A BA Rays Buffet!

In continuing on the theme of the kindness of other bloggers, this early evening post comes courtesy of B.A. Benny’s Baseball Card Buffet. BA Benny is a Mets fan and a somewhat new blogger. I have been blogging about cards for about 10 months now and the more great new blogs that pop up, the more I feel like a veteran blogger. Anyway, the Card Buffet opened for business about 2 months ago and already he is posting at a torrid pace, has a ton of followers and a bunch of happy trade partners. As yet, I am not one of them, but I may have a few Mets up my sleeve… Anyway, BA Benny came through for me with a sweet 8-card (course) offering of great Rays cards. First up is a pair of 2009 Scott Kazmir Topps Chromes. I am pretty sure I have posted the base before, so I skipped that, but I know I have never posted the blue refractor, as this is the first one of these I have ever seen. I am a lover of refractors, I definitely have a soft spot for them, but colored refractors are even better. I wasn’t able to get a great scan of this one, but I will. One of the things that I love about refractors is that if you take the time to set them on the scanner just right, they look GREAT scanned. I will def rescan and repost this one soon. Probably with the other 2009 Topps Chrome blue refractors I have. So far I have collected this Kazmir along with Shields, Pena, Burrell and Aki. I know I still need the Garza and the Longoria, but I don’t remember who else is in that set. I know that Mets fans have a weird love/hate relationship with Kazmir as New York shipped him to Tampa Bay for a song (and Victor Zambrano) and a bag of balls while he was still a prospect. I guess Rays fans are in the same boat now that Kaz is an X-Ray, but I think that Tampa Bay got a better deal in return… Anyway, BA Benny also sent a Gold (another favorite Topps parallel of mine) Scott Kazmir from 2008 Topps. Losing all of the Topps Gold Rays that I had been hoarding for so long was pretty difficult, but thanks to blogger kindness, some good trades and a few online purchases, I am getting back on track with my Gold Rays. I have noticed that I don’t have any before 2001. Does anyone know when Topps started the gold parallel? I remember black gold in 1993, but I have stopped and started collecting so many times I don’t remember when gold became a regular thing. I know they had those in 2007 cuz BA Benny also sent this 2007 Topps Gold card of former D-Rays pitching prospect Juan Salas, #628. He went older school than that with this 2006 Gold card from Topps Updates and Highlights, card #UH114 of former D-Rays catcher Josh Paul. Sticking with the Topps theme, BA Benny also sent this 2007 Topps REDBACK rookie card of Akinori Iwamura. Another 2007 Aki card that he included is this foil card of the infielder, #233 from ’07 Bowman Heritage. He rounded out the package with a jersey card from 2009 Upper Deck SPX of Rays centerfielder BJ Upton. Now that is a Rays buffet! Thanks so much for the cards and note BA Benny! Muchas gracias Mike G! They are very much appreciated. I think you have the early lead for best new blog of 2010, so keep up the good work! For all things Mets, baseball, sports cards and occasionally whatever else, go check out BA Benny’s Baseball Card Buffet, tell him the Troll sent ya! Before I go, I have a totally unrelated end question... Can anyone recommend some free software? I don't have any type of photo editing software on my laptop. I need something. Basic is fine, just enough to be able to crop scans. Any advice? Thanks! Go Rays! Troll out.