2012 Topps Heritage... I'm Still Tryin'

Thanks to Potch Wheeler and the Cardboard Heroes and reader Marcus (a Padres fan who lives in Texas), I got 56 more cards from 2012 Heritage in the mail today... That gives me 223 out of 500... Thanks guys! I updated the needs list - check it out if ya have cards to spare...

Oh, if yer wondering "why Ian Desmond?" (card pictured below). There are a few, well 6 different reasons...

First, it is one of the few cards I have a dupe of.

Second, he is one of my favorite non-Rays.

Third, he is from (nearby) Sarasota, Florida.

Fourth, he is off to a GREAT start - only Matt Kemp has more hits than Desmond.

Fifth - cuz the Nats are getting a ton of attention this year because of a lot of big names, big signings and big money and this dude has one of the smallest paychecks of anyone in Washington and he is shining the brightest...

The sixth and final reason is that he shares the same first name with Ian MacKaye (which is cool) and today is Iam MacKaye's 50th BIRTHDAY!!!!

50 years old and still out of step with the world and if you get that reference, you are very cool and should comment on this post...

Yeah, Ian Desmond rocks! Rock on Ian(s)...And check out the super rad blog known as Potch Wheeler and the Cardboard Heroes AND check out my 2012 Heritage want list...

Thanks for reading... Go Rays!!!! It's time to start winning again! I got a lil stack of Rays Topps parallels in the mail the last two weeks from a number of different folks... I really like colorful and sparkley parallels - these will be posted up really soon...

Oh, and if you have been wondering where I have been... At work the new schedule is 12 days of 12 hour shifts (consecutively) and two days off and repeat... I had this weekend off, but caught up on sleep, watched the Rays get beat by the Sox and hung with the wife... I will try and squeeze a few posts in between naps... Thanks for being patient! I will be around when I can, I promise I am not gonna vanish again...

Go Rays!!! troll out.

Remember Me? And Looking for a Ryan Braun Collector to Trade With and some blah blah blah...

So, it has been about a month since my last post, so I figure I am due... I have received SO much great stuff in the mail this past month... Smeds Card, Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz, Cards on Cards, Dawgbones, Democratic Roadkill (HUGE!!!), plus several of my awesome readers have all blessed me with packages which I appreciate SOOO much!

I am staying very active in collecting... My budget has been small, so I have been spending my time sorting and organizing... We have a fancy antique wood bench in our dining room. It has become the spot for me to stack cards to send off for surprise packages to my trade buddies...

Yesterday I sent out 8 such packages. I have 11 more stuffed and ready to go... I hate that they are sitting in my dining room still, but postage aint cheap... I am hoping that next Thursday all of them will be en route... I am trying to trade away EVERYTHING that isn't a part of a set or PC that I am chasing.... I put together over 2600 cards to send out for my blogger brethren and a couple 100 are on postal trucks as we speak. If yer curious - folks living in the following zip codes can expect a package from under the bridge real soon - 55418,16101,30052,98105,22031...

I also have over 5000 cards ready to go to Commons 4 Kids! I am super excited about this donation and already have a second 5000 count box in the works. The only problem I am facing is that when I took this to the Post Office to ship I was told it would be $38.! The box came back home with me. I am open if anyone has any suggestions for getting these out a little cheaper... Commons 4 Kids seems like a super awesome organization and I totally support and recommend them and encourage you to click this link and check them out...

In other card news, my wife surprised me with a jumbo retail pack of 2012 Heritage yesterday... I had not realized that it was out just yet, I need to pay a little more attention I guess. So, longtime readers of this blog may know that I am a pretty big of Topps Heritage. It was the product that got me hooked back into collecting and while collecting the 2007 Heritage set and trying to google a checklist of short prints I stumbled upon this AMAZING blog which led me to more blogs, like this AWESOME blog and this AWESOME blog and ultimately led me to start blogging (and BTW all 3 of those blogs are STILL around and are still 3 of the BEST) , so thank you Topps Heritage!!! On a negative note - I spent many hundreds of dollars buying box after box of 2007 Heritage (I included over 2000 dupes in my Commons 4 Kids package) AND spent nearly 2 years blogging and aggresively trading before I finally finished that set...

I had 2008 Heritage nearly complete, SPs and all, when they dropped Heritage High Numbers... Around 2010 I finished that one. I am still working on the 2010 set and did not buy a single pack of 2011. One of the reasons that I stayed away from the '11 set was that I was sooo excited about the 2012 set as it is based on '63 Topps which is one of my favorite sets of all time and is also a set that I am chasing... SO, I am super psyched about 2012 Heritage! The stupid budget isn't gonna allow much along the lines of wax in the near future - I may be able to rip a blaster here and there, but I will relying HEAVILY on trading, so keep me in mind as you get dupes, PLEASE! I will explain how and why later, but I have many, many Allen and Ginter minis available to trade. I also have quite a few 1963 Topps cards (especially if you are an Indians fan), along with some random other cards from the 60s and 70s and many 2010, 2011 and 2012 Topps cards.

I also have this card which came from the jumbo pack that Super Wife got for me. It is the RED SP parallel version of card #276 of reigning NL MVP Ryan Braun (shown at the top of this post). So far 3 of them landed on eBay, one has sold and for pretty good money, too... I would, of course, much rather trade it with a blogger, perhaps for one of the 27 Ginter minis that I need to finish my Frankenset, whatever, I am open to offers, just get in touch if you wanna make a deal, okay? Anyhoo... Stay tuned, I just might make a second March post, MAYBE a third... I might even drop a spring training update or some of my opinions on the Rays and the Pirates...

I believe those 2 teams are facing off this Saturday afternoon and the Wife and I MIGHT be attending... As always, thanks for reading - I will do my best to be a better blogger. I do seriously have some things in the works and many plans for this season. I do apologize for the lack of images. I hate expecting people to just read words with no photos to keep it interesting.... Gotta go though, Wifey is waiting!

Go Rays!!! troll out.

A Great Day to be a Troll...

One year ago today a baby boy named Atlas Ray was born and your friend The Troll became a Grandpa... Yeah, this time last year the wife and I were in Oklahoma City visiting with my son Zadeh and his awesome other half Holly... Y'all might remember there was a contest involved. I wanted to celebrate getting my 100,000th hit AND the birth of my grandchild. This time last year I was a much better blogger.

I wrote often and had a ton of friends and followers and I wanted to say thanks. We gave away a trio of Hall of Fame cards from 1956 Topps including this card of Al Kaline. I think there were around 150 entries - it was pretty awesome. There will probably be another contest here in Trollville very soon. You see, I have this 1887 Allen and Ginter mini that I am itching to giveaway. I just haven't decided how just yet, but I am open to suggestions... So, happy birthday to you Atlas Ray! You and your Daddy make me SOOO happy!!! Oh... By the way - I am still looking for the 2010 Allen and Ginter Lords of Olympus mini of Atlas... Anybody got a spare???

Today being Atlas' B-Day is more than enough to make today a GREAT day to be a Troll... Today could have been better - the wife and I are on opposite schedules today and I miss her a bit, BUT I did get to see my Father (shown here on Graduation Day with my tall Wife and my short Mom) which is always a treat. It didn't end there either... I decided to stop at the Post Office and I had a surprise package from the Legendary Cardboard Don himself, Senor Wicked Ortega... Wicked and I have both slowed down our collections a bit and we have gone far too long between trades... I have a stack of cards with his name on it that has been growing for months, but I have been SO LAZY with my trading of late... Anyway - A package from the Cardboard Don will make anyone's day and he certainly made my day greater!!! Thanks sooo much Wicked! I will post this trade up soon, I have updated my wantlists - he punished my insert needs for 2010 Topps and 2011 Topps and hooked it up for my Allen and Ginter Frankenset (which I have thankfully been recieving quite a few minis of late...). There were a ton of GREAT cards included, but the one I am gonna show right now is the FINAL Kimball Champion card I needed to finish off 2011 Topps Series 1. I have been begging for card #25 of Vlad Guerrero for months and it is finally safe in the binder. I do seriously plan on posting this trade, but I know my history so I can't resist posting a couple right now... I LOVE the Vintage Legends Cards from 2010 Topps. Ty Cobb styled like 1956 Topps - how cool is that??? I need MANY, but I crossed off a few today... One series that I didn't rip any of, but kinda wish I did is Gypsy Queen. I LOVE the design on every card I have seen so far including my very first mini card of my FAVORITE Rays pitcher, the pride of Lake Wales, Florida - Wade Davis... Thanks again to the Cardboard Don, you rule my friend! Thanks for reading. Much more to come - stay tuned! Oh, I couldn't resist going old school with a photo of my boy Zadeh from Christmas 1996... Speaking of old school... Check out this young Troll trailing Patriots back-up QB Doug Flutie... And then stealing his shoulder pads, ha! Go Rays! Happy Holidays to All!!! troll out.

Gettin' The Hook Up! A Long Overdue Post of Thanks and Awesomeness!!! AKA Pee Wee is Mine!

A few weeks ago, or maybe months, actually it was April, so four months ago I got a HUGE package of goodies from Ted from the Crinkly Wrappers blog. I was in the midst of a mini blog hiatus and I never posted the cards. They were long put away into the binder so I can’t post them now, but I do remember he sent me a stack of 2011 Topps Series 1 base cards along with THIRTY-SIX, YES 36 Kimball Champions minis!!!

I had made a want list before I even had 10 cards from that 50 card set and since most everyone else was collecting it too, I figured I had a REALLY long road ahead of me. Well, I did before Ted sent me 36 cards out of the 50 card set; yep he knocked out over 70% of the set in one shot… After his super-generous package several other bloggers helped me knock out a card at a time and got me to within needing only 3 more minis to finish off series 1. A week ago I needed cards KC21 of Sin Soo Choo, #KC25 of Vlad Guerrero and #KC43 of Pee Wee Reese. I want to finish the set, obviously, but I wanted that Pee Wee card BADLY!

I made offers to everyone who posted one on their blog, I claimed a few, but for one reason or another it fell through. Well I want Pee Wee no longer! Ted sent me a SURPRISE package last week, totally unexpected, and it included the Reese card!!! That means Ted has sent me 37 cards (74%) from that set!!! Oh, and I STILL haven’t sent him anything in return. Oops, bad Troll! I really need to do something about that. Anyway, Crinkly Wrappers totally hooked me up on the Kimball Champions mini quest, but he didn’t stop there… Check out what else he included in this awesome surprise package.

He knocked a couple more cards off of my 2011 Topps Series list, including the very first card in the set – card #331 of Carlos Guillen. When you have the first card in the set you feel a whole bunch better about your chances of finishing off the set… My 2011 Topps want list is up to date, by the way, if you are so inclined to check it out… I am two cards away from finishing Kimball Champions from Series 1, but I still need 40 more minis from Series 2. In keeping with the mini theme, Ted sent me my very first Rays mini from 2011 Allen and Ginter. A Ginter ad back mini, card #222 of Big Game James Shields, one of the Rays 2011 All Star starters and the current AL leader in complete games with 9 and shutouts with 4.

The most unexpected portion of this totally unexpected package was the inclusion of 2009 Topps Heritage High Numbers from my want list. I had all but given up on this set, I hadn’t updated my list in nearly a year and no one has offered me anything in a LONG time.

He sent me some really cool base cards including card #558 of the Braves other catcher, power hitting, 10-year-veteran David Ross. More impressive he sent me a short print, card #709 of Cards slugger Matt Holliday. These SPs are HARD to come by and I am psyched to add this one to my binder.
Oh, I can't forget that he sent me a bunch of inserts from 2010 Topps!!! I must admit that I regret deciding to collect ALL of these insert sets, but I am AND I REALLY want to finish them someday.
When Series 1 first hit the shelves I fell in love with the Yo Mama insert set and like every other year before, Turkey Red is classic and very cool. I am somewhat close to finishing off the Series 1 sets, further away with Series 2 and pretty darn far from finishing U and H, but I WILL finish these. I have an entire binder devoted exclusively to the 2010 Topps inserts sets and thanks to Crinkly Ted, I filled 11 slots in said binder. He helped me out with 7 different Peak Performance inserts from Series2 and 3 including card PP73 celebrating Big Donkey getting his 300th career homerun. I was actually a quiet Adam Dunn fan. The dude has SOOO much power. When he was with the Reds I got to watch him take BP in spring training and he could launch 'em for sure. I know his .165 batting average is a joke, but this is the same guy who hit 40+ homers for 5 straight years. 64 more CMT cards He reminds me of Pat Burrell right now. A good, solid power hitter in the NL who went to the American League and couldn't hit for sh... I was pretty shocked that he wasn't dealt at the trading deadline. I really think (thought) that the team in the NL Central or West that takes a risk on Dunn could-go-all-the-way! Other 2010 Topps inserts now in the binder include card #TR131 of Vernon Wells (very cool to get a Blue Jays card from a Blue Jays fan!) and a trio of Cards Your Mother Threw Out. All of them are much needed Series 3 cards - starting with 1952 Eddie Mathews on CMT117. Even though it is a reprint, this card is awesome. 1952 Topps, where it all began, is a freaking beautiful set! The last 2 cards I will show off sit in the binder next to each other, right in a row. CMT 165 showing Barry Zito and Ben Sheets on 2000 Topps and #CMT166 of Vlad Guerrero on 2001 Topps. Sweet! With these 3 added to the binder I only need to finish that set which means that I am at 64% completion, woo hoo! My super long lists of needs for these inserts are up-to-date, please check 'em out.
I owe a HUGE thanks to Ted from Crinkly Wrappers for this awesome, SURPRISE package! I promise I will pay ya back soon Ted! Nothing brightens your day quite like finding a padded envelope in your mailbox and this one totally made my day, actually my whole week. Muchas gracias! Every single card was on my want list, but is now in my binder, most importantly the pint-sized Pee Wee. Thanks for reading and looking Trollites! If you want a dead-on take on 2012 Topps, check out one of Ted's latest posts right here.

As usual, if you can help me out with any of my wantlist needs, please get in touch with a Troll... I am DETERMINED to fill the empty spots in all of my binders and I am also in card liquidation mode. I don't have a whole lot left, but I really need to clear some space... Anyway, if we started trade discussions and I haven't gotten back to you PLEASE send me a reminder... 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.

It's Trading Time --- OR Justin's World Invades Troll Towne!!!

Trading has been SPORADIC for me in 2011… I have made a number of trades with readers, but months pass in between blogger deals and then I make a whole bunch all at once… I am knee deep in a trading frenzy right now and I am gonna try really hard to not get all behind in posting these… I had 5 envelopes in my mailbox today and everything was super awesome stuff I needed. I am going to start the Troll’s Trade Train off with a deal I made with Justin’s World. He bit on a couple of trade bait cards that I had posted and we worked out a deal quickly that whittled my 2011 Topps need list down. Both big cards and little ones… He sent over a dozen or so full sized cards from my list. My favorite is this one, card #471 of KC Royals reliever Tim Collins. Collins is a really great story. He went undrafted, but was signed by the Blue Jays at age 17 and started pitching for their rookie league team in the hot Florida sun right away… The Jays traded him to the Braves who sent him to the Royals. At just 21 years old he had 4 years of minor league experience and made the big club in KC and is one of their most used pitchers. So far this year he is 4-4 with a 3.50 ERA out of the bullpen. His 43 appearances ranks him 8th in the American League and he has fanned 40 in 46 innings. Oh and he is FIVE-FOOT-SEVEN!!!
And speaking of minis… (another perfect segue) Justin also sent me 3 really cool looking 2011 Topps Series 2 Kimball Champion minis that I needed. It seemed in Series 1 that it was mainly current players, but all of the Series 2 minis are of legendary Hall of Famers, well most of ‘em are in the Hall... Check out card # KC59 of hitting machine Tony Gwynn in San Diego brown. Also included is card # KC91 of 2-time MVP, but not HOFer, Dale Murphy. The last legendary mini he sent is card #KC53 of Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk, shown in Boston red. If you want to be like Justin and hook me up with some sweet Kimball minis, check out my wantlist and get in touch… With Tim Collins safe in the binder I need just FIVE MORE cards to finish off Topps Series 2… They are 388,523,574,582 and 639 and I will gladly accept them from you, just get in touch… Thanks again Justin! Its always great to trade with you! Oh... As an endnote... I have posted my 2011 Topps BLACK parallel of Blake DeWitt far too many times and have had ZERO trade offers. Justin's World has offered to take it off my hands. I REALLY don't want to post this card again. Is someone out there willing to trade me for it? OR should I just give the darn card to Justin? Whaddya think??? 5 foot seven inch people RULE!!! Go Rays! Troll out.

My Boomerang Card o' da Day!

Anyone who reads this blog regularly, or did about a year ago, knows that Jim "Junior" Gilliam is one of my favorite players from the 1950s and 60s. I am trying to collect all of his regular issue Topps cards. I have owned a few, but like everything else that isn't part of one of my main collections, I will trade them away when I get in a bind... Since I started blogging I have owned and traded away 3, yep three, 1963 Jim Gilliam cards. In case you need proof, consider this Exhibit A as shown from February 2010 on the best blog out there...I thought about them when I decided to chase 1963 Topps. I vaguely regretted trading them away, but only for a second. That is because I KNEW he would come back to me. It took a month and a half, but I got a surprise package from a reader in Hawaii and sure enough it had today's CT Card o' da Day in it!!! The CT CodD is my BOOMERANG card, card #80 from 1963 Topps baseball of Dodgers infielder Jim "Junior" Gilliam. The back of the card mentions that Gilliam walked 100 times in his rookie year. He also scored 125 runs and hit 17 freakin' triples!!! Of course he wasn't really a rookie... He had already been a Negro League All Star, but I guess in the National League he WAS a rookie and he won the Rookie of the Year Award. Yeah, Jim Gilliam is pretty awesome and I like that his cards double as boomerangs... Heck, I might trade this copy away too, just to see if it comes back! Go Rays! troll out.

2011 Topps is (virtually) DONE!!!

So yesterday I was still riding that post derby high that I love sooo much... After school I hit the post office and got a great package from my homie and Braves fan Derek of the Tomahawk Chopping Card Blog... When my want list went down to 8 cards he wrote me that he had 7 of the 8 for me including Mickey Mantle and Buster Posey! Within 2 days of his e-mail, the cards were in my mailbox!

AWESOME!!! I am still waiting on a few more packages to arrive, but my wantlist is now empty and I couldn't be more grateful to all the awesome bloggers and readers who have helped me out on this journey!

If you are wondering about the lack of posts and pics of late, part of the reason is that my scanner took a crap... My lovely wife and I purchased a home computer, printer, scanner and a bunch of electronic goodies the month we got married... We celebrated 5 years on March 11th... That is a pretty long life for any electronic device, so we had a good run, but it is all pretty much garbage now... We have our sights on getting a wireless printer and scanner both. I don't know when, but they are both on our shopping list, so it has to happen, ha!
So back to 2011 Topps... After checking the PO Box I visited the local card shop, Ryan's Sportscards, AKA my home away from home... I was looking for some Martin Prado cards to pay Tomahawk Chopping back, but they had nothing. What they did have was an envelope marked "for Troll". Sweet! Apparently one of their customers left it for me. No note, no name. So I don't know who to thank, but to the mystery local card collector, whomever you are - THANKS!!!

Included in the envelope was 2 cards from 2010 Topps Series 2, Yo Mama Cards!!! Yes, I am still slowly chasing this set down... I still need to put together a list for the base set, but I have checked and doublechecked my list for the Yo Mama cards and Turkey Reds... I am doing pretty well (i guess) on these and I am determined to finish them off BEFORE 2013... The list can be found RIGHT HERE! The mystery fan also chipped in a pair of Topps Diamond Giveaway code cards. I raced home to unlock them... I was imagining unlocked some Hammerin' Hanks or Sandy Koufax or at least a card or two from my 63 Topps need list. It was a nice daydream, but it didn't happen. I am the lucky virtual owner of this 1992 Topps Henry Cotto, card #311 (my anniversary date!) AND a 2004 Erubial Drrrrrrrrrrzo.

Not quite Hank Aaron, but it was fun...The envelope had 2 more cards in it, with images borrowed from eBay. My anonymous homie gave me a 1963 Topps card!!!!!!!!!!! It is my 43rd card from the set, card #535 of Indians pitcher Jim Perry.

I already had Gaylord Perry, so now I have completed the Perry brothers set for both 1963 and 1965! Awesome! The final card in the envelope was card #18 from 2011 Topps, the final card on my wantlist!!! Kevin Millwood the thorn in my side for 2011 series 1, but now he is safe in the binder and the first 6 pages are completed! As soon as the 3 packages I am waiting for, this set is done! I have traded (or will be sending) all of my insert dupes. The only insert set I am chasing is the super awesome Kimball minis. I am waiting on a pretty generous stack of these mini slabs o' cardboard and with that I will be done to needing just these six cards: 5,20,21,25,29 and 43. My homie and fellow Floridan Wicked Ortega is trying to chase this one down, too. You can find his needs list right here...

The Pee Wee Reese at the top of this post illustrates why this set rules... I am pretty impressed with my self control in not chasing down all the crazy insert sets this year. The Yo Mama cards were a lot of fun last year, but 3 series were toooo much for me. I do REALLY want to chase down all the 201o Vintage Legends cards, though. Those are neat! Anyway, thanks to all for the cardboard hook-ups! Thanks to my mystery card donor and thanks to all for reading and checking out my updated wantlists! Congrats to Ben Zobrist for rocking! Thanks again to the Nuclear Bombshells and Ocala Cannibals for playing one of the most exciting derby bouts that I have called in a long time... By the by, I did not receive any assistance from Will Ferrell, but my muttonchops have left the building (err, my face)... Don't know why I felt the need to share this... All of my wantlists are up to date... As always, I will provide a loving home for any and all unwanted 1963 and 1965 Topps baseball cards... I love this hobby! troll out.