The Great Ohtani Search: Pack #2 (2018 Bowman Baseball)

The hunt for the super Ohtani is officially on...and I'm jumping in on the action with a single blaster of 2018 Bowman.  Of course, I have no actual belief that I'll find such a rare card...but it's fun to dream, right? 

What isn't a dream is that this blaster has actually been quite good so far (through exactly one pack).  I did pull the Ohtani base rookie card which is probably as much as I could reasonably expect to get so I'm happy about that.  Throw in a Reds card and the first pack was a winner in my book.

Now, let's get to the next pack

2018 Bowman:  Pack 2

23.  Richard Urena
59.  Walker Buehler

Of course, I would pull yet another Dodger. 

70.  Parker Bridwell
100.  Kris Bryant

Alright, I can live with that one even if the image is only half an arm away from being Panini "quality."

BP12.  Thomas Hatch
BP46.  Cristian Pache
BP107.  D.L. Hall
BCP34.  Josh Ockimey
BCP46.  Cristian Pache

That's not a typo unfortunately...that's two Pache cards in the same pack (one chrome and one not chrome).

Bowman Scouts Top 100:  BTP-34.  Alec Hansen

The Bowman Scouts inserts are seeded 1:4 packs so that isn't an overly rare card.  That said, I can only assume that there are 100 cards in the insert set which would make completing the full set a true nightmare.  Luckily for me, I haven't yet been tempted to complete a Bowman set...and I don't think this is the year that I'll break that streak.

Truth be told, it's packs like this one that make me skip Bowman most years.  There was a whole lot of cards of guys I've never heard of...and getting two cards (one chrome, one not chrome) of the same guy is a definite bummer - especially when it's some dude you never heard of who plays for a team you don't care about.  The first pack out of the blaster had me sort of liking Bowman but this pack brought me back down to Earth quickly...I guess the product simply isn't for guys like me.

The Great Ohtani Search: Pack #1 (2018 Bowman Baseball)

It's the most popular ticket in town...and no, I don't mean yet another Comic Book Superhero Movie.  Nope, it's Ohtani madness...and I decided not to be left out of the fun.  My local Wal*Mart had exactly one 2018 Bowman blaster remaining on the shelf when I walked by so I nabbed it with $100,000 dreams in my head*.

*not really, but I guy can hope, right?

Did I hit the famed Ohtani?  I'm going to say no without even knowing for sure.  Did I find anything at all in the blaster to make me feel like I didn't waste $20?  That's a fair question...and one I hope to answer as I rip the blaster!

Pack 1:

3.  Corey Kluber

The base cards aren't too bad this year.  I generally avoid Bowman like the plague...and I have no plans to buy this year's set either but that Ohtani lured me in.  Well, that and the fact that I hadn't opened some new cards in awhile.

49.  Shohei Ohtani

Alright!  It's not the super rare one that everyone is looking for but I won't turn down a rookie card of the hottest player in the league right now.  If nothing else, this one will make my Frankenset (when/if I ever get around to putting that beast together)!

79.  Buster Posey
86.  Rougned Odor
BP80.  Matt Hall
BP97.  Corey Ray
BP139.  Travis Lakins

The Bowman brand always confusing me with the various sets within the set.  I do like getting 10 cards per pack at least...80 cards total in the blaster certainly feels like a better deal than some sets.

BCP12.  Thomas Hatch
BCP133.  Tyler Stephenson

Well, between the Ohtani rookie and a Reds' chrome card I cannot complain at all about how the blaster has started. 

#Bowman Trending:  #-FR.  Fernando Romero

We end on a Twins insert card.  I don't usually bother with Bowman in part because other than (maybe) some of the Reds' minor league players, I haven't heard of any of these guys.  The #Bowman Trending insert cards are seeded 1:8 packs...and I guarantee those cards don't age well.  In ten years, the idea of hashtag might be as passe as the idea of a pager is to us now.  Technology ages very rapidly!

All things considered, I couldn't have hoped for much of a better start to the blaster.  With eight packs total (10 cards in each pack), it feels like a "meaty" enough of a purchase to justify the price tag (at least compared to the going rate of baseball cards these days).  I'm hopeful that I'll pull some more good stuff in the remaining seven packs...but you'll have to wait and see what I get when I get around to my next pack rip (and write-up)!

2018 Gypsy Queen: Hits, Parallels, Inserts, and More: ALL FOR TRADE!

If you followed along on my blog over the past month or two, you'll know that I ripped a somewhat unhealthy amount of Gypsy Queen (two hobby boxes plus three blasters I believe).  I am still working on completing my set (my want list is here) but I also ended up with a lot of cards that don't necessarily fit into any of my collections.  I'd love to find a good home for these and work out some sort of trade, so if you are interested shoot me an email!  I am mostly looking for cards off my want list (or LEGO sets).  I will consider cash offers if nothing else works.

Should you be interested in base cards from the set (or inserts), I have my trade bait listed here.  What I didn't put in that post is the various hits and parallels which I will make available today.

Autographs:

GQA-AS.  Andrew Stevenson (Nationals)

GQA-AV.  Alex Verdugo (Dodgers)

GQA-ZG.  Zack Granite (Twins)

Purple (Retail only I believe) parallels:

24.  Bryon Buxton

24.  Byron Buxton

63.  Alex Gordon

74.  Noah Syndergaard

92.  Zack Cozart

99.  Tyler Glasnow

162.  Francisco Mejia

166.  Ben Gamel

250.  Max Scherzer

256.  James Paxton

266.  Aaron Altherr

278.  Javier Baez

278.  Javier Baez

289.  Tyler Saladino

294.  Nomar Mazara

Blue parallels:

48.  Parker Bridwell (Angels) #231/250

57.  Gary Sanchez (Yankees) #193/250

193.  Erick Fedde (Nationals) #144/250

298.  Salvador Perez (Royals) #027/250

Black & White parallels:

78.  Luiz Gohara (Braves) #49/50

243.  Matt Moore (Rangers) #26/50

Bazooka (Topps) Back parallel:

30.  A.J. Jimenez (Rangers)

No Team Name Plate variations:

94.  Nick Markakis (Braves)

170.  Ryon Healy (Mariners)

Gypsy Queen Logo Swap variations:

209.  Kevin Gausman (Orioles)

224.  Giancarlo Stanton (Yankees)

257.  Adrian Beltre (Rangers)

Gypsy Queen Logo Swap Short Print Variation:

308.  Carlton Fisk (White Sox)

Gypsy Queen Logo Swap Image Variation:

100.  Chris Sale (Red Sox)

Glass Works Box Toppers:

GW-CS.  Corey Seager (Dodgers)

Glass Works Blue Parallel Box Topper:

GW-AR.  Anthony Rizzo (Cubs) #124/150

Note:  I'd love to swap my box topper(s) for a Jose Altuve Glass Works.

Another New 1889 Original Allen & Ginter for my Collection

Today is a big day for a few reasons.  For one, I have a brand new (to me) card from the 1889 Allen & Ginter 50 Fish from American Waters set to show off.  For non-card reasons, today is a big day because we head to the doctors to see if our baby is still in the breech position.  If he is, then my wife and I have to schedule a date for the C-section...scary, but also exciting that the little one will finally be able to open his eyes to the world within the next two weeks or so!

I don't know how much time I'll have to blog once the baby arrives (I promise not to abandon the blog entirely but I cannot promise to have at least one post every day like I've pretty much done for the last five or six years).  That said, there isn't a baby here quite yet so let's take a look at the newest addition to my baseball card collection.

That's the Carp - and for a card from 1889, the front of the card looks to be in great shape.  I love the metallic shimmer of the fish in the set...the cards truly are little masterpieces that you need to hold to appreciate fully. 

Way back when, I thought it'd be a fun idea to try and complete one of the vintage Allen & Ginter sets.  I didn't honestly expect that I'd ever actually successfully complete a set but I figured it'd give me something to browse for on eBay over the years.  While I haven't quite yet finished off the fish set, I am closer than I ever thought possible. 

In fact, now that the Carp is tucked away in my binder I am down to needing only four more fish from the set.  For something released back in 1889, I still can't get over the fact that I'm so close now!  In the off chance that someone has some of these fish cards lying around, here are the four that I'm still missing:

• Bluefish
• Rock Blackfish
• Sardine 
• Striped Bass

I'll keep an eye out for them on eBay (if my time allows) but should anyone of you happen to know where I could track down any (or all) of those please let me know!

Until then, I invite you to take a look at my full album of the set as I have it so far. 

Delivery Time! A Mini Zapping!

Back in March, I completed a quick swap with the master of trades:  Mr. Zippy Zappy himself.  After I sent my cards off to him, he returned fire to me...and then we waited.

And waited.  And waited.

Somehow, the envelope must have gotten lost somewhere in the world of the post office...but this story has a happy ending because I now have the envelope in hand (and it didn't even show too much wear other than a series of holes in it that luckily didn't damage any of the cards).

For me, the highlight of the envelope has to be one of the few potential bright spots for the Reds moving forward in both 2018 but more importantly for 2019 and beyond.

That's the young phenom Nick Senzel - and this is one of my first cards of his.  Very cool!

Other highlights of the package include this neat Card Gen card of Jonny Gomes.

Gomes didn't have a long stint with the Reds so it's nice to see him get some love here.

Speaking of getting some love, I expect the Reds to be bombarded with teams looking to acquire one of their few remaining good players this year, Raisel Iglesias.

Of course, given the recent travesty that was the Reds/Mets trade where the Reds got fleeced both coming and going, I don't hold out much hope that the Reds will get anything worthwhile for their closer.

Thanks for the great package of cards - always a pleasure to be on the receiving end of a Zippy Zapping.