2008 Allen and Ginter-The HITS Revealed!

So for those of you have followed my stories about the amazing hobby box of 2008 Allen and Ginter that I ripped at Christmas time you know about the miniature shark I pulled, you know about the awesome mini Ancient Icons card (Beardy's claimed this one) I pulled and you know about my super patriotic trio of jersey swatches. You've seen all of those cool cards (and seeing them again now), but I am going to reveal the remaining two hits in this very post, so read on... No sooner than the packs were ripped that night, the cards that I needed found a home in the Ginter binder, so I don’t have many scans of base cards. I was thrilled to pull card #307 of Pat Neshek (opps, forgot to scan, eBay image) short print (could use a second for my PC). I got Carlos Pena, Akinori Iwamura, James Shields and BJ Upton from the Rays, too. I got this sweet trio of miniature awesome authors and I pulled Brian Roberts as well. What I haven’t shown you yet are the two best hits. The best pull came in the very first pack I ripped. My wife ripped her pack and got nothing and then in my second pack I pulled the first card I am gonna show you… Now before I go on-Drew from Drew from the Drew’s Cards blog posted this weekend about putting together Trifectas of certain players. By this he means having said player’s rookie card, a relic card and an autograph. It made me think of whom I have the Trifecta of… My collection isn’t too big and I don’t have many. I have 2 of the 3 of many, but I only have the full Trifecta of Jonny Gomes, Scott Kazmir, Jason Bartlett, Steve Garvey, Brian Roberts, Carl Crawford and Cal Ripken Jr. There are a lot of players I would love to add to this list… Danny Tartabull, Quinton McCracken, Steve Carlton, Roberto Clemente… Okay, I am dreaming now… Anyway, back to my magical box of Allen and Ginter. Before I continue with my hits, I do want to thank everyone who came forward to help me out with finishing off the set. After opening that second box I was only 70 cards away, now thanks to all of the awesome folks in the blog-o-sphere e I am only 18 cards away… Thanks to everyone who has offered to help me out! The cards I am still looking for are: 30,96,99,156,168,171,187,209,228, 250,284,305,307,318,328,341,343, and 348-the complete list with State Cards and minis is here. I have to say this set is going together MUCH easier than the 2009 one. I bought like 4 hobby boxes and 20 blasters and still had to trade like crazy… I got more hits in these 2 (2008) boxes than I did in all 24 boxes of ’09, too. Anyway… I love suspense and I am trying to build some. Is it working? Okay, this card came out of the second pack I opened… It is card #AGR-PF, a “swatch cut from a game-used bat of Prince Fielder, star first baseman of the Milwaukee Brewers”. This is the first bat relic I have pulled from Allen and Ginter from any year… I had long considered collecting Prince for a few reasons. His Dad was awesome! I love watching Big Daddy Cecil hit! I am really close with my Dad and I really appreciate father/son big league legacies. Aside from having our Dad’s as our heroes, Prince and I have a few other things in common… We are both heavily tattooed with really big neck tattoos and we are both vegetarians… I guess the similarities end there. He was born in Canada and outweighs me by about pounds, plus he makes more money in one day than I will make in 10 years, but… The guy can ball though. He led the NL with 141 RBI this year and his 46 homers was 1 shy of Pujols for the league lead… So yeah, I was pretty psyched with that pull. Outside of sets I have zero cards of Prince. I have a knack for pulling his cards, but as long as Ed from Roll out the Barrel collects him, I will keep on sending them to him… I do know that Ed already has this card, so I think I will hang onto this one… That was a pretty good pull, I was pretty thrilled with it, but it didn’t compare to the hit I got out of the FIRST pack I opened… I wish I scanned the back of this one because I really like the design with the parchment and quill, but I did scan the front… It is card #AGA-PF. This card is “bearing the signature of Prince Fielder, star first baseman of the Milwaukee Brewers”. That’s right-in my first two packs (right off the top) I pulled an autograph card and a bat card of Prince Freaking Fielder!!!! I could not believe it! I can count the number of autographs that I have pulled in my lifetime on one hand-I normally just have really bad luck when it comes to ripping packs. There was something special about this box. It ended up producing 3 jersey relics, 1 bat relic, 1 certified (on-card) autograph, 1 Ancient Icon, 1 World Leaders and 1 shark card. Not too shabby… Anyone have a rookie card of Prince that they want to trade so I can complete this Trifecta? Like I said, I have the worst luck when it comes to ripping boxes, so I am feeling pretty good right about now… My 2008 Ginter want list can be found here. Thanks to everyone for reading…. Also, another HUGE thank you to Duane from the Democratic Roadkill blog for making this all possible!!! You rock Duane!!!!!!! Freezing my Troll ass off out here! Go Prince! Oh... Don't forget to place your vote in the 2009 Gummie Awards poll!!!! My 2008 Allen and Ginter wantlist is right here. Troll out!

FREE STUFF!!! The First Ever Collective Troll Contest!

A contest, a contest, a contest!!! Free stuff, free stuff, and free stuff!!! Today is one of the two days of the year during baseball season that there are no Major League games on and I am a bit bored, I am home from work early and there is another half an hour before ESPN 2 starts showing the AAA All Star Game (Reid Brignac starting at shortstop!) so I am going to give some stuff away. This is an All Star themed post. There are 12 different cards (the absolute best of my small collection) to choose from, each representing an All Star player. First, we have a 2007 Upper Deck Legendary Materials Cuts card (19/99) of 6 time All Star Harold Baines. Next is a 2009 Upper Deck Dual Swatch (60/75) of 2008 All Star Joakim "The Mexicutioner" Soria. A 2006 Bowman Heritage Pieces of Greatness (uncorrected error) Card of 8-time All Star Vladimir Guerrero. A 1999 Topps Chrome Traded (PSA 9 MINT) card (#T46) of 2009 All Star Carlos Pena.
A 2008 Allen & Ginter Jersey Card of 3 time All Star Carl Crawford.
A 2009 Upper Deck Game Used Patch (12/25) of 6-time All Star Roy Halladay.
A 2009 Topps Patch Card of 14-time All Star Reggie Jackson.
A 2006 Upper Deck Epic Materials (101/155) of 3-time All Star Robin Yount.
A 2008 Upper Deck Timeless Moments card of 2-time All Star Prince Fielder.
A 2009 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection Card of 2-time All Star Kevin Youkilis.
A 2008 Playoff Prime Cuts (94/99) Je rsey Card of 15-time All Star Tony Gwynn.
And last, but not really least, a two for one deal...

A 2008 Upper Deck Spectrum Dual Swatch (21/99) card featuring both 2-time All Star Prince Fielder and 2-time All Star Ryan Braun.
Now, I realize that I didn’t cover every team here, but I think that I threw in enough Hall of Famers to make everyone happy. If you insist, when you select, write in Pujols, A-Rod, Chipper or David Ortiz and you will receive a random memorabilia card of my choice featuring that player.
Okay, the rules. First, you must follow this blog to play. Second, you can only enter via the comments on this thread of this blog. Any entry received after midnight on Sunday July 19, 2009 (the date of the next Bradentucky Bombers bout) will be voided. You can win one or two of the cards listed above. To win one, simply comment with your name, your favorite team or player, the state or country that you live in and which one card you would like. To win two cards, do everything listed above, plus select a second card, plus vote for your choice for MVP and Cy Young for this year (thus far) in both the American and National Leagues. That easy. I will post the first comment with a sample of how to do this. My entry will be voided because I am not a follower of this blog. I, along with witnesses and a camera, will pull the winner’s name from a hat (containing all the entries) early next week. I will then post the winners first name and the card they picked and contact them for their address to send them their card. Sorry there are few options for West Coast fans, I have zero luck in pulling Dodgers or Giants cards ever. I checked at my local card shop today and no dice. Sorry. Okay, good luck!

Four quick end notes...First, every card here (other than the PSA) is pack fresh and stored in a one-screw down Ultra Pro holder and covered in a team set bag. Second, was Robin Yount only an All Star three times? I might be misreading my encyclopedia because that just doesn't sound correct. Third, the remaining cards not won will be added to a few others for another contest in August, unless an interested party wants to trade me for Rays memorabila cards. Fourth, uh...can't remember what I was going to say, umm...thanks for reading? Oh wait, the cards available are the actual ones pictured and when available, the serial numbers are listed. Okay, going to watch the AAA All Star game. Go Rays! Troll out. Oh, as an added bonus...The first person who points out the uncorrected error on the Vlad card can pick THREE cards! Oh, and the same cards can be picked by multiple people since this contest only has one winner... Remember that if you choose Cy Young and MVP, you can pick 2 cards, if not, you only pick one card. Thanks for reading!