2 Posts in 2 Days, WHAAATTT????????????

So, I am actually gonna deliver on the promise that I made yesterday, I AM actually gonna post some of the cool cards that Tim the Indians fan sent to my newly operational Post Office box…

First, I want to get a few links out of the way… At the end of my last post I encouraged everyone to check out the Bradentucky Bombers facebook page… Well, I posted the wrong link, so here is the correct one… Check it out and LIKE us please!

We did have a bout last night… It was fun and well attended which is awesome. We are raising money for Multiple Sclerosis research and our awesome fans helped us get towards our goal. Our league, the Bradentucky Bombers, has two separate teams, our A team – The Bomb Squad. Also, our B squad – The Nuclear Bombshells. Both teams had been perfect, each posting 2-0 records. Well, the Bombshells lost their first game to the Lakeland Derby Dames last night. LDD was just a better team, we were overmatched…

Okay, back to baseball cards… I had mentioned that I was gonna chase 2009 Topps and was basically starting from scratch and I was looking for a kind soul to help get me started. Well, Spankee from My Cardboard Mistress answered the call and is sending nearly 200 cards towards my goal. My lists are up to date and could be found here. Lend me a hand, okay?

Okay, now back to the first package in the PO box… Reader Tim send a pretty big envelope filled with the standard assortment of Rays cards… The first stack wasn’t terribly exciting, although appreciated, ha! The next stack was a complete set of 2008 or 2009 DAV Rays cards!!! The card back has contact info for the Disabled American Veterans... You can find them on the web here.

The cards look GREAT and it is a great foundation worthy of support... Along with the cards Tim included a note apologizing that Evan Longoria wasn’t included. Well, I have a pretty fair amount of Longo cards, but this DAV set absolutely RULED because of the guys it included who I don’t have cards of…

I seriously want to get back into the quest for hunting Rays autographs. I had gotten frustrated because there are so many people who spent a short amount of time in the Rays organization without ever getting a Rays uni-card. There are a lot of members of the Rays coaching staff who have been around forever, but never got a solo card in a Rays uniform… Yeah, that is why I LOVE this set! They are good looking cards too! I seriously never thought I would EVER see a card of longtime bullpen coach Bobby Ramos. Got that now! Also have Don Zimmer, Tom Foley, and George Hendrick… Well, just look at them!

The first 2 pages have at least 10 guys I previously did NOT have a Rays card of. I plan to have ALL of these signed before the season is up. There is one card that might be tough to get signed, the card featuring everyone’s favorite seadog Raymond. This is my 3rd Raymond card – I would LOVE to get six more and fill a page of him…The third page I am showing off has the bigger named players on it…

Nice cuz in every case I didn’t have any of these in any of my PCs. Oh, speaking of PCs – Ben Zobrist was included in this set and with this card I now have 2 full pages of Zorilla cards!

I know that seems like nothing to many of you, but I am psyched and happy with it… I trashed my old binder with my PCs of Crawford, Bartlett, Aki and Kaz (LONG story about that coming soon) and replaced it with a new binder that starts off with 13 pages of Evan Longoria!!!!

I had always said I didn't collect Longo because his cards were too pricey. Well, they still are, but I DO collect him. Keep sending them my way and I will keep collecting! Aside from Longo, the PC binder now includes Zorilla, Price, Wade Davis, Desmond Jennings, Jeremy Hellickson, Sean Rodriguez, Matt Moore, Alex Cobb, Jake McGee, Wilking Rodriguez, Raymond, Alex Colome, Shawn O’Malley, Stephen Vogt, Brandon Gomes, Alex Torres and Justin O’Conner.

Many of those guys don’t have many cards just yet and there are a few names on that list that I only have 1 or 2 cards of, but I hope to have full pages of each one of them someday soon. The binder is mostly current Rays, but there are 3 ex-Rays that I still collect… One is retired and coaching – Jared Sandberg and the other two are on the other coast, in the wasteland known as the Oakland A’s. I am referring to both Jonny Gomes! And Manny Ramirez. I only want Rays cards of Manny…

Adam from Thoughts and Sox sent me my second Manny card a few weeks back, so I just need 7 more to fill a page. Thanks for reading! Thanks so much to reader Tim for the sweet DAV cards which will be signed up soon… Oh, I just filled up my first page of last year’s Rookie of the Year. If ya don’t see it here, I don’t have it yet, so send it my way, ha!

Oh, I have been doing a bit of wheeling and dealing of late and most of my wantlists are up to date... I WILL be chasing 2012 Heritage, but doing so on a tight budget, so I NEED your dupes! Go Rays! Troll out.

Congrats to Jeremy Hellickson!

The 2011 American League Rookie of the Year!!! He becomes the 2nd Rays player to win the honor after going 13-10 with a 2.95 ERA and helping Tampa Bay to win the AL Wild Card... A World Series ring would have been nicer, but I am feeling pretty proud as a Rays fan right now! Congrats again to Jeremy Hellickson!!! If you have any unwanted cards of JH, feel free to send them my way! Go Rays! troll out.

My Dish at the Baseball Card Buffet!

I am putting my new scanner to good use with a GREAT trade that I worked out a few back with the legendary BA Benny’s Baseball Card Buffet. I had posted up some 2011 Topps trade bait and we started going back and forth. It grew into a pretty big trade with me crossing many cards off of my needs list. The more awesome thing is that we already have another trade in the works… Anyway, here are some of the awesome cards that he sent. I tried to pick cards that haven’t been posted to death, plus I really wanted to show how cool he was to hook me up with cards from nearly all of my different collections. Lets start with the first card I have seen from 2010 Bowman Platinum, it’s a purplish refractor of Rays pitcher Jeremy Hellickson, #PP3. Ya gotta consider Hellickson as one of the front runners to be the AL Rookie of the Year, I just hope he sticks around Tampa Bay for a while…
Next up is a card from 1994 Ted Williams featuring AAGPBL All Star Alma Ziegler… Yes, I collect cards of female baseball players and yes, I did not own this one yet, so it is awesome!
Another great card for my oddball PC is this sweet 1992 Upper Deck card of Danny Tartabull, card #237. The Bull wasn’t a great defensive outfielder, but I love that this card shows him making him a running catch, or at least running…
Next up is Rays awesomeness from 2011 Topps. Before this trade I had 1 Rays diamond sparkley card (Carlos Pena from Series 1) and no gold cards. Now I have 2 golds and 2 diamonds. It starts with the coolest of the bunch. The Longo sparkle! Card #340 of the Rays All Star third baseman. The golds are of the aforementioned Rookie of the Year candidate, Jeremy Hellickson on golden card #165. The other gold is a great looking card of the Rays shortstop Sean Rodriguez turning two on Delmon Young and the Twinkies on card #397.
I am going to end this post showing off 2 of my favorites out of the stack of 2011 Topps Series 2 cards he supplied me with… Card #347 of Cubs infielder Darwin Barney and my favorite – card #501 of Twins middle infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka putting Jose Bautista out and going for 2. Nishioka hasn’t really impressed in Minnesota yet, but I love the intense game face on this card. A HUGE thanks to Mike from BA Bennys Baseball Card Blog Buffet for hooking me up with these great cards. Thanks brother! Go Rays! Troll out.

Rays Cards From the Wicked Vault!

As promised I am going to start delivering some of the Unposted Wonders of my collection which came to me from Alfedo Wicked Ortega. Most of these cards came in trades we did back in 2009, but for whatever reason I didn't have the chance to post everything that he sent. I am trying to get caught up, plus these are all sweet cards that I had never seen before. Enjoy… It has been a long day for this Troll. I think a used car company uses this as their slogan, but life sucks without a car. Walking to school and work sucks. I am losing weight (and I am not a big dude), getting sunburned and wearing out my shoes. Plus, I haven’t been to the post office in two days and I have quite a few packages to ship out…Anyway, I do hope to be able to get some posts up tonight. Here are some goodies from My Past Time…I Love It! Vault. First up is a 2009 Tristar PROjections card of Jeremy Hellickson. This is the first (and only card) I have of Hellickson, who I think is going to be an amazing big league pitcher. The Rays got Hellickson via the draft in 2005 when they chose him in the 4th round (118th overall). The card shows him in his Vero Beach Rays uniform (A) where he was 7-1 in 2008. Last year he made stops in AA and AAA and in 20 starts posted a 9-2 record with a 2.45 ERA. Overall his career minor league numbers are amazing. His record is 37-13 with a 2.71 ERA in 82 starts. He struck out 507 batters in just 461 innings. In those 461 innings he has walked 100 batters and allowed 368 hits. He led the Durham Bulls to a Championship last year and although he has yet to pitch a major league inning, he will be in the mix battling for a spot in the Rays rotation this year. If anyone is wondering, I am a huge fan of Jeremy Hellickson and would like to track down some more of his cards. The remainder of this post will be exclusively Carl Crawford cards. Starting with 2003 Fleer Splendid Splinters, Card #137. Card #11 from 2003 Upper Deck SP Authentic. Card #91 from 2008 Upper Deck Ball Park Collection. Card #122 from 2007 Upper Deck Elements. From 2007 Upper Deck Series 2, and the MVP Potential insert set, card #MVP45. Card #93 from 2009 UP SP Legendary Cuts. And finally, from 2003 Fleer Showcase, card #107. That concludes this session of showing off cards from the Vault of Wicked Ortega. These aren’t all of them by any means; I will try and post them just like this, 10 at a time until I am caught up… Thanks again to Wicked Ortega for all of these great cards! I have more Crawfords, more autographs and more great cards in general that I need to free from the vault and onto the scanner. Thanks to all of you for checking out the Crawford collection. Go Rays! Troll out.

Don't Forget To Watch The Durham Bulls vs. Memphis Redbirds for the AAA Championship

Quick post... The game is in Oklahoma City and Rays Minor League Pitcher of the Year Jeremy Hellickson will get the start. The game is on ESPN2. This reminds me that I am very low on cards of Rays prospects. Zero cards of Tim Beckham, Wade Davis, Desmond Jennings, Jeremy Hellickson or Jason Cromer. Help a Troll out...Go Bulls!