No thanks. You're ugly.

You know, I've made it a goal to chase all the McGowan cards ever printed.

But 2010 Topps red parallels?

No, thanks.

I cannot get over how ghastly these are. Just dreadful.

Draft Musings and Good, Good News

Last night, I watched the MLB Draft. And honestly, I really enjoyed it - aside from the raging hardon that John Hart just couldn't hide behind the MLB Network desk for every SAFE pick on the board. All told, it was an enjoying piece of television to fill my Blue Jays void from the night. (Luckily, Strasburg filled that void tonight, because 8-0 Rays is kind of making me sick right now.)

The Jays draft can be summed up in one word: Underwhelming. Virtually all mid-ceiling, John Hart-approved safe picks, and really no one incredibly impressive new Jays.

However, this is the state of the MLB Draft. It will never be as prospected as the NFL or NHL drafts. Much of this, of course, is due to the fact that in baseball, even after being drafted, a player still has to succeed in being promoted through 2-3 Low A teams, a High-A team, Double A, and finally Triple A before getting to the show. Needless to day, it takes a while to see the results of a draft. There is the Washington Nationals 2009 draft, though, that is an extreme exception with Storen and Strasburg already in the National League (and also, 5-0 Mike Leake in Cincinnati.)

Of course, all of the hype with this draft got me thinking of past Blue Jays drafts, and one #1 in particular, Dustin McGowan (2000).

Since signing on as a professional with the Jays in 2000 (it has now been a decade), Dustin McGowan is 20-22 with a 4.71 ERA in fragments of four injury-marred seasons from 2005-2008. I've stuck with my main man Dustin through the years, and last night read excellent news from the injury front..
According to Mike Rutsey of the Toronto Sun:

Right-handed pitcher Dustin McGowan (who is on the 60-day disabled list in his lengthy recovery from shoulder surgery performed in July of 2008) threw off the mound Monday for the first time since a triple-A spring training game March 19. McGowan threw 25 pitches in a bullpen session. Afterward he reported: “No problems.”

McGowan’s recovery has been an on-again, off-again misadventure for quite some time as last season he even missed time due to a knee injury that required surgery.

This spring, McGowan at one time was progressing so well that the Jays were talking about him breaking camp as one of the members of their rotation. Then came his outing in the spring training game against the Pirates affiliate where he experienced a “dead arm”. Now he is back and throwing but given his history and the problem with shoulder injuries there are no guarantees that he will make it back to the big-league level. The Jays have put no timetable on his latest recovery.

This isn't even news to most Jays fans at this point. I, myself will watch the news wire from here on, hoping for the day in which MLB's greatest chops will once again grace the league with mid-90's heat and knee-bending curves. Best of luck, Dustin.

Are Printing Plates Worth It?

This ends within the next two days on eBay.

Dustin McGowan is my favorite player now with Halladay on the Candy Stripers and Marcum being a hard player to collect.

This is the first ever 1/1 McGowan I have ever seen, but I just cannot manage to consider it a true 1/1. I don't even consider it a real card, honestly.

Of course, I put a bid on it, mainly just a shot in the dark. It looks good for a printing plate (much better than the cyan and magenta plates will look) but still, printing plates are just not my style. I may up my bid and see if I can pull it off, but I just don't see it happening. Maybe I'll be lucky and a black one will come around.

But honestly, if I had to choose between 4 1/1 printing plates and true 1/1 parallel like a Carolina Brights, I'd take the true 1/1.

Thoughts?

Blogger is having some problems, so click the link to see the card.

New Additions and a Bold Claim

First, the claim.
Give this maybe 2-3 months. I've been seeing a trend in conversation, facebook comments, news interviews and so on. First off, it was kind of funny. Then it was being taken slightly more seriously...

But here it is. By the end of the summer,

ascots will be IN.

__________________________________

Anyways. The extreme lack of new options (in the North) in baseball and hockey cards (the newest release up here is '10 Heritage Baseball.) has me doing pretty much nothing but sniffing around for some more trades and snapping up singles off of eBay. I did purchase a blaster of '09 T206 today, but it was a waste.

As many/none of you may know, I am working on putting together one of the hardest memorabilia sets of all time (seeded 1:288 pack back in the day); 2000 Metal Base Shredders. If you're unfamiliar with the cards, they're fully holo-foiled out game used base pieces of players who "shred the bases". And no, it does not mean fast players. Apparently it was a set more for hitters, and, well, Eric Munson.

For $2.24 Shipped, I picked up this beauty:
Big Mo Vaughn. Rumble, rumble, rumble. How sweet would a patch card be made from that jersey?

Next up, everyone's favorite 20-something who has not pitched in the Bigs for almost 2 full years, Dustin McGowan. The only reason McGowan is my #1 collecting interest is, well, Shaun Marcum's cards suck. Poor photos (except '06 UD), only 2 autos with a few variations, and pretty much allllll base cards. Just not worth the effort. Maybe if he wins 15 games this year that will all change.

First up, 2004 Bowman Autograph:
Not bad. But green? Maybe the Oakland cards looked good in '04.

Next, 2006 Topps Chrome Red Refractor s/n #30/90. Nice, rare, refractory goodness.
So that's red, blue and black complete for this rainbow. Still need base, refractor and xfractor. Doable.

And now, what you've all been waiting for.
My new favorite card.
All the glory of the CN Tower.
Bright eyed and bushy-tailed young Blue Jay form Georgia.
Oh, and inked:
What a glorious card.

**There is currently 0:35.8 second remaining in the Eastern Conference Finals. Mike Richards, the one player I would rather have on my team than ANY other NHL player, just set up a tap-in for Jeff Carter. This team is nasty, nasty, nasty. Chicago is gonna have a bit of a challenge on their hands.

A Post in Progress: Dustin McGowan Collection

I don't think I mention it enough. At least, there is no specific page on the subject (until now) on this blog. So I have decided to chronicle the chase of my favorite player, Blue Jays starting/injured pitcher, Dustin McGowan.

We'll descend through the years, rather than ascend. At this bottom, eventually, I will post a want list of Dustin's cards, along with a few posts here and there on my most wanteds.

S/N = Serial Numbered
H/N = Hand Numbered

2009

Upper Deck #385
Topps Career's Best Autograph #CBA-DMM
Topps Silk Collection #NNO S/N: 19/50

2008

Topps Heritage #402
Topps #187
Allen & Ginter's #214
Allen & Ginter's #214 Mini
Allen & Ginter's #214 Mini - A&G Back

2007

2006

Topps #426
Topps Chrome #229 - Black Refractor S/N: 348/549
Topps Chrome #229 - Blue Refractor
Topps '52 #268

2005

2004

Playoff Honors #195 Holofoil Signature S/N: 56/59

2003

Just Minors Autograph #35 H/N: 41/375
Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects #BDP110
Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Chrome #BDP110
Bowman's Best Autographs #BB-DMM

Quickly, eBay, Some Explanations

I've been quiet, lately.

Spring is usually a busy time for me, so I'm used to mailing in on my hobbies this time of year. In high school all I knew in spring time was pitching (I sure as hell couldn't hit until summer). I didn't care about my academics then, and until I got my lovely dogger, I didn't have much else to care about then.

In college, well, the first four years, anyway; I spent all of my time doing geology (as the field season kicks off, it is rather impossible to find a geologist indoors), as well as playing (both) indoor and outdoor soccer at to different schools for three different teams, along with pickup wiffle, softball and hockey games.

Now that I am out of college I thought I'd be more prone to outdoor activities such as fishing and running and rock hounding. But with fishing season not open until May, running without the fear of having to remove a four-banger Ford from my rectal cavity, and rock hounding impossible to schedule while trying to get everyone involved, I have pretty much succumbed to substitute teaching and watching Frazier on Lifetime from 10-11 every morning.

I meant for this to be a quick post, but it wasn't. Sorry. Here's what (I guess?) I was leading up to.

New Dustins!

2004 Topps Chrome Traded
Dustin McGowan X-Fractor Box Topper
SN: #16/20

This is my new lowest numbered card. That's right, I have no 1/1s, nor do I intend to chase any gimmicks such as printing plates, unless they're Dustin McGowan.

Another first as of late is this one:

2009 Topps
Silk Collection
SN: #19/50

Another first. A guy at work in AUGUST told me about pulling a silk from '09 Topps. I played along like I gave a shit/knew what they were. Now I have one, and, to an extent, appreciate them. I have no interest in them other than getting any McGowan, Marcum or Romero, really. They're a nice idea, but they should stick to The Flagship, and stay the hell out of my Ginter. By the way, 2010 Topps Allen & Ginter's and 2009-2010 UD Champs are the only sets I plan on collecting this year. And since almost everyone wants to collect A&G this year, I believe it should be easy for everyone to do so with box breaks, trades, and genuine blogger generosity.

Aaaand that's it, I guess. More McGowans later this week. I have found a great ebay seller who sent me a nice email saying he's got a bunch of him and a bunch of Jays and he'll list 'em for me if I want 'em. Refreshing to find an ebay seller who would rather have your business repeatedly than just rail you in the ass with shipping.

XFractor Question

So I've been wearing the invisibility cloak of late - have you noticed?

Been busy working with the small streams and riparian zones/wetlands that make springtime so great. Also spent some time in Baltimore drinking green beer and in Oneonta (NY) playing some vicious footy games.

Long boring stories short and concise, I haven't been around much lately. I still have to post trades from Jason and the Baseball Dad, and need to send two thank you packages out. I'm also in the middle of about 3 offline fantasy baseball drafts and multiple payoff pushes for fantasy hockerinz.

Anyways, last night I did my typical load-ebay-and-type-in-Dustin-McGowan thing, and found the mother lode. Well, not really. But I did find a seller with two much needed Dusty autos for cheap with combined shipping. Score (hopefully, I'll find out later tonight).

And then I found the card at the top of this post. I did not know this card existed. I'm not a fan of 2004 Topps. I figured they had ignored McGowan in this set, until this one popped up. There's still 5-6 days left in the auction, so I am not getting excited about winning just yet, but still have a question.

Are these really numbered to /20? I did some searching for other in the set, and apparently they are ox toppers. It just strikes me as odd, as the colorless XFractors are #ed/20 and the red XFractors are not serialed.

Has anyone else seen these?

Dustin McGowan TTM Custom

So there it is. It only took about 1/2 an hour, and most of that was trying to teach myself Gimp 2.0. I still need to resize it, as well as possibly making the faded part for the auto less opaque. Click on the full size, and notice that I made the background oil-painting-ish. (?!)

I'd like to print this guy out and sent it to Dunedin, but I'm stuck as to what to do next, more specifically, what kind of paper to print it on. I think it would be lame to just put it on a letter sheet. Any suggestions?

Check Out My Cards, eBay, and the Greatest Card Ever

I'll keep the comments short on these cards, this will mainly be a picture show. Stay tuned to see some of my new favorite cards late in this post. All of these were purchased for less than $25 cumulatively.
Second Good Doctor Halladay relic...1000x better than the shitty '08 Topps one, which is thicker than my Physical Hydrology textbook. ($1.75)
Been in love with these since I pulled my first one (Larry Wayne Jones) back in 2000. Now have 3/10, and the others should be easy to obtain. ($0.75)
Refractors never scan as good as one can hope. I actually took this and the following Dusty Lambchops cards outside to refelct to sunshine today. They came out ok. First Marcum auto. Big spender on this one. ($3.75)
Awesome. ($0.24)
This blue refractor isn't as nice as I'd hoped, but it's Dusty (favorite player), a refractor, and is going towards the 2006 Topps rainbow. Just need the red one and the base...were there XFractors in '06? ($0.75)

Quite possibly one of the greatest cards ever printed. My new favorite Dusty Lambchops. ($0.50)
Maybe you're thinking: "Booooo! Airbrushed!" or maybe "Booo....he's standing next to a Caribbean-themed Bowling Alley" or even "Booooo that auto sucks in it's tiny script and fine-pointed pen. Well, screw you, and flip it over to see (or not see in the terrible scan):
Hand numbered to /375. WIN. ($1.75)
Fun fact: Dustin McGowan in 100% torso. Look it up. Or down. ($3.00)
Another card for the 2003 Bowman rainbow. Need Refractor and XFractor. ($0.15)
You just got Rickyrolled. ($.99)

And now.

Without further adieu.

I give you...

The greatest card of all time:
Effing eh, man. Effing eh. ($1.25)

Cards found on the side of the road...

...well not really. Today I got three packages, er..down the road. The one which I will showcase tonight is a solid package from Duane at Democratic Roadkill. I want to thank you, Duane, quickly, before I get to the loot. Duane came to me saying he had a good amount of cards from my '07 Fleer Ultra want list, and some '06 Fleer Traditions. Without giving him a rundown of a return package, he sent these awesome cards my way. Don't worry Duance, I'll cook something good up for you, though it may take a while.

First up, one of the greatest players of all time from one of the greatest sets of all time:
What a great card. He sent a bunch of these, all Jays save for the Junior Griffey, including the flowing golden locks of a one Kelly Gruber:
Awesome. Gruber is letting everyone in Major League Baseball know right then and there, who finished first in 1992. And will again in 1993. And 2014.
Currently the oldest Jays card in my collection. Boomer's 6'5"/218 frame dominates his panel. He might be average by today's standards.

I juxtaposed these on purpose. Why? A couple reasons. One, The pose is very similar. I'm assuming Topps did not do this on purpose, because they hate the Blue Jays, but also because these cards are 200 apart in the set.

The real reason they are juxtaposed for me is that this way, we can symbolize the passing of the torch. My favorite Blue Jays traded away for some baby birdies, the ringing in of the new ace and my favorite player, as well as my #1 Personal Collection player. Dusty, it's time to be a man.

Now for some more '08 Allen & Ginter's (I need to get a want list up for these) of Mr. Joe Baseball himself:
Love the state cards, pissed that my state is represented by a complete shithead.
'08 Ultimate Collection Joe Baseball. Didn't think much of these from randoms I have seen on eBay, but these are pretty solid for high-end (limited to /350) base cards.
As I mentioned above, got some '07 Ultras in this package. This was the one that stood out most, only because of that hat. I really dislike the Padres, but that hate is awesome. WANT.
Weee. Another Soria, for my paltry Soria collection. I haven't heard of anyone else who collects him, but someone mentioned it on their blog recently. I dig this card. Someone else sent me a Seth Smith of the same variety. I really like how UD did this set.

Well, thanks for the awesome cards, Duane. I will get a package out to you soon. I hope you'll be as pleased with it as I am with my half. Awesome.

Go check out the trader's blog, Democratic Roadkill.

Cards from Fans of Red Teams

That's right. Fans of the blasted Red Sox and the "who knows how they'll be this year" Reds. Seriously, how the Reds will fair one year to the next is always a mystery to me.

Anyways, let's start with some goodies from fanofReds over at Nachos Grande. Sadly, no nachos were included. I flipped him a Gallardo relic for a near-impossible task of putting together the '09 A&G relic set, along with some Larkins, and he was kind enough to send these my way.

First up is a V-Dub spectrum jersey:
Nice, healthy card. Spectrums do not scan well, but they're a treat to look at. Also the jersey cards seem pretty common, I am currently sitting on a Brandon Webb who will probably go visit someone's pseudo-card shop in Arizona in the future.

Chris sent some Jays to boot:
Greatest Blue Jay of All Time, Roy Halladay with painted-on eyes...
Gruber!
And something else...
...this makes me happy. Apparently I wasn't the only one who spent $.99 of 16 of these suckers back in '00. (This card is 10 years old...yikes.)

Thanks for the cards Chris, they're good ones.

Next up, Adam at Thoughts and Sox. I contacted him a week or so back (this package got here quiiiick), and proposed Jays-for-Sox. Unfortunately, he had sent all but a few Jays to another blogger. Aww shucks, but I collect Rockies too! Well, add another blogger to the list that cannot wait to drop his Rockies off on another. Adam sent a 100-count box over here to NY, filled with mostly Rox, but a few, very quality Jays mixed in.

First: some Baby Jays:
These are beauties. You can probably pull my fingerprint from the Aaron Cibia if you feel like incriminating me. Hopefully the Jays won't give up on these guys.
'08 SPx Halladay die-cut. Are these all die-cuts or is this a parallel? Either was, I cannot believe it scanned so well. Adam also sent a Todd Helton. Fellow bloggers have been exceptionally generous in sending me Heltons. Adam sent 15. Wow.
Adam - when you were putting this package together did you know this would be my favorite? Probably not, but Dusty Lambchops is my favorite Jay now that Shawn Green, Carlos Delgado, Orland Hudson and Brandon League are gone. I am actually thinking of starting a Dustin McGowan collecting blog, as other have for Carl Crawford, Brian Roberts, and other players.

Here's the bad news for Adam, though. I haven't even started putting the package together yet! I apologize deeply for this, but things have been a bit hectic lately, and I'm out of packages. I'll put the cards together tonight, so hopefully you can expect them by the end of next week. Once again, sorry for the delay.

On to an eBay score...

This is the best deal I have ever received on eBay. Two autographs, a Tejada pants relic, and an Ichiro SSP from '09 Topps 206.
I'm leading myself to believe that the seller had no idea that he was sitting on an Ichiro short print. This is one of my favourite cards ever, at least in my Ichiro collection. What a great card.

Also, for $.25, Miguel Tejada's pants!:
I picked this up since shipping was cheap past the first card. For two autos, Miggy's pants and the SP, the order cost $4.75 or something. STEAL.

Mail! [+ Trade Post #1!]

So Daniel from It's Like Having My Own Cardshop mentions about a week ago his love of X-Fractors, and we all know his love of Diamondbacks, so we started talking, and due to the mutual love of all things refracting, a trade was thrown down.

Best of all, it was my first throughout the blargospheroid, and I have to say I'm pretty pleased by what Daniel sent over. Here's my shiny/rainbowy half of the deal:

Mmm. Refracted Blue Jaysssss.....

In case you're wondering, I am trying to collect the ENTIRE 2008 Topps Chrome Refractors set. It's a tough task, but I've already got over 40, so I feel goof about it. Daniel thankfully knocked three off of the list, and added something that makes me very, very happy:

2007 Fleer Ultra Ultra Rookies #215 Mike Rabelo.

What a great looking card. The Orange font on the white/blue contrasting bacground is amazing. These was such a great rookie subset, just wish this is what the Lucky 13's looked like instead.

2007 Fleer Ultra Ultra Rookies #221 Jay Marshall. Who?!

The one thing I don't love about this set was the rookies selection. Jay Marshall? Kory Casto? Gustavo Molina? Seriously? There were no better players in one of the top tier farm systems in the majors? What about:

• Andrew Bailey?
• Carlos Gonzalez?
• Joey Devine?
  

Anyways, sorry about the quick rant. Thanks a million Dan - the X-Fractory Diamondback goodness should be in sunny Arizona before long! It may have taken me a while to send 'em out but I kept checking your want/need lists for Diamondbacks you did not yet have. Take the X-Fractors outside where they can get better light than they would here in overcast, rainy, snowy Central New York.

_______________

Also, got a few cards from eBay, all for my personal collection. They include these young bucks:

2003 Bowman Chrome #BDP110

2007 Bowman Gold #BDPP61

And this established gentleman:

2002 Fleer Premium International Pride
Carlos Delgado #NNO

And they all cost less than $5, shipped. Maddy and Dusty Mc were about $2.50 for the pair and Delgado matched them.

The Rookie Rainbow Part I: Dustin McGowan

Dustin's True Rookie Card is that of 2003 Bowman Draft Picks & Rookies Subset #BDP110 and it's parallels.

Bowman Flagship:

Bowman Gold:

Bowman Chrome:

Bowman Chrome Refractor:

Bowman Chrome Refractor Variations:

Progress: 1/6