Well, my good friend Wicked Ortega beat me to the punch when he posted thison Saturday afternoon, but I will carry on nonetheless.
The end results of our stories are similar, but mine begins differently and as you might suspect, is quite a bit longer…
The story begins a few months back when my wife requested a copy of Cat Osterman’s Allen and Ginter card. This was unusual because she is not typically a card collector. When we first started dating I gave her a few cards of guys with weird names, stuff you would see on the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame and such, but even though she is always down to rip wax with me, she doesn’t typically save the cards. Since Cat is her cousin, I figured it was a legitimate and non-suspicious request.
I placed the card in a sleeve and top loader, made sure I had an extra for my set (which I did) and gave it to her and completely forgot about it. This Saturday morning, after I returned from the Post Office with 2 TTM envelopes she told me she had a surprise gift for me. Her surprises are always awesome, but can range anywhere from a record, to a new pair of boxers, to a hobby box of cards to an evening out or to a surprise cruise. Either way they are always awesome. I was instructed to close my eyes and hold out my hands (this is the standard presentation for a surprise gift) and I followed the instructions without hesitation. When I opened my eyes I recognized the card that I had given her months prior,
it was still in its top loader, but when I flipped it over I noticed that it was signed boldly across the front with her name, her number (not her phone #, her jersey number-8) and USA. SWEET! I purposely didn’t ask her how she got it, this way I could imagine her and her cousin autographing cards after an exhausting pillow fight, which is what I assume they do when they see each other. What else do beautiful women do when guys aren’t around to get in the way? I was a tiny bit jealous that it wasn’t personalized (like Alfredo’s) but I am not really into that and people generally spell my name wrong and that irritates me and I end up giving the card away to someone who spells their name in that fashion. 
Alfredo had touched on this in his post, too, but it bears repeating. Topps has completely dropped the ball in fulfilling Cat Osterman redemptions, in turn leaving a whole bunch of very disappointed customers and collectors. This becomes even less excusable knowing that she is most definitely capable of signing her name and she is doing so for free for multiple who are and aren’t of relation to her. If we can get cards signed, why can’t you Topps? I would really like an answer to that question…Anyway, I got off track there for a second, but what I am trying to do is say thank you to my super awesome and amazing wife and her very cool cousin! Thank you ladies! This is officially Allen and Ginter autograph success number 9, the 9th of many more to come! Go Cat! Troll out.
After receiving an awesome and unexpected package from Madding of Cards on Cards fame on Friday (post to come) along with 2 TTMs, there were three more packages today. One of them came courtesy of the Mojo Hand. Mojo chases the same products as the Troll and chases one of the same players-the super awesome Cat Osterman, but we were somehow able to pull off a trade anyway. There were 4 very awesome cards in that package, but 3 are going to be trade bait with one card going straight to the Rays display case. The trade bait cards are of Rickie Weeks, Fausto Carmona and this 2003 Upper Deck Team USA jersey card of Conor Jackson. 
Jackson had a breakout year in 2008 for the D-Backs, batting .300 with 12 homers and 75 runs batted in. He has been on the disabled list since May of this year suffering from Valley Fever which gives him a combination of symptoms similar to pneumonia, chronic fatigue syndrome and the flu. He will participate in the D-Backs fall instructional league program starting on Monday to ready for the 2010 season. The gem of the trade is a 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Pick Rookie Autograph Refractor (wow that’s a long title) card of Durham Bulls catcher John Jaso. 
The card is #BCP264 and is both a certified autographed card (serial #270/500) and an uber-shiny refractor. John has spent 7 seasons in the Rays system since they picked him in the 12th round of the 2003 draft. During that time Jaso has a minor league career average of .290 with 57 homeruns and 329 RBIs. He is rated as the Rays number 1 organizational catching prospect. It is really awesome that the card arrived today because today (September 18th) is Jaso’s 26th birthday. Happy Birthday John!!! That isn’t all John Jaso has been celebrating this week either. On Thursday night his team, the Durham Bulls defeated the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 3-2 in twelve innings to win the Governors Cup and International League (AAA) Championship. The game-winning hit (in the top of the 12th) was a double off of Jaso’s bat, which scored Elliot Johnson to give the Bulls the lead. With that win, they won their league’s crown, but they have one more series to determine the best AAA team in baseball. Beginning on Tuesday night, the Durham Bulls will travel to Oklahoma City to meet the Memphis Red Birds (PCL Champs) to compete for the AAA National Championship. The game will be televised on ESPN2 (the Deuce!) and will begin at 6 PM (Eastern). I will be watching to see Jaso, Desmond Jennings, Elliot Johnson, Matt Joyce, Justin Ruggiano 
and the rest of the Bulls kick some Redbird booty! The feathers will be flying, no doubt! Thanks to the Mojo Hand for the very awesome cards! If anyone out there should pull any Cat Osterman cards, contact Mojo first. If he already has the cards, send ‘em my way! On a different note, I didn’t make it out to the Trop tonight as I had hoped. My empty bank account got in the way again, but it didn’t stop the Rays! They won their 3rd game in a row (longest streak in a month) as Matt Garza (on Matt Garza figurine night) outdueled Ricky Romero (now 12-9) beating the Blue Jays 4-0. Garza lasted over 7 innings, striking out 10 and allowing just 3 hits, all singles. In fact, there wasn’t a single extra base hit in the game and after the Rays 4-run first inning; both pitchers put up zeros the rest of the game. Garza improved his record to 8-10 with a 3.80 ERA and 177 strikeouts. Since joining the Rays, Garza is 6-2/0.81 ERA versus the Jays. 
Three of his 8 wins this year have been against Toronto. The Jays and Rays conclude their series tomorrow (Sunday) with Roy Halladay facing David Price at the Trop. The Rays welcome the Mariners to Florida for a two-game series beginning on Tuesday. The Rays will be heading to Texas for a three-game series beginning on Friday. Switching gears back to cards and what was in my mailbox this weekend… There were a (Troll record) 17 autographed cards in the mailbox this weekend. The other two trade packages came from Wicked Ortega of South Florida and Jeff (another Rays fan!) of Largo, Florida. These were two of the best packages I think I have ever got (gets better every day!) and I will post them on Monday and Tuesday. There was also a pair of TTM autos, including the 5th card for my Ginter autograph quest, this one from Legendary player and Coach Frank Evans. 
I also stopped at my parents storage (Mom found an old box of my stuff) and I picked up a bunch of goodies that I thought for gone forever including a box of letters (correspondence from former White Sox players) from my 1999 book. Some notes from my interview with Johnny Sain and an autographed poster that he gave me,
a ’87 Topps Traded set and a very OLD box of Necco Wafers. 
Treasures. Till next time, Happy Birthday John Jaso! Thanks for trading with the Troll! Go Bulls! Go Rays! Troll out.
