Stan "The Man" Musial

Today started out pretty well.
Work was decent, got a little busy towards the end of the shift, but wound up being up in sales against our goal. After work, I went by my LCS where The Dimwit (he's been on a football kick lately, if you haven't heard) and I helped our friend Bobby open some boxes of 2012 Topps Football.
I then picked up my son, came home, and watched Chad Bumphis in a MVP performance in the Shrine Bowl. I was cranking up an episode of Doctor Who on Netflix when my phone went off.
Stan Musial, the Cardinal Legend, had died.
My grandfather got to see The Man play in Busch I, many years ago; and it's a story my father and I never get tired of hearing.
I'm not sure how many more products will bear his signature after 2013 Topps Series One, but I wanted to share my piece of Cardinals history that will forever be a source of pride in my personal collection:

I'll leave the eloquent memorials to the fine writers at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but I for one, will certainly miss him.

Thanks for stopping by folks.
Staying unabashed, and interested,
-Ruffin

(Belated) Trade Night Swag, Crappy Correlation, and an eBay Victory......

Well, trade night at my LCS was this past Saturday, and fellow attendee The Daily Dimwit has already recapped his experience AND posted a group break AND posted a mailday.
Looks like I really fell behind on this one, haha!

First up, here's what I received in my ongoing trade war with the Dimwit:

The Redbirds took three (3!!!!!) 3rd basemen in the 2012 draft, and Wisdom was the "middle child". However, he is ranked as a "Top 20" prospect in the organization, after a strong offensive showing in Low-A and good defensive skill.
One a side note-Was I just naive in thinking these weren't photo-shopped? I had no idea until I saw this on eBay...
*I know his collegiate stuff is photo-shopped OUT, before anyone feels the need to make that point :)

Moving on to the rest of trade night...
I bought a jumbo pack of 2012 Update with some remaining store credit, and I wasn't too happy with what I saw:

Yeah, I got the same five cards, twice. At the beginning and the end of the pack.
REALLY TOPPS!?!?! You couldn't give me a little better correlation?
I guess the old adage applies now more than ever: You get what you pay for....

I picked up one more card from another friend before I headed home for the evening:

Ballard played at Mississippi State, and was the Colts leading rusher this season. I actually had the choice of two Ballard autos (pulled by the same guy), but this was the lower numbered one out of the more expensive product, so the choice was pretty easy!

Speaking of low-numbered hits out of higher end products, I picked this up recently off eBay:

I picked up this one (24/25) for a total of $9.26 (shipping included), I had lost out on one /50 just a few hours before that sold for $10 (with shipping). I call that a win. (I refuse to quote Charlie Sheen, won't do it!)

Before I let y'all go, I do have slight prideful thing to mention about the Mississippi State Bulldogs. They are one of only eight FBS schools that will have an alumni guaranteed to win a Super Bowl ring this year! How cool is that? And to think that going into last week's playoff games the only team that didn't have a Bulldog was the Broncos...I was still rooting for Peyton, though.

As always, thanks for stopping by!
Staying unabashed, and interested,
-Ruffin

First purchase of 2013...

Due to a broken 3-hole punch at work, I was forced to make a supply run to the local Wal-Mart. While there, this box caught my eye, and I thought "Why not?"

I'm not really sure what the mini-bios were for, but there they are. In case you didn't know any of that stuff already. I guess those bios being on the side of a repack box is kind of like Spider-Man 3, not for the fans.
Moving on...
Here are the packs that were inside:

 Not really an unexpected assortment, aside from the 2007 Future Stars and the 1994 Pinnacle Hobby (we'll definitely touch on that one!)

Okay, so maybe I wasn't too thrilled with the 2010 Topps Attax, but the Coghlan was shiny, so it there really wasn't another choice in the pack. And who leaves the original price tag on in repacks?!

So, I got my '88 Donruss series 1&2 mixed up, but long story short, Bill Ripken was the only noteworthy card in his pack. Gooden, Murphy, and Fielder wasn't a bad mix, though not the best I got today...

Glavine and Carpenter? Two of the best pitchers ever? Wait...wrong Carpenter. I think there have been more players with the name C(h)ris Carpenter than any other name in baseball, 3-4?

I like the look of the Mets team leaders card though, has a bit of a "modern" look to it. I think.
Oh, and that's from the first pack of '89 Topps!

'89 Bowman wasn't too bad, Boggs and McGwire plus a Mantle reprint/contest entry form makes for a decent pack in my opinion. I was surprised that they were a tad bigger than the other cards from that year. Learn something new every day...

'90 Fleer had a Padres baseball quiz, a skinny Guillen, a bass-slappin' Guerrero, a hustlin' Pettis, and a Brantley who seems like he'd rather be elsewhere. Either that or he just passed gas. One of the two.

That's a Joe Morgan motion card that came out of my '90 Score pack. Mr. Green's best season was 1997, and they misspelled his last name there. The Zeile rookie is there because, well, I'm a Cardinals fan. Sorry folks.
Also, as a Mississippi State fan, the Thigpen was a nice pull; and it had a very interesting fact- Thigpen batted 4th in college, between Rafael Palmeiro and Will Clark. Learning lots of new stuff today!

I like the rookie template in '90 Leaf, the Hough is a gold parallel, and the Rose features an action shot that I feel isn't seen very much in this era. At least by me anyway, I'm seeing some of these cards for the first time...

Ok, I know the '92 Score is crooked. But you try to scan cards with an 8-month old on your knee.
Mattingly is self-explanatory, O'Brien seems a little smug about catching that ball, and Candaele looks like he's hovering. Not sure what's going on there to be honest, but it caught my eye, so there.

Yep, this was the best card out of 2007 Future Stars. Going to be interesting to see how far Toronto goes this year...

Cal insert and Rickey gettin' ready to hit that ball were the bright parts of '91 Donruss (S2)

'94 Stadium Club didn't hold much, but here's Bruce Ruffin, because 1/3 of his name is 1/3 of my name too.

Holy Hall of Famers, Batman! My favorite pack I opened today, by far. Does suck that Mr. Rice was right by the gum though...

It seems that I got a hot pack (according to the pack) of 1994 Pinnacle S2 Hobby. The Griffey is from an insert series (Ozzie Smith is in the same series, hate I missed that), and the insert cards fall 1:18 packs. Also had this in there:

 These dual-sided "Team Pinnacle" cards fall 1:90 packs, each one featuring an AL and NL player per position (hence the 9 cards set).

Overall, I had a fun time busting these packs, and it was nice to get some older wax (kinda) for once, plus some cards I can actually add to my collection. 

Thanks for stopping by y'all!

Staying unabashed and interested, 

-Ruffin

 

Thank you, but no.

Have you ever seen a card that you would NEVER want? In generally ANY circumstance?
Well, I know I have!

I stumbled across this while perusing the "non-sports" section of COMC, and it made me stop and take a second look. I mean, really? Gene Simmons' pants? I'd feel like I would have to wash my hands after touching that card even if it was in a top-loader.
Maybe I'm just being overly cynical (feel free to call me out), and maybe it's because I'm not that big of a KISS fan, but I'm bothered by this card.
I know the resolution stinks, but it seems COMC has a new system in place to prevent "image sharing" from their site, so I had to go dig this one up on Google. If you are interested in this card (or want to see how similar Gene can look to Sylvester Stallone), here's the link:
Some of the most expensive pants you'll never wear...

Anyway, that's all I have for today, haha.

I hope all of you have a great (and safe) New Year's, and I look forward to the coming year.

Stay unabashed! Stay interested!
-Ruffin

A little early Christmas cheer...

Given what I do for a living (which has me working 10 hours tomorrow), my wife and I decided to have our household Christmas this afternoon when I got home from work. My son got some entertaining (and quite musical) toys, my wife got some scarves (try not looking lost when you're on that shopping trip, I dare you), and I got a gift certificate to my LCS. Oh, and this!

Needless to say, I was ecstatic and pleased, haha.
I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season, and before you go...

I have a general "organization" question for all of you out there:
When putting together a binder of your favorite team, is it best to do it by set/year, or by player? I was thinking about a separate binder for chrome-ish stuff, but I'm not really sure...
Any and all input is appreciated!

As always,
Thanks for stopping by!
Stay unabashed! Stay interested!
-Ruffin

A time for reflection...

Tomorrow is my two-year wedding anniversary.
February 4, 2013 will be the seven-year anniversary of my first date with my wife.
Needless to say, these are days that I am thankful for the constant things in my life. But it was a gift my wife gave me for our anniversary that reminded me of how things can change.

The main thing I love about this the complete 2011 NLDS Game 5, a game I remember watching with my dad. I remembered that the birds had scored in the first inning, and that Chris Carpenter pitched a complete shutout game afterwards.
It was a double by Skip Schumaker that brought in that run, and he would leave the game after his second at-bat.
Skip was a player I always found myself rooting for, and I'm sorry to see him go. When I heard about the trade, I was reminded of this card:

When I first pulled this out of the pack, I was struck by how creepy the "gold finish" made Skip look. Almost like one of the motion cards of yore, but featuring Tyler Greene instead...
Now I see the card as poetic, in a sense. Both of these players have been traded, though I will miss Skip a bit more.
I feel the same way about Michael Young being traded. I don't know why, but I hate seeing a player who has spent many years with an organization get traded. Though, from what I understand, Schumaker and Young made it clear that they wanted to be traded.
I'm still on the lookout for a Schumaker auto, and I certainly will not complain if that Rally Squirrel SP ever falls into my lap!

Thanks for stopping by!
Stay unabashed. Stay interested.
-Ruffin

Missed Connections

You were the patch/auto numbered out of 10.

I was the nervous observer as your price climbed higher.

I kept your picture in case I see one of your 9 siblings.

Call me.

I'm sorry to say that this one slipped out of my grasp, I was relieved that it went a little over my "desired maximum bid" though. That always makes the loss a little more easier to swallow, haha!

That being said, I will fight the urge to post a Missed Connection every time I miss out on the Cardinals in a break. Don't want to drive you folks crazy!

Thanks for stopping by.
Stay unabashed. Stay interested.
-Ruffin