Running With Rhubarb!

As promised, here is my latest trade with everyone's favorite Twins fan, Rhubarb Runner... The Runner has a super awesome local card shop and he is always shopping for just about everyone in the blog-o-sphere. His goal is to turn good deals into Twins cards he needs. This worked out great for me because I had just found a 2007 Glen Perkins autograph the same day he wrote me. He found 4 Rays cards at his shop and I needed 2 of them, so we agreed on the deal. Thing is, the stuff we agreed on was already pretty great, but the extras he threw in were AWESOME!

We will start with this Team Quad card from Playoff Absolute. Not to sound ungrateful, but I despise the design of Playoff cards. The blatant waste of space, the lack of information and stats and the tiny pictures and the serial numbering of cards that just don't seem that special. That said, I still chase them when they feature certain players and this quad includes Brandon Backe, Chad Gaudin, Toby Hall and Dewon Brazelton.

I collect Brazelton and therefore had to have this one. I swapped player collections with the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame not too long ago and snagged his rad Brazelton collection. I haven't posted it yet because I am not sure anyone would appreciate aside from myself and GSNHoF, but I will!

Next up is a card I sort of posted already, but wanted to put up again because it is really a neat card. It is Crowning Moment card #402 from 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings showing current Giant and former Devil Ray's first baseman Aubrey Huff. The reason I wanted to show this card again is that the rendition is truly amazing and I wanted to give the artist, Dave Kramer, a little love for it... Huff, by the way, is hitting .429 in the Series so far. I would say I am rooting for Huff to do well, but for his team to lose... By the way, I do NOT collect Huff. He had some success for the D-Rays, but I just wasn't a huge fan. Like all former D-Rays though, I have a page in the binder showing his 9 best cards. I upgrade whenever I can and this card made the cut.

Next up is the first surprise. From 2008 Upper Deck Documentary UPDATE. I didn't even realize there was an update, but I guess there is. All 8 cards are from the postseason. If you read the backs the Rays were. 500 over these 8 games. Ultimately they beat the White Sox and the Red Sox, but lost to the Phillies. Memories. When Documentary was on the shelves I thought it was a horrible, horrible set. Now, I desperately want to complete the 163 card set, PLUS the update version. 2008 was a magical year for the Rays and I would love to fill a binder with this. Its funny, but this year with Topps monopoly I find myself appreciating things that I never gave a second thought about before. I probably have at least 50 of these cards, so many trade packs have included 1 or 2, someday I will get them all together and into a proper binder.

Incidentally, a case of Ultra Pro pages is tops on my Christmas list!

Okay, back to the trade and the 2nd HUGE BONUS the Runner included... Another set I need to get all together and make a list of is 2009 Topps Update GOLD. I am trying to build the gold parallel version of EVERY D-Rays Topps team set. I need many, so I haven't made a list. Cards trickle in here and there, but Rhubarb sent me 4! This was a total surprise and a HUGE bonus. I don't get to scratch 4 cards off of my imaginary list very often! They are #UH55 Ben Zobrist All Star, UH103 of Evan Longoria All Star, #UH272 of All Star Carlos Pena in the home run derby and #UH287 of Matt Joyce. Awesome!!! The final card I am going to show off was actually the cornerstone of the deal.

It turned out great that the throw in cards totally overshadowed it, but this one is still pretty rad...It is from 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces, another set that I appreciate more and more as time goes on. This set was actually really cool then, but now that Masterpieces only lives on Beardy's blog, they are that much cooler!

This is a Captured on Canvas insert of Rays outfielder Rocco Baldelli. Opposite of Playoff, the design of this card is awesome! Great color, great use of space and a cool name. I don't really have too many Rocco Baldelli jersey cards. I decided that I need more. Rocco isn't my favorite, but I hold him in high enough regard that he gets multiple pages in the binder. This card is going right in.

Thanks so much for trading Rhubarb!!! I know we will deal again really soon! Thanks for reading and if you insist on sending me cards, I will def appreciate it, if those cards are gold, there will be even more appreciation...

Thank you Rhubarb Runner!!! Go Ra(y)ngers! troll out.

My 255th Carl Crawford Card is a 2010!!!

(WARNING-This post is NOT licensed by Major League Baseball)

I read on several different blogs today that trading has slowed down. I personally would disagree with that statement. I am happily buried in cardboard… Payment packages for the next rip, the Spring Break Packs Gone Wild! Rip have started rolling in and I am still getting more from the last one. Anyway, I am loving the full mail box life and I am loving life with players rolling into sunny Florida. Last night I ran into one of the newest members of the Minnesota Twins and one of my personal favorite sluggers of all time. That was awesome! This post is gonna focus on something else that is awesome. For those of you who religiously check my Carl Crawford Collection page, you know that I have not gotten my hands on any Carl Crawford 2010 cards yet. Well, that changed yesterday with an awesome package from Steve of the White Sox Cards blog. Steve hooked me up huge, but this post is going to focus on one card in particular, the 255th different Carl Crawford card in my collection. When I opened the envelope and saw this I flipped out a little bit. I don’t have a ton of CC relic cards, but I have searched and found 100s online, so I recognize most cards even if I don’t actually own them. This one stumped me; it didn’t look like anything I had ever seen before. That was because it is from 2010 Upper Deck!!! I was psyched. I had bought my single pack of this product out of curiosity and even though I thought it looked somewhat decent considering it is license free, I didn’t like it enough to pay 3 bucks a pack for it. Especially with the 2010 Topps right beside it with a license, a better design and a lower price tag. Seriously Upper Deck. I work for you and I know you aren’t paying us nearly what Topps photographers make, I know it doesn’t cost 30 cents to print a card and I know you aren’t paying for licensing. Where does all the cash go? I guess this isn’t the appropriate time for this as this is a happy time and I am jumping out of my skin in excitement over this one! It has a catchy design to it, a nice swatch of fabric and a small photo of CC batting with a close-up pic (with his hat obscured like the neighbor on Home Improvement). The top reads: outfield, Carl Crawford, UD Game Jersey and it says Tampa Bay in small red letters on the side. The congratulation portion on the back is signed by Richard P. McWilliam of the Upper Deck Company as it has for a while, but the wording is a bit different now. Now it says: “You have received a trading card with Carl Crawford Game-Used baseball memorabilia. The memorabilia has been certified to us as having been used in a baseball game. We hope you enjoy this piece of baseball history as we continue to keep you as close as you can get!”
The part that gets me is “having been used in a baseball game.” There are a lot of things used in a baseball game and there are a lot of things that qualify as a baseball game. Obviously we have always had our doubts about what player wore what swatches, but at least they were from a MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL GAME! I don’t know Upper Deck… If this were a brand new company trying to break into the market, I would say great job and A for effort, but they aren’t… Either way, I am THRILLED with the card. Thanks so much Steve! Even though I am NOT a fan of the Chicago White Sox anymore-there are a few players like Billy Pierce, Minnie Minoso, Larry Doby, Danny Tartabull, Ray Durham, Nellie Fox and Chico Carrasquel who I am a big fan of. I have always enjoyed reading your blog and learning from your vast knowledge of the team and its history. Seriously, you are the blog where I have EVER read about my buddy Rich Saveur. White Sox Cards is one of the elite-it is among the BEST baseball blogs out there. Keep up the great work. Thanks so much for this awesome card and everything else you sent. I can’t wait to show off the other goodies you sent my way! If anyone else out there has CC cards to spare, you can read my complete list HERE. Go Rays! Troll out.

My 400th Post!

Greetings and good morning Trollites! Welcome to my 400th post. I wanted to do something special, but I have spent the last hour staring at this blank white page and I am not making any progress. I think I would like to pound out an epic post that stretches a country mile (I do love in the South), but I’m not sure if I have the energy. Writing up 82 pack breaks without a break has rotted my creativity. Plus class begins in 45 minutes and even though I type fast, I don’t type that fast. I think I will settle on a trade post. Unlike some people, I love trade posts. I think that trade posts are the foundation of our community here. I discovered at least ¾ of the blogs on my blog roll after seeing their link pop up in someone’s trade post. It wasn’t too long ago that my blog roll was only 6 site’s long. Now it has 180 different blogs on it. Most are about baseball cards, one or 2 are about roller derby, a few are about grammar (I am a nerd) and I even have a couple about hockey (which I don’t understand at all). Looking back eight months ago to the original “sensational six” blogs on my blog roll, all of them are still alive and kicking. One of them disappeared for 4 months, but now the Easy Life is BACK, make sure you check him out (again). One of the other original blogs on the Troll Roll was/is the Night Owl. The Night Owl won the Drewbie Award this year as the MVP of the Blogosphere, the best. I don’t dispute that title, I voted for him. And lo and behold, I happen to have a package waiting for me from the legendary Night Owl. You have probably been reading along with the Night Owl’s brush with a childhood hero. I am not too modest to take all the credit for introducing Mr. Reuss to Mr. Owl. Yep, I hooked it up. I think that this package is my cardboard thank you for my blogger selflessness. Maybe it’s a thank you package for the Ron Cey rookie that I sent Mr. Owl a few months back. Maybe it is an advance thank you for all of the cool vintage Dodgers that I will be sending his way. Whatever it is, it will be AWESOME! How could a trade package from Jerry Reuss’ (and my) favorite blogger be anything but AWESOME? Okay, let me see what I got…
We are off to a good start… First up is a pair of awesome Perez Steele renderings of Willie McCovey and Cool Papa Bell. These are from 1987, made by Donruss/Leaf and are from a subset called “Leaf Candy City Team Hall of Fame Greats”. Dick Perez’ art plus 2 of my favorites of all time equals AWESOME! Very nice. Next up is a 2006 Allen and Ginter base card of Carl Crawford. This was the last A&G base card of CC that I needed. Awesome. Next up, let’s see… More Rays I need? More Hall of Famers? More Negro League Legends? No… This is weird, a card with a note on it. The note reads “Oh no Nomo! You’ve been bipped?” WHAAAAATTT??????????? Is this card a harbinger of evil and doom or maybe, hopefully it just fell into my pack of cards accidentally. Then I saw these. Next out of the envelope is this. Followed by this. Followed by this. Then Followed by this and this... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been bipped. The unusual thing is that the package wasn't that big, but somehow the Nomo's bred as I searched the envelope. I didn't get them wet, nor did I feed them after midnight... In hideous Nomo fashion. I’ve been bipped. I’ve been bipped by my role model, by my blog hero, by my “friend”. This is my first bipping. I am left empty. I will probably call in Bip, I mean sick tonight. I am putting my pajamas back on. What are the docs prescribing for a bad case of the bips these days? I can’t believe that I dedicated my 400th post to chronicle an attack on myself. I can’t believe I have let this malevolent package intermingle with “nice” packages from GSNHoF, PatP, Padrographs, ILHMOSC and Field of Cards all this time. I hope none of them are infected. To you Mister Owl, you evil, evil nocturnal beast: This is NOT over. My innocence is gone. Mr. Nice Blogger is dead. It’s my mistake to trust a bird that sleeps during the day. Well my feathered friend, I would watch my nest if I were you. The rest of the package doesn’t seem to matter. Not after this cheap, classless, non-creative attack on me. Packaged in with these awful “Oh no Nomo” cards were a couple of very shiny Rays. A Carl Crawford X Fractor and a BJ Upton refractor, both from 2008 Topps. Nice cards I guess. There were some very nice 1969 Topps cards in there, too. There may have been more cards in the package. I don’t know. I might check the fireplace later, but I am signing off now. I do apologize to my readers for the lack of scans. After scanning the block of 10 Nomo cards, the scanner exploded. Congrats to me on my (tainted) 400th post. I’m off to search for recipes for owl. It will be served cold. No thanks to the night owl (you are no longer capitalized). And no Shannon Stewart will not be associated with this post. (Wounded) troll out!