Not A Bad Vacation Pull

Believe it or not, I actually take a vacation. That vacation takes a lot of saving up for and it isn't usually more than a few days. I bet none of you even knew I was on vacay this week from Sunday to Tuesday. I go to relax at a beach and visit an LCS I visit every year. It's the only one I ever get to so I try to at least come home with something.

With the budget very tight this year, I couldn't bring home a hobby box and extra packs as usual. This year was actually one of my lesser visits when it comes to purchases. I couldn't however come home empty handed.

So for $20, I think I scored pretty well. You may wonder how I got this so cheap, well, I have spent much in the past at this particular shop and have become pretty good friends with the owners so they always give me a good deal.

This binder, you can never have enough binders, $1. Can't go wrong.

And then I busted 6 packs of 2017 Donruss baseball. I try to open some every year. I think it's one of the more underrated products out there all because people don't like the fact it doesn't have any logos. Well, I will tell you what, you are missing out. The overall product is very solid, affordable and can pack a big punch as you will see. I got these 6 packs for $19.

I surprisingly didn't hit one rookie card. Not sure what the odds are on those. I was obviously hoping to find a Judge. But I did pull a Brandon Belt parallel /49 and a Moncada The Rookies.

To my surprise, boxes only have 3 hits and this one looked to had been opened for a bit. So finding two jersey cards in my first three packs was a surprise. Too bad the players weren't better. Cool designed however.

Oh yeah, I did mention there was a third hit didn't I....well...that one was in there too. A very nice looking Significant Signatures purple 3/10 Ozzie Smith. Boo Yeah! I always pull at least something nice from this shop.

 

I do find the team choice for Ozzie a bit odd for Panini going with San Diego, cause how many of us think of the Wizard as a Padre? But Ozzie's sig is so nice I will ignore that fact.

Well, that's my showcase. I hope when I go next year I will have a tad bit more money to spend at the shop but feel for what I did spend, I did pretty well.

BASEically Awesome Part 3:1997 Fleer Ultra Baseball

Another edition of BASEically Awesome is here and with the MLB season underway, let's take a look at some baseball.

1997 Fleer Ultra not only had a solid design, but it had some very unique and fun photos to create a base card masterpiece.

We take a look at some swings and after swings here,

Dante is trying to get in the pitchers head while Todd is just chilling out.

Johnny is getting his swings in and Ozzie is making a play

I don't know what it is about this card, but I see this one as the iconic card of '97 Ultra. I just feel like I have seen this one be posted many times in Beckett and online.

And we end this gallery with Jose looking for fun.

With a product with 550+ base cards to collect, it would be a worthy set chase especially with the photography done like this. However, the Ortiz rookie base card need wouldn't be cheap, but would add value to the set.

Thoughts on today's BASEically Awesome round are welcomed in comments. I know there were many fans of this product.

1997 Upper Deck UD3 Baseball Pack # 13

Time for another riveting adventure into a UD3 pack. Today marks Pack #13 so we are more than halfway done.

Today's pack, well, all doubles. But a couple of good players found so I am okay with that.

Pack #14 coming at ya tomorrow!

1997 Upper Deck UD3 Baseball Pack # 9

Pack #9 didn't provide me an insert yet, but the easiest ones are1:11 so let's hope soon!

Three decent players today.

I wasn't ever really much of a Palmeiro fan. One, I was a Yankees fan. Two, well, roid era player.

 

Ozzie!

 

And my favorite card of the pack, Mr Vlad. Loved the way this guy swung a bat and there is just something about those Expos uni's. I actually got to see him once play for the Expos in Montreal. I believe he hit a deep home run that day. But, the Expos lost. Seemed like a thing then.

 

 

Three more cards down in the set. 

And hopefully Pack #10 will be busted tomorrow. Thoughts on today' pack are welcomed!

Random Card On My Desk:1995 Leaf Great Gloves Ozzie Smith

Autograph Pickups...Real Or Fake? Some HOFers!

Around Easter, a former middle school teacher of mine contacted me and asked if I still collected sport cards. My quick answer was yes, then I also added in a why? She responded that her son was moving off to college and wanted to unload some, not all, of his sports cards and wanted to know if I was interested. Of course at that point I had thrown the phone to the floor and drove like Jeff Gordon to her house. Just kidding. However, I did meet up with her the next day and made an offer which she accepted after contacting him and the cards became mine.

When making my offer at the time, I only managed to rumble through a few things. There was a decent amount of 90's goodness, basketball, baseball, hockey and football cards mixed within. A lot of good variety and a few unique items that I couldn't just let go. Don't worry, I hope to show the rest off in future posts.

While you wait for those posts, I wanted to jump directly to the meat and potatoes of the lot. These are all hard-signed. The biggest question I have is if they are authentic. My assumption would be yes and I would assume upon asking my former teacher about them, he must have gotten them as TTM as she said he got them authentic online. If this is true, these alone were a nice score. But, I will let you guys be the judge.

First off, is Pat Burrell

Next is Ozzie Smith and Ryne Sandberg. Two tremendous additions...if real.

A few 90's big names here in Jon Kitna and J.J. Stokes

Jake Reed. He always played good alongside Chris Carter

Speaking of Chris Carter, he is here as well!

Two good WR's in Toomer and Tim Brown

I was excited for these. Warrick I had wanted an auto of from the 90's fame, Marvin Harrison is probably the greatest Colts WR ever and Joey Galloway was a fun speedster to watch.

And to finish up the autographs is the one and only Corey Dillion. This guy could certainly run and put up good numbers.

Now the only thing left to do is find out if these are real. That's where I would like your guys opinion who may or may not have seen these guys signatures before.

Here is what I see. I find it odd that most are done in the same sharpie colors and thickness. Not unless he had gone to a card show somewhere the athletes were signing. The Chris Carter isn't done like the rest as it appears sharpie pen was used. I find that to be a bit positive. The Jake Reeds were done in two different colors and one is sideways, however the signatures match. Pat Burrell's autograph doesn't match the one on his Bowman Chrome card but that doesn't mean he didn't sign it differently. Those two signatures match. And just looking at each of these invidividually, it seems each auto has it's own unique way it was signed. It wasn't like all of the S, H and letters were done the same way or have the beginning or ending tail of a letter.

I am hoping these are authentic cause of the great players that are here. I honestly can't see a someone sitting down and wasting time signing these cards but I guess you never know.

Let's hear your thoughts? Authentic? Fake? Any input on these would be great!