Before I began the process of bindering my random minis I counted them. I had just fewer than 400 minis. Cool. I figured with just 350 cards in the set I would be well on my way. I was wrong. I didn’t consider that I had 5 different cards numbered 13, 57, 67 and 91. Turns out there are more than 120 card numbers that I don’t have. So… I have devised a list of all the card numbers that I need. The goal will be to get at least 1 card for each number and then I begin the process of finding the best possible card or player to rep each number.
To help me along on this mission I have decided that I will be willing to part with some of the minis that I have hoarded and hidden over the years… Anyway, these are the card numbers that I need. Any year, any back, any border – I do not discriminate… Send me these card numbers please:
1, 7,8,11,14,16,17,19,20,21,35,36,37,39,41,44, 48,49,51,52,55,59,62,63,64,65,66,68,69,75, 76,78,79,80,82,85,86,87,88,90,93,95,99,
102,103,104,106,107,110,113,114,121,125,131, 139,141,142,144, 145,149,150,153,154, 157,158,164,165,167,171,173,174,176,177,
178,186,187,188, 193,197,199,200,201,202,204,209,211,215,
216,218,224,226,227,232,233,234,235,239,241,244,246,247,
248,254,256,257,258,260,262,268,270,271,274,277,283,284,
286,289,291,295,297,298,300,309,315,317,319,323,324,326,
328,335,339,340,345,346,348,349 and 350.
So to save you the tediousness of counting, there are 126 (give or take a few) cards listed above. The goal is to have every slot filled and THEN I can start the process of upgrading and have a PERFECT set of all of my favorite players and historical figures.
This is, of course, easier said than done… Anyone who has attempted this process knows this. Choosing which card gets the spot in the set ain’t easy. Sometimes it’s easier than others – like card #27 which is occupied by Brad Hawpe both in 2008 and 2010. Other numbers are much harder. Card #13 pits BJ Upton vs. Eleanor Roosevelt vs. Brett Anderson. Card #50 is home to Pat Neshek, Carl Crawford, Jason Bay and Albert Pujols. In each of those number cases I have ALL of those cards. Decisions, decisions… Set into the binder this Frankenset, so far, looks bizarre… Players like Ryan Freel, Matt Murton and Austin Kearns all have (temporary) spots in the binder while fav players of mine like Pat Neshek, Justin and BJ Upton, Carlos Pena, Delmon Young and Carl Crawford are all in the dupes for trade pile. Go Figure. It is a bizarro world when Austin Kearns is a keeper and either Upton Brother is tossed aside…
Anyway, I now have 100 minis up for trade, SPs, black borders, Ginter Ad Backs, stars, rookies and all. Just keep in mind I want specifically to trade minis for minis. I would be willing to trade these minis to fill holes in my Kimball Champions set, too. OR to trade for Rays Bazooka back minis OR Rays silks, relics, printing plates, autos, black borders, extended minis, etc. It isn’t easy for me to part with any mini period, so please be sure to only make serious offers and be gentle…
If you have spare copies of any of the card numbers listed above, please get in touch… In addition to my 100 Ginter minis I do have some cards that I would be willing to trade for any of these card numbers. I do prefer authors, historical figures, boxers, Rays, managers, Negro Leaguers, women, softball players or HOFers whenever possible.
I have 5 different pages with 20 cards each in them which I will be posting for trade bait... In most cases I want to trade mini for mini, SP mini for SP mini. There are a couple of fancy/rarer cards here, like a 2010 Jacoby Ellsbury NO# mini (limited to 50) and some 2007 Black Border No # minis, which are also limited to 50. Basically, if you have minis that I need, I WILL find you something awesome to trade ya…
Oh yeah, I’m almost back… I will try and post at least once per week over the next 2 weeks, but after that, it might be a daily thing, so stay tuned!
Also, ALL of my wantlists are up to date. A handful of generous folks have kept the trading pipeline pumping. Aside from the vintage (1963 and ’65) which are tops on my priority list, I am trying REALLY hard to finish off 2010 and 2011 Allen and Ginter, 2009-2011 Topps, the Kimball Champions minis set (1-150) from 2011 and I wanna start collecting 2006 Allen and Ginter. I would love to find a hobby box to rip, that would be AWESOME!
Anyway, I love this hobby, I really miss this… I scanned one of my pages, the one that is the closest to being full. I stopped using the 15-up Ultra Pro pages (for this set at least) and have begun using 20 pocket BCW pages. So far I am pretty happy with them.
Thanks for reading! Go Rays!!! Burn bright hot stove! I love this game, I love this hobby! Troll out.
(oh, BTW… I am posting this NOW, BUT I didn’t get the trade bait pages up yet. So, for now, search your dupes and see if you have anything I need… Within the next couple days I WILL post 5 pages filled with awesome minis that are up for grabs… SO – stay tuned Trollites!)
(and PPS... I have barely been online over the past month... If you have emailed me, offered me a trade, if I owe you a trade or owe you money, you should probably hit me up again... Send me an email HERE... Cheers!)
In an effort to steal a page (ha!) from the 
That was the first and only time he appeared in an All Star game and he set a personal best with 21 victories. He had Cy Young type numbers in ’03 and finished 5th in the voting for the award. Roy Halladay would be the AL’s winner that year, but he and Moyer had comparable numbers. Halladay was 22-7 with a 3.25 ERA while Moyer was 21-7 with a 3.27 ERA. Pretty darn close if ya ask me. Halladay got the better in the strikeout department with 204 to Moyer’s 129, but the main reason that Halladay took the Award was that RH completed 9 games while Moyer only finished 1 game. Otherwise Moyer allowed fewer runs, home runs, and hits and had no wild pitches or balks all year long. The other difference was Moyer was 40 freaking years old when he had that epic season and Halladay was just a young lad of 26. 
Moyer began the 2009 season in a tie with Hall of Famer Joe McGinnity for 48th All Time in wins with 246. With each victory he climbed that ladder and finished the season with 12 wins and moved past HOFers Vic Willis, Bob Gibson, Al Spalding, Carl Hubbell and Red Faber into sole possession of 41st place on the All Time list. Should he come back in 2010 and win another dozen ball games that would move him ahead of a few more Hall of Famers with names like Feller, Lyons, Rixey and Palmer. 12 more wins would leave him with 270 and place him in a tie for 33rd with Mike Mussina and Burleigh Grimes. Heck, since I am speculating anyway, should Moyer have 4 more decent seasons in him he could become the 25th man (and just the 7th leftie) to join the exclusive 300 win club. As he stands presently Moyer is 10th All Time among left handers in wins. I was very disappointed in Charlie Manuel for not adding Jamie Moyer to the postseason staff-I really felt that Moyer could have been at least as effective, if not more so than Cole Hamels in October. If I remember correctly, at the All Star break Moyer was leading the Phils staff in wins and before he lost his job to Martinez, he was one of their more successful starters. 
At 4.94, he did have a rather robust ERA, but the Phillies bats supported him well and he finished the year with a 12 and 10 record. What was Cole’s season mark? 10-11 I believe. I thought that Charlie Manuel was a by the numbers skipper and by those numbers the 46 year old lefty is better than the 25-year-old lefty-Cole Hamels. I think that Hamels is going to have plenty more opportunities to lose games in the World Series, it is unsure how many more shots that Moyer will get and I would have loved to see him have the chance. I don’t think that Moyer has a shot at the Hall of Fame, his career 4.22 ERA doesn’t scream Immortal, but he has been an above average pitcher for 23 seasons and it is exciting for me to see him climb the ladder and pass all of those Greats of the Game along the way. I really hope that Moyer can find a job and return in 2010 and win a few more. Now, onto the card-I love pretty much everything about this year's A & G which is why I decided to try and get the entire set autographed. Moyer’s card is no exception. The rendering of him just looks Noble, very appropriate for a guy who just passed Carl freaking Hubbell on the All Time wins list. I can remember when I was 11 years old and Moyer was breaking into the Cubs rotation I sent him a letter with a card and he returned it pretty quickly. 
I still had that memory with me when I tried him this year, twenty years later. He was a great signer then, I thought he still might be and sure enough he is. I can almost imagine him sitting in the clubhouse after the Series ended, not happy, but not wanting to blow-off his fans either, opening up his fan mail and signing his name in black sharpie. It’s those images I get that add to the connection I receive from a TTM autograph. Thanks so much Mr. Moyer! Congrats on leading the Phillies as far as you could and congrats on being the 41st winningest pitcher in baseball history! I guess I could also say congrats on being the 8th success in my Allen and Ginter auto quest…So, who do you think success number 9 and 10 will be? You’ll have to wait until Monday, unless I finish my essays sooner… troll out.
Yep, he is the swindler behind the scheme that bears his name that has come back in style of late. The Ponzi Scheme is scam that offers cash return to early investors, but the money comes straight from the pockets of later investors. He bilked unsuspecting folks for millions in 1920 and then spent a bit of time in prison.
This is straight from the back of the card… “In an internet proliferated parody of attempts to ban the teaching of evolution, the April 1998 issue of New Mexicans For Science reported that Alabama had voted to change the value of Pi from 3.14159 to the “Biblical value” of 3.0
In 2005 a crazy lady from Georgia faked her own kidnapping to avoid marrying a guy named John Mason. You got lucky dude. After a massive manhunt she surrendered to police and was sentenced to probation and community service.
I really wanted this card so I could read what the hoax was. I have been to Idaho and I eat potatoes that come from there on a regular basis, so I wondered how an actual state could be a hoax. Turns out that the hoax comes from the state’s name. Lobbyist George Willing convinced the US Congress that “Idaho” was a Shoshone Indian word for “gem of the mountains”. He eventually admitted that he just made up the word.
In 1770 a machine called “The Turk” was “invented”. This machine could play chess and the “machine” defeated many people including Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte. Turns out it was just a costume and there was a person inside it, but it was a person who was really good at chess.
This shouldn’t need an introduction, but here goes… Enron had been a legitimate Houston based energy company before its bankruptcy in 2001. Then, it was found out that it operated almost solely on fraud and deception. The whole scandal brought down many, including the Arthur Anderson accounting firm.
She claimed to be the long lost Grand Duchess of Anastasia. She wasn’t, but it wasn’t exposed until post-mortem DNA tests exposed her.
This guy was a lot of things, but not really. He is the inspiration for the book “The Great Imposter” and the TV show “The Pretender”. Throughout his life Demara impersonated a surgeon, psychologist, prison warden, lawyer and a monk.
Britain’s “Guardian” newspaper created the island of San Seriffe as an elaborate April Fools day joke in 1977 when they published a 7 page history of the phony island.
This was the name given to the mystery man who hijacked a Boeing 727 in 1971 obtained a $200,000.00 ransom and parachuted from the plane never to be seen or heard from again.
Another April Fools Day prank, this one happened in 1933, complete with photos of the ruins and all. The Madison Capital Times newspaper ran this story as a joke saying the Capital fell after a gas leak caused an explosion.
The man who sold the Eiffel Tower. He posed as a Parisian official and told the scrap metal company that it was too costly to maintain and had to be destroyed in 1925.
Good ole Orson Welles and his narration of the HG Wells novel on the air on Halloween night in 1938… One million Americans were convinced that the earth was being invaded by Martians. Read a book America!
Much like Vic Lustig, Parker was a business man who sold things that he didn’t own including a number of New York City landmarks, the most famous being the Brooklyn Bridge. The expression “And if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you” came from Mr. Parker.
In 1917 the New York Daily Mail published a fictitious history of the bathtub which is still repeated as the truth today. The story claimed that bathtubs were unacceptable by the populace until President Mallard Fillmore got on himself.
Again, in 1917, but this time in England, the news fooled the public. Two children were photographed with “fairies”. The photographer later admitted that the pictures had been faked and the fairies were cardboard cut-outs, but insisted that they had actually seen spirits.
In the late 19th century, Reavis devised an elaborate scheme to attempt to prove that he owned the state of Arizona. He had false family diaries, deeds and a long family tree to attempt to substantiate his right to ownership.
For 40 years the discovery of bones in Piltdown, England were regarded as evidence of a new type of early man, but in 1953 they were found to be an amalgamation of human and chimpanzee bones.
In 1869 workers digging a well in Cardiff, New York allegedly found the petrified remains of a 10-foot-tall man. It was actually made of gypsum and planted there by George Hull who hired the workers to unearth it.
Had it been real, “cold fusion” may have provided the world with an inexpensive and plentiful source of energy. This was claimed by two scientists in 1989, but was later deemed impossible and an example of pathological science.
who will have their own personal display case, too. The same will hold true for the Rays cards. I eliminated a few names from the list and a few people from the display case. I didn’t really intend on collecting BJ Upton specifically, but as I was sorting, I realized that I have more cards of him than anyone, so he gets his own collection by default-this was the same way that Scott Kazmir and Delmon Young earned their own slots, too. Other than them, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Jason Bartlett, Jeff Niemann, Evan Longoria and Akinori Iwamura will be at the top of my list. Jonny Gomes, 
Brian Roberts and Pat Neshek now have their own personal (and pretty empty) binders and Danny Tartabull’s binder is alive and well and getting pretty full. I may upgrade the Bull’s home soon. The new player that I have decided to obsessively collect is original Devil Ray, Quinton McCracken. 
He was my favorite D-Ray back then and still stands as one of my favorites ever. His career was short-lived, but he really represented the hope of success for an expansion team. He was a leader in the outfield, the lead-off hitter, the spark plug of the team. He never really ignited the D-Rays into much, but the idea that he could gave fans hope. Anyway, I plan on chasing every single McCracken card, base cards and inserts, in a Devil Rays uniform. This is funny (to me) because the first card I saw in the envelope from the Night Owl was a Quinton McCracken card that I didn’t own. 
A 1999 Upper Deck Ovation, card #11 with the cool embossed baseball stitches in the background. 
I spent some time last night making a list of all of the Carl Crawford cards that I own last night and I am making a web page to track them. The page can be found here, for future reference, as it won't be done today, but soon... 
The other 3 cards came from the 2000 Upper Deck Gold Reserve set. 
These look pretty neat on the front, nice bright photos of Canseco, Hernandez and Vinny Castilla. The back of the cards, with these guys impressive career numbers are against a solid gold background. 
Wow, that is a little more gold than a Troll can handle… Thanks Night Owl for the SWEET ex-Rays and for sending along the final card in my quest for the Hoaxes set. I will get all of these scanned up and post the set tomorrow. By the way, I just resist starting this post with a scan of the super awesome card that the Night Owl sent me in his last trade package. I was drooling over it again last night and I noticed that it celebrates his Major League debut on July 20th and the serial number is 07/20, another reason why that card rocks! I should warn you all, I will probably post this one about 13 more times this year! Go Rays! Troll out.
Here he is: The Sultan of Striking Out, the Legend of runners Left on base, the DH who is “all glove, no bat”, Mister Pat the Bat Burrell! He is joined by 10 of his teammates making the fun sized Rays set complete! Included are Evan Longoria, Dioner Navarro and Carl Crawford. 
Also, Akinori Iwamura and Scott Kazmir. 
Cycle hitter BJ Upton and the AL Home Run King Carlos Pena.
Last, but not least, a trio of starting pitchers: Matt Garza, James Shields and David Price. 
I have the whole set in standard back form and have about the half the team in Ginter back style. 
I do not have a single black bordered mini and I am okay with that. I really would like to add at least on Bazooka back to the collection. Carl Crawford would be my preference, but I would really be thrilled to have any of them. I am excited to have the whole team together in miniature form. I still don’t have the full team in full sized cards… I am missing Aki, Kazmir and Navi. Okay folks, that’s all for now… The rest of this package is pretty f-ing jaw dropping. I couldn’t believe it myself. I will probably start posting it next week. Thank you so, so much Duane! I owe you big time and you rock out loud my friend! Here is a clue to one of the cool things that may have been in there…
Much more to come! Check out Duane’s blog at 
I don't know who I sent it to, but originally I wasn't chasing this set and now I am. It is a really fun subset, I think and this card is the only one standing in my way. I would like to do a full-set display post, like I did with the Highlights Sketch cards for this set, but I can't in good faith do this knowing that my set is incomplete... Anyone wanna help a blogger out? More posts coming tonight... troll out.
I have stacks of trades that I am slowly scanning to get them ready to post. On Monday I received a package from Rod, author of the Padrographs blog. It was great stuff, but it was filed away in a team bag on the dining room table on Tuesday morning. I noticed the Aki card, but it didn’t click that it was the card I was waiting for to finish this bad boy off. Last night, Duane from Democratic Roadkill blog pointed out that card #222 was Akinori Iwamura. When I got home, I searched my Aki book, searched my Aki cards in the display and nothing. I was pretty bummed because people have sent me this card. I have the mini of it in all 3 flavors...
I will probably also have an extra cup of coffee, too. The Troll knows how to party! As a note of interest probably only to me-the back of the Aki card was my 500th scan in the month of October. Woo hoo! Thanks Rod!! Set is done!! Go Angels! Troll out.
It was well-attended, very successful and a lot of fun! I ate some soup, did some schmoozing and came home with an awesome bowl! I will do my best to write a recap of the event on this here blog tomorrow! I covered it for the newspaper, too, so I need to see what they end up using, plus time is super limited and I want to post another trade. I am going to manage to get through the entire day without posting any more ’78 Topps cards-I can’t make that same promise tomorrow, but it is coming to a very good ending, trust me. So, over the past few months I have received a number of trade packages from Justin who lives in nearby Largo, Florida. Justin runs a blog with a super cool name, its called “Is This A Wasteland-No It’s Tampa Bay Sports”-you can find it at 
cards and Orioles stuff including Brian Roberts. 
I am a greedy guy and it’s hard for me to part with cards of my fav teams and players. Another thing that I have felt badly about is I’ve never really posted any of the cards that he has sent me. Maybe it was guilt from all the unreciprocated trades we’ve done, but more likely it was because most of the stuff he has sent me was super anticipated cards from my want lists that I couldn’t wait to get in their respective binders. Well, I am trying to be a more responsible blogger and trader, now. Plus, thanks to one of my “Trade Bait” posts, I finally had cards that he wanted and we are finally even. This makes me feel much, much better. I feel terribly guilty when I owe people cards. Anyway, this time around he also sent me a card that went straight to the binder, but it paused at the scanner for a moment, first. It is the FINAL short print that I needed for my 2009 Allen and Ginter set! 
It is card #312 of AJ Burnett, hired arm of the New York Yankees. I am a bit iffy about posting a Yankees card on the first day of the playoffs, but I posted Rays cards all season long and that didn’t help them win! I got the other two SPs (Curtis and Cameron) 
that I needed in the mail on Monday from a reader-THANK YOU!!!
Now, my Ginter binder has 349 cards in it. Everything that was promised has finally arrived; I actually have all of those cards in my possession! I do still need one more base card and anyone reading this is more than welcome to send it my way. It is card number 222. Justin also sent along 13 cards from the 2003 Topps set. I had almost no cards from this issue up till now and I really like the look of this set. 
The bold, bright blue borders on the base cards are sweet-looks similar to the blue parallels in this year’s Topps Chrome. I wish my stupid scanner was actually able to capture the coolness of the color… 
Included in the lot were Joe Kennedy, Ben Grieve, Esteban Yan, Greg Vaughn, Ryan Rupe, Toby Hall, John Flaherty, Mark Malaska
and current Royals pitcher Doug Waechter. He included a gold parallel, serial numbered Esteban Yan
and an Opening Day card of Carlos Pena from his Detroit Rock City days. 
There is also a Future Stars card of two All Star outfielders in Josh Hamilton and Carl Crawford. 
From the oddball department is a free I-Tunes download card included in Bowman Sterling with Evan Longoria on the front. 
It’s plastic and credit card like and it reminds me of the phone card cards from the early 90’s. As is customary for me, I saved the best stuff for last. As I mentioned in the intro, Justin is a resident of the proud sports Mecca that is Tampa Bay and he is also a frequent flyer at Tropicana Field. He is also aware of my Tampa Bay Rays autograph quest. The original parameters of the quest required the autographs to be on card of the player in a (Devil) Rays uniform. This has turned out to be pretty difficult and beggars can’t be choosers, so here we go! This is a 1997 Topps card, #443, of my favorite original Devil Ray, Quinton McCracken. 
The card is signed boldly across the bottom front in sharpie, and you can see, Q actually has a legible signature! Justin got this during the Inaugural Season at the Trop and hung onto it for 12 years before sharing the wealth, thank you so much! He didn’t stop there either; this next one was the jaw dropper for me… The Q card is awesome, but Q was a fan favorite who was friendly with the fans, so seeing an in-person autograph of him isn’t so much of a shocker. This final card is from the Upper Deck Vintage set, card number 77 of former Rookie of the Year, All Star and fav of the Night Owl, Hideo Nomo. 
I hate that the card is of Nomo on the Red Sox. A Devil Rays card would have been ideal, a Dodgers card would have been cool, but I really don’t like the idea of having a Red Sox card in my display case, BUT it is an autograph of Hideo Nomo, so I guess I must make exception. He did have a stellar year for Boston in 2001. He pitched a no-hitter in April-I think it was the first Sox no-hitter in like 30 years or so, and he went on to lead the AL in strikeouts, so I guess its okay. I had always understood that Nomo was nearly impossible to get autographs from, so I was super shocked with this one. I asked Justin about how he got it and he told me the story. It was at a Devil Rays fan fest where all of the players were required to sign autographs at a table for a half-hour or an hour. He did say that Nomo was pretty standoffish. He probably also had a line a million fans long. Three years ago I arrived at the preseason Fan Fest late and when I got on the field where players were signing I saw two LONG lines. Lines of more people than I had ever seen in the Trop at one time and I asked someone who was signing-thinking it had to be Carlos Pena
or Scott Kazmir or someone big. I was told that it was Pete LaForest and Greg Norton. No joke. Our fans might not ever pack the seats to go to games and cheer for our team, but they do know how to show up anywhere you can get something for free. That said these two autographs are awesome!!! I have gathered up over 60 autographs on cards so far and thanks to rad people like Justin, that number is getting bigger every day. Thanks so much for the great trade my friend!!! Thanks to anyone who read this. Tomorrow will hopefully bring a short write-up on the Empty Bowls fundraiser and hopefully there will be one more big post about 1978 Topps. It’s a good story and once it is told, the ’78 stories will be relegated to the brand new blog… 
