Sunday, June 30, 2013

Crush Davis

I went to the game last night and watched Chris Davis hit number 29 and 30!  What a night at the ballpark.  And to see the Orioles spank the Yankees 11-3.  I'll never forget it.

Damn it feels good to be a Baltimore fan!

Friday, June 28, 2013

HUGE TRADE!

So being a new father has brought many a challenge. One of them being finding time to post up on this bad ass blog of mine.  Okay... so maybe it's not that B A and god knows I've never posted up on anyone in my life.

But I digress...

I'm excited to report that I have dealt away the awesome Gypsy Queen pull for a slew of cards that I'm happy to now include in my collection. 

Just to remind everyone out there, here is the sweet sweet Yoenis Cespedes 5/5 mini wood parallel card that can now be found in my gone but not forgotten page.

 
This card is now in my friend and co worker Karl's collection.
 
In exchange he set me up with the following.
 
I'll lead off with a graded 10 Cal Ripken Jr. 1987 Donruss base card!
 
 
I know right... that card is siiiiiick! (lol, if you don't have sarcasm glasses on right now then you just can't read this properly)
 
But for serious
 
Here was the main jewel of the trade.  I'm VERY stoked to add this to my collection!

 
2011 Bowman Manny Machado Prospect Autograph
Today this has a book value of $60 but I personally feel like he has way more upside then Cespedes and I'd honestly have taken this card straight up for the mini wood parallel.  However I got a hell of a lot more then just that.  Check it out!
 

 
So my buddy used to work for the grounds crew at Camden Yards and was able to meet a ton of players and grab autos.  This is of course an Ivan Rodriguez auto and was absolutely my role model growing up.  All I wanted to do growing up was play catcher in "The Bigs" and he was a huge reason why.  I'll settle for collecting cards instead!

 
Here's an on card auto of Bobby Witt.  Bobby of course wasn't a stellar player but has a few cool distinctions including striking out 4 batters in one inning as well as getting a WS ring with the 2001 World Series Champ Arizona Diamondbacks.

 
This auto of John Wetteland features a scripture underneath it but I can't exactly tell which one.  Once I figure it out I'll read it and see what Johnny was preaching.  Wetteland had his career year in 1996 when he won a World Series MVP with those goddamn Yankees.  Aside from that he also was named to the All Star team and was the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year in that same season.  Wetteland moved on from the Yankees (some guy named Mariano was apparently waiting in the wings) and finished his career out with Texas and was an All Star twice more in 98 and 99.  He has since been inducted in to the Rangers Hall of Fame.

 
 This autograph of John Olerud is slightly faded but is another excellent addition to my collection.  Olerud had his best season in 1993 when he not only won his second World Series title with the Blue Jays but was also named to the All Star team, won the AL batting title and the Hutch Award.  Although he couldn't match the success he had in 1993 he was still an excellent ball player winning a Gold Glove in 2000, 2002, and 2003 and being named to his second All Star team in 2001.


 
This card features the autograph of one Ryan Minor who's claim to fame was replacing Cal Ripken Jr. at third base the day the Iron Man broke his streak.  Minor's career didn't really pan out but make no mistake he was an athlete.  Minor was even drafted in the second round of the NBA after a stellar college career but opted instead for baseball.

 
Here is a card I actually like as well.  An official Topps Certified auto of Ryan Mills.  I know what most of you are thinking... who the fug is Ryan Mills.  Mills was the first round draft pick of the Minnesota Twins in 1998 draft and never even sniffed a cup of coffee at the highest level.  He now carries the distinction of "The worst draft pick ever by the Minnesota Twins"
 
Welcome to the catalog Ryan... I'll keep you buddy!

 
This Rich Harden auto is cool for the fact that Harden's claim to fame is pitching an immaculate inning.  As good as I think I am at baseball on the PS3 I've never pitched one myself... so doing it in real life has got to be damn hard.  So consider me damn impressed!


 
At this point in the blog I know what you're thinking...
"Woogie got all of this for that mini wood card?!"
 
You bet your balls I did!  And I know you got'em cause ain't know way I've kept a woman's attention this long gushing about baseball cards and the players who appear on them.
 
The card above is from last years Archives and features Jack "The Ripper" Clark.  Jack Clark was obviously good enough to be considered a fan favorite for inclusion in this set and was a 4x All Star and won 2 Silver Slugger Awards.
 
That wraps it up for the autographs... I also picked up these two cards.
 
 
Don Mattingly Silver Slugger Trophy card from this years Topps Series 1.  Normally I don't like these cards that much, but this happens to have the highest book value (as well as others in the set) for this type of card.

 
And lastly this card I almost didn't even include in the post but I did get it in the trade so I'll give ol' Keith Reed his due and put him in the post.
 
 
So all that for the Cespedes.  Like I said... I'd have been happy with just the Machado and to be honest the Pudge auto.  The rest were all icing on the cake.  Feel free to leave me comments to let me know if you think I made out okay on the deal.
 
Thanks for reading!
 
Stay tuned for the next trade post. 
 
Till next time
 
GO O'S
 

Sunday, June 16, 2013

A Happy Father's Day with 2013 Topps Archives

Happy Father's Day out there to all my fellow Dads!

This one was my first and it's been a great one.  Although my little girl is only 5 weeks old she must have known what was up because she actually slept through the night and has been taking a lot of naps today to allow me and the wife to enjoy our day. 

Not that we don't enjoy our day when she is up, but it's nice to watch a whole movie with out pausing in the middle. 

So I was a happy camper when I got a nice card from my wife and another one from my daughter as well as a giant picture of my little girl and a few of just the two of us hanging in her bedroom.  It was a very thoughtful project by my wife. 

After I got my cards and pictures I was treated to breakfast and a lazy morning in front of the TV.  Around 1pm I snuck out to this amazing diner in Baltimore called the Broadway Diner.  It has been featured on Diner's Drive In's and Dives on the Food Network and is one of my favorite spots to take my wife.  Since she was staying at the house with our daughter I went to grab us lunch.  I'll be honest though, it wasn't all about food!  Our favorite diner is about half a mile from a little baseball card shop. 

I didn't buy a whole box but I ended up walking out with at least half a busted box of 2013 Topps Archives.  I did well and pulled some nicer cards and even 1 autograph.  I'm not going to go through all the pulls I hit but I'll do the highlights.

I'll start with the autograph!
 
 
 
John Mayberry was an All Star for the Royals in 73 and 74 and hit for the cycle in 1977.  His son is now playing for the Phillies and Sr. was inducted in to the Royals Hall of Fame in 1996.
 
While it's not a huge pull it's cool that you at least get somewhat of a name when you pull an auto from Archives instead of a possible prospect that may never make it like you might get in other sets.
 
What I really enjoy from Archives are the inserts!  I was lucky to pull a number of them.  Here are some of my favorites!
 
I also pulled a couple Yankees sets with Ruth, Gehrig, and Jeter, and quad pitcher set including Koufax and Kershaw.
 
I really like the Griffey Basketball insert
 
I also pulled a Gallery of Heroes Albert Pujols and a redemption for a vintage card at my local hobby shop.  I'll update the blog with what I get from that but the ones I've seen pulled are in horrible condition and nothing to be proud of.  Since I'm going to take the redemption in to the shop I plan to take some 80's cards in and trade them in for Series 2 packs!
 
If you're collecting Archives or like the Mayberry autograph hit me up and we can work out a trade.
 
Till next time...
 
Thanks for reading and Happy Father's Day!
 

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Lineage Trade!

So it's been a while since I made any progress on Lineage cards other than the relic cards.  However I recently got a trade offer from someone I previously did business with and we were able to complete another nice trade!

I dealt out a few relics and an auto in exchange for several Platinum, Diamond, 75 minis, Cloth stickers, 3D, and even a Venezuelan. 

Normally I'd like to make this fun to read and inject some humor but it happens to be my very first afternoon alone with my little girl! (Momma is out shopping for a new dress since our girl is getting baptized tomorrow.)  So I'm trying to bust this out as quickly as possible while she is sleeping.  In fact I can actually hear her pooping as she sleeps looking like an angel! 

Check out the deal!

Gone but not forgotten are the following...

 
A pair of 2013 Topps Chasing History cards featuring a relic of David Ortiz and an auto of David Justice. A 2013 Topps Heritage Ian Kennedy relic to 99, 2012 Ubaldo Jimenez Mound Dominance relic to 50, and my duplicate 2011 Topps Lineage Pablo Sandoval auto
 
In return I got the following cards toward my quest to complete a master set of Topps Lineage!
 
Tulowitzki and Crawford Cloth Stickers, Kemp and Dunn Standees, and Wright, Adrian Gonzalez, and Teixeira 3D cards

 
9 75 mini cards (my favorite part of the set) including Holliday, Morrison, Koufax, Cruz, Snider, Munson, Ramirez, Sisler, and Walter Johnson.

 
An Adam Dunn Venezuela insert, 6 Diamond inserts including Dawson, Hellickson, Reyes, Gibson, Cano, and Morel.

 
and lastly 11 Platinum parallels including Dunn, Danks, Either, Montero, Fisk, Longoria, Schmidt, Belt, Morrison, Drabek, and Ford.
 
 
So 34 cards in exchange for 3 relics and 2 autos.
 
A deal that I think made both sides pretty happy.
 
I've still got a long way to go in a Master Set.
 
Message me if you can help!  After today my list should be current!
 
Thanks for reading!
 
 
 

Monday, June 3, 2013

Trade Winds A'blowin!

So I recently posted a new objective to collect the entire mini booklet relic set from 2010 Topps T206
 
For those of you who may have a fuzzy memory you can re-read that shizzz here.
 
 
My man Brad from Brad's Blog (plug: http://bradsphilliesblog.blogspot.com)
hit me up with an offer for one of the cards I needed in the set. 
 
Brad was initially looking for cards I'd already dealt, but have no fear, the catalog still had other fruits to bear! 
 
Check out what Brad pulled from my collection...
 
 
Ryan Howard 2009 Topps Tribute Dual Bat Relic to 99 and 2012 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection Cliff Lee Jersey Relic.
 
In exchange Brad got my one card closer to completing the 2010 Topps 206 Mini Booklet set.  (for those keeping score that would be 2 out of 25)
 
Check it out!
 
 
Ramirez and Rollins Dual Relic
 
Awww yea!
 
And that ain't all folks...
 
Got another trade in the works... I'll post it soon!
 
Anyone else got any of the 206 Booklets they can deal??
 
Till next time