Bye Bye Ryan, for now...

 

Last Saturday was a bittersweet day, as Des Moines is now temporarily short one card shop. One of my favorite brick-and-mortar stores within the metro area, Ryanscardz, made the decision to close his doors, with the ultimate plan of relocating to a new shop closer to his Waukee home later this fall.   Owner Ryan Grother opened his Hickman Road retail shop on July 2, 2012 and has been running it solo ever since. As if he wasn't busy enough running a successful card shop, Ryan and his wife, Carissa, became the proud parents of twin sons in January.   It wasn't long, however, before lack of sleep, doctor's appointments, babysitting issues, the daily nine-mile , one-way commute, as well as sharing quality time with this lovely family began eating into store hours. All this may have turned out to be the "perfect storm," which eventually led him to this decision.   Ryan writes in his weekly Facebook page notes, "I've had this little secret eating away at me for some time now. My lease is expiring at this location and I have chosen not to renew it. With our two awesome boys at home that I can't quit talking about, I need to make more money! That means I need to find a more affordable venue and build an even better, leaner and meaner store! "Carissa and I initially started planning this back in September. This is an exciting time for us. We do not have a new location currently picked out and feel that it is the right time to take a little break, while I plan the future of ryanscardz," writes Ryan. Besides taking care of his family, Ryan is looking forward to getting a little fishing and golf time in as well - Something that was hard to do for a five-days a week card shop operator. I had to swing by his current shop one last time to bid him farewell until fall. And, as usual, I couldn't leave his shop without picking up some Padres goodies .    Within his baseball teams box, I found these San Diego  cards - 2014 Topps Update Red Hot Foil Seth Smith (#US81), 2014 Panini Prizm Rookie Reign Reymond Fuentes (#10) and a 2014 Topps Update Red Hot Foil Tyson Ross (#US283). Smith and Fuentes are ex-Padres, as Smith is now with the Seattle Mariners and Fuentes is currently with the KC Royals, playing next door with their AAA affiliate, the Omaha Storm Chasers.

I also picked up a 2013 Select Casey Kelly Autograph (#224) S/N 469/500 and a 2014 Topps Update All-Star Stitches Tyson Ross (#ASRTR). Ross currently sports a 5-7 record as part of the Padres pitching rotation. In 16 starts, he's put together a 5.33 ERA, with 102 K's and 70 BBs. He's also given up 12 homers, a rate of almost one per game.

 

I also picked up a couple of 2015 Tony Gwynn cards, which I've already filed away.

While I am extremely sad to see Ryan leave, I am happy that things are working out so well for him and his young family. I'm definitely looking forward to when he reopens his shop this fall. 

Freebie Fridays featured forthwith!

It must be that time of year. Jan and I have been talking about moving again, downsizing from out three-bedroom house into a one- to two-bedroom condo or apartment in the downtown area.

We've been living in our current residence in Des Moines since 1998, which marks the longest we've ever lived in one place since we've been married. Life in the military has certainly kept us on our toes, with moves to San Diego, Denver, Olympia, Wash., and back to Iowa.

During one of our moves, our moving company told us the average American family accumulates about 500 pounds of junk a year. I can believe it. I think I amass that much weight just in sports cards each year.

For whatever reason, I always seem to pick up massive quantities of sports cards I have no need for.
When I won that $1 bid board box o' cards a while back, it included  basketball and wrestling cards I found at the bottom of the box.

Basketball? Meh, it leaves me cold.  A player gets a hangnail and he's on the DL for two weeks. He gets a cramp and he has to be carted off the court.

Pro Wrestling? Give me a break! If I want histrionics, I'll go visit my two younger sisters. I'll take good old fashioned "folk-style" NCAA wrestling any day. This is Iowa, after all.

According to my wife, she feels I'm too much of a pack rat to just throw these cards away. More than likely, its the fact that I always believe someone may want or need these cards and can't justify tossing them out, even though they may be basketball, wrestling, or even racing cards.

My loss, however, may be your gain.

I'm going to attempt to post a Freebie Friday offer each week. It will feature cards I have no desire to keep, but am more than willing to pass along to a good home. I don't expect anything back in return (unless you truly feel the need to reciprocate), it's just that I can't toss these cards out with a good and clear conscience. If it's a huge set of cards, perhaps you can help with postage, if needed.

One thing I know for sure, getting rid of those cards I have sitting around will definitely make my wife happy.

In any case, here's my first Freebie Friday offers. They are being offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Whoever responds first, gets the cards. All I ask is that one person doesn't become a card hog and claim everything I post. Let's spread the wealth and let everyone share in the goodies.

 

Offer #1 - (BOOK) Classic Sports Card Sets: Best Sports Card sets from the 1950s and '60s.

 

Offer #2 - 1993-94 Jam Session and 1993 Classic Futures

1993-94 Jam Session - Jon Koncak (#7), Rodney Rogers RC (#57), Stanley Roberts (#99), Anfernee Hardaway RC (#159), A.C. Greer (#176), Jerome Kersey (#187), Bobby Hurley RC (#195), Lloyd Daniels (#204), Shawn Kemp (#214), Tyrone Corbin (#223), Pervis Ellison (#233), Tim Hardaway Gamebreakers (#6).

 

1993 Classic Futures - Bill Edwards (#2), Malcolm Mackey (#42), William Davis (#43), Charles "Bo" Outlaw (#55), Mike Peplowski (#59), Thomas Hill (#72), Ed Stokes (#77), Ray Thompson (#87), Gary Troit (#94), Byron Wilson (#94), Rex Walters (#95)

 

Offer #3 - 10 Assorted Topps Allen and Ginter Minis

2008 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini A and G Back #167 Marie Curie

2010 Topps Allen and Ginter #10 Gary Stewart

2010 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini Monsters of the Mesozoic #MM24 Carnotaurus

2010 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini National Animals #NA40 King Cobra/Republic of India

2010 Topps Allen and 206 Mini Historical Events #HE15 May 18, 1910/Earth Pases through tail of Comet Halley

2010 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini Lords of Olympus #LO10 Gaea

2011 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini Step Right Up #SRU9 Knife Throwing

2011 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini World's Most Mysterious Figures #WMF3 Kasper Hauser

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter #140 Tommy Lee

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini Codes, Cyphers and Crypotgraphs #SHE Shugborough Hall Inscription

 

Offer #4  - 19 Assorted Topps Allen and Ginter

2010 Topps Allen and Ginter #9 Kelly Kulick

2010 Topps Allen and Ginter #110 Sherlock Holmes

2010 Topps Allen and Ginter #185 X-Rays

2011 Topps Allen and Ginter #119 Nancy Lopez

2010 Topps Allen and Ginter  Minds that Made the Future #MMF40 Benjamin Franklin

2011 Topps Allen and Ginter Ascent of Man #AOM3 Choanoflagellates

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter #211 Keegan Bradley

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter #51 Don Denkinger

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter #237 Al Unser Sr.

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter World's Tallest Buildings #WTB6 Empire State Building

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter One Little Corner #AB Asteroid Belt

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter #62 McKayla Maroney

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter #35 Kevin Harvick

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter #11 Robin van Persie

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter Civilizations of Ages Past #IRV Indus River Valley

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter Palaces and Strongholds #HP Hohenschangau Castle

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter Palaces and Strongholds #SP Summer Palace

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter Martial Mastery #GD Gladiators

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter Martial Mastery #RM Romans

May COMC Package

I know I said I was running behind on my posts and all, but it seems as if I barely posted my April COMC rewards, when my May COMC package arrived in the mail. Again, for every challenge you complete you get 100 points, for every 1,000 worth of points, yadah, yadah, yadah.

 

 

For this month's selection of Tony Gwynn cards, I opted for a 1995 Topps Stadium Club Ring Leaders (#RL7), 1998 Pacific Invincible Photoengravings (#12), 1992 Upper Deck FanFest Gold (#25), 1999 Ultra the Book On (#13), 2013 Topps Archives 1983 All-Stars (#TG), 2014 Finest Vintage Refractors (VFTG), 2014 Topps Hi Tek Spiral Bricks (#HTTGW), and a 2001 SP Game Bat Milestone (#77).

 

 

I was really excited when I found this next card, especially since I love the San Diego Chicken and it's rather hard finding unique cards with him.  In this 1985 Mexico City Tigers TCMA #29, he's posing with the Mexican mascot, Chacho. I also picked up a 1993 Leaf Signature Autographs Joey Hamilton (#90), 2003 Leaf Certified Materials Mirror Red Dennis Tankersley (#159) S/N 9/100, 1980 Burger King Pitch/Hit/Run Dave Winfield (#22), 1974 Padres McDonald's Disc Bobby Tolan (#12), and a 1998 Stars 'N Steel Ken Caminiti (#7). Those McDonald discs are rather hard to find, especially as a set, which originally came in a plastic baseball.

 

A pair of 2014 Andrew Cashner Bowmans - one a Bowman Chrome Blue Refractor (#66) S/N 216/250,  the other a Bowman Green (#182) S/N 94/150, a 2011 Bowman Topps of the Class Anthony Rizzo (#TC20), 2008 Stadium Club First Day Issue Unnumbered VAR/Delivering a Pitch Josh Banks (#125b), a pair of Jedd Gyorko Bowman cards - one a 2014 Bowman Green (#190) S/N 116/150 the other a 2013 Bowman Draft Blue (#31) S/N 196/500, 2014 Bowman Prospects Purple Jordan Paroubeck (#BP58), and a 2013 Bowman Prospects Hometown Dan Phillips (#BP18).

For those of you who are hockey geeks like myself, and are just dying to find out what I picked up, here's a mess of autographed rookie cards. First up is a 2012-13 Certified Autograph RC Matt Donovan (#170) S/N 846/999, 2012-13 Certified Autograph RC Brenden Dillon (#160) S/N 51/999, 2013-14 SP Authentic Autograph RC Anton Belov (#317) S/N 631/999, 2009-10 SP Authentic Autograph RC Kris Chucko (#254), S/N 670/999, 2013-14 Panini Contenders Autograph RC Shawn Lalonde (#175), and a 2011-12 Panini Contenders Autograph RC Brett Bulmer (#224) S/N 361/800.



And finally, here's another autograph, 2012-13 SP Authentic Autograph RC Scott Glennie (#219) S/N 239/999, as well as a 2013-14 Score Jonathan Huberdeau RC (#648), 2013-14 OPC Valeri Nichushkin RC (#634), and a 2010-11 Justin Mercier RC (#122) S/N 184/499.

April COMC pick-ups

To show you how behind I am on everything, here's the package I received last month from COMC. As I've stated (almost ad nauseum), if you complete their inventory COMC Challenges, usually 100 points for 50 cards, 1,000 points will give you $1 in COMC bucks, you can earn enough COMC dollars to pick up a nice little stack of free cards

 

I'm now up to 303,95 points, good for about $300 worth of free sports cards (and yes, I've spent almost every penny of that on COMC cards).

 

I can't go a month without picking up some more Tony Gwynn cards, so I'll begin with my Gwynn dirty dozen pick-up. It includes these 1999 Skybox Premium Soul of the Game #5SG, 1998 Paramount Team Checklists #29, 2000 Finest Moments Refractors #FM3, 1998 Upper Deck All-Star Credentials #AS19, 2014 Upper Deck National Convention #15 and a 2011 60 Years of Topps #105.

My other Gwynn cards feature these 2000 Pacific Ornaments #17, 2002 Diamond Kings T204 #RC22 (S/N 821/1000), 1995 Classic $10 Phone Cards #46, 2002 Donruss Originals Champions #C6 (S/N 183/800), 1999 Upper Deck Retro Tme Capsule #TC9, and a 1993 Leaf Gold All-Stars #R9 (with Jose Canseco).

As I'm a fervent fan of the old Padres mustard uniforms, I couldn't pass up these three cards. I also picked up an autograph, Luke Carlin's RC 2008 SP Authentic Autograph #145 (S/N 255/699), and Sean Burroughs' 2005 Diamond Kings Materials Bronze Bat-Jersey RC #185 (S/N 143/200). And of course, the three San Diego yellow uni cards - a 2002 Studio Classic Dave Winfield #CS16 (S/N 433/1000), 2006 Topps Rookie of the Week Ozzie Smith #20, and a 2002 Topps 206 Polar Bear Ozzie Smith #433.



Of course, being a hockey geek, I also had to pick up some hockey cardboard. Here's my 2013-14 Panini Contenders Justin Fontaine RC #130 (S/N 2/600) and Anton Belov RC #127 (S/N 384/600), 2011-12 Panini Contenders Marc-Andre Bourdon RC #191 (S/N 11/999), 2013-14 Panini Contenders Norris Contenders Slava Voynov #NC-7 (S/N 294/499), 2013-14 Panini Prizm Jonathan Huberdeau RC #243 and a 2014-15 Ultra Vladislav Namestnikov RC #171.

A Storm is brewing....

I almost hate to admit it, but I do spend a fair amount of time on Facebook.

 

As a sports fan, I use it to keep up with the San Diego Padres and its minor league system - El Paso Chihuahuas, San Antonio Missions, Ft. Wayne Tincaps and Lake Elsinore Storm. I also follow a couple Green Bay Packers groups, as well as the page for the Iowa Wild Hockey Club.

 

As a former San Diego resident who's hoping to possibly move back to "America's Finest City" upon retirement, there's a few groups there I stay in touch with. The way I look at it, if we do move back there, I want to be aware of what's going on in that particular neighborhood.

 

As a sprint car fan, there are racing groups. As a writer, there are groups I belong to in order to find possible story ideas. And of course, there are a few friends that I keep in touch this way. 

 

Recently, the Lake Elsinore Storm, San Diego's Class A California League affiliate, ran a Facebook contest entitled Back in the Day Card Giveaway. Each day, for 10 days, they gave away autographed cards of former Storm players -- Dirk Hayhurst (10 cards), Jose Lobaton (9 cards), Logan Forsythe (8), Evan Meek (7), Cody Decker (6), Zach Britton (5), Rick Renteria (4), Josh Collmenter (3) Mike Moustakas (2), and Corey Kluber and Buster Posey (1).

 

After numerous entries, I was finally drawn in the Evan Meek giveaway. It wasn't long before I received a rather cool envelope from the Storm, which included this notecard.

 

Inside was my autographed Evan Meeks card.

Meek didn't actually spend that much time with the Padres, or the Storm, for that matter. Originally drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 11th round of the 2002 draft, he was released in June 2005 and then signed as a free agent by San Diego in September 2005.   In August 2006, his Padres career ended, as he was traded to Tampa Bay, along with Dale Thayer, for Russell Branyan.

 

He then bounced back and forth between the Rays and the Pirates. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates from the Rays in the 2007 Rule 5 draft, returned in May 2008, and then purchased by Pittsburgh in May 2008. He was then signed as free agent by the Texas Rangers (Dec. 2012), Baltimore Orioles (Feb. 2014) and the Washington Nationals (Jan. 2015).

 

His main claim to fame, however, was being named to the 2010 All-Star game as a Pirate.

 

They also enclosed a team decal, which is definitely going to find a home on my red Toyota Rav 4. you have to admit, that's a totally way cool logo.

A 2nd pack of Donruss - Any better luck?

As I mentioned the other day I picked up a second 30-card pack of the 2015 Donruss baseball release just for grins and giggles. After pulling a Tony Gwynn (my only Padres card) in the first pack, I was feeling relatively okay about that pack. So, for whatever reason, I decided to grab one more pack after picking up some yardwork supplies at another local Target store (we have four just within a five-mile radius).

 

If I was moderately happy with that first pack, I would have to be mildly ecstatic with my second pack - which like the first, also had the pitcture of Tony Gwynn on the front.

 

This pack had a total of not one, but four San Diego Padres players, inlcuding a Donruss Preferred Bronze Rymer Liriano and common cards of Matt Kemp, Ian Kennedy and Everth Cabrera. Since Panini only has rights from the Players' Association, all the team logos are airbrushed out, which makes it fairly easy to include a new Padres player such as Kemp. However, Cabrera doesn't make much sense in this year's set, as he was granted free agency back in December 2014 and signed by the Baltimore Orioles.

 

My inserts included a Donruss Elite Yoenis Cespedes, Adam Jones, Donruss All-Time Diamond Kings Ernie Banks, Donruss '81 Masahiro Tanaka, Donruss Studio Matt Shoemaker and Donruss Rated Rookie Dalton Pompey.

I also pulled three oldies but goodies (at least two goodies, anyway), with Ernie "Mr. Cub" Banks, Bo Jackson and Pete Rose. I have to admit, however, I do get a kick out of that Pete Rose commercial for Skechers shoes. "Pete Rose here, in the hall," he says, as he's standing in his home's hallway. His wife then pops into view, telling him, "Pete, you know you're not supposed to be in the hall." At least I find it funny, anyway.

 

While its rather fun busting wax and it's been interesting in picking up this second pack, I think my fun meter has now been pegged as far as 2015 Donruss goes. While there's a wealth of SPs in the set and some of the inserts aren't too bad looking, a ho-hum layout, airbrushed team logos and not enough Padres cards to make things interesting, guarantees this is another set I'll just pick up my Padres cards as I come across them.

On a roll? 2015 Gypsy Queen and Topps Opening Day packs

I have to admit to a slight change of plans. While I mentioned I would post my second 30-card pack of 2015 Donruss in my next post, what I found at Target last night is definitely worth pre-empting that post.

 

Let me begin by telling you why I've been spending so much time at Target, as of late. Since October, I've been following the Weight Watchers program with my wife and we've been religiously working at losing weight together. We've finally gotten our heads wrapped around creating a new lifestyle of eating changes, watching our portions, documenting what we eat, and aggressively working out.

 

And it really, really works. As of last Tuesday, I finally hit my goal weight of 227 pounds, dropping 60 pounds in the process. So, it was time to make another Target trip to pick up some new jeans, since I've gone down a total of four pant sizes over that time.

 

So of course, as a further reward, I had to take a stroll down the sports cards aisle, where I found a pack of 2015 Topps Gypsy Queen. I've always liked this Topps offering and was curious about what this years cardboard class had to offer.

 

What I pulled were a Chris Carter Silver Border Framed #247 (S/N 232/499) (Astros), Billy Bulter #237 (A's), Trevor Balier #267 (Indians), Jason Vargas #57 (Royals), C.J. Wilson mini #280 (Angels), and a Jose Fernandez #132 (Marlins).

 

I had Ozzie Smith (in a St. Louis uniform - go figure) on the cover of the pack. The card fronts feature a dark brown, almost sepia-colored front, with white scrollwork and the player's last name, first initial, and team name. I can't say much about the card backs, as they're typical Gypsy Queen backs.

 

Again, Gypsy Queen doesn't seem to stray too far from what works and this year's offering doesn't really seem all that different from last year's issue. I like them and while I won't buy too many packs, I'll continue to collect all the San Diego players within this set.

 

While perusing the shelves, I also decided to pick up a pack of 2015 Topps Opening Day. The Topps set aimed at the low buck collector, it's kind of a fun, kitzy set to collect. Besides, who knows, maybe I'd get a decent Padres card or two, or perhaps this year's version of the Swinging Friar mascot card. 

No such luck - Like the Gypsy Queen pack, I was shut out on Padres players. What I did get were 2015 Topps Opening Day Anthony Ranaudo RC #104, Christian Yelich #88, John Lackey #29,  Matt Adams #169, Topps Opening Day Mascots Capper #M07, Greg Holland #23 and Jose Bautista #62.

Again, interesting cards, but I won't be buying too many packs, since I don't get too big a bang for my buck looking for San Diego Padres cards.

Next, I promise. I'll actually post that second pack of 2015 Donruss cards.