A Full Mailbox Makes For A Happy Troll!

I didn’t get much sleep last night. I stayed up to watch the Raiders versus the Chargers on Monday Night Football, the Late Edition, then I stayed up to watch the 2:00AM replay of the Rays first win in a dozen games, then I woke up at the crack of dawn to complete the homework that I had been procrastinating on all week, then I hit the Post Office before school so I could meet the Wifey on her lunch break right after school. I have 5 freaking envelopes in there. I was actually expecting more and 4 of these were unexpected surprises, which I TOTALLY APPRECIATE!!! The first comes from my buddy (even though he is a Red Sox fan) Adam E in Missouri. Adam had been drooling over a Youk jersey card that I had pulled a while back. I didn’t really want it, so I sent it his way figuring we would work out the details later. Apparently today is the beginning of later as he sent me two SWEET Rays cards along with a note (and this will hold up in court) promising to send me Rays cards as he gets ‘em. Included is a cool 4 in 1 card of young outfielders. Its an interesting mix-You’ve got Matt Kemp who is having an MVP type season on the card along with Lastings Milledge and BJ Upton who have consistently failed to live up to expectations, but still get the love and support of all the card companies (and me, too!) and you also have some young guy named Young. The other card he sent is much shinier and therefore much cooler. It features BJ Upton in chromey Heritage glory. BJ was the AL Player of the Month in July, but every other month this year he’s been jealous of Jack Cust and David Ortiz’ batting average. I am still waiting BJ-I know you can be a star; I just wanna see you do it! Thanks Adam! I have ripped so much Heritage this year and that is honestly my first Rays chrome card, it will be treasured!
The next envelope was a TTM. In fact it is my third TTM from this years A&G and it’s the 3rd Negro League auto that I have got from this set. It’s of Clyde Parris. Compared to the other two autos I got from this set, I didn’t know a whole bunch about Mr. Parris. His letter was much shorter and he did not send a letter in return, so I still don’t know a bunch about him. I attended a reunion (on behalf of my Great-Uncle and as a guest of Buck O’Neill’s) in 2000 at the Museum in Kansas City. I met a lot of guys and learned a ton. I don’t think Mr. Parris was there and I didn’t really hear anything about him. He did return the card very quickly. I thank you Clyde! I wish I knew more about your career.
The 3rd package came from my buddy Chris in Tacoma. This is the second package that he has sent me. This one was very unexpected and didn’t have a note with it. It did have 3 cards that I needed for the 2009 Topps Heritage set!!! I haven’t moved on this one in a while. With these 3 I am down to needing 46 cards to finish it off. 39 of said cards are SPs. I don’t think I am gonna find anyone willing to trade more than 1 or 2 of these at a time, but I refuse to go to the bay! It’s kinda like going to a hooker, I think. I am a collector, a set-builder; I can find a way without hiring a professional… That said, he sent me two base cards that I needed, card #142 of Yankees rookie Juan Miranda and #103 of Phillies save blower Brad Lidge. The SP is card #444 of Mike Fontenot. Thanks Chris! I do appreciate any help that I can get on this set!
The 4th package came from my buddy Brian in Texas. Brian doesn’t have a proper blog (yet) but I am sure that he will sooner than later. He collects the Rangers and is working on a Ginter mini set, too. He had sent an e-mail saying he had a few 2008 Heritage High numbered SPs for me, one Ginter card and a few random Rays. This was awesome because I have hit a bigger wall on the 2008 set than the 2009 one. I got to cross 4 cards off of the list, including Ex-Ray Seth McClung. He also sent me a trio of Rays from the 2009 Upper Deck Icons set. I don’t really care for this set, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be collecting the Rays from it! I don’t know who is in this set, but I know that I have Aki, Shields and Kaz covered now! Since I sent all of the Negro League Ginter cards I had out for autos, I needed to replace these in my set, too. Brian took care of that with Frank Evans for me. I do still need the rest, plus Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria and Scott Kazmir if anybody has those! The last card was a total surprise and was FREAKING AWESOME!!! Dioner Navarro is one of the coolest guys on the Rays. He’s in his 4th season as the Rays starting catcher and he’s only 25! Not quite Brian McCann, but he’s pretty cool. He made his MLB debut with the Yanks at age 20 and he was an All Star last year. I have a stack of his cards, but up till now I only owned base cards. Now I can add a 2008 Topps bat relic to the collection. Thanks so much Brian! Your packages always blow me away! Do you have a list of minis that you still need?
That’s a pretty awesome haul already, but I still had one more package. This one came from Lance in San Diego. I don’t really know who you are Lance, so if you are reading this, please get in touch. The cards he sent are awesome, but not normally what I chase after. I can’t help but wonder if he had me confused with someone else. I love the cards and I am keeping ‘em, but I wonder if they were intended for someone else… He started with 3 sweet Ginter minis. A Markakis black border, a Navi and an Enron hoax card, all awesome! He sent a 2009 Heritage Chrome Refractor of super power hitting dude Adam Dunn. Again, sweet card-today was a great day for shiny Heritage cards, but I don’t recall ever collecting Dunn… The final cards he sent were a trio of SPs from 2009 Allen and Ginter. Thanks Lance! Please e-mail me at bacontowne at yahoo dot to let me know what you collect. Thanks to everyone! A five envelope mail day will put a smile on anyone’s face for sure! Please be sure to read Dinged Corners today (and everyday) because it is an awesomely well-written blog, but also cuz there is a mini-interview with the Troll on there discussing the legendary Moe Drabowsky!!! Incidentally, the Raiders game may be the only NFL game I watch all year. I don’t really care for football, but my friend Kevin loves the Raiders for some reason, so I figured I would check them out. Plus, I thought if the Raiders could win their opener, then maybe the Rays could make it to the playoffs… The Raiders looked like they had things under control. With less than 3 minutes to play, JaMarcus Russell fired a perfect 57-yard touchdown pass (on 4th and 15 no less) to Louis Murphy to give them a 20-17 lead. Of course the Raiders blew it, but there was hope for a few minutes. Thanks to everyone for all of the rocking mail! Go Rays! Wait, should I say something about the Night Owl in the final line? Nah, not today… There ya have it, a trade with a Red Sox fan, a Rangers fan, a Cardinals fan, a mystery guy and a sweet TTM from a Negro League Legend. Thanks to all! Oh, aside from all the new high-tech links that I added to the side of the page, there is a poll, too. I think I am going to make this a regular thing. For now, please vote for the Rays MVP for the 2009 season, thanks again! Gotta go to work. Troll out.