LOOKING FOR:

A Brian Cashman certified autograph – I know he’s had releases in both Topps and Upper Deck products. Ideally, I’d like to get one of his A&G autos, just because the other products I’ve seen are selling for pornographic amounts. If anybody has one, or knows where I can find a reasonably priced one, let me know and I may even be able to hook you up with a finders fee.

I haven’t posted worth a damn lately, for a couple of reasons. The first – although I moved over a month ago, I still haven’t set up my “office” (which is a huge storage closet where we put my computer desk) yet. Basically my only internet access is at my office, and when I’m there, they usually make me work.

The other reason is that I’ve hit a bit of a collecting wall, in that I don’t know quite what I want to collect any more. I’m saving money for both a ring AND hopefully a down payment on a house next spring, and cards don’t seem to be quite the priority at the moment, so I’ve decided to put a halt on buying hardly any wax, except for the Goodwin Champions set. I’m only three cards away from the 09 A&G set, so I’m probably done buying that, and maybe about 30 cards from the 07 A&G. I really want to buy a box of 2006, but am having a really difficult time swallowing the $200+ price tag.

Aside from sets, I’ll obviously still be collecting Andy Pettitte. I’m also getting a little more serious about my Chad Greenway collection, as well. Aside from that, I’ll probably actively keep building on my Jeter, Rivera and Joba collections, as well as adding the occasional auto as well, like the previously mentioned Cashman and hopefully a Joe Torre as well.

Finally, I busted a box of 07 A&G for something different, and pulled three hits from a box that promises only two. I’m not one to get worked up too much about g/u stuff, which is a good thing because the first one was a Rich Harden. In the pack following Harden, I pulled a Joe Frazier relic, which I thought was pretty damn cool too. Then I pulled my third hit from the box: an SP auto of Jason McElwain – the autistic kid who couldn’t stop making three-pointers a few years back. I think the quantities were limited to 200, and as cool a card as it is, it is definitely up for trade if somebody has the Yankee auto(s) to pull it off. Perhaps, a Cashman?

OK, hopefully it’s not another two weeks before I post again. Be good, people.

Get Low, Get Low

Thanks to the generosity of Dan from Saints of the Cheap Seats, and a little bit of luck at the card shop, my lists are dwindling down to nothing – which is a beautiful feeling. I hope to have 07 Masterpieces knocked out by the time A&G hits the streets, and maaaaaaaaaybe this year’s Heritage as well, even if that Dustin Pedroia Mayo is proving borderline-impossible to find. Anyway, here’s where the lists stand at the moment:

07 UD Masterpieces: 2, 5, 16, 17, 27, 43, 51, 55, 65, 68, 81, 83

08 Upper Deck Goudey: 210, 260, 264, 301, 302, 304, 306, 312, 313, 317, 318, 320, 324, 326, 328, 329

09 Topps Heritage: 426, 444, 451, 462, 466, 471, 473, 474, 483, 484, 485, 492, 494

New Age Performers: 6, 11

Mayo: AP, CJ, DP, DW, IS, RB (I may be close to acquiring the Chipper, but am not quite cocky enough to take it off the list yet).

I’d really like to get Goudey knocked off by year’s end too – if anyone has any of those SPs they want to get rid of, I’ll even buy ’em off of you.

Also, I’ll be moving at month’s end to St Paul, MN, and will be paying double-rent until August. If we work out a trade, be sure to ask for my new address just so I can get in the habit of typing St Paul, instead of Bloomington. In semi-related news to the move, I am going to dump a bunch of commons at the local card store pretty soon. If anybody wants me to pull aside any teams for them, I’ll gladly do so – I currently have nothing for the Indians or Dodgers, and I’ve set my Reds aside to go to Nachos Grande. Anything else, lemme know, peeps.

Pettitte cards: I’ve been mostly picking up oddball 90s stuff off of Beckett’s Marketplace lately, and winning a few .99 eBay g/u auctions. Thanks to Mario, I’ve also added his 09 Topps and Series II UD cards to the binder, which has pushed me past the 800 different mark. The goal: 1000 different by year end.

Okay, back to not posting for weeks.

2006

Yeah, this post is going to be substantially longer than the others – I need a lot of 2006 and the market was a little more Pettitte-friendly than the past two years.   Posting 2005 might kill me, and that would be a stupid way to die.  As per usual, I am not including refractors, parallels, etc, although chances are I definitely need them.

Bazooka 4-On-1 stickers #5

Flair Showcase #143

Fleer Tradition 1934 Goudey Greats #GG12

Topps Allen & Ginter – all minis

Topps Co-signers – All

Topps Triple Threads – All

Ultimate Collection #237

Upper Deck Team Pride #PE

I guess that wasn’t quite so bad… if work continues to lag, I’ll continue to post the 2000s I need.  Either that or go in and list every damn Finest/Turkey Red/Co-Signers/Bowman parallel.  Just to kill time.

Pettitte Wantlist: 2008

I have to kill a few hours at the office this morning, which equates to me posting on here.  A couple of people have posted their year-end wantlists for ’08, and I figure I may as well do the same.  I’m not including any printing plates/1-of-1s, or refractors on here, but if you have any, definitely look me up.  I’ll work my way backwards towards the mid-90s as time allows, but for how, here we go:

Allen & Ginter Mini Bazooka #138

SPx Winning Materials relic: Any

Topps Black #628

Topps Commemorative Patch Relics #AP

Topps Gold Border #628

Topps Gold Foil #628

Topps Moments & Milestones #112: 1-20, 22-33, 35-55, 57-68, 70-79, 81-96, 98-106, 108-111, 113-125, 127-132, 134-137, 139-141, 143-168, 170-188, 190-200

Topps Moments & Milestones Black #112: 1-13, 15-54, 56-68, 70-121, 123-134, 136-178, 180-200

Upper Deck All-Star Fanfest #13

Upper Deck Gold #291

Upper Deck Spectrum Retrospectrum Relics #AP1, AP2

Upper Deck Timeline Memorabilia #PE

Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy: #6153-6156, 6158-6162, 6164, 6166, 6167, 6169-6172, 6177, 6203, 6205, 6208, 6210-6212, 6214, 6217, 6221, 6222, 6226, 6227, 6278-6289, 6291-6294, 6298-6302

So that didn’t take nearly as long as I expected it to… maybe I’ll tack an ’07 one on here as long as I’m bored.  If you have anything on this list, along with any relics, refractors, #ed, or just plain oddball stuff, look a brotha up.

Wanna Swap?

In paying tribute to my baseball card-whorish ways,  I am mentioning trading in my third consecutive post.  However, I’m not using this particular entry as a call for Pettitte cards, but more to explain how I trade, and what I’ll trade for.  I do mostly blind trading with other bloggers – the only two exceptions to this rule are Chris’ wantlist at Stale Gum and the first trade I did with Steve at White Sox Cards.  Otherwise, I pretty much round up everything I have of a team, put ’em in a box, and send them on their ways.  Unfortunately, by doing this I tend to include duplicates, and even triplicates from time to time.  I don’t really like doing it, but it’s done in hope that these collectors have networked with other collectors of their team, and they can trade off what I send to get stuff they need.  So when you’re pulling that fourth Torii Hunter card out of your box, please know my heart is in the right place.

So if you’re still with me after reading that, and are still intrigued, here’s a list of what I look for in trade, in order of priority (so business-like):

1. Andy Pettitte.  Both Yankees and Astros cards.  Beckett says there are 3300+ Pettittes out there, and my collection will be at 10% of that when my mail comes next week.  Needless to say, I have a long way yet to go.  I’m looking for whatever you have: base, relic, parallel – if it’s Andy, email me, and I’ll take a look.

1A. Chad Greenway.  Being from Iowa and living in Minnesota, Greenway is a fan of these two teams’ dream come true.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a dream collection of him: six cards.  One would think living in Minneapolis would lend itself well to finding Greenway cards, but he sells out incredibly quickly around here.

2. Derek Jeter.  Getting back into the hobby, I initially planned on focusing on Jeter.  While I still pick his stuff up at shops, and love getting them in trades, zeroing in on collecting his stuff would have bankrupted me many times over.  By all means, though, if you have Jeters you don’t want, lemme know (again, with the whoring.  I’m shameless).

3. Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada.  These round out the players I really concentrate on, and by concentrate, I mean request in trade, search out at card shops/online.   I rank Rivera just slightly over Posada, but gladly accept cards of either.

4. Tino Martinez, Paul O’Neill, Joba Chamberlain, Bernie Williams, Roger Clemens.  More favorite Yankees, who I love getting in trades.  However, at this point it turns into collecting too many players, so I’ll pick them up in the common bins (not so much with Joba and Clemens) and tell traders I am looking for them.

5.  Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer.  Hey, I live in the Twin Cities, I have to have someone local to cheer for during the season when I can’t watch Yankee games.  My collections of both are modest, although I have finally started receiving a few trades as well.  Twins cards go for above-Beckett value around here, so the best I can hope for is pulling from packs or getting them in the mail.

6. Other Yankees.  Traders probably are much better off sending their A-Rods, Mantles, etc to other Yankee collectors and getting more bang for their buck.  However, I will not refuse them and can find homes for them as well.

I do believe that’s everything.  Wait, Shane Battier too.  I’m too lazy to re-write/re-rank every player, so if you bust basketball and pull a Battier, chances are I’m interested.  And on that note, I am being summoned to do actual work.  *sigh*

And so it begins…

I figure I’ve bothered enough baseball card bloggers via email that it’s time I get my own blog and hopefully start getting solicited by other collectors out there.  After months of taking my quest to get new cards of Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter and Chad Greenway to other bloggers, I now hope that readers will find me with hopes to unload the cards they don’t want.

I started collecting baseball cards again this past May after a 14-year hiatus from the hobby, and returned to a world I hardly recognized.  I was aware that Upper Deck had started putting jersey pieces in cards, but had no idea that such things as printing plates, 1 of 1’s, and twenty different parallel versions of a base card existed.  It quickly dawned on me that my original intention – to collect all Yankees cards was bordering between unreasonable and impossible (thank you very much Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy).  It was with this I narrowed down my focus.

Initially I was collecting Derek Jeter, and still do.  However, the premium price his cards command helped me realize that if I wanted to become a true player collector and have a shot at getting most (sadly, not at all) of his cards, I would need to find someone who is a little less in the collecting public’s eye.  Enter: Andy Pettitte.  I had his 1994 Bowman as a remind of my past collecting days, and since he was such an integral part of the Yankees’ 90s dynasty, I ran with him.  Starting with that one card, my collection has grown over several months to the current total of 241.

So there it is: I am here in hopes I will gain some sort of following and do some trading with collectors.  My collection is online at Beckett under “EPSlette” if you’re curious.  If you have something that I don’t – look a brother up.  In the meantime, I’ll be posting stuff I get in the mail via trade, and if I get super desperate, stuff I buy from Checkoutmycards.com.  Oh, and I’m also looking for those who collect the Blue Jays, Pirates and Diamondbacks.  In the effort to streamline my collection (another story for another post) I am getting rid of all my cards that aren’t a select few players.  If you collect these teams, let me know – ask other bloggers and they can let you  know that it’ll be worth your while.