Royal Court of Beltran

LADIES AND GENTLEMAN

I have just been handed an urgent and disturbing news bulletin.

CF Carlos Beltran has been cleared to begin jogging and participating in light baseball activities.

Urgent, no. Disturbing, only to Mets fans. The $118 Million man can finally resume baseball...ish activites. With a brace on his knee.

This is a poor segue into the post I intended, but when a Ron Burgundy quote is handed to you, you smile and compliment the moustache.

When Carlos Beltran was on the Royals, I was very much into collecting cards. I was young and enjoyed shiny/hologrammy/embossed cards, and 98-03 was a great time for flashy, tasteless, dare I say - Japanesish cards.

At the time, I was pulling Beltran cards like they were Yankees. Now, they're just Yankees. Blech.

So I started collecting Carlos. He then went on to Houston and New York; and somewhere in between aliens captured Carlos, and destroyed the cartiledge and tendons and whatnot and crippled him out of baseball shape.

Here are some Carlos cards I enjoy:

2000 Topps Chrome
New Millenium Stars #NMS6

One pack of buckshot Topps Chrome netted me this insert and my first ever refractor.
It is still one of my favorite packs of all time. (The refractor was Ryan Rupe, Hoorah!)

2003 Upper Deck Ovation
Standing "O" #S-35

This card is shaped like a baseball. It has taken everything in my power
to not come out with an "O Face" joke. And for once, self control triumphs.

2003 Victory #39
Single.
I loved this set. I never had to worry about UD quality control touching
my sharp edges...and messin 'em up.

2001 Bowman's Best #36

This card scanned to a nuclear yellow. For those of you unfamiliar with Bowman's Best '01,
the cards all have a refractor finish and slight texture. The blue behind Carlos is, for lack
of a better word, ribbed (for, yes, my pleasure) and the circular lines are indented. Also kind of
rough behind the nameplate. Very over the top, and necessary.

2000 Topps Tek
#17, Variation 1

Topps: "I got an idea. Let's make a card...out of plastic. Print close to 30 background parallels
of each card...use terrible photos, make it transparent...with holofoil on both sides...and
hell let's give 'em that awful digital serial numbering."

Whoever said that, I thank them. Long live Topps Tek.


"O. O. You know what I'm talking about. O."

Recent APC Trades

...and by recent, I mean within the past...ohhhh....three weeks or so. Mail has dried up recently but I am expecting about 10 cards from eBay and maybe some trade packages by Friday. Hopefully. Also, I may purchase (packs of) cards again on Friday. May.

First up, loot from the Great White North (Central), or, Carl Crawford Cards, if you prefer. Paul, the Niemann ink is on the way to the big ND. Hopefully you'll get it by this weekend, but you never know (postmarked 2/16).

This Ichiro is downright nuclear.
Hooray for the Soria boost. And chromed!
It's a rough looking swatch, but hey, I wouldn't believe a Pudge swatch was authentic without some wear.

That's some mighty fine cardboard (and fabric) Paul. Mighty fine.

On to a second package, also received weeks ago, from Dan at It's Like Having My Own Card Shop. He also sent some goody Ichiros, and this guy I needed:
Terrible scan, fantastic card.
On to the Honey-Nut Ichiros:
'04 Donruss Diamond Kings Season Stat Line. It looks light blue as that is how the scan refelcted the holofoil, but its' well done, and certainly not overdone. Great looking card, and #'ed to 159.
My first Turkey Red, of any sort. I kinda want more.
Ichiro, horizontal, on a dirty scanner. Nice.

Thanks guys. Dan - you've already got your package, and Paul, yours is on the way.

Yesterday I also sent one package to Collective Troll for the newest group box break, and to Chris over at Nachos Grande.

What Bothers Me About Topps Unique

This.
Here we have the Joakim Soria "Game Used Button!" relic, serialed to only /6. My first thought, of course, was: "I can haz button shirt cardz?". At the time, it was affordable. I am probably watching it, but lost faith in the card after some good thought.

First off, this is anything but Unique. Why? The usual reasons: Sticker Auto, bland Topps design. Of course, Joakim could sign a cantaloupe and I would throw down some bills for it. [By the way, Google Image Search "Hits until porn" game revealed pornography on the first page of images. Beware, kids.]

Also, a button is part of a uniform. Why completely remove the button from the jersey and make them two different cards? Thickness, obviously, is one concern. This card would probably be 3x as thick and a regular relic card. The only other reason I can think would be that they never thought to use the buttons until this year, and for some reason, besides the reason that Joakim "Blue Flame" Soria wore them, so they were kept.

On a side note...anyone who was ever a hard-nosed player in high school or American Legion baseball will realize buttons are readily losable when diving. When you think of how many jersey cards are out there, or at least when I do, I think 'why so many'? I figured it's probably because of instances like losing buttons, or ripping the ass out of the back right leg of your uniform stealing second. One of the fiercest competitors I ever had the pleasure of sharing a uniform (not literally, we were teammates for 2-3 years) with would go through 4-5 pairs of pants in a season - which brings me to my next though. So many cards say "game-used/worn Uniform" on them...some say "jersey", and rarely do they ever say "pants". Why not? Jersey implies a top, pants is explanatory, but "uniform", I believe, is intentionally left vague.

Tangent number #18 for this post: New Idea for Topps Unique.





Game used pants zippers. Eh?

Plain Beautiful Cards: Volume 4 - 2004 Upper Deck Mike Sweeney #98

While scanning and uploading this card, I realized that Rafeal Furcal's 'o4 UD card was listed just a few days ago. I really want to avoid repetitious posting, so the readers will have to forgive me here.

Why this card needed to be here:

Seriously, if I was in Sweeney's place, even playing ball for a considerably poor franchise, I'd be this elated, too.

I don't know how many others have spent summers traveling their local geography on buses and overloaded carpools, waking up for 5AM before-school pitcher/catcher practices, walking door-to-door collecting bottles and cans to fund trips to sunny southern baseball tournaments, or anything related to playing baseball as a youth. I have been out of the game for four full summers at this point, due to injury, financial bounds, the enduring pursuit of science or just growing up, and I miss it.

Card collecting keeps me closer to the game than I ever thought it could, and is probably what keeps me sane outside of fantasy baseball and the MLB Network. If you ever wondered what it feels like to play baseball, please consult 2004 Upper Deck card #98.