I don’t hide the fact that I have been known to steal ideas from other bloggers… I was reading
Sharpe Since 92 yesterday and he had posted a well loved 1969 Reggie Jackson rookie card he found at his parent’s house.
He also mentioned Jim Palmer cards, too-I found a few of those at Mom and Dad's, but that is another post for another day, but this will serve its own foreshadowing purpose...
I commented that I love digging around my parent’s garage and storage. They have never thrown away anything that was mine and even though they have moved several times since I was a kid, they still have all of my old stuff. The problem is, everything that I wanted, I took. Still there is the occasional gem. This brings me to the next blog to rip-off-this idea "borrowed" from
Closet Full of Cardboard. He posted that he is going to chase the 1969 Topps set and posted a
want list here. He has a double of the Roberto Clemente from ’69 that I would love to add to my collection,
so I told him I would see what I have from ’69. I have all of my vintage singles neatly put in order and kept in an office at work-I have enough cards all over the house. I did look around and find one 1969 card, that coincidentally came from my parents a few months back. I planned on doing a one-card post on it before I sent it along with the others to Jeff for his set, but I checked his
list and I get to keep this one, which is good, because it has a little history. My local card shop, when I was a kid was a card and comic books store. Eventually it became solely a comics shop, but in the mid 80s it was 50/50. All of the cards from the 60's and 70’s
were kept in binders and kept behind the counter. The stars were out in display cases, but the commons were kept in the binder by year. The binder had a generic price list on the front. 1965 Topps was my favorite set, but these cards were 2 bucks a pop and although I stared at the binder often, I never bought out of it. Its funny, but you can find ‘65s far cheaper now… The most affordable cards of the 60’s were 1969-these were 75 cents a pop, three quarters or in my case generally 45 pennies, a dime and 4 nickels. The card shop attendant groaned when he saw me coming. I would hang around for hours and never spend more than 2 dollars and it was always in change… Anyway, I stared at that ’69 binder so much I know the order of the cards pretty well. I would seek out off condition cards and try and get them for than 75 cents, too. One day I noticed the crease in the corner of this card and promptly offered up 50 cents for it. With a nod (and without a smile) the offer was accepted and the card was mine! It was stuffed into a top loader and stuffed in my pocket, on my bike I hopped and I was off for more 8 year old debauchery. This card would be special because it wasn’t for me; it was a gift for my Dad. I have mentioned that my father wasn’t a baseball fan. He was and still is a racing fan. He was a professional front engine drag racer to a certain degree of success and fame. His business was camshafts for race cars and he pretty much lived and breathed speed. What card did I get him? A 1969 Topps Dick Bosman!
Why Dick Bosman, why for my Dad? Well, flip the card and the answer will be clear to you. The card was actually well received.
Turns out that Dad and Mr. Bosman were acquaintances of some sort, but my father didn’t realize that he was a former ballplayer. Within a few months I had myself a Dick Bosman autographed ball and card, Dad put them into a case with a plaque with Bosman’s no hitter date on it. Oh, and he saved the original card I had given him, plus all of the others we got together. Once I knew that my Dad knew him, it became fun to collect his cards together. It was around that time that me and Dad went to our first card show together (Mom generally took me) and we picked up 3 more Bosman cards that day. We also noticed that the ’69 wasn’t the only card back that mentioned his love of racing.
We always intended to get them signed, but the cards and Dick were never in the same place at the same time. Dad returned a small stack of Bosman cards to me a few months ago, thanking me for the original and I thanked him again for the ball and card display, which remains in my father’s den for safe keeping with some of my Danny Tartabull memorabilia and a few of my old jerseys and trophies. It’s just safe there. We talked about going to that card show, too. We talked all night actually. My Dad has a heart condition and isn’t supposed to drink caffeine, but can on a rare occasion. He had two cups of coffee with me and we stayed up very late. And it all started with that 1969 Topps card that I bargained for and purchased for 50 cents over 25 years ago.
My Dad introduced me to Mr. Bosman when I was a teenager and as an adult I have interviewed Dick. I saw him recently as he is a roving pitching instructor in the Rays organization. We went for coffee and he spoke candidly (off the record) with his assessment of some of the Rays young arms. He is a fantastic man with a pretty storied career in baseball and he, like my Dad, likes to drive fast. I won’t go over his career numbers here, but I will this post with a couple of fun trivia questions.
Who was the starting pitcher in the last Washington Senators game?
Who was the starting pitcher in the first Texas Rangers game?
Who is the only pitcher in MLB history to lose a game because of his own fielding error?
Who threw the 190th no hitter in MLB history?
After three straight World Series wins the A’s traded Blue Moon Odom, who did they trade him for?
Who led the American League with a 2.19 ERA in 1969?
In 1974 3 American League hurlers tossed no-hitters, but only two were All Stars, who was not named to the team despite throwing a no-hitter one week before the game?
What pitcher made one of the most infamous errors of 1974 after leading the AL in fielding percentage in 1970 when he had no errors in 51 chances?
Some of those questions were a bit of a stretch, but they have something in common. The correct answer to all 8 questions would be my friend, Dick Bosman. His '69 Topps will always be my favorite, but the '71 is awesome, too.
The composition with the palm trees in the background (he is a Florida native) and the little star in the signature, perfect! His 1967 rookie card is one I have never tracked down and the action shot on his '73 (which I don't own) is awesome!
Thanks to
Sharpe Since 92 and
Closet Full of Cardboard for allowing me (without permission) to steal (er, be inspired by) their posting ideas. Thanks to my Dad for saving these cards for all of these years and thanks to Mr. Dick Bosman for allowing my Dad and I to find common ground in baseball. If you have any spare 1969 Topps cards laying around, find Jeff's list
here. Troll out.
I did all of these things, but as I walked out of the room and towards the door to get downstairs I noticed something. Since I live with two sloppy ladies (please don’t make today the one day you read my blog!) I notice everything that is out of place and normally put it back in place. Anyway, something new was sitting on top of the living room entertainment center, something cool. I didn’t look at it too much, I left it where I found and took the mutt outside and kinda forgot about it as I rushed to get ready for class. Class was mundane. It always is on Thursdays… Anyway, I get home from class at about the same time that the wife takes her lunch break, so just as I was climbing up the stairs and noticing the suspicious oblong disturbance on the entertainment center again, she called. I had investigated it a little bit. 
It was a see through-net-Christmas stocking that was filled with an odd assortment of cards. My grandmother used to get these things for me when I was a kid. I was a brat then and I didn’t appreciate them. I wanted current wax and I was a snob with my brands, now I am much more interested in interesting cards… Anyway, I suspected that the stocking might be for me, but my wife said nothing about it. Right before we said our goodbyes and she returned to work and sat down for a hard afternoon of blogging, I innocently brought it up.
“Oh yeah”, she said, “Mission Mary brought those over for you last night while you were at work.”
Well, I had thought they might be mine, but now it was confirmed and I became filled with joy pretty quick. 
I wanted to call Mary, but I couldn't find her number. 
Most of you fine readers know her as an original Bradentucky Bomber, a triple threat skater, sometimes zombie, 
an occasional derby announcer, a beauty, a very tall girl and a friend-Mission Mary Position. 
Yeah, MMP is a good friend, always has been, but she earned herself some major friend points with this sock. I wondered where it came from, how old it was and all that.
So I used every ounce of will-power I had and moved the sock over to the bistro table for a few picks. The “bistro” table is a little marble table that the mail is put on when one spouse isn’t home, it also has a cool marble top on it and I take my card photos on it cuz I like the shiny marble background… 
Anyway, I snapped a few pics of the sock and then tore into it. It was chock full of random weirdness and awesomeness! 
A sealed, factory 1988 Fleer Update set, a hobby pack of basketball cards, 
wrestling cards, baseball coins, button, some hockey cards that were just floating around in there, including a guy who I had actually heard of,
there was a Tigers team set from 1991 Fleer and an Indians team set from 199o Donruss. Oh the randomness, oh the awesomeness! 
There were soccer cards and racing cards that I probably will not rip, but I can share them with the blog-o-sphere, perhaps for someone who writes for Pack a Day or a Pack to Be Named later. 
Some of my favorites in the sock were the 2002 Donruss Super Estrellas and the can of 1997 Pinnacle Inside. Hell, there is even a card for Alfredo's pile-the Rock delivering the smackdown! 
Oh, on a different topic-congrats to Evan Longoria on winning his first (of many) Gold Glove Award! Full post on this soon! I will also post some of my stocking treasures soon. For now, a HUGE thank you to the always awesome Mission Mary Position! Oh, and a question for my readers... Would it be a good idea to skip posting cards all together and just show pics of the lovely ladies of the Bradentucky Bombers? 
Oh, I wanted to give the prettiest Bomber equal billing-shown here with the uggliest announcer-you know I kid about the sloppy housemates... 
Once more, THANKS MARY!!!!!!!! You rock!!!!! You made my week! Go Rays! Go Bombers! Troll out.
I am pretty sure there are variations of these that I am missing, but for now I have everyone but Carl Crawford represented in the binder. 
He also sent my first Brian Roberts Goodwin’s card. He included 5 new B-Robs for the PC and I am now onto my 5th page in the binder. 
I have more B-Rob cards than Jason Bartlett and Evan Longoria combined-I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing… The card that I couldn’t wait to post was the highlight of the package, I don’t know if anyone else does, but I still go gaga over relics and this is the sweetest looking B-Rob relic I have seen. It comes from the 2006 Bowman Heritage set and this card is the perfect balance of then and now. One half of the card is styled after the classic 1951 Bowman with the name in a black bar at the bottom over a soft focused image, but the other half is Las Vegas style flash. 
I like that the card is split 50/50 with one half being the card and the other half being solid black with Pieces of Greatness in Las Vegas letters over a really big slice of lumber. This takes the prize as my favorite B-Rob card so far. 
Thanks so much Madding! In other news, the Rays picked up Carl Crawford’s option for 2010. This is good news, but it doesn’t guarantee that he will play for the Rays, you have to be under contract to be traded too, but it is a step in the right direction. Go Rays! Troll out.
it was still in its top loader, but when I flipped it over I noticed that it was signed boldly across the front with her name, her number (not her phone #, her jersey number-8) and USA. SWEET! I purposely didn’t ask her how she got it, this way I could imagine her and her cousin autographing cards after an exhausting pillow fight, which is what I assume they do when they see each other. What else do beautiful women do when guys aren’t around to get in the way? I was a tiny bit jealous that it wasn’t personalized (like Alfredo’s) but I am not really into that and people generally spell my name wrong and that irritates me and I end up giving the card away to someone who spells their name in that fashion. 
Alfredo had touched on this in his post, too, but it bears repeating. Topps has completely dropped the ball in fulfilling Cat Osterman redemptions, in turn leaving a whole bunch of very disappointed customers and collectors. This becomes even less excusable knowing that she is most definitely capable of signing her name and she is doing so for free for multiple who are and aren’t of relation to her. If we can get cards signed, why can’t you Topps? I would really like an answer to that question…
which came from GCRL and is posted 
This may be the nicest example so far… Folks looking to get a group break together might consider a little Bowman Sterling-maybe? Anyway, the card is a rookie from the 2007 Sterling set, it is card #BS-AI and most importantly it is a REFRACTOR!!!! I love me some shiny, I really, really do! It is serial numbered 116/199 and is wondrously shiny. I love everything about this card, starting with the shiny, but also the silver, grey and black color and the way that Aki’s crocodile mitt stands out being the only red on the card. 
The back of the card is plain and boring looking in contrast to the front, but holds a fun fact called a “Bowman Sterling Rookie Revelation”. It says: It was a successful debut for Iwamura who came from Japan as advertised-a smooth infielder and professional hitter. It took him only until his 3rd game to put up a 4 for 4 performance in the books, as the third baseman singled three times and homered in a win over the Toronto Blue Jays. The back also lists his 2006 stats, from the Central League in Japan where he starred for the Yakult Swallows-he batted .311 with 32 homers and 77 RBI. Not too shabby Aki! Did I mention that I love this card? Did I mention that the Rays suck for trading this guy away? Did I mention that Alfredo is the coolest trader in the blog-o-sphere? I should… You can find Alfredo’s high quality blog right 
Troll out.
With only 3 cards to scan/upload this should be a quick and easy, not too much time away from unfinished essays, post. Last month I got in on my first ever group break. I have long been intrigued with the idea of the group break. I am Joe Collector runs group breaks pretty often, but he already has a regular participant who has the Rays slot covered. Basically, I had/have no idea how these things work nor did I know what to expect from this break. I wasn’t the least bit familiar with the product either, I only knew it was premium stuff, it was called 2007 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection. The only point of familiarity for me was the person putting it all together-a frequent trading partner, Dan from 
It’s a great card, classy and regal looking, a low serial number, a dark jersey swatch and it features one of the most dominant pitchers of All Time, I could have done a whole lot worse… Each pack followed the same order for hits, so halfway through the numbers were re-randomized. I lost my number 1, don’t remember what I did end up getting, but it worked out even better for me on my next pull. Now that I know which current players were available in this set, I have to say that I am pretty happy with this one. This guy isn’t on my player collection list or anything, I don’t go out of my way to trade for him, but when I pull cards of him myself, I keep them. He plays for an exciting team to watch, even though they suck, and he plays the hot corner with the flair of Brooks Robinson (and I wouldn’t mind if he was traded to the Orioles either). He is kind of the NL version of Evan Longoria, a great fielding third baseman with a ton of raw power who produces runs. Oh yeah, I am talking about Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals. 
I have quietly given Zimm a couple of pages at the very end of my binder, there is a relic, a refractor and 14 of his base cards. Now I have a certified autograph to go along with everything else. Now I just need a bat card and I will be all set. Okay, so here it is. Classy, classy, classy. Deep blue and dark red surround a picture of Zimm in the center and the signature is framed in gold with an America’s Pastime shield above it. I had thought it was an on card signature, it really looks like it could be, but alas, it is a sticker. The sticker is placed so neatly with the frame that you can barely tell. There is no overlap and even the sticker looks somewhat classy, I had to touch it to tell for sure that it was a sticker.
As it turns out, this is CC card #189 in my collection-you can view it
I don’t remember who the lucky collector was, but there was a SWEET Tony Gwynn patch card and a Rollie Fingers autographed relic that were pulled that were freaking awesome! I am pleased with my take. A future Hall of Famer and two legitimate All Stars isn’t too much. Aside from the Crawford, both of these cards are on the block if the deal is right. Thanks again Dan! You are awesome!!! Go Rays! Troll out.
The card was packaged with a couple of Wrights, Zitos, Grandersons and Moyers for filler and off it went to New Mexico. The card was received and received its own special 
For now I can add a 2008 Upper Deck, card #113 and a 2008 Upper Deck Timeline, card #303 to the binder. One of the cards was of a former Ray, the team’s career strikeout leader Scott Kazmir. This card is of the shiny and short printed variety-two of my favorite things! From the 2007 Bowman Heritage set is card #186 of Kazmir in rainbow foil goodness. 
A close look at the card shows a lack of a facsimile autograph on the front making it a SP. One (2 actually) of the more unique cards in the bunch were 2004 DAV cards of Tino Martinez and Damian Rolls. These were issued by the Disabled American Veterans and the back of the card is an ad for their organization. 
Check out 
They sent along a 2008 Upper Deck UD Jersey card with a little piece of grey material that is certified to have been used in a major league game. For those keeping track, this is now my second Brian Roberts jersey-this one here came from 
Roll out the Barrel last month. The fine ladies did not stop by merely sending a Brian Roberts jersey card, they also included a 2004 Upper Deck 25 Years of USA Baseball Anniversary card of 1997 National Team member Brian Roberts which bears a very large and very blue autograph across the front of it. 
The card is number 152 in the set and cites on the back that Roberts batted .330 for Team USA that year and they finished 4th in the Intercontinental Cup. I am curious as to how many cards are in this set because I think I would like to chase it. International baseball fascinates me to no end, the WBC, the Olympics, the various Cups. It’s cool.
I really like the cute-factor of the jersey swatch cut-out being in the shape of a little shirt. 
Overall I have to say that I am far happier having a bunch of new cards of my favorite player than an autograph of a young boy and I really appreciate all of the awesome stuff y’all sent me. Thanks Patricia, you rock! Back to my homework… troll out.
