I went to the Post Office right after class today and the cards I was waiting for still have yet to arrive, but the contest will NOT be delayed any further.
The contest will be up by 8PM (Eastern Time) tonight. In the mean time I want to show off some new 2010 Topps cards so I can put them into the binder. I will begin with some goodies from Joe O. in Illinois. Joe and I worked out a trade for some base cards he needed for the set, in exchange I got a TON of inserts I needed. I am still chasing almost all of the insert sets. You can find my list of needs HERE. I am nearly out of dupes right about now, but I may have some other stuff to offer up in trade. Anyway, Joe sent over this George Sisler Peak Performance insert, card #PP22. That card pushes me past the halfway mark on my needs list.
I am still looking for Peak Performance cards numbered:1,2,5,8,14,17,18,19,23,26 and 27. Back to George Sisler… He held the MLB record for hits for 84 years until Ichiro came along and topped his total by 5 hits playing in 8 more games.
Gorgeous George batted over 400 twice, including a .420 average in 1922 when he won the MVP Award. Primarily a first baseman, Sisler also owned a career 2.35 ERA in 111 innings on the mound. He went into the Hall of Fame in 1939. He is one of many, many guys named George in Cooperstown. On that topic,
to the best of my knowledge, there is no one named Mark or Marc or Marck or even Marcus or Marquis in the Hall. David Mark Winfield is as close as we get…
That really needs to change, but I can’t really think of a good candidate. Okay, I drifted a bit… Let’s get back on track with some Yo Mama cards. I don’t know why exactly, but I am really getting into the Yo Mama chase. Joe sent me this one, card # CMT-30 of 1981 Eddie Murray.
He also chipped in one each from the HOTG set as well as Legendary Lineage. I found the pairing of Cobb and Granderson to be a little bit of a stretch, but now that he is in New York, it seems even sillier. I do like how they compare each player’s career stats on the back. Granderson isn’t too far behind Cobb in the homerun department, but he is over 1600 RBI behind and about 95 points behind in batting average.
Still, with all of my beefs with this set, I REALLY wanna finish it off. Including a few that are pending, these are the
Lineage cards I still need: 2,8,13,16,17,18,19,21,23,25,28 and 30.He also chipped in some History of the Game cards, too, but I am going to jump right to the stack of Turkey Reds. I didn’t expect to get very far at all in this set, but so far I have been pretty lucky. I think that everyone loves the Reds and I am no exception. Outside of Rays cards I have never tried to chase Turkey Red before, but I am definitely all in in 2010. Joe sent 4 of these great inserts.
A pair of young sluggers with ties to Tampa Bay as well as a Hall of Fame slugger and a promising young hurler.
I am still 31 cards away from sealing up the Turkey Reds, but I ain’t giving up!
If you have any of these Turkey Red cards, let’s make a deal…
Card #s TR1,2,4,6,7,9,11,12,13,15,17,18,19,21,22,23,25,
26,27,28,30,31,32,34,37,39,40,43,44,45 and 47
Next up are some more 2010 Topps inserts and a whole lot more from Scott of the
Hand Collated blog. Scott, I will be scouring your want lists this weekend so I can return the favor. Some of the goodies he sent (starting with 2010 Topps) are: Three more Cards That Your Mom Threw Out. I wanna finish this set bad! I didn’t think that much of these cards until I put them in the binder, now I NEED to fill those pages up. Starting with card #CMT-35, a 1986 Tony Gwynn.
Gwynn hit 300 or better in a remarkable 19 straight seasons. Back in the day I had at least 20 copies of this card, but none ever looked this good. The black on the top was also chipped right out of the pack. Next are a couple of cards that I don’t own and have never had 20 copies of.
Card #CMT-15, a 1966 Jim Palmer rookie card. The last Yo Mama card that Scott sent is card #CMT-17 of Mickey Mantle’s 1968 card.
I gave up on my quest to collect the ’68 set, so this card is as close as I am getting for a while… To finish off this set I still need cards: 1,4,5,6,9,11,13,14,16,18,20,24,25,27,28,29,31,32,36,37,38,39,42,43,44,48,50,51,52,54,55,56,57 and 58. I guess that since I still need 34 more cards I am not that close, but it does mean that I do have 24 of them. Next up is another pairing from Legendary Lineage, card #LL27 of Joe Mauer and Tony Gwynn.
They have both won multiple titles, but I think the similarity ends there for me. That concludes this 2010 Topps Showoff, but it doesn’t conclude this post. He sent over a bunch of cards for my Rays team set needs over the years, but I wanted to focus on these 2009 Upper Deck cards because I am pretty into this set right now. I don’t have a want list for these yet, but I know that I don’t need these!
From series 2, Jason Bartlett and Andy Sonnanstine. Horizontal goodness of Aki and Willy Aybar.
Finishing off with Matt Garza from series 1 along with a couple of guys who begin the season on the DL-JP Howell and Matt Joyce.
Also from series 1 of ’09 Upper Deck is a card that I needed from one of my favorite insert sets of the whole year, the OPC previews. I already had the Pena, Upton and Crawford from this subset-now I have the Longo to go along with them.
The last card I am going to show off from this super package from the
Hand Collated blog is from 2008 Topps Updates. This is another insert set that I thought I was done with, but cards just keep on popping up! To go along with the Navarro, Crawford, Kazmir, Upton, Garza and Aki cards I already have from this set, I can now add a Game Worn Jersey of current Rays coach Rocco Baldelli to that binder page.
Huge thanks go out to both Joe and Scott for all of these great cards! Thanks so much guys! I may sneak in another post prior to the contest, not sure yet… The contest will be up between 6 and 8 PM tonight, so keep on checking back. Hopefully this week I will have the time to scan up some great packages I have received recently. Reds and More, My Past Time, Heartbreaking Cards, Stale Gum and Jacob Marley have all sent me mindblowingly awesome packages that I am dying to post. Thanks for reading! Get in touch if you have ANY cards from my 2010 Topps inserts list… Oh, speaking of 2010 Topps-I just received my first SILK Rays card replacement.
It is of Rays #4 starter, left-hander David Price… That reminds me, the Rays announced their starting rotation yesterday and I have a new favorite website for Rays News. It’s brand new, but I think it’s gonna be pretty cool. Check out
TB Rays News dot com and tell ‘em the Troll sent ya! Go Rays! Thanks
Scott and Joe! Troll out.
The Rays have agreed to send a “player to be named later” to the Yanks to complete the deal. Posada, 38, hit 22 homeruns for the World Champion Yankees last season. He is a 5-time All Star, 5-time Silver Slugger Award Winner and also a 5-time World Champion. He will be the Rays opening day catcher and will bat 6th for the Rays behind Carlos Pena. Joba Chamberlain was upset that he didn’t make the Yankees starting rotation and demanded a trade on Wednesday morning. The Yankees responded by working out a deal for Burrell giving them additional power from the right side of the plate. The Rays agreed to the deal, but asked that Posada be included as well. It is speculated that right handed pitcher Andy Sonnanstine might be the player to be named later in the deal. It is also possible that the Rays will ship Kelly Shoppach to complete the trade. The Rays have made it clear that no regular position players or any member of their starting 5 are available. Burrell was first player chosen in the 1998 draft and made his debut with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2000 hitting 18 homeruns as a rookie. In 2001 he began a streak of 8 consecutive seasons hitting 20 or more homers. In 2008 he hit 33 homeruns as a part of the World Champion Phillies team. Following his success in ’08 the Rays signed him to a lucrative contract and made him their full-time designated hitter. 
Last season Burrell was a disappointment at the plate, batting just .221 with 14 homers and 119 strikeouts. 2010 is the final year of Burrell’s 2-year, 16 million dollar contract. Posada inked a 4-year, 54 million dollar deal with the Yankees after the 2007 season making him the highest paid catcher in MLB history. The Rays were concerned about taking on the extra payroll and required New York to pay half of what is due to Posada for 2010. The Rays will be responsible for his entire contract in 2011 and will likely try to trade him before this year’s deadline if they are not in contention for a playoff spot. With the success of rookie sensation Sean Rodriguez in spring training as well as the addition of proven closer Rafael Soriano in the bullpen, Posada might be the final piece of the puzzle for the Rays to return to playoffs in 2010. 
The addition of Joba Chamberlain in the starting rotation will push rookie Wade Davis to the bullpen to begin the year. Chamberlain will be the team's number 5 starter. The team is excited about Chamberlain's intensity, plus he will stay with Posada, his battery mate for his entire big league career. This trade may also create an opportunity for outfielder Justin Ruggiano to rejoin the ball club and assume to role of designated hitter. He had been optioned to AAA Durham. More likely, Hank Blalock will be the Rays opening day DH. All Photos Courtesy of the Associated Press. I am SOOO glad that April is finally here! Opening Day is less than a weel away! Go Rays! Troll out.
It features Matt Garza who just might be the Rays opening day starter this year. 
Speaking of opening day starters… 
Here is the gold version of Rays starting third baseman Evan Longoria and probably 3rd or 4th starter David Price. I have had great luck getting gold cards from 2009. I haven’t updated my list, but I think I have 21 out of 35. The other super bonus non-2010 card he sent was this Brian Roberts serial numbered rookie. 
I posted it along with some other Orioles cards on my other blog, 
Here is one Orioles related card that Brian sent that I didn’t post over there. It is from 2010 Topps though. 
It shows Frank Robinson, the American League MVP, World Series MVP and Triple Crown Winner in 1966. Thanks so much for the great cards 
I opened it up and was greeted with a bunch of Fred McGriff cards spanning his early career with the Padres and the Blue Jays. I thought it was kinda weird, he collects McGriff-I don’t, but whatever. The guy will be going to the Hall of Fame in 2010-he’s already in the blogger HOF, so cards of him don’t hurt. I dug deeper and there were two McGriff’s in top loaders in the middle. Cool, there was a 2000 Topps that I needed for my Rays team set-SWEET! 
I am seriously lacking in cards from 1999-2003 as I wasn’t collecting then at all and many of my traders weren’t either. Anyway, I flipped the card over and found another note-it said something about a McGriff sandwich. Okay. I attempted to pull through all of the tape-I don’t know if there was a lot of tape, but when you’re really eager and anxious any amount of tape is too much. Anyway, I got through it and sure enough, there was another card in a top loader jammed between the two Fred cards-the meat in the McGriff sandwich. I got it loose and it fell onto my (empty) desk and I screamed out loud-holy f$%in Sh%t! when I saw what it was. To my shock and surprise I found this wedged between a couple of slices of Fred-Bread. It is a 2008 Topps Co-Signers card autographed by two of my favorite players on the Rays, by two players who have very few cards out there. 
If I needed a spark to get excited about collecting again, this was it! It got me amped, seriously amped, but it also got me bummed that I couldn’t post it, or post anything. It’s been leaning against a pen cup on what had been my computer table for half a week now- I aint gonna lie, it calls out to me. It told me to find a way to post it and stop making excuses, so here I am! Now, back to the card-not only does it talk its freaking awesome. Say what you want about sticker autos, they aren’t my favorite thing either, but they have their place and they work on this card. The stickers enabled Topps to add autographs of two All Stars on one card. It enabled them to have autos of two of my favorite players on one card, two of the top hitting infielders in baseball on one card, two guys who have very few cards of themselves in a Rays uniform on one card. The Rays have made some crappy trades of late, but this card shows the results of two of the best trades that they ever made-say it with me-on one card. I’ve already mentioned that they were both All Stars in 2009, Jason Bartlett finished the year with a .320 batting average-6th best in the AL. Ben Zobrist placed top-ten in slugging percentage (.543) and belted 27 homers. The switch-hitting super utility guy was also 8th in the American League MVP vote. Yes, this is an awesome card and it has me really excited and I am glad that I am able to give it a proper post. It has me reignited in my Rays auto quest too now. I am desperately trying to fill autographs of everyone on the 2008 AL Champs team and am getting close. If anyone has a Matt Garza, BJ Upton, Dioner Navarro, JP Howell, Cliff Floyd, Evan Longoria, Troy Percival, Rocco Baldelli or Evan Longoria auto that they would be willing to share, it would be appreciated! Anyway, a HUGE thank you to Tim from the 
