Purple Tears

How glorious was it to be a Baltimore fan this year? By far the best sports year of my short life...

So WTF has happened in the last 4 weeks!?!?!

I get it... it's a business.

I mean getting to watch Ray Lewis and Matt Birk ride off in to the sunset retiring as Superbowl Champions was great. Sad. But great. Fitting for two players of their caliber.

Watching Paul Kruger go to the Browns and Dannell Ellerbe bolt to Miami was tough... but that's the business. Watching Baltimore trade Boldin to the 49ers for a 6th round pick was like a shot in the pills... but we understood it.

We have a saying in Baltimore...

In Ozzie We Trust. 2 Superbowl championships and countless playoff teams... we don't question it.

BUT HOW CAN WE LET ED REED GO???

Seriously... I cried purple tears.

I just can't watch Ed play for another team. So I won't. Instead I'll pretend that Ed has retired and will now take this time to eulogize him.

Watching him come in to the league in 2002 we knew we had someone special on our team.  He had 5 INTs as a rookie and by 2004 he was NFL Defensive Player of the Year and set a few records that season.  I was lucky enough to get this mini helmet signed from that amazing year in his career.  Check it out...

 

I've been lucky enough to have seen Ed Reed play a few times and now that he is gone will cherish those memories that much more. 

 

The last time I was able to attend a Ravens game was October 24th 2010.  It was my 1 year anniversary with my wife and the Ravens were playing the Buffalo Bills and it was Ed Reeds first game of the season as he had been out with an injury up to that point.  Not only did we watch the Ravens win a thrilling game in OT (the turning point coming off a Ray Lewis strip fumble and recover no less) but we got to see Reed record 2 interceptions on his way to leading the league in INTs after missing the first 6 games of the season.

 

That game and season was a testimate to Ed Reed's ability and he will be missed dearly in Baltimore.  Hopefully Ed goes on to bigger and better things in life after football.

 

Thanks for reading...

 

2013 Topps Heritage Box Break!

Yeah... I know what I said.

"But Woogie... I thought you weren't going to buy cards till your collection was inventoried!"

You know damn well I'm not even close to finished with that.

I'm weak... what can I say?

So I did some projects around the house and like the good dog that I am... err... I meant boy that I am... my wife let me get a box of 2013 Topps Heritage.

I did very well in my humble opinion. 

ANYTHING IS UP FOR TRADE.  Check it out!

I pulled 2 Image Swap Variations of 2 SUPERSTARS!

 

These cards fall 1 out of 26 packs.

 

I also pulled 2 Venezuelan cards. 

 

 

These cards fall 1 out of every 47 packs!

 

Lastly I managed to pull this Color Swap variation!

 

 

Chase Headley Color Swap.

 

These cards fall 1 out of every 155 packs!

 

I also got a Brandon Morrow Heritage Chrome card numbered 64/564

 

 

This cards falls 1 out of every 42 packs!

 

I also pulled a Dee Gordon Clubhouse Collection Jersey

 

 

Now not all of these came from the same box.  I happened to pick up 5 packs first to see if I liked it and I pulled one of the Venezuelan cards and the Pujols Image Swap.  So in all I picked up 29 total packs.  Some very excellent pulls for the number of packs purchased!

 

I also have a few inserts from each category.  If you're trying to make a complete set reach out to me and I'll let you know what I've got!

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Now back to inventory...

 

 

 

Ray Lewis Book Ends

Greeting friends... It's been a while, but rest assured I'm currently hard at work on inventory.  I've got over 1,500 1986 Topps cards, and NOT a complete set.  Needless to say I'll be giving away alot of 86 Topps to some kids who may just get a small thrill out of it or need some cheap stuffing for a hamster cage.

I did get a recent addition to my collection and wanted to share.  As most of you know I'm a big baseball collector and love the Baltimore Orioles.  However I do have a small part of my collection dedicated to the Baltimore Ravens.  I have 3 mini helmets signed by Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, and Ray Lewis.  I also have another photo (on loan from my brother) of Ray Lewis that is autographed.

Aside from these few autographed items I also have some cool ticket stubs.  My uncle has been a ticket holder since the Ravens came to town and I happen to have his first game ticket stub against the Steelers.  This of course would be the first regular season game played by future Hall of Famer Ray Lewis.  Check it out!

NOTE: This is what my stub looks like but isn't the exact one.  I pulled it off eBay because I'm too fuggin lazy to go down to the cave and take a picture of it.  Sorry...

So that very same Uncle decided to drop a lot of coin on a once in a lifetime trip to New Orleans in order to see Baltimore beat up San Fransisco.  When I heard he was going I called him and told him A: I was extremely jealous and B: If it wasn't too much to ask could I have his ticket stub to add to my collection.

My Uncle being the kick ass man that he is obliged and brought me home his ticket stub as well as the little finger lights given out for the half time show.  Those are still in the plastic bag... I'm guessing my Uncle was more interested in holding his beer than putting a couple lighted fingers in the sky for half time.  Check out that stub too!

NOTE: This too was pulled of the Internet because again, I'm too lazy to snap a pic and load it on my computer.  I only have the one stub but it has the same face value $950 as well as this program right next to it.

So calling back to the title of this post.  I have Ray Lewis' first regular season game ticket stub as well as his last professional game ticket stub. 

Interestingly enough when I got the mini helmet signed by Ray Lewis he also signed the certificate of authenticity.  This is the ONLY time I've seen an athlete sign both the item and the certificate of authenticity.  I think I'll put together the two ticket stubs and frame the autograph in one nice display to be hung on the wall in the cave!  Unless you guys think I should do something different with them... feel free to chime in below. 

When I'm done organizing my 1986 Topps I'll post about which cards I need and if anyone can help me I'd appreciate it.  Just don't expect a big time trade.  The complete set is only worth $25... It's like I'm paying myself $.50 an hour to organize this set. 

A true labor of love.

Till next time...

Thanks for reading.

Something in the air...

Do you smell it?

Put your nose in to the air and reach in to depth of your natural instinctual senses...

Channel your inner wolf and capture the scent...

Can you smell it?

The hint of grilled hot dogs...

Fresh buttered popcorn...  the sweetness of the cracker jacks...

The smell of a freshly poured draft beer...

It's baseball season.

Today marks it all.

Baltimore Orioles vs Minnesota Twins

Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, FL. 1:05 pm

I'll be listening on WBAL 1090am

Let's Go O's!

A Case for Charity

2013 is shaping up to be a very big year for yours truly.  I recently got a promotion at work and the wife and I are preparing to have our first child in May.  Needless to say that I will soon be very short on personal time and realize that I no longer have the ability to purchase new product the way I would love to.

So I've decided to scratch that classic itch another way.

A more productive way.

Frankly this first part I'm actually dreading, but I know in my heart of hearts is a necessary evil.

Inventory.

Yup.  I plan to finally get the ball rolling and go through every drawer in the catalog as well as every box of cards not in said catalog and not only will I sort them in order by set, year, and number, but I will also be removing all duplicate cards from my collection so that I only have one of each card in my collection.

This will in turn create much more room in my card catalog for new product that I will no doubt acquire over the rest of my life, but also allows me to finally kick the tires on an idea I've had for years.

My own charity.  Sort of...

I've had this idea for a while that I would take all of my duplicate cards and organize them in to grab bags of sorts to be donated to children in need.  I've even got a name for my charity.

Karing with Kards.  Naturally I have a logo made up with a K and a backwards K that together form a diamond in between them that resembles a baseball diamond.  Instead of a pitchers mound there is a small "w" and thus completes the Karing with Kards logo.

By no means do I believe this is an original idea and if I can contribute to someone else' venture then that would be much easier for me I'm sure.  Please hit me up with any suggestions and if you are so moved I'm also willing to start taking donations to give away with my own personal cards. 

Anywho... stay tuned for updates on that and my inventory progress.  I'll let you know if I make any pulls, but don't waste away waiting for something awesome. 

Thanks for reading!

Pullskies III (Th'as Roman for 3 sucka!)

Yes Friends!  I'm back! 

And I'm ready to write!  Buckle up your reading glasses and grab a Coca-Cola and get ready to.... read.  Aaaaa llllloooooottttt....

First thing I gotts to hit on are my Baltimore Ravens.

Super Bowl Champions!  Last time I got to say that I was a 10th grade JV Football Stud and Football was my universe (yes... a brief time in my life where baseball cards took a back seat to playing sports and chasing girls).

Life was Glorious... I was young, popular, didn't have a lick of responsibility, and the Ravens won the Superbowl... and they did it before those no good, leaving in the middle of the night, Indianapolis Colts did since leaving Baltimore.

Fast forward 12 years

30% of my hair has turned stark white, popularity means nothing, and I have waaaayyy too much damned responsibility.

But the Ravens are Champions... and life is still Glorious.

I may never in my life enjoy or witness another season where I see the Orioles in the playoffs and the Ravens win a Championship...

Here's to hoping the Orioles can win the Series and make Baltimore Title Town for 2013.

Moving on...

Recently I had my second reader contest and asked my loyal fan base to tell me what connection Roberto Clemente and Neil Walker share that no other Pirates player in history shares.

The answer was they're the only two Pirates to ever hit a Grand Slam on Opening Day.  An amazing feat considering they've been around since 1901.  

Steve, a reader of blogs, but writer of non, won my contest.  We emailed back and forth a couple times and I found out that Steve is a Mets fan.  Steve told me he'd been reading my stuff since last Spring... it was cool to interact with someone who was kind of anonymous in that way.  I just assumed most people who read my blog had they're own blog.  Anyways... here is what I hooked Steve up with from my collection.

2012 Topps Archives Ed Kranepool Auto.

I assume this would be a good card for a Mets fan since Kranepool was a lifer for the Mets, won the 69 World Series, and is a member of the teams HOF.

 

It's a free auto... I'm sure he'll like it!

 

Thanks again Steve

 

 

Today is February 11th and I'm finally getting around to posting what I actually pulled on Christmas Day!  Hence the title of this post Pullskies III.  So let's just dive right in to it. 

 

In years past I was lucky enough to get a couple high end boxes with some mid range boxes, but was not the case this year.  I instead got a couple of mid range boxes and was plenty happy about it.

 

The first box I opened was another 2011 Topps Lineage.  While I have at least two complete base set I did get at least a dozen more insert cards that I needed towards the master set.  If I didn't already update that list I will soon and I've slacked on the project recently.  Honestly I know I'll complete it someday, but would really like to knock out the mini relics.  I'm just about half way there with those!  Anywho... here's what I pulled to from that box.

 

 

 

Another John Buck and Pablo Sandoval auto.  Happy to have a duplicate on the Sandoval auto but that's definitely the 3rd John Buck auto I pulled and it's not like I bought 30 boxes... I didn't even get 10.  Oh well... I already gave one away to my co-worker.  These are both available for trade.

 

I did get a mini relic I needed though.

 

 

So this card with at least 16 different insert cards made this box a victory for me!

 

Next up under the tree was a box of 2012 Topps Heritage.

 

Obviously this is just a fun set to try and build and I enjoyed opening it up.  I even pulled a Chris Carpenter photo variation and was stoked when I pulled this little gem.

 

2012 Topps Heritage Josh Hamilton Clubhouse Collection bat card.

 

This would be my first Hamilton relic card.

 

Before I got this box for Christmas I picked up a few packs and was lucky to also pull this card...

 

Cliff Lee Clubhouse Collection jersey card

 

and since I'm posting pulls I made forever ago here is another card I got when I picked up some 2012 Topps Heritage Minors cards

 

Joe Testa is a minor league pitcher who I doubt will ever sniff the majors.  In 5 seasons he has yet to crack AAA.  At least he has a baseball card... a nice looking one at that.

Good job Joe.

 

THIS JUST IN

 

I was going to finish this post off with my weekend in Philly, but alas I'll leave it for another day.  Apparently I ran out of file space and couldn't post.

 

So with that I'll say good night.  Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Topps Golden Giveaway mini post

As promised I will be making my final post about what I pulled over the previous holiday...

Once that one gets posted I will hopefully be making some pulls if the wifey decides to get me some packs or dare I say a box for Valentines Day.  Here's to hoping!  The hint hath been dropped. 

However I wanted to just post a quickie about the 2012 Topps Golden Giveaway.

In all the codes I redeemed I pulled 2 virtual cards.  The first one I pulled was kind of a big pull as I consistently got around 60 trade offers for it.  Check it out!

 

Obviously a popular player to collect and naturally I declined all offers and have since redeemed it for shipment.

 

The second card I pulled was a Ryan Howard diecut card.  This morning I went online (when I redeemed the Koufax) and saw that I still had around 60 trade offers, but of all the offers I had, only 2 were for Mr. Howard.  However, one of the 2 happened to be an offer for a Jim Palmer diecut. Trade accepted.

 

Aaaawwww Yeah!

 

 

BOOM

 

Redeemed!

 

I'll be showing these two bad boys off when they come in the mail. Based on my previous experience with Topps shipping cards I expect to get them say around Christmas, lol!

 

My next post will likely depend on the outcome of Superbowl Sunday.  If the Ravens win I'll be high on life and will take to the blog to celebrate... If we lose you may not see me for a week or two as I'll be crying myself to sleep every night.

 

When I do make it back I'll be detailing the last boxes I got for Christmas, any other random packs I've picked up and the cards I dealt to the winner of my reader contest!

 

GO RAVENS

 

Thanks for reading