Tuesday, October 27, 2009

How can you not love these guys?

I came across this card, which I didn't know existed, at a show the other day and had to have it right away. As soon as I bought it, I found another one at the next table for half the price. Oh well, it was only a buck. Anyway, this card is a perfect example of what makes the current crop of Rangers such a great team to root for. They have FUN playing the game and being a team, which is what it should be all about, right? This past season was one of the best ever considering they stayed in contention right up until the end and basically outperformed everyone's expectations. Here's hoping they can build on it and maybe win the division next year. I can't wait for 2010 already! Now I just need to get another copy. My wife took one look at it after I got it home and decided she needed one for her knickknack shelf at school, but I'm not giving her mine! She'll just have to get her own. Later.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Trade with Budget Baseball Cardboarding

Well, this is my 3rd post today, which I think is a record for me, but I'm trying to get caught up. This trade (actually it's just a gift so far, as I haven't returned the favor yet) was with ChrisOK from Budget Baseball Cardboarding. Chris sent me an email out of the blue offering up some shiny chrome, so I said sure, bring it on! I guess he checked our "what we collect" list out too, because he sent a lot more.

First we have an interesting promo card thingy for Topps Heritage featuring David Murphy. He is one of Baby Peas' favorites, so it was a nice surprise.

Chris also sent this David Murphy, which I believe is from UD Timelines. Check out that look of determination, must've hit a homer on the next pitch.

Elway greatness!!

3 Kurts. I actually already have these, but it's the thought that counts and I appreciate everyone contributing to my newest fave player collection. Actually, it will be nice to have doubles, one for the Kurt binder and one for the catcher binder, to go with these guys...

including a nice chromey Kenji.

It wouldn't seem like a complete trade without the stack 'o Cubs for Nobie and here they are. Chris also threw in a Peavy or three as well as an Uggla. The Peavy xfractor is especially nice.

Last, but not least, a big ol bunch of Rangers, including another xfractor. This one is Greg Golson, who I think played maybe 1 game for the Rangers this year, but at least it's a pretty card. It definitely works better to use photos for chrome rather than scanning. Chris, thanks a bunch for the cards and I'll return the favor soon. Later.

Trade with Wicked Ortega: The Sequel

A few weeks ago Wicked Ortega posted some Hanleys he had for trade. I sent him a not saying we would like to get a hold of the 6 shown in the photo, because Nobie did not have any of them yet. I had pulled a stack of D-Trains and ManRams just for Wicked at a recent show, so I packed them off to Florida and Wicked sent us the HanRams. Only that wasn't all we got!

Wicked had TTM success with Bobby Witt a while back and WO being the good guy he is, decided to hook us up with one. Totally unexpected, thanks a lot!

He also sent along an Action Packed card of the greatest QB ever. At least in my opinion, and that's all that matters, right?

We also got the six cards we had asked for, all Hanleys, only Wicked didn't stop there. He sent four more...

then 9 more...

and 9 more after that. I didn't think the HanRam onslaught was going to stop. Wow! Talk about going above and beyond, you should have seen Nobie's eyes. Our request for 6 cards turned into 28!! If you ever need an awesome trade partner, check out Wicked's blog, you won't regret it. Thanks again, dude! Later.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Trade with A Rookie (baseball) Card Collector

Okay, we've got another new trade partner to post about. Sarah from A Rookie (baseball) Card Collector came up with the idea of a Secret Santa exchange for bloggers and while checking out her blog I noticed she is collecting 2009 Icons and UDX. Well it just so happens that we are collecting those set also, so we decided to help each other out. I sent a stack of both sets she needed along with a bunch of Chippers and here is what we got in return.

Sarah sent 7 Icons we needed which puts us 9 cards shy of the complete set. Well, 1 - 100 anyway, not the serial #'d short prints which I think are all rookies.

Sarah also sent a nice stack of Cubs for Nobie including a jersey card of Zambrano. Very cool, Nobie loved it. Somehow Nobie always ends up with the bulk of the cards from our trades. I guess everyone has lots of Cubbies to get rid of. Although I do see two Soto cards in there, I should steal them for my catcher collection! Thanks again Sarah. Later.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Trade with Ryan's Memorabilia Blog

I haven't posted in a few days and I keep telling myself that I need to post about something other than trades, but I really feel like I should post each and every trade. I'm having trouble coming up with random topics anyway, so I'm just going to try to catch up with the trades for now. Ryan from Ryan's Memorabilia Blog is a big Ripken collector who has taken the time to put his collection up on Zistle. I checked it out and discovered we had a few that he didn't have, so I packed them up with a few random Orioles and sent them out.

What we got in return (or should I say, what Nobie got in return) was a big ol bunch of Cubs. A nice mix of players and sets, including a couple of Xponential inserts from 2009 UDX that we didn't already have in our collection.

Nobie got a box of 07 Masterpieces for his birthday and is only 3 base cards shy of the whole set. Ryan added to it by sending these nice black border variations of Cubs Lee and Sandberg. I really wish Upper Deck would bring the Masterpieces set back. I think it was one of their better offerings.

Up next we have this craptacular 90's something Pacific Ryne Sandberg. Wow, I don't know what to say exactly except that this card is awesome in its gaudiness (depending on how the light hits it, of course). Sorry for the blurry photo, I guess our camera didn't know how to handle it either!

Lastly, we have a handful of UDX diecuts from 08 & 09. All Cubs again. I guess I should have let Nobie post on these cards, since they were all Cubs. Oh well. If you've got any spare Ripkens laying around, pass them on to Ryan. One of the Ripkens we sent actually made #500 in his collection, so that was cool that we helped him reach a milestone. Hmm... I wonder how long until my Kurt collection hits 500? Later.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Another Trade with Play at the Plate

One of the first guys I traded with after starting this blog was Brian from Play at the Plate. He has also become our most frequent trader as this is now the third time we have swapped some cards. Funny thing is, we are also practically neighbors as we are both in the Dallas area. I wonder if it would be cheaper to meet in the middle gaswise than it is for postage. Anyway, Brian sent us a nice pack of cards divided for the 4 of us. That's right, no longer three collectors in the house but four, more on the newest later.


These are the cards Brian sent for me. There were Rangers and Cowboys (my 2 favorite teams), a couple of Elways and Ozzies (favorite players), a Marino and a catcher for my newest collection.

Goose received a bunch of football, mostly Broncos, his favorite team. The Chargers were actually designated for me, but Goose decided he needed them more. I decided he could have them. The Chargers that I mainly collect are from the Air Coryell days in the 80's. I've always had a soft spot for the Chargers though, I guess because that's where I was born and spent the very early years of my life.

Brian sent Nobie a ton of Cubbies and a couple of Vlads. Man, I wish the Angels would beat the Yankees, doesn't look good though.

Last but not least, we have the cards sent for our newest collector, Baby Peas. Baby Peas is my daughter, and while she isn't a major baseball fan per se, she does love going to Ranger games. She even has a baby doll that gets dressed in Ranger gear and lugged around with her. Her two favorite Rangers are David Murphy and Marlon Byrd, so when she gets dragged to the card shop she spends all her time looking for their cards with no luck so far. Brian was kind enough to send 3 Byrds for Baby Peas and even though they are from his Phillie days, she loved them. I guess we need to see if we can find some Murphys from when he was a Red Sock now. Check out Brian's blog if you haven't yet and hit him up for some cards, he always delivers. Brian, thanks again and you've got a pack heading your way now. (I've probably passed it on the way to work!) Later.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Trade with the Troll

We've been reading the Troll's blog for quite a while, so we decided it was time to make a trade. We packed up a bunch of Rays and sent them off to a better home and this is what we got in return.

A bunch of Sorianos for Nobie, I think this puts him around 125 or so different ones. These were all new except for 2 of them.

The Troll helped me out with my catcher collection as well, sending this assortment. The best catcher card he sent though is not pictured here. Oh no. It deserves a special spot in this post all to itself. That's right, you guessed it (or maybe you didn't)...

a new Kurt! A very shiny, refractory one at that. This is my first Kurt refractor and puts the collection at 20 cards. Thanks a ton, Troll! Check out his blog if you haven't already, it's a great read and even has roller derby bits every once in a while! Later.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

2009 UDX Set Building Update


Okay, we bit the bullet and bought a box and now we are only 3 base cards short of the set. We still need 28, 30 & 56. If anyone has them please let us know. Check out our want/trade list to see what we need from the diecut and xponential insert sets. We have a bunch of base, as well as several diecut and Xponentials up for trade.

Friday, October 16, 2009

B-day Presents

Hey this is Nobie and,well for my bday that was Sep.23 a couple of weeks ago my dad ordered me a box of 2007 Masterpieces. Now I am collecting this set, my dad might have already told you. This is the hit I pulled from the box a Jonathan Papelbon Captured on Canvas white swatch. Not much for me but I will trade somebody for a relic of one of my binder players,a ranger or a cub. If you have one just contact my dad. Another thing he got me was a Elvis Andrus auto. and a rookie insert of him.He is my favorite ranger just to let you know. He got them off of ebay for I don't know how much.
And last but not least my favorite two Soriano's I have to add to my 100 and something collection of him. The reason I have so many is because he is my all time favorite. I got a Destined for History blue swatch just to let you know I love blue swatches of cubs. And I also got a Bowman Sterling game used bat for my collection. I got these also from ebay.

Well that's all in the next two days or so I should have a post about my 2008 timeline box break!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Trade with The Pursuit of 80's(ness)

I started this blog in hopes of meeting other fellow collectors and pulling off a few trades, which we have. What I didn't expect was to make friends with anyone from across the pond. I didn't even know they knew what baseball was over there. Isn't that cricket country? Anyway, a while back I got an unsolicited email from a guy saying he was from England and that he had some Rangers to send me. All he wanted me to do was wait for the package and then just return the favor with whatever I thought was fair. Was I interested, he asked. Well, of course, I replied, so I sent him my address. Our new friend's name is John from The Pursuit of 80's(ness) and he collects Red Sox (I guess we can still be friends). This is some of what he sent us.

A Turkey Red of Michael Young. I had seen this card before but didn't have one. While I'm up for any Michael Young card, this isn't one of his better ones to me. Something about the painting is off, I think his ears are too big or his upper body is too big compared to his legs or something. Oh well, it's still a card of my favorite Ranger, so it's all good.

John also sent a couple of Topps Attax, one shiny and one not. My daughter's favorite player is David Murphy so she'll get a kick out of adding a new card of his.

Next we have a trio of mini Goudeys. Well the Kinsler is a mini for sure. The other two come from the year the whole set was mini, I think, so do they actually count as minis then?

We also received a big mess o' Rangers from various sets to add to our collection. Now I've got to dig up a bunch of Red Sox for John and ship them over seas. I wonder how he ended up being a British Red Sox fan, although, to be honest, I'm not sure he is. I guess he could be a lonely American living abroad jonesing for some actual baseball and not that cricket stuff. Maybe he's even a spy! I guess I need to do some research on my new friend. Check out his blog and see what you think. Later.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Trade with Great Sports Name Hall of Fame

Well, I've fallen a little behind in trade posts, so I'm going to try and catch up. I've made two trades with Tim from the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame, but I've yet to post the first one, so here they both are. The first trade was for random cards from our "Hey what do you like to collect?" conversation. He sent us a nice stack of football and baseball cards, here are some of them.

First we have a trio of Hall of Famers (pretty sure Seau will make it) in Action Packed form. I never actually bought any of these cards. For some reason the embossing on them always creeped me out a little. Some of the faces were kind of deformed looking at certain angles, but this is a nice trio of players to get. Anyways, I'm older now, so they are quite as scary.

Our next football card is of one of my favorite Broncos, hard hitting Steve Atwater. Appropriately enough, he is trying to rip off another player's head. Oh well, it's just a Brown. Sorry, couldn't resist. :)

Here we have 3 Cubs for Nobie and a Card for me. I suppose Cubs & Cards shouldn't be displayed together like this. A fight could break out.

3 Cowboy greats. Oh, how we long for the return of the glory days in Big D!

And lastly, from the first package Tim sent, we have a bunch of Rangers, including a couple of Geno Petralli's for the catcher collection.

Speaking of catchers, the second package I received a few weeks later included only catchers. I've had several fellow bloggers contact me saying they enjoyed my post about collecting a certain genre and Tim was the first to send some genre specific cards. Tim's specialty genre is players with ridiculous/funny names, so if you've got any send them his way. Thanks again for the trades Tim. Later.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Random Packs of Kindness Box Break

If you haven't done so already, you need to head on over to http://www.tribecards.net/ and hit David up for some random packs of kindness. We did a few weeks ago and long story short, ended up with a box of random kindness instead of just packs. So you know what happens when you open a box of cards, right, you gotta post the box break!!

Inside our box were 2 large yellow envelopes and inside each of those were 8 or so individually wrapped packs of cards. Also in the envelopes were several over sized items including 6 "box toppers". These cards are actually 5x7 rip cards. We haven't ripped them to see what is inside though. Should we?

Once we unwrapped the smaller packs, we sorted the cards. We had a million base baseball cards from every imaginable team/set over the last many years. We also sorted the cards into "insert sets". Let's see what we got.

First, we pulled 13 cards from the "Hockey" insert set. I'm not sure of the total amount of cards in this set, since we don't have a checklist, but I can't imagine that we are very many short.

The next largest amount came from the "Comic Book" set. We ended up with 7 of those. The Lobo is my favorite. The Cage would have been cooler, though, if he was shown in the yellow puffy disco shirt costume!


Next, we have 4 cards from the "80's Kids Movies" set. We got 2 each from E.T. and The Goonies. I was never into the Goonies, I would have much preferred to pull an Indiana Jones or Back to the Future instead.

In the "Country Gold" set we actually pulled 6 cards, but we got doubles of Tammy Wynette and Mark Collie. I'm not very happy with the collation of these cards. There shouldn't be any doubles in a box of high end product like this. :) Why couldn't we get a Willie Nelson or George Strait? And who is Martin del Ray anyway?

Making up for our disappointment of the "Country Gold" cards, we pulled two blue marble border parallels of the "Beer" retro set. Very nice. These are extremely rare.

From the "Kids, Don't Chew Tobacco!" set we got the Leukoplakia card. Numbered 5 of 10! Sweet, though the photo is Gross!! That leaves us with the best for last, the hits!

I think the usual is 1 auto and 2 relics per box, but we made out like bandits. We pulled 2 autos and 3 relics, one jersey and two game used bats. Very cool to get more hits than expected. All in all this was a really good box and, when you figure that it cost us exactly $0 including shipping, it was a tremendous deal. Like I said earlier, if you haven't already, do yourself a favor and pick one of these up. You won't regret it! Later.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Let's Go Cards!

I was a Cardinals fan long before I moved to Texas, though, since I've been here 20 years the Rangers have taken over the top spot. I still root for the birds though when the Rangers are out of it (aren't they always?) ;) So, just for the record, Go Cards!