As sad as the Josh Hamilton story is …

As sad as the Josh Hamilton story is … it’s kind of refreshing. Listen, I’m no proponent of alcohol or substance abuse.  In fact, I downright loathe both.  But the one thing that I continuously take away from the stories about Josh Hamilton and his “demons” is that he is human; that ball players are [...]

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So in the recent Beckett Sports Card Monthly, my tale about the thrift store find of a lifetime was chronicled on Page 34.  The story recounts my find of a game-used Earl Weaver 1977 home Baltimore Orioles jersey in a California thrift store. As luck would have it, I found another baseball item a few [...]

Continue reading about Thrift Treasures XXXVII: What the heck, Eck?! »

There’s been a fair amount of recent buzz surrounding the Topps Value Boxes, which have been on Target and WalMart shelves for months.  The chatter lately has been about the boxes possibly being loaded. There have been reports of big name superfractors coming from the Bowman Chrome hobby packs embedded within these boxes.  This news [...]

Continue reading about Putting the “loaded” Topps Value Box theory to the test »

Some time late last season, 2011 Bowman Chrome baseball was released.  And as usual, I bought a fair share.  I failed to pull any of the super high dollar cards, but I did get a few cards I liked, like the green XFractor Brett Lawrie and the 2001 Bowman Chrome Throwbacks Bryce Harper. Well, when [...]

Continue reading about A stunning statistic about my 2011 Bowman Chrome pulls »

It’s been a long time since Bay Area football has been this good. For about a decade, football fans in the San Francisco Bay Area have been subjected to sub-par football on both sides of the Bay in the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders. Raiders fans have been Raider fans.  Every year calling [...]

Continue reading about Let’s Go Niners! Let’s Go Niners! »

I was clicking around my favorite site on the ‘Net the other day and came across one of the coolest cards I’ve seen in a long time.  I figured it was nice enough to share with all of you. Check out this 2006-07 Topps Full Court Dennis Rodman Photographer’s Proof card. I don’t do much [...]

Continue reading about Dennis Rodman as Superman »

I’m a treasure hunter. I dig through the shelves and racks at thrift stores, garage sales and the like looking for something that I can keep for myself or flip for something awesome for my baseball card collection. One day this summer I discovered a game-used jersey belonging to Hall of Fame Baltimore Orioles manager [...]

Continue reading about Thrift Treasures XXXVI: The Duke of Earl »

Continue reading about A rainbow of meaningless Bryce Harper Chrome Refractors »

What’s wrong with this picture? There was a time when hobbyists clamored over errors and oddities among baseball cards.  Wrong name, no name, missing logos, etc.  People loved them. Now?  Not so much. If you haven’t figured out what make’s this 2003 Ultimate Collection Signatures Gary Carter a Horrible Card it’s the fact that the [...]

Continue reading about Horrible Card of the Day Part V: 2003 Ultimate Collection Signatures Gary Carter »

Interesting news broke Friday night when the Yankees and Mariners swapped a couple of youngsters including headliners Michael Pineda and Jesus Montero. There was a lot of card action on both sides.  TONS of people swooped in on Pineda rookies and rookie-year autos while the groans of many invested in Montero could be heard across [...]

Continue reading about Flipping Michael Pineda for … Pineda and more. »

Yesterday I made fun of my recently acquired 1952 Topps Hoyt Wilhelm, calling it the ugliest $1,000 book value rookie card I’ve ever seen. I mean seriously, a high-dollar rookie card showing a guy with his eyes closed? Ugh … And then a commenter reminded me of this ugliness. Floating heads galore! Make no bones [...]

Continue reading about OK, Maybe THIS is the ugliest $1,000 rookie card? »

It’s not easy being an extreme rookie card collector. It’s a lot of fun chasing rookies of big names like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, as well as guys you may have not heard of like Chip Lang.  But every once in a while you find a rookie card that is essential to your collection [...]

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This is one of those cards that just spoke to me. It yelled, grabbing my attention when I was looking for something youthful and shiny to buy. It said, “Hey, Dummy, why are you going to drop that $10 bill on that unproven youngster when you can have the real deal right here.” And I [...]

Continue reading about Card of the Day: 1951 Bowman Bill Dickey »

It seems like every time I write these days, my posts have some sort of connection to CheckOutMyCards.com. You’re probably tired of hearing about it, and I get that.  But if you use the site like I do, you’d probably be screaming about your personal collection additions too. Take this 2000 Upper Deck Piece of [...]

Continue reading about COMC yields another beauty for the personal collection »

In the early 90s, there was nothing cooler than MTV. And one time during the year, the sports and music worlds would collide with the annual Rock ‘n Jock Softball Game. The game was usually cheesy as hell, packed full of shenanigans designed to entertain more than showcase any athletic talent the participants possessed. Nonetheless, [...]

Continue reading about Please, Hammer, don’t hurt ‘em »

This is the second batch I received from the Topps Diamond Giveaway.  As you can see, it’s more of the same — rookie cards — but some names you might find familiar … or maybe not. As mentioned before, I have at least one more batch coming.  And yes, I will be taking delivery of [...]

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Psst … did you know I collect rookie cards?  And not just the big ones either. It’s never been so evident as it is right now. I recently took delivery of two hauls from the Topps Diamond Giveaway site.  I still have another batch or two of items  that I need to “order” from the [...]

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Everyone loves a good failed prospect story. And those familiar with Greg “Toe” Nash surely are aware of the greatness that never was. The brief version:  Nash was a super prospect who never went to high school, was “re-discovered” playing semi-pro ball, and was given a contract with Tampa Bay. At one point he was [...]

Continue reading about Um, surely he meant to sign it “Toe,” right? »

Right about this time each year I start thinking of things I want to accomplish in the new year.  And each year I start to make a list, but I rarely actually document the thoughts. Maybe it’s fear of failure; maybe it’s sheer laziness on my part to make time to type them out and [...]

Continue reading about Three Collecting Goals for 2012 »

Been kind of slow here at Cardboard Icons.  I have so many ideas and thoughts, yet so little time to express them or execute them.  But that’s not t0o say that I have not been busy on the card scene. I’ve been actively trading on the Topps Diamond Giveaway Site, CheckOutMyCards.com. and of course eBay.  [...]

Continue reading about New Addition: 1909-1911 T206 Cy Young »

My wife and I had the good fortune of venturing to Sacramento, Calif., this week to see the Foo Fighters perform again.  This was the second time we’d seen this band play in three weeks. Well, Sacramento is about two hours from home, so we decided to make a day of it.  When when we [...]

Continue reading about Thrift Treasures XXXV: A Cowboy and An Indian »

There is no shortage of card collections being sold on eBay.  In most cases, the term “collection” is use almost synonymously with the term “lot.” But we all know that “collection” carries a much more important connotation. Especially in our hobby. We’re all looking to unearth some hidden treasure. Which I did recently. Late one [...]

Continue reading about eBay collection yields a nice gem »

Needed a few more things from Walmart so I had to make a quick trip. Lo and behold they got the new 2011 Topps Chrome football blasters in this morning.  This almost never happens here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Usually we get them a week after they start hitting retail shelves on the [...]

Continue reading about Video Break: 2011 Topps Chrome Football Blaster »

Had to make a run to Walmart on Tuesday to get my oil change.  While waiting I  ventured over to the card aisle and discovered the return of the Walmart Value Box.  Here we get 5 2011 Topps Update, 1 Bowman Chrome HOBBY pack, a Topps Diamond Giveaway Code and a special Bryce Harper “Bowman [...]

Continue reading about Video Break: 2011 Topps Update / Bowman Chrome Walmart Value Box »

I’ve been thinking recently about Pedro Alvarez. Prior to this season, Alvarez had not appeared on many cards.  Sure, he had a few Upper Deck cards from when he was on the USA National Team. And of course he had some Razor brand releases.  But before 2011, The Pirates third baseman really did’t have a [...]

Continue reading about Topps just does not like Pedro Alvarez »

Over the last few weeks I’ve added a slew of new items to my CheckOutMyCards.com account.  There’s a bunch of autos and relics, as well as some other stuff in there. Some of the items are more personal collection items, like the Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig shown here. But there are plenty of other [...]

Continue reading about New items on COMC »

When Eric Karros burst onto the Major League Baseball scene in 1992, he was known for being an outstanding hitter and a decent defender. His skills were good enough to earn him 1992 National League Rookie of the Year honors, an achievement that Dodger player earned three straight seasons. Such accolades usually lead to different [...]

Continue reading about Horrible Card of the Day Part IV »

Once upon a time, press plates were popular.  They were unique, they were rare and they offered collectors a chance to own a piece that helped make the thousands of other cards that were sitting in collections, showcases, common boxes and still in packs. Nowadays they are an afterthought.  Unless you’re sitting on a plate [...]

Continue reading about Horrible Card of the Day Part III »

I had the good fortune of getting to a Target on Wednesday just minutes after the vendor stocked the shelves with new items, including 2011 Bowman Chrome baseball.  I tell you, it’s a wonderful feeling to walk through the doors and see from about 100 feet away the sight of new packs. So I dove [...]

Continue reading about 2011 Bowman Chrome retail results (Bryce Galore) »

Over the weekend I obtained more than 40 codes for the 2011 Topps Diamond Giveaway program.  I really wanted to see what type of die-cuts I could unlock and hopefully collect enough rings to get my Special factory set of 2011 Topps. Thanks to some trading, I was able to unlock the special factory set. [...]

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I feel a bit like a troll breaking my Card Shop Tour purchases into two posts, but truth be told, the singles themselves are worthy of their own showcase. As noted in Part One, I went through binders upon binders of discounted relics and autos, and scoured through a showcase of discounted “better” autos and [...]

Continue reading about Semiannual Card Shop Tour: The Results (Part 2) »

About 18 months ago I discovered a new-to-me card shop about 45 miles from about home.  The first time I went there it was awesome.  The shop did things differently.  They sold items of their own, and they did a little consignment among their better customers.  The end result was binders upon binders of cards [...]

Continue reading about Introducing the “Semiannual Card Shop Tour” (Part I) »

In the 1990s, I was a HUGE Buffalo Bills fan.  Call me a front runner if you wish, or maybe even a masochist, but it was a lot of fun cheering for Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed and Jim Kelly.  Bruce Smith was my favorite player.  I loved the way he got after the [...]

Continue reading about Horrible Card of the Day Part II »

The junk wax era is alive and well at some of my local thrift stores.  One shop was chalk full of little baggies containing horrible basketball cards from the early 90s; another was jam packed with 1988 Topps.  Good thing at one Goodwill, there was a binder with some small gems located within. For the [...]

Continue reading about Thrift Treasures XXXIV: Love between the sheets »

About a month ago I sent a batch of cards to Beckett Grading for slabbing purposes.  Say what you want about grading, but I still rather enjoy having some of my cards encased in thick plastic and assigned a grade. Keyword: Some. First off, let me say that I was disappointed that Beckett did not [...]

Continue reading about My latest BGS order is a mixed bag of emotions »