Nobie's First custom card attempt (I may have created a monster!)

Hey this is Nobie with my second blog post.You've all seen my dad's custom cards but this time I've taken a shot at my own starting with two of my favorites.My first is a Soriano Crack Da Bat custom. I tried my best to come up with a cool design and this is what I came up with.

Now here is the back of my Soriano that even includes stats.

This time I have my Nick Markakis.

The same kind of card back is included on this card.

This is the only design I've came up with for now but if any of you guys like it please comment.Also if any of you want a player in this design I wouldn't mind making one with all the summer time to spare since school's almost out. Yea! To bad for dad he has to work all summer which has to suck. Once again please add comments if you like them or please don't be afraid to request a player to be made on this design.

Major Score From First and Goal!

I got an email from a new friend a few weeks ago. It was Dave from First and Goal, whose blog I happen to read often because it's one of the few that focuses mostly on football. Dave had just posted that he was gonna get back into a little baseball by collecting Topps Pirates and was wondering if I might have a few, which I did. I packaged what I had and sent them along with a few Emmitt Smiths he needed and a few days later, BAM, return mail!

I didn't ask for anything specific in return but mentioned we have a list of what we collect on the blog. Dave must have locked into one name in particular, but that's okay, he sent a great package. Inside the package was this tin, featuring the greatest QB ever! I wasn't collecting back in 1997, but this was a pretty cool way to package cards. Originally this tin contained 5 cards, I'm assuming of various NFL players. Thanks to Dave, though, this tin was much more awesome that it was in 1997. Here's why, not 5...

not 10...

not 20...

but 30 cards, and guess what, all Elways! I think there were actually a few more, but these 30 shown I did not have. Greatness! (I apologize to any of my readers who my be Browns fans.) Thanks to Dave my Elway collection is now up to 188 cards. Good stuff, man, thanks. Later.

And The Winners Are...

we'll get to them in a minute. I first want to let everyone know how the winners were selected. My old school idea of actually drawing strips of paper from a hat and taking video of the whole shebang didn't happen. First, I couldn't talk Nobie into cutting the names into 150 little pieces of paper and second, I've never posted video before and didn't feel like wasting the time figuring it out. (It's probably easy, but my memory card was full anyway and I'd have to go through all the footage and find out what I could delete for room!) So we decided to go new school instead and use random.org. Nobie copied and pasted all the entries into their list randomizer and hit the randomize button. (The numbers following the names is the number of the entry for that person, a maximum of 4.) Here is the first winner:

Cam entry #2. He requested a Hunter Pence card. Nobie decided we should randomize the names each time, so we took Cam 2 off the list leaving 149 entries and hit the button again. The second winner is:

Mark's Ephemera entry #3. He requested an Orel Hershiser. Take another entry off the list and we're down to 148. The third winner is:

Community Gum #1. Wish card, Greg Maddux as a Cub. Winner number four is:

Jeremy entry #2. Adrian Peterson as a Sooner is his request (maybe I'll sneak a Longhorn in there somewhere!). Last but not least we have our fifth and final winner (for now!):

The Collective Troll #1. Troll asked for a Roller Derby card of his wife, so Troll, you gotta send me a picture, dude.

So, there you have it folks, the first 5 winners of the BigD Custom Card giveaway. Thanks to everyone who participated, you guys came up with some great ideas for cards. Also, don't feel bad if you're a loser, uh, I mean if you didn't win. These are the first 5 winners, but there is a good possibility I have so much fun making these that we'll decide to give the remaining entries a few more trips through the 'ol randomizer just for kicks. (Interesting observation on the randomizer, all the winners were between 106 and 144. Weird, not sure how random that actually is, but what do I know about the program?) I've recently acquired brand spanking new versions of Photoshop and Illustrator and may need to justify my purchase, so stay tuned.

Winners, please email me (bigd1970@att.net) with a mailing address and I'll get to work on your prizes. Later.

The Suspense Is Killing You, Isn't It?

You're gonna have to wait just a little longer to see who the winners are. I've got the entry list compiled and we have a total of 150 entries exactly. I want to thank everyone for participating, the response was great! I'm gonna choose the winners the old fashioned way, by pulling names out of a hat. I've got all 150 entries printed on a sheet which will then be cut into strips and placed in a hat. The goal is to video tape the drawing, so hopefully I'll get it done by Thursday. Between all the soccer practices, baseball team pictures and taking Nobie out to buy a new set of catchers gear, I've got to find some time to squeeze it in. Please be patient. If you're nervous & pacing the floor anxiously, chew some gum and practice blowing bubbles like the Panda to pass the time! Later.

Check out the contest at First and Goal, 'cuz mine's over.

We'll the deadline for my contest has passed, so if you didn't enter you are SOL. If you're still in a competitive mode however, head on over to First and Goal and get in on CPAdave's 1 year anniversary contest. Give me a day or two to randomize the entries and I'll have the winners posted soon. Later.

Contest Update!

If you wanna be safe, you better get your entries in before midnight tonight. That's all I got for now. Later.

I Didn't Know Owls Delivered Mail To Muggles.

Although I don't have any magical powers ala Harry Potter, I did get a special delivery from an Owl a few days ago. Here are the highlights.

A nice shiny Soriano for Nobie. I actually haven't posted in a few days because we've been quite busy, including 3 games in 4 days out at The Ballpark. Since the Cubs are in town, we made sure to get Nobie to a few games.

This photo was apparently taken after Josh had some sort of "act like a dog" spell cast on him.

Okay, I think I'm out of Harry Potter references. Here we simply have some shiny Topps Finest from a few years back. Nice and blue. I like 'em.

I'm pretty sure these guys would qualify as two of the best, if not the best, third basemen in Rangers history. Michael is getting really close to becoming the teams all-time hits leader, only Pudge is ahead of him.

Lastly, the Owl sent as 3 of the 7 dwarves, Rusty, Doc and Bump. I can't remember the names of the other 4 though. Thanks for the great cards Night Owl! Later.

Big D Customs No Purchase Necessary Giveaway!

Here we go! Time for a contest of sorts. If you've ever looked closely at the back of a wrapper you've probably noticed that you can get cards without even purchasing anything. All you have to do is put your name and address on a 3x5 index card and mail it in! Maybe you'll win, maybe you won't. So far, I've haven't ever gotten anything back, but I'll keep trying. My contest is sorta like that. You don't really have to do much of anything to win. What will I win, you may ask? Good question. For those of you who don't know, I like to create custom cards. Some of you may already own one while others are surely DREAMING of owning one. If you want to see some examples, click the Big D Custom Cards button to the right. If you are too lazy to do that, just scroll down a little.

You could win something like this...

or this...

or maybe even this. Bah, you say! I don't like any of those guys. I mean, really, Andre Ethier, who-hoo would want a card of him? Well, that's where you as a contestant come in. I've already picked the prize, now you need to pick a subject. It can be a sport or non-sport card, I don't really care as long as I can find a suitable image to work with.

Here's how it's gonna work. I will award 5 custom cards to 5 different winners. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment telling me who you want on your card, should you end up a lucky dog. Once all the entries are in, I will randomize a list and select 5 names. That's it. Now, I'd like to get more than 1 or 2 entries and I have no idea how many people check out my blog but never comment, so I'm going to add a bonus to get as many participants as possible. In addition to your 1 entry by adding a comment, you can earn 3 bonus entries by putting a link to my contest on your blog if you've got one. If you don't, I'm sorry, you'd better create one fast. (Make sure you tell me that you made a link in your comment, in case I don't notice it on my own.) That will give some of you a total of 4 entries and yes, you can win more than once if your name happens to come back around in the random drawing.

The contest will end at midnight (Texas time) on Sunday, May 23rd. Don't forget to leave a comment with you choice of subject and I'll do my best to make your wildest dreams come true. If you win, that is! Later.

Remember When Baseball Cards Came In Cereal Boxes?

I love Frosted Flakes and baseball cards. When I was a kid, the best time of the year cereal wise was when Kellogg's put those 3D Superstars cards inside. I still have a complete set from some year that I mailed away for somewhere. I just wish they didn't curl up. Anyway, if I'm ever able to start my own company, I'll hook up with Kellogg's and maybe put out something like this.

I wonder if the Topps exclusive pertains to cereal. Later.

Welcome Back To The Show!

As I'm sure all of you are aware, my Texas Rangers have some money issues. I wish they'd get it all settled soon, not only so we won't have to hear about it around here anymore, but so they can afford to get/keep players who could be useful. I think Hank Blalock is one of those guys who would have been useful around here this season. The Rangers didn't resign him and it didn't look like anyone would for some reason until the Rays invited him to Spring Training. He started the season tearing it up for Durham and now the Rays have decided they need him in the big leagues. I made a card to commemorate his promotion. Notice he's playing first base.

Any of you been keeping track of the Rangers first base hitters this year? Chris Davis started the season and blew, now Justin Smoak is playing there and doing okay at best. We also had Ryan Garko who is now gone, but did nothing while he was here. I think Hank may have been a better choice than all these guys, plus he could fill in at third on occasion if something were to happen to Michael Young. I have no idea who they'd put there now. Now, I know Hank is no All-Star or anything, but I really think he'd be useful here (along with Marlon Byrd) had the Rangers managed to keep him. Problem is there's no money to be had and what little the Rangers had in the off season went to Vlad (I'm fine with that) and Rich Harden (Lord, help us if he doesn't get better!). If we were the Yankees, we could have kept the old guys and gotten new ones. Man I hate the Yankees! Hopefully the Rangers will get this whole ownership mess straightened up soon and we can begin building a winner for the long haul. Anway, congrats Hank, hope you stick around for awhile. Later.

Playoff Intensity!

Seems to have worked for Amar'e and the Suns...

not so much for Josh and the Hawks!

Personally, I'm just glad the almighty King James is out. Now if Nash and the Suns can knock that pompous Kobe off is high horse, all will be right with the world. Or as right as it can be without the Mavs involved, anyway. Gimmie Suns vs. Magic! Later.

Time To Make Hay and some Big D Customs

Well the Rangers have a 2 game lead over the A's after winning the weekend series with their division rivals. 2 of the 3 games went extra innings including today's low scoring 2-1 victory. I hope Brian's kids had a good time, even with the lack of runs. Our family was at the 10-1 blowout Wednesday night and it was a blast. We even ended up scoring an Elvis bobblehead which we had missed out on a few weeks ago. Like they say, it's all about connections!

Speaking of connections (get ready for the cheesy segue way) not many guys are having any luck against C.J. Wilson's pitches. He and the rest of the pitching staff are a big reason the Rangers are in first and have won 7 of their last 10. Many people around here weren't sure about taking C.J. out of the bullpen and putting him in the rotation, but so far so good. In fact he's so good now, my wife wants to add a C.J. Wilson shirt to her rotation. Great, more money to the Rangers. Maybe we can help them get back in the black!

While the pitching has been much better, the Rangers offense has been a little down so far this season with guys like Michael Young hitting "only" .282. I'm not worried about him though, I'm confident he'll be back over .300 in no time. You can tell he's a good hitter by how much time he spends choosing a bat. Look at those wheels turning as he ponders his selection, so intense. One of the biggest worries offensively has been which Josh Hamilton was going to show up this season.

After a fairly slow April hitting .265 with only 3 homers in 22 games, Josh has been on a tear so far in May upping his average to .321 for the month with 4 home runs in just 12 games. It's been nice that Josh has come around while Nellie Cruz has been on the DL. The Great Hambino knocked another one out onto Greene's Hill while we were there the other night. It doesn't matter how many times I see it, it just doesn't get any better than watching the kids scramble for the loose ball in the grass while fireworks and the theme from The Natural plays as a Ranger rounds the bases. Even Josh daydreams about it. Check out his card! Okay, so we're 2 up with 127 to go. Time to make some hay! Go Rangers! Later.

My First TTM Experience!

About a month or two ago I decided to try something I have seen many other people have success with. I sent some cards through the mail to one of my favorite players, Michael Finley.

He had just recently signed with the Celtics so I thought he might be kinda light on fan mail there and decided to send him a package. Well, a few days ago I got a package in the mail for me from me. Ooh, exciting! I knew what it was right away.

These are the cards as they appeared before I mailed them. I sent one of his college days at Wisconsin and one from each of his NBA teams, Suns, Mavs, Spurs & Celtics. There are no cards of him in a Celtic uniform, so I sent a Big D custom. Wanna see how they look now?

No, I did not repeat the wrong photo. Michael just signs in invisible ink. What the heck? He snubbed me? Surely not. What a minute, there was something else in the envelope, a small strip of paper.

You have got to be kidding me! First of all, don't call me a Celtics fan. I'm a Mavs Fan For Life and a Michael Finley fan, but I don't root for no Celtics. Secondly, too many requests? I don't believe it. Now I don't doubt KG, Jesus Shuttlesworth and the rest of the established Celtics get all kinds of auto requests, but my man Finley is brand new to the team. How much mail can he be getting there already! Man this sucks. They could at least give him the package and let him do with it what he wants. I even included 2 Big D customs so that he could keep one for himself and guess what, I got both back. Stinkin' interns or leprechauns or whoever answers the Celtic mail. Now I need a new plan. Later.

Do IOU or do UOMe?

In the less than years since I started this blog, I have made all kinds of new friends simply by completing trades. I know I don't trade nearly as often as some of you do, but it's still hard to keep up sometimes. I always try to get a post up as soon as possible but once again I've fallen behind. In an effort to catch up, I'm going to combine 3 trades into one. I hope you guys don't mind. TJ, Brian and Tim are three of my most frequent trading partners, in fact, like the title says, I can't remember who owes who what, if anything. Not that it really matters, as I'm sure we'll continue sending the little yellow envelopes back and forth whenever we get a few things built up.


Let's get to the first batch of cards from Tim at The Great Sports Name Hall of Fame.

Tim sent Nobie a nice new shiny Alfonso that he didn't already have. Nobie has become quiet the Soriano supercollector so that is quite an accomplishment by Tim!

I didn't think anyone could possibly have anymore Jake Peavys than what Tim sent in the last box, but here are a bunch more. Are you cleaned out yet?

Since I collect catchers, Tim included a few. Gotta love the 2 cards with the masks in mid-air. I think Tim McIntosh may need to sit the rest of the game out, it appears he may have some heartburn goin' on.

After I posted about some NASCAR packs recently, Tim said he had a bunch of stuff he could send my way. I said, "Whoa, hold on there a minute! I don't need a bunch of random stuff, but I'll take any Ricky Rudds you've got." So that's what he sent. Tim, I've got some Geoff Bodines headed your way!

Metal Mailman! Sweet!

Aaannd... I don't know what to say about this stuff. Thanks?



Next up was a box from Brian at Play at the Plate. He said he had a bunch of Peak Performance for our set and he'd throw in some other stuff like usual.

These are the Peak Performance we got. They made a nice dent in the want list.

These two base cards were the last two we needed to complete Series 1 and the Sorianos were Nobie's first of the season.

Brian also sent two packs of 07 Topps which came with, but were not inside, the wrappers. I guess he wanted the fun of ripping them himself, but didn't have room in his garbage can for the wrappers. That's okay Brian, they pick up twice a week here, so it's all good.

Brian also included several Stadium Club basketball cards from a couple years back...

what appears to be a few packs of 2010 Panini Classics and...

a big 'ol bunch of 2008 Fleer Basketball. I already have the entire base set, but he also included a ton of inserts. It looks close to being a full hobby box. If anyone is collecting this set and needs base cards, let me know. I've got a ton of doubles now.

The last trade package came from TJ at All Your Base Cards Belong To Us.

TJ sent a goofy Kinsler card in which he doesn't seem to realize he already has the ball in his glove. That or maybe he's just really thankful he made the catch!

We also got a few 09 Mayos. I really like the Mayo cards a lot, though we didn't buy a whole bunch of them.

The last two cards from TJ include a couple of bald guys back when they had (a little) hair. Besides their shiny noggins in common, these guys were both Olympians and played in cities where I lived and attended games of theirs in person. That is why they are both on my player collection list.

Well, it's time to wrap this one up. Hope you guys don't mind being all mashed up together. Thanks for the great cards and if IOU, they're in the mail! Later.