The Case Bust Dilemma

I never thought I would be in a position where I had this choice to make, but alas, here I am. About a week ago, I found out I had pretty much won 400 dollars in a contest at work, which made me extatic. However, the 400 dollars wasnt cash, but instead it was gift cards that could be used like credit cards. There is a list of merchants you can use them at, and eBay is one of them. In addition, Saturday is my birthday and I have received more eBay money to spend as well. That means, I have about 600 bucks to spend however I want on eBay, if thats the way it goes.

In my mind, I have two options, and I am wholly considering both as a viable option.

First option is to go buy an awesome piece that I wouldnt normally buy. A Mantle ball, a Ted Williams ball, a Mauer or Peterson Jersey, pretty much anything. Jordan if I desired.

Second option is to buy a case of 2009 Topps Chrome or something similar once I see what is actually contained in the product. There are a few factors that would prevent me from doing this, mainly extra cost, and possibility of getting a bunch of crap in it. Buying and busting a case would be a ton of fun, however, and it would be a great thing to post here.

Of course there are pros and cons to both ideas, so ill examine those too.

With the first option, the biggest pro is getting an item that is awesome. Its the best argument there is, and it may tip things over for me. You are guaranteed an item you know is worth the money, and you get to pick the player and item. However, I pretty much have most of what I need, and there is no way I would spend 600 bucks on Peterson stuff. Its too much to spend on a modern guy. That means I would have to get something else from Baseball legends, and after Operation Bullpen, you know there are seemingly more fakes than reals, and PSA and JSA cannot be trusted. Also, because its a baseball legend or something like that, the attachment wont be as strong either, making me question as to why I am even bothering.

With the second option, I wont have another chance to bust a case without strings attached ever again, possibly. Because it isnt my money, and I HAVE to spend it on eBay, why not? I have a good feeling about a few of the rookies this year, and Harvin is a great target to tie me to a product. Plus, I would probably end up trading or selling the team lots and rookie lots to get more stuff I want like above. The cons of this are big though, and thats the major problem. What if you get a case with 10 of the same scrub autos? It happens all the time, and that would SUCK. Also, Chrome is not the ideal product I would like to bust, as SPA would be 10 times better. However, SPA is also more expensive, so that isnt happening. Having chrome as a second or third choice is bad for me, as why would I want to spend 600 bucks on a second choice?

What do you guys think? If only I could just put the money in the bank. That would be my first choice without remorse. Stupid work.

Reminder: Bat Around Articles Due Wednesday

For those of you who will be participating, your articles are due Wednesday, or they will not be added to the original posting, I will be working on the submitted articles first, and posting that, then yours will be added as soon as I have time, so please get them on time. It takes an unusual amount of time to get the whole post done, because blogger seems to poop itself every time I want to post something with 30 plus links, so please give me advanced time to prepare by being nice and submitting asap.

I have every link so far that has been emailed or commented on the site, so dont worry if you already have yours done. I also read most of the blogs, so I even did a courtesy to those who posted but didnt comment or email.

To get your link added to the Bat Around, please send a link to your blog's post, and I will add it. You can comment below, or email me at sportscardsuncensored@gmail.com.

EDIT: I MUST BE HIGH BECAUSE I THOUGHT TODAY WAS WEDNESDAY.

A Treasured Experience and a Centerpiece To Match

No one appriciates centerpieces more than I do, I live for them, they make message boards fun, they make you jealous. For me, I pride myself on the fact that although my collection is small, my centerpieces are worth millions to me. Each of them makes me remember a part of my life, and each of them is displayed 24/7 at my apartment. They are my pride and joy until little Gellmans are running around.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I think the modern value ceiling has presented a problem for collectors, as everyone is more concerned with making bank rather than making memories. I would say its almost impossible to distance yourself from the money ideas that are omnipresent in this hobby, though these centerpieces, for me, are about as far away from value as I can get.

I would have to say that my favorite piece in my collection is pretty simple choose, only because the way I got it would still be every Twins fan's dream, even today. In 1992, the Twins were coming off of their best season ever, including a world series championship. I wasn’t old enough (5 years old) in 1987 to appreciate the gravity of the world series, but in 1991, I was in the crowd a few rows back from where Puckett's game 6 home run landed. Game six was still fresh in my mind when I got the chance to go on the field for BP with the Twins, and I didn’t forget to bring a bag full of stuff for all my favorite players. Kirby was number one with a bullet, and my dad's client had supplied us game issue bats for us to get signed. By the time our experience was half over, I had already met more than half of the team. Gladden, Hrbek, Tom Kelly, they all came over to say hi and sign whatever we wanted. Kirby was still in line for the cage when the team rep told us we had 15 minutes before we had to go sit in our seats for the game. As a 9 year old, the dream of meeting Kirby was fading quick until I mentioned to the guy that we were waiting for Kirby. My 6 six year old brother started jumping up and down yelling "KIRBY KIRBY KIRBY KIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRBYYYYYY PUCKETT!"

The rep continued to say that Kirby rarely comes over to sign because the pregames are so busy for him, and my brother burst into tears. Before the first tear could even hit the ground, Kirby's chunky frame was already half way over to our spot. He told us to not worry, and told us to get out our stuff before he had to get to the club house. I immediately whipped out my bat and ball and he laughed as he said "Wow, you guys really went all out! Thanks for being my fans." He signed my ball, my bat and a few other things as my smile reached epic proportions. Man, I was in kid heaven. My brother hid by my dad for the rest of the time, and we walked back to our seats with a backpack full of stuff each.

I still have that bat today, through 3 moves, a broken water pipe and cross country adventure later, happily hanging on my wall. It is just too cool not to show off. Now that Kirby has sadly passed on, that memory has become one of my most treasured sports moments of my life. It was so much fun and Kirby was so nice, you really forgot that he made millions of dollars and realized why he is one of the most popular Twins players of all time.

The second centerpiece is a card I purchased back in the 2007 NFL season, in the midst of Peterson's historic run at the RC rushing record. During the course of the first half of 2007, I had managed to scrape a few Peterson autos together by selling off some of my crap pulls from 2006. I knew I could never afford anything out of Exquisite without maxing out a few credit cards, so I eventually resigned myself to my fate. Luckily, I sold the two autos from before at a pretty high price and pooled together about 350 from the sales and a few left over birthday checks. I knew I was a few dollars short, so I had to get creative. I traded a card to a friend who I knew would give it a good home and then sold the result for another 50 bucks. I managed a 400 BO on the one card I felt was the best looking of the set, and walked away with a sweet as addition to my set.

Sometimes, you can be satisfied with a honda, but in my mind, its an unexplained feeling to own a porsche. I couldn’t afford the Ferrari in the Patch Auto RC, but I will not be letting go of my acquisition any time in the future.

As I look over my collection even today, I am proud as hell that I managed to get everything I have, and I think that after reading the preliminary submissions to the Bat Around, you guys have the same feelings about your centerpieces. I always love reading stories, and hopefully you guys do to, as we have an amazing lineup for this time through the order as we did last time. Be sure to check out the post on Friday so that you can discover, as I have, all the terrific blogs out there that you may not know about.

Details For The Second Blog Bat Around

Since the first blog bat around was AMAZING, I think its time that we move on to the second time through the order. Thank you to everyone who participated the first time, it was exactly what I wanted to see - discussion. If you dont believe me, I got more emails about that post and how awesome it was than I did the entire month before. Hopefully your blogs got some hits and readers off of it too. Regardless, please participate again to keep the discussion open.

Here are the rules if you are unfamiliar:

-This is an open forum, anyone may participate at any time. I will not discriminate, nor will I leave you out if we dont agree.

-Please make your article at least semi-relevant to the topic. You can be as creative as you want, but keep the general topic in mind. If its about Book Value, you can go on a relevant Beckett rant, but dont do a product review of Masterpieces, something like that.

-Keep your article PG or PG-13, I really wont censor it, but I think that to include the maximum amount of people, this is necessary.

- Please give your article a title, and mark it so its easy to find when you give me the link. If you want your full name included and not just your blog title, put it in there somewhere.

- Give us something to read, so dont give me 2 sentences and call it a day. Make this a normal post, as you would want your readers to see it as a normal part of your blog.

- You do not have to include the topic in your post.

- Please comment somewhere on the site or email me the link to your article with any special instructions.

Time:

The Second Bat Around will be posted sometime during Friday morning on the 19th of December. If you have not written your article by then, you are not banned, but your link will be at the bottom of the list. Please have your post to me by Wednesday the 17th at midnight at the latest. I thought one day was enough last time, but there were so many awesome pieces that it took me a long ass time. Either way, please post on your site, do not send me a word doc. If you do not have a blog but want to post, I will accept guest posts on this site.

Topic:

We all have blogs that focus on the hobby, but its few and far between where I get to see your favorite/best piece of your collection. It does not have to be a card or worth a million dollars, it just needs to be a part of your sports collection. Please post your favorite(s) on the post, and go from there.

Some questions you may want to answer:

How did you get it? How much did it cost? What is the value today? What makes this item the centerpiece of your collection? Would you ever sell it?

Also, with the enormous number of player/team collectors out there today, has the focus shifted away from obtaining a centerpiece to build around to becoming more of a quantity thing? Has the hobby created 1/1 monsters that dont focus on the sentiment and memories behind the cards? Do you attach memories to your favorite pieces?

Remember, Wednesday the 17th at midnight.

EDIT: This is the last Bat Around I would like to host. Hopefully we can get another blog on board for next time. I will advertise it here, so dont worry about publicity.