Trade with Drew from DREWSCARDS

I saw Drew's Topps Update break and wanted to get my hands on the Venters auto. I found a Lee Mazzilli auto and a few other Yankee cards that needed a good home (you have to scroll down just a bit to see the scans). Drew sent me back the Venters, an old school Chipper Jones, a few base Strasburg's for the growing collection AND a really amazing John Smoltz jersey card. Drew has a great site and updates it almost daily. Check it out if you haven't already. Thanks for the second trade Drew and look forward to many more!

2011 Topps Extras - All For Trade

I only need THREE cards to complete the base set: 7, 43 and 245. Pretty good for only opening ONE Jumbo box. That's it. No loose packs and no retail. Bravo, Topps.

Here's what I have for trade:




Base Set Doubles:

1, 3, 18, 21, 22, 23, 37, 38, 42, 44, 45, 48, 51, 54, 57, 59, 65, 69, 77, 78, 80, 81, 86, 87, 88, 93, 95, 96, 100, 101, 108, 118, 123, 141, 142, 149, 160, 162, 176, 178, 181, 182, 190, 194, 200, 206, 215, 219, 224, 229, 235, 240, 242, 259, 266, 271, 280, 285, 288, 290, 292, 298, 308, 309, 311, 316, 321, 327, 328

Diamond Duos (DD):
GT, SC, VG, HH, HHO, TR, BY, PC, KL, BW

History of Topps:
2, 7, 8

Kimball Champions:
David Ortiz (dinged corner), Josh Johnson, Ryan Braun, Jon Lester, Johan Santana, Roy Halladay, Victor Martinez, David Price, Carlos Santana

Parallels:
Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle

Gold #’ed to 2011:
Chase Headley, AL RBI Leaders, Lucas May, AL Wins Leaders, Omar Vizquel

Topps Town:
4, 9, 18, 19, 21, 25, 30, 36, 39, 45

Topps 60:
5, 6, 11, 14, 22, 26, 27, 28, 35, 38

Diamond Anniversary Parallels:
Juan Gutierrez, Xavier Nady, Alcides Escobar, Pedro Feliz, Angel Pagan, Josh Thole, Carlos Gonzalez, Jhoulys Chacin

Reproduction Cards (CMGR):
8, 16, 19, 21, 26

60 Years of Topps (60YOT):
3, 6, 11, 14, 17, 22, 28, 35, 40, 50

50 years of Topps the Lost Cards(60YOTLC):
4, 5, 6, 8, 10

Original Backs Reproductions:
Robin Yount


Obviously I have more for trade than I'm looking for in the 2011 Topps set. I'm still short the following to complete my 2010 Ginter. Let me know if you are interested in trading! I also collect Detroit Tigers, Atlanta Braves, Detroit Red Wings, Pavel Datsyuk, Chipper Jones and Nolan Ryan.

Ginter 2010 NEEDS:

This Day in History(4):
34, 43, 54

Baseball Sketches(7):
1, 13, 14

Base Set (24):
26, 37, 45, 67, 113, 148, 267

SP Base (4):
305, 306, 329

2011 Topps Jumbo Box Break - The STRASbox

So last Tuesday I went to Target to pick up some 2011 Topps. I got to the register blaster in hand but when I went to pay I realized I had left my wallet at the office. Fail, for the moment anyway. Fortunately, my lovely better half was going to be passing the local hobby shop on the way home from work. I gave them a call and they were kind enough to set aside their last Jumbo box for her to pick up later. A few hours later I was ripping away.

Here are the hits:


Solid box. Sweet Freeman black border #11/60. Notice anything strange in the Strasburg row? It's numbered 234/299 (I'll post a bigger front/back scan of the card later), but other than that I was slow to realize that this was not a 2011 Topps card. I was too excited and didn't realize until the morning after that something was a little off. After some google/ebaying I found out that the card was one of the Million Card Giveaway cards from Strasburg's debut and an autographed one at that.


I haven't seen anyone else post about pulling one of these and I haven't seen any other 2011 Strasburg auto's listed. I'm very surprised that all of the Strasburg cards available from the MCG were not redeemed, especially all of the 300 autos. Yeah, $350 was a steep price, but at the time it seemed like a good investment. Anyway, I still think it's really weird to get an unadvertised hit in my box, but hey, I'll take it!



The card is awesome.

I'm happy. It's one of my best pulls ever and I'm going to hang on to it for a little while at least. Too bad I didn't have an epic pull like this about an year ago or that thing would be on ebay in a second and funding my card purchases for the rest of the year.

As you can see that wasn't the only Stras in the box. I got two of each of the base cards (two base cards for someone that's played less that one season is overkill, right?) and one of the Kimball mini's in addition to the auto. I put the Freeman on ebay even though I'm a Braves collector after seeing another one go for almost $30 (maybe I'll go back and pick one up later when the price drops but I'd rather have Freeman auto card). Everything else is for trade. The box was well collated and I only had one or two damaged cards which is a huge improvement from the recent Topps boxes I've busted. I'll put up what I need to complete the base set tomorrow along with the rest of the inserts I pulled and the cards I have for trade which will hopefully help me complete my set!

Anyone else ever pull something not advertised out of a box, do tell?!

Contest at Georgia Mindset!

Go HERE!

Leyland Blows Another One. This Act is Getting Tired.

Thankfully I was out and about when the Tigers game ended today. The combination of Ryan Perry and Phil Coke could not close out the game to secure the 4-2 victory in the 9th. Where was Valverde you ask? Oh, well he threw 60 pitches last night so he wasn't available today. Yes, that is a lot of pitches. No, he didn't enter in a save situation last night. I realize he had not pitched in a game in four days, but listen, Jim, he's a CLOSER. His only job is to get three outs when the team is ahead by three runs or less or a scenario where the Tigers are in danger of losing the game. I have never understood Managers bringing their "closer" in just to get their work in during a blowout (winning or losing). There is a stat out there about how much worse closers do in that situation as compared to trying to earn a save (someday I'll look for it too). The Tigers had the game well in hand last night before Valverde entered. 60 pitches and a grand-slam later they escaped with a 6-5 win erasing any chance of Valverde pitching in a meaningful position should it present itself during the Saturday day game. Let Valverde get his necessary work in if he must in meaningful game scenarios where the pressure is on (you know, like a save situation) so that he doesn't lose his edge (like last night). I realize Leyland isn't playing with his optimal roster, but he isn't doing himself any favors with the way he is managing his bullpen (or the grab bag lineup that changes every day).

Fire Gene Lamont. Now. Please.

This has got to be the last straw. I'm not pulling any punches. It's his fault Magglio is on the DL, period. And now, seconds ago he is waving home Boesch on single to Boston left fielder Eric Patterson. Patterson already had the ball before Boesch was to third base. Insane. Don't believe me? Evidence above.

I Went to See Strasburg and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt...

I realize it's been a while since I've posted. I've been busy and I realize that's a lame excuse, so lets just move on. Plus I was disgruntled after the end of last season with both the Tigers and Braves. Things are looking up for the Braves right now but not so much for the Tigers. I got a new scanner and already worked out a trade with Beardy so I guess I should get with it and start updating again, so here we go...

So I went to the Braves/Nats game Tuesday first and foremost because I'm a Braves fan and that was the only game of the series that I could make it to. Just so happened that the almighty Strasburg was scheduled to start as well. Through the gates, picked up a free nifty Nats t-shirt (hooray t-shirt night), watched Braves batting practice, scored a nice Tim Hudson auto and enjoyed a delicious chicken tenders platter. Stand up, sit down, first patch, Miguel Batista...huh? Of course I wanted to see the kid pitch and was disappointed, but the attitude of ALL the bandwagon Nats fans around us was awful. Honestly we could barely sit through the game with all the complaining going on. "How can he not get loose." "This is a ploy by the team to get people to buy tickets." "I want my money back." And on, and on and on. Really? Batista pitched great, the team won and you didn't even notice. Next time I go to a Nats game I'm bringing headphones.