A Great Day to be a Troll...

One year ago today a baby boy named Atlas Ray was born and your friend The Troll became a Grandpa... Yeah, this time last year the wife and I were in Oklahoma City visiting with my son Zadeh and his awesome other half Holly... Y'all might remember there was a contest involved. I wanted to celebrate getting my 100,000th hit AND the birth of my grandchild. This time last year I was a much better blogger.

I wrote often and had a ton of friends and followers and I wanted to say thanks. We gave away a trio of Hall of Fame cards from 1956 Topps including this card of Al Kaline. I think there were around 150 entries - it was pretty awesome. There will probably be another contest here in Trollville very soon. You see, I have this 1887 Allen and Ginter mini that I am itching to giveaway. I just haven't decided how just yet, but I am open to suggestions... So, happy birthday to you Atlas Ray! You and your Daddy make me SOOO happy!!! Oh... By the way - I am still looking for the 2010 Allen and Ginter Lords of Olympus mini of Atlas... Anybody got a spare???

Today being Atlas' B-Day is more than enough to make today a GREAT day to be a Troll... Today could have been better - the wife and I are on opposite schedules today and I miss her a bit, BUT I did get to see my Father (shown here on Graduation Day with my tall Wife and my short Mom) which is always a treat. It didn't end there either... I decided to stop at the Post Office and I had a surprise package from the Legendary Cardboard Don himself, Senor Wicked Ortega... Wicked and I have both slowed down our collections a bit and we have gone far too long between trades... I have a stack of cards with his name on it that has been growing for months, but I have been SO LAZY with my trading of late... Anyway - A package from the Cardboard Don will make anyone's day and he certainly made my day greater!!! Thanks sooo much Wicked! I will post this trade up soon, I have updated my wantlists - he punished my insert needs for 2010 Topps and 2011 Topps and hooked it up for my Allen and Ginter Frankenset (which I have thankfully been recieving quite a few minis of late...). There were a ton of GREAT cards included, but the one I am gonna show right now is the FINAL Kimball Champion card I needed to finish off 2011 Topps Series 1. I have been begging for card #25 of Vlad Guerrero for months and it is finally safe in the binder. I do seriously plan on posting this trade, but I know my history so I can't resist posting a couple right now... I LOVE the Vintage Legends Cards from 2010 Topps. Ty Cobb styled like 1956 Topps - how cool is that??? I need MANY, but I crossed off a few today... One series that I didn't rip any of, but kinda wish I did is Gypsy Queen. I LOVE the design on every card I have seen so far including my very first mini card of my FAVORITE Rays pitcher, the pride of Lake Wales, Florida - Wade Davis... Thanks again to the Cardboard Don, you rule my friend! Thanks for reading. Much more to come - stay tuned! Oh, I couldn't resist going old school with a photo of my boy Zadeh from Christmas 1996... Speaking of old school... Check out this young Troll trailing Patriots back-up QB Doug Flutie... And then stealing his shoulder pads, ha! Go Rays! Happy Holidays to All!!! troll out.

Plagiarizing Thorzul, Fanning Manny, Making Me Sing, Sparkling Cards, A LENGTHY Ramble Troll Style...

(In the event that you don't feel like wasting your time reading the next 4000 or so words - ALL of the non-Rays cards in this post are for trade) So, it has been OVER a month since my last post and that wasn’t a REAL TROLL post. Time HAD been very limited, so I had that as an excuse, but the past 2 nights the wife has been away at work and I have had nothing but time. Last night I stared at a blank screen for a while. I made excuses in my head and put the pressure on myself. As a blogger I have been known to write lengthy posts on a daily basis and every time I go a week without posting I feel like I need to write a LONG post explaining why I haven’t. I have written that post several times (without actually posting it). I have written lengthy drafts thanking all the people who have sent me cards this past month, I have drafts explaining what I plan on posting in the near future, I have drafts of trade bait which try to ignore my absence and I have a draft from last night explaining that I have writers block in over 3000 words. None of these are really blog worthy just yet, but be warned that they may see the light of day.

Truth is this long absence has brought out a degree of writer’s block in me. More a lack of confidence than a block, more of an “I have more sh%t going on in my head than I have time to post it”, but it resonates in a block of sorts when I DO have the time. One thing I have learned about “blogger’s block” is that the best way to cure it is to steal someone else’s ideas, BUT don’t make it too obvious. My lack of time has limited my blog reading, so some days I ONLY get to read the Night Owl and Play at the Plate and since you now know that I can’t steal their ideas. No, I should dig deeper… I scanned my blog roll (which has been reduced from 411 blogs, down to 290) and checked out a couple of my old faves and before too long I picked a blog to snatch content and ideas from. The winner (not really a winner, but…) is Thorzul Will Rule.

I traded with TWR a LONG time ago, but otherwise I don’t know the dude, he isn’t really someone I consider a “blogger buddy”, but I still have been a long time reader of his so I don’t mind plagiarizing him, ha!
The first thing that struck me was his side bar “most wanted” list. I remembered that he was a fan of the Brew Crew (as I am to a far lesser degree) and a few years back when Milwaukee rented CC Sabbathia for the stretch run the Mighty Thorzul set on a mission to collect EVERY card of CC in a Brewers uniform. I have (many times) thought about doing this. I suppose that I was on my way to collecting every card of another CC (Carl Crawford) in a Rays uniform. This was a little harder for two reasons. One, this CC spent 11 seasons in the Rays organization and two, when he abandoned the team chasing the almighty dollar – I did the same thing and listed all of my autographs and printing plates on eBay. I can’t go back and buy all of those back in addition to the thousands of cards I don’t have. I would do better by continuing to wait for someone to step up and buy my CC collection. I do still have over 500 CC cards, at least 50 relics and a few autographs still. Okay, he is out.
I have a few ex-Rays that I collect to a certain extent – Joe Kennedy, Jared Sandberg, Dave Martinez, Dewon Brazelton and Quinton McCracken, but those guys aren’t on the CC Sabbathia level. I need a big name if I am gonna steal that idea. The Rays normally don’t rent players and they don’t sign many big names either. Pat Burrell doesn’t count and even though he did a great job as the Rays closer, I didn’t really like Rafael Soriano that much. I wasn’t glad to see him go, BUT I wasn’t sad to see him leave either. As I was thinking about this I was flipping through cards that I needed to scan (and I have a TON of these) and I came across the most recent stack that the ultra-generous Rod from Padrographs had sent me and this shiny card caught my eye. This might fit the bill perfectly. A BIG NAME player who barely had a cup of coffee in Tampa Bay. A dude who ate female hormones and shot the juice, BUT was still one of the best sluggers to EVER swing the bat.

I liked Manny when he was a member of the powerhouse Cleveland Indians teams of the mid-to-late 1990’s. Their line-ups would make any pitcher shake. Think about facing Kenny Lofton, Omar Vizquel, Manny, Jim Thome, Eddie Murray, Sandy Alomar, Carlos Baerga and Albert Belle…

Damn, that team could hit, but the thing about baseball is great pitching tends to thwart great hitting and the Braves stopped that great hitting in 1995 and in 1997 my team (the Florida Marlins!) stopped them again and the team dismantled. Of course Manny came away okay and he slugged his way back to the World Series with Boston in 2004 and again in 2007.

Now Manny never really impressed me in the World Series. The Marlins had his number in ’97 (he hit .154) and even in ’07 when the Sox ROLLED over the Rockies – Colorado held Manny homerless and kept him to a .250 average. His World Series numbers aren’t too impressive – in 21 games he has a .247 mark with 4 homers and 14 RBI. Yawn. Manny fans could make the argument that he was SO GREAT in the division series and championship series that his teams would have never made the WS, but I am losing perspective here… I will end the Manny postseason discussion by mentioning his 29 postseason homers and his batting average (over .500!) with the Dodgers in 2008.

Yeah, I definitely lost track there… What I was getting at was this – this shiny and awesome Mannywood card that Rod from Padrographs sent me is pretty freaking awesome and it really got me thinking…

Manny is one the greatest sluggers of all time. He drove in 1831 runs over his 17 year career – that puts him in the top-20 of all time and oh yeah, 1 of those runs was driven in for the Rays!!! Yeah, the dude with a .312 career batting average, 548 doubles and 555 career homers was a MESS in Tampa Bay. Even though he only made it into 5 games as a Ray, I must say he let us all down. His 162 game average has him hitting .312 with 39 homers and 128 RBI. For Tampa Bay he had 1 hit and 1 RBI in 17 at-bats. Not pretty. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that his .059 batting average was courtesy of performance enhancing drugs. PATHETIC!!!

He failed a drug test, retired and so ended the Man Ram in Tampa Bay experiment. As a fan I wasn’t thrilled when he signed on with the Rays, but since my love for my team is unconditional I supported their signing of Manny and was totally optimistic about having him in the lineup. Before the season started I started thinking about all the history Manny could have made in a Rays uniform. He was 4 RBIs away from passing Dave Winfield on the All Time list, 6 away from passing Rafael Palmeiro, 7 away from Kid Griffey and just 10 RBI away from passing Ted Williams and moving into #13 on the All Time List!

I started imagining the headlines and envisioning the cards. I started thinking about the Rays facing the Red Sox in the playoffs and Manny dropping a 3-homer game in Boston. Like I said, I wasn’t happy about the signing, but the Rays got him cheap and there was PLENTY of upside. I HATED the steroid era of baseball. Everyone hitting 50 homers totally cheapened the long ball. Barry Bonds and his stupid dangling cross earring made the sport I LOVE into a joke. The record books were re-written, but the numbers had lost their luster. Manny was a part of all that, but I thought of him as a steroid era survivor. I THOUGHT that the juice was behind him and what was left was an aging, but still intimidating slugger who was padding his career numbers and might help Tampa Bay into playing some October baseball in the process. I had really imagined that he would stick around for more than 5 games. I mean did he think that he, of all people, could take PEDs and get away with it?

He did apply for reinstatement last week. I HOPE that he has a better game plan for 2012. I hope he makes it back. I would probably root for him. There aren’t many players still out there that are older than me, so I pretty much root for ALL of the old men out there. So yeah, I would root for Man Ram in 2012, BUT I would prefer for him to NOT return to Tampa Bay. I WOULD like to have some cardboard memories of him as a member of the Rays. Thanks to everyone who has actually read this far – if you did, you know that I am finally at the point where I tie in something I am stealing from the Mighty Thorzul. He became a SUPER COLLECTOR of CC Sabbathia from his time in Milwaukee. I intend to become a SUPER COLLECTOR of Mannywood – a super collector of ALL cards celebrating his 5 games in Tampa Bay. Thanks to Rod of Padrographs I have a head start. I don’t really know how many Rays cards he has, but I know that I must have ALL of them. EXHALE. Finally.
This was meant to be a quick, “I’m back blog-o-sphere” kind of post, but I have managed to ramble out more words than Manny has RBIs AND I’m not even done (yet)!!! On Manny – if he can lay off the juice and come back healthy and be close to half the player he was – he does have a shot to really climb the career lists. At 1831 career RBI he is just 69 ribs away from the 1900 club, a club that has only 10 members, of course if he could manage 169 more ribs he could be a member of the 2000 club. This exclusive fraternity includes just Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Cap Anson. I THINK that if Manny could clean his act up for 2 more semi-productive seasons he could reach 2000 and do it legitimately AND would end his career as a slugging boy scout and could work his way back into the good graces of the BBWA and give himself a shot at Cooperstown. It could happen…
So yeah, I am back… I am back and I am chasing Manny Ramirez cards (of all things). I am still trying to finish a number of sets (want lists are linked on sidebar) and I am still a Rays mega fan. Like many other bloggers I am addicted to the sparkly cards found in 2011 Topps. Basically if you have a Rays card from 2011 that is put out by Topps and it is diamond sparkly OR the color of shiny puke OR good old fashioned gold – I WANT it! I also want blue cards, red cards, sepia cards, canary cards, hope cards and refractors of all kinds… I would really like to finish off the entire team set in each and every variety. I know I won’t be able to, but I am gonna have a blast trying…

Oh, this leads me to another idea I can steal. I am sure a number of blogger’s have set out on this mission, but I think of the Night Owl… He has pledged to seek out EVERY variety that Topps has puked out of this sweet Dee Gordon card.

I intend on doing that same thing with this awesome image (from top of post) of Ben Zobrist… I have his Topps base so far, so I have a long road ahead. Since I haven’t made a real blog post in months, y’all probably don’t realize that after the playoffs this year I have a new favorite Ray. The Rays lost the game and the series against Texas, but Sean Rodriguez established himself as a truly Nitty Gritty player after his home plate collision with Mike Napoli. He WAS safe at the plate. If you don’t remember the play I am talking about, do yourself a favor and click on this link and watch this video, it is AWESOME!!!
Its plays like this that make me want to collect cards of a dude who hit .223 last year… I would LOVE to see a higher average, a few more steals and extra base hits, but this dude has played EVERY position other than pitcher and catcher and totally EARNED that run in the POSTSEASON. THAT is amazing. Period.

I THOUGHT it would spark a rally and a Rays resurgence. I was wrong obviously, but it was still an awesome moment and I became a Sean Rodriguez fan for life. That said, his 2011 Topps card, which shows him erasing former Twin and Ray Delmon Young, is all over my want list. Like Zobrist, I only have the base version of this card, SO ALL PARALLELS ARE WELCOME HERE!!!! I should mention that while I was typing this post I remembered that I had $1.33 in my PayPal account.

I now have 16 cents in it, but I have a 2011 Topps Chrome Refractor (#78) of Sean Rodriguez heading my way. My immediate goal is to fill a page full of parallels (of regular Topps as well as Chrome) for Rodriguez, Zobrist and a mystery third player to be teased in the next paragraph. I would LOVE to add full pages of Desmond Jennings, David Price (who is immortalized in my blog header), Wade Davis (the Pride of Lake Wales, Florida!), Evan Longoria, BJ Upton and everyone else (for that matter) but I want to set realistic and achievable goals. That said, as bad as I want all the Zobs and S-Rods out there, I will gladly take ANY Rays!

There is another player I am gonna super-collector-parallel-obsessively-chase. I have 2 cards of him. The regular base AND the HOPE DIAMOND version. The #ed to 60 variety came from Scott of Smed’s Cards, but y’all are gonna have to wait to see who it is… Don’t let the suspense kill you! Ha!

I do have a few sparkle cards to offer up as trade bait right now. I have 10 liquor (puke) fractors, 5 regular diamonds and a couple of gold parallels. The non-Rays cards splattered through this post are all up for trade. The idea is to get Rays for non-Rays. I figure that by the end of the night I will have all of these cards packed up and ready to go and I will have 15 Rays parallels heading my way… It COULD happen. I stacked 9 out of my 10 puke-fractors on one page. I left one by itself to segue into a bitch about Topps session. I haven’t commented on Topps this year and I am sure it has all been said and said to death, but I will throw in a quick 2 cents…
I think that 2011 Topps Update is the product of the year. The value, the photography, the player selection – it is all top notch. Topps also totally nailed it with the sparkle parallels. Adding shiny cards from series 1 and 2 into the Updates is what makes me pick U and H as product of the year over Series 1 and 2. For 2 bucks a pack and good odds on catching a sparkle parallel, I gobbled up a lot of these packs. Although I haven’t been reading the blogs as much as I used to, I think just about everyone is collecting these things. I have always chased the Topps Gold parallels of my team and favorite players. I have always sought out the black parallels as well, but now there are SO many parallels to collect.

I think it is pretty exciting and pretty awesome and it has me excited and I think that all player and team collectors are into it. I know there are even some ambitious folks trying to build the entire set in puke or diamond. They are crazy, but Topps is selling a lot of packs as a result. With their current monopoly Topps doesn’t have to go all out, but they did and that is a good thing. We can bitch about a lack of products and a lack of options out there, but I for one loved the quality of the available options. Topps, Allen and Ginter, Gypsy Queen, Topps Chrome, Bowman, Bowman Platinum… Yeah, they are ALL Topps products, BUT they are all AWESOME products. Good job Topps. Of course I am gonna follow a compliment with a rip.

I have this same complaint every year it seems, but COLLATION, COLLATION, COLLATION – it SUCKS!!!! I didn’t have the cash to go out and buy a box (which I really wanted to) I just bought a TON of loose packs. Enough loose packs to yield about 600 cards. With a 330 card set, you would imagine I would be pretty close to having a full set. Not even close. At 600 cards I had 450 dupes. Not good. Fortunately there were many generous bloggers who helped me whittle my list down considerably. Still, I ended with too many blocks of dupes like this…

Nothing against Brandon League, but do I really need to fill up a page with him? On top of that I pulled 2 of his puke-fractors and one gold parallel of him… For collation to be my ONLY complaint about their flagship product, well that speaks well of Topps, BUT when you are trying to build a set by buying packs of cards, collation is pretty darn important. Topps HAS me hooked. I bought a 2 dollar pack today and if I had 5 bucks I would have bought a hanger, BUT I am saying this in print for all the world (my 2 loyal readers) to read – IF I pull another card of Brandon League (again, no offense) I am DONE WITH TOPPS for 2011. Done, for serious. I know that to Topps the idea of potentially losing the 20 dollars I MIGHT spend purchasing retail packs of cards over the rest of this year isn’t much of a threat, but…
Oh, back to my plagiarizing of the Mighty Thorzul Will Rule… Last year or sometime a while back he played a game called “Trade Me Anything”. I don’t recall exactly how it worked, but I am stealing that name/title. I have some cards that I will be posting of the trade bait variety. Some new, some old, some complete sets, some action figures, movies, anything baseball related… Basically I need to clear some space out from under the bridge AND I want to add up some new stuff to the collection. I will be posting these items (slowly) and will expect at least 1 card from my want list AND 1 surprise/mystery card of your choice. I think that if people can send me 2 cards that I want or need in exchange for something more bulky will allow me to clear space, but more importantly will give posting fodder that isn’t too overwhelming. I think we have all received mind-blowing trade packages over the years that totally made our day, BUT had sooo much great stuff in them that we just couldn’t post them. That happens way too often and makes me feel really bad, but I THINK I can handle a two-card trade post. I think…

So, stay tuned for this and be ready to “Trade Me Anything”. In the mean time I will attempt to post up the recent awesome and overwhelming packages I have received from Smed’s Cards, Night Owl, Padrographs, $30 A Week Habit, Dawgbones, gosh it is overwhelming just typing their names, ha! Anyway, just stay tuned and get ready to help me get back in the trading game…

Okay, I have officially stolen 2 ideas from Thorzul Will Rule, 1 idea from the Night Owl and I have managed to make a total fan post on Manny Ramirez. Wow, I am exhausted! The typing out 3800+ words wasn’t too bad, but realizing that deep down I am a Manny Ramirez fan, well, that is just tiring…

I don’t know how many times I have said this so far in 2011 (before disappearing off the face of the earth for a month) but I am BACK blog-o-sphere!!!

Oh, another reason for my sparse presence ‘round here… My lovely wife GRADUATED from the University of South Florida (The Bulls baby!) last Saturday! Oh, and she did so with honors, yep she is Summa Cum Laude for real! Congrats wifey!

Una cosa mas… And this is the LAST one of these… You may have noticed an original 1887 Allen and Ginter card on the side bar. It WILL be a contest prize someday soon; I just don’t know what the contest will be. I do know that trading me Rays sparkle parallels won’t hurt yer chances, ha!

Thanks, as always, for reading! Let us do some trading! I will keep on posting 4000 word ramble-fests if someone (anyone) keeps on reading… Okay? Tell yer friends that the Troll is back!

Go Rays! It’s our season in 2012!!!! Troll out.

Congrats to Jeremy Hellickson!

The 2011 American League Rookie of the Year!!! He becomes the 2nd Rays player to win the honor after going 13-10 with a 2.95 ERA and helping Tampa Bay to win the AL Wild Card... A World Series ring would have been nicer, but I am feeling pretty proud as a Rays fan right now! Congrats again to Jeremy Hellickson!!! If you have any unwanted cards of JH, feel free to send them my way! Go Rays! troll out.

Is Anyone Else Working on 2011 Topps Updates???

I am... I put all of my cards in the binder and I have 240 out of 330 (73%). I would LOVE to finish this off... As it turns out I have more than 100 dupes to trade, I even have a few Kimball minis too. Everything is up to date on my 2011 Topps list, check it out and see if you can help me HERE. I will try and create a list of my dupes, but if you have a wantlist or a link to a wantlist, shoot me a message... Lets help each other out! Go Rays! troll out.

Creating a Monster OR Taking the Plunge and Building an Allen and Ginter Minis FRANKENSET!!!

So after years of hoarding every single mini I could get my mitts on I decided to take action and get them organized. I sorted through thousands and thousands of cards and yanked out all the minis I could find. I sorted them into boxes and now have sorted them out of their boxes and move them into a binder, in other words I decided to begin the task of building a monster that we call a FRANKENSET!

Before I began the process of bindering my random minis I counted them. I had just fewer than 400 minis. Cool. I figured with just 350 cards in the set I would be well on my way. I was wrong. I didn’t consider that I had 5 different cards numbered 13, 57, 67 and 91. Turns out there are more than 120 card numbers that I don’t have. So… I have devised a list of all the card numbers that I need. The goal will be to get at least 1 card for each number and then I begin the process of finding the best possible card or player to rep each number.

To help me along on this mission I have decided that I will be willing to part with some of the minis that I have hoarded and hidden over the years… Anyway, these are the card numbers that I need. Any year, any back, any border – I do not discriminate… Send me these card numbers please:

1, 7,8,11,14,16,17,19,20,21,35,36,37,39,41,44, 48,49,51,52,55,59,62,63,64,65,66,68,69,75, 76,78,79,80,82,85,86,87,88,90,93,95,99,
102,103,104,106,107,110,113,114,121,125,131, 139,141,142,144, 145,149,150,153,154, 157,158,164,165,167,171,173,174,176,177,
178,186,187,188, 193,197,199,200,201,202,204,209,211,215,
216,218,224,226,227,232,233,234,235,239,241,244,246,247,
248,254,256,257,258,260,262,268,270,271,274,277,283,284,
286,289,291,295,297,298,300,309,315,317,319,323,324,326,
328,335,339,340,345,346,348,349 and 350.

So to save you the tediousness of counting, there are 126 (give or take a few) cards listed above. The goal is to have every slot filled and THEN I can start the process of upgrading and have a PERFECT set of all of my favorite players and historical figures.

This is, of course, easier said than done… Anyone who has attempted this process knows this. Choosing which card gets the spot in the set ain’t easy. Sometimes it’s easier than others – like card #27 which is occupied by Brad Hawpe both in 2008 and 2010. Other numbers are much harder. Card #13 pits BJ Upton vs. Eleanor Roosevelt vs. Brett Anderson. Card #50 is home to Pat Neshek, Carl Crawford, Jason Bay and Albert Pujols. In each of those number cases I have ALL of those cards. Decisions, decisions… Set into the binder this Frankenset, so far, looks bizarre… Players like Ryan Freel, Matt Murton and Austin Kearns all have (temporary) spots in the binder while fav players of mine like Pat Neshek, Justin and BJ Upton, Carlos Pena, Delmon Young and Carl Crawford are all in the dupes for trade pile. Go Figure. It is a bizarro world when Austin Kearns is a keeper and either Upton Brother is tossed aside…

Anyway, I now have 100 minis up for trade, SPs, black borders, Ginter Ad Backs, stars, rookies and all. Just keep in mind I want specifically to trade minis for minis. I would be willing to trade these minis to fill holes in my Kimball Champions set, too. OR to trade for Rays Bazooka back minis OR Rays silks, relics, printing plates, autos, black borders, extended minis, etc. It isn’t easy for me to part with any mini period, so please be sure to only make serious offers and be gentle…

If you have spare copies of any of the card numbers listed above, please get in touch… In addition to my 100 Ginter minis I do have some cards that I would be willing to trade for any of these card numbers. I do prefer authors, historical figures, boxers, Rays, managers, Negro Leaguers, women, softball players or HOFers whenever possible.

I have 5 different pages with 20 cards each in them which I will be posting for trade bait... In most cases I want to trade mini for mini, SP mini for SP mini. There are a couple of fancy/rarer cards here, like a 2010 Jacoby Ellsbury NO# mini (limited to 50) and some 2007 Black Border No # minis, which are also limited to 50. Basically, if you have minis that I need, I WILL find you something awesome to trade ya…

Oh yeah, I’m almost back… I will try and post at least once per week over the next 2 weeks, but after that, it might be a daily thing, so stay tuned!

Also, ALL of my wantlists are up to date. A handful of generous folks have kept the trading pipeline pumping. Aside from the vintage (1963 and ’65) which are tops on my priority list, I am trying REALLY hard to finish off 2010 and 2011 Allen and Ginter, 2009-2011 Topps, the Kimball Champions minis set (1-150) from 2011 and I wanna start collecting 2006 Allen and Ginter. I would love to find a hobby box to rip, that would be AWESOME!

Anyway, I love this hobby, I really miss this… I scanned one of my pages, the one that is the closest to being full. I stopped using the 15-up Ultra Pro pages (for this set at least) and have begun using 20 pocket BCW pages. So far I am pretty happy with them.

Thanks for reading! Go Rays!!! Burn bright hot stove! I love this game, I love this hobby! Troll out.

(oh, BTW… I am posting this NOW, BUT I didn’t get the trade bait pages up yet. So, for now, search your dupes and see if you have anything I need… Within the next couple days I WILL post 5 pages filled with awesome minis that are up for grabs… SO – stay tuned Trollites!)

(and PPS... I have barely been online over the past month... If you have emailed me, offered me a trade, if I owe you a trade or owe you money, you should probably hit me up again... Send me an email HERE... Cheers!)

Congrats Rangers

A little late, but CONGRATS to the Texas Rangers! The Rays had some bright spots and they definitely over achieved just being there, but the better team won...
I am loving the playoffs and rooting hard for the Tigers, Cards and Brewers... I am officially a Rangers fan from here on out, but if the Tigers knock out the Yanks its gonna be hard not to back Detroit...
Go Rays! troll out.
PS. I have recieved a number of amazing trade packs this week and I intend to post them all!!! Thanks everyone - want lists are up to date. Check em out...

Howdy...

Trying to watch the game on my friend Matt's phone, it aint easy, but we are up 3-0... Wednesday night was the best night of baseball I can remember... The one bright spot of staying at the Mother-In-Laws is she has the full MLB package so we got to flip between the awesome Orioles game, the Cards game and of course the Rays game. Awesome. I am at work tonight, but I get to work with some fellow Rays fans, plus the wife and her Mom are watching the game and texting me updates... Go Rays! troll out...

Out of the Loop...

So, my wife had her surgery on Thursday... All went well, she has a fully rebuilt knee and should be better than new in 2 months...

Since we live on the third floor we decided that we would stay at her Mom's house for a week. It has been a nice vacation, but there is one problem - she doesn't have an internet connection and and none of her neighbors do either... I stopped at home to check the mail and figured I would sneak on for a second... My 2011 Ginter want list is up to date. I have been lucky to do several trades and the binder is getting more and more full...


I hope to be home by the weekend. I have a TON to post... If you have posted a trade from me, I probably haven't seen it and I apologize... Please email me the link as I will be behind 2 weeks in checking everyone's blogs. I am totally up for trading - just be patient if you send me a message... I am going to go after 2006 and 2007 Allen and Ginter as my next set quests. I have about 20 cards from each year so far, so if anyone has a starter lot - I would gladly take em off of your hands...


Oh, I recieved my winnings from the Play at the Plate 1,000,000th post contest - a box of Lineage. Ripping it was pretty awesome, I will leave y'all with a taste of shiny Roy Campanella. If you are chasing Lineage, drop me a line, I might be able to help ya out.

Oh, one last thing... I have trade packages ready to go for RGB Cards and Pirates Treasure Room. They have a little dust on them and I would REALLY like to get them out, SO if you are from one of those blogs OR if you know their addy, please let me know... Also, I have shipped a number of packages this past month, but I haven't heard from many of you. I like to know when y'all recieve stuff, so lemme know please... Okay, I'm done for real.


Cheers! GO RAYS!!!!!!!!!! troll out.

My Allen and Ginter Wantlist, Not Gonna Sleep Till It Is Done...

I haven't slept much this week... My main job asked me to change shifts starting Monday. Instead of working nights I would now go in at 5 AM. Quite a switch... My other job, the part time one where I work 2 - 3 shifts per week asked me to go full-time temporalily while a co-worked recovers from an illness. Coincendantly they wanted me to work nights - 6 of them. My main job is really busy and they decided to increase our shifts to ten hours a day and have us work 6 days a week. Cool. I like overtime because I like money. Just saying, it is taking its toll. Since Monday I have worked from 5 AM everday until 4 PM, THEN changed clothes and worked from 4:30 till 1:30 AM. Every day, every night from 5 AM till 1:30 AM for 6 days in a row. Tonight is the 6th. Tomorrow I will probably crash and sleep ALL DAY. I need to get back to work, but I wanted to take a second and explain why I haven't been answering emails and such... Oh and I do have a wantlist for 2011 Allen and Ginter now, check it out!

Does Anyone Have These Cards from 2011 Allen and Ginter??? or Its a Plaid Plaid World and We're Trying to Improve It!

So, I have plans to be "back" very soon... Good things are happening in Troll Towne... Wifey is feeling way better and things are changing career wise, for the better I think... I have a buyer (finally) for my 1990 Jeep Cherokee, I just mowed my lawn and didn't die of heat stroke. Things aint bad... I will fill you all in on EVERYTHING very soon... I also plan on doing a little contest. There are 2 themes. First, I am closing in on 800 posts. Second, I really want to say "thank you" to everyone for their kindness and support last week. All the comments and e-mails for mind blowingly sweet and awesome and really made us feel great! The third reason is that I want to help promote a new blog that I think it is going to be pretty awesome, so stay tuned...

In the meantime, before I give away all of my potential trade bait in the contest, I wanted to check and see if anyone had a few cards from 2011 Ginter that they might want to trade... I finished off Step Right Up and P of P, but I am 2 cards away from both World's Most Mysterious and Uninvited Guests. If you have cards #WM9 or 10 OR UG6 or 8, please get in touch. I need a bunch of the animals minis, too many to list right now... I need 8 more to finish off the Ascent of Man set. I do have some dupes of these. I promised dayf first crack at them, but I don't know if he is still working on it, so... I need cards #ed AOM3,5,6,10,11,13,14 and 22. Am I the only one (by the way) who felt this should have been a 27 card set???

I am still far, far away from Minds That Made the Future, the boat cards and Hometown Heroes. I think I am halfway done with the base set and regular minis - well, I am just looking for awesome cards for the Frankenset. I somehow managed to pull 2 copies of short printed mini card #327 of David DeJesus in the same box. I also pulled the full sized version and 2 copies of his Hometown Heroes card. Bizarre...

The card I really want, more than any other card, is the one shown at the top of the post. I REALLY want this one folks! I wouldn't mind having multiple copies either. Def one of my fave cards of the year... Anyway, my contest will likely offer my Ginter hits as prizes, but if anyone wants to trade beforehand, I am ready! As far as the other "BRAYzer" relics... I think it is just Maddon, Upton and Pena. I have the Pena, need the Upton. The only other standard Rays relic I have is Johnny Damon. I would not mind having a few more... Thanks for reading! Get in touch with a Troll and stay tuned... Oh, as the flyer that acts as my blog header indicates, it is a roller derby weekend. Local folks come out! The beer is cold and free and the action is hot and well worth the 10 bucks (ticket cost) Go Rays! troll out.

GREAT NEWS!!!

My wonderful Wifey is HOME!!! Her doctor released her at 3:00 PM this afternoon and I was there when he told here, then I rushed home to tidy up and was generally giddy as I waited for her safe arrival. She is doing TONS better. She was able to make it up the 3 flights of our stairs to our "tree house" no problem... I am very relieved and very happy... The only bad news is that I had to go to work at 4 so I only got to see her for a few minutes... That is okay, it is a short night, I will be done and back home to her by 10:00Pm and I can't wait!!!

THANKS so much to everyone for all their thoughts, prayers, comments and well-wishes... My wife said that the post and all of the sweet comments made her cry (in a good way). Thanks to everyone!!! I love this hobby, I love our community, I love this baseball card blog-o-sphere!!!! Go Rays! troll out.

A Message to my Friends...

This isn’t a card post and unless you know me personally, I wouldn’t read this… I wanted to share this with my friends, but I didn’t have time to send a bunch of e-mails. I thought this might be a good platform to contact the Brian’s, Duane, The Richard’s, Alfredo, The David’s, Greg, the Matt’s, Mark and all of my friends all at once… I am not a happy camper. My lovely wife, who is my best friend and the all around coolest person on the planet is very ill and has been in the hospital. It’s funny, earlier this week I cut into “our time” in order to try and post my Gint-A-Cuffs packs, but since she has been in the hospital and I have all the time in the world, I have no urge to blog or post or really do anything…

Anyway, I am not checking my emails (well, I am, but not really responding) and although I have several packages ready to go, I won’t be shipping anything this week. I MAY do a post or two, I don’t know. I just wanted to let you guys, my friends, know where I was at.

My wife has been sick for over a week. On Sunday night she started to feel immense pain. She has a severely wounded knee and is scheduled for surgery on that next Thursday, but the pain in her chest was bad enough that she barely noticed the knee pain. She couldn’t eat and the pain got worse and worse. Without eating you really can’t take pain relievers either… Neither of us are “hospital folks”. Things have to be BAD to see a doctor. Things got REALLY bad on Tuesday night and she finally went to our doctor. They recognized right away that she had a severely infected kidney. She got some shots and antibiotics and was sent home and told if the pain didn’t subside to see a specific specialist the next day.

Of course the pain only got worse and she saw the specialist. After an ultrasound they said she needed to be admitted to the hospital immediately… She has been there since. They are keeping her hydrated, monitored and comfortable. It is a good thing, but it makes for a lonely Troll. A lonely puppy, too. Our dog, Emma, normally sleeps at the foot of our bed. She spent last night sleeping at the front door waiting for Mommy to come home…

Anyway, Heather AKA my Wifey AKA Esther Gin N Juice will be at the hospital for at least one more night… All they know for certain is that her kidneys are enlarged and badly infected. They need to treat the infection before they can determine anything more. They took cultures and biopsies and things of that nature. She is in the “Cancer Wing” at the hospital, but they assure me that her location doesn’t indicate that they think she has cancer. Still, I am super nervous, stressed, lonely, scared, bummed, worried and feeling generally helpless. The hospital she is at, Blake Hospital is VERY good. It is ranked as one of the top 100 hospitals in the country. We have 3 hospitals in this county and 1 is much closer to us, but has a bad reputation, so I am pleased that she has been able to get into Blake. When I was there visiting last night after work (at 2 AM) she had an RN check in on her like 3 times in an hour. It was reassuring.

Anyway, I wanted to let you guys know where I was at… I am still reading, just probably not commenting. I did want to remark and say CONGRATS to my good friend Brian who just made post #1000 on his blog Play at the Plate. Brian and I were trading buddies before he got into blogging and I remember encouraging him to start a blog back then. I recall how excited I was when he started a blog and I remember how moving so many of his posts have been to me. He hits home. We have all shared so many of the same experiences and it is comforting reading about someone else dealing with the same issues, good and bad. Brian has grown into a fantastic writer with a “must read” on a daily basis blog and I am so proud and honored to know him long before post #1 and on through #1,000.

I am heading over to the hospital now. Gonna get a hug and a kiss from the Wifey before I go to work tonight… I WISH I could be by her side 24/7, but we agreed that maintaining at least one income would reduce stress and would be more valuable than companionship right now… I am happy to do my part in that way, but damn, I miss my Wifey!!!

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. I will be posting good news soon, I hope… I will make a post in the next day or two. It will be a contest, not to the degree of Play at the Plate's, but a little one for a little fun with the intention of promoting a new blog. Another trading buddy who has taken the plunge... Take care mi amigos! Troll out.

Lucky 13 aka My Time Is Running Out..

Today, while reading the 2011 Gint-A-Cuffs RULES page, which I read on a daily basis, I noticed that today is the deadline to post your point total to the website. With only 12 packs ripped and 90 points I am not even close. I know I don’t qualify anymore, but I am committed to post these packs and I will continue.

Here is pack #13, which was a great one, for points…
I started off by finally pulling a card of my FAVORITE PLAYER!!! Card #61 of Brian Roberts, good for 4 points. I had a tinge of regret for choosing BR as my favorite player immediately after I typed it, but I really wasn't sure if Jonny Gomes, Ben Zobrist or Wade Davis would have cards. For the record, my TRUE favorite player wasn't in this set, but does make an appearance on my blog header... Yes, I am being sappy. IF my wife read my blog this might score me some points (with her) ha.

Either way, I am glad I pulled a card of my 2011 GAC favorite player. I really hope BR is healthy for 2012 and can start hitting 50 doubles a year again. Still, I get me 4 points, count ‘em!

Up next is a nice horizontal card, #48 of Twins hurler Francisco Liriano. The lefty was the AL Comeback Player of the Year in 2010 when he topped 200 strikeouts for the first time in his career and he pitched a no-hitter this May...

That makes this a pretty awesome pull... Does anyone know why there is a TC in the team logo corner?
He is followed by another horizontal card of another pitcher, a short print of a pretty popular dude, the 2X Favorite Player Jon Lester on card #320.

I get 2 points for pulling an SP and ANOTHER 2 points for pulling a FAVE PLAYER. Awesome! I feel as though I should get double the FP bonus since Lester is the FP of two bloggers. That would be more awesome...

Next up we have a trio of basecards with no point value…

Card #37 of Fausto Carmona, #100 of Albert Pujols and #189 of Dexter Fowler… I'm somewhat surprised that Pujols didn't make the FP cut, but hey, at least he doesn't wear pinstripes…

My 7th card is one of my non-official favorite players and fellow Floridian and springtime neighbor Andrew McCutchen on card #HH12.

Another point for the Hometown Heroes insert.

The last card in the pack is a mini, a black bordered mini, card #198 of Mr. Freddie Freeman. Good for 3 points for black bordered mini and hopefully good as some trade bait… I have been told folks are plunking down ten dollar bills for this card. Crazy.

Anyway, my lucky 13th pack yields me a total of 12 points and I get to break the century mark, so I am pretty happy about that. I have a total of 102 points, an average of 8 points a pack… If you follow averages, after 24 packs I would likely have 188 points. We will see. Like I said, whether I qualify or not, I am loving the Gint-A-Cuffs and I intend to keep on posting… Thanks for reading. The Freeman is up for offers…

Since no one has yet to claim the FREE, NO STRINGS ATTACHED short print of Orlando Hudson, card #323, it is still up for grabs.

Follow the rules in yellow or orange at the end of the previous post and it will go in a top-loader and into a PWE and head to your address... Please someone claim it, I am getting depressed that I don't have enough readers to give away a FREE short print...

More Gint-A-Cuffs funsies to come! Spoiler alert - I may have a HIT in the next pack... Stay tuned. Go Rays! Troll out.

A Dozen Packs Down and This One is Completely Mutant...

I have 81 points up to this point and I am ready to rip pack #12, aka the halfway point in this 2011 Gint-A-Cuffs box. This pack was pretty crazy, mutant really. I have never heard of a short print hot pack, but if such a thing exists, this is it… Anyway, here is my 12th pack…

I will start with a favorite player of mine, not my “Favorite Player”, but a fave nonetheless… I’m talking about card #138 of Cubs pitcher Matt Garza. This dude pitched the first and only no-hitter in Tampa Bay Rays history and they traded him the very next season. Thanks to the WGN Superstation, I have got to see Garza pitch quite a bit this year. I think he is a better pitcher than his 6-8 record indicates. The Cubs are giving Garza even less run support than the Rays did… Garza currently has a career LOW 3.68 ERA and 157 strikeouts in 151 innings. No points, but I ain’t worried…

The next 3 cards didn’t yield me any points either, but just you wait… Featured here are card #94 of Josh Rodriguez, #84 of Gregory Infante and card #167 of Adam LaRoche.
Things start to get a little odd with the next few cards. The 5th card out of the pack is card #330 of Yankees Ace CC Sabathia. I lose a point because CC is a stupid Yankee, but I gain 2 points cuz it is a short print. I still get 1 point total from this card and I am not done with the short print goodness.
Next up is card #345 of current Brewers Ace Zack Greinke. Another freaking short print and they came back to back! I don’t get the Yankees penalty on this one, just 2 points for being a short print. Not too shabby…
I am still in shock that I got 2 short prints consecutively… One of a current Brew Crew hurler, one of a past… But wait, there is more!
A Home Town Heroes card of EVERYONE’S Favorite Player Jon Lester. Like Raymond, everybody loves Jon Lester and I get a total of 3 points for this piece of cardboard and I am not finished cuz there is one mini left in the pack…
This particular mini is card #327 of David DeJesus. Another freakin’ short print, but this one is an even tougher pull… The regular short prints are 1 in two packs and I got two in one, but the mini SP is 1 in 13 packs, so this could be my one and only in this box…. Plus 3 points for the Troll, woo hoo!
Even losing a point for CC being a stupid Yankee I still come away with 9 points for this pack… Everything except for the SP base cards are up for trade…

If you are collecting the set I have noticed that I have a dupe of SP card #323 of Orlando Hudson. If anyone needs it, let me know… First reader to respond in the comments AND read this awesome post from everyone’s favorite nocturnal birdy blogger can have it – no strings attached… You should probably mention something about the Night Owl post in the comments to indicate that you read it… I am sure you did. If you wasted your time reading my silly posts and you aren’t reading the Night Owl on a daily basis, you aren’t making the best use of your time… Just saying…

Thanks for reading. After twelve packs I have 90 points. If I stay on this pace I will not be the 2011 Gint-A-Cuffs champion, BUT I think things will be getting better, so look out Nachos Grande, the Troll is coming!!! Go Rays! Troll out.