2012 Topps Heritage... I'm Still Tryin'

Thanks to Potch Wheeler and the Cardboard Heroes and reader Marcus (a Padres fan who lives in Texas), I got 56 more cards from 2012 Heritage in the mail today... That gives me 223 out of 500... Thanks guys! I updated the needs list - check it out if ya have cards to spare...

Oh, if yer wondering "why Ian Desmond?" (card pictured below). There are a few, well 6 different reasons...

First, it is one of the few cards I have a dupe of.

Second, he is one of my favorite non-Rays.

Third, he is from (nearby) Sarasota, Florida.

Fourth, he is off to a GREAT start - only Matt Kemp has more hits than Desmond.

Fifth - cuz the Nats are getting a ton of attention this year because of a lot of big names, big signings and big money and this dude has one of the smallest paychecks of anyone in Washington and he is shining the brightest...

The sixth and final reason is that he shares the same first name with Ian MacKaye (which is cool) and today is Iam MacKaye's 50th BIRTHDAY!!!!

50 years old and still out of step with the world and if you get that reference, you are very cool and should comment on this post...

Yeah, Ian Desmond rocks! Rock on Ian(s)...And check out the super rad blog known as Potch Wheeler and the Cardboard Heroes AND check out my 2012 Heritage want list...

Thanks for reading... Go Rays!!!! It's time to start winning again! I got a lil stack of Rays Topps parallels in the mail the last two weeks from a number of different folks... I really like colorful and sparkley parallels - these will be posted up really soon...

Oh, and if you have been wondering where I have been... At work the new schedule is 12 days of 12 hour shifts (consecutively) and two days off and repeat... I had this weekend off, but caught up on sleep, watched the Rays get beat by the Sox and hung with the wife... I will try and squeeze a few posts in between naps... Thanks for being patient! I will be around when I can, I promise I am not gonna vanish again...

Go Rays!!! troll out.

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.

A Nitty Gritty Sighting...

2 posts in 2 days... The Nitty Gritty is back? Check it out!

View My Accomplishment... My FIRST Completed Page from 1963 Topps Baseball, Oh the Joy!!!!! Plus a Shout-Out to Captain Canuck, Hell May Have Frozen..

...over. Apparently blogger limits the number of letters in a title. I can't believe I didn't figure this out sooner... The 1963 Tribe trade-bait cards I promised are being pushed back a day because of this breaking news... I finished a PAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My very first completed page of 1963 Topps!!! Cards numbered 46-54 are safe in the binder… It’s funny (to me) because my first page includes my first 1963 Topps card, #46 of Tommie Aaron. Although I have posted this one and said I wished it was a card of ANOTHER Aaron, I really like this card and this is the one that made me fall in love with the design of this set. I have of this card now, too if there is any interest in the other Aaron brother…

The second card I owned from 1963 is also on this page. It was the 10th card in my mini-super-collector Billy Pierce collection. Bill Pierce is my favorite pitcher from the 1950’s and somewhere along the line I decided to become a Billy Pierce collector. Maybe it’s because he ended his career with 1,999 strikeouts, maybe cuz I liked the blog that sponsors his BR page, maybe he was just an amazing pitcher…

Unlike the Tommie Aaron card that made me love this set, the Pierce card is my least favorite BP card ever. I can’t put my finger on it, but there is something I don’t like about this card. Anyway, like it or not it sets smack dab in the center of my first completed page! Also included in this page are card #47 of Senators outfielder Don Lock, #48 of Indians manager Birdie Tebbets, a card which I have a dupe of, and card #49 of Cardinals shortstop Dal Maxvill. Card 50 of Pierce comes next, followed by card #51 of George “Two Bats” Alusik, Boston second baseman Chuck Schilling (I have a dupe of this one, too) and card #53 of Dodgers pitcher Joe Moeller. The last card in the binder is number 54 of the Rookie Parade. It features Cubs outfielder Nelson Mathews, Cards pitcher Harry “Never Heard of Him” Fanok, Yankees pitcher Jack Cullen and White Sox pitcher and 2 sport star Dave DeBususschere. So there ya have it, my very first completed page!!!
My '63 Topps list is up-to-date, check it out! I have amassed about 20 duplicates from this set and I am looking for another ’63 Topps chaser to trade with, so get in touch with a Troll. I love this hobby! Vintage RULES! Oh, as an end note – should you glance out the window and see a pig fly by, don’t be afraid… After making him wait for two (yes 2!) YEARS, I am FINALLY shipping out a package to Captain Canuck, the King of the Great White North… The package isn’t sealed yet, just in case there are any vintage Braves he wants to add to the pile. With the Captain in mind I added a couple of cards to this post… A short printed team card, #509 featuring the Milwaukee Braves, card #46 of Tommie “Not Henry” Aaron and card #414 of Ty “I Misplaced My Hat” Cline. Ty Cline spent 5 seasons with the Braves; he played in 348 games and hit 1 home run for them. This is the same Ty Cline immortalized in the '71 Topps set for scoring the winning run in the NLCS for the Reds... Now like I said earlier, the Captain gets first dibs, then dayf, then it is a Braves free-for-all! Oh, just for the heck of it I am ending this post with a 2010 Topps card (WME-1) of a FORMER Brave, Mr. Babe Ruth. To the Captain… I know it is VERY hard to believe, BUT the package is somewhat ready, I bought the Canadian flat-rate-priority stamp and it is READY to go… I just feel like it needs a few more vintage cards in it…Captain, if you are reading this post, let me know if there are ANY cards I can add for you... If you are not the Captain, but are reading this post and somehow aren’t familiar with the Waxaholic, you can find him right here! His site is the official blog for insanely hot soccer chicks, need I say more? Oh, while I am pimping other blogs, you MUST read Play at the Plate tonight (and every night)!!! Less hot soccer chicks, but word on the street is that he has some pretty nice vintage cards posted up, so check it out and tell him the Troll sent ya... A huge thanks goes out to any and all who helped me out with cards to go towards this set and towards my first complete page! I REALLY love this hobby!!! Go Rays! Troll out.

Off to My LCS With a Lot of Lists and a Little Cash!!!

So it has been a GREAT way for trading and collecting for your friend the Troll... I got my cast off, I ripped a whole bunch of 2011 Topps Series 2, I created some new want lists and made some new trading buddies. Thanks to BA Benny and Justins World I need just 12 cards to finish off 2011 Topps Series 1 and 2... Specifically those cards that I need are: 331,333,343,388,523,541,554,574,582,618 and 639... Please get in touch if you can help a Troll out...
Sticking a fork in 2011 Topps is a top priority right now, but vintage will ALWAYS BE KING in the Casa de Troll... Everybody's favorite Junkie, Senor dayf got the vintage ball rolling with a surprise package and my local buddy Frank came back from a card show in South Florida with 23 1965 Topps cards for me! Thanks to them I need just 159 more cards to finish this off!!! I am sitting at 73.4% completion!!! Now that is a GREAT feeling. My '65 list is up to date once again, check it out here. If you have a spare copy of card #350 I have a cool Blake DeWitt card that I could send your way...
Anyway, I have oodles of cards to post, but now I am racing off to the LCS with Gint-A-Cuffs on my mind... Wish me luck... Go Rays!!! troll out.

My Boomerang Card o' da Day!

Anyone who reads this blog regularly, or did about a year ago, knows that Jim "Junior" Gilliam is one of my favorite players from the 1950s and 60s. I am trying to collect all of his regular issue Topps cards. I have owned a few, but like everything else that isn't part of one of my main collections, I will trade them away when I get in a bind... Since I started blogging I have owned and traded away 3, yep three, 1963 Jim Gilliam cards. In case you need proof, consider this Exhibit A as shown from February 2010 on the best blog out there...I thought about them when I decided to chase 1963 Topps. I vaguely regretted trading them away, but only for a second. That is because I KNEW he would come back to me. It took a month and a half, but I got a surprise package from a reader in Hawaii and sure enough it had today's CT Card o' da Day in it!!! The CT CodD is my BOOMERANG card, card #80 from 1963 Topps baseball of Dodgers infielder Jim "Junior" Gilliam. The back of the card mentions that Gilliam walked 100 times in his rookie year. He also scored 125 runs and hit 17 freakin' triples!!! Of course he wasn't really a rookie... He had already been a Negro League All Star, but I guess in the National League he WAS a rookie and he won the Rookie of the Year Award. Yeah, Jim Gilliam is pretty awesome and I like that his cards double as boomerangs... Heck, I might trade this copy away too, just to see if it comes back! Go Rays! troll out.

Today's Card o' da Day, Colt 45 Edition...

No I haven't finally found a malt liquor to sponsor this blog, this post is about the Colt 45s from Houston, more specifically one of their original outfielders... Al “Spanky” Spangler put together a really nice career… He stayed in the big leagues for 13 seasons with 4 different clubs. He was a valuable left-handed bat off the bench and was a reliable left fielder with good range. All that said I had never heard of the man before I received his card from reader Brent in the mail last week. I have heard of him now and did my five minutes of research on him before giving him the honor of being today’s CT Card o’ da Day. Appearing on card #77 from 1963 Topps baseball, Spanky fits many of the criteria for being a card of the day. I own the card, it is from a set I am chasing, he has a nickname (Spanky), he was a Nitty Gritty player and he was an original member of an expansion team (I just added that one to the list). There is also a cool cartoon on the back showing a ballplayer at the "base store". The card also is an error showing Spangler with a left handed batting stance up top and a reverse neg in the inlay, but most importantly, Al Spangler is now the 100th card I own from 1963 Topps and I am pretty happy and grateful to add so many so quickly. Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who has helped me out! My want list is once again up-to-date; check it out if you please. Go Rays! Troll out.

The Collective Troll's Card o' da Day - The Rules and da Card...

Just in case someone is wondering what it takes to get to the plateau that is the CT CodD, there are a few things that can really help your cause...
1. I must own the card. You can send it to me, its okay...
2. If you send me the card AND a front and back scan, that would speed things up... Otherwise some more realistic reasons to find your way here include...
3. Being from one of my favorite sets including 1963 Topps, 1964 Topps GIANTS or 1965 Topps baseball OR on a better day 1887 Allen and Ginter.
4. Being a fav player of mine (and there are a BUNCH) helps...
5. I like cartoons and a cool cartoon makes any card Card o' da Day material...
6. Have a nickname. A cool one. Nicknames ARE Nitty Gritty. Even better when there is mystery and I can't figure out why you are referred to as the (insert bad ass moniker here)
7. There are way more than 6 factors, BUT I fear I am loosing you (I'm bored myself) so I will end it here... The final way to guarantee CodD status is to be a bad-ass player with ties to the great state of Oklahoma...
Okay, with the rules specified, lets get down to bizness and show off today's Collective Troll Card o' da Day. This card exemplifies numbers 1, 2, 3 AND 7. There is a chance this guy had a nickname too, but I don't know what it is. Do you? That information could push him into #4 as well... Anyhoo, hailing from Qualls, Oklahoma, the CT Card o' da Day is from 1963 Topps Baseball, card #434 of Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Johnny Callison. Callison was coming off a breakout year in '62 when he became an All Star (twice) for the first time (at age 23), paced the NL in triples (10), topped 100 runs scored (107), blasted 23 homers and hit .300 the only time in his 16-year big league career. The next year he made his third All Star appearance and took over in right field for Roberto Clemente. He was hitless in his first 2 plate appearances, but in the bottom of the ninth inning, with 2 outs and 2 men on, Callison delivered... He delivered by crushing a homerun to deep right field, breaking the tie and giving the NL the victory 7-4. It was the 3rd walk-off homer in All Star game history and Callison joined Ted Williams and Stan Musial as the 3 legends to hit 'em. The homer earned Callison MVP honors for the game. Despite his team's late season collapse that year, Callison finished strong himself and ended the 1964 season with a batting line of .274, 31 homers and 104 RBI. His Phillies finished second in the NL to the Cardinals and Callison finished second in the MVP vote to Cards third baseman Ken Boyer... The one thing his career lacked was October experience... With 4 different teams over 16 seasons Callison never made it to the postseason, but he has made it to the CT Card o' da Day! My 1963 Topps need list is of course up to date, so don't hold back and check it out right here...A HUGE thank you goes out to reader Brian G. for the card AND THE SCAN!!! Thanks for reading! Go Rays! troll out.

A Card 'o da Day So Cool I Didn't Have to Write About It...

Today's CT Card o da Day comes from 1963 Topps baseball, card #138 to be specific. Over the years I have made over 700 posts and have probably written close to a million words about the cards I own and the cards I want. This is a card that I own and a card that I have wanted for some time now. It is a card that is SO awesome that I wouldn't do it justice by blabbering on about it, so here it is: The Pride of the N.L.. It features 2 of the GREATEST players ever to play the game on ONE AWESOME CARD!!! They also happen to both be in the starting line-up on the ALL TROLL team. Enjoy! By the way this is the 81st 1963 Topps card to go into the binder. The list is of course up to date, check it out! Go Rays! troll out...

He Wore #23 on the South Side of Chicago... My 750th Post!!!!

Going back in time to remember the good ole days before I became a blogger, when I was just a guy who ran out of money while still needing 30 more short prints to finish 2007 Topps Heritage. This was actually before I knew that there was such a thing as short prints. I just thought the collation was that bad. I didn’t understand why I had 24 copies of one card, but still needed others. Well, I turned to Google for answers and Google pointed me to a blog called the Cardboard Junkie. My life was changed forever. I won’t get into all of the angels singing and clouds separating on that magical day, but I discovered card blogs and I realized that these folks also tried to collect sets and were willing to trade. I sent an email to this Cardboard Junkie fellow and waited for his reply. Within my boxes of duplicates I had many cards he needed for his set AND he had a few that I needed, too. A week passed with no reply, so I wrote him again. This time his reply was immediate and so began a wonderful e-friendship.

As this friendship has progressed, Mr. Junkie has sent me some pretty awesome and amazing and surprise packages of goodies. A couple of weeks ago I got one of these surprise packages. Along with a card of my favorite Rays employee, Raymond, and some original artwork which was immediately thumb tacked to the wall, there was a stack of vintage cards. Beautiful aged slabs of cardboard with just enough wear around the edges to let you know that these had been handled, read, studied, flipped, traded, enjoyed, celebrated and cherished. These cards were beautiful AND they all just happened to be cards that I needed in my quest of completion regarding 1963 Topps Baseball cards.

Yeah, the super great thing about Senor Card Junk is he is not only one of the biggest names in card blogging and one of the most creative minds on the web, but is also one of the funniest people you will ever encounter. As a blogger he is a legend; as a collector, well, it is pretty darn easy to be jealous of him. Once again, as a blogger he is one of the best… I remember how excited I got the first time a comment appeared on my blog that was attributed to dayf13, the handle of Mr. Junkie. Yeah, as exciting as it is to know he is reading your dribble, it is even more awesome to get a package in the mail from the Junk Lair in Gawja… All this stated about his legendary status, the dude is really freaking thoughtful too! I had JUST decided to collect 1963 Topps and I had just made a list of my needs and BLAMMO there is a package from the Junkie with guess what? Yeah, a bunch of ’63 Topps in it…

From that package comes today’s CT Card O’ Da Day… From 1963 Topps Baseball, card #66 of White Sox pitcher Mike Joyce… I would be a horrible liar if I told you that I had any idea who this guy was. I didn’t. I wondered if he might be of some relation to the Matt Joyce, the Rays outfielder… I am still wondering, but I don’t think so. Basically if you want to know everything about Mike Joyce’s major league career, you could learn it from reading the back of this card. Joyce was a Michigan Wolverine and signed with Chicago as a 21 year old. In his first pro season he jumped from A to AAA to Chicago. He made his first and ONLY big league start on the road in New York against the Yankees. It was the second game of a July double header.

Joyce pitched 4-2/3 innings allowing 2 runs. He was also 2 for 2 at the plate. The White Sox would win that game, but Joyce was lifted one out away from getting the decision. He would never start again. He did pick up a couple of wins out of the bullpen and he finished 1962 with a 2-1 record.

In 1963 he started the year in Chicago’s bullpen but saw little work and returned to AAA where he was 13-11 in 24 starts. I am guessing at some point there was a pretty serious arm injury because in 1964 his effectiveness dropped off a cliff. He began the year in AAA, but dropped to AA and finished with an 0-13 record with a combined 7.09 ERA in 15 starts, spanning only 80 innings. He would return in 1965, but ended his career after only 5 innings.

I would love to know a little more about his career, what happened. How he went from a 21 year old big leaguer starting at Yankee Stadium to being winless in the minors 2 years later. Either way, as a big leaguer he won twice as many games as he lost AND in 7 at bats he had a career .429 batting average! Not too shabby. Plus he will always have a place on the 8th page of my 1963 Topps binder with a pretty cool looking card…

Thanks again to the blogging legend known as dayf for the hook-up and the blog fodder and thanks to y’all for reading. Thanks to Mike Joyce for throwing a baseball so many years ago... I love this hobby! Oh, this card o' the day happens to be from a set that I am chasing. I don't need this card, but I do need a bunch... Find my list HERE! Roller derby is back! Tomorrow night, June 5th: Bradentucky Bombers vs. Gainesville Roller Rebels. Be there!!! Go Rays! Troll out.

The CT Card of the Day; This Could Be a Baseball Player, Could Be Your Uncle or Neighbor, There is No Way to Tell...

I have been singing the praises of my new favorite set, 1963 Topps Baseball, an awful lot lately, I decided to collect this set last month with only a handful of cards in my collection. I now own over 60 cards from this set get more into it with each and every card I get my hands on.
That said this set isn’t perfect… Topps made the same mistake within this set that they had been making since the early 1950s, the same mistake they continue to make now in 2011. They had their photographers snapping pictures of players without hats AND they published these awful photos and immortalized them on cardboard and included them in their annual baseball card set.

Like I said, they did it in the 50s; they did it in the 60s and 70s, 80s, 90s and have continued to do it over the last 2 decades.
Ballplayers tend to be focused on the game they are playing, more focused on that than how they looked and most of them weren’t all that good looking… It becomes convenient that their occupation requires them to wear a hat, allowing them to hide their balding heads, goofy ears and sometimes goofier faces… The ball cap is integral to a player’s “game face”. It is integral to their job and a requirement to do it.

All these things mentioned are great reasons why Topps should photograph the baseball players that they feature in their sets wearing their uniforms, their complete uniforms…
This is a really long set-up for today’s Collective Troll Card of the Day, from 1963 Topps, card #575 of Pirates pitcher Don Cardwell.

Cardwell had a pretty great career. He spent 14 years in the big leagues where he won 101 games. He topped 200 innings in a season 4 times. He hurled 17 shutouts and completed 72 of his 301 starts. He tossed a no-hitter in 1960 as a Chicago Cub, in his first start with his new squad. He was a part of the starting rotation on the Amazin’ Mets of 1969 and won a ring with that team. He had a pretty impressive resume.

Unfortunately all I see is a goofy looking guy on this card… A picture taken WAY too close with a player missing a very important part of his uniform… A picture that one has to assume is of Don Cardwell, a baseball player, but there are zero visible clues to this...
I love this game! I love this hobby! Go Rays! Troll out.

It Was the Best of Times, the Worst of Times... Gene Freese and I Have So Much In Common...

I have been dying to break the ice and get back to blogging… As always I feel like I could write a book about where I have been, where I am going and where I want to be… Lucky for you the reader, I will spare the longwinded song and dance and sum things up with a Collective Troll Card of the Day… This comes from my new favorite set, 1963 Topps Baseball, card #133 of Cincinnati Reds third baseman Gene Freese…

Just looking at the color scheme of this card is going to make most of you crave McDonalds, but I am looking deeper. Gene Freese sums up the day late and a dollar short story of my life… In 1961 Freese had the best season of his career; he hit .277 with 26 homers and 87 RBI.

He was 27, in the prime of his career and he joined the Reds, his 5th major league team. Along with Frank Robinson and Vada Pinson he helped lead the Reds to their first National League pennant in 21 years. Freese and the Reds were overmatched by the Yankees and fell to New York in the ’61 series.

There is no doubt he spent the off season working hard to put his team back into the position to battle the Yankees again for the World Championship.

Of course this didn’t happen. Gene Freese has my luck. He broke his ankle in spring training and missed nearly the entire season. The Reds would not see the postseason again in that decade and Freese would never have a full time job again. He never hit double digit homers again and never saw the postseason again. He did jump around to 3 more teams before playing his final big league season with Houston in 1966. He managed just 3 hits for the Astros before ending his hard luck twelve year big league career.

He never made an All Star squad or won a Gold Glove, but many who saw him play in the late 50s and early 60s say he deserved to be… For today he is someone with a broken limb just like me. Go Rays! Troll out.

2011 Topps is (virtually) DONE!!!

So yesterday I was still riding that post derby high that I love sooo much... After school I hit the post office and got a great package from my homie and Braves fan Derek of the Tomahawk Chopping Card Blog... When my want list went down to 8 cards he wrote me that he had 7 of the 8 for me including Mickey Mantle and Buster Posey! Within 2 days of his e-mail, the cards were in my mailbox!

AWESOME!!! I am still waiting on a few more packages to arrive, but my wantlist is now empty and I couldn't be more grateful to all the awesome bloggers and readers who have helped me out on this journey!

If you are wondering about the lack of posts and pics of late, part of the reason is that my scanner took a crap... My lovely wife and I purchased a home computer, printer, scanner and a bunch of electronic goodies the month we got married... We celebrated 5 years on March 11th... That is a pretty long life for any electronic device, so we had a good run, but it is all pretty much garbage now... We have our sights on getting a wireless printer and scanner both. I don't know when, but they are both on our shopping list, so it has to happen, ha!
So back to 2011 Topps... After checking the PO Box I visited the local card shop, Ryan's Sportscards, AKA my home away from home... I was looking for some Martin Prado cards to pay Tomahawk Chopping back, but they had nothing. What they did have was an envelope marked "for Troll". Sweet! Apparently one of their customers left it for me. No note, no name. So I don't know who to thank, but to the mystery local card collector, whomever you are - THANKS!!!

Included in the envelope was 2 cards from 2010 Topps Series 2, Yo Mama Cards!!! Yes, I am still slowly chasing this set down... I still need to put together a list for the base set, but I have checked and doublechecked my list for the Yo Mama cards and Turkey Reds... I am doing pretty well (i guess) on these and I am determined to finish them off BEFORE 2013... The list can be found RIGHT HERE! The mystery fan also chipped in a pair of Topps Diamond Giveaway code cards. I raced home to unlock them... I was imagining unlocked some Hammerin' Hanks or Sandy Koufax or at least a card or two from my 63 Topps need list. It was a nice daydream, but it didn't happen. I am the lucky virtual owner of this 1992 Topps Henry Cotto, card #311 (my anniversary date!) AND a 2004 Erubial Drrrrrrrrrrzo.

Not quite Hank Aaron, but it was fun...The envelope had 2 more cards in it, with images borrowed from eBay. My anonymous homie gave me a 1963 Topps card!!!!!!!!!!! It is my 43rd card from the set, card #535 of Indians pitcher Jim Perry.

I already had Gaylord Perry, so now I have completed the Perry brothers set for both 1963 and 1965! Awesome! The final card in the envelope was card #18 from 2011 Topps, the final card on my wantlist!!! Kevin Millwood the thorn in my side for 2011 series 1, but now he is safe in the binder and the first 6 pages are completed! As soon as the 3 packages I am waiting for, this set is done! I have traded (or will be sending) all of my insert dupes. The only insert set I am chasing is the super awesome Kimball minis. I am waiting on a pretty generous stack of these mini slabs o' cardboard and with that I will be done to needing just these six cards: 5,20,21,25,29 and 43. My homie and fellow Floridan Wicked Ortega is trying to chase this one down, too. You can find his needs list right here...

The Pee Wee Reese at the top of this post illustrates why this set rules... I am pretty impressed with my self control in not chasing down all the crazy insert sets this year. The Yo Mama cards were a lot of fun last year, but 3 series were toooo much for me. I do REALLY want to chase down all the 201o Vintage Legends cards, though. Those are neat! Anyway, thanks to all for the cardboard hook-ups! Thanks to my mystery card donor and thanks to all for reading and checking out my updated wantlists! Congrats to Ben Zobrist for rocking! Thanks again to the Nuclear Bombshells and Ocala Cannibals for playing one of the most exciting derby bouts that I have called in a long time... By the by, I did not receive any assistance from Will Ferrell, but my muttonchops have left the building (err, my face)... Don't know why I felt the need to share this... All of my wantlists are up to date... As always, I will provide a loving home for any and all unwanted 1963 and 1965 Topps baseball cards... I love this hobby! troll out.

1963 Topps Baseball

So yesterday I posted to announce my new collecting goal and even made a list... I put the cards in the binder and noticed that there were cards that I knew I had that weren't in the stack... A couple hours of searching and I found another dozen cards from my new favorite set... The LIST is up to date and it turns out that I have 17% of the first 12 pages done already! Woo hoo! That is the good news. I went to scan some of the cards and realized my scanner isn't working. That is the bad news... More to come, stay tuned... Go Rays! troll out.

Anybody Have any Spare 1963 Topps Cards They Don't Need???

So, I have been a list making fool! I am even getting a little bit organized... Instead of piles and stacks of cards all over the floor, I now have 27 binders on the floor and stacks of boxes of random cards up on shelves. I have started working on 1979, 2007, 2008 and 2009 Topps. I am still trying to chase ALL of the inserts from 2010 Topps and someday I would like to finish off 2009 and 2010 Heritage.

1965 Topps is still my #1 obsession and I am now 70% done with that set!!! I am thrilled with that, but I still have Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Pete Rose, Sandy Koufax, Ernie Banks, Yogi Berra, Carl Yaz,Harmon Killebrew and a whole mess of short prints standing in my way. Basically, its gonna be a while before I make much progress...

I need a new (cheaper) vintage fix and have decided on 1963 Topps. This set has grown on me a ton and even though I have NO Hall of Fame cards from the set and I know Mantle, Mays, Aaron and Pete Rose are gonna set me back a ton, but I want to try anyway... I got a binder for them, got enough pages to finish the set and I have the 20 different cards I currently own in the binder - Its pretty laughable really... I have around 3% of the set and have page after page completely empty, BUT ya gotta start somewhere.

I know I have tapped the blog-o-sphere out for '65s, so I now I can start begging for '63s. Anybody got any??? I do have a little trade bait... I have about 5 cards each from '56-'59, around 20 from 1960, 30 from '61 and 20 from '62. I have a couple '64s and about 50 dupes from 1965. I have a few from '66 and '67 and no '68 or '69. I have a few 1973s and 1978s, but otherwise I am tapped out. But, if you wanna trade vintage for vintage, I have some, so lets make a deal!!!

You can find my needs list for 1963 Topps right HERE, please check it out. Chances are if you have a card from this series, I need it. I updated my '65 needs list too, you can find that HERE. Oh, shifting back to the present, thanks to all of my generous blogging buddies, I have a bunch of 2011 Topps on their way to me and pending arrival I need only ONE MORE CARD!!!!


So if anyone has card #18 of Kevin Millwood from 2011 Topps, PLEASE send it my way... I am getting mega close on the minis, too. You can find the whole list for 2011 HERE.


I still need to go through the 2010 Topps binder to figure out what I need to finish the base. According to my needs page I only need a handful of cards, but I think there are at least 30 empty slots. I will update that SOON. My list for Yo Mama cards AND Turkey Reds are up to date. If anyone else is still working on those, I bought a few lots from both those sets. I haven't received them yet, but I will have some dupes for trading... Okay, thanks for checking this out.


I will actually post something else beyond begging soon, but til then, SEND ME YOUR 1963 TOPPS!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks again to EVERYONE who has hooked me up with 2011 Topps!!! I LOVE the blog-o-sphere, y'all rawk!!!!!!!!
Go Rays! troll out.

Card of the Day-1963 Topps Tommie Aaron, Card #46

The card of the day today is from the 1963 Topps set-one of very few ’63 cards in my collection, this one is card #46 of Milwaukee Braves first baseman and leftfielder Tommie Aaron. I am not gonna lie and say that I didn’t wish this card depicted Tommie’s older brother, it doesn’t, but this card is pretty awesome in its own right. 1963 has never been one of my favorite Topps sets, but this card (and the Lou Brock from this year) is a near perfect example in color and composition. The purple sky behind the posed fielding shot with the black and white batting image set inside a green circle is awesome! Topps should make a Heritage set modeled after this in 2013 and it should look pretty amazing. 1962 was Tommie’s fullest season in the big leagues-he started 39 games at first base and also started 35 times in left field, in the same outfield of his older brother Hank Aaron. 1962 was a career year for the 22-year old slugger-he set career marks in every batting statistic for himself. He hit .231 with 8 homers and 38 RBI, while belting 20 doubles, 2 triples and scoring 54 runs. He also stole 6 bases with out being caught. Throughout the remainder of his career he split his time between the Braves and their AAA affiliates. Over 8 seasons in AAA he batted .290 with 79 homers, his best being in 1964 when he hit 21 for the Denver Bears in the Pacific Coast League. In 1967 he batted .309 with 11 homers and 56 RBI-he was named the International League MVP that season. The next 4 seasons he remained with the Braves for the entire year, but never saw full-time activity. In 1969 he hit .250 with 1 homer and 5 RBI primarily as a pinch hitter. The Braves were 93-69 that year and won the NL Western Division. The Braves lost to the Mets in the playoffs, but he and his brother made history when they became the first siblings to appear as teammates in a League Championship Series. The elder Aaron batted .357 with 3 homers and 7 RBI in the Series, but the Braves still fell to the Mets who went on to win the World Series. Tommie would play with the Braves as a utility player and pinch hitter until after the 1971 season. He played 2 more seasons in the Braves farm system, but retired as a player after the 1973 season. He immediately began managing in the Braves farm system and spent 6 seasons as a manager, 4 in AA and the last 2 in the International League (AAA). In 1979 he became a coach with the Major League Atlanta Braves. He held that position until his untimely death from Leukemia at age 45 in 1984.
Tommie and his brother Hank Aaron own the Major League Baseball record for most homeruns by brothers in the Majors with 768. Hank hit 755 and Tommie added another 13. The closest brother combination to them was Eddie and Rich Murray who combined for 508 long balls. This card is Tommie’s rookie, but he also appeared on 7 other Topps cards. The back of the card shows his major and minor league stats and says “The Braves are hoping that Tommie will attain the same stardom that his teammate and brother Hank has attained. The two Aaron brothers are exciting performers to watch. Tommie has good power”. It also shows a cartoon and says “Tommie is a whiz at billiards”. I had said at the top of this post that I wished this was a card of his brother-I take that back…The crazy colors, the great photo, the composition and layout all combine to make this one of the coolest cards in my collection. The contributions that Tommie Aaron made to the game and its history as a player, coach, manager, ambassador and instructor make it that much cooler. You can view Tommie’s career statistics here. Don’t forget there still is a little bit of time left to enter the CT Most Iconic (Baseball) Rookie Card of the 1980’s Contest. Rickey Henderson and Ken Griffey Jr. are in a dead heat. Troll out.