes and it is a Tim
Hudson jersey card, another good player to add to my collection. Now I go to
finish the last 4 or 5 packs very happy already when to my surprise an extra
hit. This must be my lucky day. As I revealed the card I noticed a very
different feel to it. Look at that, a yellow bordered printing plate of #241
Ryan Sweeney. My first 1 of 1 and first plate. As far as collecting goes, I like
the Game Used, Auto, SN'd cards the most so to pull a plate was a real thrill
for me.
This week's Card Story of the Week is by Jay Ghazaleh from Dunkirk, New York.
Thanks Dave And Adams For The Free 1 of 1 .
I recently purchased A box of Topps series 2 Jumbo baseball from D and A's. With
the box came 2 free packs of 2007 Baseball Upper Deck Masterpiece. Upon opening
my first pack I noticed A hit. To my shock and surprise it turned out to be one
of my favorite players!!! A 1 of 1 Coco Crisp Captured On Canvas Bronze Bordered
Game Used Jersey!! WoW. Thanks Dave And Adam. You made my holidays.
Jay Ghazaleh Dunkirk N.Y
This week's Card Story of the Week is by Greg Fisher (aka Fisherg98) from
West Henrietta, New York.
I quit buying cards in 1981 and didn't start again until my daughter became
interested in baseball in 2005. A lot changed in 24 years! We were buying a few
packs of Topps per week with a goal of collecting all the base cards. We hadn't
even figured out what insert cards were all about when we pulled this Matt
Holliday autograph card. I remember us trying to figure out if the autograph was
real or not until Tom, a guy at our local card shop told us what it was.
We have many game used and autos now, but this one remains special.
This week's Card Story of the Week is by S & J Sazin (aka
WallytheGreenMonster) from
Ipswich, Massachusetts
It all started in July of 2007, when I picked up the
monthly "Beckett" magazine at a local paper store. I flipped through the pages,
and on the inside of the back cover, I saw an ad for the new "2007 Topps
"K-Mart" Exclusive Baseball Inserts called "Generation Now Arrives". Pictured on
the add were the cards of David Wright, Prince Fielder, and Daisuke Matsuzaka in
the middle.
Now, at the time, Matsuzaka was (and, I guess still is), one of the top players
people want cards of. And around then, not too many cards of Dice-K had come out
yet, so this one a nice, good looking card that I thought I should take a crack
at looking for.
I went to my local "K-Mart", and searched the store for a good "Retail Box" of
07 Topps Series 2. I got one for $19.99 (inside, including 6 of the K-Mart
Inserts). So, I had six chances of pulling the Dice-K I set out for. I got into
the car, and opened up the box. As usual, inserts exclusively from the store are
set on top inside the box, so I just had to open those first.
I flipped through real slowly, to find the order of the inserts to be:
1. David Wright
2. Prince Fielder
3. Bobby Jenks
4. Ian Kinsler
5. Delmon Young
Now, by then, I thought, odds were, "Am I going to pull that Dice-K?"
As i slowly turned the Delmon Young to the side......... there it was. Dice-K
Matsuzaka's "Generation Now Arrives" K-Mart Exclusive Insert RC. I was stunned.
What were the odds? I keep this card on the front page of my Matsuzaka's, just
to remind me that, although there are high odds, you could be the one to break
them.
This week's Card Story of the Week is by Denny Miller (aka Mr D Cardcollector) from
Scottdale, AZ
1959: A Gift From My Grandfather
My Grandfather (still alive and sharp as a tack at 92) was visiting
Galesburg, Illinois on business in 1959 and since I was born in 1957, that
would make me two years old. He stopped into Jimmy Foxx's restaurant,
ordered a "high ball" off the menu for $.60 and steak with baked potato,
vegetables, and all the trimmings for a whopping $2.55 (according to the
Menu). And who walked in to his own restaurant, was none other than Jimmy
Foxx himself. My grandfather quietly finished his meal and strode over and
asked Jimmy, "to sign his Menu for his grandson". To this day, I have a
Jimmy Foxx autograph, "To Denny Best Wishes Jimmy Foxx 1959". You know, the
authenticators need not bother.
This week's Card Story of the Week is by Mark Schmidt (aka Gatorade5) from Chalfont, Pennsylvania
This card was a very surprising pull. I was at a Phillies game and I bought a
$10 50-card deck with only Phillies cards, but the people who put it together
weren't too smart. Inside that deck, I found this Ryan Zimmerman autograph
inside (the book value of this card is about $25). I also pulled a John Mitchell
1988 New York Mets card.
This week's Card Story of the Week is by Sam Portnoy (aka
CommonsKing) from Palmdale, California
Back in 1989 I went to many card shows. A buddy of mine and I
went to a show in Los Angeles where we met a man that was unloading his pick-up
in the parking lot. We talked to him for a bit, hoping to get in on a good deal
before his stuff hit the table at the show. He asked if we would help him out
with his cards and other memorabilia and we agreed. As we finished carrying his
merchandise in, the card dealer held out his hand and said "Thanks guys, my name
is Wes". I knew he kind of looked familiar but I didn't want to embarass myself
if I was wrong. I said, "Wes Parker"? He said "Yup, thats me". I wanted to get
his autograph but didn't have anything on me so I looked around on his table and
as luck would have it, Parker's rookie card was sitting right there. I asked him
to sign it, and he did. Then he told me I owe him 3 bucks for the card. We all
laughed, I gave him 3 bucks and have a fond memory of meeting Wes Parker, a very
nice guy if you ever get an opportunity to meet him.
This week's Card Story of the Week is by Bob Perrotta (aka
bobfoxboro) from Foxboro Massachusetts
This is a 1954 Topps baseball card of the O'Brien twins. I remember getting this
card in 1954 when I was 8 years old. When I opened the pack and saw this card I
was shocked. I had never seen anything like it before and ran to show my brother
& my friends this strange looking card. It quickly became my favorite card and
I've had it since then. All of my friends wanted to trade for it, but there was
no way I was going to part with this card. We didn't have alot of money to spend
on cards in those days and I never got another. It still rates as one of my all
time favorites and brings me back to my childhood and the wonderful times we had
buying, trading & flipping baseball cards whenever I see it. It really isn't
worth much, but you can never put a price on great memories.
This week's Card Story of the Week is by Mike Pully (aka
Michael P.) from Ashland Wisconsin
I have been on a quest for the past three years to obtain Hank Aaron and Willie
Mays autographs. Well I am half way there, I scored this awesome Hank Aaron 2005
Donruss Signature Hall of Fame Auto/Bat/Jersey on eBay at a great price. Now I
have 50% of my goal left. I still NEED a Willie Mays certified pack-pulled
autograph (HINT HINT), So if anyone has one to trade (A Mays Auto), and also to
help me meet one of my major collecting goals, that would be awesome! I really
like this Hank Aaron piece because it was hard for me to get, and now I have
one.
This week's Card Story of the Week is by Kit Okamuro (aka biglittledogs) from
Barstow, CA.
"I was doing a card show and this guy comes up and asks me if i have his rookie
card. I say I doubt it. He says why not? Its valued at about 100.00 - this was
in the early 90s (high book is now $50). I look at this guy like he's crazy and
finally ask him who he is and he says Mickey Klutts. I know him as a player, but
a 100.00 rc, no friggin way, until he points out he's on the same rc as Paul
Moliter!
For the week of January 20th, 2008
This week's Card of the Week is owned by Matt Lepore (aka
ml23shc) from
Cranston, RI. Here's what Matt has to say about his pick for card of the week:
Here is my favorite card, the 1968 Topps Nolan Ryan RC. I'm a big collector of
Ryan cards and the fact that this is his rookie has little to do with why it's
my favorite card. When I was younger my grandmother cleaned out her basement and
found a shoe box full of my Dad's old baseball cards that she saved (go figure,
she never threw them away!). One of the cards that was in that box was the Ryan
rookie. He was my favorite baseball player at the time and I had already started
to collect his cards so this was like a dream come true...except that it was my
Dad's, not mine. That summer my Little League team made it into the town finals
and I was scheduled to pitch game #2. To win the game would have been cool
enough but my Dad sweetened the pot by writing up a contract that said if I won
that game he would give me the Ryan rookie to add to my collection! We won 8-2.
That was 17 years ago. The Ryan card is in my house now (along with the 8,000
others I have managed to collect), still in the plastic casing my dad had it in
with the contract taped to the back.
For the week of December 24th, 2007
This week's Card of the Week is owned by Lawrence
Streeter (aka
LAStreeter) from
Petaluma, CA. Here's what Lawrence has to say about his pick for card of the week:
A friend and I split a case of 2007 Bowman Draft Picks. He
ordered the case and sent me 5 boxes. He emailed me and said he opened his 5
boxes and pulled an ARod Road to 500 Autograph #d 1/1. He also told me that one
of his boxes didn't have a Draft Pick Autograph in it so he was bummed about
that. Well, the story of the greatest box I ever opened starts when I got my 5
boxes. I opened my 5th box and the box topper had 3 Arod Road to 500 cards in it
and one of them was the pictured card here. It was an autograph Alex Rodriguez
HR #430 and is #d 1/1. This card is a 1 in 2800 box pull and my partner and me
pulled one each from the same case of 10 boxes (UNBELIEVABLE). Another strange
thing about my last box I opened, in pack #20 of 24 packs I got a Gold Refractor
Auto #d/50 redemption card of Daniel Moskos, I pulled that redemption off the
pack and the card below it was an actual Golf Refractor Auto of Michael Main
#d/50. Two Golf Refractor Autograph cards in the same pack. I opened pack #21
and got an autograph of Nick Hagadone. I opened pack #22 and got another auto
but this was a refractor autograph of Nick Noonan. So in that box I got a total
of 5 autographs which were the 1/1 Arod, 2 #d/50 autos, a refractor and normal
auto. It was the greatest box I ever opened.
For the week of December 17th, 2007
This week's Card of the Week is owned by Clinton
Ruder (aka
Ludespeed) from
El Paso, Texas . Here's what Clinton has to say about his pick for card of the week:
Well this Is My 1968 Mickey Mantle #280. I saw it in a case at my local card
shop around early Jan 05 when I stopped in for some supplies (penny sleeves, top
loaders and such) with my girlfriend of about 2 months, Luisa. Nice card but I
didn't have the $150 the shop was selling it for. I've been collecting cards off
and on since I was about 10 years old and I remember even back then that I
wanted a REAL Mantle card. So I finished up my business there and headed out.
Well I got sick and had to be hospitalized for a week and a half towards the
end of Jan. I got out of the Hospital about the 4th of Feb and the next day
headed to work (I work as a nurse in Nursing Home) and once I got there I showed
my Sick note/DR's note to the HR people basically to excuse my absence from the
past week and a half and they noticed the DR had written that I should not
return to work for another 4 days . So i took my note and left. Well unknown to
me, my GF who worked at the same facility, had a plan to leave me a welcome back
present in my Medication cart while I wasn't looking. I guess her pla kinda
backfired seeing how I wasn't at work. Well anyway we met up later that day and
she gave me this beautiful 68 Mantle (my first REAL Mantle by real i mean
original not a reprint) Its not everyday you find someone willing to put up with
my hobby or pastimes let alone buy me something I was too cheap to buy for
myself. This is easily my most valued card and I will never part with it (its
going in the coffin with me!!) And it wasn't my birthday it wasn't Christmas it
was just because she cared (how cool is that?) Well anyways I decided to keep
her around but now I call her My Wife. Oh and later that year for Fathers Day
she found me a Mickey Mantle Auto'd Baseball. Gotta Love Her.
For the week of December 10th, 2007
This week's Card of the Week is owned by Dale Depler (aka
MURPHYFAN) from
Poplar Bluff, Missouri . Here's what Dale has to say about his pick for card of the week:
My 07 SP auth Papelbon Auto by the letter has been the best
auto I pulled this year. I'm a set builder so most inserts and game-used cards I
don't collect. I started player collections just in the past year and most of
them are pitchers DiceK, Miller, an Papelbon. So this card is great outside of
being a simple auto it is part of the jersey as well a great 2 for 1 deal.
Previous sports cards of the week
For the week of November 26, 2007
This week's Card of the Week is owned by Dax Kinsey (aka vick fan) from
Eureka, CA . Here's what Dax has to say about his pick for card of the week:
I am a huge falcons fan and have been collecting for a while
now. This is a 2004 Upper Deck Duel Endorsments card of the Falcons DeAngelo
Hall and Michael Jenkins. It was pulled by me from the only pack of UD
Foundations that I bought. One of the greatest pulls I have ever had. Two of the
best Falcons Rc's together on one card and their auto's too.
For the week of October 22nd, 2007
This week's Card of the Week is owned by Zachary
Lucy (aka
thejackaryman) from
Minot North Dakota. Here's what Zack has to say about his pick for card of
the week.
This card is VERY special to me. The great thing about it is,
that it's still very new to me. I was at work one day, discussing our recent
Hobby Box pulls with my friend and one of my coworkers rudely butted in (I'm
very happy she did) and told me that she had some cards in a shoebox in her
closet. I told her that I would GLADLY take them off her hands if she didn't
have anything else to do with them. Later that night, I stopped at her house to
pick them up, put them in the backseat and drove home as quick as I could. I
took my time looking through everything, just making myself more anxious. I was
looking for anything Ripken, anything Reggie Jackson, but failed to find either.
I managed to find a Rickey Henderson RC, a couple Mike Schmidts, Dan Fouts, and
several commons cards from the 70's and 80's. There was one card in there that
left me completely speechless. I found a 1971 Topps Brooks Robinson (Card #300).
My jaw dropped to the floor and I was ecstatic. I ran upstairs to show my
roommates (who didn't even care) and immediately ran downstairs to throw it in a
screwdown case. The reason this card is so valuable to me is because I am a
DIE-HARD Cal Ripken Jr. fan. I've read his books, collect his autos, still have
posters from my boyhood and still trade for him. Anyways, Cal Ripken Jr's
favorite baseball player growing up, was Brooks Robinson. Now that I have a card
of Brooks, I think I'm going to start a card collection of him as well. I'm very
excited to start!!!
-thejackaryman
More sports cards of the week
