Ginter Goodness...

I'll get through this comc package if it kills me. And it just might.

Today we'll show off a whack o' Ginter. Nothing but the hits baby!

I did quite well here... selling off old 2008 Ginter hits of random no names and acquiring 2013 Ginter hits of much wanted Bravos.

Allen&Ginter  had two separate types of relics, full size, and bordered min relics.

Here are the full size. They look sharp. Well done.

Brandon Beachy - $1.08

Craig Kimbrel - $1.24  best reliever in baseball, and the cornerstone of my fantasy baseball team the last three years.

The J-Hey kid... $1.46

and the good Upton. (No, not Kate....) $1.24

I only need the Hank Aaron full sized relic and my set is complete.....

Bordered minis...

Brian McCann - $1.31  I'll miss him. Although I'll see him on tv four times a week now instead of four times a season..... Next on FOX! Yankees vs. Red Sox!

Jason... again.... $1.47  couldn't we have mixed up the player selection a bit? I already have a Kimbrel mini as well... seriously Topps...

oh, and a random Mike Joy for my dad. He got a kick out of it. $2.23

I'm really glad to have been able to pick these up... now I just have to find someone with the full sized Aaron relic....

Yeah... good luck.

Desperate times...

with Braves ownership cutting corners and getting cheaper by the day, the best reliever in baseball contemplates adding a second job.

 

 

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!!!

The colour of the day..... is purple.

Today's post is brought to you by.... the colour purple. And the number 9.
For there are 9 different purple cards I want to show you. Everything made sense when you were a kid. I'm not sure what happens to change all that or why.

Here, we like it simple. Some might call me simple. I've been called worse. But I digress.

I came across an online seller who had a card I wanted. Before buying it, I looked to see what else he had. This is why this post has 9 cards, and not 1.

I, like a lot of you, have a weakness for Topps Chrome coloured parallels. Orange may be my favourite. But if you've been paying attention, you'll know that today, we're talking purple.

Craig Kimbrel. I also have the black version of this card. Still need blue, red, orange, etc... etc..

Brian McCann. This one scans really well.

Tommy Hanson. I miss Tommy. I wonder how's he doing on the left coast? A quick check shows he's leading the Angels in wins and ERA (for starters). Good for you Tommy!

 

Brian Snitker. No. Wait. Dan Uggla.

The entire Braves team. It should be Michael Bourn. Find Jason Heyward.... then look down.

Brandon Beachy. I hope he's back soon.... think how good the first place Braves would be with him back pitching. Woot!

Andrelton Simmons. He threw some guy out at first from the outfield grass while sitting on his butt last night. Awesome.

Tyler PastorIwontplayaslongasAndreltonishealthynicky

and the card that started all of this, my old pal and fave, Adam LaRoche.

Not too shabby for $7.50 shipped.

Now I just have to find the rest of the Braves team set in purple. And Orange. And red... blue... black...

Jason Heyward was traded!

 

J Hey was traded to me during Thursday trade night at the local shop. He was part of a large 5 cards for 10 cards deal. I ended up with two baseball and eight hockey cards in the swap.

 

The main piece going back the other way was a 2011 Bowman Platinum Edwin Encarnacion bat relic auto /100 that I was going to show you.......... but I can't find the post in which I originally posted it.

 

So imagine it in all of it's green and blue shiny goodness.

 

Now look at Jason.

 

 in case you can't read the wonderful foil, it's numbered 05/18

Jason and his newly acquired Gold Glove can rest for awhile now. They're home. Speaking of Gold Gloves... I can't believe out of the four nominated Braves, only Heyward won. Prado didn't get it, Freddie Freeman lost out to former Brave and Waxaholic fave Adam LaRoche, and the best defensive outfielder in baseball, Michael Bourn, lost out. And that's not me calling him the best, that's a quote from MLB.com.
Apparently being the best doesn't get you very far these days.

But I digress.... I also picked up the #1 best looking card from all of the 2012 baseball cards produced. This one would win any contest or poll.

Look at those beautiful and shiny black borders.

Undoubtedly the best card of 2012.

until I manage to find the Orange one.

or the Blue one.

and the Purple one...

What's Old Is New Again....

After a very brief absence, the Braves are back in the pplayoffs again.

Chipper continues to set records.
Freddie becomes the latest hero.
Kimbrel strikes out 3 batters in two pitches.

I love this team.

A Cardboard Bowman...

My buddy Marie sent me a nice stack of cards a couple of weeks back. And with Marie, you can always be assured of getting a good helping of Bowman. Which is cool, because I happen to like Bowman. I know a lot of you don't... but when you compare it to Topps, it comes out on top quite easily.

The only gripe I have is I can never figure out what subsets go into what year.... it gets confusing when you have a stack of black border and white bordered Bowman cards from the last 4 years....

But then again, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed either.

So if you will I'll show you a smattering of what Marie sent. And no, it's not all Bowman. Promise.

First up some Bowman Chrome Braves

 these chrome don't curl up like pringles... which is nice.

I always wondered why companies show a guy who always hits 40+ homers fielding on his baseball card... I guess it's like showing Greg maddux batting...

 I may be in love with our pitching staff this year. Just sayin'... Good Luck Cleveland.

 My boy Kimbrel!

 And again! This time in Topps Finest. Except it's not..... finest. I miss Finest from back in the day. Bring back the Electric Boogaloo colour schemes that made your eyes bleed.

 Fabulous Freddie

 Julio... I don't know if that's a schoolyard in the background...

 Our pitching is soooo good. Randall may not make the team.

 the best catcher in the game, BMac!

 and of course, CHIPPAH!!!!

 Yes Craig, you just struck out another one.... BTW, since I do read the backs of my baseball cards, I hope you do, too.... This one told me that Craig set the Braves record for K's per 9 innings with 17.42.
That, my friends, is sexy. Forget about the long ball.

A 2011 shiny Chip, not from Topps Chrome or Bowman Chrome.....  uh, ok.

 My very first liquorfractors!!!!

 There's my boy again! I think I may have to start a pc of Kimbrel. Yeah, I know. That's just what Canuck needs. Another pc.

 The lefty version of Kimbrel. Jonny Venters. I hope the coach takes it a little easier of the bullpen this year.

 A Bowman Platinum Matt Lipka. One of two SS hopefuls in the pipeline. I think the job has been given to Tyler Pastornicky already. Hey. He can't be worse than SeaBass was last year. Good Luck Milwaukee.

 Tier One Chipper. Wow. Glad I didn't break any of this stuff. But it still goes perfectly into the Chipper binders. Yes, I said binders. Plural.

 And this little beauty reminds me of old school Finest. It looks like one of those weekly giveaways from your local cardshop. Your local cardshop, not mine. Mine gives away Tim Thomas.

Thanks for sticking with me to the end... and thanks for the cards Marie!

Who's it going to be???

On Monday, November 14, the National League Rookie of the Year will be announced. It will be an Atlanta Brave. The top three rookies in contention are all Braves. The question is, which one?

Freddie Freeman 1B - .282 with 21 HR and 76 RBI with a .795 OPS and top notch defence....

 or Craig Kimbrel RP - 4-3 46 saves 2.10 ERA 1.04 WHIP .178 avg against and 127 K's in 77 IP

 or Brandon Beachy SP - 7-3  3.68ERA 1.21 WHIP  2.36 avg against with 169 K's in 141 2/3 IP

 all very strong candidates... however, I feel that the voters with lean towards............

Strikeouts are sexy.

Nationals 2B Danny Espinoza will get some votes as well... I just don't think that many.
Thoughts?

the record falls...

 Braves rookie pitcher Craig Kimbrel has just broken the all time Major League record for saves by a rookie in a season by pitching his 41st save. And it's not even September yet.

 Craig has pitched 65 2/3 innings, with 107 strikeouts and only 25 walks. He hasn't allowed a run in the last 33 2/3 innings.
And he has struck out at least 2 batters in each of the last 8 innings pitched.

People are talking about Fabulous Freddie Freeman as Rookie of the Year. Sorry Freddie. Craig has this one locked up tight. No question. No arguments. End of discussion.