He sent along this book by skater Joan of Dark titled “Knock Down Knits”. I had to post a stock photo because Esther has hijacked the copy that Rod sent to Florida… So I mentioned that Rod has been known to Bip, right? I will reveal no further details about this package other than this photo… 
Thanks Rod!!! 
We are in!!!! To go along with the best record in baseball, the Rays now have a playoff spot guaranteed… David Price hurled 8 shutout innings of baseball for his 19th win, Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena homered and leadoff hitting catcher John Jaso hit his 3rd triple of the year. I WISH I could have seen it, I wish I could have been there! Sucks when life (and work) gets in the way of the game I love… We are in! Tampa Bay Rays Postseason 2010! Go Rays! Oh and by the by... Congrats to Jonny Gomes and the Reds on reserving their spot in the playoffs as well... Once again, GO RAYS!!! Troll out.
A .307 batting average, 104 runs scored, 30 doubles, 13 triples, 16 homers and a career high 87 runs batted in and 46 steals. Those are MVP numbers and his teammates agreed. The anonymous team votes for Team MVP, ROY, Cy Young and Gold Glove saw Crawford being named the Rays Most Valuable Player again. It has been a super special season for the Rays left fielder in 2010. He started his 1st All Star Game, hit his 100th career triple, 100th career homerun and stole his 400th base. All those things will pale in comparison, of course, to winning his first World’s Championship with Tampa Bay. My card buying budget has been microscopic of late, but I did manage to add a couple of new Carl Crawford cards to the PC recently. 5 cards, all serial numbered lower than 99 and all really cheap… Here we go:
From 2003 Topps Pristine, card #23 of Crawford, a refractor numbered 06/99.
From 2007 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection, card #91 featuring a sweet 3-color patch. This one is numbered 08/25.
From 2007 Upper Deck MLB Artifacts, card #AW-CC, an awesome Awesome Artifacts bat relic which is numbered 12/50. I don’t know if the medieval design is awesome or too much of a stretch, but I will jump on any card I don’t own that I can pick up for a steal…
I could probably make a career of chasing all of the different UD Baseball Heroes variations. This is now my lowest numbered and first Heroes jersey relic. It is from 2008 UD BH, card #165. It is emerald green and is numbered 23/25 right beside the white jersey swatch…
The last card of this bunch comes from 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings. It is a Crowning Moment jersey relic drawn by Mike Schroeder. 
It has 2 tiny white swatches on the front and is numbered 24/25 on the back.
I think there was a Blogger Bat Around question asking about the cornerstone of your collection. That was probably a year ago, but here is a special card and a cool story around 12 months late…
I remember as a teenager reading the awesome book by Lawrence Ritter called “The Glory of Their Times”, a book where Ritter interviewed 26 of the oldest living veterans of the game and one of them was Fred “Snow” Snodgrass.
Snow spent 9 seasons in the Big Leagues, mainly as an outfielder with the New York Giants. One of my favorite things about this card is the photo of Snodgrass in full catchers gear. A lot of bloggers collect these type of cards and I admit and I am getting more fascinated with these photos. The ironic thing in this case is that Snodgrass only played 6 games behind the plate in his entire career. All 6 came as a 20 year old rookie backing up Chief Meyers for the Giants in 1908. The next season he shed the gear and moved to the outfield and by 1910 Snodgrass became a regular in the lineup and hit a career high .321. That placed him 4th in the National League above Hall of Famers like Honus Wagner and Zack Wheat and NL MVP Frank Schulte. He also hit 8 triples, drove in 44 and stole 33 bases.
From 1911-1913, Snodgrass played in three consecutive Fall Classics with the Giants, but was on the losing end each time. In his second, the 1912 World Series against the Boston Red Sox Snodgrass committed one of the most famous errors in baseball history. In the 10th inning of the deciding game, Snodgrass, who was one of the league’s best outfielders, dropped a routine fly ball that put the tying run on second base. He proceeded to make a spectacular game-saving catch on the next play, but the Sox went on to score two runs in the inning to win the World Series.
In the early 1960s, a half-century after his infamous dropped ball, Snodgrass recounted the error in an interview with author Lawrence Ritter. The interview was included in Ritter's renowned baseball book “The Glory of Their Times”, which featured oral accounts by 26 of the game's oldest surviving players. This is a highly recommended book. I love the compilation style recounting books. “When The Cheering Stops” is another great one. There were 26 subjects in “The Glory of Their Times”, including players like Hank Greenberg, Sam Crawford, Goose Goslin, Edd Roush, Sad Sam Jones, Chief Meyers, Lefty O’Doul, Hans Lobert, Harry Hooper and Paul Waner.
Albeit a small one, this card allowed me to put a face to the story I had read from Snodgrass. I hope to add some of the other featured players to my collection soon. Every player has a story and their cards serve as the spark to remember or to tell it.
The 1911 T205 for one, but none of them seem to compare to the T206 depicting Snodgrass as a young catcher long before the infamous muff… By the by... This card set me back the same as a blaster of 2010 Topps T206 would have. This card makes me far happier. The only thing I don't like is that the card is trapped in a PSA case and I really want to hold it! Also, the images OTHER than the T206 are all borrowed... Someday I hope to own all things Snodgrass cuz Troll's love Goats! Plus, Snodgrass... Oh and one of the labels for this post is "famous muff". That oughta bring the hits!
Man do I wish I could take tonight off from work and head back to the Trop. Rookie Wade Davis, a Tampa Bay area native will get the ball for this potential playoff clinching game. I don't yet own this card, but wouldn't mind it... 2010 Triple Threads... Good luck to Wade Davis and the Rays! Lets make history!!! Go Rays! Troll out.
Zobrist and Jaso entered the game as pinch hitters, but the most exciting thing of the day for me was seeing Desmond Jennings hit his first big league triple. That dude can fly!!! I am terrified that this will be Carl Crawford's last year in Tampa Bay. He has been my favorite player for many years now and I don't want to think about the Rays without him. That said, I REALLY want to see Desmond Jennings on the opening day roster somewhere in 2011. Congrats on the first of many triples Desmond! By the way, I do not own this Obak Jennings card, but I would like to! Go Rays! troll out.
Big Game James! Come on!!! Go Rays! troll out.
Congrats to former Tampa Bay Devil Ray and Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Jose Bautista on reaching 50 dingers… I think that 50 means something again and I think coming from someone like Baustista, it is an amazing accomplishment. I always wish the best for any former member of the D-Rays even though I don’t remember him playing for the D-Rays. He only played in Tampa Bay for 12 games, had 2 hits and no homers and was sent on his way. I DO remember him as a Buc. He was in Bradenton (my home towne) for 7 spring training seasons and he played for the Gulf Coast League Bradenton Pirates rookie level team twice on rehab assignments in his twenties. I have watched this guy hit a lot. He impressed me with his swing from day 1. That said there are hundreds of guys I can say that about and few of them even make the big leagues, so I am not saying I called this. I was pissed when the Bucs GAVE him away at the end of the 2008 season. Trading him for a weak back-up catcher was foolish. Sending him to the Blue Jays where he wasn’t even a starter was a bummer too. I remember watching him in a rare start at Tropicana Field last year at third base. He was a bench player who got the start in favor of Scott Rolen that day because it was a day game following a night game on the last day of a road trip. He made 2 key plays at third and drove in a couple of runs. I remember saying that if he could crack that lineup he could make a huge impact. 
I didn’t predict this kind of impact. I watched him this spring in Dunedin with the Blue Jays. He looked good at third base, but found a home in the outfield and started the season as the Jays lead-off hitter. His success this year reminds me a little bit of Carlos Pena’s breakout year in 2007 when he hit 46 homers. The difference is Pena was a first round draft pick and he had hit 20+ homers in the big leagues before. He was really just fulfilling the initial expectations of him. Bautista was a 20th round pick who had been a bench player and didn’t have much hope of being more with so many high priced players standing in front of him. I say congrats to Jose Bautista… Score one for the underdog. It isn’t always the high priced free agent or highly touted draft pick – sometimes the difference maker is already sitting on your bench… I still think it was stupid of the Pirates to send him to Toronto for Robinson Diaz, but I don’t think the organization would have given Bautista the chance to flourish like this. 
Makes you wonder how many other players out there have 50 bombs in their bat, but just can’t get the respect from management… I love this game! I love this hobby! Go Rays! Troll out.
It comes from 1993 Ted Williams baseball card set, card #135 . I seriously need to chase the mid nineties Ted Williams sets, there is a ton of great looking cards in them and so many great pics of cool players who don't get near the amount of attention they deserve. Anyway, the subject matter is Dodgers infielder and personal favorite of mine, Jim "Junior" Gilliam. A former Negro League All Star turned 1953 NL Rookie of the Year, National League All Star and MLB World Champion.
The second card of this 3 from 3 came from the GCRL Blog, many, many moons ago. I love it when a team collector shares a card of their team with you. It makes it that much more special.
The final card in the package came to me from reader David nearly a year ago. He had responded to a post I made and said he wanted to send me something special and he didn't want anything in return for it. Well, this amazing card somehow got buried on my computer desk (next to the non-working computer) and it never got it's proper post and I never formally thanked David for this AWESOME gift. It is a 2003 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants, Past Time Signatures card of another Negro League All Star turned MLB World Champion, Rookie of the Year, MLB Cy Young Award Winner and National League MVP! He is also another all time favorite of mine, Don Newcombe and the card is autographed AND the auto is ON-CARD!!! I couldn't believe it when I got it nearly a year ago, I still can't. I love it! I am wondering something about this card, though. Newk is talking to someone who was almost edited out entirely. It looks like he is wearing Yankee pinstripes and has a moustache. Any ideas on who this could be?
Bronson didn't do too bad either bringing in 44 views in one day a year later... It must be the hair. Go Rays! troll out.
September 9th was my ex-wife's birthday. I had intended to wish her a happy birthday, but I don't think I posted that day. I know it is typical to be mortal enemies with your ex, but as we have a wonderful child together, we have managed to stay good friends. In fact one day soon my lovely Wife, my ex-wife and our amazing son have a very exciting announcement to make... Stay tuned for that. Anyway, I didn't post on September 9th, but everyone's favorite nocturnal blue birdy blogger did. You can read it here. You probably read it already, he has a pretty popular blog and with Miss Marisa Miller helping him out that day I know he had a ton of views. I for one was a bit surprised to see Miss Miller, a known Chicago Cubs fan on a Dodgers blog.
While now you can see her on a Rays blog, too... Okay, back on track. For those who remember seeing Marisa on the Night Owl, but don't remember why -It was, in fact, page views (and not swimsuit models) that were the topic of his post that day. 
He mentioned that those of us who us who use Blogger to host our pages can now get stats on our blogs. I was unaware of this little feature and being a stat lover myself, I was immediately fascinated. I do pay attention to how many visitors I get to my blog each day, week, etc., but I didn't know I could see what pages people were looking at. 
The Night Owl (as he generally does) got us all thinking. Being a stat guy, as well as somewhat of an ego maniac, as soon as I finished reading his post that day (which incited 15 comments by the way) I checked my own stats. At the time last year that I was actually posting daily, sometimes 2 and 3 times daily on as many as 4 different blogs, I got a lot of traffic. Nowadays my visitors are few and far between. I get it. Why visit a blog that isn't updated, thats silly. ANYWAY... the blogger stats revealed some interesting and surprising things. I have made some posts that I am pretty proud of. Some posts took me hours or days to research. Some posts took hours to scan and upload all of the images. 
It seems that those posts got a few clicks when they were fresh, but I was quite surprised to learn what my most popular post ever was. It came on September 4, 2009. A little over a year ago and yes it has all been downhill since... Now, in the Night Owl post he mentioned some things that attract visitors, namely pictures of hot girls and rare cards. Regular readers of mine know that from time to time I post pics of models who share names with baseball players... Yes, I have about a dozen pics ( I actually have more, but not all of them are appropriate for this all ages blog) of Shannon Stewart mixed in with my card scans and from time to time I bust them out (like right now) BUT Ms. Stewart is the not the lure that brings new folks to my blog. 
My best post ever? Like I said, it was on 9-04-2009. It had just 2 pictures on it and they were both REALLY small and hard to see. Yes, it took me over a year of blogging to realize that you could change the size of the images you upload. Anyhoo... THIS is the post that reels them in. If you don't feel like clicking, this was the primary image in that post. 
The subject was Bronson Arroyo and a TTM request that I sent him. Like I said, I am stat obsessed. I used to keep a log book of how many "hits" my blogs got on a daily basis. According to my log book the Troll family of blogs took in over 400 clicks that day. Pretty cool, but Bronson KEEPS ON BRINGING you to me... This post had 11 comments, which is among the most I have gotten without giving something away. I guess that is a mark of a good post. I remember when I put it up. I didn't plan on that as my topic that day, but I was short on time and wanted to put something up. Little did I know that would be my top post ever. 
That Arroyo post has had 76 views this week, 215 views this month and over a thousand views over the last 12 months. Wow. I don't get it at all. My next best post is this one... It was listed on 12-26-2009. It was a pack rip of 1997 Pinnacle X Press that my Father ripped on Christmas Day. Another quick post. No rare cards, no hot girls. It didn't even have a pic of my Dad in it. Weird. Third best is this one. It was a contest. Bloggers vote for the Hall of Fame on 8-31-2009. It had a ton of hits back then. I was giving stuff away, but its weird that this month over 100 people have checked it out LONG after all of the prizes were given away. I don't get it.
Anyway, thanks for reading this ego driven post. 
I can't make any sense of it. None of my most popular posts have pictures of pretty ladies or rare cards. Heck, they aren't even good. I clicked on them to find the link, but I couldn't bring myself to re-read any of them... One last thing on this topic before I sign off... The stats page also tells you the main referrers of visitors to my blog. 
That said I owe a huge thanks to The Sports Card Blog Roll, My Past Time...I Love It! and the Cardboard Junkie. Thanks of course to the Night Owl for inspiring this post and thanks to everyone who has stumbled in here for whatever reason. Stats are fun, knowing that people read this dribble is cool, but knowing that the most people who visit this blog are here because they want to know if Bronson Arroyo signed my cards. Weirdness. What is even weirder is that anyone actually read this far considering the first line of this post mentions my ex-wifes birthday... 
Not really a line that hooks the reader. I should really just stick with Shannon Stewart... Oh, if you are wondering about the pics on this post. I went with hot girls and vintage cards cuz I want the hits! This blog is 6000 visitors away from hitting 100K... There WILL be a contest whether it takes a month or a year to get there. Also, still waiting for someone who wants my Million Card Giveawy cards. Anyone? Also, still need some addresses for the group break. Get in touch if your name is in yellow... Go Rays! Troll out.
It has been a LONG time since I bought a pack of cards. A really long time. This weekend I bit and picked up one of the 15 dollar value packs from Wal Mart. It comes with 6 packs of Topps Series 2, a chrome card, a hobby pack of Allen and Ginter and a Topps Million code card. I got another code card in one of the packs and I decided that last night would be redemption day. I had a few code cards tucked away for a rainy day and it was very rainy this weekend, so I crossed my fingers and redeemed them all. I had said after my first redemption many months ago that I didn't plan on having any cards shipped to me. Had I got something from the fifties or 60s I might have changed my tune. Guess what? My tune remains the same. This means there are 9 cards sitting in cyberspace somewhere that have my name on them. Out of my last 9 redemptions I unlocked 2 Hall of Famers and 3 cards from the 70's. Not too bad I guess. Unfortunately, the Hall of Famers come from 1987 and 1990 and the cards from the 70's are NOT Hall of Famers. 
Needless to say I will not be getting these shipped to me. I thought about pooling them all together to trade for a '65 Topps card I needed, but that seems like too much work and I am a very lazy Troll... Plus I would still have to cough up a credit card to have them shipped. Had I unlocked a '56 Clemente it would be well worth it. I didn't. SO... I am offering up these 9 super awesome cards to the first person to claim them. If you can offer me 1 (one) single card from anyone of my wantlists I would consider that more than fair. Normal rules apply. Comment to claim them and then e-mail me for details. 
By the way, the highlight of my unlocking is this 1972 Topps card of All Star catcher Ray Fosse. Fosse was twice an All Star but only played in one game. Everyone remembers him blocking the plate and getting bulldozed, but he also had 2 hits and an RBI too. The next oldest card is this 1976 of Padres pitcher Dave Freisleben. 
Also included is the Braves team card from 1977 and junk wax goodness featuring Steve Sax, John Jaha, Mike Lansing and Hank Blalock... 
Actually, the 1998 Mike Lansing wasn't an unlocked card, it was what I had traded my last bunch of cards for. Still, even Mike Lansing must go. 
Who wants em? Oh, for those keeping track, I have now unlocked 18 cards and the 1971 Diego Segui (already traded already...) is the oldest card I have unlocked. 
I forget who the newest card was, but it was 2008. Incidentally, the title for this post was intended to be sarcastic...Oh, I HAVE had a few trade offers on these cards - someone actually offered up a Shannon Stewart for the Braves team card. Obviously they read my blog and know what a huge fan of Shannon Stewart I am. 
Unfortunately when I clicked on the offered card it was NOT this Shannon Stewart... Go Rays! Troll out.
This completed page makes me laugh because I wouldn't consider liberating any of the original versions of these cards from the quarter box, but I went crazy trading for these reprints... Funny how Topps made junk wax collectable again... I just saw the sell sheet for the Updates offering and I just happed to have an opinion on it. Stay tuned... Oh, and my 2010 Topps Needs List has been updated one last time this weekend AND I put together a list for 2008 Allen and Ginter too. 
I JUST finished off the Pioneers of Aviation set. Actually I just organized a trade for the final card I needed to finish it off. Very excited about this one. Now my focus is the Ancient Icons, Baseball Idols, Team Orange and Worlds Deadliest Sharks. Get in touch if you can help. Go Rays! troll out.
Anyway, this post was intended to be about the Joy of a Completed Page. While organizing cards I did in fact finish a page. CYMTO10 through CYMTO 18, beginning with 1961 Roger Maris up to the 1969 rookie of Mr. October. Apparantly your mom threw out Mickey Mantle cards quite often. He appears twice out of these 9 cards and he showed up on the previous completed page, too. So out of 9 cards you have 7 Hall of Famers with Mantle appearing twice and Roger Maris being the lone player locked out of Cooperstown. Thanks for looking and sharing my Joy and scoping out my wantlists and BA Bennys too. Next up is a wantlist for 2008 Allen and Ginter, so stay tuned... Go Rays! troll out.
Well, I have officially shipped a package to EVERY participant in the group break that lives in the US (Captain and Anthony you will ship this week) whose address I have. Those of you whose address I don't have are on the sidebar in yellow. The last package I shipped was to Chris AKA Fan of Reds AKA Nachos Grande. As you might have guessed, he had the Reds in the group break. Some Reds were pulled, but I doubt it was anything he didn't have 12 copies of already. I do think that I included one, if not 2 Barry Larkin cards that he didn't have. I should mention that the reason that I was so tardy in sending his package was that I was searching for cards off of his 2010 Topps wantlist to complete a trade as well. He has sent me some inserts I needed for my very slow chase of 2010 Topps completion and domination. 
I plan on showing them off in this post right here... As a matter of fact, since I am posting them, I am scratching them off of my wantlist which is now 100% up to date and accurate. I finished Legendary Lineage for both series 1 and 2. Although I don't really care too much for Peak Performances, I am nearly halfway there, so I might as well try and finish it. 
The subsets that I am really into are Turkey Reds and the Cards Yo Mama Threw Out. These are a priority! I mention that my wantlist is up to date for two reasons. One, because you are more than welcome to check them out and see if there is anything that you can help me out with. The second reason is that this is a trade post from Nachos Grande, who is the MOST ORGANIZED blogger I know. I think I might have traded with him more than anyone simply because it is so damn easy. His wantlists are clear and always up to date. The only problem is that he rips and trades like crazy and in this instance I was only able to send him 2 cards off of his wantlists in exchange for all the goodies he sent me. Anyway... you can find HIS wantlists HERE and see if you can help him out more than I could. You can also check out the 2010 Topps inserts that he sent me... 
The trio from Peak Performance is shown above. From Turkey Red we have a pair of Aces: a current Dodger and a Hall of Fame pitcher. 
He also included 2 cards from Tales of the Game. Carlton Fisk in one of the most memorable games in baseball history AND Josh Hamilton taking second place in a batting practice exhibition. 
Thanks so much to Nachos for these great cards. If anyone is interested, I can post up my dupes. There is a surprisingly big stack of Turkey Reds. I might also put together my list for Series 2. Can you tell I am suffering from Nachos Grande wantlist envy? Thanks again and if your name is in yellow in the side bar, please email me your address. Go Rays! Best team in baseball, for real. Oh, by the way... The card at the top is just a reminder that I am STILL a Carl Crawford supercollector. Oh, while I am dropping updates... I am still in for the Long Fly to Because Allen and Ginter case break. I believe that the price has dropped considerably. I know most everyone is bored of these by now, but I haven't even held a pack yet. Only 13 teams have been claimed, what are you waiting for? troll out.
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