2009 Allen & Ginter Blaster Break

Well, it seems a lot of people have been getting some fairly decent hits in A & G blasters, so we decided to try our luck. Here we go!

Pack 1:
AGHS5 - Josh Hamilton - Good start! A favorite player from our favorite team.

14 - Troy Tulowitzki (mini)
91 - Alex Gordon
23 - Kristin Armstrong - Still don't really like the non-baseball cards in these sets.
23 - Robinson Cano - Yankee, boo!
NP52 - Daisuke Matsuzaka

Pack 2:
217 - Jorge Cantu
306 - Cliff Lee (Mini)
33 - Florence Nightingale - I'll bet they don't put baseball players in the nursing card sets!
270 - Josh Outman
267 - Melvin Mora (Code Border) - I like the code borders, anyone need it?

NP56 - Edinson Volquez

Pack 3:
88 - Brad Penny
139 - Daisuke Matsuzaka - 2nd Daisuke of the box
268 - Andy Pettitte
136 - Mickey Mantle - A Yankee I don't mind getting.
HHB17 - James Reavis (mini) - I like the monster subset a lot better than these.

NP49 - Max Scherzer

Pack 4:
169 - Kazuo Matsui
44 - Freddy Sanchez
292 - Oliver Perez
259 - Napolean Bonaparte - My favorite Napolean is the one from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure!
72 - Carlos Lee (mini)
NP50 - Jair Jurrjens

Pack 5:
97 - Art Pennington (A&G back mini) - Negro league subset is cool. I'd rather there be a lot more of these than the non-baseball people.

8 - Matt Cain
90 - Bobby Crosby
24 - Steve Wiebe - A card of a dude playing Donkey Kong? WTF?
234 - Wyatt Earp
NP54 - Carlos Zambrano - A Cubbie for Nobie, but we already have it.

Pack 6:
242 - Mark Teahen
43 - Koji Uehara
20 - Adam Jones
22 - Mariano Rivera
88 - Brad Penny (mini)
NP51 - Albert Pujols - Woo hoo! An A-jols. Wait, that doesn't sound right does it?

Pack 7:
206 - Miguel Tejada (mini)
256 - Jose Lopez
246 - General Custer
42 - Mark Buehrle
61 - Burke Kenny - I think Beardy is collecting these?
NP53 - Vladimir Guerrero - Another of Nobie's favorites.

Pack 8:
67 - Ian Kinsler - Ranger great, but we already have it.
194 - Brandon Morrow
120 - Edwin Moreno
119 - Scott Lewis
NP55 - Kosuke Fukudome - Another Cubbie we already have.
160 - Max Scherzer (black border mini) - The black borders are cool, but to be honest, I don't know who this guy is.

So, we definately didn't get any hits like we were hoping for. What started off good with the Hamilton sketch card, didn't really turn out to be much of anything. I guess that's the way it goes sometimes. If you want to trade for any of these let me know, all are available except the Hamilton & Pujols. Later.

Brian is Awesome!

Wow, once again my card blogging brethren amaze me. We just got a more than expected package from new friend Brian and we don't even have anything to send back yet. You see, since I've started this blog I've noticed that certain people are kind of the go to guys for certain teams. You know, you've got a stack of cards from a team you despise or a player you can't stand or you just have too much of whatever and want to find them a happy home. Beardy gets Orioles, Chris gets Reds, David get Indians and so on and so on. Well, I wanted to be the Rangers guy, but I kinda started noticing some dude named Brian seemed to be "the man" already. So I dropped him a note asking if I could maybe pick up any scraps he may get. He said that he didn't have a lot of dupes, but if/when he did, he would set them aside for me. I told him I'd do the same. Brian then said he would send me a few cards for my boys since he probably had a few they would like laying around. Boy did he!

These are just a few of the cards he sent for Nobie. Probably three times this many were in the stack of Cubs, Sorianos and a Peavy. Even a Rich Hill jersey card which Nobie loves. I think kids love almost any jersey card they come across, no matter who it is.

Brian also sent a stack for Goose. Several Broncos cards, a bunch of Press Pass 08 rookies and 5 or so LTs, none of which he had yet. I would have scanned those, but Goose ran off with them and put them away already. He's kinda like that Scrat character in the Ice Age movies with the acorn. Good luck getting them away from him!

Brian wasn't done, however, as there was also a stack of favorites for me. Elway, Payton, Smith (Emmitt & the Wizard), Pujols, a few Rangers, some Cowboys, Ichiros and wait... can it be? It is, a mini KURT!!!! Awesome, the Kurt collection instantly grows by 33%! Man, and he told me not to send him anything. Not fair! I'll have to think of something.

I've got it! Everyone send ME all your Rangers instead and I'll pass the doubles on to Brian. ;) Sounds like a plan, doesn't it? Later.

Trade with JD's Wild Cardz

Well, we've got another new friend. I was checking out Mike's wantlist over at JD's Wild Cardz and saw that we had 3 2009 Topps Heritage cards he needed. I'm glad that even though we don't buy enough cards to really try to complete any sets, we have been able to help others through trades. For now all we are looking for in return are cards of our favorite teams and players. I noticed Mike had a couple of Rangers from the Target throwback set (we don't have any of these yet) and a chrome Soriano for Nobie's collection, so we made a deal.

Mike, however, wasn't done I guess. When our package arrived, it had a bonus inside. 5 more Sorianos to add to Nobie's collection. Man, what a nice gesture! We didn't have any of them yet, so they are very appreciated.

I'm still amazed at everyone's generosity in the baseball blog world. We've only been doing this for about a month and have already made some friends and gotten some nice "gifts" as well. Hopefully, we'll be able to be just as generous as we gather more cards and learn who collects what. Again, I want to thank Mike at JD's Wild Cardz for the trade, check out his want/trade list for yourself. Later.

Rangers hang on and look who's back!

Well the Rangers pitchers tried their best to blow it but they hang on and beat the Yankees 10-9. If the Angels end up losing they'll gain a little ground in the West, but since both Boston and TB won, they stand pat in the wildcard race. The other good news is...

Chris Davis is back! And he had a good game! He made his usual great defensive plays, went 2 for 4 with a walk and ,best of all, NO STRIKEOUTS!!!! Good to have you back Chris and here's hoping you and your teammates can get it done down the stretch.

Random Acts of Rangers from Tribecards

We just got our Random Acts of Kindness package from David over Tribecards and it was loaded with former Ranger greats! If you haven't been to his blog yet and made a request for cards, you need to soon. Let's see what we got.

First we've got a couple of huge (5x7) boxtoppers (I guess) of Juando and Pudge, from back in the red shoe Rangers days. It's no coincidence that since the Rangers have added more red to the uni's this year they are in contention much later into the season. The only time they ever made the playoffs were the years in red. Why did they wait all these years to put the red back?! Next year I expect red uni's from head to toe, even the pants!

Next we've got Inky! The Topps card came from David, but the other one we got last year at a Grand Prairie Airhogs game where Pete is now the manager. He took them to the championship series of the American Association last year in their inaugural season.

Julio "Keeper of the Big Gold" Franco. Notice the huge chain popping out of the jersey. I wonder how much it cost.

A couple of big name pitchers. I don't remember much of Oil Can's time with the team, but Nolan is arguably the most famous Ranger ever, even though he wasn't here all that long. He's here now though as President and seems to be doing a great job!

I had to put this one in for Tunguska since he loves bunting cards. Mark does work for the Rangers tv broadcasts now on FSN.

Raffy, Raffy, Raffy!!! Say it ain't so. Maybe 'roids weren't the reason for his outstanding performance after all. I think he was cloned. I got 3 of him in my set anyway.

I saw Ruben play many games at old Arlington Stadium, now it looks like we may get to see Ruben Jr. in a few years, since he was just drafted by the Rangers this year. Notice Ruben's wristband. Does anyone remember those? For some reason I'm thinking many players back then had them and they featured their own faces for some reason. That doesn't look like Ruben to me though. I suppose I'm way off in my mind, but if someone has an idea, let me know.

And last but not least we have another Pudge and Rusty. Glad to have Pudge back as a Ranger for however long it lasts and its a shame that Rusty didn't last longer. He was a great guy and a hell of a fierce competitor. Well, those are the highlights. Thanks again David! Later.

Trade with Nachos Grande

Well, we just completed our second trade ever and it was with Chris over at Nachos Grande. We had a few cards from various sets he's trying to complete, so we sent them his way and this is what we got.

Fukudome 2009 Heritage. One of Nobie's favorite sets and a player on his favorite team. Does Topps do these Heritage sets in order. Nobie keeps asking me, but I'm not sure. Is next year 1961?

Pujols 2009 Goudey.

Pujols 2009 Heritage. I grew up going to Cardinals games, but now that I'm a transplanted Texan the Rangers are my favorite team. The Cardinals are still my favorite NL team though, and you gotta love Pujols, just an awesome player!

Ichiro 2009 A&G National Pride. Our Ichiro collection is growing rapidly, but this is one we did not have yet. Now for the grand finale...

KUUUUUUUUUUUURT!!! Yeeess!! Thanks to Chris my collection of the other Suzuki is underway. Kurt Suzuki 2009 A&G. In a few years it will just say Kurt under his photo! But that is not all...

Another Kurt. 2009 Heritage. So now my Kurt collection sits at 2 cards strong. I better free up some binder space! Later.

The Other Suzuki

I like Kurt. Kurt who, you ask? You know, Kurt, just Kurt. Like Ichiro, no last name needed. Okay, maybe not yet, but possibly one day Kurt Suzuki will be famous enough to go by just one name as well. Ichiro is one of my favorite players, but since I've just recently gotten back into collecting I realize I'll never be able to get and keep up with all the cards of him. So I've decided to collect the other Suzuki as well. Being a Rangers fan, I've gotten a chance to see Kurt in action several times and I like him as a player. That and he just seems cool to me. Also, since he's only been in the bigs for a couple of years he has a lot fewer cards to keep up with.

So if you've got any spare Kurt Suzuki cards you'd like to send my way I'd appreciate it. I don't even have one yet to start my collection with. Someday though I'll have a bunch and maybe by that time he'll be famous enough to just go by "Kurt" on his jersey. Wouldn't that be cool! Later.

Win some free stuff!

There's a contest going on over at Card Cache. Check it out.

Bargain Bin Delivers!

A few weeks ago I was in Target and grabbed a pack of 2008 Topps Mayo Football from the bargain bin. I don't remember the other cards and they are already mixed in with Goose's stash, but we did get this...

a 2008 NFL Rookie of the Year Matt Ryan game used jersey card. Sweet! These things are going for about $20 and up on ebay and we got ours for $1.59! Can't beat that.

EXTREME VALUE PACKAGE from Target

Ever wonder what is in one of these? No, well I have many times, so I finally decided to get one and see. Target sells them at 4 packs for $4.99. I've also seen them at Wal-mart, but they only do 3 packs for the same price. Go figure. Anyway, you can see through the front that there is a pack of 2007 Goudey and 2007 Fleer Ultra. I'll get to the 2 packs you can't see in a minute. First up: 2007 Goudey.

66-Jose Reyes, 129-Andre Ethier, 153-Troy Glaus, 277-Nolan Ryan Goudey Heads Up, 8-Alfonso Soriano, 92-Tim Hudson, 107-Dan Uggla, 131-Austin Kearns

Not bad. Nobie's favorite Alfonso & a Dan Uggla for his binder. The Nolan card is funny, I like the heads up cards just because they are so silly looking. Would have been cooler, though, if he was shown on the Rangers. Next is 2007 Fleer Ultra.

101-Bill Hall, 159-Chris Young, 93-Andre Ethier, 33-A.J. Pierzynski, 250-Delmon Young, GF-AB-Adrian Beltre Game Used Jersey

Not much out of this pack, but didn't expect a game used card out of something like this. I kinda figured any relic cards would have been pack searched out before being repackaged. Cool Find. Now comes the 2 mystery packs we couldn't see through the package front. First, we have 2007 Topps Updates & Highlights.

12 cards in the pack, here's the first half. 171-Andy Sonnanstine, 16-Francisco Rosario, 22-Jeff Salazar, 189-Lee Gronkiewicz, 194-Guillermo Rodriguez, 124-Lenny Dinardo. Nothing here. I don't even really know any of these guys.

Now the second half. MMLB-1-Mickey Mantle, 100-Abraham Nunez, 287-Alex Rios, 173-Kevin Slowey, 263-Alfonso Soriano, 222-Ichiro. A little better second half, at least we know most of these guys. Nobie already had the Soriano, but we needed the Ichiro for our binder. The last pack is 2008 Topps Opening Day.

26-Derrek Lee, 184-Adrian Gonzalez, 69-Tim Lincecum, 85-Melky Cabrera, 199-Radhames Liz, 83-J.J. Hardy. Well, Lee will go in Nobie's Cubs binder and the Gonzalez in his favorite players binder, so we got two for sure keepers.

So, for basically $1.25 per pack, it wasn't too bad. A few favorites and an unexpected jersey card, I think made it worth while. See anything you need, let me know. Everything but the Cubs and Ichiro is available for trade. Later.

Best, worst seats ever!

Hey all, it's been awhile since my last post. We just got back from vacation visiting relatives in the Chicago area. Since none of us had ever been there before and since Nobie is a big Cubs fan, we decided to take in a game at Wrigley Field.


I'll have to say, it was quite an experience. Definately not what we are used to at Rangers games. The neighborhood surrounding Wrigley is all abuzz several hours before the game. People everywhere selling souvenirs and in and out of pubs and restaurants. We made sure to ride the train and avoid any parking hassles! Plus, it was way cheaper! We were all very excited to get inside and see what it was like. Wrigley, of course, is very old, but it has so much charm. Very cool! The Phillies were in town and the place was packed. We had a hard time getting 5 tickets together because the trip was kind of a late addition to the summer schedule and had to settle for 2 seats in one row with 3 more behind them. And all that was left were marked "obstructed view". The ticket sellers over the phone couldn't specify how obstructed the seats were, simply telling me that most likely there may be an upper deck support post partially in the way. Well we decided to go for it. How obstructed could they be anyway, right?

Uh, well... apparently "obstructed view" means, you have bought a ticket to stare at a post in your lap for 9 innings. See my view below (yes, the post is blocking my view of the pitcher's mound and home plate!)

And another, from my wife's seat behind Nobie and I.

Oh well, like I said in the title, they were the best, worst seats ever! Just a great atmosphere, friendly regular fans, the sights and sounds of the singing of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Everything was perfect, except for the damn post. We moved to some unobstructed seats after the 3rd inning, but by the fourth the real ticket holders showed up and we were back to our lean left, lean right seats.

The weather was perfect. Day games in Texas are ridiculously hot and we pretty much avoid them except in spring. The Phillies ended up winning 4-1, which meant Goose was happy, since he's a Ryan Howard fan and could hassle Nobie about the result.

I'm just glad that we were able to get Nobie to a Cubs game and he could see his favorite player (Alfonso Soriano) play in person. Hopefully next time they'll win for him.

Oh, and yes, there will be a next time some day! Like I said the best, worst seats at least got us in the game and it was a blast. I highly recommend going to a game there if you haven't before, just remember to stay away from any obstructed view seats! Later.

The Only Lions Card I Ever Loved

All the recent talk of Upper Deck losing its MLB license, but retaining an MLBPA license got me to thinking about one of my favorite football cards of all things. Some are speculating that UD will produce MLB cards with all logos airbrushed off. Well, that would be just like Topps football when I was a kid. And this here

is one of my favorite cards ever. Not that I knew anything about Greg Landry. This card is all about the mud and action, with Greg standing on one leg and fallen teammates wallowing around in the mud, it is just awesome! The crazy thing is, his helmet is so clean! So clean in fact the Lions logo has been scrubbed off! Then you've got Greg's name itself. Landry, one U short of Laundry, which I'm sure there was a lot of after this game. Top it all off with a pink, woosie border (somehow appropriate for the Lions, the Cowboys had GOLD that year) and you've got one of the most perfect cards of all time. Of a player I cared nothing about, but man I loved this card. (In fact I had lost mine, so I just bought a new one a few weeks ago!) Later.

2009 Philadelphia Football

Well, I was in a local Target the other day so I had to make a stop in the card aisle. I was looking for some 2009 Topps Football since I hadn't seen any yet when I spotted these instead. Well I'm a sucker for anything new, so I grabbed a few packs. You can clearly see the first card inside, so I looked through them all to make sure I got some of Goose's favorites. I haven't see anyone else show these off yet, so here goes.

Pack 1 First card was Edgerrin James. He's not quite the back he used to be, but is still one of Goose's favorites. He has a James jersey he wears all the time. LenDale White and Randy Moss appear to be bookends for this year's number one pick I guess? Too bad his card doesn't tell who drafted him.

Pack 2 Matt Ryan was on top, so can't go wrong with a Rookie of the Year. Start off with a top young QB, sprinkle in a little Peppers and a Moss dupe, then finish the pack with a spare young QB.

Pack 3

Had to grab this pack since it had a Cowboy on top. Sure hope he can fill T.O.'s shoes. There's that unamed draft pick again fending off a tackle with a stiff arm. Finish with a Bronco, so Goose is happy again.

Pack 4

This pack is Bear intensive, which has Nobie and Goose arguing over who should get them. See, that's why I named my blog what I did. Goose thinks he lays automatic claim to any football cards in the house, but Nobie loves the Bears, I guess because they're big Cubs or something.

And, here's the back. All in all a pretty simple and plain design. The cards are pretty thick and have a matte kinda gloss to them. The photos are very clear, not muddy at all. I'm not sure what Obama has to do with football, but hopefully we won't get too many more. I'm not a fan of throwing unrelated, random subject matter into sports card sets. I feel like I get ripped off a little whenever I get one (though I do want the A&G Bigfoot relic). I think there are all sorts of other pop culture icons in this set as well, but we didn't get any. We don't really try to collect sets at all, but I'm sure we'll pick up a few more packs as the season goes along. I like 'em. Later.

1st Trade

Okay, I promised to fill you all in on my first trade so here goes the first official post. Like I mentioned before my 9yr old Nobie and I had been checking out blogs and had no idea how many there are and how entertaining and insightful they could be. One of the ones we stumbled across was Long Fly Ball to Because...http://longflyball.blogspot.com/ which is run by our new friend Tunguska. We checked out his wantlist and saw that we had a Career Best Legends Ty Cobb that he needed. We also noticed he had a Josh Hamilton Turkey Red for trade, and being the Ranger fans that we are (they better not lose 3 in a row to the A's tonight), we proposed a trade. We swapped lists of favorite teams and players and the trade was done. You can see what we sent Tunguska on his page and here is what we got in return.

Josh Hamilton Turkey Red. Nobie loves these cards and well, it's one of our favorite Rangers. Too bad he hasn't returned to last year's form yet. Hopefully he will soon, the Rangers can't hit for squat right now. But that's not all Tunguska sent. Check it out.

A couple of chromes!! Very shiny! Jake Peavy is one of Nobie's favorite Padr.. whoops White Sox players and Chris Davis is one of my favorite uhh.. Okalahoma City Red Hawks, for now at least. Here's hopin' we get to see his awesome fielding skills and a better bat in the bigs soon. And I guess everyone has to wear the #52 jersey at some point, since Josh Hamilton is wearing it in several of his cards from this year and last. Weird.

Another Peavy rockin' the camo; Goose's (my 13yr old) fave Nellie Cruz and former Ranger Catalanotto; and an Alfonso Soriano Trading Places, Nobie's absolute favorite player. Which leads us to the crown jewel of this trade in his eyes.

Alfonso Soriano All-Star Pregame Jersey Card. Nobie let out a big ol' YESSS!! When he saw this one. Totally unexpected, and from what I've read on many other posts, you never know what you may get in your mailbox once you become a part of this trading card community. There sure seems to be lots of friendly and generous people out there and we've already been welcomed by several. Looking forward to meeting many more. That's all for now. Later.