I will post this list on the side bar soon... I have a big test tomorrow night in Statistics and I NEED to study... I wanted to get a list out there cuz I know a lot of folks are tearing this product up... I have only been able to buy 2 packs myself so far, but THANKS to my buddy Scott from the Smed's Card Blog I now have close to a third of this set!!! I mean, imagine this... I got last Sunday off last minute and my wife had to work... I shot an email to Scott to see if he was free to check out a game. Fortunately for me, he was. He drove over 3 hours to meet me in Port Charlotte to see his home team, the Miami Marlins take on my home team, the Tampa Bay Rays...
It was AWESOME to meet a blogger face to face. We all e-mail each other so often and read about each other's lives - its like we really know each other and know probably more than some of our friends... Seriously, us bloggers really hang it all out there for anyone to read. Anyway, it was awesome to meet a blogger, we had a good time - the game wasn't bad, the seats were decent, I got to see Hanley play third base and saw my favorite pitcher Wade Davis start the game... Davis started strong, but got flustered and yielded a solo homer, a walk and then a 2-run homer in one inning. Shortly after that game it was announced that he won't be in the starting rotation this season... No worries, having Wade Davis as your long man in the bullpen is GOOD thing!
Anyway, we had some great conversations, soaked in the sun and saw some big name players up close. All that was cool, but check this out... Upon meeting Scott he handed me a large hard plastic Ultra Pro card box FILLED with Heritage singles... I felt bad - I didn't show up with gifts! Last night I sorted all those cards and mixed in the 16 cards I already had and suddenly I have one third of the set!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Blogger generosity blows me away. Thanks Scott!!! The Marlins ended up winning the game and all but 1 Rays starter was lifted by the sixth inning and replaced with "Minor League Guy". One starter played all nine innings, got really dirty and played solid. When the final out was recorded this dude stayed on the field and signed autographs for EVERYONE there...
He easily wrote his name about 300 times on cards, shirts, balls, hats, programs, whatever fans handed to him. There were SO many youngsters who got their first autograph ever that day and Sean Rodriguez earned himself a number of new fans... I quickly scanned my new box of Heritage, but found no SR cards. I didn't bring a baseball and the Rays cap I was wearing was solid black and I didn't have a silver sharpie, so I STILL need a Sean Rodriguez autograph... I seriously only own 2 of his cards and one is a mini and the other is a refractor. I would def like to build up my Sean Rodriguez collection. Not only is he a super nitty gritty player, he is a damn solid middle infielder, great on the base paths, getting better with the bat, but he is AMAZING with the fans! If you weren't sure if there were any Sean Rodriguez
super collectors out there - you can find one here!
I was a little bummed to not get his auto, but it made my day (which was great already) to watch him sign for EVERYONE after the game... Awesome! I did get dap and I yanked him in for a hug and slipped my Troll Bizness Card into his equipment bag, so I may have a new reader, ha!
Okay, thanks again to Scott for all the awesome Heritage cards! I mentioned earlier that I shipped 30 envelopes in 30 days - PLEASE let me know when you receive... I still owe a bunch of folks - Scott included, but for now, I am paying my good fortune forward...
As always, I totally appreciate EVERYONE (all 3 of ya!) who reads this page... Please check out the Smed's Cards Blog - dude can write! He is very organized in his wantlists, so check them out while yer there - feel free to hook him up on my behalf... It's time for a Troll to hit the books... Go Rays! Heritage want list is right below.... troll out.
2012 Topps Heritage Baseball ~ Complete Needs List Cards 1 - 500
1 NL Batting Leaders
2 AL Batting Leaders
4 AL Homerun Leaders
6 AL Wins Leaders
8 AL Pitching Leaders
10 AL Leading Pitchers
11 Francisco Rodriguez
12 Jim Johnson
14 Justin Masterson
18 David Ortiz / Gonzalez
21 Drew Stubbs
22 Edwin Jackson
23 Ned Yost MGR
25 Delmon Young
28 Josh Beckett
33 Tyler Chatwood
40 Chris Parmelee
42 David Robertson
45 Jimmy Paredes
46 Michael Bourn
49 Jordan Walden
51 Alex Gordon
52 Dustin Pedroia
53 Freddie Freeman
54 2012 Rookies
55 Alex Presley
56 Cliff Lee
57 Howie Kendrick
58 Marlon Byrd
60 Jesus Montero
61 Aubrey Huff
63 Cincinnati Reds
65 Nick Markakis
67 J.P. Arencibia ASRC
68 Vogelsong - Andre Ethier
71 Placido Polanco
77 J.B. Shuck
81 Geovany Soto
84 Doug Fister
85 Buster Posey
86 Dayan Viciedo
93 Johan Santana
94 Wilson Ramos
95 2012 Rookies
96 Carl Crawford
97 Kyle Lohse
100 Paul Konerko
101 Jeff Karstens
103 Michael Brantley
105 James Loney
109 Wade Davis
110 Chase Headley
111 Jeremy Hellickson ASRC
114 St. Louis Cardinals
116 Vance Worley
117 Vernon Wells
120 Nick Swisher
123 Andre Ethier
125 Ron Gardenhire MGR
126 Jonathan Lucroy
127 Willie Bloomquist
129 Chris Perez
130 David Freese
131 Kevin Gregg
133 Todd Frazier
135 2012 Rookies
138 Uggla - Chipper Jones
139 Carlos Ruiz
140 Max Scherzer
141 Carlos Lee
142 Allen Craig WS
143 Neftali Feliz WS
144 Albert Pujols WS
146 Mike Napoli WS
152 Nick Hagadone
154 Don Mattingly MGR
158 2012 Rookies
159 Ryan Doumit
160 Mark Buehrle
161 Ryan Howard
162 Minnesota Twins
164 Austin Jackson
165 C.J. Wilson
166 Kirk Gibson MGR
167 Erick Aybar
168 Ryan Lavarnway
169 2012 Rookies
170 Lonnie Chisenhall
172 Yadier Molina
173 Cano - Jeter - ARod
174 Jose Reyes
175 Matt Garza
176 Michael Taylor
177 Evan Longoria
181 Brent Morel
183 Mark Teixeira
184 Jared Hughes
186 Joe Mauer
187 Shelley Duncan
190 Matt Holliday
191 2012 Rookies
193 Starlin Castro
195 Desmond JenningsASRC
196 Tim Federowicz
200 Curtis Granderson
201 Yovani Gallardo
207 Mike Trout
211 Mark Trumbo ASRC
212 Carlos Marmol
214 Joakim Soria
216 Kyle Weiland
220 Ricky Romero
222 Jed Lowrie
223 Addison Reed
229 Brandon Beachy
233 Terry Collins MGR
235 Ryan Vogelsong
236 Salvador Perez
237 Ivan Nova
239 Cleveland Indians
242 Jay Bruce - Justin Upton
244 Jason Motte
245 Lucas Duda
246 Felix Hernandez
249 Alberto Callaspo
250 Jon Jay
252 Aramis Ramirez
254 Carlos Quentin
257 Jacob Turner
260 Anthony Rizzo
261 Javy Guerra
265 2012 Rookies
266 Travis Hafner
268 Hunter Pence
272 David Murphy
273 Wilin Rosario
275 Dan Uggla
276 Ryan Braun
280 Brett Lawrie ASRC
281 Jason Marquis
282 Jeff Francoeur
285 Adrian Gonzalez
286 2012 Rookies
287 Yorvit Torrealba
288 Chicago White Sox
292 Justin Turner
295 Cory Luebke
297 Derek Holland
299 2012 Rookies
301 Gio Gonzalez
302 Brennan Boesch
303 Alexi Ogando
304 Brandon Phillips
305 Ryan Roberts
309 Ryan Dempster
312 Tampa Bay Rays
314 Alexi Casilla
318 Charlie Manuel MGR
319 Adam Jones
322 Ervin Santana
326 Ramon Hernandez
327 Rick Porcello
328 Elvis Andrus
329 Francisco Cervelli
332 Jorge De La Rosa
334 Mat Latos
335 Bobby Abreu
337 Adam Dunn
338 Brandon McCarthy
341 Ryan Madson
343 Joe Maddon MGR
349 Alex Gonzalez
350 Tommy Hanson
352 Mike Adams
353 Cameron Maybin
354 Jemile Weeks
356 Adrian Beltre
361 Alex Rodriguez
366 Dustin Ackley
367 Trayvon Robinson
368 Andrew Bailey
369 Jason Kubel
373 Michael Young
374 Tom Milone
379 Joaquin Benoit
380 Carlos Pena
382 Joe Girardi MGR
384 Blake DeWitt
385 Logan Morrison
386 2012 Rookies
389 Drew Pomeranz
391 Matt Moore
392 Cabrera / Santana
396 Emilio Bonifacio
397 Kansas City Royals
401 Freddy Garcia
403 Colby Lewis
411 Nathan Eovaldi
412 Kemp - Ethier - Kershaw
414 Corey Hart
415 Chris Carpenter
422 Dusty Baker MGR
423 Neftali Feliz
424 Matt Dominguez
SHORT PRINTS ~ 426-500
426 Frank Francisco
427 Dee Gordon
428 Eric Thames
429 Jonny Venters
430 Ben Zobrist
431 Jerry Hairston
432 Matt Joyce
433 Rickie Weeks
434 Shane Victorino
435 Asdrubal Cabrera
436 Ike Davis
437 Chris Denorfia
438 Juan Nicasio
439 Aaron Miles
440 Jonathan Sanchez
441 Paul Goldschmidt
442 Jason Bartlett
443 Endy Chavez
444 Brandon League
445 Gaby Sanchez
446 CC Sabathia
447 Jose Iglesias
448 Heath Bell
449 Gerardo Parra
450 Leo Nunez
452 Fautino De
453 Troy Tulowitzki
454 Julio Teheran
455 Jimmy Rollins
456 Greg Dobbs
457 Dellin Betances
458 Adron Chambers
459 Alex Liddi
460 Brett Pill
461 Jose Altuve
462 Chris Young
463 Edwin Encarnacion
464 Omar Infante
465 John Mayberry
466 Kyle Seager
467 David Wright
468 Nelson Cruz
469 Jeremy Affeldt
471 Yunel Escobar
473 Carlos Zambrano
474 Barry Zito
475 Jason Bay
476 Prince Fielder (Tigers)
477 Derrek Lee
478 Roy Oswalt
479 Eric Hosmer
480 Carlos Gonzalez
481 Justin Upton
482 David Ortiz
483 Mike Stanton
484 Todd Helton
485 Mike Napoli
486 Josh Hamilton
487 Casey Kotchman
488 Ryan Adams
489 Jose Bautista
490 Brandon Belt
491 Ichiro
492 Joel Hanrahan
493 Josh Willingham
494 Ryan Zimmerman
495 James Shields
496 Josh Johnson
497 Jered Weaver
498 Jhoulys Chacin
500 Michael Cuddyer
Number of Cards I have: 177
Number of Cards in Set: 500
What I Need: 323
Completion Percentage: 35%
List Created – 03/27/2012
List Updated - 03-29-2012
The ice cream trucks in my neighborhood sold cards. They didn’t have baseball cards, but over the years I bought Pac Man, ET, WWF wrestling, Garbage Pail Kids and even Donkey Kong cards. It was pretty awesome. It was more awesome that I actually won the contest. Along with the Donkey Kong related prizes, the winner (me!) was able to choose their favorite team and receive bonuses related to said team. 
I got greedy and picked the Rays, the Pirates and the Orioles. Well, this weekend I received my prize pack from 
I didn’t like these cards at all when I first saw them, they have seriously grown on me and now I love this years and really loving Topps attempt from 2002. 
The fun fact on the back of Aki’s card mentions that Aki had a framed Carl Crawford jersey at his home in Tokyo years before they became teammates. That is cool. Finishing off another team set is also cool. 
Some rad cards I needed for 2010 Topps include a Yo Mamma card of Steve Carlton, a Peak Performances card of Lefty. 
These were especially because Lefty Carlton was my favorite player back in the days when I was buying Donkey Kong Cards off the ice cream truck. 
Another card I needed that he included was card #TOG-7, the Tales of the Game card of one of my favorite moments in sports history, Bill Mazeroski’s walk off World Series homerun. I have updated my 
A few other cards he included from 2010 Topps are this serial numbered Gold card of Pirates All Star starter Zach Duke and a black variation of Akinori Iwamura. 
The true gem of the package, the card that seriously made me cry is coming up next… I mentioned last week that the wife and I had celebrated our 4-year wedding anniversary. I didn’t go into much more detail, but when we got married we did it in Lake Wales, Florida. Lake Wales is a small town in Polk County; it has a population of about 10,000 people. It is the home of former MLB catcher Pat Borders. In 2004 the town was hit by hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jean. Much of the town was destroyed. We chose this town as our wedding site because we had our first date at the Florida Skydiving Center in Lake Wales and we spent a ton of time there. The Skydiving Center and much of the town and places we visited were destroyed by the hurricane. Going back afterwards was really emotional for both of us as there was a ton of destruction. 
I got off track a bit, but I mentioned that because Pat Borders in no longer the only player from Lake Wales to make the Major Leagues. He has been joined by Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Wade Davis who struck out 9 batters in his MLB debut last September against Detroit. I have wanted to add Davis to my collecting radar because of his hometown, I just didn’t think I would be able to afford too many of his cards right now. I am now the proud owner of a beautiful autographed card of Mr. Davis from 2010 Topps Peak Performance, thanks to Gritz76 and 
Thanks so much Gritz! You blew me away with this one!!! Words cannot express my appreciation or how happy I was with this package! Stay tuned for all of the vintage awesomeness that was included in the package. Stay tuned tomorrow for plenty more posting and the conclusion to this one. Go Rays! Troll out.
They did and thank you! Thorzul recognized what I had lost and attacked the problem head on replacing two Gold Rays cards that I had lost.
From 2007, card #UH4 of former Rays shortstop Josh Wilson and from 2009 Topps, card #347 of current Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett. 
Two bonuses he included were card #107 from 2008 Topps Moments and Milestones of Scott Kazmir (#ed115/150) which celebrates his 223rd strikeout (out of 239) of the 2007 season. 
He also included, from 2008 Topps Co-Signers, card#017 of Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli. This card is serial numbered 084/300 and looks far better in person than it does on the scanner. 
The final (and yes, I did save the best for last!) card is from 2009 Topps. It is from the Career Best subset which has seriously been growing on me of late. It is an autograph of Akinori Iwamura. My favorite former Rays second and third baseman. I have been lucky enough to accumulate quite a few Aki autographs this past year. I lost several a few weeks back, but I can replace one with a much cooler card. 
I love reading each players personal bests. I was surprised that Aki never stole more than 1 base in a game and never had more than 2 extra base hits, but I was also surprised that he had a 5 times on base game and had 7 total bases 3 times and also scored 4 runs in one game. 
These cards are neat! Thanks so much to 
I just finished a post on my other 
The first came a few months back from the legendary 
I hope y’all understand. Anyway, this is the awesome Kazmir relic that came from RR. He sent some other stuff, cool Rays and cards I needed for my 2010 Topps set and curiously a pair of these Frank Catalonto cards. 
They were the first 2 cards I saw when I opened it and I was sure that I had been bipped. If I was, it was a little one. 
He followed it with a Post Greg Vaughn cuz ya can't miss a food issued card! I would like to show off the other stuff he sent, but I wanted to post his Kazmir card from Upper Deck SP because it fits in well with the next cards which all came from blog reader and friend 
He is a great and generous trader though. I ran out of steam (actually Piazza cards) during our last trade, but he hooked me up anyway with 3 Rays autographs, Danny Tartabull, Negro League and basically everything I collect. He had one Rays autograph left, but we agreed that he would hold that back for a future trade. This week he decided that my wait was over and surprised me with all of these great Kazmir cards and a 
I am a huge fan of Kazmir. I never got into collecting him, but I will never turn down one of his cards... The year that he 
He put up a lot of those K signs with us in the audience. When my cousin Jon and his wife Kendra came to visit us in 2007 she had never been to a baseball game before. I was able to get tickets behind home plate for the 4 of us and we watched Kaz strike out 12 batters from about 25 feet behind the catcher. He doesn’t bring the heat as much as he used to, but the amount of movement he has on his 92 MPH fastball is amazing. He is brutal on lefties too. I don’t know if he will ever return to his 2007 form, but at 26 years of age, I think his best innings are still ahead of him. 
While he was recovering from injury last year, he spent time rehabbing with the Port Charlotte Stone Crabs (A) and I got to see him work out close up and also got to speak with him. He felt like he had yet to reach his peak and really wanted to stay and succeed with the Rays. Obviously he didn’t stay with the Rays-he was traded to the Los Angeles Angels in late August of last season for Sean Rodriguez (who is having an amazing spring!) . As an Angel Kaz was 2-2 with a 
Amongst the Kaz cards Joe also included a
The highlight of Joe’s package is right here. A 
I remember he would sign on game day before and after warming up in the pen. I have watched him sign and he never puts his head down and just signs, he is always conscious of who is handing him things and I have seen him reach past adults to get to kids. I have also watched him stand there and sign for thirty minutes while engaging in chit-chat. I will also say that every time I have ever seen him, spoke with him or been anywhere near him I have felt awe. He has a presence about him and a star quality as well. I think that ultimately the Kazmir for Rodriguez trade will work well for both teams, but it sure was sad to him go. He was my teams first legitimate star, a real All Star, a league leader, a class act and a fan favorite. I wish him the best of luck in California and I hope for the best with Rodriguez in Tampa Bay. 
My Kaz collection is one that needs some serious organizing. I know I have at least 100 different cards of him, but they are by no means in order or even in a binder. This package may give me a little incentive. I was planning on showing off some Longos from 
Thanks so much for everything Joe!!! You floored me with your generosity! 
I do love refractors! I got my first blue refractor in the mail today, I can’t wait to scan that! Go Kaz! Go Rays! Troll out.
