Happy Birthday Crime Dog!

A big Happy 45th Birthday to our old friend, Fred McGriff.

Happy Hallowe'en!

It's Hallowe'en!!! And what better way to spend it that finding a trick or treat in the mailbox?
Our good friend Dave over at Indians baseball cards. Always. offered to send out tricks or treats to those who asked. Hey! Free cards! I'm in.
I received this little beauty today. I was secretly hoping for the evil clown in the bottom row,(you all know how I feel about clowns... I love me some clown) but who can argue with the simplicity of the pumpkin?
What did I find inside???

5 Ryan Klesko cards. I loved that guy. You always knew two things when he played.

One, he was giving 120% on every play.

Two, he was never gonna get "caught looking" at the plate.

6 Jeff Blauser cards. One of my favourite Braves from back in the day. He had an autographed picture hung in his locker during his playing days. It was personalized; "Blaus, you're the best! Your pal, Jeff"

Yes. That's right. It was a picture of himself.

7 Javy Lopez

9 Crime Dog

7 Andruw Jones

2 Chipper

1 Dale Murphy - Why the hell is this man not in the Hall of Fame???? Tell me. Anyone.

Bueller?

1 Hammerin' Hank

1 Bob Horner 1987 mini, glossy, league leader something or other that I haven't figured out yet...

and 119 more wonderful Braves that I don't have the bandwidth to scan, but are nonetheless remarable in their own way. It was an absolute blast going through and remembering guys who I haven't seen in a long time. Old favourites, and guys who were there only long enough to have their picture taken.

Thanks Dave!!!

Frank! Make the DAMN call!!!

So it's Free Agent time again. Several key guys have already filed... including our old friend Tex. Several outstanding pitchers have yet to file, but will soon. It'll be an interesting, and expensive time. One guy is still quietly out there. As of yet not announcing his intentions.
His name is John Smoltz. You may call him Sir.
Frank, you need to call him. Now. If anyone deserves the "loyalty, end of career contract", it's Smoltzie. That man has pitched his arm off for the Braves. The all time best post season pitcher. Ever.
Pete Van Wieren summed it up best when talking about John's season ending, and perhaps career ending injury. Pete said;"Knowing John, he'll come back again and win 15 games...... left handed."
Sign him. Sign him now. Put him in the booth if you have to. Let him take over for Chip.
Do Not, I repeat, DO NOT make me suffer the horror of watching him in another uniform.

What Really Grinds My Gears...

It's time for Wednesday's rant.... you want to know What Really Grinds My Gears? Here's this week's story.
As some of you may know, I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Not exactly the hot spot for card collecting. I only knew of two card shops in this city of over a million people. The largest city in North America. (land area wise) These two shops are kind of, well, pathetic to be honest. One I don't even bother going to, and the other is going even further into the tank as the owner passed away and his grandson is ruining what business he did have. So it's a lot of online buying for me. It's the only way to get anything you want... and a heckuva lot cheaper than buying local.
So when I found out about a third shop, I was thrilled. I patiently waited for my day off, and drove the 45 minutes to this new, uncharted wonderland. And was the wait worth it! I walked in and there lay before me 900 square feet of yummy collecting goodness. The man behind the counter in his Calgary Flames jersey, Flames sweat pants, and surprise! Flames hat, asked if he could help me. I mumbled something about being okay for now.... while I wandered around in amazement. There were two walls of wax boxes.... he promised that if it came out in the last two years, he had it on the wall. Baseball, Hockey, Football, and even basketball.

Figurines, autographed photos, and every supply one could ever need was here, waiting to be scooped up and taken to a good home. My home. My wife would understand. Right? The only thing he didn't have was boxes of cards to sort through to fill sets. But that was okay. I have never seen that in any card shop here in Calgary. No biggie.

After an hour of drooling and ogling... I was ready to start purchasing. I began piling up supplies on the counter.

2 boxes of 9 count pages... check

1 box of 8 count pages... check

8 more ball cubes, UV protected... check

4 packages of top loaders... check

And now, the wax... by this time the store employee had come back over... "anything else?" he says. Oh yes. Oh yes. I'll take 2 packs of that, and 3 packs of that, and a pack.........

Wait. He's interupting me. What is he saying? Why isn't he getting me my packs?

WHAT? No. That can't be right. "Um, excuse me, can you repeat that?" I say.

"We don't sell packs." he says. "Well," I say, "What are those?" pointing to the thousand or so wax boxes on the wall. "We sell boxes, not packs" he says.

I blurt out, rather rudely, " you're kidding me, right?" "Nope." he says. "Only boxes."

The room is now spinning. I feel light headed. I look for someone to tell me it's all a joke. but no one is around. And then it hits me. In the hour plus I've been there... I haven't seen anyone.

"How many kids do you get buying stuff?" I ask... "oh.... none. We never get kids in here. They can't afford it" he says.

I turn around, and slowly walk out.

So coming in at #4 is retarded card shops and their owners. Dooming themselves, and the hobby in one fell swoop.

And that, is What Really Grinds My Gears.

A Pack A Day

Head on over to A Pack A Day and checkout my bust of a 1989 Fleer Baseball waxpack.

Pinstripes! Wax! Stickers!

Reason why I love ebay #356...

Oh, don't get me wrong.... there are an equal, if not greater number of reasons why I HATE ebay. But this is one on the positive side. My rant on ebay will come at a later date. I'm in too good of a mood right now.

Feast your eyes on this:

Look at the corners! Look at the border! No chipping! No creases! Extra exclamation points too!! The back is beautiful. The colour is vibrant.

All for a low, low price of 50 cents. $1.25 if you include S+H. For a genuine 1953 Topps Del Crandall #197. Pure heaven.

Now I'm one card closer to my team set.

Although someone should talk to Del about that unibrow.........

2008 World Series

In case some of you are unaware, and judging by the TV ratings, most of you are... the 2008 World Series is in full swing.
Philadelphia currently leads Tampa in game 4, 6-2 in the 7th inning. Eric Hinske of the Rays just hit a pinch hit homer in his first World Series at bat. That's a good story right there.
Game three's hero was an unlikely one. Light hitting Philly catcher, Carlos Ruiz. A bases loaded infield single in the bottom of the 9th. At 1 am. In the morning. That's "0 dark hundred" in military time.
The TV ratings are falling faster than the value of the Canadian dollar.

This particular Moments and Milestone was when Carlos became the first Phillies catcher to steal home in over 25 years.... anybody tell me who was the last one before Carlos???

Autograph Sunday

2004 Donruss Diamond Kings Adam LaRoche Autograph

This little beauty is numbered 1/5 for those of you that matters to. It's everything you could want. Great illustration by artist Eric Cash. Beautiful colours. Yeah, I know, it's a sticker auto. Could be worse. It could've been a redemption.

My main man Adam here was traded away from my beloved Braves to the Pirates for reliever Mike Gonzalez. If Mike could ever remain healthy for longer than 4 days, I could evaluate the trade. Until then........ I'll just remain bitter that he no longer wears a Braves uni.

I miss cards like this... I miss Diamond Kings. I hope the new DK's in Donruss Threads are as good as this.

An Introduction...

This is my first post on my own blog, after having contributed on A Pack A Day for awhile now. Not to mention numerous smart-assed comments on the many outstanding blogs that are out there currently.

For those of you who don't know, I am a huge Braves and Cowboys fan. And for some reason I must collect Adam LaRoche cards. Being in Canada, of course, hockey is never far from reach. And with my two daughters, we enjoy busting all kinds of non-sports cards.

I've resisted starting this blog for about a year now.... but I can't any longer. I need a place to vent, rant, and generally talk to myself. I'm not going to try to be the number 1 read blog out there. Nor am I going to dislocate my shoulder attempting to pat myself on the back for breaking the news, or busting the latest, first.

This is going to be all about fun, and sharing, and of course ranting. I hope you all have as much fun as I do reading all the great card blogs out there. Most of them will be listed off to the side. If you have one, and it's not there, send me an email and I'll add it. Free. Gratis. No charge. No top ten. If you keep posting, I'll keep adding.

Until then.....