Tuesday, December 25, 2012

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The empty gravity boxes were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that packs of baseball cards soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of superfractors danced in their heads
Strasburg in its magnetic holder, a screw down held Shaq
Both had been pulled from a few newly busted packs

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I ran downstairs and saw it was the batter
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

the moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should i see such a leader
But a couple of cleats, and in them, derek Jeter!

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be Swisher ... you know ... Nick!
More plentiful than wrappers their coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, ALLEN! now, GINTER! now, FINEST and BOWMAN!
On, TRIPLE THREADS! on PANINI! on, GOUDEY and FIVE STAR!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now bust away! bust away! bust away all!"

As wrappers that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the card shop the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of hobby cases, and Bryce Harper, Too!

And then, in a twinkling, I took a seat
The prancing and pawing of each little cleat.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the pipe Justin Verlander's heater came barrelling down

He was dressed in a mullet, and large mustache
Hoping he'd pass as Randy Johnson and walking real fast
Just then, Kate Upton flung him around
JUSTIN VERLANDER! She exclaimed, and then knocked him right down

She let him bye anyway, much to my relief
He gave to me a hobby box of 2012 Leaf
It was not sealed, so it gave me concern
That Verlander was a pack searcher, and took out all the autographed gold

It was ok, because continuing the trend
he gave me a gift certificate to target
HURRAY!!! Retails and blasters as far as they eye can see!
There was simply no end

Just then, someone else laid another box on me to shout
The giver was none other than the AL ROY - Mike Trout!
He autographed a ball, by Albert Pujols and He
And their newest teammate, Josh Hamilton...e

They spoke not a word, but went straight to their job.
And filled all the stockings; with cards of Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner and even Ty Cobb!
PSA Authentenication, everything under the tree
Except Pete Rose, because everything is signed that is touched by he

They sprang to the sleigh, and flew away real quick
leaving more 80's wax than you would know what to do with
But I heard them exclaim, while ere he drove out of sight,
"HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!"  

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Can Yu Spot the SP?

So, I did an "I Break, You Buy" for a feller named Ryan tonight on Blog TV.  A fun time was had by all.  While me, and the small crowd of people were waiting for Ryan to make his presence, the group was treated to a song, and dance by yours truly.  I promise I'm not on any meds.  By that same token, I can almost promise you that everyone there thinks I should be.  Ahh, teh interwebs...

Anyway, The break was of a 2012 Topps 24 pack series II.  $24 gets you a LIVE and recorded bust of it, plus your choice of 20 cards, so that way you don't have to pay to ship those pesky commons. 

Here were the main highlights:


I'm sorry ... but those two die-cut Pujols & Mantle cards ... just plain sexay.  And the Darvish?  Well ... I hadn't seen that one before.  That is because it is a short print!  Yes, $30 bones is the book on that puppy.  Plenty of other cool cards too.  Check the vids, and hit me up if you want to be the next guy on tanmanbaseballfan tv




1st Break - Mike672 for 2010 Topps Update 24 Pack Box

Here are the hits and the videos!  Mike672 opted to have me bust his box for him, video tape it, and he gets the hits.  He only paid $16 for the box, and left the commons behind, so he didn't have to pay to ship them.  I'd say he did really well!  It looks like about $80 worth of book value here. 

Vintage Legends Babe Ruth & Jackie Robinson, Philadelphia A's Short Print, Nolan Ryan Short Print and Buster Posey Rookie

Several rookies of Giancarlo Stanton, Jason Heyward & Starlin Castro

FIVE Stephen Strasburg Rookies!


Mike672 Break Part 2- Broadcast your self LIVE

Would you like to join in on the fun? Click the "I break You Buy" promo button on the left, and let me know what you want. The odds are, we can get yours busted TODAY!  Email me at tanmanbaseballfan@gmail.com

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

How would YOU like a Group Break where every team is YOURS?

I have about 220 or so factory sealed boxes left, and I'm going to offer this up to some folks.  I think this should be fun.  You pick from the list of unopened boxes I have here.

Here is how it works.  Let's say you only want to buy a box of 2008 Goudey.  I sell that locally here for $25 (retail, it is $72 + Tax!)  but shipping would probably be another $6 or so.  $31 for the box delivered to you is still a great deal, but here is the difference.  You have *me* bust it for you ... all on You Tube.  How does that sound? 

The benefits are this:  You can pick, say, 20 cards that you really, really want and dump the rest.  The shipping would be free *AND* you get a $5 credit on the rest, meaning that great price of $31 for all 24 packs of 2008 Goudey ends up being only $20, and you only get the "keepers" of the box...all while having yours truly bust it open specially for you online. 

Any takers? 

66 Boxes/Sets in 2 weeks ... and LOTS more ... Comics

Well friends - it has been about 2 weeks since I acquired the massive lot of unopened stuff, and I am down to 249 boxes.  While I have plenty left, 66 boxes have flown the coup!  I have had fun opening some, and trying out different ways to sell. 

I sold a few pack lots to some folks online, who promptly requested upgrades to 25 pack lots, got them, loved them, and are asking for more when money comes in.  Would you like to try a pack lot?

I sold some online, and locally, too.  One of the online guys is this feller, the one they call The Dimwit - I promise, he calls himself that.  I would never call someone as nice as he something like that on my own!  He bought some boxes for a group break he is going to do online.  I love watching those things, and this is the second year in a row he has done it.  Good luck to you, Sam - and all your fellow following Dimwittians!  I look forward to it. 

Still, my garage is majorly packed with cardboard.  And I'm okay with that!  HOWEVER, that is not what is taking up most of my space these days. 

It is ... once again ... comics. 

Funny, how that all works out!  Each time I get a collection, it is *right* on the heels of the previous collection.  There is some sort of overlap.  Yes, I actually began talks with the previous owner of these comic books right about the same day I sold the last collection.  I told him I was ready to buy, and he said he was holding them for someone who put a deposit on them, and took a third of them with him. 

Throughout the next few weeks, I checked in, and he still said he was waiting, but the deadline was set for December 3rd.  If the guy didn't come up with the cashola, then he was going to allow me to come over.  I was excited, though, at this point, I had forgotten what kind of deal it was ... I just remembered it was "killer". 

I asked him to remind me, and it turned out to be the same amount of comics I bought last time (about 7,000) for half the price of what I bought the last collection for.

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

This is one of those *RARE* occassions you will see me not haggle.  I was just hoping that the other dude would bail out. 

And he did!

Friday night, after we took care of the kiddos, my wife and I took out the seats in the mini-van, and I made the half hour trek up to his house.  It was amazing.  He told me I probably had 3-4 trips, but I assured him my minivan is a BEAST, and has handled 7,000 comic book collections with ease before. 

So, I loaded up the minivan to the brim, but there was a problem.  There were so, so, so many more to go!  I asked if I could unload them at home and come back.  He agreed, and I must say, it was the most miserable time unloading when I was done.  On the bright side, the total count was approximately 20,000 comics!!!!  I have never, ever seen that many or had that many comics at one time!  It took two trips, and I was praying all the way home that the clearance between the back tires and wheel wells would still be there. 

I was absolutely in shock.  There are many duplicates, and it is so overwhelming, I don't even know where or how to begin looking at them.  I keep thinking ... what if there is 1 Walking Dead #1?  What if there are 5????  The guy before me had this collection for about 3 years, and admitted there are boxes he hadn't even gone through. 

So yeah, the possibilities are endless here, it looks like! 



I try to imagine myself at a 10 year old boy ... what I would have done, had I been able to look into a crystal ball and saw a glimpse of my garage 22 years in the future.  I probably would have flipped!  I remembered dreaming about the unattainable goal of opening up a full case of 1989 Score or 1989 Donruss.  How funny that I have over 100 cases worth of that stuff in cards and comics in my garage right now. 

Oh, before I forget ... check the DEALS HERE link on the right side of the site.  I have gone head first into selling online, since I found out how easy it is to print shipping, and leave a message in the mailbox for my mailman to just pick up the packages at my doorstep.  Easy, peasy!