Something I've never done...

Today I did something that I have never done before.
I bought single comic book issues from Books-A-Million.

My day started early with a doctor's appointment at 7:40 a.m. (actually me, my wife, and son would all end up at the doctor today). After that I got a lead on some tickets for when the (currently) 16-0 MSU Bulldogs come to town, and then I stopped by BAM to do some reading before lunch.
First of all, they moved the comic book section. AGAIN. I have been making trips to this BAM since I was about 5 years-old, and I cannot count the times that one section has been relocated. I feel like they should send me updates on that crap.
But I was surprised to see four long boxes chock full of comic books with the sign "$1 Comics".

Oh. Sweet. Yes. Please.

I love reading comics, but there's not a lot that I buy or collect.
Unless it involves Mike Mignola. In that case, I want it. All.
And I was very happy to find three(!!!) of his covers that I didn't already have:

 (Tried reading this one to see what the cover was about, no help.)

I love finding these early 90s comics with Mignola covers because usually he didn't do the interior art or writing. So I don't really have to bother with cracking the book open to see what's going on. though if I'm interested enough (like with Murder Monkey up there), I'll take a gander to see if it'll enhance my appreciation for the art.

Mignola's most famous cover work (prior to 1994) was Batman's "A Death in the Family" story-arch. Also known as the death of Jason Todd (Robin II):

 (Not sure why Blogger won't let me line these up, oh well.)

However, Mike Mignola's greatest accomplishment is the artist/creator/writer for my favorite comic character of all time:

There is not a lot of creator-controlled stuff out there, and Hellboy is one of the finest examples of such a comic. Seriously awesome stuff chock full of folklore and mythology, I highly recommend it.

Oh, and here's a cover for the Shadow that I particularly enjoy as well:

I could seriously talk about this stuff for hours on end, but I'm going to wrap it up for now. 

What about y'all? Anybody interested in comics out there? 

Thanks for stopping by!

Staying unabashed and interested, 

-Ruffin

What to do, what to do...

The way that vacations play out at work is kind of weird.
I get 3 a year (two 7s and a 10), and usually with the 7-day, you are off two days, work one (occasionally a Sunday), and then the vacation begins. With a 10 day, the middle work day is off.
Seem complicated? Join the club!

Anyway, I'm on my second of the two off-days. So the vacation is right around the corner!
Currently, I am developing my vacation resolutions. You know, the usual stuff: learn a song on guitar or bass, pick a book to read, organize the cards I've got laying around, finish up my queue on Netflix, develop a series of posts with a theme, pre-scan cards so that it'll be easier to post...
That's all I have so far, lol.

Oh, and I hope to actually be able to participate in the new contest that Fuji has going on:
Fuji's 3-year Anniversary Contest
On a side note, I'm glad he's breaking down the contests from not being all summer. I tried to participate with my "old" blog last summer, but a move kind of got me turned around and I need a break from cards and blogging.

Also, I want to start having some interactions with my followers on here. I want to be better about pulling aside cards for trades, there are some great collectors on here, and I want to take advantage of that!

I do have an "artifact" of sorts to share, before I wrap this up.
While on my way out of the LCS after trade night, the owner called me to come back for a second. He said that someone dropped this off a few days before in case anyone wanted it:

 

The entire St. Louis Globe-Democrat from October 22, 1982, the day after the Cardinals 9th World Series victory. It's hard to put into words how incredible it is to to get to look through something like this, it's a really cool experience. 

Also, I can't complain about original political cartoons from over 30 years ago:

A big shout-out to the app CamScanner for making these pictures possible!

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

It's not easy being green...

I have to admit, I'm a huge fan of the emerald parallels out of 2013 Topps.
The fact that there are 18 Cardinals (until S2 and US), also appealed to me. I don't know why, but how cards are going to lay out on a page really influences how I may or may not try to complete a
base/insert/parallel set. 
So, here is my latest pick up:

 This is the photo from the eBay sale, if you are in any way familiar with my inability to scan multiple cards at one time, you understand.

Currently, I am 3 cards away from completing the (S1) set:
188 Brian Fuentes
235 Jake Westbrook
305 Shelby Miller

On a sidebar: Why is Brian Fuentes in this set? He was a member of the organization for around a month, and wasn't a notable contributor. I'm sure there's something in his contract with Topps that obligated them to include him, but I think there are some better choices out there.

Minus my almost-set, here are the extras I have for trade:
4 Molina x2
50 Wainright
125 Holliday (Wild Card)
130 Motte
193 M. Carpenter
207 Holliday
224 Jay
261 Rosenthal
269 Cardinals x2
321 Craig

I've got trade night in a few weeks and I've got a spot in a case break coming up, so hopefully I'll be able to increase posting frequency!

Staying unabashed and interested,
Ruffin

My favorite pack I've ever opened... (Plus a little more)

Well, let me explain my parameters for "favorite" and "pack":
Favorite = made me the most happy to open, generally Cardinals/MSU related
Pack = single pack bought, not part of a box, or multi-pack purchase

Now let me back up to my favorite box that I ever bought, if you will.
It was a hobby box of 2011 Topps Update (regular). I had already busted a jumbo box and pulled a monster hit (of which I need to get the picture from my LCS if they still have it, lol) but one day I just wanted to open a 36-packer.
My first hit in the box made me happy enough, but it's currently in trade discussions via Twitter...

My second "hit" will be sticking in the keeper box for a long time...

I didn't scan the back, but would you believe it's #'d 7/60? I remember being pretty stoked about it, and I still am, haha!

Now, onto my favorite pack that I've ever opened!
I swung by my LCS today to drop off some video games for their resale department, so I could pick up some credit for trade night tomorrow. On my way out, I noticed the open jumbo box on the shelf was running kind of low, so I looked in and saw there were only 2 packs left.
Normally, I'd stay away because I know I'm probably going to buy the second pack after I bust the first. But today, I figured "I can exercise some self control, right?"
I picked up the packs (one in each hand), and the one in my left hand felt a little heavier than the other one.
After cursing the shop owner for letting me get to that point (Sorry Nate!), I resigned myself to my fate.

I saw a thicker card in the center of the pack, and I really tried to move it to the back without looking at it.
I failed...but I wasn't disappointed.

 And if that wasn't enough, I also ran across this...

 And 5 more Cardinals!

 For those of you who want to know, here are my inserts]minis out of the pack:

(Still trying to master multi-card scans, sorry!)

I wish the emerald foils were more than 1:1 per jumbo and 1:6 per regular, Topps really did a good job on these! 

The "calling cards" insert series, I find a bit lacking. Maybe it's just because I've only seen the Teixeira, and it was a bit disappointing. 

On the other hand, the '72 Minis are NICE! Dickey has been a "fringe favorite" (aka non-Cardinal) of mine since I learned that he has the best bat names in the business.

I was surprised to get 5 Cardinals base cards in one jumbo pack, so here's a quick breakdown of the other teams/base in the pack (Not counting inserts)

3: Reds, Giants (2 postseason cards)
2: Dodgers, Cubs, Mets, Angels, Red Sox, Phillies, Orioles, Braves, Mariners
1: Rays, Diamondbacks, Rangers, Astros, Rockies, Royals, Brewers, White Sox, A's, Yankees, Nationals

For those of you keeping count, there was also a 2012 NL RBI Leaders card. I was surprised to see that the top three were players from the Padres, Brewers, and Cubs. It intrigues me, I don't know why...

That wraps up my jumbo pack, and almost wraps up this blog entry!

I was browsing through the half-price box (on my second attempt to leave!), looking for some Bob Gibsons I had seen a few weeks ago. They were no longer there, this card was, and I was okay with it:

This 1961 Musial is now the oldest card in my collection, and I am very proud to own it!

I'm still trying to decide on whether I'm getting a jumbo or regular box of S1. There is a pack raffle, so the regular would benefit me more, and I think the jumbo is a little more out of reach given my purchases today, haha!

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

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