to finishing the base set, only 14 cards stand between me and a finished low-number set. He also sent along the final 3 New Age Performers cards I needed.
Now the NAP subset is done. The Then and Now subset is done. All the Dick Perez cards are there. The T-205 mini set is done. I have all the Flashbacks and Baseball Flashbacks sets done, too. I have decided not to worry about collecting Clubhouse Collection, Stadium Relics or Chromes, so all of the subsets I am trying to complete, are complete!!! Yay! Thanks dayf! I am finally getting around to start collecting the high numbers set. I have ripped 2 blaster boxes and there's still about 160 cards standing between me and a finished high number set...Want list is here if you can help,
http://www.collectivetroll.webs.com/2008.html
I have a ton of base set dupes, inserts, black backs and a handful of high number doubles, too. Get in touch if you wanna trade, thanks!
http://www.collectivetroll.webs.com/2008.html
I have a ton of base set dupes, inserts, black backs and a handful of high number doubles, too. Get in touch if you wanna trade, thanks!
Actually, one step, but Jarrod Washburn can be scratched off of my want list forever! Kinda weird that I am still 30 cards away from a set that is two years old, but this is a toughy... Anybody with me on that? I can use some more help, I have a ton of dupes and short prints and inserts to trade. I have put together a want list here if ya can help...
They won yesterday, D. Price and the rest of the staff combined for 15 strikeouts... 
Johnson was at the top of his game and he left with a lead in the 7th. Jason Bartlett responded with a homer in the 8th and at the end of 9 it was all tied up. It was great to see the Marlins still had some fight left in them. The game went into “free ball” and that lasted until Ross Gload delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th. I prefer a win, but it was the best baseball I had seen all weekend. Good show Marlins…The hit, coincidentally came at the exact same time as our friend Robert pulled in the driveway, my wife in tow…
Apparently, I am not the only JB super collector. I am determined to blow 15 bucks bargain hunting for Rays cards, one way or another. I’ll keep y’all posted! 
I grabbed a 36-card jumbo pack of 2008 Topps Updates and Highlights and sped off to the register. I had to be at the skating rink in less than an hour and still needed to shower and try out my new deodorant, no time for excessive browsing and daydreaming!
Her schoolgirl-ish smile told me why she was asking. “I hope not” I said, “I don’t like getting cards of guys who are better looking than me, my wife will steal them.” She giggled, apparently liking my response (which is completely untrue, my lovely wife is not a fan of Mr. Wright) and handed me my bag while wishing me a good day. I rode the accelerator all the way home, stashed the jumbo pack of cards for later, and got ready for derby.
It was still over an hour till the bout was going begin, even though the doors had opened for us, the fans were still out in the parking lot. We always have kegs of free beer served by lovely roller girls, so no one ever complains, but I thought I would use this time of peace to take down some more notes. I scrawled away in my notebook, I swear one of these days I am joining the ranks of the modern citizen and getting a lap top. Meanwhile, the other team had arrived. Yes, the North Carolina Rogue Roller Girls were in the building! They entered in unison, as a team, already in their uniforms, which were camouflage tops with a bomb on it. They looked pretty darn intimidating. I got up from my chair to seek out their captain, Bull Lee (don't let the pretty picture fool you, she was an animal on the rink!). 
I had a little bit of e-mail communication with Bull last week, but had never met her before. She was easy enough to locate, things are much easier when people wear their names on the backs of their shirts!
They all drove down together in a giant van; it was a 10-1/2 hour trek from Fayetteville, NC to Bradentucky, Florida. I offered sympathy because I can barely handle the 15 minute drive to work each day, but she assured me that it was nothing for them. Apparently the whole team was either in the military themselves (US Army, USMC) or they were Army brats, either way, driving 10 hours was nothing for them. They had been bouting all year long without an off-season taking on teams from Columbia, SC; Richmond, VA; Savannah, GA; Myrtle Beach, SC; and Jacksonville, Florida. I told her “good luck” and walked away while reading the NC roster, I laughed at a few of the names on there with Risky Biscuit being my favorite. I returned to my announcer station, trying to prepare for the bout. Chuck U. Farley, the head referee this evening, came over and we scheduled the start time, I was gonna get things going at 6:55 so we could stay close to the 7 PM start time. I grabbed my microphone and did a quick sound check, then disappeared outside again; I had 20 minutes to kill, so I thought I would kill my lungs for five of them. More and people were arriving, not only was the parking lot at the rink full, there were cars everywhere, the lot next to us, the lot next to that, there were a lot of cars, I wandered around trying to count them, thinking that a Saturday bout (rather than our normal Sunday night bouts) is obviously a great way to get people out. Five minutes were killed and I tried to make my way back inside (I needed a soda before I could get started) and there so many people between me and the door that this could take a while. It did, I made it to my station (large Pepsi in hand) and looked at my phone, it said 6:54, game time. Deep breath. “Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Florida Wheels! I wanna thank you all for coming out tonight to watch your hometown, Bradentucky Bombers take on the North Carolina Rogue Roller Girls, is everybody ready for some roller derby?” With all that said, it became a blur, I babbled on for a few more minutes, introduced the visitors and introduced our girls. It was the first bout I had called where I was not introducing my lovely wife, I missed her. The game was intense from the opening whistle and North Carolina’s defense was like none I had ever seen. We had played teams with a lot of big girls, hard hitters, dirty players, you name it. Their defense was just GOOD. Their captain, Bull Lee, stayed up front and she was not letting anyone past her. Ten minutes in and North Carolina was up 12-5. In derby, where you can score 10 points in 60 seconds, that is an extremely low score. 
It was a defensive battle. Both teams had great techniques and tremendous athletes out there and neither teams jammers were getting through the pack. I repeatedly encouraged the crowd to cheer their home team. 
I would yell “cheering makes her skate faster!” and the crowd would erupt, it seemed to work. Our defense was on fire, we were rotating 2 teams of four blockers every jam and they were hitting on all cylinders. The problem we were having was our jammers couldn’t stay out of the penalty box and with your jammer sitting down, you can’t score. It was a tight game all night, neither team let up. Bull Lee stayed out on the floor for nearly every jam, but the rare times that she took a breather, we capitalized and scored big. They maintained the lead from the opening whistle to closing bell, but never by much. It was a one-point game at one interval, and between 3 and 11 points for much of the game. The defense was the story on both sides, but they had a pair of speedy jammers who got them points in Leif Mia Lone and West Coast Ma Fia, which combined with Bull Lee and Suthern Hail blocking up front, was just too much for the Bombers. Our squad had won its last 3 home games, but could not pull it off against the team from Fayetteville. After 60 solid minutes of derby, it came down to the final seconds, but we lost a very entertaining game. 
The crowd loved it; nearly everyone in the packed house was on their feet in the final minutes trying to push their team ahead. I pretty much worked my voice into a hollow growl, but I saved a little bit to award the trophies after the game and say a few words about our captain, Vixen Da Crusher after the game. Vixen had been a founding member of the team and had skated in every single bout the team played since its inception three seasons prior. She was the face of the team. She coached our “rookie” team and led the defense on our “A” squad, but 3 years of dishing out and receiving high speed hits had caught up with her. 
I called her to the center of the rink, but she was starting to ice her knees already, so I walked over to her and we presented her with a trophy; a roller skate with a fox tail on it. Thanks Vixen, thanks for everything!!! After that, I awarded the trophies I had made the day before to each teams best jammer and blocker.
After that, the crowd quickly dissipated, everyone heading to the after party at a bar down the street. We had some cleaning up to do and then we would be “after partying” too.
I remembered Issy from his glory days with the Mets, I followed him pretty closely and he proved a disappointment, as a starter, at least. He revitalized with the Cardinals, and then lost it all over again. I knew the Rays had signed him, but I hadn’t actually seen him pitch since the spring. I was nervous, even with a 7-run cushion, I was nervous. They came up and he shut them down. With the big lead, it wasn’t a save situation, so his career total stands at 293, but he looked good out there. It was actually his 3rd appearance this year and he has yet to allow a run, not too shabby Issy. Another case of an aging, ex-superstar closer resurrecting their career in St. Pete. Cool. The cool thing was the Rays won and that ups their record to 23-22, over .500 for the first time in six weeks! I took the final swig of my beer and took a wander, taking in all the wonderful debauchery of a roller derby after party. Ladies on the ground, 
leg wresting, 
ladies giving other ladies lap dances, ladies dancing on the bar, ladies dancing all over. 
I love derby. I also miss my wife and don’t wanna dance without her, so I say my good byes, offer congratulations to the standouts from both teams and head for my Jeep. I still have that jumbo pack of cards waiting to be opened. I still have this blog to write. My other half is due to arrive back at 5 o’clock and I don’t plan on sitting in front of the computer once she’s back.
EVAN LONGORIA card I just pulled!!! Hell yeah, my first ever Evan Longoria card. This is cool. It is probably the least sought after card ever made of Longo, but its mine and I pulled it. It’s a highlights card and it celebrates his first ever “walk-off” home run on May 9th of last year. 
There was another “highlights” card commemorating John Smoltz’ 3,000th strikeout, in which he victimized Felipe Lopez of the Nats last April. He struck out 10 that game and only allowed 1 run in seven innings, but still took the loss. Can’t this guy get any run support? No wonder he only has 210 wins… There was a time that 3.000 Ks was your ticket to Cooperstown, but that isn’t always the case, just ask Bert Blyleven.
Willy Aybar, Dioneer Navarro and Reid Brignac, plus a score of other All Stars. Guys I forgot made the team like Ryan Ludwick, Justin Duchsherer and Carlos Marmol, plus guys who will undoubtedly be back this year like 
Ryan Braun and Dustin Pedroia. There was a Xavier Nady card, which made me cringe seeing him in pinstripes on cardboard for the first time. The only worse than the Pirates dumping Jason Bay and Xavier Nady
was the Pirates giving them to the Yankees and Red Sox. As is, the Sox got the better deal; Nady has been on the DL almost all year. The card that struck me the most was of young D-Backs pitcher Billy Buckner. I started looking into him when the Rays initially drafted him in 2003. He didn’t sign, opting to become a Gamecock for a year before getting drafted in the second round the following year and signing with the Royals for a bigger bonus. The Royals traded him to the D-Backs and he’s finally proving to be a legit big league starter, proving that with a dominant performance against Oakland on Friday where he went 7 innings and lowered his ERA by nine in getting the win. Its not really his pitching that fascinates me, it’s his name that has caused me to follow his career. 
Sounds very similar to another former big leaguer. The guy I am thinking of wasn’t a pitcher, though. He was an outfielder and a first baseman, a good hitter who used to be a solid fielder, too. Why does that name sound so familiar? Oh yeah, because it’s the same name as the guy who made the most famous error in baseball history! Oh, and there is no relation. Granted, he was only 3-years old when Bill Buckner forgot to get down on a ground ball, but still. They play the same sport; I think I would change my name or at least come up with a nick name. If I was scouting a promising young boxer named Mikey Tyson, I would certainly encourage him to change his name. That said, if he went by Jennings (his middle name) Buckner, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed that he was a late round pick by the Rays in ’03, so I guess he does have it figured out. I rounded out the big pack with a gold card of 22-year-old righty 
Ryan Tucker. He is set to make his first start for the Marlins later this week. His 5-8 record at Jupiter last year isn’t that impressive, but he did strike out more than twice as many as he walked, so who knows.
I had only one duplicate and it was a Rays (Willy Aybar) card, cool. A few minutes later my phone rang and it wasn’t my wife. Kinda weird to see the phone vibrating at 2 in the morning with an unavailable number, but I was up and wasn’t busy, so I answered. The thick British accent belonged to my brother-in-law, Jonathan, who lives (with my sister) in London, England My older sister, Dawn, had just given birth to a baby girl. She was in labor for over 20 hours before they decided to go with a C-section, but the outcome was a healthy 8 pound baby girl. 
They named her Ruby May Kelley. Welcome to the world Ruby!!!!
Jimmy Key, Orel Hershiser and Brett Saberhagen. This was the hottest thing going, so I decided to find an alternative. While all of my friends were obsessed with the heroes of the tri-state area, like Don Mattingly, Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, I decided to find a more remote prospect to adulate. Midway through the 1986 season, I made my choice. The Mariners had a very solid team that year. Guys like Phil Bradley, Alvin Davis, Spike Owen, Mark Langston and a young 2nd baseman with a lot of power named Danny Tartabull. Tartabull was moved to left field partway through the season and finished the year with 26 homers. He was my new favorite player. My parents somehow found me a number 4, Mariners jersey and I began scouring anywhere baseball cards could be found for his cards. In ’85 his rookie cards where in the Donruss set and fleer had him on a horizontal, duel-rookie card with Steve Kiefer of the A’s. Topps didn’t get on the “Bull” bandwagon until their 1986 Traded set, same on you Topps!
You had the hope of tracking down oddball stuff, SGAs, minor league cards, postcards and magazine appearances, but that was about it. You showed your dedication to that player by having a ton of their cards. I remember the sense of accomplishment I got when I was able to fill all nine spaces of a page with one card. 
Sometime around 1988, after the “Bull” had been traded away to the Royals, I talked my father into writing a check for me so I could place an ad in the back of Sports Collectors Digest. I proclaimed myself Danny Tartabull’s #1 fan and no one ever disputed it. I started getting cards in the mail, lists from other collectors wanting to trade for their favorite player, it was heaven!!! 
I think this was what made me truly fall in love with card collecting. I hit one-thousand cards in my Tartabull binder around 1990. I had a game-used bat, a few autographed baseballs, a signed 8X10, team issued postcards, minor league cards and I even tracked down all of his father, Jose Tartabull’s cards. 
I was a super-collector!!! I still have almost all of the cards today. When I hit 1,000, I did so with only 31 different cards and I wouldn’t have had that many if not for Score, Upper Deck and Sportsflics all popping up. It wasn’t too long after hitting the one-thousand mark in my collection that I stopped it. Tartabull wasn’t as exciting to watch and I was a teenager who rather spend his weekend’s chasing girls than wandering around at card shows, so I packed away the 
Danilo Tartabull book for a while. I didn’t think about cards too much until 1995 when I saw a pack of Topps Finest. 
I bought a pack, then a box, I was hooked again! 
The girl chasing was fun, but then I caught one, a bad one. I realized that my cards always made me happier than she ever had, so I was back! The next year the White Sox signed Tartabull and he had a career year at age 33. I finally met him that year in spring training and went to see the White Sox play at the Trop against the Devil Rays. I never really got back into collecting “Bull” again; I did start collecting White Sox cards. I have the majority of them packed up and ready to find a new home with the guy from the awesome White Sox cards blog. I still do find myself bidding on 
Harold Baines cards, still. It is an addiction!
My favorite is a SPx Winning Trios jersey card with BJ Upton, Carl Crawford and James Shields on it, awesome! Fortunately, the rest of the world is realizing what a great team we have here in St. Pete, but the downside is you can’t buy a card with those 3 guys on it for 3 dollars anymore. My current financial status prohibits me from chasing the whole team, I need a specific focus. Crawford, Upton and Shields are all out of the question because they simply have too many cards and I have too little money. I pondered the idea all day. My favorite Rays are Carl Crawford, Jason Bartlett and James Shields. I had a pretty good idea of who I was gonna pick for my focus, but I figured I would consult with my beautiful wife. We’re hanging out in bed one night and I say “baby, I wanna be a super collector, who should I collect?” I know what you all are thinking… You talk about baseball cards in bed? Yes, we do. I have stated in before, but I do have the most awesome wife in the world. Anyway, her response was quick. “You should collect Bartlett, he’s your favorite.” Excellent! 
We were in agreement and I had a mission! The next day, I began to scour e-bay looking for high end Bartlett cards. There were quite a few. Unfortunately, he is in a Twins uniform in most of them. 
More unfortunately, he’s hitting .375 and already topped his career best total in home runs, he’s having a banner year, which is awesome, but it precludes me from scooping all of his cards at “sleeper” prices. I found quite a few cards, most of them from 2007 and I am “watching” them all, about 20 cards. I already found his “white whale” card, 2007 Triple Threads 1 of 1. Wow! That could be the cornerstone of my new collection!!! I bid on it immediately, ready to blow my entire PayPal account on it. Sadly, that account only has 14 bucks in it and I was swiftly outbid. It’s at about 25 bucks with a few days left to go. Shucks! I guess I am not as ready to be a super collector as I thought. I did find some cool cards with higher serial numbers and I am still sticking to the plan. It’s a new day and this day will bring me yet another new name, I am Jason Bartlett Super Collector!!!!
Dioner Navarro, who has been struggling at the plate and looking up at the Mendoza line for most of the year, had a break out game, going 4 for 6 with 3 RBIs and improving his batting average to a robust .211. Pena and Gabe Gross (still don’t have a card of Gabe) also went yard. While Navarro’s average jumped, Jason Bartlett was 1 for 3 with 3 RBIs and his average dropped to .375. Come on Bartlett, you can do better than that!
Scott Kazmir going on the DL today (joining side-armer Chad Bradford), the staff is looking thin. Not to say those 2 will be missed, their combined ERA is around a 7!
He scored twice. With Kaz out, that bumps Andy up to the #3 starter, I have faith in Andy, but this makes me scratch my head more than ever over the off-season dealing of Edwin Jackson to the Tigers. 
Jackson is 4-2 with 48 strike outs and a 2.55 ERA in nine starts. Those numbers would make him the Rays ace. Instead, we have Matt Joyce who has exactly 1 hit for the Rays this year. Great trade…
They were National Champions in 2003 behind Jeff Nieman’s unbelievable 17-0 record. He was hampered by injuries as a junior in 2004 and posted a less impressive 6-3 record, but the 6’9” tall right hander showed enough in ’03 for the Rays to covet him. I’ve only seen him pitch a few times; he has an outstanding slider, but has as many walks as strike outs and gives up more than a hit an inning. I believe he can be a front line starter, I can see the stretch rotation for the Rays being Shields, Garza, Nieman, Price and Sonnanstine. Time will tell. For now, I will happy if he can pick up his 5th win. Go Rays!!!
I make 4 trophies for each bout; they are given to each team’s 
“best jammer” and “best blocker” immediately following the game. I take a little bit of pride in making these; let me know what you think...Incidentally, the star is an important symbol in roller derby. The "jammer" has a star on their helmet to set them apart from the rest of the pack. The jammer is the only one on the rink who can score. Go Bombers!!!
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