Old vs New, Nitty Gritty Style!

Well the Nuclear Bombshells won!!! The ladies kicked Sarasota Roller Girls butt for their first win of the season. My voice is still recovering. I take my last final tomorrow and then I might be able to blog on some sort of schedule… This is a feature I have planned for my other blog, The Nitty Gritty, but I wanted to introduce it here since this blog gets a little bit more traffic. I will be taking cards from the 50’s and 60’s and showing their Topps Heritage modern day counterparts. We will simply call it “Old vs. New”. Today’s Nitty Gritty Old vs. New is 1960 Topps card #108 of Kansas City Athletics catcher Pete Daley. He is going head to head against card #108 from 2009 Topps Heritage of Kansas City Royals catcher John Buck.
Topps did their research and made a great pick for this pairing. Both players are catchers from Kansas City. Both were at the 6 year point in their career. Both had career batting averages around .235 and both weren’t long for Kansas City when the cards came out.
Pete Daley, shown in a Boston Red Sox cap, played with the Sox for 5 years backing up Sammy White. He played for the Ted Williams led Boston teams that never could catch the Yankees. After the 1959 season he was traded man for man to the Athletics for relief pitcher Tom Sturdivant. The following season he was grabbed by Washington in the expansion draft and retired after that season. His final number line is .239/18/120. During his one year in KC he hit .263 with 5 homers and 25 RBI in 73 games.
John Buck hit 3 homers on April 29th against the Athletics of Oakland. That power show came from Buck in a Blue Jays uniform. He too left KC the year after this card was printed. Buck has had a seven year career like Daley and his career line is .236/75/273. He has power, always has, but has the low batting average and frequent slumps to go along with it.
All in all Topps matched these two players well. The edge goes to 1960 though. Even though he is the wrong uniform, it wins because of the catching pose on the side. Plus vintage nearly always wins. Oh and cartoons ALWAYS rock!
I hope y’all enjoy this format. In the future there might not be so many words, just the two cards side by side. You can be the judge. Go Rays! Troll out!

2 Steps Closer...

Well, I was finally able to amass a few bucks in my pocket, I stopped at Wally World on the way home from work last night and picked up 20 padded mailers, 500 penny sleeves and 30 top loaders and I have spent this morning packing up all of the cards that I have been promising to ship out these past couple of weeks, but before I hit up the post office, here is a super quick post…
Thanks to Ryan from the Great Orioles Autograph Project I am now 2 steps closer to total completion of the 2009 Topps Heritage Set. Unfortunately I am still about 300 steps away from total completion, but every little step counts especially when the cards have that dark raw cardboardy back… This is the first post I have done to show the bounty of my group break… I will be back with more posts from those breaks when I return. I do intend to keep my promise and wrap up the rip within a week. I will be doing another one immediately following it however. It will be limited to only 48 packs this time, the product is still TBA but it will be pretty similar to this last one. A few people have paid up in advance to claim slots for the next one, but most teams are still available… The teams that have been claimed and paid for are: The Blue Jays (Duane), the Brewers (Ed S), the Cubs (Paul) and the Rangers (Brian). Every other team is available. I updated my 2009 Heritage needs list to include the MANY high number cards that I still need and YES 2 SPs from this list will get you a slot. Thanks for the cards Ryan! Troll on his way to the post office and therefore out!

2009 Topps Heritage Update!!!

Greetings blog-o-sphere! I had been planning on posting a HUGE post today, maybe a few. I wanted to post the amazing surprise package I got from Wicked Ortega (3 of them actually) which had major want list implications, I wanted to post more of the amazing packages that I have received from Joe of Cobb and Halladay and trust me these are truly amazing-autographs, rookies, short prints and relics, oh my! I wanted to post about my James Shields/Goodwin Champions super collection which all three of those guys chipped in on-that is pretty amazing, too. I wanted to post the story of “Empty Bowls”-this was a great event, it raised a LOT of money to feed the hungry in my area and it is a very easy event to put on, I would like to post some advice, tips and instructions in hopes that an amazing and charitable blogger will take the idea and run with it in their own community. I wanted to post a lot of things-today is Friday, which means no class (for me that could be everyday) and I have more time for blogging. I will be honest with y’all. I am wiped out. Work, school, derby, blogging and insomnia has all taken its toll on me this week and I just don’t have the energy to type like I want to. Plus I am twenty minutes away from having to leave for work and I still haven’t taken a shower…I will take a few minutes to post something, but it’s gonna be another greedy Troll post. I wrote earlier this week about how close I am getting on the 2007 Heritage set, I am just 6 cards away! I am even closer on the 2008 version and that has more cards-I am only five away from finishing 1-720! The 2009 Heritage set on the other hand has been a much bigger thorn in my side, a more bitter pill to swallow, a (insert third cliché here). I am getting closer everyday it seems, but in baby steps, not leaps. Less people ripped this set and there are just a whole lot less cards out there. I split the remaining 15 packs that my local shop had-we opened them together, but split the cost. I got 4 short prints out of the deal, but three were doubles. This is pretty cool actually because I have SPs to trade and these things are like gold! I will post my doubles at the end. For now, here is where I stand on the set… The aforementioned super trader-Joe from Upstate New York, the occasional author of the Cobb and Halladay blog keeps on hooking me up with things I need. I have promised a few more posts of the great things he has sent, but this is just about the 2009 Heritage set, so… I had still needed 9 more base cards to finish the base set, 1-420. Joe took care of that and also sent doubles for my Rays team set. Sweet. He also sent two of the ever elusive short prints. I can now scratch Carlos Gomez, card number 433 and Adrian Beltre, card #447 off of my list. Mike from JD Wild Cardz contributed as well. He is another one who sent me an amazing bunch of cards that deserve their own super post, but he also sent an SP. This came straight from his personal collection, straight from his Red Sox binder. I think he figured I needed it more. It is card #481 of All Star first baseman, Kevin Youkilis. That’s three short prints off of the list. Base set finished. Awesome! Thanks so much Joe! You have been an amazing trader, thank you! Thank you! Also thanks to Mike of JD Wild, I do appreciate you sacrificing a Red Sox card for my quest! I had mentioned that I had short print doubles and I do. Here they are in all of their brown backed glory. Cards #ed 429, 464 and 471. I know someone needs these, but does anyone have short prints that they can trade for them? I got a new chrome in the deal, too. It is also on the block, it is card #C77of Angel Salome. I had posted this refractor of Adam Dunn, card#C83 a while back. It got claimed, but it’s been a month and the guy isn’t answering his e-mails, so it’s back on the block, too. Any takers? With these three new additions, I need just 33 more cards to have 1-500 complete on the 2009 Topps Heritage set. Get your pen and pencils ready, they are: 426,427,430,432,437,438,439,441,442, 448,450,452,456,457,459,460,461,466, 469,470,475,476,477,479,480,487, 488,489,491,496,497,499 and 500. Man, I wanna finish this one! Any assistance would be GREATLY appreciated. If you Blue Jays or Roy Halladay your shopping, find Joe at his blog-http://cobbandhalladay.blogspot.com/. All of these set building posts have seriously limited the amount of sweet Rays cards I have posted up here, that can't happen-save me CC! Happy Friday blog-o-sphere, time to go to 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!

A Full Mailbox Makes For A Happy Troll!

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.