2004 Fleer Platinum hobby box

21 packs per box:
17 regular packs/7 cards per pack
4 jumbo packs/20 cards per pack

Base set completion: 138 of 178 (78%)
Short print set completion:10 of 22 (45%)
Base doubles: 45

Impressions

This seemed like a reasonable enough deal — Charm City does these hobby boxes for $55. With that many cards coming in a hobby box, it seemed pretty feasible that a single box would yield the entire set. Well, it came close. A shame, since better collation would’ve easily taken care of the base set. Maybe not the SPs, but there were clearly enough doubles (45 altogether) to come a lot closer to finishing the remaining 40 I need now.

As far as all the shiny baubles, it comes with the requisite game-used cards. The Schilling card is nice enough, although I have a lot of trouble referring to a square-inch or so-sized swatch of jersey as a patch. I don’t know, but when I say “patch,” I’m thinking something a little bigger than what you normally get. It would’ve been nice had I owned these two game-used cards in, say, I don’t know, 2004. But hey, I’m sure there’re still plenty of Giambi and Schilling fans out there.

I wasn’t around in 2004 to know whether this was intended as a retro set to compete with Heritage, but it clearly pays homage to 1984 Fleer. I also can’t recall if 1984 was a particularly important one for Fleer, or why, if they did, want to commemorate the occasion 20 years later.

While I’m clearly a sucker for the obvious retro-themed sets (i.e. Heritage, Masterpieces, etc.), it does seem a little odd to look to the overproduction era for inspiration. Then again, I dove in and went after both 08 Timeline and 07 SP Rookie Edition, so perhaps even the 80s/90s era has untapped potential.

I can’t imagine, however, that time will ever produce a yearning for 2039 Topps Heritage, which would bring back the ever-popular 1990 design out from the dustbin.

Overproduction era or not, mid-80s Fleer does have that nice, clean look that translates well to a modern card, as evidenced by 2004 Platinum. And just like the old days, card numbers are randomly assigned — that is, the set isn’t ordered alphabetically by teams, like any modern Upper Deck set. Different teams are scattered about the checklist as they have been in the past — at least for Upper Deck/Fleer, anyway.

Speaking of hearkening back to the past, I found the “Unsung Heroes” subset particularly interesting in that it reminded me so much, visually, of all of those late-80s drugstore issues. I remember those cards well — every time we’d drop by a Sav-On Drug or Woolworths, I’d beg forever and ever for a pack. Mom and dad rarely relented, but I did manage to save at least two sets — 1988 Topps Woolworth and 1988 Topps Kmart.

I remember loving those cards so much — so glossy! They had to be “worth more” than those cheap cardboard 50-cents-a-pack regular issues. Two decades later, I came to the sad realization that they weren’t worth much in dollars, but they were certainly worth the childhood nostalgia. Their lack of value, however, hasn’t stopped some folks from locking them up in PSA holders,  however.

Anyway, enough nostalgia. Although there were some obvious collation issues, this was not a bad box to break overall. It’s not a massively oversized set, and the short prints aren’t a hideous task to compile either. A single box could conceivably knock out an entire base set, and that’s always added value. As far as completing the set, I don’t know that there’re too many doubles of these cards floating around on the Bench, but we’ll see.

Even Bernie’s stoked for Manny

San Bernadino 66ers mascot Bernie, at yesterday’s game:

(pic credit: The Trolley Dodger)

Glad to know they’re thinking of us….

This is the Padres’ Fourth of July (a.k.a. Manny’s back, game #2) stadium giveaway:

I’m fairly confident that no Dodger promotion, past or present, has mentioned any other team, and especially not the Padres.

But it’s nice to know they’re still thinking of us, even when they’re sitting 15 games back behind in the standings. Besides, I think Boston Celtics and San Francisco Giants fans already have the “BEAT L.A.!” thing cornered.

Customer Non-Service

Want a Bluetooth headset? Don’t bother buying one from Samsung. Well, just hope it doesn’t ever break on you and you go for the mendacious act of taking them up on warranty service!

On 6/3/09, I received authorization to return a defective WEP170 Bluetooth headset for warranty service. The headset was then sent back to me, without service. The reason given was that the proof-of purchase I supplied didn’t have the seller’s name and address printed on it. The invoice I provided actually did have that information, but for whatever reason, it was still returned to me.

I contacted customer service again on 6/19/09 to attempt to resolve the issue. The initial CSR I spoke to, after an hour or so of back-and-forth and being placed on hold numerous times, assured me that the reasons given were valid, in spite of me holding an invoice with the requested information. After getting nowhere with the initial CSR, I asked to be transferred to a supervisor. I did, and was disconnected after she placed me on hold.

I called in again, and immediately asked to be transferred to a supervisor. She looked into my file, and found that the reasons given were as I mentioned earlier. I offered to send her a copy of the invoice, with the information requested, and she accepted. She then apologized for the confusion, gave me a new repair ticket number, and informed me a new headset would be on its way shortly.

On 6/22/09, I checked the UPS tracking number provided to me, and I discovered the new headset was apparently heading to Lousiana. I’m in Oregon. So on 6/23/09, I again contacted customer service to inform them of the issue. The CSR I spoke with, after being placed on hold for about 10 minutes or so, informed me that I had to contact UPS myself to correct the error. I refused, as this is clearly an error on the shipper’s part. I mean, I’m no geography expert, but I’m pretty sure Louisiana isn’t anywhere near Oregon.

I then asked again to be transferred to a supervisor. After being placed on hold again, she informed me that an investigation would be taking place as to why the package was scheduled for delivery in Louisiana. I can make the investigation pretty simple — UPS is delivering it there because it’s clear it was addressed there. Now, as to WHY it was addressed there, I don’t know. That supervisor then told me that I would find out in 24-48 hours exactly what happened.

I don’t really expect this situation to be resolved expeditiously (or even resolved at all) at this point. All I want is a functional headset, and now that we’re going on three weeks and a whole lot of time wasted on the phone, I don’t know if I’m ever going to get that — that is, unless I give up and just buy a new one.

However, I will say this. Although there are surely thousands upon thousands of other potential customers out there, Samsung has done a wonderful job of losing me. I have, in the past, been quite satisfied with Samsung products. But I know now that should these products ever go bad, I can pretty much assume I’ll receive no help from Samsung customer service. I doubt that I’ll ever purchase anything else from Samsung, and I’ll make sure no one I know does either. Sure, a small drop in the bucket, but I’d rather save others from the frustration of dealing with Samsung’s non-existent customer service.

If there was ever any doubt…

from: http://www.uticaod.com/sports/x737337386/Starting-a-new-tradition

Jeff Kent, along with a number of other Hall of Famers and retired MLB stars during the Hall of Fame Classic this weekend. Kent of course ended his career with the Dodgers, but played six seasons with the Giants.

I would imagine this pretty much confirms which hat he’s going to be depicted wearing at Cooperstown.

As an aside, I’m glad Jeff finally found a younger teammate he’s happy to play alongside.

New PDX ballpark says “never say die”

As I’m sure you’ve read, the never-ending saga to relocate the Portland Beavers out of PGE Park now has city officials unable to decide how exactly they want to spend tax dollars. Whether it’s Lents Park, the site currently occupied by the Memorial Coliseum, or who knows where else, the pols can’t make up their mind. Which of course leaves would-be MLS owner Merritt Paulson still waiting for a new home.

from www.ballparkreviews.com

It certainly appears clear that they’re going to go ahead with their plan to convert (at taxpayer expense) the recently-renovated (at taxpayer expense, and still not fully paid for) PGE Park to a soccer-only facility, especially now since they have the Oregon House’s blessing to proceed.

Let’s make a few things clear. I believe in the idea of urban renewal. I believe that investing taxpayer money into improving the city’s infrastructure is a good thing.

I enjoy watching the Beavers. I love watching baseball at all levels, and I appreciate there’s a team in Portland. And while I may not appreciate soccer as much, I certainly understand the desire of fans to bring a bigger franchise to the city — that’s a good thing.

But what I don’t believe in is using taxpayer money to fund such a private venture with such a narrow demographic. Let’s be serious. It’s not like we’re talking MLB, or the NFL, or even the NHL for that matter. We’re talking about a sport that lags far behind the big three — and we’re talking about a fairly sizable public investment in it.

What it comes down to is this. Sure, bring MLS to Portland. But Merritt Paulson needs to make sure he pays for all of it and doesn’t resort to corporate welfare in order to do it. If it’s such a sure-fire investment, then surely he, successful businessman that he is, can afford to do this on his own. If not, then find some private investors and sell them on the plan.

The fact of the matter is that publicly-funded sports stadia are almost overwhelmingly a lose-lose for a city’s taxpayers. Just ask the Phoenix Coyotes or the Indianapolis Colts, among many others. Given the tremendous risk of these investments, it’s absolutely ludicrous for Merritt Paulson to even think of tapping into the city’s funds for his pet projects.

“The city of angels….together we cry.”

It’s clear the folks out in Los Angeles do like to get down, so to speak, legitimate reasons or otherwise. So when hundreds of inebriated Laker fans decided to turn the area surrounding Staples Center into a warzone, it comes as no surprise, really.

I mean, we’ve already seen this sort of thing before, whether or not the Lakers win. So when they emerged as victors in Orlando on Sunday, I suppose this was inevitable, right?

And if you look at the commentary on sites such as the L.A. Times, this sort of thing is absolutely inevitable, given the sort of antisocial behavior most people of Latino heritage display. Those brown-skinned Laker fans — who are probably illegal aliens anyway — they’re always at the center of these incidents. At least, that’s what many of their readers seem to think.

Well, given that Latinos make up approximately 47% of the population in Los Angeles, is there really any surprise that it’s Latinos that we’re seeing here? They make up the largest group of people in the city! And this is not to suggest that only Latinos were partaking in this nonsense, as there were plenty of other people out being idiots as well. I just want to point out that there’s a reason we see mostly Latino faces in these pictures — because it’s mostly Latinos who live in LA.

But what really bothers me is how quick these commenters were to point the finger at Latino Laker fans, assigning blame to them for all manner of maladies, not just what went down on Sunday evening. What’s even more troublesome is the implication that only unruly Latinos are capable of such ridiculousness. Of course, because this sort of thing could never happen in a more civilized place (i.e. a place with more white people) such as Philadelphia, or Boston. Those mild-mannered fans in New England; they’d never do the sort of thing that, heaven forbid, would jeopardize someone’s life, now would they?

It’s really odd to read the comments of anyone trying to imply that drunken hooliganism is somehow particular to one race of people/one particular west coast state/one particular city in California. It’s disturbing to read the comments of people who naively think this wouldn’t happen anywhere else, and is somehow endemic to Los Angeles. It’s terribly sad to read the comments of people who unintentionally reveal that they believe in some pretty unjustifiable beliefs. What happened Sunday evening had nothing to do with the Latino population, immigration, or anything other than pure stupidity.

This sort of incident is just plain sad, no matter how you dice it. Sure, just as LAPD Chief William Bratton said, “knuckleheads” are to blame for this sort of thing happening. This isn’t some sort of systemic issue taking place. People get drunk, people get stupid. It’s a theme that goes down everywhere, from the streets of Los Angeles, all the way to the cornfields of Iowa.

This is why I can’t stand short prints

On my way home Sunday, I decided to drop into a market that frequently has deeply discounted wax. This time, I found 2005 Fleer Patchworks packs going for a $1. If I recall correctly, they also had full hobby boxes available as well

When I made it home, I browsed through Beckett and saw that 05 Patchworks is only a 100-card set, which should make this one a pretty easy build.

Not so fast! Turns out the base set consists of 70 cards, and the final 30 of 100 are short prints. Short prints seeded one-in-eight per hobby box. In other words, if I paid the $80-100 going price for a hobby box of 05 Patchworks (18 packs/5 cards per pack), I’d end up with almost all of the base set, and only two out of the 30 short-printed cards. TWO.

I understand card companies want and obviously need to turn a profit. This, however, is beyond asinine. If I bought a 12-box case of Patchworks (or just about any other short-printed set, for that matter), and allowing for near-perfect collation, I’d still be short six cards out the short-printed set. Even with the better seeding ratios in products such as Allen & Ginter (1:2) and Heritage (1:3), it still takes a minumum of two hobby boxes to complete a set. And after all is said and done, I’ll end up with a ton of mostly-useless doubles.

Of course, it’d be tremendously simpler to buy a complete base set to begin with. But doing so kills the fun of putting together a hand-collated set.

Rather than continuing to pour money into essentially worthless extras such as game-used jersey cards, why not focus on making sets that are cost-efficient to build? And I’m not talking about de-fanged derivatives such as Opening Day and First Edition, either. I’m talking about 100-card sets, without massive amounts of ridiculously-seeded short prints, at a reasonable price? This year’s UD Icons Baseball seemed like it was a step back in that direction — until you see its pricepoint. $11-12 MSRP per pack (10 packs per box/5 cards per pack)? Who can afford that?

Short prints (ridiculously seeded ones at that) kill the fun of completing a set by hand. You’d have to buy so much product and count and miraculously perfect collation to get where you want to be. Short prints are added value for the manafacturers, not the collector.

Why can’t the USPS work this fast?

My new Mac Mini barely had any time to settle into its shipping box. I ordered it from the Apple Store Sunday evening, and by 9:oo AM Pacific, it was on a FedEx plane from Shenzen, China. By Tuesday afternoon it had made its way to Anchorage. Tuesday evening it was already in Oakland. As Wednesday dawned, it had made its way back to Portland, and was safely delivered here at 9:00 AM — a mere 48 hours after leaving another continent altogether.

Now if only I could get the postman to send my bubble mailers with that same sort of urgency!

All shipment travel activity is displayed in local time for the location

To display the shipment travel activity in local time of the scan, please select “Local Scan Time” time zone option.

No entries found

Date/Time

Activity

Location

Details

Jun 10, 2009 9:26 AM

Delivered

MEDFORD, OR

Jun 10, 2009 8:54 AM

On FedEx vehicle for delivery

MEDFORD, OR

Jun 10, 2009 8:09 AM

At local FedEx facility

MEDFORD, OR

Jun 10, 2009 4:35 AM

At dest sort facility

PORTLAND, OR

Jun 10, 2009 2:47 AM

Departed FedEx location

OAKLAND, CA

Jun 9, 2009 10:02 PM

Arrived at FedEx location

OAKLAND, CA

Jun 9, 2009 5:37 PM

Departed FedEx location

ANCHORAGE, AK

Jun 9, 2009 1:45 PM

Int’l shipment release

ANCHORAGE, AK

Jun 9, 2009 1:10 PM

Arrived at FedEx location

ANCHORAGE, AK

Jun 9, 2009 8:14 PM

In transit

SHENZHEN CN

Jun 9, 2009 12:06 PM

Left FedEx origin facility

SHENZHEN CN

Jun 9, 2009 10:17 AM

Picked up

SHENZHEN CN

Jun 9, 2009 5:27 AM

Shipment information sent to FedEx

Series II Box Breaks

Rather than giving each box its own post, I figured I’d condense by compiling everything into one post.

First up, Upper Deck. Most of us already know what the base cards look like. A pretty easy task considering many players had double issues in this set — among the Dodgers, Ramirez, Blake, Billingsley, Martin, Kemp, Loney, Furcal, Broxton, Kuroda, and Ethier were all repeats in series II. UD could’ve easily made this set considerably easier to finish (and a lot less boring and repetitive) had they not insisted on going with a 1000 card base set.

So did the inserts get any more interesting this time around? From left to right, a 1989 UD buyback, an O-Pee-Chee preview, and a USA National Team card.

I imagine there are more than a few collectors out there with piles and piles of worthless early 90s Upper Deck cards. Sure, 1989 was UD’s “rookie year,” but a foil stamp isn’t going to make me want those old cards any more than I already do (which is not at all).

All legal issues aside with O-Pee-Chee, I almost wish the base set looked like these rather than the design they went with.

“Hits”

The Ordonez jersey was a box-topper “buyback.” I don’t quite understand the meaning of the term buyback in sports cards vernacular. I do imagine it’s along the same lines as an investment “buyback,” which is an effort to re-acquire outstanding shares in order to reduce the available quantity. So in that sense, vintage “buybacks” such as Heritage, Play Ball, Goudey, etc. make sense in that they’re reacquiring old cards — though not specifically to reduce available quantity, but to include as purchase incentives.

But do cards from 2006 (such as the Ordonez) and the production glut of the 90s really fit the definition? Isn’t it fair to say that UD probably already had these on hand to begin with, thus negating the need to buy back anything?

As entertaining as it is to open a pack and find an auto/gamer in it, I really would rather it didn’t, especially if it meant box prices would be that much lower. A huge consideration since this particular box produced only 300 cards of the 500-card base set.

And now, Topps. The base set continues where series I left off, with much of the same stellar photography. Predictably, lots more spring training photos had to be used in order to accomodate many of the rookies/free agent signings who were unavailable the first time around. Given that, wouldn’t it make more sense — and add value to series II — to wait to depict the big free agent signings?

“Hits”

Nothing really too exciting here, although the Pedroia silk should command a nice trade/sell premium. The insert sets are continuations from series I, with Legends of the Game (10 in this box), Ring of Honor (10), and Turkey Red (10) returning. New for series II are Career Best Legends (two in this box) and WBC stars (five). Returning from 2008 are the Red Hot Rookie redemptions (two).

This jumbo box produced the entire base set (331-660) and 96 base doubles. Although the insert ratios are better for the jumbos, ending up with nearly 100 doubles and the increased MSRP for jumbos in 2009 ($95) will force me to reconsider if this is the path I’ll take for 2010.