Doesn't ANYBODY Like Blake DeWitt??? Plus MORE Trade Bait!

Thanks to BA Benny my list has been trimmed down to just 22 cards! The 2011 Topps list is up-to-date right HERE. The person I split the 2 hobby boxes with was a Rays fan, too, and he took ALL of the Tampa Bay Rays base. Many of the cards on my needs list are Rays, but on the list or not I still need a copy of ALL the Series 2 Rays for my team sets…

I just finished putting everything into their binder – what a way to spend the morning, seriously, I LOVE putting a set into a binder! I have complained about Topps collation before, but after 2 hobby boxes I had 90% of the base set. That isn’t too bad… I hope I have the same luck when I crack open my piggy bank so I can crack open a box of Allen and Ginter.

Anyway, I had posted some 2011 Topps trade bait parallels. I had 1 short print variation – of Andre Dawson. I had no less than 11 e-mail offers for that card. Beyond that there wasn’t too much interest in anything. Seriously, doesn’t anybody like current Cubs second baseman Blake DeWitt? His black parallel, card 628 is numbered 13/60 AND it is still available. The former first round pick is batting .263 for the Cubbies this year…

Also available from 2011 Topps are these GOLD parallels…

Card #531 of Blue Jays outfielder Juan Rivera is numbered 1026/2011.
Card #359 of Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay shows Mr. Halladay about to receive the celebratory hug from Carlos Ruiz after tossing the first postseason no-hitter since 1956. Its #ed 0921/2011. (CLAIMED!)
More celebration Philadelphia style is on card #511, numbered 0329/2011. (CLAIMED!)
For more sparkly Roy Halladay, I also have his Diamond Stars insert, card #DS-11. (CLAIMED!)
For more gold team cards, I also have card 568 of Kansas City Royals, numbered 0563/2011.
Next up is gold card #403 of the 4th youngest pitcher to reach 1000 Ks, King Felix Hernandez, numbered 0256/2011.
Okay, my last series 2 gold card is number 395 of White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers, numbered 0205/2011. The card itself is very well centered, sorry bout the bad scan...
I have 1 gold card leftover from Series 1… Card #220 of Todd Helton.
I only have 3 random inserts left, if you want ‘em, I have 2 non sparkly cards, #RDT17 of CC and RDT29 of Josh Johnson. Also, I have 1 lone Diamond Duos card, #DD-14 of Werth and Zimmerman… (sorry, no scans)
I have a few parallels leftover from 2010, these are of the bronze variety…
Card #482 of Mike McCoy, #ed 210/399.
Card #468 of Delmon Young, #ed160/399 and card #577 of Jason Jaramillo, #ed 212/399. (CLAIMED!)
Finally, leftover from 2009 and with NO scans are card #556 of Brendan Ryan, #ed0670/2009 and card 537 of Anthony Reyes, #ed 0275/2009. That’s all for now… Thanks for reading! I look forward to finishing this set off BEFORE I begin 2011 Allen and Ginter. Oh, a reminder of the rules... If you want a card, it is first come, first serve. You MUST claim the card in the comments on this page, THEN send me an email with your address and what you are gonna give me... Thanks again! Go Rays! Troll out.

Oh No, Not Another Trade Post!!!

This post is meant to accomplish a few things. First I wanted to welcome a new (sort of) blogger to the Blog-O-Sphere Family. His name is Ryan and he is a fan and collector of all things Baltimore Orioles. Now there are already quite a few Orioles blogs out there and there are 3 of them that I can think of which are run by people named Ryan (first OR last name) so his blog title is super appropriate. It is called Oh No, Another Orioles Blog. I suppose he isn’t THAT new. He already has 22 posts AND 22 followers to his credit, but I am ALWAYS late, so naturally I am late on the welcome wagon. Anyway, a big blog-o-sphere welcome to ANOTHER Orioles blogger named Ryan. Okay, purpose number 2. Ryan and I made a trade and I wanted to post it. Actually Ryan sent me some cards and I owe him some, but I want to get these in the binder and off the desk, so here they are. I will start with some Topps cards he sent of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Enter purpose #3-to pimp my want lists. You can find my Rays Team Set list right HERE. Ryan found it and knocked a few cards off of it which is always appreciated. This brought me down to needing just 13 more cards for total Topps/D-Rays domination from 1997 to present. Of course that number will rise now that 2010 Topps Series 2 is out and I don’t have any of those YET, but anyway… I have mentioned that 2003 Topps is one of my favorites; I now need just one more card to finish that off. I barely remember Lee Stevens playing for the Devil Rays, but THAT’S BECAUSE HE NEVER PLAYED FOR THE DEVIL RAYS!!! His last game in the big leagues was in September of 2002 and he was with Cleveland. He did play in 18 games for the Indianapolis Indians (AAA) in 2003 before officially retiring, but those Indians are a Brewers affiliate. Maybe he got a non roster to spring training with Tampa Bay in 2003? Who knows? Anyway, Topps gave him a card, #541 in their set and I needed it and now I have it. Another name I can knock off my list is from 2005 Topps Updates, a Futures Game card of Delmon Young. I don’t know why or how I still need so many cards from ’05 Topps, it seems like I have 100s of dupes, but I still need 4 more cards. Huh. Of course the fourth and final purpose is to show off some SWEET Carl Crawford cards! Along with the team set cards he sent me some fresh new Carl Crawford’s for my growing collection. Shown here is a really dark scan of card #199 from 2000 Bowman. He included a few other CC Bowmans from the past few years that I might need as well. I have my box of CC cards next to my bed and I swear I am going to sort it soon! The thing about this package that I was most excited about was the 2010 Bowman stuff he sent. People are going apesh…t over this stuff. Mainly because Stephen Strasburg cards are selling for more money than a three bedroom fixer upper does in my neighborhood. For that reason I probably won’t buy any 2010 Bowman myself, but I am super fascinated by this product. I have seen most of the Rays cards on the ‘Bay, but now I own a few of them. I really like this shot of CC sliding in safe at home in Florida against the Fish. I think that was from the same series where both Aki and Bartlett were injured last year. Anyway, I have admired this one from a far. With so many people trying to pull a million dollar Strasburg card they are peddling the other “hits” from this set for next to nothing. As SS has yet to throw a pitch in the big leagues CC is a proven All Star and you can find his cards very cheap. I am on a mission to collect one of EVERY single 2010 Bowman there is of Crawford. This includes the one of ones, printing plates, EVERYTHING! I know that sounds a bit crazy especially considering that Ryan sent me the three coolest cards in the set already, but I never claimed to be a sane collector. I really like this Bowman throwback of CC styled after 1992. I never ripped a single pack of that either, but people went crazy after that as well. I did not like the rookie cards of guys in street clothes. Didn’t like them then, still don’t. I honestly don’t own a single 1992 Bowman card, but still I think this one; card #BT24 is super rad! The last CC from 2010 Bowman is super rad as well. It is card #BE 14 from the Bowman Expectations set and has CC on one side and the centerfielder of the future Desmond Jennings on the flip side. I think DJ is going to do big things in Tampa Bay, probably starting next year. He rounded out the 2010 Bowman fest with a couple of Rays starters who have a shot at being first time All Stars. I like the Price, the Garza is bland. I need to find a checklist to see who else I need. The last card I will show is probably my least favorite. I HATE variation backs; I am with the Night Owl on this one. Just don’t like em. As a super player collector I have to deal with them though and I can now scratch 2007 Topps Red Back off of my CC needs list. Thanks for all the great cards Ryan!!! There will be Orioles a plenty heading your way soon!!! As a trader he officially has the Troll Stamp of Approval, so go check out his blog RIGHT NOW!!! Now, if you have 2010 Bowman cards of Crawford or any Rays, get in touch and let’s make a deal! I despise printing plate 1 of 1s, but for some reason I want them all... I love this game, I love this hobby, and I love TRADING! Go Rays! Troll out.

I Want I Want I Want!

Aside from battling with my car (and losing) today was spent sorting cards from my team collection and making lists… The want list for Tampa Bay Rays cards has enlarged quite a bit… I have mentioned that I want to collect one of every base card ever made of every Rays player and that is still my goal. I am way too scatterbrained to keep track of what I have and don’t have. I know I have a lot because there are boxes all over the house that say Rays on them, unfortunately details beyond that were limited. I started by making lists of all of the Topps flagship releases and I have actually finished two years (2004 and 2009) so I thought I would expand it. I figured I would include my favorite brands (Topps, Allen and Ginter, Heritage, Fleer Tradition, Goudey) along with stuff that everybody rips like Upper Deck and Bowman. The list now covers my team needs for 44 different products and by next week I should have over 50. Until I get my car running again I can’t go to the card shop and get more sleeves, binders, etc, so I am at a standstill for now. Anyway… Check ‘em out and let me know if you can help a Troll out!

Two Hundred Reached, Passed, THANKS!!!!!!!

It isn’t exactly common practice for me to run a trade post from the same person two days in a row, but here I am posting more stuff from It’s Like Having My Own Cardshop.
This morning’s post came to me last month and I was just way behind in getting them scanned. Today, after class, I stopped at the post office and was greeted with a number of packages, including another (surprise) envelope from Dan. He had me the big stuff last month, before I had posted my team set want lists and this package tackled those. I am now about 6 steps closer on both the 1999 Topps team sets, including these 2 ’99 Traded Cards. He sent even more from the ever elusive (to me) 2000 Topps set as well. For those parties interested in helping me with the team set building, the list of what I need is here. Once school is done I will be adding Topps Chrome, Bowman Chrome and Topps Heritage to the list, along with Topps Gold. All of my wantlists are updated and are on the side bar of this blog.The lone non-Topps issue in the package was an insert from 2009 O-Pee-Chee, a Midsummer Memories card of Carl Crawford, #MM11. This combined with the other package I received today from the always awesome Joe from Upstate New York puts me over the double century mark in the Crawford PC. You can view the list of all 204 amazing CC cards in the collection here. I was beginning to have my doubts if it was possible, but thanks to Dan, Joe and the rest of you out there, we made it!!!! The new goal is 250 before the first pitch of the 2010 season, but I am relax for a bit first, get all of these cards in their respective binders-which means buying binders, buying sleeves and dedicating an afternoon for pulling 200 cards out of top-loaders and stuffing them into pages. It sounds like hard work (not really) but I can’t wait! Thanks again Dan for making my day, gotta go to work and after work it is up all night writing my stupid thesis. Wish me luck! Go Rays! Happy Collecting! My condolences to Curtis Granderson fans everywhere! Troll out.

Is This A Tradepost? No, It's Just the Troll Being Greedy!!!

Greetings! I think this makes 3 posts in one day after being gone for a week. The more things change, the more they stay the same… I am actually posting from home-thanks to Allison for coming by with her laptop! I really wanted to type out my Tampa Bay Rays team set needs and I was able to do just that today! This weekend I got a package from Justin at Is This a Wasteland… and he knows of my quest for total Rays cardboard completion and he has sent me probably over half of the cards I have in my team set binder. Up till this package I didn’t have a single card from the 2001 Topps set-I was weak in a few areas, but that was the worst. I actually had 3 different gold cards and not a single base from that set. I didn’t want to put up a want list having nothing for the ’01 set, but thanks to Justin I have a page full and that gave me the necessary motivation to get things rolling.
Anyway, I have been feverishly typing away on this teeny tiny little keyboard and my Topps want lists are all typed up and ready to go! I was able to finish the 2004 and 2009 (Thanks to Mike at JD Wild!) Topps team sets and I am really close on some of the others. For instance in 2007, I have the base team set, but I am missing quite a few of the Updates and Highlights cards. Anyway, here it is, peruse away and get in touch if you can help! The link will remain in the sidebar of the blog under Rays Collection. I couldn’t scan anything for this post, but was able to steal an image of these Randy Winn and Ben Grieve cards which were included in Justin’s trade. Thanks so much for all of the rad Rays cards and the bonus Pena’s too! You rock my friend, I really look forward to finally meeting you soon, and I will buy ya a beer at Fergs! Okay, if you have any cards at all from this list, PLEASE shoot me an e-mail at bacontowne at yahoooo dot etcetera. I will respond as soon as I can get to a computer. Also, if you have any Rays Topps Gold cards from any year-get in touch. I have about 15 golds from the 2009 Updates set, a bunch of stars, too. Okay, that’s it, thanks again to Justin and thanks to the entire Blog-O-Sphere, I have missed you all so much!!! I will end with a question regarding the Secret Santa deal that Sarah is running. I purchased all the cards for my recipient and have them all here wrapped up. I was going to wait a week or so to get them in the mail, BUT I was checking out my recipient’s blog and he has traded for several of the cards that I had already got him. Are we supposed to wait until Christmas to send and open these packages? Just curious, I am a little lost on the details of this. Anyway, it feels great to be back here, and it feels really good to get my binders out and make lists that I should have made months ago! Oh, and by the way, my Carl Crawford list is up-to-date, still need 6 more cards to reach my goal! Oh again... I have heard that 2009 Heritage High Numbers in live now. Still need another 35 cards to finish off the base set and I had already sworn to not buy any more wax, AHH!!! Anyway, if you rip and get doubles, please save them for a Troll, okay? Another one more thing... The 50,000 hit contest will be on. The question I have is should I start it this week to lead up to 50,000 OR should I wait till I get to 50,000 and then start it? Go Rays! Troll out.