Saturday, March 31, 2012

Filling the Binder With 2 x 3 Heroes!

Time passes so quickly in life and in collecting… That sounds cliché, but I have a point… As collectors we are always working on sets, but we are always waiting for the newest product to hit the shelves. When it does there is a month long period of feverishly buying, ripping and trading, and then when the dust settles, if you haven’t finished the set yet, it goes to the back burner. In life I guess you could equate that to that diet you go on, or the new workout regimine… You watch what you eat and exercise like its beast mode for a couple of weeks and then you start mixing in burgers and spending the afternoon on the couch – those two tie in, right?

Anyhoo, on the collecting tip - I am notorious for fudging up my want lists… I cross cards off before I get them. Worse, I get them, forget to put them in the binder and assume they are dupes and trade them away… I totally did that with
2010 Topps. I declared all 3 Series completed and then, about a year later I picked up the binder to thumb through and see which Rays were in the set that year and I realized that I was missing a total of FIFTY freaking cards!!!! Some of the cards I was missing I had even posted after I got them, then I guess I traded them away, probably put them in team stacks and shipped them off to folks who didn’t even need them, ha!

On the topic of 2010 Topps – I got some of them in the mail today – from 4 different people. How weird is that? I went months without trading, without getting a package from anyone. I also went months without adding a single card to the 2010 binder and then today, I got FOUR packages from FOUR different people! Three were complete surprises and the 4th was a planned surprise… Last weekend, while riding the high of seeing the Rays live in Port Charlotte and enjoying a cocktail or twelve (ha!) I got an email from a new blogger, a dude who was not yet on my radar who, it turns out, is VERY new at blogging, but off to a very good start… You can find his blog HERE. It is called Two By Three Heroes

Jeff, the author behind 2 X 3 Heroes is a White Sox fan, I think he lives in Chicago… This fascinated me because one of the very first three blogs that I started reading and got me hooked back into the hobby again after a long hiatus was also about the White Sox – of course I am referring this awesome blog.

Anyhow, out of nowhere, he wrote to me and offered to nearly complete my 2010 base set, plus send some Yo Mama cards and Vintage Legends. Nice!

I will show off the Vintage Legends cards in a different post a little later on… For now, I am glad to have this set so close, again. I am one card away from retiring this want list. Who has card #458? Send it to me please so I can put this set out of its misery…

Oh, speaking of misery. Ever get cards from your wantlist and think. Fudge. Man, I HAVE that card!
Well, turns out this sweet BJ Upton was one of the last cards on my want list. At least 10 copies of this card have passed through my collection. Dumbass Troll. The other cards, not so much. All Yankees, Phillies and crap… The retired Red Sox captain was the only card in the pile that I would consider putting on my page…

Oh, before I sign off and speaking of my stupidity… I was wondering why no one has sent me any 2007 or 2008 Topps cards and I noticed that I don’t have lists posted. What? I then grabbed the binder for 2007 and found that it ends halfway through Series 2. I just don’t know… I made a
list for cards 1 - 431... Yer Troll is a mess…

Thanks for trading Jeff! Please go
check out his page and support new bloggers!

Go Rays! Troll out.

Friday, March 30, 2012

MANNY!!!!

So, I have been working on a long post tonight, over 2000 words already. It won't be ready by the time the wife gets outta work though and I want to post NOW, so y'all get a quick one... Anyone know this dude? Well, according to his blog, he is trading again... I can vouch for this as an envelope from his nest was among four at my PO Box today! He beat up my wantlists, hit my PCs and sent along a sweet auto. Those will come in due time.

For now, enjoy MANNY! This started as a joke... A long post after a few too many beers, but now I really want to fill a 9-card page of Manny's... I am up to 3. Thanks Greg! This is a bad ass looking Manny card, I like it!!! I didn't buy a single pack of Gypsy Queen last year, but I wish I had - sweet looking cards! I have it covered for 2012 though...

My Gypsy Queen Rays are covered by Kyle from the JABO Blog who is hosting a group break (one of many over there) for 2012 Gypsy Queen. Its his #6 Group Break and happens in April, BUT you can reserve yer team now. The Rays are TAKEN. Want in? You should. If I am in ya know its a great deal! Go check that out too... Cheers! Go Rays! troll out.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

A Little Bit of Babble AND Thanks to Smed's Cards - I NOW Have a Wantlist for 2012 Heritage!!!

I will post this list on the side bar soon... I have a big test tomorrow night in Statistics and I NEED to study... I wanted to get a list out there cuz I know a lot of folks are tearing this product up... I have only been able to buy 2 packs myself so far, but THANKS to my buddy Scott from the Smed's Card Blog I now have close to a third of this set!!! I mean, imagine this... I got last Sunday off last minute and my wife had to work... I shot an email to Scott to see if he was free to check out a game. Fortunately for me, he was. He drove over 3 hours to meet me in Port Charlotte to see his home team, the Miami Marlins take on my home team, the Tampa Bay Rays...

It was AWESOME to meet a blogger face to face. We all e-mail each other so often and read about each other's lives - its like we really know each other and know probably more than some of our friends... Seriously, us bloggers really hang it all out there for anyone to read. Anyway, it was awesome to meet a blogger, we had a good time - the game wasn't bad, the seats were decent, I got to see Hanley play third base and saw my favorite pitcher Wade Davis start the game... Davis started strong, but got flustered and yielded a solo homer, a walk and then a 2-run homer in one inning. Shortly after that game it was announced that he won't be in the starting rotation this season... No worries, having Wade Davis as your long man in the bullpen is GOOD thing!

Anyway, we had some great conversations, soaked in the sun and saw some big name players up close. All that was cool, but check this out... Upon meeting Scott he handed me a large hard plastic Ultra Pro card box FILLED with Heritage singles... I felt bad - I didn't show up with gifts! Last night I sorted all those cards and mixed in the 16 cards I already had and suddenly I have one third of the set!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Blogger generosity blows me away. Thanks Scott!!! The Marlins ended up winning the game and all but 1 Rays starter was lifted by the sixth inning and replaced with "Minor League Guy". One starter played all nine innings, got really dirty and played solid. When the final out was recorded this dude stayed on the field and signed autographs for EVERYONE there...

He easily wrote his name about 300 times on cards, shirts, balls, hats, programs, whatever fans handed to him. There were SO many youngsters who got their first autograph ever that day and Sean Rodriguez earned himself a number of new fans... I quickly scanned my new box of Heritage, but found no SR cards. I didn't bring a baseball and the Rays cap I was wearing was solid black and I didn't have a silver sharpie, so I STILL need a Sean Rodriguez autograph... I seriously only own 2 of his cards and one is a mini and the other is a refractor. I would def like to build up my Sean Rodriguez collection. Not only is he a super nitty gritty player, he is a damn solid middle infielder, great on the base paths, getting better with the bat, but he is AMAZING with the fans! If you weren't sure if there were any Sean Rodriguez
super collectors out there - you can find one here!

I was a little bummed to not get his auto, but it made my day (which was great already) to watch him sign for EVERYONE after the game... Awesome! I did get dap and I yanked him in for a hug and slipped my Troll Bizness Card into his equipment bag, so I may have a new reader, ha!
Okay, thanks again to Scott for all the awesome Heritage cards! I mentioned earlier that I shipped 30 envelopes in 30 days - PLEASE let me know when you receive... I still owe a bunch of folks - Scott included, but for now, I am paying my good fortune forward...

As always, I totally appreciate EVERYONE (all 3 of ya!) who reads this page... Please check out the Smed's Cards Blog - dude can write! He is very organized in his wantlists, so check them out while yer there - feel free to hook him up on my behalf... It's time for a Troll to hit the books... Go Rays! Heritage want list is right below.... troll out.

2012 Topps Heritage Baseball ~ Complete Needs List Cards 1 - 500

1 NL Batting Leaders
2 AL Batting Leaders
4 AL Homerun Leaders
6 AL Wins Leaders
8 AL Pitching Leaders
10 AL Leading Pitchers
11 Francisco Rodriguez
12 Jim Johnson
14 Justin Masterson
18 David Ortiz / Gonzalez
21 Drew Stubbs
22 Edwin Jackson
23 Ned Yost MGR
25 Delmon Young
28 Josh Beckett
33 Tyler Chatwood
40 Chris Parmelee
42 David Robertson
45 Jimmy Paredes
46 Michael Bourn
49 Jordan Walden
51 Alex Gordon
52 Dustin Pedroia
53 Freddie Freeman
54 2012 Rookies
55 Alex Presley
56 Cliff Lee
57 Howie Kendrick
58 Marlon Byrd
60 Jesus Montero
61 Aubrey Huff
63 Cincinnati Reds
65 Nick Markakis
67 J.P. Arencibia ASRC
68 Vogelsong - Andre Ethier
71 Placido Polanco
77 J.B. Shuck
81 Geovany Soto
84 Doug Fister
85 Buster Posey
86 Dayan Viciedo
93 Johan Santana
94 Wilson Ramos
95 2012 Rookies
96 Carl Crawford
97 Kyle Lohse
100 Paul Konerko
101 Jeff Karstens
103 Michael Brantley
105 James Loney
109 Wade Davis
110 Chase Headley
111 Jeremy Hellickson ASRC
114 St. Louis Cardinals
116 Vance Worley
117 Vernon Wells
120 Nick Swisher
123 Andre Ethier
125 Ron Gardenhire MGR
126 Jonathan Lucroy
127 Willie Bloomquist
129 Chris Perez
130 David Freese
131 Kevin Gregg
133 Todd Frazier
135 2012 Rookies
138 Uggla - Chipper Jones
139 Carlos Ruiz
140 Max Scherzer
141 Carlos Lee
142 Allen Craig WS
143 Neftali Feliz WS
144 Albert Pujols WS
146 Mike Napoli WS
152 Nick Hagadone
154 Don Mattingly MGR
158 2012 Rookies
159 Ryan Doumit
160 Mark Buehrle
161 Ryan Howard
162 Minnesota Twins
164 Austin Jackson
165 C.J. Wilson
166 Kirk Gibson MGR
167 Erick Aybar
168 Ryan Lavarnway
169 2012 Rookies
170 Lonnie Chisenhall
172 Yadier Molina
173 Cano - Jeter - ARod
174 Jose Reyes
175 Matt Garza
176 Michael Taylor
177 Evan Longoria
181 Brent Morel
183 Mark Teixeira
184 Jared Hughes
186 Joe Mauer
187 Shelley Duncan
190 Matt Holliday
191 2012 Rookies
193 Starlin Castro
195 Desmond JenningsASRC
196 Tim Federowicz
200 Curtis Granderson
201 Yovani Gallardo
207 Mike Trout
211 Mark Trumbo ASRC
212 Carlos Marmol
214 Joakim Soria
216 Kyle Weiland
220 Ricky Romero
222 Jed Lowrie
223 Addison Reed
229 Brandon Beachy
233 Terry Collins MGR
235 Ryan Vogelsong
236 Salvador Perez
237 Ivan Nova
239 Cleveland Indians
242 Jay Bruce - Justin Upton
244 Jason Motte
245 Lucas Duda
246 Felix Hernandez
249 Alberto Callaspo
250 Jon Jay
252 Aramis Ramirez
254 Carlos Quentin
257 Jacob Turner
260 Anthony Rizzo
261 Javy Guerra
265 2012 Rookies
266 Travis Hafner
268 Hunter Pence
272 David Murphy
273 Wilin Rosario
275 Dan Uggla
276 Ryan Braun
280 Brett Lawrie ASRC
281 Jason Marquis
282 Jeff Francoeur
285 Adrian Gonzalez
286 2012 Rookies
287 Yorvit Torrealba
288 Chicago White Sox
292 Justin Turner
295 Cory Luebke
297 Derek Holland
299 2012 Rookies
301 Gio Gonzalez
302 Brennan Boesch
303 Alexi Ogando
304 Brandon Phillips
305 Ryan Roberts
309 Ryan Dempster
312 Tampa Bay Rays
314 Alexi Casilla
318 Charlie Manuel MGR
319 Adam Jones
322 Ervin Santana
326 Ramon Hernandez
327 Rick Porcello
328 Elvis Andrus
329 Francisco Cervelli
332 Jorge De La Rosa
334 Mat Latos
335 Bobby Abreu
337 Adam Dunn
338 Brandon McCarthy
341 Ryan Madson
343 Joe Maddon MGR
349 Alex Gonzalez
350 Tommy Hanson
352 Mike Adams
353 Cameron Maybin
354 Jemile Weeks
356 Adrian Beltre
361 Alex Rodriguez
366 Dustin Ackley
367 Trayvon Robinson
368 Andrew Bailey
369 Jason Kubel
373 Michael Young
374 Tom Milone
379 Joaquin Benoit
380 Carlos Pena
382 Joe Girardi MGR
384 Blake DeWitt
385 Logan Morrison
386 2012 Rookies
389 Drew Pomeranz
391 Matt Moore
392 Cabrera / Santana
396 Emilio Bonifacio
397 Kansas City Royals
401 Freddy Garcia
403 Colby Lewis
411 Nathan Eovaldi
412 Kemp - Ethier - Kershaw
414 Corey Hart
415 Chris Carpenter
422 Dusty Baker MGR
423 Neftali Feliz
424 Matt Dominguez
SHORT PRINTS ~ 426-500
426 Frank Francisco
427 Dee Gordon
428 Eric Thames
429 Jonny Venters
430 Ben Zobrist
431 Jerry Hairston
432 Matt Joyce
433 Rickie Weeks
434 Shane Victorino
435 Asdrubal Cabrera
436 Ike Davis
437 Chris Denorfia
438 Juan Nicasio
439 Aaron Miles
440 Jonathan Sanchez
441 Paul Goldschmidt
442 Jason Bartlett
443 Endy Chavez
444 Brandon League
445 Gaby Sanchez
446 CC Sabathia
447 Jose Iglesias
448 Heath Bell
449 Gerardo Parra
450 Leo Nunez
452 Fautino De
453 Troy Tulowitzki
454 Julio Teheran
455 Jimmy Rollins
456 Greg Dobbs
457 Dellin Betances
458 Adron Chambers
459 Alex Liddi
460 Brett Pill
461 Jose Altuve
462 Chris Young
463 Edwin Encarnacion
464 Omar Infante
465 John Mayberry
466 Kyle Seager
467 David Wright
468 Nelson Cruz
469 Jeremy Affeldt
471 Yunel Escobar
473 Carlos Zambrano
474 Barry Zito
475 Jason Bay
476 Prince Fielder (Tigers)
477 Derrek Lee
478 Roy Oswalt
479 Eric Hosmer
480 Carlos Gonzalez
481 Justin Upton
482 David Ortiz
483 Mike Stanton
484 Todd Helton
485 Mike Napoli
486 Josh Hamilton
487 Casey Kotchman
488 Ryan Adams
489 Jose Bautista
490 Brandon Belt
491 Ichiro
492 Joel Hanrahan
493 Josh Willingham
494 Ryan Zimmerman
495 James Shields
496 Josh Johnson
497 Jered Weaver
498 Jhoulys Chacin
500 Michael Cuddyer


Number of Cards I have: 177
Number of Cards in Set: 500
What I Need: 323
Completion Percentage: 35%

List Created – 03/27/2012
List Updated - 03-29-2012

Thanks for reading my list! I am running pretty low on cards to trade away, but if you can help me out, I will do my best to make it worth your while... I still do have some Ginter minis I could be persuaded out of... I am also still looking for someone willing to take on my Jason Bartlett player collection which has (I think) 9 autographs and a few relics in it... I also need someone to grant a home to my Carl Crawford collection as well. This WILL cost ya... I sold some of the autos and printing plates on eBay, but still have at least 5 autos, 5 rookies, about 20 relics, a ton of refractors and parallels, at least one 1/1 and over 500 different cards of him. I spent about 3 years aggressively buying and trading for his cards and have hundreds of bucks invested in this... I am not looking for a return on my investment, but if you want it, be serious and be ready to give me something attractive in return... My Aki collection is pretty cool - not nearly as many cards as CC, but more autographs... I don't mind hanging onto this one, but if there are Aki fans out there, I could share some with ya... I already parted with my Aubrey Huff and BJ Upton collections... This leaves just Scott Kazmir, Jonny Gomes and Rocco Baldelli left as the only X-Ray collections I have... I would LOVE to find a good home for all the Kazmir's... I would love to know what the heck happened to him, really... He was sooo good, so young and so left-handed... Gomes is still my favorite player, Ray or not and Rocco was all we had for a while so I don't mind holding onto them. Jared Sandberg still rocks! I still also have decent collections of Joe Kennedy, Dewon Brazleton, Ben Grieve, Q McCrackin, Fred McGriff, Vinny Castilla... If you seriously collect them, let me know... I want to build a serious PC for Sean Rodriguez, I wanna fill a page of Manny Ramirez and I am always looking for cards of Jennings, Longo, Price, Moore, Wade Davis, Zorilla, Hellickson, Pena... Alex Cobb and Jake McGee are also among my favorite future stars... Wow. Was any of this relevant? Ha! Is anyone reading? Una cosa mas... If you are on my blogroll and we have NEVER traded, we need to fix this. Get in touch, okay? Go Rays! troll out.

Monday, March 26, 2012

If Ya Need Me, I Will Be at the Ball Park, AGAIN!

So, of course I had a great time checking out the Rays vs. Marlins with Scott from the Smed's Cards blog... My wife worked a split double while I was hanging out at the ballpark... It didn't seem fair that I was off having a good time while she was hard at work, but I don't think she was too upset because when she finally got home from her second shift (after midnight) she shared this surprise with me...

Two excellent tickets to tomorrow nights ball game, the Pirates hosting the Baltimore Orioles!

Since the Pirates added lights at McKechnie Field they have had ONE night spring training game each year. The Wifey and I have attended ALL of them. It gets better - after the lone night game of the spring there is a fireworks display, so its gonna be super special and romantic, ha!

Oh, for today's shipping update: Packages were sent to the following zip codes - 30101, 92234, 23666, 23320 and 60586. At the beginning of March I purchased 30 padded envelopes and silently set a goal for myself - to send out 30 trade packages within the month of March. 30 trades in 30 days you could call it. Well, I am officially out of bubble mailers and I have sent out several packages in Priority flat-rates mailers, so I have sent out AT LEAST 30 trades in 30 days! And hey, even better, I am going to my second baseball game in as many days...

Gosh, I love my Wifey! Thanks Darling! Go Rays! Stories to follow... troll out.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

On My Way to the Ball Park!

I am meeting with Scott from the AMAZINGLY cool Smed's Card blog to watch the Marlins play the Rays in Port Charlotte, Florida... While you are here, I shipped to the following zip codes yesterday: 40342, 97202, 44887 and 60706... I still have a few more going out early next week... If you are reading this AND you are at the game, too, send me a text at 941-773-0023. Bloggers unite! The more the merrier! Lets go Rays! troll out.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Coming and Going!

So, with my post office box back in bizness I feel MUCH more comfortable hanging out and spending money at the post office... I was finally able to ship out a few boxes that have long been waiting to travel to their new homes... If you reside at any of the following zip codes you MIGHT have a package on the way: 75201, 43028, 76063, 23666 and 23320... Although they didn't go out yesterday, there are hearty envelopes packed and ready to head off to Dime Boxes, Cards on Cards, Cardboard Junkie, Dawgbones, reader Tim, another one for My Cardboard Mistress and Thoughts and Sox...

I am also working on another trade with Hand Collated and I just got a message from Matt F. -the mastermind behind Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius and a Pack to be Named Later... He has the final 7 cards I needed to finish off my Allen and Ginter Frankenset!!!! Woo hoo!!! So, pending delivery I will have 18 FULL pages of Ginter minis which showcase cards numbered 1 - 350 including a variety of cards ranging from 2006 till 2011. Once I have them all in my hot little hands I will start posting them, put up a complete list of what I have AND start the process of upgrading to create the PERFECT set. Expect plenty of Ginter posting in the near, near future.

Before I get into that, tomorrow I plan to show off an amazing 1/1 card of the legendary Satchell Paige. It is AWESOME! Stay tuned to check it out manana! Okay, I need to be at work in about 2 hours so I should probably be thinking about getting some sleep... Oh, the Buck O'Neil auto technically doesn't coincide with this post, but you can never go wrong with Buck! Go Rays! troll out.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Frankensetting!!!!

I seriously need to show off what I found in my mailbox last Monday... After that I will share what was in it today... Both packages accounted for, I need just SEVEN more cards to fill out the 18 pages in my binder making up my 2006-2011 Allen a nd Ginter Mini Frankenset... That means many completed pages and lots of joy for me! My needs list is up to date and I will gladly accept ANY minis that ANYONE wants to send me! My Post Office Box is back in business and is listed in the sidebar... If you don't wanna click the link, I will make it even easier for ya... I need these 7 cards: 7, 16, 90, 164, 178, 233 and 328... More posts to come... Hitting up some spring training baseball AND meeting a fellow blogger in person this weekend... What are YOU doing??? I LOVE this hobby!!!! Go Rays! troll out.

Monday, March 19, 2012

2 Posts in 2 Days, WHAAATTT????????????

So, I am actually gonna deliver on the promise that I made yesterday, I AM actually gonna post some of the cool cards that Tim the Indians fan sent to my newly operational Post Office box…

First, I want to get a few links out of the way… At the end of my last post I encouraged everyone to check out the Bradentucky Bombers facebook page… Well, I posted the wrong link, so here is the correct one… Check it out and LIKE us please!

We did have a bout last night… It was fun and well attended which is awesome. We are raising money for Multiple Sclerosis research and our awesome fans helped us get towards our goal. Our league, the Bradentucky Bombers, has two separate teams, our A team – The Bomb Squad. Also, our B squad – The Nuclear Bombshells. Both teams had been perfect, each posting 2-0 records. Well, the Bombshells lost their first game to the Lakeland Derby Dames last night. LDD was just a better team, we were overmatched…

Okay, back to baseball cards… I had mentioned that I was gonna chase 2009 Topps and was basically starting from scratch and I was looking for a kind soul to help get me started. Well, Spankee from My Cardboard Mistress answered the call and is sending nearly 200 cards towards my goal. My lists are up to date and could be found here. Lend me a hand, okay?


Okay, now back to the first package in the PO box… Reader Tim send a pretty big envelope filled with the standard assortment of Rays cards… The first stack wasn’t terribly exciting, although appreciated, ha! The next stack was a complete set of 2008 or 2009 DAV Rays cards!!! The card back has contact info for the Disabled American Veterans... You can find them on the web here.

The cards look GREAT and it is a great foundation worthy of support... Along with the cards Tim included a note apologizing that Evan Longoria wasn’t included. Well, I have a pretty fair amount of Longo cards, but this DAV set absolutely RULED because of the guys it included who I don’t have cards of…

I seriously want to get back into the quest for hunting Rays autographs. I had gotten frustrated because there are so many people who spent a short amount of time in the Rays organization without ever getting a Rays uni-card. There are a lot of members of the Rays coaching staff who have been around forever, but never got a solo card in a Rays uniform… Yeah, that is why I LOVE this set! They are good looking cards too! I seriously never thought I would EVER see a card of longtime bullpen coach Bobby Ramos. Got that now! Also have Don Zimmer, Tom Foley, and George Hendrick… Well, just look at them!

The first 2 pages have at least 10 guys I previously did NOT have a Rays card of. I plan to have ALL of these signed before the season is up. There is one card that might be tough to get signed, the card featuring everyone’s favorite seadog Raymond. This is my 3rd Raymond card – I would LOVE to get six more and fill a page of him…The third page I am showing off has the bigger named players on it…


Nice cuz in every case I didn’t have any of these in any of my PCs. Oh, speaking of PCs – Ben Zobrist was included in this set and with this card I now have 2 full pages of Zorilla cards!

I know that seems like nothing to many of you, but I am psyched and happy with it… I trashed my old binder with my PCs of Crawford, Bartlett, Aki and Kaz (LONG story about that coming soon) and replaced it with a new binder that starts off with 13 pages of Evan Longoria!!!!


I had always said I didn't collect Longo because his cards were too pricey. Well, they still are, but I DO collect him. Keep sending them my way and I will keep collecting! Aside from Longo, the PC binder now includes Zorilla, Price, Wade Davis, Desmond Jennings, Jeremy Hellickson, Sean Rodriguez, Matt Moore, Alex Cobb, Jake McGee, Wilking Rodriguez, Raymond, Alex Colome, Shawn O’Malley, Stephen Vogt, Brandon Gomes, Alex Torres and Justin O’Conner.

Many of those guys don’t have many cards just yet and there are a few names on that list that I only have 1 or 2 cards of, but I hope to have full pages of each one of them someday soon. The binder is mostly current Rays, but there are 3 ex-Rays that I still collect… One is retired and coaching – Jared Sandberg and the other two are on the other coast, in the wasteland known as the Oakland A’s. I am referring to both Jonny Gomes! And Manny Ramirez. I only want Rays cards of Manny…
Adam from Thoughts and Sox sent me my second Manny card a few weeks back, so I just need 7 more to fill a page. Thanks for reading! Thanks so much to reader Tim for the sweet DAV cards which will be signed up soon… Oh, I just filled up my first page of last year’s Rookie of the Year. If ya don’t see it here, I don’t have it yet, so send it my way, ha!
Oh, I have been doing a bit of wheeling and dealing of late and most of my wantlists are up to date... I WILL be chasing 2012 Heritage, but doing so on a tight budget, so I NEED your dupes! Go Rays! Troll out.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

It's A GO At the PO!!!!!!!!

Thanks to a truly awesome and amazing postal clerk who has become a friend, I now have an unlocked PO Box… As many of you crazy bloggers do, I was spending a ton of time at the post office and this meant I really got to know the folks who worked there… It is a very small post office and including the Postmaster, there are only 3 employees. All 3 have gone out to roller derby bouts (we have 1 tonight!) and when I am shipping, the conversation isn’t forced small talk – these are really good folks… I am lucky. One of the employees – Chrissie, is particularly awesome. We are “friends” on Facebook and chat on occasion.

I have been broke and haven’t been around like I once was. She sent a few messages of concern and said she missed me and was worried about my box being locked. I explained why and she said she was determined to help me get back on track – postally (is this a word?) speaking at least… Last year she was excited because her 13 year old son was going to his first big concert, the Tampa stop on the Vans Warped Tour. She is a pretty cool chick and was going with him, playing chaperone and being the cool mom that she is. I told her I wasn’t going this year, but had been to nearly every year prior. She told her son this and he thought that was pretty cool. He had met me at a derby bout and considered me one of his mom’s “cool friends” even though I am a Grandpa… Anyway, while cleaning up around the house I found an old tee shirt, a concert tee from the first ever Warped Tour back in 1995 which featured bands like Sublime, No Use for a Name, Sick of it All, L7, Quicksand and more… I brought it into the post office and gave it to Chrissie for her son. He LOVED it! It gave him big “cool points” at school for having such an old school tee. She said he wore it for a week straight.

Anyway, fast forward to last week. My Wifey, the legendary Esther Gin N Juice and I were celebrating our 6-year wedding anniversary (shown here on Wedding Day 03-11-2006 right after jumping from an airplane… ) I made a post about it on facebook and Chrissie sent me a message that she wanted to get us a special Anniversary gift since we had hooked her son up the year before. I messaged her back telling her thanks, but it wasn’t necessary and pretty much forgot about it.
Then, after work on Saturday, I stopped at the post office, solely out of habit because it was closed and my box was out of order. I went to it anyway, unlocked it expecting to see the yellow barrier in the back of the box which prevented anyone from putting mail in it. The yellow barrier was NOT there, there was a pair of manila envelopes in it instead along with a receipt…

The receipt was for a box payment. A BIG payment, considering I owed a $15 late fee along with the $48 cost for the box rental. It was ALL paid!!! I nearly cried I was so happy and touched. I have had a lot of truly generous people touch my life in the years since I began blogging and trading and this ranked among the tops… Truly unbelievable!!! Thanks sooooooooo much Chrissie!!!

I really don’t know what to say or how to thank you, but that is mega awesome and I will be eternally grateful for this… By the way, the 2 envelopes in the box came courtesy of a reader named Tim who is an Indians fan who claimed a card I had posted nearly 2 years ago. He had said he didn’t have anything to send me at the time, but he would pay me back someday. He came through with an awesome package of really cool and unique Rays cards. This will be the subject of my next post, thanks Tim! The other package came from Chris at the Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz blog. He had sent me an email weeks prior offering to send me 60 cards off of my 2012 Topps want list. I tried writing him back to tell him of my address change, but the email was sent back and for some reason I couldn’t get one through to him. I think he sent this envelope a month ago. Of course I still needed everything and now they are all safe and sound in the 2012 Topps binder.

When I got home I had a manila envelope in my house’s mailbox, too. Another 20 cards from 2012 Topps from a reader named Nick. Everything is safe in the binder. I have 32 completed pages now and just need a few more cards to finish the set off. For the first page I need card #7, I would assume that is a Mantle card, from there the next 30 pages are totally full! The few others I need to finish it are cards numbered 297, 307, 312, 313, 330 and 331. Yep, just a total of 7 more cards to finish this off! Not too bad I think…


I bought my first pack 5 weeks ago, posted a want list and within 30 days the blog-o-sphere sent me over 250 cards towards my journey. Huge thanks for that!!! I should mention that in the package from reader Nick I also got a few more 1987 Topps style minis and updated that list as well. Nick doesn’t have a blog and is just getting back into collecting. He ripped a bunch of 2012 Topps and he has already finished the set so he doesn’t need any of that. He does have a few PCs that I can help him with, so if anyone has any cards of Ichiro or Alex Ovechkin that they wouldn’t mind sharing with me – I want to hit Nick back.

This is important because not only did he send everything I mentioned- he is also the first person to answer the call for parallels of Desmond Jennings from 2012… I am now the proud owner of the RED version of his rookie cup card. I want them all, right down to the printing plates if I can find them, but I am on the road to domination and I owe ya for that Nick! That card incidentally is my 8th different Desmond Jennings card. My DJ page is nearly complete. I am going to post up pages from all of my PCs soon, but I am pretty stoked about this right now… You might notice the blue parallel that the Cardboard Don sent me from 2011 Topps. I want to collect EVERY parallel of that card, too… I was at that game!

I used to be a Carl Crawford fan and have nearly 700 cards of his (up for trade!) but DJ is helping me forget about him… I have been lucky to be in attendance for his first triple ever and several homeruns… I think I am a lucky charm for the guy… Okay, that is all for now. The Rays are taking on the Boston Red Sox in Port Charlotte, Florida today. Oh yeah!!! Roller Derby later tonight! More posting in the near future, too! I need to post up some more mailbox arrivals. Scott from Smed’s Cards has sent me about a dozen AWESOME envelopes in the past few months, but it was earlier this week that a white box arrived at my house FILLED with something really cool… Stay tuned!

A huge thanks to Post Office Chrissie and all the cool kids who have sent me cards and helped me out on my set quests!!! Y’all rule! Want lists are up to date, my address is Collective Troll/PO Box 1063/Tallevast, FL 34270 and Trade Me Anything will open for business really soon. I LOVE this hobby! Oh and by the way... That RED Ryan Braun 2012 Heritage parallel is still available and up for trade, so anybody want it??? And also, I have decided to chase 2009 Topps and now have list for it... Spare any? Oh, and yes, that IS what I look like, hope I didn't scare away too many readers, ha!

The Nuclear Bombshells are entertaining the Lakeland Derby Dames in just a couple hours tonight... Wanna learn more? Find us and like us on Facebook... Thanks for reading and sharing my love! Go Rays! Troll out.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Remember Me? And Looking for a Ryan Braun Collector to Trade With and some blah blah blah...

So, it has been about a month since my last post, so I figure I am due... I have received SO much great stuff in the mail this past month... Smeds Card, Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz, Cards on Cards, Dawgbones, Democratic Roadkill (HUGE!!!), plus several of my awesome readers have all blessed me with packages which I appreciate SOOO much!

I am staying very active in collecting... My budget has been small, so I have been spending my time sorting and organizing... We have a fancy antique wood bench in our dining room. It has become the spot for me to stack cards to send off for surprise packages to my trade buddies...

Yesterday I sent out 8 such packages. I have 11 more stuffed and ready to go... I hate that they are sitting in my dining room still, but postage aint cheap... I am hoping that next Thursday all of them will be en route... I am trying to trade away EVERYTHING that isn't a part of a set or PC that I am chasing.... I put together over 2600 cards to send out for my blogger brethren and a couple 100 are on postal trucks as we speak. If yer curious - folks living in the following zip codes can expect a package from under the bridge real soon - 55418,16101,30052,98105,22031...

I also have over 5000 cards ready to go to Commons 4 Kids! I am super excited about this donation and already have a second 5000 count box in the works. The only problem I am facing is that when I took this to the Post Office to ship I was told it would be $38.! The box came back home with me. I am open if anyone has any suggestions for getting these out a little cheaper... Commons 4 Kids seems like a super awesome organization and I totally support and recommend them and encourage you to click this link and check them out...

In other card news, my wife surprised me with a jumbo retail pack of 2012 Heritage yesterday... I had not realized that it was out just yet, I need to pay a little more attention I guess. So, longtime readers of this blog may know that I am a pretty big of Topps Heritage. It was the product that got me hooked back into collecting and while collecting the 2007 Heritage set and trying to google a checklist of short prints I stumbled upon this AMAZING blog which led me to more blogs, like this AWESOME blog and this AWESOME blog and ultimately led me to start blogging (and BTW all 3 of those blogs are STILL around and are still 3 of the BEST) , so thank you Topps Heritage!!! On a negative note - I spent many hundreds of dollars buying box after box of 2007 Heritage (I included over 2000 dupes in my Commons 4 Kids package) AND spent nearly 2 years blogging and aggresively trading before I finally finished that set...

I had 2008 Heritage nearly complete, SPs and all, when they dropped Heritage High Numbers... Around 2010 I finished that one. I am still working on the 2010 set and did not buy a single pack of 2011. One of the reasons that I stayed away from the '11 set was that I was sooo excited about the 2012 set as it is based on '63 Topps which is one of my favorite sets of all time and is also a set that I am chasing... SO, I am super psyched about 2012 Heritage! The stupid budget isn't gonna allow much along the lines of wax in the near future - I may be able to rip a blaster here and there, but I will relying HEAVILY on trading, so keep me in mind as you get dupes, PLEASE! I will explain how and why later, but I have many, many Allen and Ginter minis available to trade. I also have quite a few 1963 Topps cards (especially if you are an Indians fan), along with some random other cards from the 60s and 70s and many 2010, 2011 and 2012 Topps cards.

I also have this card which came from the jumbo pack that Super Wife got for me. It is the RED SP parallel version of card #276 of reigning NL MVP Ryan Braun (shown at the top of this post). So far 3 of them landed on eBay, one has sold and for pretty good money, too... I would, of course, much rather trade it with a blogger, perhaps for one of the 27 Ginter minis that I need to finish my Frankenset, whatever, I am open to offers, just get in touch if you wanna make a deal, okay? Anyhoo... Stay tuned, I just might make a second March post, MAYBE a third... I might even drop a spring training update or some of my opinions on the Rays and the Pirates...

I believe those 2 teams are facing off this Saturday afternoon and the Wife and I MIGHT be attending... As always, thanks for reading - I will do my best to be a better blogger. I do seriously have some things in the works and many plans for this season. I do apologize for the lack of images. I hate expecting people to just read words with no photos to keep it interesting.... Gotta go though, Wifey is waiting!

Go Rays!!! troll out.