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.

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.

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.