On My Way to the Ball Park!

I am meeting with Scott from the AMAZINGLY cool Smed's Card blog to watch the Marlins play the Rays in Port Charlotte, Florida... While you are here, I shipped to the following zip codes yesterday: 40342, 97202, 44887 and 60706... I still have a few more going out early next week... If you are reading this AND you are at the game, too, send me a text at 941-773-0023. Bloggers unite! The more the merrier! Lets go Rays! troll out.

Welcome Home Carlos!!!

Okay, as always I am a little on the draw, but I felt like I needed to acknowledge this signing... Last week or month, or whenever it was, I wrote a long, long post about the Luke Scott signing... Disgruntled fan type stuff. I was seriously pissed off that the Rays weren't bringing back Damon and I felt that Scott was a huge downgrade from Kotchman offensively and defensively... I put together a list of 20 different free agents that I would rather the Rays went after who would be more productive, more beneficial to the team, more versatile and likely cheaper than Luke Scott. One of the name's on the list was Carlos Pena.Yes, he who barely lives atop the Mendoza line and strikes out more often than (insert clever zing here)...

I do acknowledge his shortcomings and know that Pena doesn't mean a World Championship, BUT he is a solid first baseman, a good lefthanded bat, a solid team leader, clubhouse guy and fan favorite and a guy who can provide real protection for Zobrist and Longoria. It allows Matt Joyce to stay in rightfield and Zobrist to live in the infield with Sean Rodriguez. Of course Tampa Bay still really needs a catcher, but now the brass can concentrate on filling that hole. I can live with DH by committee, but would be much happier if they did the right thing and brought Johnny Damon back...

Time will tell, but I am damn excited about the 2012 season. Pitchers and catchers will be rolling into town very soon and I will be there to greet them... Posts are sitting in the folder in wait... I keep saying I am back, but I keep on disappearing, so I will stop making false claims... I will just say that I love this hobby, I love this forum and I damn sure LOVE this wonderful game of baseball and this season is gonna be super special for me.

Why you ask? Well, I will tell you... My super awesome wife is starting a new (and much more lucrative) job this Monday. She will be working the same schedule as me and we will both be home at nights and just in time for the standard 7:05 start time... Aside from that my awesome Mother-in-law got us a sweet HD TV for Christmas and today my Wifey surprised me by getting cable installed INCLUDING the MLB Season Pass in HD!!!!!!! Did I mention that I love my Wife?

As an endnote - many of my wantlists have been cleaned up and updated AND I have introduced a NEW list... I am now chasing (and documenting said chase) 1979 Topps.

I had sort of forgotten about this quest until Scott from Smed's Cards hit me up with a surprise package of over 100 cards from that glorious set. A HUGE thanks to Senor Smed's for the awesomeness!!! I will, someday, post up some of the super sweet cardboard that Mr. Smed has shared with me...

Also, big ups to my homie the Cardboard Don who supplied the C. Pena illustration at the top of this post... I am very excited about Pena coming home, for real! I fully expect him to deposit 40 blasts into the rightfield seats at the Trop in 2012... It wasn't too long ago that as a member of the Rays Carlos Pena has been a Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, All Star, Comeback Player of the Year and homerun champion... Lets do it all again Los! Cheers to all! I love it! Go Rays!!! troll out.

My 679th Post...

I just got home from work. I had to stop at Wal Mart to pick up dog food and unbelievably I didn't come home with any cards. I did visit the card aisle, but they had no Heritage, Topps Update, Allen and Ginter or single packs of anything baseball. I am trying to stick with my "no ripping new wax" personal policy, but sometimes I surprise myself...

Speaking of surprises and ripping wax... My buddy and fellow Floridian blogger Wicked Ortega is hosting a HUGE group box break. He is ripping 19 different boxes of a whole bunch of different interesting baseball brands. The surprise is that there are still slots available, there are actually 13 teams that have not been claimed... Of those 13 teams, both Pennant winning teams are still open. I cannot believe that a week after the series nobody has jumped on the Rangers or the Giants. Craziness. Seriously people, grab up the last dozen or so teams so the break can start up. Its only 19 bucks and he is RIPPING 19 DIFFERENT BOXES!!! That is a lot of cards of your favorite team... One last time, 19 boxes of cards for only 19 bucks. Click this link and be on your way. Tell Wicked that the Troll sent you!

For a mailbag update I will tell you that I have packed and or shipped a whole bunch of trade packages including my international buddies, so check your mailboxes people!

Now for a contest update... Y'all voted and vintage it is. Vintage can be a pretty wide and inclusive term so I need to narrow it down and figure out the who, what, why and where these vintage cards will be. I think this blog is within 900 hits of reaching that 100,000 hit plateau, so the contest should happen in 2010 for sure. My thought is, that since I collect and therefore blog about 1965 Topps so much, that would be the ideal year for the vintage prize. Feel free to share your insights on vintage with me in the comments. If you wanna win something for defining vintage, then you should click HERE. Trust me...

Since this post is filled with babble and want list links, I thought I would pop a juciy piece of trade bait in here. I somehow ended up with 2 Barlett silk cards. I hate to be greedy, so this one is on the block. I would prefer to trade for another Rays silk or black parallel or auto, but if you want it, make me an offer, okay?

Okay, I am falling asleep as I type. Not good... Just a few quick updates... I received several giant (like 800 count) boxes of Rays cards this past month. I put an eight foot folding table in my extra bedroom and I am sorting them right now. Starting by sorting by brand, from there I will go year by year and ultimately I will create have and needs lists for EVERY Rays team set since their inception. Considering I have around 40,000 Rays cards, I think I am in pretty good shape. That said, I still haven't even finished my Topps team sets yet. I probably have at least 40 copies of Aubrey Huff's 2004 Topps card, but somehow I did not have a single copy of the World Champion sluggers 2003 Topps card. I have had it on my "Troll's 21 The Card Way" (which I will update and repost soon) list for months now. Thanks to one of my favorite new blogs, Smed's Baseball Cards, I can cross it off of my list.

A couple weeks back, I got two boxes full of cards from Smed's and also from BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet on the very same day. Each box had a ton of Heritage cards from my want lists, 2010 Topps inserts and Rays cards a plenty. I had all but given up on finishing 2010 Heritage, but BA Benny and Smed knocked 40 cards off my list between the two of them. You guys rock! Now that set is on the FRONT BURNER once again. You can find my 2010 Heritage List HERE. I am 92% of the way done, I have 461 out of 500. I know that high numbers will be out soon and I will have to start over, but for now I am pretty happy... Okay, I need to get some sleep. I will just pimp a couple more links for you... The card of the day on the Troll is this 2003 Topps Aubrey Huff that has eluded me for over 7 years...

Thanks so much to Smed (top of post) for this one! You can find my Rays Topps Team set list HERE. I hope to find a few more cards while sorting this weekend. Get in touch if you can help me out with any thing from my lists.

Also, get in touch if you are Omega Wax OR Darkship Todd. I have a box of cards from the group break for both of you. If I don't hear from you guys by this coming Thursday I am probably going to send your group break cards to someone else. I have a Royals fan in mind, but if you are a Giants fan, get in touch just in case...

Okay, thats it for now. I think I have rambled long enough... I do intend on keeping my word and listing 7 more former Giants greats on the Nitty Gritty... Look for a post tomorrow morning, it will be mainly 1965 Topps, but I might add in some '78s and maybe a '64 too.

The next Troll post WILL be a trade from the Night Owl. Stay tuned! Go Rays! 2011 Champs, wait and see! Don't forget to roll on over to My Past Time...I Love It! and get in on that 19 box group rip! Oh, as an end note I got 23 new Joe Kennedy cards in the mail this month. The JK player collection is growing! The goal is to get EVERY single card ever made of him in a Rays uniform. The total domination list includes: Carl Crawford, Jonny Gomes, Dewon Brazelton, Wade Davis, Jared Sandberg and Joe Kennedy. Of course I collect everyone on the team, but I will chase EVERY card of those guys.

I have retired a couple of PCs. Get in touch if you are interested in Scott Kazmir OR James Houser. I have a pretty nice small collection of each guy.

Okay, signing off for real now... Go Rays! troll out.