Capewood’s Collections’ Clearance Cubs

I’ve always been the type to try my luck at grab bag situations, and I’ve been known to do okay.  Back when I would frequent card shows in my teen years, there were a couple dealers that would have team bags or shrink wrapped bricks and if you found a hole punched card or a card with a big number on it, you would win a corresponding prize.  It was a pretty good gimmick, and a great way for them to sell off a bunch of junk (and this was the early 90s, so even junk wasn’t fully junk yet, so you can imagine the level of junk you would find).  On two separate occasions, I used my deductive reasoning to pick a brick that had no star cards showing to win a prize.  One was an Eric Dickerson RC, which didn’t mean much to me due to my lack of football knowledge.  The other was a complete, recently released 92-93 Fleer Ultra Series 2 basketball set, which included rookie cards of Alonzo Morning, Christian Laettner and some wannabe movie star/backboard breaker named Shaquille O’Neal.  Not bad for 50 cents.

Flash forward to present day.  Okay, more like a couple months ago.  But anyway, at that time Capewood’s Collections held a mid-summer clearance.  He offered up a stack from your favorite team in exchange for a couple Astros and/or Phillies in return.  I had some extra ‘Stros laying around, so the exchange was made and the grab bag was on its way.

How did I make out in this go ’round?  I think I did pretty damn well for the investment, personally.  The streak continues.

Marmol's tiny picture is confused about the official nature of this baseball card

I bought two packs of 2010 Upper Deck, and that was plenty.  It’s not that I didn’t want to support the company or that I was anti-unlicensed cards, it’s that I didn’t want to pay money for that stupid looking set.  With this card in hand, there is now even less reason for me to drop a dime on it.

A licensed travesty of an Upper Deck set

Does anyone like this design?  The back of this card is an indication of how far Dempster has come.  As of the end of 2006, Dempster was 57-68 with a 4.83 ERA (with three years as a relief pitcher, mind you).  As of 9/23/10, after the shellacking the Giants put on him, he is 101-101 and a 4.38 ERA.  The ERA isn’t much lower, but it’s been under 4 the last three years and he’s winning more than he’s losing in that time.

This is more like it

This look is much, much better.

Stepping out of the card and into your heart

These look better in person.  The silver print in the background shines just right and the foil compliments the whole thing well.  I don’t know if I would have ever bought this stuff, either.  It seems like it was a little too rich for my blood with little in return.

So, 4 cards to add to the player collections is a damn fine haul, especially when nothing was coordinated ahead of time.  You can’t ask for much more out of a blind exchange.  But there were other Cubs to be found in the stack.  I can’t show them all, but here’s a nice sampling of the goods.

He is Marshall (horrible "old" movie joke)

Sean never got the full chance to become a starter.  They kept jerking his chain over and over, and he always deserved an extended look, but it never materialized.  Now it looks like he’s a relief guy for good, but he’s stepped up and really excelled as our 8th inning guy this year.

Remember the Cajun Connection? They've been unlinked

Fontenot did get an extended look, and that ended up being his problem.  In a bench/role setting, he did well, but Little Babe Ruth faltered a bit too much with regular playing time.  Now he’s possibly going to the playoffs with the Giants, so I guess it all works out.

Whirlybird!

Damn you and your ying/yang performance!  Why can’t you make up your mind if you suck or not?  You’re really good early in the year, then you suck like a freaking shop-vac, and now since the all-star break you’re hitting well over .300 — to bring your average to a respectable .272.  Since you’re probably staying next year, please continue to rake.  Thank you.  Sincerely, Jon, communitygum.com

This card is the color of his anger

Opening Day!  Gotta show it off.  We also got a Kevin Hart blood red card.  I’m sure other Cubs fans have more of an opinion on the Zambrano situation.  I’m cool with him staying behaviorally, but salary wise, I’m not so fine with paying for what we’re getting.  Although, lately….

I assume there is no Sniff behind this Scratch

So, do I scratch it or not?  This is the back of a Derrek Lee card.  I have no knowledge of this at all, but it is intriguing to me and I would like to see more of this in the future.  It’s like a rip card, but less destructive.  And all you need is 10,000 points!  How hard can that be?

This is not the rookie shortstop I'm looking for

Starlin Castro would have made an error on that ball already.  Get with it, Rey!  This card is in here to show that it wasn’t just new stuff in the package. A couple older cards were sprinkled in.  Oh, if you were to put Shaq on this design, this would be the set I won 18 years ago.

Eyes on the donut, evidently. (Eyes, not pictured)

This may be my first Ticket to Stardom card, and a die cut parallel at that!  Even when I jumped back into collecting and saw these blasters everywhere, I knew well enough to avoid this set.  It’s just like riding a bike sometimes.  Hopefully Soto comes back from surgery healthy next year and produces like he did in 2010.  But if not…

The tongue sticking out means concentration

…we have this guy waiting in the wings.  This gold border 2008 Bowman card was a very nice surprise.  Cubs fans are pulling for him and praying that Quade will give him some playing time instead of Koyie Hill.  We’ll probably have to wait until next year’s collapse to get a better look at him.

Like I said, I’m lucky with grab bags and this was no exception.  Thank you very much to Capewood’s Collections, and be sure to check him out if you have spare Astros or Phillies, or want to read a movie review.