Round Nine Results and Voter Totals

We've been through nine rounds of voting. The final candidates were a complete set of 1986 Sportflics Decade Greats and 13 vintage cards from 1961 Fleer. The winner is no surprise but Decade Greats was able to steal 7 of 26 total votes!

CANDIDATE B 1961 FLEER GREATS goes into the Ballot box!

Let's review our first eight winners:

ROUND ONE

1988 SCORE YOUNG STARS

ROUND TWO

2019 OPTIC FOOTBALL NEARLY COMPLETE SET

ROUND THREE

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ROUND FOUR

ROUND FIVE

1987 SPORTFLICS COMPLETE SET

ROUND SIX

QUAKER/WHITEHALL

ROUND SEVEN

ROUND EIGHT

Since this contest began in July, we've had 39 different voters. Any with 10 or more votes have mail-in ballots included in their totals. As you can see, Bo is the leader with 18 total votes! Others who cast mail-in ballots were Elliptical Man, The Diamond King, Sportscard Collectors,  P-Town Tom, Shlabotnik Report, Nine Pockets, The Collector, Pennysleeves, Padrographs, Nachos Grande and  Dime Boxes. Numbers below will be updated to reflect any additional mail-in ballots received through Nov 3rd.

While not included on the list above, Fred Pike and Mike Matson took time to create a little foreign interference in the voting process. Mike picked some cards for himself from Pick Pockets as a 'thank you' for his time. Fred will receive a little thank you as well, included with his next pick pocket envelope.

Here's look at voter totals sorted low to high:

I've created a sheet to make entry for the Randomizer easier and accurate. I'll copy/past each column into the Randomizer to ensure no names are left out of the drawing. Again, any additional mail-in ballots received through Nov 3rd will be added to these totals.

I'll prep your Pick Pockets for mailing after the election. Thanks for your patience, Pickers! We'll have a new PP edition available soon. Pick Pockets are for readers who comment on the blog regularly but trade pals will continue to have first dibs. Anyone who happens upon Cracked Bat for the first time is welcome to participate in one round of Pick Pockets.

I hope to see those of you newer to the blog stick around. Many of you have supported this blog from the beginning. You've made this hobby twice the fun. Thank you.

Let's meet back here Tuesday evening around 8pm EST to find out who takes home the Cracked Bat Ballot Box!

This Is It...

...your last opportunity to vote in the Cracked Bat Ballot Box giveaway. 

This has been a year for much needed 'pick-me-ups.'  While it's been a bit of work for me, I've had good fun presenting your candidates!   I have a few more little giveaways to share with my regular readers in future posts. If you were around before the Ballot Box contest began, you will have the opportunity to win GOOD books, crappy autographed baseballs and odd - read 'unwanted' - collectibles. LOL! If you found this blog during the Ballot contest, stay involved with your comments and make yourself eligible to participate in future giveaways. 

It's the Final Round, # 9! Before revealing your last candidates, we need to review Round 8 voting. I predicted 1987 Rookies for the win. The Maddux RC alone was worth your vote.  1992 Triple Play was a great opportunity for pack rippers. It's also fun to tuck packs like these into trade packages. I've been know to pad a mailer with 89 Topps wax. So, was I right?  Improved voter turnout created a last minute rally for The Rookies with 11 votes but 1992 Triple Play took 16. Thanks to the 27 who voted in Round 8!

ROUND 8 WINNER

Round Eight candidates are perhaps my favorites for the Cracked Bat Ballot Box. I love both choices offered here and saved them for last. For some of you, the choice may be difficult. If so, describe your painful decisions in the comments. 

CANDIDATE A: 1986 SPORTFLICS Decade Greats

There are some phenomenal cards in this 126 card set; 75 player and 51 trivia. It holds a respectable value when broken down by card. Ruth, Gehrig, Williams, Mantle, Robinson, Banks - the list of players is grand with six decades represented. This candidate would have you believe that the best years are behind us.  You can relive those moments again and again by voting for Decade Greats. 

CANDIDATE B: 1961 Fleer Greats 

This is a selection of 13 cards from my collection. I've replaced these in my set with upgrades. Please review the scans for their varying conditions. None are terrible and some are more than acceptable - they're darn nice! I'm attempting to build a better set.

This candidate is old school with nearly 60 years of experience. Fleer doesn't ask you to believe the best years are found in the old days, these Greats want your appreciation. If quantity is important, Sportflics is your set. If the great names are your thing, so is Sportflics. If vintage matters, it's Fleer. There are HOFers in this lot too. If you aren't familiar with this release, read up here.

One final review of the rules:

This round will close Thursday evening at the 48 hour mark. I'll need time to tally voter totals and prepare a list for the Randomizer. My next post will announce the winner of this round, review the box contents and confirm each voter's registration and vote totals. Voters will have their names entered into the randomizer equivalent to the number of their votes, including mail-in ballots.

Thank you, and please vote November 3rd. 

Rounding the Corner!

We are rapidly approaching the finish line! I announced the Ballot Box contest on July 4th. We've had seven rounds of voting to date. I was hoping to go ten rounds but I feel a knockout coming! That's ok! We still have time for two more!  The Box is filling nicely. I'd planned to have a blaster for the winner but we all know the sad state of retail product. Who'd have thought???

Round Seven was a slaughter. Challengers Purina/Sunoco and Quaker/Whitehall didn't gather the attention  previous contenders garnered. I left voting open for several days but only 16 took time to cast a ballot. Perhaps more interest would've rescued Candidate A?  The Whitehall Legends set was the focus of attention with 11 winning votes.  I misunderestimated the power of holograms.

Round 8 Voting is here. No booing from the audience. You must hold your applause or obnoxious commentary until the Ballot Box is awarded.

CANDIDATE A:  1987 DONRUSS The Rookies

The box is open but contains a sealed set of 56 cards. There is no Clemente puzzle included. Notable rookies in this set are Mark McGwire, Greg Maddux, Bo Jackson, Matt Williams and Rafael Palmeiro. Of all Greg's rookies, this is may be favorite. I have one in my collection. Do you?

CANDIDATE B: 1992 TRIPLE PLAY

One sealed box of 36 packs, 15 cards each plus a rub-off game card! Though marketed with the kiddies in mind, adults still love to rip these packs. Oh yes you do! You might pull a Gallery of Stars Bobby Bo, Griffey, Ripken or perhaps some Awesome Action! Who wouldn't like that?

This round is overwhelming. I know I'm exhausted! Take a moment to catch your breath, review the rules and vote!

A Nacho Break!

During this year without baseball, one thing I missed were the concessions. I always have a hot dog of course but on occasion, share nachos with my game pal. I'm pretty basic. Give me lots of hot cheese and jalapenos. So when it comes to a nachos grande, you can count me out. Unless you are Nacho man Chris, whose blog is Grande! In this case, I'll have seconds!

Chris keeps a trade stack, adding a card at a time. The whole stack is up for grabs in return for one singular piece of cardboard from his want list. In all the years I've watched stacks come and go, I've yet to claim one. What card finally caught my eye?

You should know it was not the Jeter. I saw the Kendall and lost my mind. What a shiny, colorful, in-your-face card! I dug til I found a card for him, and dug quickly. Though the stack was only two cards deep, I knew it would go fast. Why no one claimed the Jeter, I can't say. This was a perfect little trade.

If you follow the Nachos Grande blog, you know about his affordable group breaks. I've enjoyed a couple myself recently with three box breaks of Stadium Club and one box of Diamond Kings.  My DK spot netted one of the two 'hits' in the box:

Willi's only 23. The shortstop had 129 MLB at bats this year. His season stats: .349 with 6 homers and 24 rbi. He appears promising but he's a Tiger so I have zero expectations, therefore avoiding certain disappointment. 

Chris threw in a random team with each one claimed. One of my freebies were the Pirates:

Chris  knew I was building 2011 Lineage so he filled my 'break' package with 85 cards from my want list!!!  I'd received another 43 cards this summer from a young man named JQ Spooner. He has no blog or accounts that I'm aware of which would allow me to tag him. Between these two generous lots, my list is down to eight cards!  I still need: 

42,  49,  72,  84,  93, 100,  107,  149.

85 CARDS from CHRIS!

JQ SPOONER: a sampling of his 43 cards:

If you're interested in a box break, Chris is having fun with product as far back as the 90s! His Facebook page can be found here and blog here.  Check out the blog link for his current trade stack.

Chris, thanks for the fun break offerings - and for the Lineage assist!  It was a wonderful surprise!

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Time for a round six ballot wrap! Your candidates were A: 1987 Sportlics Factory set and B: 1989 Bowman factory set.  Twenty-two voters cast their ballots.  Sportflics took the win with 12 votes!

Going into the ballot box:

Welcome to Round 7 voting! Your candidates are small set lots: food, odd and holographic. Each has a running mate. 

CANDIDATE A:  

A complete 33 card set of 1984 Topps Ralston Purina baseball featuring many stars in all their dog chow glory! Checklist here. Full disclosure: when pulling this set for the contest, I found a slight  wrinkle on Nolan's hat. His card still presents well. There is no color loss. You should know your candidate's flaws. 

Ralston Purina's running-mate is the 2001 Sunoco Dream Team, a complete 12 card set !  When I discovered this set just a few years ago, I'd never seen it anywhere. Now these cards seem to turn up in dime boxes everywhere! But all twelve at one time? Rarely. Checklist here.

CANDIDATE B:

Another complete 33 card set for consideration: 1986 Topps Quaker Granola. Checklist here.  It's filled with stars of the day and a pilgrim on the face of each card. Chew on that!

Granola's mate in the running: 1992 Whitehall Legends to Life! These cards do not scan well and gave my camera difficulty. That's a politician for ya! Only wants you to see their good side. The five card checklist: Cobb, Gehrig, Ruth, Wagner and  Young. Cards were still sealed in plastic wrap. Scratch-free and ready to rock you with their early 90s holographic design.

Please review the rules before voting:

Before I close, a thank you goes out to Fuji for the chicken he sent my way. Chicken travels better than one might expect when it's FAMOUS! Fuji recently obtained one for himself and shared it on his blog. That's when I began whining; commenting too quickly to notice an error before entering. Truly, I only mentioned the bird was going on my Santa list. Fuji must've had concerns about Santa's ability to travel this covid-Christmas. He stepped right into the red suit and sent one to me. The postal sleigh dropped it off only a couple of days ago.

As you can see, the F.C. is right at home among friends in my happy corner. Fuji, you once asked about those brightly colored cans on the speakers. "Rainbow Seeker" is a pineapple/sage drink by Blake's Hard Cider, a few miles up the road from me.  It's good cold or with a little OJ which is my preference. A percentage of the proceeds from this cider support the LGBT National Hotline.  

Thank you Chris, Fuji and JQ - and thanks to all my readers! Get out there and vote!