I didn’t get much sleep last night. I stayed up to watch the Raiders versus the Chargers on Monday Night Football, the Late Edition, then I stayed up to watch the 2:00AM replay of the Rays first win in a dozen games, then I woke up at the crack of dawn to complete the homework that I had been procrastinating on all week, then I hit the Post Office before school so I could meet the Wifey on her lunch break right after school. I have 5 freaking envelopes in there. I was actually expecting more and 4 of these were unexpected surprises, which I TOTALLY APPRECIATE!!! The first comes from my buddy (even though he is a Red Sox fan) Adam E in Missouri. Adam had been drooling over a Youk jersey card that I had pulled a while back. I didn’t really want it, so I sent it his way figuring we would work out the details later. Apparently today is the beginning of later as he sent me two SWEET Rays cards along with a note (and this will hold up in court)
promising to send me Rays cards as he gets ‘em. Included is a cool 4 in 1 card of young outfielders.
Its an interesting mix-You’ve got Matt Kemp who is having an MVP type season on the card along with Lastings Milledge and BJ Upton who have consistently failed to live up to expectations, but still get the love and support of all the card companies (and me, too!) and you also have some young guy named Young. The other card he sent is much shinier and therefore much cooler. It features BJ Upton in chromey Heritage glory.
BJ was the AL Player of the Month in July, but every other month this year he’s been jealous of Jack Cust and David Ortiz’ batting average. I am still waiting BJ-I know you can be a star; I just wanna see you do it! Thanks Adam! I have ripped so much Heritage this year and that is honestly my first Rays chrome card, it will be treasured!
The next envelope was a TTM. In fact it is my third TTM from this years A&G and it’s the 3rd Negro League auto that I have got from this set. It’s of Clyde Parris.
Compared to the other two autos I got from this set, I didn’t know a whole bunch about Mr. Parris. His letter was much shorter and he did not send a letter in return, so I still don’t know a bunch about him. I attended a reunion (on behalf of my Great-Uncle and as a guest of Buck O’Neill’s) in 2000 at the Museum in Kansas City. I met a lot of guys and learned a ton. I don’t think Mr. Parris was there and I didn’t really hear anything about him. He did return the card very quickly. I thank you Clyde! I wish I knew more about your career.
The 3rd package came from my buddy Chris in Tacoma. This is the second package that he has sent me. This one was very unexpected and didn’t have a note with it. It did have 3 cards that I needed for the 2009 Topps Heritage set!!! I haven’t moved on this one in a while. With these 3 I am down to needing 46 cards to finish it off. 39 of said cards are SPs. I don’t think I am gonna find anyone willing to trade more than 1 or 2 of these at a time, but I refuse to go to the bay! It’s kinda like going to a hooker, I think. I am a collector, a set-builder; I can find a way without hiring a professional…
That said, he sent me two base cards that I needed, card #142 of Yankees rookie Juan Miranda and #103 of Phillies save blower Brad Lidge. The SP is card #444 of Mike Fontenot.
Thanks Chris! I do appreciate any help that I can get on this set!
The 4th package came from my buddy Brian in Texas. Brian doesn’t have a proper blog (yet) but I am sure that he will sooner than later. He collects the Rangers and is working on a Ginter mini set, too. He had sent an e-mail saying he had a few 2008 Heritage High numbered SPs for me, one Ginter card and a few random Rays. This was awesome because I have hit a bigger wall on the 2008 set than the 2009 one.
I got to cross 4 cards off of the list, including Ex-Ray Seth McClung. He also sent me a trio of Rays from the 2009 Upper Deck Icons set. I don’t really care for this set, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be collecting the Rays from it! I don’t know who is in this set, but I know that I have Aki, Shields and Kaz covered now!
Since I sent all of the Negro League Ginter cards I had out for autos, I needed to replace these in my set, too. Brian took care of that with Frank Evans for me. I do still need the rest, plus Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria and Scott Kazmir if anybody has those! The last card was a total surprise and was FREAKING AWESOME!!! Dioner Navarro is one of the coolest guys on the Rays. He’s in his 4th season as the Rays starting catcher and he’s only 25!
Not quite Brian McCann, but he’s pretty cool. He made his MLB debut with the Yanks at age 20 and he was an All Star last year. I have a stack of his cards, but up till now I only owned base cards. Now I can add a 2008 Topps bat relic to the collection. Thanks so much Brian! Your packages always blow me away! Do you have a list of minis that you still need?
That’s a pretty awesome haul already, but I still had one more package. This one came from Lance in San Diego. I don’t really know who you are Lance, so if you are reading this, please get in touch. The cards he sent are awesome, but not normally what I chase after. I can’t help but wonder if he had me confused with someone else. I love the cards and I am keeping ‘em, but I wonder if they were intended for someone else…
He started with 3 sweet Ginter minis. A Markakis black border, a Navi and an Enron hoax card, all awesome! He sent a 2009 Heritage Chrome Refractor
of super power hitting dude Adam Dunn. Again, sweet card-today was a great day for shiny Heritage cards, but I don’t recall ever collecting Dunn… The final cards he sent were a trio of SPs from 2009
Allen and Ginter. Thanks Lance! Please e-mail me at bacontowne at yahoo dot to let me know what you collect. Thanks to everyone! A five envelope mail day will put a smile on anyone’s face for sure! Please be sure to read Dinged Corners today (and everyday) because it is an awesomely well-written blog, but also cuz there is a mini-interview with the Troll on there discussing the legendary Moe Drabowsky!!! Incidentally, the Raiders game may be the only NFL game I watch all year. I don’t really care for football, but my friend Kevin loves the Raiders for some reason, so I figured I would check them out. Plus, I thought if the Raiders could win their opener, then maybe the Rays could make it to the playoffs… The Raiders looked like they had things under control. With less than 3 minutes to play, JaMarcus Russell fired a perfect 57-yard touchdown pass (on 4th and 15 no less) to Louis Murphy to give them a 20-17 lead. Of course the Raiders blew it, but there was hope for a few minutes. Thanks to everyone for all of the rocking mail! Go Rays! Wait, should I say something about the Night Owl in the final line? Nah, not today… There ya have it, a trade with a Red Sox fan, a Rangers fan, a Cardinals fan, a mystery guy and a sweet TTM from a Negro League Legend. Thanks to all! Oh, aside from all the new high-tech links that I added to the side of the page, there is a poll, too. I think I am going to make this a regular thing. For now, please vote for the Rays MVP for the 2009 season, thanks again! Gotta go to work. Troll out.
The Tampa Bay Rays sent three players to the All Star Game in 2008. One of them was catcher Dioner Navarro. Navarro entered the game in the bottom of the 7th inning as a pinch hitter for Jason Varitek. Of course the 2008 All Star Game lasted 15 innings and Navarro was the last available catcher for the American League squad. He caught the rest of the game, handling 10 AL pitchers and going to the plate 5 times. In the top of the 15th inning Navarro caught for his teammate Scott Kazmir who pitched a scoreless inning. In the bottom of the 15th inning Navarro came up with one out and Justin Morneau on 1st base. 
Navarro singled to put Morneau into scoring position. JD Drew walked to load the bases and the game ended when Michael Young hit a deep pop-up off of Brad Lidge which scored Morneau. The American League won the game 4-3 in 15 innings. Kazmir was the winning pitcher and the game ended with all 3 Tampa Bay All Stars still in the game. Navarro finished the game 1-4 with a walk, 9 put-outs and 1 caught stealing. This was the first real national exposure that Navarro had received prior to the playoffs. In the ALDS Navarro hit .400 with 3 doubles and 3 RBI. He cooled off in the ALCS, but his hot hitting returned in the 2008 World Series. He was the Rays leading hitter with a .353 WS batting average. 
Of course the Rays lost to the Phillies in 5 games. Navarro remains the Rays starting catcher. His batting average is hovering around the Mendoza line this year and he is serving a two-game suspension, but history says that his bat WILL wake up. I am lucky to own a few certified autos of Navi, but now can add this 2009 Upper Deck card of Navi as a Ray in a play at the plate against the Red Sox. I think he is outta here! I love this hobby! Go Rays! Beat the Yankees! Troll out.
You all know it and read it and love it. I know you do. Well, Beardy got his hands on some 2004 Topps Finest as well as some 2004 Topps Pristine. I know this because I have seen these cards pop up all over, all coming courtesy of the Beard Man. Beardy is nothing if not a generous dude with a penchant for creating posts that everyone needs to read. 
Anyway, on the generous side I will start with the Topps Pristine. These are two cards that look cool and look horrible all at the same time. They are awesome in their design and they are awesome because they are of a favorite player of mine. They are horrible because 6 years ago said fav player was in the most horrible organization in MLB and their name and logos are all over these cards. 
These are 2 cards I am glad to have, but not really thrilled about. The player is Dioner Navarro, the Rays catcher. Navi is hitting .154 this season and his platoon mate is out for an extended period of time with an injury suffered against the evil Yankees. Navi is going to get the chance to stay in the line-up until his bat wakes up. 
I really hope it does. I like this guy a lot and it wasn’t too long ago that his bat got him a spot on the All Star team. He is one of the nicest guys on the team, he lights it up in BP, and he is a hard worker behind the plate and has a quick release and a decent arm. He is a pretty streaky hitter and is in a funk. I expect (hope) it gets better. The bearded one knows my love for the second baseman on his team, the horrible and I mean horrible Orioles. Said second baseman is on the DL and may be there for a while. I am speaking of Brian Roberts and his back problems. I have the same issues with my back, but I don’t play pro ball for a living. My job is far less demanding, but my back still gets in the way so I feel for ya B-Rob, I get it. Anyway, here is one card he sent, a serial numbered gem from the 2009 UD Ball Park Collection. 
I am posting the rest of the B-Rob goodies he sent on the 
A very patriotic looking card with a white jersey swatch that looks like a cobra’s tongue. Sweet. The clock is ticking on me so I must tie this post up. I will end with the Finest card (pun intended) of the package. I showed off two crappy looking cards of Dioner Navarro in the last paragraph. This card on the other hand is PERFECT and goes right on the wall in the showcase. I truly love everything about this card. It starts with the fact that there are no visible team logos or a team name. Yes Navi was a part of the Yanks in 2004, but you can’t tell from this card. Second, it has a beautiful ON-CARD autograph across the base. 
Navi has stellar penmanship and his sig covers the card nicely. This is my first and only Navi graph and I love it. Great chrome design, classy and bubbly and no team logos and on-card equals perfect! Oh AND its a freaking REFRACTOR, I love it!!! 
Thanks so much 
I have added my GOLD Needs to my want list page (which is here) and I plan on posting some trade bait later tonight, including a bunch of 2009 Topps gold cards. Including all 3 different series of 2009 Topps there are 34 different Rays GOLD cards. I have 9 so far, so I need 25 more (I did that in my head) so please do a Troll a favor and check your stacks for any Rays gold please! Between the 3 different series', there are 6 different Evan Longoria cards... That is gonna make it tough! I am interested in past years, too, but 2009 is the only set so far that I have more than 2 cards of, so I will focus on it for now. Thanks again to Jeremy from 
The card is of Andy Sonnanstine, who had a really terrible season in 2009. I still think he has the “stuff” to be a big league pitcher and I really hope that the Rays don’t give up on him like they did with Jason Hammel, Scott Kazmir and Edwin Jackson. I think Sonny can be a solid 5th or spot starter and I really like this card. He also sent 5 cards from the 2007 Bowman Heritage set. I had been chasing this set, but then I gave up and decided to just go after the Rays cards. With these 5, I think my team set is done. 
Unfortunately the ex-Rays (Elijah Dukes, Kazmir, Rocco and Brian Stokes) outnumber the current Rays player pretty badly with Sonny being the lone Ray remaining from this bunch. 
He went back a few years prior with the Bowman Heritage, too. 
This one of former Rays catcher, Toby Hall. From ex-catcher to current catcher, there is 2009 Topps Gold of Dioner Navarro. I love the 2009 Topps set, it is easily my favorite design of this decade for Topps and it is one of the nicest sets of the year for any brand. The design, photography and composition is all top notch. 
Gold and serial numbers make nice cards nicer, he hooked it up with this Gold Navi… I’ve mentioned before that my collection is very, very weak when it comes to cards from the start of this decade. I wasn’t collecting then and many of the cards that I get in trade are more recent ones. 
These two Devil Rays sketch cards from the 2001 Topps Gallery set were a real treat for me! I wonder who else is in this set? I think both of these cards would look great signed, so they will hopefully reappear in a TTM success post sometime down the road. Another big thank you to Dan from the Saints of the Cheap Seats blog for hooking it up with this awesome trade! I can't resist re-posting at least one card from before that he sent for my 1978 Topps set... A former starter from Dan's favorite team and a Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley...
I keep on mentioning this, but if you haven't signed up yet for the SotCS group break, I believe there are only a couple of slots available, so get on over there quick before your kicking yourself for missing out!-
I have declared this set complete many times so far, but I keep on discovering blank spots that I had overlooked before. The National Pride set is complete. The Highlights Sketch cards are done, pending the arrival of one card from The Hamiltonian. 
The Rays minis team set is nearly done, except for cards #325 Dioner Navarro and Pat Burrell (I don’t know what number that is). I had traded away a bunch of Hoax cards before I decided that I would try and finish it-the cards that I HAVE are: 6,9,16,17 and 19, so I would NEED any card other than those 5 cards listed. 
This isn’t high on my list of priorities, but it is a fun set. Now, back to the base set. I knew that I was missing card #2 of Zack Greinke and that is on its way from upstate New York, thanks to Joe. The other base card I need is card #222. According to my notes, that card was coming from my Buddy Wicked Ortega. I think I am due to get 2 short prints from him as well, but I am missing 3 SPs. They are cards numbered 312, 326 and 332. Wicked, please comment here on which cards are coming from you so I can track down the last one… I really thought this bad boy was done and over, but it keeps coming back to life. Last night I updated all of my wantlists (except the Ginter one) and things are rolling along in Topps Heritage land. Trade bait has been pretty successful and Joe from NY took a huge bite out of the Heritage lists. Thanks to all who have traded with me and helped me out on these set-building journeys. If anyone has cards 222, 312, 326 or 332, please get in touch! Go Rays (in 2010 of course!) I will be back to posting trades as soon as I get the stoopid car fixed, I really appreciate them all and I haven't forgotten about you guys. More player tributes in the form of cards to come as well. troll out.
Rays catcher Dioner Navarro. I now have Sonnanstine and Navarro, I don’t know which other Rays are in the 2008 chrome, but I know I want ‘em!
on his trade list for a while, but until now I couldn’t entice this one away from him, but now its mine, all mine!
Willy Aybar (673) and Evan Longoria (650). If anyone has doubles of these, I can still use them for my team collection! He didn’t stop there, he also knocked a few more of off my SPs
need list for this years Ginter and a couple National Pride cards, too. Oh, and an awesome sketch card of the Big Hurt
who has somehow managed to make an appearance in every set this year. Come on Hurt, give somebody else a chance! Thanks Chris, it’s always a pleasure… I posted last night that it was to be Scott Kazmir’s first game with the Angels. I was wrong; he will take the ball and the mound against King Felix and the Seattle Mariners. Not an easy task. I also predicted that the return of Andy Sonnanstine was a good thing, I was wrong about that, too. This trade was a good one; I will post more of them soon. As always, my lists are: 
I haven’t posted a pack break in a while, so here goes…
Card #476 Edinson Volquez. He was an All Star last year, and ended up winning 17 games for the Redlegs. He is 4-2 so far this year. Probably not good enough for another appearance in the mid summer classic, but it’s a cool looking card. I love the up close and personal view. I just can’t believe that he doesn’t snag his chain on his glove. I’ll be looking out for that.
Card #531 Frank Francisco. He’s a former teammate of Volquez’ with the Rangers. This year he may be the one to get the All Star call. He has 12 saves and a 0.44 ERA. Wow.
Next outta the pack is another ’08 All Star, Rays catcher, (card #519)Dioner Navarro. It’s a neat shot of Navy calling 2 outs, or giving the stingray sign or encouraging people to worship the devil, but it looks good. The “niche in history” on the back of his card tells me he is the 9th switch hitting catcher to be an All Star in either league. It also tells me he has a .429 career batting average with a 2-0 count. Cool.
Next is John Smoltz with card #355. Topps decided to go with the glamour shot for Smoltzy on this one. He hasn’t pitched a game yet this year, but is scheduled to return to the Sox next Thursday on a tight pitch count. He does eight All Star selections to his credit to go along with over 3,000 Ks. Too bad he’s chosen to end his career with the Sox. I used to like him.
Next we have Edgar Renteria on card #558. The coloring on this card is kinda neat, but I don’t like not seeing a players face, unless they’re doing something cool. Renteria is off to a sub-par performance this year and his .245 BA probably won’t make him an All Star. He has been picked 5 times previous.
Now, we are in insert land. The first one is a “Career Best” card of Ty Cobb, card #LGCB-TC. If you flip the card and read this guys career bests you will see he highest average was .420. He had 127 RBIs with his highest homerun count being 12. He hit 47 doubles, 24 triples and stole 96 bases in one year. Pretty good numbers for someone who never made an All Star team.
Speaking of legends…Next outta the pack is a “Legends of the Game”, #LLG-12, card of Bob Gibson. It’s a nice portrait of Gibson, muttonchops and all, looking off into the distance, likely prior to a game. Gibson appeared in 8 All Star games.
Next we have a Topps Town dot com card of Ian Kinsler. I go online to write this blog, that’s about it. I have never visited that site or entered a redemption code. Just not into it. I do like Ian Kinsler, though. His 18 homers leads second baseman and could give him his second All Star appearance.
We are back to base cards and the first one is Chicago White Sox manager, Ozzie Guillen, card #488. The back of the card ads a stat from his playing days. I didn’t realize he hit .533 off of Mark Knudson…Ozzie was a three-time All Star as a player and once as a manager. He also finished his playing career in 2000 with the Rays.
Next up is Giants outfielder, Randy Winn and card #549. I really like the orangey-ness of this one. Winn was an All Star with the Rays in 2002. He has very quietly put together a nice career with over 1600 hits in 12 seasons.
Next we have Brewers pitch Braden Looper on card #419. This card is not good or bad. Kind of like Looper’s career. He has been the perpetual “even Steven”. His career record is 63-62 and I am sure his next outing will be a loss just to even things up. I did learn that Brad Ausmus only hit .126 off of him, career.
The 12th and final card in the pack is Rays centerfielder, BJ Upton, card #640. The picture is awesome, BJ in post-power-swing. The back of the card gives me info I already knew, but bears repeating. He tied a postseason record last year with 7 home runs. He was also the AL player of the week this week, but that isn’t on this card. BJ has yet to play in an All Star game, but he’s still only 25. He’s already swiped more than 100 bases, got over 400 hits and scored over 250 runs at age when most are still in the minors.
