There are actually 10 cards in the team set but Scott Kazmir volunteered to sit out and hang by himself on a separate page. 8 cards would be least favorite quantity for a team set. 10 would be up there. Anything that is not in multiples of 3 just looks weird in the binder. Anyway, I don’t know how long I have had this set finished, but I finally tracked down the checklist and confirmed that I have all of the Rays cards. It is a happy time for like the title says, I am experiencing the Joy of a Completed Page! Again, the joy would be more if instead of 10 Rays there were 18 and Carl Crawford, Jason Bartlett, Ben Zobrist, Dioner Navarro, Jeff Niemann, JP Howell, Grant Balfour and Gabe Gross had made the cut. Oh well, it is another set in the book, er binder. And hey, if anyone is working on putting this set together and needs a dozen copies of card #190 of Andy Sonnanstine, get in touch, I got 'em to spare! Go Rays! Troll out.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
The Joy of a Completed Page!
I have finally put together a full team set of the Rays from 2009 Topps Ticket To Stardom and here is the completed page proof. There are actually 10 cards in the team set but Scott Kazmir volunteered to sit out and hang by himself on a separate page. 8 cards would be least favorite quantity for a team set. 10 would be up there. Anything that is not in multiples of 3 just looks weird in the binder. Anyway, I don’t know how long I have had this set finished, but I finally tracked down the checklist and confirmed that I have all of the Rays cards. It is a happy time for like the title says, I am experiencing the Joy of a Completed Page! Again, the joy would be more if instead of 10 Rays there were 18 and Carl Crawford, Jason Bartlett, Ben Zobrist, Dioner Navarro, Jeff Niemann, JP Howell, Grant Balfour and Gabe Gross had made the cut. Oh well, it is another set in the book, er binder. And hey, if anyone is working on putting this set together and needs a dozen copies of card #190 of Andy Sonnanstine, get in touch, I got 'em to spare! Go Rays! Troll out.
There are actually 10 cards in the team set but Scott Kazmir volunteered to sit out and hang by himself on a separate page. 8 cards would be least favorite quantity for a team set. 10 would be up there. Anything that is not in multiples of 3 just looks weird in the binder. Anyway, I don’t know how long I have had this set finished, but I finally tracked down the checklist and confirmed that I have all of the Rays cards. It is a happy time for like the title says, I am experiencing the Joy of a Completed Page! Again, the joy would be more if instead of 10 Rays there were 18 and Carl Crawford, Jason Bartlett, Ben Zobrist, Dioner Navarro, Jeff Niemann, JP Howell, Grant Balfour and Gabe Gross had made the cut. Oh well, it is another set in the book, er binder. And hey, if anyone is working on putting this set together and needs a dozen copies of card #190 of Andy Sonnanstine, get in touch, I got 'em to spare! Go Rays! Troll out.
Magical, Majestic and Miniature
They are majestic, magical and miniature. I am talking about mini-cards. I really like the minis. When I was collecting previously they were not that common at all and the few that I had seen were kind of annoying because of the storage issues. Since I have got back into collecting this year I have become mildly obsessed with these little things. 2009 Allen and Ginter was my introduction to them and that opened up other years of Ginter, from 1887 on up as well as Topps T206 reissues from 2002 and 2009 both. 
Of course Goodwin’s Champions and looking back Pacific Private Stock was making them in the late 90’s. I have never owned an actual Topps T206 original, but I have possessed several 1887 Allen and Ginter cards. I actually still have 2 of them. I don’t really know what the attraction is. Maybe they are cute because they are small, maybe it is still the newness which has yet to rub off. I don’t know what it is, but I can’t seem to shake my obsession with these little bitty cards. Since I have gotten pages to hold them efficiently I have been obsessively filling them. I finished off the 2009 Allen and Ginter World’s Greatest Hoaxes set and still have those. I was working on the World Leaders and Creatures of Myth Legend and Terror, but almost all of them are long gone. I wasn’t very close to finishing either set off, so I am not crushed over it. When my infamous card theft occurred I had a fair amount of minis in the box. I have mentioned that were several 1887 originals and there were also a number of cards from my various collections. 
I lost 3 different 1 of 1 cards and a number of cards that were not nearly that limited, but were pretty darn neat. I didn’t lose everything though. I had about ¾ of my minis safe at home. In the last 2 months my readers and all of my friends in the Blog-o-Sphere have come through big-time to share their collections with me. This last week I have been doing a lot of sorting and cleaning up regarding my card collection. I have filled some want lists, pulled off some trades and sent out some random blogger kindness packages of my own. By no means am I done either. I still have far more cards than I need hanging around in my house. I am slowly buying more binders and more Ultra Pro pages. If it doesn’t fit into a binder or in the Rays or vintage showcases, it must go! 
I really hate posting “trade bait” but I may have to eventually to fully liquidate. For now I have been having good luck sending cards to the many folks who I have traded with in the past, many of the same peeps who have blessed me with their kindness. Back to the minis and their magical majesty. Prior to today I had my mini cards that were part of sets or were planning on growing into sets in a binder, but my single minis-the Rays cards and such were relegated to a box that had the word MINI scrawled on it in crayon. This was not a fitting showcase for such awesome cards so I liberated them all from their boring box and randomly stuffed them into 15-card pages. The result is 60 cards in a binder. 60 glorious minis! Rays and Roberts and Robinson to Cat and Pat and Mr. Shoppach. I am pretty psyched to see all of these minis spread out in all of their glory. 
I didn’t scan the backs, but those are pretty darn cool, too. I have the Tampa Bay team set filled for 2008 and 2009 Allen and Ginter. It’s nearly done for ’09 Goodwin’s. My current mission is to fill both 2002 and 2009 T206. Chris Harris from Stale Gum hooked me up with a few from both years and lit the fire under me. I think I like the 2002 set even more and it includes Grieve and Gomes as well as Upton and Dewon. Anyway, I am really happy to be able to flip through my binder and admire my minis. I hope to fill a 5th page VERY soon. Thanks for looking. I hope you can actually what is what in the scans. If you have any minis that you want to get rid of, I would be glad to offer them good homes. Also, with all of the organizing this week I have filled up a number of pages. Pages of sets, team sets, insert sets, player collection pages and theme pages. I do plan on showing them all off. You have been warned! Go Rays! Troll out.
Of course Goodwin’s Champions and looking back Pacific Private Stock was making them in the late 90’s. I have never owned an actual Topps T206 original, but I have possessed several 1887 Allen and Ginter cards. I actually still have 2 of them. I don’t really know what the attraction is. Maybe they are cute because they are small, maybe it is still the newness which has yet to rub off. I don’t know what it is, but I can’t seem to shake my obsession with these little bitty cards. Since I have gotten pages to hold them efficiently I have been obsessively filling them. I finished off the 2009 Allen and Ginter World’s Greatest Hoaxes set and still have those. I was working on the World Leaders and Creatures of Myth Legend and Terror, but almost all of them are long gone. I wasn’t very close to finishing either set off, so I am not crushed over it. When my infamous card theft occurred I had a fair amount of minis in the box. I have mentioned that were several 1887 originals and there were also a number of cards from my various collections. I lost 3 different 1 of 1 cards and a number of cards that were not nearly that limited, but were pretty darn neat. I didn’t lose everything though. I had about ¾ of my minis safe at home. In the last 2 months my readers and all of my friends in the Blog-o-Sphere have come through big-time to share their collections with me. This last week I have been doing a lot of sorting and cleaning up regarding my card collection. I have filled some want lists, pulled off some trades and sent out some random blogger kindness packages of my own. By no means am I done either. I still have far more cards than I need hanging around in my house. I am slowly buying more binders and more Ultra Pro pages. If it doesn’t fit into a binder or in the Rays or vintage showcases, it must go! I really hate posting “trade bait” but I may have to eventually to fully liquidate. For now I have been having good luck sending cards to the many folks who I have traded with in the past, many of the same peeps who have blessed me with their kindness. Back to the minis and their magical majesty. Prior to today I had my mini cards that were part of sets or were planning on growing into sets in a binder, but my single minis-the Rays cards and such were relegated to a box that had the word MINI scrawled on it in crayon. This was not a fitting showcase for such awesome cards so I liberated them all from their boring box and randomly stuffed them into 15-card pages. The result is 60 cards in a binder. 60 glorious minis! Rays and Roberts and Robinson to Cat and Pat and Mr. Shoppach. I am pretty psyched to see all of these minis spread out in all of their glory. I didn’t scan the backs, but those are pretty darn cool, too. I have the Tampa Bay team set filled for 2008 and 2009 Allen and Ginter. It’s nearly done for ’09 Goodwin’s. My current mission is to fill both 2002 and 2009 T206. Chris Harris from Stale Gum hooked me up with a few from both years and lit the fire under me. I think I like the 2002 set even more and it includes Grieve and Gomes as well as Upton and Dewon. Anyway, I am really happy to be able to flip through my binder and admire my minis. I hope to fill a 5th page VERY soon. Thanks for looking. I hope you can actually what is what in the scans. If you have any minis that you want to get rid of, I would be glad to offer them good homes. Also, with all of the organizing this week I have filled up a number of pages. Pages of sets, team sets, insert sets, player collection pages and theme pages. I do plan on showing them all off. You have been warned! Go Rays! Troll out.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Heartbreaking Awesomeness!
This package of awesomeness came to me from Matt F. the legend behind Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius and also a Pack To Be Named Later which are easily two of the best card blogs on the web. I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure that Matt has a birthday coming up Sunday. Since you’ll be checking out his blogs anyway, drop him some well wishes while your there. Matt is the provider of the image for my header. Since I was planning this post I took it down to cut down on redundancy, but trust me it will return. 
It is tri-fold card from 1993 Upper Deck. It is styled after the 1912 T 202 cards. I think these came from 1993 Baseball Heroes, but this is honestly the first one I have EVER seen. I really love this card. It is a pain to store yes, but it is the ideal size for a blog header and this one features 4 of my favorite players of All Time who also happen to be majorly historically significant. It shows Larry Doby and Minnie Minoso on the sides, but the center picture shows Minoso, Joe Black, Doby and Monte Irvin. It’s awesome. 
The T202 header card didn’t arrive alone. He sent a fairly well stuffed envelope of goodies. This arrived well I had the poll up for the next player I should select. Matt picked Larry Doby as many of you did. The poll ended in a tie between Doby, Bill Mazeroski and Bill Madlock. I have yet to think of a tie breaker, but I certainly don’t mind picking up cards of any of those guys and Matt hooked it up with some great Doby cards to add to the binder. 
These first two had post its attached to them asking if they count as Doby cards. 
The answer is Yes! It does seem a little bit selfish of Gene Mauch to be SO much bigger than everyone else, but managers can be glory hounds. The Expos were my original childhood favorite team and these cards are super special to me. 
My true favorite Doby card in the bunch (other than the T202) is this one. It is a 2002 Topps Archives version of Doby’s 1954 Topps card which I don’t have YET. 
Of course I would rather have the original, but this card is all shiny and chromed out and pretty darn awesome in its own right. Next up are a trio of cards of former Devil Rays, Rays and Swallows infielder Akinori Iwamura. Aki is currently holding down second base for the Pittsburgh Pirates who got off to a surprisingly good start this year. Reality is setting in for the Bucs who have dropped to 7-8 after a humiliating 20-0 loss to the Brew Crew last night. 
Aki is holding down the leadoff spot for the young Bucs and is still waiting for his bat to wake up this season. The first card to show is this GOLD version of his 2008 Topps card, #243. I am obsessively trying to replace my lost GOLD cards and also trying to fill the Rays team sets in gold. This card gives me 9 (a full page!) for 2008. 
Also from ’08 Topps is this WBC card, #WBC4 of Aki representing Japan. The last Aki card comes from 2009 Goodwins and has a little swatch o’ jersey in the shape of an M at the base. 
From one former D-Rays leadoff hitter to another, this is a 1998 Pacific Paramount card #98 of Quinton McCracken. 
The D-Rays grabbed McCracken from the Rockies and he was the sparkplug of their Inaugural squad. I have been organizing my PC in my spare time this week and I have my Longoria binder straightened out and free of dupes. The dupes that are sorted out aren’t very fancy, but are up for trade if you are interested. 
Anyway, this one has a spot in the binder waiting for it. It is a 1st Issue stamped version of card #108 from 2008 Stadium Club. In person Longo is a super signer and I like the kids in background. I do feel bad for the beheaded girl in the back. The last card I will show from this awesome surprise package is from 2007 Fleer Ultra. 
Matt seems to be a magnet for Jonny Gomes cards. I think this is the 3rd auto or relic he has pulled and sent me. It is from the Dual Materials series and is serial numbered 136/160 and shows two bits of white jersey. I don’t know if you can tell from the scan, but there is dirt on the swatches. Awesome! Thanks so much Matt! Happy Birthday a few days early! I sent you a package, but you will probably get it a few days late, so it all evens out. Go Rays! Troll out.
It is tri-fold card from 1993 Upper Deck. It is styled after the 1912 T 202 cards. I think these came from 1993 Baseball Heroes, but this is honestly the first one I have EVER seen. I really love this card. It is a pain to store yes, but it is the ideal size for a blog header and this one features 4 of my favorite players of All Time who also happen to be majorly historically significant. It shows Larry Doby and Minnie Minoso on the sides, but the center picture shows Minoso, Joe Black, Doby and Monte Irvin. It’s awesome. The T202 header card didn’t arrive alone. He sent a fairly well stuffed envelope of goodies. This arrived well I had the poll up for the next player I should select. Matt picked Larry Doby as many of you did. The poll ended in a tie between Doby, Bill Mazeroski and Bill Madlock. I have yet to think of a tie breaker, but I certainly don’t mind picking up cards of any of those guys and Matt hooked it up with some great Doby cards to add to the binder. These first two had post its attached to them asking if they count as Doby cards. The answer is Yes! It does seem a little bit selfish of Gene Mauch to be SO much bigger than everyone else, but managers can be glory hounds. The Expos were my original childhood favorite team and these cards are super special to me. My true favorite Doby card in the bunch (other than the T202) is this one. It is a 2002 Topps Archives version of Doby’s 1954 Topps card which I don’t have YET. Of course I would rather have the original, but this card is all shiny and chromed out and pretty darn awesome in its own right. Next up are a trio of cards of former Devil Rays, Rays and Swallows infielder Akinori Iwamura. Aki is currently holding down second base for the Pittsburgh Pirates who got off to a surprisingly good start this year. Reality is setting in for the Bucs who have dropped to 7-8 after a humiliating 20-0 loss to the Brew Crew last night. Aki is holding down the leadoff spot for the young Bucs and is still waiting for his bat to wake up this season. The first card to show is this GOLD version of his 2008 Topps card, #243. I am obsessively trying to replace my lost GOLD cards and also trying to fill the Rays team sets in gold. This card gives me 9 (a full page!) for 2008. Also from ’08 Topps is this WBC card, #WBC4 of Aki representing Japan. The last Aki card comes from 2009 Goodwins and has a little swatch o’ jersey in the shape of an M at the base. From one former D-Rays leadoff hitter to another, this is a 1998 Pacific Paramount card #98 of Quinton McCracken. The D-Rays grabbed McCracken from the Rockies and he was the sparkplug of their Inaugural squad. I have been organizing my PC in my spare time this week and I have my Longoria binder straightened out and free of dupes. The dupes that are sorted out aren’t very fancy, but are up for trade if you are interested. Anyway, this one has a spot in the binder waiting for it. It is a 1st Issue stamped version of card #108 from 2008 Stadium Club. In person Longo is a super signer and I like the kids in background. I do feel bad for the beheaded girl in the back. The last card I will show from this awesome surprise package is from 2007 Fleer Ultra. Matt seems to be a magnet for Jonny Gomes cards. I think this is the 3rd auto or relic he has pulled and sent me. It is from the Dual Materials series and is serial numbered 136/160 and shows two bits of white jersey. I don’t know if you can tell from the scan, but there is dirt on the swatches. Awesome! Thanks so much Matt! Happy Birthday a few days early! I sent you a package, but you will probably get it a few days late, so it all evens out. Go Rays! Troll out.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Finest Fantastic and Facial Haired...
Today’s ultra quick (for me) post is a package of supreme kindness and pure awesome from everyone’s favorite bearded, blogging Bird fan. Of course I am referencing Beardy, (image may not actually be Beardy) one half of the team that brings us Mojo and Beardy’s Fantastic Card Blog. 
You all know it and read it and love it. I know you do. Well, Beardy got his hands on some 2004 Topps Finest as well as some 2004 Topps Pristine. I know this because I have seen these cards pop up all over, all coming courtesy of the Beard Man. Beardy is nothing if not a generous dude with a penchant for creating posts that everyone needs to read. 
Anyway, on the generous side I will start with the Topps Pristine. These are two cards that look cool and look horrible all at the same time. They are awesome in their design and they are awesome because they are of a favorite player of mine. They are horrible because 6 years ago said fav player was in the most horrible organization in MLB and their name and logos are all over these cards. 
These are 2 cards I am glad to have, but not really thrilled about. The player is Dioner Navarro, the Rays catcher. Navi is hitting .154 this season and his platoon mate is out for an extended period of time with an injury suffered against the evil Yankees. Navi is going to get the chance to stay in the line-up until his bat wakes up. 
I really hope it does. I like this guy a lot and it wasn’t too long ago that his bat got him a spot on the All Star team. He is one of the nicest guys on the team, he lights it up in BP, and he is a hard worker behind the plate and has a quick release and a decent arm. He is a pretty streaky hitter and is in a funk. I expect (hope) it gets better. The bearded one knows my love for the second baseman on his team, the horrible and I mean horrible Orioles. Said second baseman is on the DL and may be there for a while. I am speaking of Brian Roberts and his back problems. I have the same issues with my back, but I don’t play pro ball for a living. My job is far less demanding, but my back still gets in the way so I feel for ya B-Rob, I get it. Anyway, here is one card he sent, a serial numbered gem from the 2009 UD Ball Park Collection. 
I am posting the rest of the B-Rob goodies he sent on the appropriate blog which I don’t mind plugging. If you are a fan of Brian Roberts and his cards, check out Leading Off, my occasionally updated B-Rob card blog. Okay back to business and the business of 2004 Finest. I really, really like these, but don’t have the time to write about them so just click here and read this post and come back to me, okay? Okay. Now that you have some background on this awesome set here are 2 of the best cards I now own from it. First a sweet relic of everybody’s favorite former Devil Ray turned minor league coach who may someday triumphantly return to the ranks of slugging outfielder or maybe not, Rocco Baldelli. 
A very patriotic looking card with a white jersey swatch that looks like a cobra’s tongue. Sweet. The clock is ticking on me so I must tie this post up. I will end with the Finest card (pun intended) of the package. I showed off two crappy looking cards of Dioner Navarro in the last paragraph. This card on the other hand is PERFECT and goes right on the wall in the showcase. I truly love everything about this card. It starts with the fact that there are no visible team logos or a team name. Yes Navi was a part of the Yanks in 2004, but you can’t tell from this card. Second, it has a beautiful ON-CARD autograph across the base. 
Navi has stellar penmanship and his sig covers the card nicely. This is my first and only Navi graph and I love it. Great chrome design, classy and bubbly and no team logos and on-card equals perfect! Oh AND its a freaking REFRACTOR, I love it!!! 
Thanks so much Beardy, you rock! The cards were great and I love your Fantastic Card Blog. Thanks to the Night Owl for writing up this set and saving me some time and thanks to any who read this… I hate my new schedule. I miss blogging! Oh, if you don’t know who Wonderful Willie Smith is, please read this post. Oh, I think these cards have been sitting on my desk for 2 months now. I have so many ideas for posts, but I really need to get caught up on trade/kindness posts. I do appreciate EVERYTHING and will post it all as soon as I can. Thanks! Go Rays!!!! Troll out.
You all know it and read it and love it. I know you do. Well, Beardy got his hands on some 2004 Topps Finest as well as some 2004 Topps Pristine. I know this because I have seen these cards pop up all over, all coming courtesy of the Beard Man. Beardy is nothing if not a generous dude with a penchant for creating posts that everyone needs to read. Anyway, on the generous side I will start with the Topps Pristine. These are two cards that look cool and look horrible all at the same time. They are awesome in their design and they are awesome because they are of a favorite player of mine. They are horrible because 6 years ago said fav player was in the most horrible organization in MLB and their name and logos are all over these cards. These are 2 cards I am glad to have, but not really thrilled about. The player is Dioner Navarro, the Rays catcher. Navi is hitting .154 this season and his platoon mate is out for an extended period of time with an injury suffered against the evil Yankees. Navi is going to get the chance to stay in the line-up until his bat wakes up. I really hope it does. I like this guy a lot and it wasn’t too long ago that his bat got him a spot on the All Star team. He is one of the nicest guys on the team, he lights it up in BP, and he is a hard worker behind the plate and has a quick release and a decent arm. He is a pretty streaky hitter and is in a funk. I expect (hope) it gets better. The bearded one knows my love for the second baseman on his team, the horrible and I mean horrible Orioles. Said second baseman is on the DL and may be there for a while. I am speaking of Brian Roberts and his back problems. I have the same issues with my back, but I don’t play pro ball for a living. My job is far less demanding, but my back still gets in the way so I feel for ya B-Rob, I get it. Anyway, here is one card he sent, a serial numbered gem from the 2009 UD Ball Park Collection. I am posting the rest of the B-Rob goodies he sent on the appropriate blog which I don’t mind plugging. If you are a fan of Brian Roberts and his cards, check out Leading Off, my occasionally updated B-Rob card blog. Okay back to business and the business of 2004 Finest. I really, really like these, but don’t have the time to write about them so just click here and read this post and come back to me, okay? Okay. Now that you have some background on this awesome set here are 2 of the best cards I now own from it. First a sweet relic of everybody’s favorite former Devil Ray turned minor league coach who may someday triumphantly return to the ranks of slugging outfielder or maybe not, Rocco Baldelli. A very patriotic looking card with a white jersey swatch that looks like a cobra’s tongue. Sweet. The clock is ticking on me so I must tie this post up. I will end with the Finest card (pun intended) of the package. I showed off two crappy looking cards of Dioner Navarro in the last paragraph. This card on the other hand is PERFECT and goes right on the wall in the showcase. I truly love everything about this card. It starts with the fact that there are no visible team logos or a team name. Yes Navi was a part of the Yanks in 2004, but you can’t tell from this card. Second, it has a beautiful ON-CARD autograph across the base. Navi has stellar penmanship and his sig covers the card nicely. This is my first and only Navi graph and I love it. Great chrome design, classy and bubbly and no team logos and on-card equals perfect! Oh AND its a freaking REFRACTOR, I love it!!! Thanks so much Beardy, you rock! The cards were great and I love your Fantastic Card Blog. Thanks to the Night Owl for writing up this set and saving me some time and thanks to any who read this… I hate my new schedule. I miss blogging! Oh, if you don’t know who Wonderful Willie Smith is, please read this post. Oh, I think these cards have been sitting on my desk for 2 months now. I have so many ideas for posts, but I really need to get caught up on trade/kindness posts. I do appreciate EVERYTHING and will post it all as soon as I can. Thanks! Go Rays!!!! Troll out.
Chipping Away...
Here is another LONG overdue post of blogger kindness… I have had this stack of cards on my desk for a couple of months now. My desk is actually covered in stacks of cards, some of them staggering at over 6 inches high. I will someday get through them all. Like the good folks in AA say, I will do it one day at a time… This stack of cards came from Spiff in Kansas. Spiff, like me writes a couple of blogs. He is a Civil War buff (George Costanza?) and writes the Spiff’s World blog from that angle, but most of you are probably more familiar with his Texas Rangers Cards blog. If you check out his Rangers blog today you will see a post on Tom Grieve, papa to Ben, one of my favorite ex-Devil Rays… Anyway, he generously shared a note and a stack of cards with me and here are a few samples of what he shared… I never complain about getting Jonny Gomes cards, EVER. Gomes was 1-3 with a couple of RBI in a win over the Dodgers tonight. At less than a million bucks this season I think he is one of the best bargains in MLB. Plus I really like collecting his cards. 
The first one is from 2006 Upper Deck; it is card #443 and shows Gomes sliding in slow motion. The next one is one of those cards that I had never seen, but thought must exist and therefore wanted it. It is from the Topps 50th Anniversary All Star Rookie Cup team insert series. 
Gomes won the cup as a DH in 2005 when he hit 21 homers as a rookie. He also hit 3 homers in one game for the first time that year and became the first Devil Ray to do so. Actually he is the only DEVIL Ray to ever hit 3 in one game. 
Evan Longoria did it as a Ray, but Gomes is the lone Devil Rays slugger to do so. Since I never get tired of this fun fact I will share it again… During his career Hammerin Hank Aaron hit 3 homers in one game just once. Joltin Jonny Gomes has done it twice so far. Okay, moving on to Scott Kazmir. I used to be a big Kazmir fan. 
Actually I still am, but I have backed off on collecting him. I still enjoy getting cards of his I don’t own though. This one comes from 2006 Fleer Ultra, the Rising Stars insert set. It is card #URS8. The back of the mentions Kaz ranking 4th in the AL with 174 Ks at age 21. Speaking of awesome left handed pitchers… I am going to end this post with this sweet card of David Price. 
It is from the gigantic 2008 Topps Year in Review subset, card #YR135. The cards topic is 10 first rounders signing at the deadline on 8-15, Price being one of them. The card shows Price’s stats at Vanderbilt where he was 11-1 with 194 Ks in 133 ip. Price didn’t live up to the hype as a rookie last year, but I really believe he has a solid All Star career ahead of him. Thanks so much for these and all of the great stuff you sent Spiff; sorry it took months to post up. Go Rays! Troll out.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Some Troll Odds and Ends and a Question...
I have still been spending my free moments trying to organize-putting cards in stacks by player or by year or brand. I had a couple hundred empty pages and a few empty binders and they are all FULL. I will be hitting the card shop on Wednesday for more supplies. Anyway, my time is super limited, but I had a few odds and ends to post quickly. My Rays team set chase is going well. I found 3 cards that I needed while sorting this weekend. 
These 3 helped me finish off another set. I am now complete from 2006 up till present and only a couple of cards away from finishing off 2005 which would have me set from 2004 till present. That would be 8 years complete. Well, at least until next month when 2010 Series 2 comes out… While sorting I found a bunch of cards that fit into my Devil Rays PCs. I am not aggressively working on Ben Grieve, but I now have 86 different cards of him as a Devil Ray. There are 5 full pages of Quinton McCracken, 3 full of Dewon Brazelton and two-and-a-half of Jared Sandberg. The new guy I added now has a full page, too. 
The Joe Kennedy PC is up to 9 cards strong! An autographed card of the Rays bench coach who said he LOVED THIS BLOG! 
So yeah, Dave Martinez now has his own binder space. I found a few cards of Kyeong Kang-the South Korean slugger who was batting third for the Stone Crabs on Saturday night. 
I watched this guy in batting practice and he can MASH. He’s 6’2”, left handed and has a great arm in right. I am gonna be keeping an eye on him… The last 2 cards I am going to show off came from Swag of the NYC Cards and Swag blog. It’s been a month or so since he has updated his blog-come back Swag, we miss you! And it was several months ago that he sent me a box FULL of Rays and Pirates (for my little brother). The package was awesome and really appreciated and it filled some voids for me. Among the cards he sent were these two from 2009 Upper Deck Series 2 of the Starquest insert series. I have about 10 each of the BJ Upton and Carlos Pena cards from this series, but these were the first CC cards for me so I owe Swag a huge thank you for that! 
I am posting them because I have a question that I hope y’all can help with. The cards look identical to me. I can’t see any differences from the front of the card, but according to the back, they are different. One is a Silver Common and the other is labeled as a Blue Uncommon. 
What does this mean? What does this all mean??? Thanks in advance for your help, thanks to Swag for the cards and thanks to all for reading and being patient as I am going through a big transition and have little time to post. By the way, the Rays team set page is up to date as is the 2010 Topps page. The 2010 Gold cards have all been claimed, but everything else is up for grabs if you need em. Before I sign off I wanted to show off one more card. This one came from Play at the Plate. I won his April Contest and jus got my prize. Unopened wax is just about the coolest prize you can get and he sent a ton, so thank you Brian! That made my day!!! He included some loose cards, too. Awesome Rays and stuff from my want list, but also this fantastic card featuring two of my favorite players of All Time. 
Thanks Brian!! While you are there, check out his awesome new blog header featuring a Jackie Robinson Play at the Plate! I believe that Mr. Robinson is SAFE at home. Go Rays! Troll out.
These 3 helped me finish off another set. I am now complete from 2006 up till present and only a couple of cards away from finishing off 2005 which would have me set from 2004 till present. That would be 8 years complete. Well, at least until next month when 2010 Series 2 comes out… While sorting I found a bunch of cards that fit into my Devil Rays PCs. I am not aggressively working on Ben Grieve, but I now have 86 different cards of him as a Devil Ray. There are 5 full pages of Quinton McCracken, 3 full of Dewon Brazelton and two-and-a-half of Jared Sandberg. The new guy I added now has a full page, too. The Joe Kennedy PC is up to 9 cards strong! An autographed card of the Rays bench coach who said he LOVED THIS BLOG! So yeah, Dave Martinez now has his own binder space. I found a few cards of Kyeong Kang-the South Korean slugger who was batting third for the Stone Crabs on Saturday night. I watched this guy in batting practice and he can MASH. He’s 6’2”, left handed and has a great arm in right. I am gonna be keeping an eye on him… The last 2 cards I am going to show off came from Swag of the NYC Cards and Swag blog. It’s been a month or so since he has updated his blog-come back Swag, we miss you! And it was several months ago that he sent me a box FULL of Rays and Pirates (for my little brother). The package was awesome and really appreciated and it filled some voids for me. Among the cards he sent were these two from 2009 Upper Deck Series 2 of the Starquest insert series. I have about 10 each of the BJ Upton and Carlos Pena cards from this series, but these were the first CC cards for me so I owe Swag a huge thank you for that! I am posting them because I have a question that I hope y’all can help with. The cards look identical to me. I can’t see any differences from the front of the card, but according to the back, they are different. One is a Silver Common and the other is labeled as a Blue Uncommon. What does this mean? What does this all mean??? Thanks in advance for your help, thanks to Swag for the cards and thanks to all for reading and being patient as I am going through a big transition and have little time to post. By the way, the Rays team set page is up to date as is the 2010 Topps page. The 2010 Gold cards have all been claimed, but everything else is up for grabs if you need em. Before I sign off I wanted to show off one more card. This one came from Play at the Plate. I won his April Contest and jus got my prize. Unopened wax is just about the coolest prize you can get and he sent a ton, so thank you Brian! That made my day!!! He included some loose cards, too. Awesome Rays and stuff from my want list, but also this fantastic card featuring two of my favorite players of All Time. Thanks Brian!! While you are there, check out his awesome new blog header featuring a Jackie Robinson Play at the Plate! I believe that Mr. Robinson is SAFE at home. Go Rays! Troll out.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Tim Beckham and the Port Charlotte Stone Crabs!
I am en route to Port Charlotte in a fancy borrowed car with AC and a sweet radio. I feel like a king. I will be posting a live recap of the game on TB Rays News. 
My first live play by play on a blog. Please check it out. The Crabs starting shortstop will be former #1 (overall) draft pick Tim Beckham. This will be the first time I have watched him this season. 
The dude has some serious tools and major potential. My collection of his cards is limited to just 2, but here they are... 
Please check out TB Rays News if you get the chance. 
If you stick around here you will find updated have/need lists. Lets trade, okay? Go Rays! Go Crabs! troll out.
My first live play by play on a blog. Please check it out. The Crabs starting shortstop will be former #1 (overall) draft pick Tim Beckham. This will be the first time I have watched him this season. The dude has some serious tools and major potential. My collection of his cards is limited to just 2, but here they are... Please check out TB Rays News if you get the chance. If you stick around here you will find updated have/need lists. Lets trade, okay? Go Rays! Go Crabs! troll out.
2010 Topps-Give and Take
I am REALLY getting antsy to finish off 2010 Topps Series One. I am SOOOO close I can feel it. A ton of bloggers have helped me on this mission, but most recently it was the Play at the Plate dude who hooked me up with Turkey Reds by the pound. 
Most recently he sent this awesome Turkey Red Johnny Bench which is NOT for trade. It is locked away in the binder and my binder is now up-to-date and so are my lists. I discovered that there were a few cards that I thought I had covered, but still need. It is all straightened out now. It was a very productive sleepless night, it was.
Anyway, I was being greedy and hanging onto extra cards of favorite players and I was thinking of chasing Topps Town Gold, but now I just want to finish the base set, Cards Your Mom Threw Out, Turkey Red, Legendary Lineage and Peak Performances. I have about 80 base card dupes and some inserts.
Here are some scans of dupes that could be yours. Just check out the want list!!! 
It is coincidentally the trade list, too. Yep, two lists in one! I am chasing the Rays team set in GOLD. I don't have a list for that yet. I know I have Jeff Niemann covered... By the way, that is a gold Pat Neshek card and yes I am willing to trade it to finish up Your Mama or Turkey Red. I lucked out and got dupes of both Neshek and Niemann. I am still hunting for Price, Davis, Zobrist and a few other GOLD Rays, but right now I just really wanna finish off the insert sets before Series 2 comes out. I also really want the Rays mascot card from Opening Day. Raymond rules! 
Anyway, check em out and get in touch if you can help or if you need anything. I will be in Port Charlotte blogging LIVE inning by inning for TB Rays News dot com. Check it out!!! Go Rays! Troll out.
Most recently he sent this awesome Turkey Red Johnny Bench which is NOT for trade. It is locked away in the binder and my binder is now up-to-date and so are my lists. I discovered that there were a few cards that I thought I had covered, but still need. It is all straightened out now. It was a very productive sleepless night, it was.Anyway, I was being greedy and hanging onto extra cards of favorite players and I was thinking of chasing Topps Town Gold, but now I just want to finish the base set, Cards Your Mom Threw Out, Turkey Red, Legendary Lineage and Peak Performances. I have about 80 base card dupes and some inserts.
Here are some scans of dupes that could be yours. Just check out the want list!!! It is coincidentally the trade list, too. Yep, two lists in one! I am chasing the Rays team set in GOLD. I don't have a list for that yet. I know I have Jeff Niemann covered... By the way, that is a gold Pat Neshek card and yes I am willing to trade it to finish up Your Mama or Turkey Red. I lucked out and got dupes of both Neshek and Niemann. I am still hunting for Price, Davis, Zobrist and a few other GOLD Rays, but right now I just really wanna finish off the insert sets before Series 2 comes out. I also really want the Rays mascot card from Opening Day. Raymond rules! Anyway, check em out and get in touch if you can help or if you need anything. I will be in Port Charlotte blogging LIVE inning by inning for TB Rays News dot com. Check it out!!! Go Rays! Troll out.
One Step Closer...
It has been a want-listy kind of weekend for me so far. My wife had a 40-page thesis that was due at 8:00AM today. She had to be to work at 7:30 and pulled an all-nighter. She did finish her paper and it was brilliant. At least it seemed brilliant because when it was done and she went to work I got to sneak a nap... Anyway, while she was writing I spent my time staying out of her way and sorting cards in the guest bed room. We are screwed if we have a guest, but I did get some stuff organized, got more cards into binders and also got together 5 blogger-kindness packages that will ship on Monday...
I also opened some mail that was piling up. I recieved an envelope from custom card manufacturer and super blogger Sean from Condition Poor. A one card deal. It was one card that I really needed, so I was psyched. The card was #LL-18 from the Legendary Lineage insert set of 2010 Topps. It is of Gary Carter and David Wright, both shown as New York Mets. I watched a TON of Mets games on WWOR as a kid with my Mom and Gary Carter was her favorite player. She LOVED Gary Carter. Therefore this card is pretty cool by me. This card brings me one away from finishing this set. If ya have LL-17, get in touch! I have dupes of LL #s 21,23,27,29 and 30. Thanks so much for this card Sean! I read that you are on vacation in my neck of the woods. Give a brother a call! Thanks again to Condition Poor. My 2010 Topps want list is here if you are so inclined. Go Rays! Troll out.
I also opened some mail that was piling up. I recieved an envelope from custom card manufacturer and super blogger Sean from Condition Poor. A one card deal. It was one card that I really needed, so I was psyched. The card was #LL-18 from the Legendary Lineage insert set of 2010 Topps. It is of Gary Carter and David Wright, both shown as New York Mets. I watched a TON of Mets games on WWOR as a kid with my Mom and Gary Carter was her favorite player. She LOVED Gary Carter. Therefore this card is pretty cool by me. This card brings me one away from finishing this set. If ya have LL-17, get in touch! I have dupes of LL #s 21,23,27,29 and 30. Thanks so much for this card Sean! I read that you are on vacation in my neck of the woods. Give a brother a call! Thanks again to Condition Poor. My 2010 Topps want list is here if you are so inclined. Go Rays! Troll out.
Which Came First, the Want List or the...
I don't know where I was going with the title, but the long and short of it is after getting packages from A Rookie (Baseball) Card Collector and Grand Cards this week with unfamiliar looking Tampa Bay Rays Topps cards in them I decided to dust off the old Rays team set binder for the first time in a few months. Beyond that it has been a full week since a Troll post. I get the shakes if I don't post twice a day so you know this is driving me insane. For now I decided to ease back in by creating a new WANT LIST for my Rays team sets. It turns out that both ARBCC and GC did send me much needed cards. In the past couple months Stale Gum, Cards on Cards, Play at the Plate, Jacob Marley, Joe L. and a score of others have torn into my team set needs even though I hadn't updated my want list in months. Well, I got out the stacks and stacks of cards, got the binder, the LIST and a highlighter and went to town. I created a new wantlist which is pretty well up to date. I literally have thousands of doubles, but can't seem to finish the sets off. I don't know how it is possible that I have (seriously) 39 copies of Jose Guillen's card from 2001 Topps, but I don't have a single copy from 2000. Mind boggling. If Bipping was still the rage some of you would be shaking with all of the dupes that I found. 46 Toby Hall cards in your mailbox could be terrifying and I have the juice to do it! I would rather find a friendly Rays collector who is trying to do the same thing and looking for some starter lots. Any takers? 
Anyway, out of 14 seasons that the Rays have appeared in Topps sets I have completed the entire base set of 9 years. The Traded or Updates and Highlights series are what is killing me. 2004 and 2009 are the only years that I have finished those off. All in all I need 41 cards to complete all of the Topps sets to date. That means I am about 90% of the way there. If anyone needs 6 team sets from 2002 (not including traded) I am your man. Anyway, you can find my fancy new list with scans from every year from '97 till 2006 right HERE. Now for the two packages that spurred this undertaking. First off is a wonderful Blogger Kindness package from the always awesome McCann Can Triple of the A Rookie (Baseball) Card Collector blog. 
The package came with an awesome drawing of a snowman made of baseballs which I didn't scan yet. Use your imagination-it is rad! Anyway, that was the best part, but she included some great cards too. This one doesn't factor into the wantlist theme, but I love this Carlos Pena insert from 2008 Upper Deck X. 
I have been going crazy exponentiating logarithms in school, so this X Ponential card made me smile. Now onto the wantlist crushing cards. 
This 2006 UandH card of Big Game James Shields has eluded me forever but now I can cross UH147 off of my list. This 2007 Updates card of JP Howell made it onto my Most Wanted list, but now its all mine! 
Card #UH297 of the Rays reliever. The last card I will show from her package comes from 2009 Topps Updates. I finished this series off a while back, but I don't think I ever posted this card and I really like it. It's Carlos Pena from the All Star Home Run Derby. 
CP didn't fare too well in the derby, but ya gotta love his swing and the fact that he paced the American League in homers even though he missed the last month (nearly) of the season. The next couple of cards came from Grand Cards. He sent a note saying he hoped that I could use some of the cards and that hopefully they weren't all dupes. Little did he know the HORRIBLE luck I have had with 2007 Updates. I ripped 2 hobby boxes of this back in 2007 and also bought a few blasters, plus folks have been sending me Rays cards by the pound for the last year. All that and I still had hardly any cards from this series. Now I am down to needing just one more to finish it off. Card #UH4 of Josh Wilson is the last card I need. Funny thing is that I have 3 copies of that card in Gold plus several with the red back but I don't have a single copy of his regular base. Some of the goodies from Grand Cards are these bad boys from 2007 Topps Updates-
#UH171 of Andy Sonnanstine and #UH324 of Dan Wheeler. 
I have autographed copies of both of these cards, plus like Josh Wilson I have the GOLD and red backed versions, but now I finally have regular old unsigned base cards for the team set binder. The last card he sent (thats a lie-he sent about 30 cards) from '07 UH is this card of my favorite left-handed hitting first baseman Carlos Pena. Card #UH91 has been on my Most Wanted List for a while. 
I had just got a copy before my infamous robbery and the Pena card was in the box. This baby is safe in my binder now! Another card he sent that I have been coveting for a long time now is this Wal Mart trading card history insert of Akinori Iwamura. 
If Aki is still a Pirate next spring this one will be on top of the pile of cards that I try and get signed. I love it!!! One last set of cards to show comes from legendary reader Largo Frank. Frank has been hooking me up with great packages of Rays cards on a monthly basis. 
He sent me a stack for my Jared Sandberg and Joe Kennedy collections and fortunately he sent multiple copies because this 1997 rookie card of JS was the final one I needed for the 1997 team set and this card from 1998 brings me to within one card of finishing off 1998 Topps. 
He also sent the Chrome version of the '98 which is one of the final cards I needed for that set. Next on my list of things to do is making wantlists Topps Chrome, Bowman and Upper Deck. Someday. 
Unrelated to this post, but super rad anyway... He also included 3 certified Rays autographs. 
One of the Devil Rays first ever draft pick, the super flop Paul Wilder and 2 that were pretty awesome! 
My second Jared Sandberg certified autograph from 1999 Bowman and my first ever Joe Kennedy autograph!!! Thanks so much Frank!!! 
Thanks to McCann Can Triple and Grand Cards, too! All you guys and gal rock!!! Once again my new and improved team set wantlist is here. Out of 14 seasons of Topps cards I need just 41 more cards to have them all COMPLETED. I will be in Port Charlotte, Florida tomorrow night for a LIVE inning by inning blog extravaganza of the Stone Crabs game. Oh, by the by... If you were a winner of any of the Troll or Nitty Gritty contests your prizes should have either just arrived or will arrive shortly-except for my friend in the Great White North-I am sure they are hung up in customs and you probably won't see them till 2018. Thanks again to all who entered the contests-please let me know when you recieve your prizes cuz I worry alot. Thanks again! WAIT! This just in... I just got home from work after posting this. I figured I would get going on my next post and not a wait another week and I grabbed a pile of goodies from Jacob Mrley and blammo, amongst all of the GREAT stuff he sent were these 3 sneaky little Topps cards. 
Now, just like that I am done to needing just 38 cards. The 2007 set is DONE and the 2008 set is DONE. F-ing SWEET! Thanks so much to Jacob Mrley!!! I can't wait to post everything else from this amazing package! $1300.00 for a roll of tape isn't cool, but trust me-this package is the stuff. Thanks again for reading and following my quest for team set domination. Thanks Jacob Mrley, Sarah, Grand Cards and Largo Frank!!! Go Rays! Troll out.
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