I am going to start with a two-card trade cuz I don’t have a lot of time before work and school. I have to go back in time a tiny bit for this one. It was the week that the King of Pop had died and I wanted to do an Eighties post, so I started writing about 1987 Donruss Opening Day and then gave away team sets from the set. There were only two teams that two different readers tried to claim. One was the Kansas City Royals-a team that still featured HOFer George Brett, long time Royals Frank White and Willie Wilson and young prospects like Kevin Seitzer, Danny Tartabull and Bo Jackson. Zach from www.autocards.blogspot.com (Autographed Cards Blog) asked for the set second. I was surprised that I had enough response to have two readers ask for the same team and I really enjoyed the Autographed Cards blog, so I sent Zach some cards from my collection as a consolation prize. I think that John Wathan was the only autographed Royal I had; I’ve always appreciated the catcher who can steal a base, so I sent that his way with a few others. It was meant as a gift, but since then we’ve corresponded a bit. I decided that I wanted to collect an autograph of every (Devil) Rays player on their All-Time roster (stole the idea from the Great Orioles Autograph Project-another great blog) and he gave me some tips on getting ‘graphs. Anyway, I was surprised when I got a package from him. I opened it up and did not find any autographed cards, but rather two really sharp inserts of current Rays players. The first is from the 2009 Upper Deck Icons set. I just started seeing packs of this for sale this month; I have yet to bite on them. I already have an awesome insert now anyway.
It is card #IC-SK of lefty Scott Kazmir. It is an ultra low serial number, 006/999. It’s a really sharp card, but my scanner bed is dirty and it hates foil cards for some reason. I found it odd that Upper Deck would include a guy that has been on the DL for most of the year and struggling otherwise, but I do believe that Kaz is still a great pitcher.The other card is of a guy who is actually having a great season right now. He was an All Star for the 3rd time, he’s leading the Majors in steals and he was named MVP of the All Star Game. Obviously I am talking about Carl Crawford.
This is a jersey relic from the 2008 Topps Series 2 series. They have 5-pack retail blasters of these that were 10 bucks, but now (being a year old) many retailers have them marked down to 5 or even 3 dollars for the 5 pack box. I think I have bought about 80 of them. 5 packs for 3 bucks of a decent product make it my favorite impulse buy of late. Anyway, with all of those boxes, I have yet to pull a jersey card. I way excited to find one in this envelope, and of CC, one of my favorite players to boot. This is jersey card #12 of him for me now. I don’t have any doubles yet, I keep on lucking out with that. I don’t have more than 2 relic cards of any other players in my collection. I am still hunting for a CC bat card and any Jason Bartlett relic cards if anyone out there has any…I am glad to be back in the saddle of regular posts… I am still working 7 nights a week, I have a wedding to do this weekend, plus family and all, but this blog is therapy to me, plus I love to get mail!!! Next week is my final week of the class I am taking this semester. I have to give a persuasive speech. I’ve given two speeches in this class so far. One on roller derby, one on Satchel Paige, but this one is the biggie. My topic is buying American and speaks out against outsourcing of jobs. I have tried not to get political on this blog, but as a working class American (who can’t find work in his field) I am pretty passionate about it. I’ve done a ton of research and after my findings; I don’t think I will ever set foot in a Wal-Mart store again! That doesn’t mean I don’t like the black Topps cards from this year, I just won’t be shopping there myself. Anyway, if anyone wants to chat on that issue, please shoot me an e-mail. Also, I still have 3 Donruss Opening Day team sets that were claimed, but the people never sent me their addresses. If you claimed the A’s, Brewers, Braves or Astros or if you want the Reds or Mariners-please get in touch…Today is the last day in the series against the White Sox in Chicago. These have seriously been some good competitive games between two evenly matched teams. Scott Kazmir is working this afternoon against All Star Mark Buehrle, who is going for his 11th win. By the way... I wish I had more time so I could touch on the Pirates trading LaRoche to Boston. I knew that Division Leaders would pick the Pirates clean of their stars again this year. I am not happy about it, but at least they didn't send him to New York...
Go Rays!!! Troll out.
Sorry about the Perfect Game against your team today. As an Orioles fan, I know the feeling too well.
ReplyDeleteBut thank you for following my lead! It's a fun project and I might be able to help you out once I get all of my autographs organized. At least you have a few less players to track down, and no guys that pitched one inning in the 50s and have fallen off the face of the earth.
Good luck with your speech, it sounds like you are passionate about the subject.
I'm glad that you liked them and that you didn't have the Crawford. I just got that card last week in a repack box that was gauranteed a relic. As soon as I got, I knew where it was going.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the speech.
dude..... your wife soooo doesn't read all of this.
ReplyDeleteonly us fellow geeks who are lucky enough to have wives that put up with us.
Sorry about the Rays game...but congrats on aquiring that CC card from Zach. He's a good guy. Unfortunately I don't have the cards you're looking for or I'd hook you up. Keep up the good work.
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