He's Baaaaaaaaacckkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The kid with the sweet swing is back!
Smile baby!

WooHooo!!!!!!!!!

new trade partner

Earlier today I finished up a trade of '09 OPC baseball with Tom from Cardboardsingles. It's a fairly new blog as Tom is just getting going.
He saw my post about needing some more OPC, and as luck would have it, he had just finished posting a blaster break of the stuff. Tom sent me an email, and voila! A swap.

Head on over to Cardboardsingles when you get a chance. Tom seems to touch on football, baseball and even basketball (although we won't hold that against him)

It's here! It's really here!

It's been so long since this contest started, I've forgotten where the rules and points list are. But once I find them, you're all in a lot of trouble.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find some scans of red autos and relic hairs of dead presidents. Maybe a Unicorn tail.... stuff like that.

a Barrel of trades

In my never ending quest of OPC baseball cards, I found that Ed from Roll Out the Barrel had a few that he didn't want. I patiently waited my turn in the trade queue, and pounced on what was left.
Now this is the part where I would normally show off my hard fought prize. But I was so excited, I've already put them in my binder.
Never fear, Ed anticipated my absentmindedness, and sent along a few Braves as well. These I will share. (well, some of them, he sent about 50 of 'em...)

an '07 of Matt Diaz. Cool, I hardly have any of his cards. Why Bobby won't let him play in LF and just cut The Human Pylon, I'll never know.
a Yunel card that I don't have! Sweeet!

Teamwork! I don't give a damn that MLB changed their minds. A no-hitter is a no-hitter dammit! You can't just go chnging criteria after the fact.

a couple of old friends. I'm so glad Andruw took less money and signed with Texas to work with that hitting coach to get his swing back. Congrats on the comeback bud. (Jim, Greg, put the knives down....)

Ryan! Great smile, and an even better swing.

Finally, we have Lemmer.

Awesome.

Thanks Ed!

Doubles list for trade...

2009 OPC Baseball

I still need some cards... please go here and see if you have any to help me out.

I have the following doubles up for trade;

#'s 22, 38, 48, 83, 134, 175, 192, 210, 215, 219, 265, 293, 341, 372, 407, 441, 470, 487, 505

All Rookie Team # 2, 8

Award Winners # 1

Walk Off # 10

Face of the Franchise # 2, 19

Retro 79/80 Blue Borders # 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 25, 26, 30
(ideally I would like to trade these for the ones I'm missing)

I also have a bunch of black borders and a few 20th Anniversary inserts to trade as well.

Thanks!

a Pirate Treasure

before I dive in to the latest loot, I'd like to thank whomever is responsible for the weather today. It's a beautiful 20 degrees outside. The last two weeks we've been inundated by 29-33 degree weather. Plants are dying. The grass is but a memory. That leafy green 14 foot tree I planted in the front yard 3 weeks ago is now a dried up stick. There's only so much watering you can do after the sun goes down at 9:30 at night.... That's why I haven't been posting over the last three days. Way to hot upstairs to be running the computer. But that is over with. I hope.

David @ IndiansBaseballCards is up to his usual again. Giving away stacks of unwanted cards. No Braves to be had, (unwanted Braves cards?! unlikely) so I pounced on the Pirates. If you ask Why the Pirates, you don't know me to well.... (hello...Adam LaRoche?)
Well, there was no Adam sightings, but quite a few other ex Braves made an appearance or two. (or three)
our old buddy Zane Smith.... Zane was one of those guys that could've been really good had he ever pitched for a good team.

100-115 over 13 seasons for Atlanta, Montreal, and Pittsburgh. Oh, and one year with Boston.

a 3.74 ERA, and a 1.30 whip for his career. Not bad Mr. Smith.

another ex Brave, P Jason Schmidt

we sent Scmidt to the Bucs for Denny Neagle. A great move at the time.

1988 Score Rafael Belliard!

take a close look. Raffy has taken a beating, but is still in the game. This is one of theose bicycle spoke cards I think.

Next up we have 1B Randal Simon. Randal was good friends with John Rocker if you rememebr that confrontation. We released Randal very soon after that.

(Iswear it was supposed to be Simon, I have no idea why a scan of Francisco Cordova came up.)

moving on.....

we have a puzzle piece of Willie Stargell's feet. That is all.

and we end up with not a former Brave, but a card that just doesn't look right.

Kirk played a whopping 16 games for Pittsburgh in 1992. Then back to Detroit.

These, along with a whack of others, arrived yesterday. Thanks Dave!

I got bored...

so I decided to bust open the box of 2008 Timelines I had sitting on my shelf. I knew nothing of this set before opening it. The box promised two autos. Cool. Most of you are familiar with the product I'm sure, so let's go through the subsets and maybe you can help out with questions I have...

303 Evan Longoria. Kinda cool looking subset. I thought they had one for each team, but it looks like more of a highlight set.
339 Joey Votto

It's looking like a retrospective of Upper Deck sets from the past. Alright. But I'm not to fond of this set though.

333 Clayton Kershaw

I've never liked this set. Never. Nothing good to say about it.

192 Jay Bruce Silver Prospects. Die cut... but why?

379 Clayton Kershaw Gold Prospects and shiny. Again, die cut. Meh.

103 Chad Billingsly

Now this is more like it. I like the dimensional effect of the picture over the white background.

133 Greg Maddux

I'm not thrilled with the balck and white, but it's Mad Dog... what ya gonna do?

176 Clay Buchholz

another black and white, but with a gold emblem stuck on it. Another parallel?

These are the best cards in the set IMO.

7 Smoltzie (the only Brave in the damn box)

20 Pujolies

34 Nick Markakialphabetgreekuzofettakis

I love the colours on these cards. Team oriented, cool design, and the backs have a different picture on them. If you're going to put a picture on the back, it better be different than the one on the front. Am I right?

I got a few of these too... a gold parallel again???

I also pulled my very first YSLBSwasteofspace cards. My first ones. Ever. Hopefully my last ones. Ever.

Now, onto the two autos.

Cha Seung Baek Gold auto

and David Murphy

a lot of wasted space on that card.

Overall I give the box an A. I love the cards, and the checklist looks good. The only player out of all the prospects and rookies I pulled that I did not know right away, was my auto of Cha Seung Baek. Figures.

I thought about trading with others to try and complete this sucker, but I did not receive any duplicates out of the box. I think that's the firstUpper Deck product I've ever seen that had no duplicates.

My big pet peeve? Other than the obvious SP's.... people like me bust boxes for the fun of it. I could buy this set on the bay for probably $8.... but I bust wax because of the fun, the chase. Putting together the set. So when you advertise two autos per box, don't give them to me in the very two first packs of the box. Mix things up a little...

One to go....

I need one more..... (I think)

Here Chipper, Chipper, Chipper..........

Thanks for the trade Amanda!

Rule changes announced.

MLB commisioner Bud Selig announced today that as of the 2011 season, all American league teams will be allowed a roster expansion to allow for the new position of Designated Runner.
Managers are only allowed one extra roster spot, but may use the runner at anytime during the game. This includes running for the batter.

The rule, pushed through by Hank Steinbrenner of the Yankees and John Henry of the Red Sox, was applauded today by outgoing MLB Players Association President Donald Fehr.
Said Donald,"This is an outstanding day for the American League, and an outstanding day for players."

Presumably the additon is to quiet naysayers of the DH, by adding a young athletic player to the roster.
Critics are stunned. Announcer Bob Uecker was quoted as saying "they might as well, it's not like they've been playing baseball over there anyway."

American league managers have had mixed feelings, but are generally enthused about the possibilities. "it's about time they've come up with a way for us to really take advantage of the fat slobs we use at DH. Now we don't even have to worry about them, other than to get them up the dugout steps to the batter's box" said Terry Francona.

When asked for comment, Bud Selig looked at the cameras and while slamming his fist into his palm said, "This time it counts!"

1975 Topps Roric Harrison

Roric had a five season career, going 30-35 with 10 saves and a 4.24 ERA.

The Braves acquired Harrison, along with Davey Johnson, Johnny Oates, and Pat Dobson for Earl Williams and Taylor Duncan.

The Braves then swapped Harrison to Cleveland for Blue Moon Odom. Where are all the nicknames in baseball today? We need more nicknames...

Probably what Roric is best known for is while playing for Baltimore on October 3rd, 1972, in the second game of a double header against Cleveland, hit a home run in the bottom of the 6th inning. That made him the last American League pitcher to hit a home run before the introduction of the DH. (BOOO!)
I'm sure some AL pitcher has hit one in interleague, I'm just too lazy to look it up.

Box break ...

Yes. I'm still trying to build last years OPC hockey set. It's a tough one to build. 600 cards in the first series (100 SP's) and then another 200 in series 2. I'm not sure how far off I am, but after 3-4 trades, I still felt the need to grab another box.
In it I found a few of these.... shiny!

I got 8 of these shiny inserts.

As for base cards, I gained 56 new cards towards the set. Nice.

I also found 9 gold parallel cards.

Each pack (36 packs per box) also had a '79/80 retro insert. These go on the 'bay for around 60 to 75 cents apiece in larger lots. I figure I could get about $25 bucks or so for these...

Oh, and my one per box Winter Classic hit? None other than Sid the Kid.

I'm glad I picked this one up. The only downside to this box was the SP's... one per two packs. I ended up with 12 doubles. Only adding 6 new SP's to my set. Well, at least I have some more to trade now.

a 1976 Giant Troll....

a couple of thank you's need to go out.

First, to Marck from Collective Troll. If you read his blog, (and if you don't, you should) you may remember this. A Homeland Security Alert. While his return package made it's way here, we chatted about why it might be delayed. Several evil plots were hatched. None were the reason however. It turns out that troll sent approx. 4 1/2 pounds of cards. There is no way I'm scanning that many cards. I still have yet to look at them all.

the second thank you goes to Matt from Project Baseball 1976 , and his latest venture, A Giant Blog.
Matt sent over a small package as a thank you for me sending over a stack of early '90's goodness from his wantlists. I'd tell you what Matt sent, but I haven't been able to break through the rather zealous tape job that was done. I'm not sure if Matt is trying to start a war or just had help from a four year old. Either way, it has me flummoxed.

Thanks guys!

What the hell? Canada dissed by MLB

Okay, so I'm late getting to this. I wasn't one of the 12 people who actually watched the All Star Game.
Apparently, during the opening festivities, Sheryl Crow came out and sang the American national anthem. But they played some cassette tape instrumental version of the Canadian anthem. This, does not sit well with me. Or anybody else around these parts.

Here's Justin Morneau: "I wasn't very impressed with that to tell you the truth. You figure they could find somebody to come and sing the song. They have a hockey team here, the Canadian teams play here. It's something that didn't really go over too well. I think if it happened the other way around, if they were playing in Toronto and they did that, it would have been a lot bigger deal. But nothing you can do about it."

Jason Bay was a little more diplomatic: (T)hey just played a recording of the Canadian National Anthem instead of having somebody come in and sing it. That seemed strange, that they couldn’t find anybody in St. Louis who knew “Oh Canada.” Morneau and I could have done it if they really needed somebody.

Now I realize that maybe three people in all of Canada watched the damn game, but still... do we need to start an international incident? The last I checked, the American anthem is sung at Blue Jay games....

Nice to know where MLB stands... well done Mr Selig. Idiot.

O-Pee-Chee Goodness

Thanks to five trades with fellow bloggers... I am a heckuva lot closer to the end of the 2009 OPC baseball set than I used to be. It's not just the base, or the DP's... oh no... it's the inserts as well. Yep. Going after a mini master set, I am.
I'll be posting my wantlist here, in a few minutes, but first hear my plea.

I need help tracking down these inserts. Especially the retro blue bordered ones. If you have any OPC baseball, and are not collecting the set, please check out my list and help me out if you can.

To Marie(a cardboard problem), Jim (gcrl), David (Long Fly Ball to Because), Jeremy(the Hockey card Blog) ... your cards are in the mail. And I thank you.
To Ed from Roll out the Barrel, yours will be leaving soon.(I hope)

What are waiting for? Go here.....

Yankee haters and fans alike...

If you haven't been to Core Contrarian today, go check out this post.

Now that's pathetic. They could have the whole All Star team for less.... well done.

Fools.

Falling behind and catching up Goose Joak style

I've been neglecting my Goose Joak responsibilities. Been distracted by shiny things, pretty girls, snacks, not necessarily in that order.
Here we go.
First up, the worst Braves outfielder since Raul Mondesi. At least John Schuerholz had the decency to release Mondesi. It looks like we're stuck with Anderson.
Next, we have infielder Brooks Conrad. I posted about Brooks here. He hasn't stopped hitting since.

Diory Hernandez. In the minors, he was all stick, no glove. In the bigs, it's been the opposite. Go figure.

Now we have Javier Vazquez. Top of the league in strikeouts. His secret? He throws underhanded.

future CF'er Jordan Schafer. Jordan needs to remember to hit the ball on the ground, and Run Jordan, Run!

New Brave, Nate McLouth. Nate will be in left field next year. Garret will not. Thank the gods.

You can see the rest of 'em here.

Storage and Organization

I received a couple of emails over the weekend about how I store my collection. Everyone does it differently. Beardy prefers Tupperware. There is no right or wrong way to do it. It also depends on the type of collection you have. A player collector does things different to a set collector. I will cover that in another post. For now, I will show you how the set collector in me does it.

Binders. Lots of 'em. Each binder holds around 600 cards. So each will have 1 - 3 sets in them depending on size. Blue for hockey, Red for Football, Green for baseball. The larger binders at the bottom hold the larger sets. I really need a fourth colour though. That middle shelf is for non-sports.
Each binder has a small number on it. That # will correspond with a checklist that my wife made using excel. She exports the master checklist from Topps/Upper Deck etc... cleans it up, and adds it to the master list. The front page is a complete list of what's in each binder at a glance. Click on the individual set tabs, and it will show you what cards I am missing for a particular set at the top, with the complete checklist further down. As I acquire cards, I check the little box, and it disappears from the top.
That bottom shelf drives my wife nuts... so I can see more coloured binders in my future. Now, as you may expect, financial constraints limit what set can go in pages and what can't. For example, my '88 and '89 Donruss sets, and my '86 Topps set are in boxes. So are my '91 Fleer and Upper Deck sets. You get the idea. To the left of the shelves, you can see a closet. That's what holds my sets in boxes, as well as a lot of my monster boxes for player collections, etc...

On the other shelf, I have supplies and wax.

It's good to have for a rainy day. Always have supplies on hand. Pages, top loaders, sleeves, etc... If you don't, cards will tend to pile up around your desk or computer while you wait to get supplies. Don't tell me they don't. I'm looking at you.

Anyways, the better you store your collection, the better you can catalog it. That way you will be able to find a certain card/set easier.

If only my player collection was this organized....... to be continued....

Where's Gellman, no, BadWax? We need him...

Rare find!

http://www.usedottawa.com/classified-ad/9533718







h/t Hockey Card Blog

the FREAKIN' METS???

We just traded Frenchy to the god damned METS? For a bag of broken bats?ust what we needed. Another no hit lefty outfielder.

Perfect.

Now I'm pissed.

1975 Topps Rowland Office - The Man, The Myth, The Legend

awesome.

That's all I was going to write. That's all I need to. But maybe, just maybe, there's someone out there unfamiliar with Rowland. Doubtful, but possible.
First of all, there is a great blog out there called Rowland's Office. The latest incarnation can be found here.
Rowland played 899 career games, hitting 32 HR 242 RBI's with a .259 avg. He was 19 y/o when he broke into the big leagues in 1972.
But he's famous (or is that infamous?) for his baseball cards. My favourite is his '76 Topps. I'm not going to post it yet. That will come soon enough. You can look for it yourselves. It's worth it.
Rowland ended his career by palying 2 games for the Yankees. Not even that will stop our love for his cards.