Surprise Freebies...

I love using Zistle for trading. I don't use it nearly enough. However, I've been able to add a few friends where it becomes a routine trade every six weeks or so. Especially if we can keep it to under a dozen cards and go the ever popular PWE route.
A dozen new cards for me for just an 0.85 cent stamp? Yes please.

One of these frequent swappers is buckstorecards who of course writes Sportscards from the Dollar Store. We both like the shallow end of the pool collecting wise, so when the opportunity strikes to swap base cards with someone who likes them as much as I do, it's a no brainer.

We fashioned a swap on Zistle, and off the packages went. Or that was the plan anyways.... I got a notice from him saying that he was not only sending our trade, but also adding a Toronto Blue Jays team set from 2016 Gypsy Queen.

He had entered a case break and came away with an extra base set or two. I casually remarked I'd love to swap for one....

then I promptly forgot about it. Um... yeah.

But he didn't, and they arrived here safe and sound.

It left me scrambling to find a surprise or two to throw in for him.... I hope he likes what I sent.

I still love the generosity of the people we meet in this hobby. Thanks J.D.!

a quickie (trade) and an end of an era.

due to a lot of things, money, interest, cost of postage, lack of posting, etc.. etc... trading has been way down around these parts. i mean, waaaaaaaaaay down.

i remember when i first started blogging, almost seven years ago, the trading was glorious. i would send 100 cards out to someone, and they would send 80 back. someone would send me 120 cards, and i'd send them a brick of 90 back.

those days are gone.

and i don't see them ever coming back. thank you canada post and u.s.p.s.

so a little over a month ago, i made a concerted effort to update my zistle inventory. (it's still a work in progress, but it's getting there quite nicely)
the reason to do so was to up my trade game via the pwe. the glorious pwe. under 9 cards for only a .85 cent stamp. or $1.20 if we're headed south.

the results have been promising. 10 successful swaps in 6 weeks. and I'm looking to up the game.

here's the latest to arrive, and my smallest swap yet. only 5 cards.

my very first 2015 adam laroche card. i'm not sure how many people know that i try to be a laroche super collector. most of the people that knew don't hang out in bloggo land anymore. if you have laroche, send them to me. in a pwe.
this is one of those bronze paper parallel somethingorother that all the kids are agog about. #263/499 if you're keeping track at home.

there was a couple of cards to help towards my completion of the 2013 gypsy queen set.

some dodger

 and adam eaton's rookie.

 only 50 more cards to go.... (wantlist link here)

and two awesome cards from one of my favourite sets, the 1991 score set.

both black bordered coincidently.

i'm down to only needing five more to complete this bad boy. #'s 457, 577, 631,

anyone got minty pack fresh copies of those they could share?

such a great swap. each card goes into a slot in a page in a binder. in some cases, that slot has been empty for years.
but not anymore.



speaking of empty, we lost another blogger awhile back. jim form gcrl packed it in and closed up shop. he's still around, reading and (hopefully) trading.
i loved reading jim's blogs. he had three at various times if I remember correctly. he wrote about what he liked, what he loved. and he wrote it for himself. not for readers or comments or free stuff. it takes a lot to be that concentrated on one subject (the dodgers and garvey, cey, russell and lopes) and to make it interesting for others to read. he did it. and he did it a lot. i have no idea how that man could post so much so consistently. but there it was.

but not anymore.

Late Night with.....

well, with me. And my buddy Night Owl. While we don't always see eye to eye on things, (I'm a lot taller) we do agree that the night time is the right time.

And that smoothly leads to a surprise envelope that landed in my mailbox this past week. From the previously mentioned owl.

In it were half a dozen needs from my 2015 Topps want list, (thanks to owl for actually looking at my list!) and a couple of other throw ins...

first up, we have the Pig. It's good to have owl looking at your lists when it's Dodgers you need.

case in point. Yimi? Really? I suppose Youppie was already taken. (props if you know who the heck I'm talking about.)

and being the secret Giant fan that we all know he is, he had extra Bumgarners too....

along with being a closet Rockie super collector...

and for this one I got nuthin'... just glad to have received it.

Here we have a card that I set my sights on as soon as I knew it was coming out, but not a single card shop in town brought in any Donruss baseball (can you blame them?) So no pack busting for me...
but like any good friend, he knew I'd give it a good home.

and the final card I'll show is this Chipper Jones mini from 2012 A&G.

it's an A&G back, but has no number on it. Did all the A&G backs have no number? I thought only the regular backs got the "no number whoops we accidentally goofed on purpose" treatment.
Am I wrong? What am I looking at here?
I suppose I could google, but that'll take something close to effort.

Thanks owl!

Now if only someone had the last four cards I need for my 2015 Topps set... #33, 113, 152, 312

Bueller?

Play at the Plate gets Ripped...

My good friend who runs the blog Play at the Plate sent me some cards the other day. I believe this was in response to me sending him some before that.

We kinda "trade" cards, but really, at least for me, it's just sending cards whenever I get a small stack ready to go.

He also has the advantage of being the only Rangers fan I've ever heard of, let alone know.

 

Onto the cards!

 

My boy J Hey from this year's Ginter. The back, of course, has been violated. but I don't care. It actually is still attached, and he looks good in my binder.

 

There was also a small stack of super shiny Chippers from the late '90's.... They all look a lot better in person, but I scanned a couple of my favourites anyway.

 This Chipper is made out of really thin steel. And is sharp as hell. I can't imagine kids opening packs of these without losing some digits.

A see through Chipper! Only you can't tell in the scan.... ah well, believe me, it's cool.

And no package between us is complete without at least one McCann. I'm going to miss this guy. Although I won't recognize him either. Never seen him without facial hair.

 

 

Thanks bud. But one last question, with the ridiculousness of the latest idiot offerings from MLB, does Play at the Plate now have to change it's name???

a little '89 Bowman and some Cereal. Post cereal.

Oh boy. I bet the view counters are spinning overtime. 1989 Bowman. Nothing like showing off the latest and greatest in an attempt to gain viewers.

 

But it's true. Someone sent me '89 Bowman. Night Owl in fact. But it's fine. Don't hate the bird. I asked for them.

 

No. Really.

 

Owl made some rambling mention of having old Bowman and not knowing what to do with it. I made a passing comment about wanting some of the Braves.

 

Well before I could get N.O. my wantlist, he flew, FLEW to the post office (see what I did there?) and mailed me a package before I could change my mind.

 

Okay. Survey says I need four more to complete my Braves team set. I received three from Owl. How did he do?

 

Dion James. Even Braves fans have a tough time remembering Dion James. Maybe because we try so hard to forget.

 Need it! 1 for 1.

2 time MVP, batting champion, and Hall of Famer Dale Murphy! We all love Dale Murphy!

 Need it! 2 for 2!

Holy fresh face Batman! Is that Tom Glavine?!?
Why yes, yes it is.

 NEED IT!!! N.O. went 3 for 3! Without even waiting or looking at my list. Now all I need is #266 John Smoltz.
I'm sure I have it somewhere.... but who knows? Someone send me one, k?

Owl took the opportunity to stuff in a few more cards as well to make it look like he just wasn't unloading old Bowman on me.

There's my boy! The best reliever in baseball. Craig Kimbrel.

 I now have Kimbrel, Uggla, Heyward, Medlen, Minor, Beachy, and Matthews from this year's Archives. Is there more?
Am I missing any??

A quick google check (seriously, does anyone anywhere use bing???) tells me nothing.

Opening up Zistle and I find that I'm still missing Hudson, McCann, Freeman, Darrell Evans and Otis Nixon.

Otis Nixon?

Nice to see the old leadoff dog getting some hobby love.

But crap. Still five to go.

Next, a really super shiny Panini Prizm Chipper Jones. Damn it is hard watching the Braves and no Chipper.

 Another Zistle check and I see that I'm down to needing three more Prizm cards.
#19 Michael Bourn
#164 Tyler Pastornicky
#182 Andrelton Simmons

Anybody got these kicking around? I got an extra Deon Sanders to trade!!!

*crickets*

Okay, enough begging. Time for some serious cereal.

Owl was playing with scissors again....

Beautiful.

Absolutely beautiful.

Thanks for the Bowman bud!!!

m.a.i.l.f.r.o.m.g.c.r.l.

I've received a few packages over the last little while. Most of them have included cards from my wantlists, which is awesome.

Some people may not get excited over '89 Score, or '93 Upper Deck... but I do. As long as it's on my list, it's golden.

 

 

My pal Jim, otherwise known as gcrl, sent me a few cards the other day. I won't bore you (too late) with most of them, particularly the six cards from 2012 Topps Update that I needed... so I'll so you some shiny instead.

 

From last year's Bowman chrome, a green refractor of Brandon Beachy. These are awesome. I would like all the colours please.

 Speaking of colours, let's have a xmas theme and show a red bordered parallel from the previously mentioned 2012 Topps Update set. Big Ben came back from two years of injury for one last go. He pitched really well for the Braves, including one last emotional start on the last day of the season against Pittsburgh.
Knowing he was retiring because of another slight injury, manager Fredi Gonzalez told him he was getting the start, and to let it all hang out because he would be pulled after one inning.
Ben lit it up, 12 pitches, 8 strikes, 4 foul balls and two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 inning.
Thanks for everything Ben.

 Another card from 2012 Bowman Platinum... everytime I think I've completed the Braves team set, someone sends me a card I don't already have. That's Bowman in a nutshell.

 a couple of cards that weren't on any list.... from 2003, cards of Al Hrabosky...

 ... and the man himself, Eddie Mathews.

Pretty damn cool. Thanks Jim!

A package is already on it's way in your direction.

1952 Lightning Bolts. You heard me.

I've been slowly going through the package that dayf the Cardboard Junkie sent me awhile ago. I was initially planning to show this card off last, as it is the best card from the package. But the more I look at it, the more I wanted to show it off. As it is without a doubt, in the top two of cards I have ever received.

There it is. Glorious. For those not in the know, it is a 1952 Topps Earl Torgeson. Perhaps the most over rated set of all, but still epic in it's epicness.

It is also my very first 1952 Topps Brave. My chase for the team set is officially underway. I've always had the '52 set on my list, but it now has a little check mark on it.

But how awesome is this card? For one, it's more oval now than rectangular. What was once the four corners are now as soft as bunnies.
This is the kind of card that takes me back to being a kid again. Something this hobby has lacked for me lately.
And the kid in me says, those are NOT creases, but rather lightning bolts coming from Torgeson's bat!

I think this card is in a tie for my all time favourite card from a fellow blogger. It's right there with this one I featured a long time ago.

 

a 1954 Bowman Eddie Matthews. Also from dayf. I'm sensing a pattern here.

 

Thanks pal.

 

LIGHTNING BOLTS!!!!!

finally, a solution to the puzzle.

I hate blogger. Just wanted to put that out there. Since last Thursday I haven't been able to post anything because their image uploader hasn't been working for most people who use Explorer. I see a lot of blogs have been having the same issues.

After a week of troubleshooting the genius tech crew at Blogger come up with a solution!!!!!

They tell me to temporarily try using Google Chrome.

Seriously.

I sense shenanigans.

At least I don't have to make a deal with the devil they call Firefox. I'd quit blogging before doing that.

Onto some more pleasant things, like baseball cards. I've received a couple of packages in the new year, and I need to show them off. Now that I can upload pictures, I will do just that.

First, from night owl. A smallish, but power packed package. How so? Let me explain.

First card out of the package, a 2006 UD Oscar Villarreal. Oscar was the top card, and so was volunteered to be the brave warrior against the dreaded painters tape during the voyage here. He ended up victorious, but shows the scars of battle near both top corners.

from the same set, a Kevin Barry rookie card. You can tell UD was serious about baseball back then. Kevin is card #1014.  That's insane.

from this year's Bowman. Or is it last year's? Who can figure this stuff out? Anyways... a nice shot of BMac before injuries killed his season.

same set, Martin Prado about to gun someone down at 2nd base.

and, according to me, and every baseball stat site on the internet, the best right fielder in all of baseball, Mr Jason Heyward. 6.6 war ladies and gentlemen.

I'm guessing these are 2012 Topps Update cards? My first card of Jack Wilson as a Brave. Jack sure plays hard. Too bad he can't hit.

Ditto my first Brave card of Paul Maholm. By the way, when did Baseball Reference become so expensive? $270 to sponser Maholm??? $1500 for Chipper? I used to sponser starters on the Braves for under $25. WTH?

The most dominant reliever in baseball, Craig Kimbrel. Averaging 2 strike outs per inning. Nasty.

No wonder Dan forgot how to hit.... he's using waaaaay too many gloves.

getting back to this being power packed... I got to this card of former Brave and current free agent Michael bourn and realized that this was the first card I've seen before. Therefor the first duplicate! Woot! I needed all of those other ones! It's like owl took a look at my wantlists or something! (although to be truthful he didn't as I don't have public lists for any of those sets yet.... but still...)

not a great shot of Freddie...

but finally, the last card. Another one I didn't have. And even though it's one of the most over used pics in all of baseball card land, I love it. An auto of everyone's favourite knuckler, Phil Niekro.
Thanks owl!!!

Parallels Aplenty, but less than $30 worth...

a few days ago I received a surprise package in the mail from Robert who writes $30 a Week Habit.

In it was one hockey card, and eight baseball cards. You'll see the baseball here, all from 2012 Topps.
As luck would have it, I needed 7 of the 8.

An orange Uggla from Chrome. I've said it before, and I'll repeat myself... I love these cards. I just wish I could find the purple and blue and red ones....

Speaking of blue.... here are three blue parallels from... uh.... Topps Update? Maybe?

Yes, Chad Durbin is still in the majors...

Hard swingin' Matty Diaz. If only every ball player gave the effort that Matt gives.....

Next up, three of the '87 mini's... I had Kimbrel already, but it was awesome to be able to add Chipper and Freddie.

I've now got Heyward, Kimbrel, Bourn, Uggla, Hanson, McCann, Spahn, Chipper and Freddie. Who am I missing? Anyone?


Finally, a liquorfractor of Jair Jurrjens. I dunno if the Braves are going to resign Jair... how can someone go from Cy Young candidate to OMG I FORGOT HOW TO PITCH in 6 months???

Thanks Robert!!! I'll see if I can find more Leafs for you soon....