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Breaking News - Trumbo traded for Skaggs

Okay so it's not exactly breaking news. The Diamondbacks and Angels pulled off this trade with a little help from the White Sox almost two weeks ago. What you don't know is that afterward I contacted Tom from The Angels, In Order about a trade of our own. I asked if he had a few extra Mark Trumbo cards he would be willing to part with. I offered up some of my extra Tyler Skaggs. The trade was quickly agreed upon and a few days later these four cards showed up.

They're great and they'll come in handy this Spring Training since I couldn't find a single Mark Trumbo card of my own. Thanks, Tom!

2013 Bowman Chrome - Miguel Montero Pink Refractor

My wife's favorite color is pink and her favorite D-Backs player is Miguel Montero. So I bought this shiny, pink card for her.  She wasn't that excited. Even when I showed her it was numbered to 35 on the back. 

1993 Triple Play Nicknames - Ryne Sandberg

You'd probably never guess what the first three cards from our COMC Black Friday purchase are. They're of Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg! Random right? Well sort of. Ryno was my favorite player growing up and I saw these cards and had to have them.

The last Ryne Sandberg card I bought was from the 1993 Triple Play Nicknames insert set. Any card with "Ryno" across the top is super cool in my book. This was another must have.

I haven't tried to pick up much Sandberg stuff since I was a kid. It was fun going through the cards COMC had available and picking out a few cheap ones. I'll have to keep my eye out for more.

1996 Denny's Holograms - Ryne Sandberg

You'd probably never guess what the first three cards from our COMC Black Friday purchase are. They're of Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg! Random right? Well sort of. Ryno was my favorite player growing up and I saw these cards and had to have them.

Like many other collectors, my dad and I ate our weight in Denny's Grand Slams to get as many of their Upper Deck hologram baseball cards as we could. I think we had the whole 1991 set but by 1996 we were over it. Therefore I never had this Ryne Sandberg card. For sixty-two cents I had to have it. 

1994 Leaf Slideshow - Ryne Sandberg

You'd probably never guess what the first three cards from our COMC Black Friday purchase are. They're of Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg! Random right? Well sort of. Ryno was my favorite player growing up and I saw these cards and had to have them.

First up is Ryne's 1994 Leaf Slideshow card. I had a few of these classic 90s inserts but never got this one until now. 

My COMC Black Friday Purchase

I finally made my first COMC purchase! For the second straight year I decided to browse their Black Friday sales. Last year I had a cart full of good stuff but bailed at the last minute when I saw the total price of the cards I had selected. Not this year!

This year I couldn't walk away. This year I spent more money than I wanted to. This year I got a bunch of Daniel Hudson and Luis Aparicio cards. This year I made my first COMC purchase!

It amounted to fifty-six amazing cards that I'll show off over the next few weeks. Who am I kidding? Knowing me it will be more like months. I justified the money I spent knowing that these fifty-six cards would turn into fifty-six blog posts and those fifty-six blog posts would entertain the dozen(s) of people who read my blog. 

I've created a "COMC Black Friday - 2013" label so we can all follow along more easily. The first post should hit sometime soon. First I have to find time to start scanning everything in this stack. 

My Free T-Shirt from AlliedShirts.com

The fine folks at AlliedShirts.com contacted me last month to see if I'd be interested in trying out their custom t-shirt service. There seems to be tons of these websites out there now and I've always wanted to try it out.

I'm no clothing designer and I'm too impatient to come up with something complex so I made a simple orange shirt with the name of my blog on it. Snazzy, huh?

The whole t-shirt creation process was simple and fast. AlliedShirts.com even beat their expected delivery date by about a week. That was a nice surprise. If I ever need to make a custom t-shirt, I'll definitely go back to these guys.

2013 Topps Pro Debut - Keon Broxton Certified Auto

I'm a sucker for a cheap certified autograph. This card of Diamondbacks prospect, Keon Broxton, from the 2013 Topps Pro Debut set me back $2 shipped.

I'm not really sure what to think about this guy. Keon was a third round draft pick back in 2009. I don't think he's really a prospect any longer. He's not in MLB.com's top 20 D-Backs prospects and he was recently removed from our 40-man roster.

Keon is currently playing for the Sydney Blue Sox of the Australian Baseball League. He's playing pretty well for them so far. Maybe he can turn things around in 2014. 

# 292 - Mark Loretta

After about eighteen months, Mark Loretta signed and sent back his 2008 Topps card for our set. I was glad to get this one back. Mark was a pretty good player. He was a two-time All-Star and he won a Silver Slugger Award in 2004. After retiring Mark took a front office job with the Padres.

# 292 - Mark Loretta

Progress: 521/990
 

Luis Aparicio Collection - 2013 Panini Cooperstown Gold Cracked Ice Parallel

On a recent trip to Sportlots I found a seller who had a few 2013 Panini Cooperstown cards I needed. Next up is the gold cracked ice parallel of Luis Aparicio's base card. This one is the rarest of the parallels and is numbered 120/299 on the back. 

The final card for this rainbow should arrive in the mail this week. It was part of my COMC Black Friday purchase.

Diamondbacks To Non-Tender Daniel Hudson

I woke up this morning to read this news. Hopefully he's still be able to work something out with the D-Backs.

Diamondbacks To Non-Tender Daniel Hudson

By Jeff Todd [December 2 at 10:22pm CST]

The Diamondbacks will non-tender starter Daniel Hudson, tweets Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca. Though the sides had attempted to work out a deal to keep Hudson in Arizona, he will hit the open market. Hudson likely would not have been a non-tender candidate were it not for his injury struggles. The righty is working back from his second Tommy John surgery at 26 years of age, but was projected to earn a $1.1MM salary through arbitration due to his strong early-career performance. Though he had an ugly 7.35 ERA in 2012, that came over just nine starts; in the prior year, his only full season of MLB work, he posted a 3.49 ERA in 222 innings. As Nicholson-Smith notes, however, there is still reason to believe that the sides can come together. Indeed, both Hudson and the Diamondbacks have indicated a strong interest in a reunion, though he figures to garner some interest from clubs who would like to take a chance on his upside.

# FLA14 - Mike Rabelo - Team Set

Former Marlins and Tigers catcher, Mike Rabelo signed his card from the 2008 Topps 14-card team set. Mike is currently a coach in the Tigers minor league system. This is the first card we've gotten signed from the Marlins team set.

# FLA14 - Mike Rabelo - Team Set 

   

# UH 293 - Adam Dunn - Black Border Parallel

Here at My 2008 Topps Set Blog we're celebrating Black Friday with a 2008 Topps Black Border Parallel card! Hopefully by now you're finishing up your retail shopping especially if you started yesterday afternoon. I guess there were some good deals out there but I don't like that you now have to choose between having a Thanksgiving meal with your family or going to the stores.

I haven't bought many Black Border Parallel cards from the 2008 Topps set but I found this one of Adam Dunn for less than $2 shipped. I couldn't pass that up since it's one of Dunn's few cards that feature him on the D-Backs.

# UH 293 - Adam Dunn - Black Border Parallel 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everybody! Happy Thanksgiving!

I wonder if anyone is having a Black Friday sale on Ty Beanie Ballz?

Luis Aparicio Collection - 2013 Panini Cooperstown Red Cracked Ice Parallel

On a recent trip to Sportlots I found a seller who had a few 2013 Panini Cooperstown cards I needed. Next up is the red cracked ice parallel of Luis Aparicio's base card. I think the red border works better on this card than the blue we posted last week. This one is numbered 310/399 on the back. 

2013 Leaf Metal Draft - Braden Shipley

Braden Shipley was the Arizona Diamondbacks first round draft pick in 2013. He was taken 15th overall.

Braden made his professional debut in July for the D-Backs Class A team, the Hillsboro Hops. After eight starts he was promoted to the South Bend Silver Hawks. He finished strong pitching in four games with an era under three. Hopefully he'll continue to improve.

I picked up this certified autographed card from the 2013 Leaf Metal Draft set. It's shiny so that's nice but otherwise it's kind of a plain design. The lack of logos make it hard to tell which team these guys are even playing for. Braden has an auto in the new Bowman Draft set now too. I guess I'll have to try to pick up one of those at some point.

D-Backs from 30-YOC

Brian from 30-Year Old Cardboard sent over some Diamondbacks cards mostly from the 2013 Topps Update set. I didn't have any of the inserts or parallels yet so those are great. Plus I'll never turn down an extra base card. Those always come in handy for getting autographs during Spring Training.

My favorite from the groups of cards Brian sent was the Paul Goldschmidt Gypsy Queen card. It's a white paper border parallel and is simply amazing. I've never bought too much GQ so I only have a few of these paper border cards. None are as great as this Goldschmidt.

Thanks, Brian! 

D-Backs from The Angels, In Order

Tom from the blog The Angels, In Order contacted me the other day trading some cards. I thought it was a great idea so I found a few Halos to send him. In return he sent me a great stack of Diamondbacks cards including the ones below.

My favorites are the MLB Showdown cards from 2003. I've never owned any cards from this set so these were totally new to me. I'm also glad to pick up some new cards of guys like Armando Reynoso, Travis Lee, and Curt Schilling. While my D-Backs collection is growing, I'm still missing a lot of the early stuff from the late 90s and early 00s.

Thanks, Tom! 

Luis Aparicio Collection - 2013 Panini Cooperstown Blue Cracked Ice Parallel

On a recent trip to Sportlots I found a seller who had a few 2013 Panini Cooperstown cards I needed. Next up is the blue cracked ice parallel of Luis Aparicio's base card. These are just a rip-off of what Topps has already done but they're still nice. This one is numbered 328/499 on the back. The blue is okay but I think I like the other colored parallels better.

2013 Topps Update - Patrick Corbin All-Star Stitches

When 2013 Topps Update first came out a few weeks ago I knew I had to get Patrick Corbin's All-Star Stitches jersey card. I've always look forward this set and this year's design is pretty nice as usual. 

Luis Aparicio Collection - 2013 Panini Cooperstown

On a recent trip to Sportlots I found a seller who had a few 2013 Panini Cooperstown cards I needed. First up is Luis Aparicio's base card. I really like the idea of this Cooperstown set. Of course it would be better if it had logos but I think that horse has been well beaten. 

Contest - And the winner is...

My 2008 Topps Set Blog is proud to announce the winner of our second contest...

Spiegel83 from Nomo's Shushi Platter! 

Email me your info and I'll get the Daniel Hudson autograph and 2013 Topps hanger box out right away!

You may remember our first contest was back in January of 2011. We'll have to try to make this a more frequent feature.

Thanks to everyone who entered. 

Contest - Last Call!

Our contest ends tonight! Click here for details. 

Daniel Hudson Collection - 2010 Topps Opening Day Certified Auto

I've picked up a few new cards for our Daniel Hudson collection. I'll do a post for a new one each day this week. Also, don't forget to enter our Daniel Hudson autograph contest by commenting on Monday's post. If you win I'll send you a Daniel Hudson certified autograph card plus a retail hanger box of 2013 Topps Update.

Anybody who's ever opened up a few packs of Opening Day knows how hard the autographs are to pull. I looked up the odds for the 2010 sets and they were 1:746 packs.

I've seen this Daniel Hudson certified autograph pop up once or twice but it went for more than I was willing to spend. I got this one for less than $10 which seemed like a fair price. 

Daniel Hudson Collection - 2012 UD SP Triple Signatures

I've picked up a few new cards for our Daniel Hudson collection. I'll do a post for a new one each day this week. Also, don't forget to enter our Daniel Hudson autograph contest by commenting on Monday's post. If you win I'll send you a Daniel Hudson certified autograph card plus a retail hanger box of 2013 Topps Update.

I waited and waited and waited to get this card. My patience payed off because I got this 2012 UD SP Triple Signatures card for less than $4 shipped. The three autographs are of Wade Miley, Micah Owings, and Daniel Hudson. Pretty cool I guess. It would be better if it had some pictures or a logo but it's still pretty cool. 

Daniel Hudson Collection - 2012 Topps Tribute Certified Auto

I've picked up a few new cards for our Daniel Hudson collection. I'll do a post for a new one each day this week. Also, don't forget to enter our Daniel Hudson autograph contest by commenting on Monday's post. If you win I'll send you a Daniel Hudson certified autograph card plus a retail hanger box of 2013 Topps Update.

I already have a few of the Daniel Hudson parallels from the 2012 Topps Tribute set but I didn't have this version. It's the orange parallel numbered to 25. 

Daniel Hudson Collection - 2012 Topps Triple Threads Auto

I've picked up a few new cards for our Daniel Hudson collection. I'll do a post for a new one each day this week. Also, don't forget to enter our Daniel Hudson autograph contest by commenting on Monday's post. If you win I'll send you a Daniel Hudson certified autograph card plus a retail hanger box of 2013 Topps Update.

There's a whole rainbow of parallels for autographs from the 2012 Topps Triple Threads set. Awhile back I posted the Sepia parallel numbered to 75. Now I have the Gold parallel numbered to 25. I got a good deal on this one too so I'm happy. 

Contest - Win A Daniel Hudson Autograph!

Hi everybody! As you probably know I've been trying to put together a Daniel Hudson player collection. In doing so I've found myself with an extra 2011 Topps Lineage certified autograph card. If you want it, just leave a comment on this post. You can leave a comment each day this week and I'll announce a winner on Saturday, November 9th. That gives you a maximum of five entries.

Just one prize seemed kind of boring so the winner will also get a retail hanger box of 2013 Topps Update!

 

Thanks for reading my blog and good luck! 

Luis Aparicio Collection - 2012 Panini Golden Age

We've had the mini version of this card for awhile but now I've finally picked up the regular version of Luis Aparicio's 2012 Panini Golden Age card. Not too exciting but it's another card for our Lil Luis collection.

# 19 - Nate Robertson - Team Gift Set

Nate Robertson has several cards in the 2008 Topps Detroit Tigers 55-card team gift set. A friend on SCN helped get three of them signed for us at a Round Rock Express game earlier this season. This one commemorates Nate as being third on the team in strikeouts.

# 19 - Nate Robertson - Team Gift Set 

Luis Aparicio Collection - 2007 UD Masterpieces Black Border Parallel

I won this Luis Aparicio card on Listia back in May. I don't go on there much but I happened to find this one for just 299 credits. That seemed like a pretty good deal for a black border parallel card from the 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces set that's numbered 82/99 on the back. 

Repack Sunday!

Since these repacks came to me from Matt at Once A Cub, I figured I'd do my own Repack Sunday! This was a prize for leading our Fantasy Baseball League in wins.

All three repacks I got included one hundred random cards and four unopened packs. The unopened packs were the same in all three. A 1989 Topps jumbo pack, two packs from 2008 First Edition and a 2007 Fleer Ultra.

When Matt does these repack breaks he always shows off the future/former/current Cubs. This is a little harder to do for my favorite team, the Diamondbacks, since they weren't around before 1998 but I wanted to give it a shot.

Only one card of a player actually wearing a D-Backs uniform in this one and it's of Miguel Montero. I was surprised to get two older Devon White including his iconic 1988 Topps Rookie Cup card. The Bernard Gilkeys are nice too.

Here's a few Hall of Famers and some other cards that I just thought were nice. I really liked the early 90s subsets like the Rob Dibble K-Man and Terry Mulholland No-Hit Club.

Matt always shows off anyone with Cubs ties. I went with just the guys wearing a Cubs jersey. Calvin Schiraldi and Shawon Dunston were both on the Cubbies when they made the playoffs in 1989. These repacks seem to have a ton of these old UK 1988 Topps cards. Lots of good names here. My favorite is the Gary Carter.

Blaster Break - 2013 Topps Series One

This is the second of the two blasters I won in the Fantasy Baseball League.

Remember 2013 Topps Series One? It was kind of fun going back and opening the first 2013 Topps cards. Nothing too exciting but the manufactured patch was pretty cool. Yu Darvish!

If anyone needs any of these inserts everything but the Darvish is available. Just let me know.

Blaster Break - 2013 Allen & Ginter

This is the first of two blasters I won in the Fantasy Baseball League. I didn't buy any Allen & Ginter this year so pretty much everything in here was new to me.

I only got one Diamondbacks player (Trevor Cahill) but I did get a bunch of cool non-baseball cards. My favorite is the Matthew Berry. A Matthew Berry card as part of a Fantasy Baseball prize package? Ridiculous!

I also got a bunch of minis. I don't really like minis so they're available for trade if anyone wants them. Same with the other cards below. Anyone need the Alamo or Venus? If you still need any of the base cards, let me know and I can check to see if I have them too.

My 2013 Fantasy Baseball Prizes

Earlier this year I joined the Fantasy Baseball League that Matt from Once A Cub was setting up. For a small buy-in, you had a chance to win some awesome baseball card prizes.

After a late season surge my team climbed from third place and into the top spot. I was able to take over first place despite having a few of my key players on the DL. Yes, Carlos Gonzalez, David Wright, and Jason Grilli I'm talking about at you. Winning first place assured me at least one blaster as a prize.

Finishing in first place earned me a bye week for the first round of the playoffs. In the second round I would be facing off against Mr. Once a Cub himself. Matt beat me in a close match-up and my chances at a league championship were over.

All hope wasn't lost as I would be facing Roy from plain grey swatch in a match-up for third place. In another close battle, my team came out on top. This victory earned me a second blaster. 

In addition to the blasters for finishing in the top spots, Matt threw in some repacks to those who led the league in the ten different categories during the regular season. I came out on top in strikeouts, wins and batting average. More cards for me! Yes!

Over the next few days I'll show off what I got in all of the goodness below. Thanks again, Matt!

Loot Crate - October 2013 Unboxing!

My October 2013 Loot Crate came today! A few months ago I signed up for a monthly subscription box service called Loot Crate. Basically for less than $20 a month they'll send you a box of random, nerd stuff. I've gotten six so far and it's a lot of fun.

This month's theme was "SURVIVE!" and it included all of this great stuff:

• Ewoking Dead T-Shirt
• The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
• Outbreak Status Temporary Tattoo Set
• Zombie Hunter ID Card
• Love Your Guts Greeting Card
• 8-bit Zombie Buttons
• Creepy Gummi Body Parts Candy

If you're interested in signing up use this link. You'll save three bucks, I'll save a few bucks too and we'll both be happy next month when the mailman brings us the November Loot Crate!
 

# 10 - Nate Robertson - Team Gift Set

Nate Robertson has several cards in the 2008 Topps Detroit Tigers 55-card team gift set. A friend on SCN helped get three of them signed for us at a Round Rock Express game earlier this season. This one commemorates Nate as being third on the team in ERA.

# 10 - Nate Robertson - Team Gift Set 

2013 Topps Heritage Minor League - David Holmberg Black Border

I picked up a 2013 Topps Heritage Minor League team set of the Diamondbacks off eBay for a couple of bucks the other day. The seller also had this black border parallel card of David Holmberg. For an extra buck and free combined shipping I had to have it. 

2013 Topps Update - Clayton Kershaw Update Series Card Patch

In that blaster I bought last night of 2013 Topps Update I got one of the usual manufactured patch cards. I looked over the checklist before I opened the special pack and there wasn't any one card that jumped out at me as a must have. Then I saw the Clayton Kershaw I got. It's his 2008 Topps U&H card. Awesome addition to our 08 Topps collection.

 

2013 Topps Update - Jose Bautista All-Star Stitches

Yes! I went to Wal-Mart tonight and found a ton of 2013 Topps Update. I bought a blaster and a rack pack. I guess I chose well because I got this Jose Bautista jersey card in the pack.

As usual the design on these All-Star Stitches cards is pretty nice. I'm going to have to track down the Paul Goldschmidt and Patrick Corbin ones for sure.

2005 Fleer National Pastime Signature Swings - Josh Kroeger

I wish I had some 2013 Topps Update cards to post but my Wal-Mart and Target shelves were empty last night. I'll probably try again this afternoon.

While we wait, please enjoy this Josh Kroeger certified autograph from the 2005 Fleer set.

Don't remember Josh Kroeger? That's okay. He only played in 22 games for the Diamondbacks back in 2004. Since then he bounced around to a few teams but never made it back to the big leagues. I don't see that he played anywhere in 2013 so he might have retired recently.

I picked up this card for less than $2 for our D-Backs autograph collection.