Holy Cow!!! A Surprise TTM!!!!

It seems that I start a lot of posts off with it was a bad day, but things haven’t been super easy in the Troll compound of late… Car problems, computer problems, work problems, school problems, money problems, blah blah and blah. One thing that typically pacifies me and brings me back to my happy place is the mail-getting mail. I don’t mean bills, I mean CARDS! Today there was no mail, but I was prepared, I didn’t check the post office on Saturday so I would have a chance today. Sure enough there were non-bill envelopes waiting for me. Super rad packages from Jeremy of No Ones Gonna Read This Blog and Brian from Play at the Plate. THANKS GUYS!!! I will get to those soon, for now I want to talk about the other envelope. It was addressed to me in my own handwriting. It was a TTM envelope!!! I hadn’t received anything back since Jamie Moyer responded in October so I was pretty surprised to see one of these bad boys. The return address was from Tennessee, which immediately made me suspicious and intrigued. There isn’t an MLB team in Tennessee and I know I didn’t send any requests to any minor league teams there. I wanted to rip it open right there in the car, but the car was so messy and I didn’t want the envelope contents to be devoured by my car clutter. I was patient and waiting till I got home all the wondering who the heck it could have been from. Anyway, I got home and sliced the envelope open and found 3 cards. All 3 were signed, which was awesome. What was weird was that I actually keep a record of who I send to and how many cards I send them. I looked up on my not-so-fancy database and saw that I sent a request with ONE card to this person in August. That did mean that his response was pretty slow, but during that response time the cards multiplied, becoming three. The card that I sent him was a 2007 Topps Heritage (#297) card. This was the first card I owned of this guy, who you can now see is the Tampa Bay Rays All Star utility superman Ben Zobrist. I never liked this card (I do NOW). I get that they tried for the soft focus weird close-up thing to look like 1958, but the Oakley’s totally ruin the illusion for me. The card is special because this is my favorite set and this was the first card I owned of Zorilla. The first bonus card is from 2006 Upper Deck, card #1194. The back of the card mentions that Zobrist made his MLB debut at shortstop for the Devil Rays on 8/01/06 after the D-Rays traded Julio Lugo to the Dodgers. The other bonus card is a fancy looking shot of Ben standing in his Rays uniform. It has some odd stuff going on in the background (like mid-90s Skybox) and has a Bible verse in the corner. Ben signed this one, too, and personalized it “To Marck” (that’s me!) as well. The back of this card talks about his roller coaster ride in baseball and his relationship with his Savior. It ends with another Bible verse and mentions the website The Zobrists Dot Com. I have to say this was a pretty exciting surprise for me. I had sent out about 200 requests last year and only got around 25 back. I figured they were all filed in the trash by now. Thanks to you Ben Zobrist for restoring my faith in athletes returning my letters! To not only respond, but also add bonus cards and a personalization is super amazing. I guess there are a few reasons he is one of my favorite players... Oh, this does put me seriously on the look out for a relic card of Zobrist. Anybody? Go Rays! Troll out.

Chris Ray Where Are You??? A 2007 Topps Heritage Related Post...

Greetings Trollites! Good morning, good night, whatever it is... Work was far too busy and cold to post tonight, but now I am home and should probably be sleeping, but instead I am typing away in the dark in a somewhat delirious and sleep deprived state. A lack of scans has kept me from posting any more pack rips today. Sorry. Worry not faithful readers-I intend to travel somewhere (Mom and Dads most likely) to do some scanning tomorrow morning before work. Weather permitting, I can knock a few more packs out, finish this nonsense and get back to my standard long and boring stories…
Speaking of stealing other bloggers ideas (were we?), I was reading Nachos Grande the other day and he posted his (sports related) New Years Resolutions. I made some resolutions myself… I resolved to open a bank account, stop considering coffee a meal, and renew my cars registration before I get pulled over…Wait, card resolutions, right. Yes. He had a list of 10 things. He is far more thorough and organized than I am, but I think I can steal at least 6 of his ideas. One was to finish at least 3 sets on his current want list. I am making that a major goal of mine. When I began blogging (8 months ago!) I didn’t have a want list. I added one a couple of month’s in-it was for one set. I needed around 30 cards to finish that one set and with the power of the entire blog-o-sphere behind me, well I still haven’t finished that damn set. I can’t complain too much-I added 5 more sets to the list and I actually finished 2 of them (2009 Allen and Ginter and 1978 Topps) but I would REALLY like to finish that first set-the only set I was working on when I began blogging. As luck and coincidence would have it-I just (around 2-3 weeks ago) received a package of cards from Jeff D. that included stuff from that original want list. Before I share some of the awesomeness that I received from Jeff D, I wanna share the story of how we “met”. I am a pretty big Jonny Gomes fan. I was really bummed when the Rays cut him loose. I was thrilled however that he caught on with the Reds and hit 20 homers this year in fewer than 300 at bats. Anyway, I (this blog) sponsor J Gomes’ Baseball Reference stats page. In the sponsorship tagline I state that I am Gomes’ biggest fan. Jeff D saw this and wrote to me to inform me that I wasn’t and a “friendship” was born. He shared a link to the amazing Gomes collection which belonged to a “friend” of his, (And yes I realize I am way overdoing it on the quotes…) and sure enough his friend’s collection dwarfed mine. This guy has 80 % of every Gomes cards ever made and that includes 1 of 1s. He has 68 different 1/1s. I have none. I was a little jealous and humbled, but we started emailing back and forth and we realized that we were both obsessed with Topps Heritage. I am obsessed in the way that I blew a lot of money on Heritage wax and can’t finish a damn set-he is obsessed in the way that he has an amazing collection and an entire blog/website dedicated to it. I had already traded away all of dupes, so we couldn’t make a deal right away, but then I made a rare pull. I yanked a black refractor which is what Jeff collects. Anyway, to keep this long story from getting too much longer-packages were exchanged and he knocked 6 of the 7 remaining cards off of my original want list, the list for the 2007 Topps Heritage set! I’ve been working on this freaking set for 3 years now and I really had hit a wall. It had been over two months since I had gotten a single card for this set and I was starting to lose hope. I almost didn’t believe it when he said he had these cards, but sure enough he sent them and they are all bindered up with the rest of my set sitting in my bedroom (my wife is thrilled). I don’t really have much to say about each individual card, but all six of them are floating around in this post. I cannot convey how happy I am to be one card away from finally finishing this set! I know I am acting a little too excited about a set from 2007-other bloggers are finishing up ’53 Topps, ’56 Topps, etc and I am flipping out about a set most people could care less about. What makes it so special to me is that it was the first set since ’95 that I put together. I was away from the hobby for a LONG time. Back in ’95 if you didn’t finish a set in one box, you bought the few missing cards and you were done. This crazy Heritage set and all of its stupid short prints and variations took a little more work. Anyway, thanks for reading and thanks to Jeff for hooking it up. I talked earlier in the post about Nachos Grande and the New Years Resolutions to finish up 3 sets. Well, I intend to do just that and this one (2007 Heritage) is first on my list. I need just 1 more card to do it. The thorn in my side card is #159 of Chris Ray. In 2006 Ray seemed like a pretty serious prospect for the Orioles-he saved 33 games and looked like he would have a pretty bright future. He appeared on a Topps Heritage card the following year that has eluded me since its printing. Last year with the O’s Ray was 0-4 with a 7.27 ERA, but that damn card still eludes me. Somebody somewhere must have this card. Anybody? For those concerned I took the first steps to finishing sets-I updated lists on the side bar. I created a list for 2008 Allen and Ginter and I updated 2009 Heritage with the high numbers. I plan on putting up a list for 2009 Topps Updates and Highlights (tomorrow maybe) soon. Thanks to Chris from Nachos Grande for the inspiration and thanks to Jeff D for hooking me up with these 6 awesome Heritage Short Prints! A HUGE THANKS to whoever hooks me up with that elusive Chris Ray card! Oh, there are endnotes… Jeff D also hooked it up with cards from 2008 Heritage and my Rays collection, too. AND one thing I haven’t updated yet is my CC list or my Rays team set list. I will get on that tomorrow because the cards keep on rolling in. Don’t forget to vote for the 2009 Gummie Awards! Those of you that can count (better than me) may have noticed that there are only 5 cards in this post-I am pretty sure I left the last one on the scanner. Oops. Troll (passed) out.

Greedy, Greedy Troll

Since the wonderful and fine folks in the blog-o-sphere did such a dandy job of taking care of my last two Magnificent Seven Most Wanted card lists, I thought that I would combine lists into one, making it the Fabulously Fine Fourteen Most Wanted Cards in Trollville…They are:
2008 Topps Heritage Frank Thomas, Card #469 1978 Topps Bill Lee, Card #295 2009 Allen and Ginter Akinori Iwamura, Card#222 2007 Topps Heritage Michael Young, Card#375
2008 Topps Heritage Oliver Perez, Card#691
2008 Topps Heritage Kenny Rogers, Card#704
2008 Topps Heritage Wilson Betemit, Card#707
2008 Topps Heritage Matt Joyce, Card#718 2007 Topps Heritage Howie Kendrick, Card#131
2007 Topps Heritage Chris Ray, Card#159
2007 Topps Heritage Derek Lowe, Card#194
2007 Topps Heritage Chris Duncan, Card#366
2007 Topps Heritage Ivan Rodriguez AS, Card#491
2008 Topps Heritage Evan Longoria Refractor Card#C220 I am running pretty low on cards to trade, but if you have any of these cards AND are willing to part with them, I am sure we can work something out. As always, any and all Tampa Bay Rays cards are welcome here-especially those depicting Jason Bartlett, Carl Crawford, Scott Kazmir, Jonny Gomes, Carlos Pena and Willy Aybar! I like 2009 Heritage Short Prints, too, but I need 30+ of those and this is just a 14 card list. I have made progress on all of these sets, though and I will post said progress soon. Thanks for looking and you can e-mail me at: bacontowne at yahooooo dot com. Troll out.

2007 Topps Heritage Baseball-The Battle Continues...AKA Part 1 of Many, Trading With Joe!

*Warning-Short and uninspired post! I love this set, but writing about it at 8 AM isn't working for me, sorry!* I am going to take a break from 1978 Topps. A short break. I started this next set 29 years after the ‘78s hit the shelves and I’ve been battling with it ever since. In May of this year I finally typed up a want list and began to get it organized. This was a step in the right direction and an eye opener because I had thought I was much closer than I actually was. In May I didn’t have an online list, but I did have a list-something I could e-mail to other collectors. May was also the first month that I began blogging and coincidentally was the first month that I made a trade. During the month of May I needed 38 cards to finish the base set (1-492) of 2007 Topps Heritage. I needed about 6 cards each for the yellow team name and yellow name SP variations and I needed 4 cards to finish off the New Age Performers set. I made my first blogger trade with dayf, the Cardboard Junkie and you better believe that 2007 Heritage were involved. Since then, I have been able to slowly plug away at this set that won’t die and the list gets smaller, but still won’t go away. Last week I got a package from Joe in New York-actually I got a couple of packages from Joe. Enough amazing stuff to blog about for the rest of the year! He sent rookies, relics, autographs, Rays cards and Topps Heritage from all 3 years that I am collecting. This morning the focus is going to be on the 2007 Heritage and away we go…
New Age Performers is DONE!!! Card #NP7 of Anibal Sanchez was the last one I needed. Awesome! Now all of the mini insert subsets are done! The other thing that is done is the Yellow Name variations and the Yellow Team Name is nearly done. With Ryan Zimmerman, Joel Zumaya and Jeff Suppan in the binder-the only card I still need is card #76 of Cole Hammel with a yellow team name. The want list for the set is getting smaller and smaller. Five months ago it was 38 cards long, now I need 6 to close the book on this one. New additions include: Card #338 Todd Walker, 248 Adam Wainwright, 95 Bill Hall, 67 Melvin Mora and card #31 of Beltran Perez, who retired 18 of 19 batters in his first ever start. Thanks to Joe, the author of the Cobb and Holliday blog. You rock Joe!! It may take months, but I will post all of the great cards that you have sent me! Check out my want lists as they are all up to date and current. I think we’re gonna have a little party at Casa de Troll when this set is finally done. Everyone’s invited! So what do I still need? So glad you asked...Six cards: 131 Howie Kendrick, 159 Chris Ray SP 194 Derek Lowe SP 366 Chris Duncan SP 375 Michael Young SP 491 Ivan Rodriguez AS SP. All short prints of course. Bring em on, please! Go Angels! Go Dodgers! On my way to class, then Empty Bowls, then back here before work... Troll out.

New and Shiny Tampa Bay Rays Cards!

Shiny plus your favorite team or player equals awesome! I just got off of work and I am feeling lazy. I will post a trade when I wake up, but until then, here are some of my favorite shiny Rays cards that have found their way into my mailbox recently. Some have been posted, some are brand new, all of them are shiny.
There are no highlights in this post and no Yankees and I prefer it that way...It all started when Nachos Grande sent me this Heritage Chrome Navi card

about a month or two ago and then Adam from Thought and Sox sent me a BJ Upton Chrome. After that I declared that I wanted to chase all of the Rays in Chrome and some heeded my call. I can know add Willy Aybar, Carlos Pena, Jonny Gomes, Evan Longoria and my favorite, a Chrome Refractor of Carl Crawford, shiny!
Die cut, shiny, serial numbered and Crawford? Cool... Bowman Sterling is one of my favorite products in the entire card world, even though I have never bought a single pack. I think its one of those super premium hobby only things that is too pricy for my cardshop to stock. I love getting them in the mail and scanning them doesn’t come close to doing them justice.
How about some more random shiny autos of ex-Rays? Shawn Camp and Joey Gathright… How about some shiny Rays of the future? This Donruss unlicensed card looks ridiculous, but it still fairly shiny… This John Jaso autographed refractor came from the Mojo Hand and its mojo-riffic!
This Bowman Refractor of Jonny Gomes was posted earlier in the week, it came from Closet Full of Cardboard but warrants another look. I will follow it with a Carl Crawford Bowman Refractor and end with a Matt Garza Finest Refractor. I was into refractors in 1993 and I guess I still am. I think the best card to end this post with came from the Night Owl not too long ago... Still my favorite...Thanks to all who sent these cards, shiny never goes out of style!

What is a Pujols Autograph Worth These Days?

Tonight I saw a lady wearing a shirt that read “Happiness is Yelling Bingo!” For me, happiness is having an awesome wife. Happiness is the new dog not defecating on the rug. Happiness is the Rays not trading away any core players or prospects at the deadline. Happiness would be finally finishing one of the 3 Topps Heritage Sets that I have been working on since the dawn of time. Chris from Tacoma, Washington is trying to make me happy. Not because he introduced me to my wife or because he knows how to train a stubborn puppy, but because he ripped just as much Heritage as I have these past three years and he is willing to share. I always mention that any card I post a scan of on this blog is up for trade. I try and use my best cards whenever possible to try and draw trades actually. A few weeks ago (The Readers Choice MVP Post) I put up a SP autograph card of Collective Troll’s Fan Vote MVP, Albert Pujols. I received a few e-mails from other bloggers asking about it, but Chris is the only one who actually made an offer. The offer that he has sent to me was pretty much mind-blowing, I wrote back to tell him that, but he said that the card was selling for about $300 on eBay, so I agreed to take his offer, but I still feel a little guilty about it…
He hooked me up with 3 cards off of my Magnificent Seven Most Wanted List (which I will revise soon), an amazingly cool Carl Crawford patch card with the lowest serial number I have ever seen in person (02/25). It is my first CC patch card and only my second patch card total. I have a Roy Halladay patch (#15/25) from the same set, but just like Roy-I haven’t received any serious trade offers on it… Anyway, he sent along about a dozen other CC cards, a BJ Upton jersey card, about 20 Scott Kazmir cards (3 jerseys), but the true awesomeness came from all of the Heritage short prints that were in the box. There were 21 short prints from 2007, 3 yellow name variations and that elusive Carl Crawford SP that I have been begging for. I am now within 11 cards (all SPs) of finishing the set. They are: 31 Beltran Perez SP, 67 Melvin Mora SP, 95 Bill Hall SP, 131 Howie Kendrick, 159 Chris Ray SP, 194 Derek Lowe SP, 248 Adam Wainwright SP, 338 Todd Walker SP, 366 Chris Duncan SP, 375 Michael Young SP and 491 Ivan Rodriguez AS SP. He dropped in a few 2009 Rays cards from the Heritage set, plus 3 SPs. I am still 52 cards away on that quest…They are: 74,79,162,198,251,263,300,318,337,351,376,
426,427,430,431,432,433,436,437,438,439,441,442,444,445,446,447,450,452,456,457,
459,460,461,462,465, 468,469,475,476,477,479,480,481,487, 488,489,491,496,497,499 and 500. My biggest needs in that set are still the Jason Bartlett SP and the floating heads card of the Rays coaching staff; I am dying to get those in my grubby little Rays loving hands!He did send a long a huge stack of 2008 Topps Heritage, too. He included the Kazmir SP, Ben Zobrist and Jason Bartlett’s from that series. Between the low and high numbers, he sent 18 short prints putting me within 4, count ‘em 4 baby, cards of completing the base 1-500 card set. All I still need for that is 211 Mike Sweeney, 446 Aaron Hill SP, 450 Chipper Jones SP and 469 Frank Thomas SP. I am also within 39 cards (mostly SPs) of closing the book on the high numbered set, too. Apparently that tapped him out of Rays and Heritage cards both, but he didn’t feel like he was sending me quite enough. He sent a message asking what else I collected. The short answer is nothing. I build sets and I collect Rays cards that is really it. I like having cards for trade bait and I do have a few players that I collect a little. I gave him the list of those guys and also told him that I wanted to stock up on Orioles cards as they will be Spring Training in my little towne next year. Well, he sent me two Josh Johnson (the Marlins TALL righty) jerseys, a Jeremy Guthrie (Orioles) jersey and a couple cool Ryan Zimmerman cards. I guess there are a lot of people who like Hanley Ramirez and Brian Roberts (my other two favs). It seriously feels like X-Mas with all these sweet new cards under the tree (all over my bedroom floor). It feels even better knowing how much closer I am getting to finishing my sets. I am going to seriously be crossing my fingers, hoping for another Pujols autograph pull with every pack I rip! Thanks so much Chris, for the trade and all the cool cards! For anyone interested in helping with my quests, my Heritage want lists are updated at www.collectivetroll.webs.com. I didn’t start collecting till 2007, but I do want to get all of the Devil Rays cards from the prior years of Heritage, get in touch if you can help. Cheers! Go Rays! Troll out.