Auf Wiedersehen

I'm heading back to Germany for a week to see my family. I've had a stack of cards on my desk that have needed to go out to Spankee, the Lost Collector, and ManuPatches. I didn't forget, but the end of the semester has been crazy. I hope to get the packages out when I get back so you should have them around New Years.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Contest Winnings from the Cardboard Heroes

I recently won a contest that potchwheeler held awhile back. Honestly I forgot that I entered into it until he made a post announcing the winners. Luckily for me I was third on the winners list. I believe the top five got to make two choices out of the cards of his choosing. Potch had some great stuff available and I quickly jumped on this beauty...

He was fortunate enough to receive a Pineda short print at the National Convention and made it available. These cards were limited and I believe mine is #ed 277/299. Pineda has become a recent player that I've been collecting so if anyone out there has something of his to trade send me an email.

My other choice was just as good as the first. I received a stack of Gypsy Queen minis in the hopes that the Daily Dimwit would need a few for his set since I lack any Astros to trade his way. I'm slowly but surely accumulating cards to set aside for a trade I hope to highlight soon. Anyway, I got off track, here are the cards.

Thanks Potch for an awesome contest I'm glad I was able to add a card to my Pineda collection that I probably wouldn't have been able to otherwise.

Taters gonna Tate

It's a bit late, but a huge congrats goes out to the University of Michigan. My university was finally able to snap its losing streak to the Suckeyes; Hoke was able to do something that Rich Rod wasn't and I couldn't be prouder. Unfortunately, going to school so close to the Ohio border results in a lot of friends being OSU fans. I'd like to respond to all of their bitching and moaning with this....

This isn't what the post is about though, oh no. I realize that I haven't posted in ages and the stacks of cards that need to be scanned have been piling up to the point of no return. I placed a recent order with COMC and although I was shopping for friends I did manage to pick up something for myself.

BOOM! One of my major collecting goals is complete. I got a pretty sweet deal on the card after bartering with the seller. King Felix is one of my favorite players behind Johnny Damon. I was lucky enough to see him pitch a few years back, in Safeco no less. I can't wait to add another auto to go along with this one....too bad it's extremely hard to find dealers out here that collect west coast teams.

Fair warning, I'll be deviating from my Tigers related posts for some time. I've got a ton of Mariners to highlight so keep checking back soon.

Shh don't tell the girlfriend

I have a mistress, a cardboard mistress. I'm sure most of you follow mycardboardmistress and if you don't go check it out now! Anyways Adam has opened up some great packs lately, a DiMaggio jersey relic comes to mind. There were one or two cards I would have loved to add to my personal collections and lucky for me Adam obliged. When I got home Friday I had a package waiting which was a pleasant surprise. I still owe Adam some cards for the trade so I wasn't expecting  a package yet, but he was clearing out cards to make room. I anxiously opened it up and imagine my surprise when these colorful cards fell out.

He was nice enough to include some Damons I still needed, Dustin Ackley who I hope will live up to his hype as the Mariners desperately need some hope to cling to, and a #ed McCutchen! This was only the appetizer so to speak.

The UD Piece of History cards look great, especially with the red border. I glad I was able to add this to my binder as well.

Finally we get to the card that began this whole trade, but first a disclaimer. I don't really collect any Yankee cards unless it features Maris or Damon. Although Damon is only a small part of the card I felt like I could make an exception, you know since it's #18 of 25!

Thanks goes out to my favorite mistress. I hope to have some cards ordered soon now that I finally got my refund.


Also I'm swinging by the post office to mail out packages for my other pending trades....sorry for the extremely long delay.

Card Show Review

I went to a card show with my collecting buddy Dennis from toomanygrandersons a long while ago. I believe it was even before school started. Anyways I'm trying to scan the stack of cards I have from trades and purchases; so why not start with my recent card show haul.

Sorry for it being upside down I'm do lazy to edit it. First up are some Topps 206 needs. I've decided I'm gonna go after this set since it should be affordable now. The Lincecum is a short print and the Tulo is a #ed mini.

Next up are some cards that I've gotten from Dennis in our ongoing massive trade. The Damon is a short print. The Smoak auto is pretty cool. I'm glad that I was able to get one before he becomes one of the Mariners next superstars....god please let this be true. The two Cabby's are nice additions as is the McCutchen manu patch.

Finally for the good stuff:

A couple vintage Norm Cash which I got off a seller for a $1.50. The  '63 Maris is one of my favorite cards that I now own. I got him off a dealer for a trade. It's a little off centered and has been trimmed a bit, but I don't care.

All in all the show was a little disappointing compared to the last time we went; less tables and unfriendly dealers from the East Lansing persuasion.

Really?

Not trying to get down on the Tigers, but how the hell did they even make it this far? Our offense looks terrible. The offensive leaders are Inge, Kelly, and Santiago ohh and a injured/not injured Delmon Young.

What's that you say bases loaded top of the 9th? V-Mart at bat? Wait I got it he's going to pop out.

On to the next distraction

The Tigers are continuing their half ass attempts at making the next round of the playoffs. I'm not trying to get down on my team or anything, but the offense looks bad, defense looks bad, and pitching has been mediocre. With that said I hope Fister pitches an awesome game Friday and the Tigers survive. If not, I can't say I'd be all that pissed. I'm just glad a Central team put up a fight and didn't get swept.....here's looking at you Twins. If the baseball season ends early there's always the Lions, which I never thought I'd say this but they look good out there. Also the hockey season begins on Friday!! Is anyone else excited?

Speaking of hockey does anyone have any Zetterberg cards available for trade? I'm looking at expanding my card collection to include hockey.

Which one has been worse...

at the plate so far this post season? Austin Jackson or Alex Rodriguez?

Hey Yanks our drunk is better than yours! 24>7

First off I owe you all an apology. I've dropped off the face of the blogging world. Believe me this wasn't by choice, but I unfortunately decided to study for the LSAT which will reach its conclusion tomorrow morning. This meant that it ate up all available free time that wasn't spent on work or school. So, everyone that I've got a trade pending with (Jeff, Dustin, Cardboard Mistress) after tomorrow I'll have much more free time to get some cards together to send you way.

Speaking of trades I've got quite a few to highlight, as well as what I picked up at the most recent card show. I finally got a scanner so no more iPhone pics!

Now on to the state of the Tigers. They finally made it! Like legitimately won, no wild card race for us. It's nice to see all of the huge and long contracts finally work out. Cabby leads the league in batting average and JV I'm convinced is a robot. I can't wait to see how he does tonight, but I'm more looking forward to Fister who has been amazing since he left Seattle. I don't want to bad mouth my home team or anything, but imagine if the Mariners were actually able to get more than 1 or 2 runs on the board in any given game. Fister could easily have been a 18 game winner. Instead we snagged him, and it looks like he'll make an awesome 1-2 punch next season.

Now onto the rest of the rotation. Porcello and Scherzer just aren't doing it for me this year. I want so bad to enjoy watching them, but they make me cringe every time they walk a batter. At least they're not like a high school pitching machine aka Brad Penny. Oh and incase you didn't hear he made the play off team. Why? I couldn't tell you. Maybe it's Leyland's strategy to let the opposing team score 6 runs by the 4th so we can claw our way back.

Finally, big congrats to the Rays. I'm looking forward to seeing Damon in the post season again.

GO TIGERS!!!!!!

Nomo doesn't disappoint

A while back Spiegel over at nomossushiplatter pulled a card or two that I was interested in adding to my player collections. As always Spiegel's package didn't disappoint. He again included some 80s Tigers that are much welcomed in my collection.

Heritage needs:

Tiger sparkly goodness:

Some colorful McCutchens:

A variety of Tigers:

Finally what started the trade:

Thanks again Spiegel! I'll have your cards in the mail this week and I look forward to trading with you again.

Contest Pimpage

There's a great contest where you can win some vintage cardboard....52s to be exact. Go check it out here: thevintagesportscards

Diamond Giveaway Score Pt.6

I really wanted to add a diamond die cut of a certain player. I've seen a few posts from people that have ordered their cards already and the die cuts look awesome. I was lucky enough to get a Felix Hernandez die cut which I posted about a while back ago. After seeing some ridiculous offers for it, I decided to make a trade with it. I honestly didn't think anyone would take the Hernandez for what I wanted, but this evening I checked and was surprised with this.

I can't wait to get this card in hand. It will look great next to my vintage Maris cards. Now I'm trying to trade some of the other cards in my collection so I can get the King Felix back.

Trade with the Cynical Buddha

Allen&Ginter is one of those sets that I don't really collect. Don't get me wrong I love the designs and framed relics, but all of the inserts and short prints just make completing a set next to impossible. It also doesn't help that most of my money went towards Gypsy Queen and  Topps series 1. Anyway I figured I would only go after the players I collect and the Tigers team set. A few weeks back cynicalbuddha busted his box of Allen & Ginter and pulled a framed relic that I really wanted. Also in case you didn't hear he also pulled a Stan Lee auto!

I made a claim on the one relic and we managed to work out a trade since I had a few 2010 inserts to send his way. Here's what awaited me last week in the mail box.

A two color jersey relic, nice! I've been pleased with how well Boesch has been playing this season. It looks like he finally has a sense of the strike zone. Cynicalbuddha was also nice enough to include another card.

Cabby was a nice surprise. If any of you bloggers have any Tigers or any of the players I collect for trade shoot me an email so we can work something out. Also a big shout out to cynicalbuddha and I Hope you enjoy the cards I sent!

I'm Back

First things first, Weaver you are a punk ass bitch and I hope you lose the Cy Young race. I apologize about that but in case you guys haven't heard Weaver got ejected yesterday after throwing a pitch at Avila's head.

My girlfriend and I have had family visiting through out the month of July so my posting dropped off. Never fear I acquired some awesome cards during that time that I'll slowly be writing about

A few weeks ago I received a belated birthday present from Joe over at thesandlotcards. He contacted me asking for my address and said he had something to send. It was a very cryptic email. Joe certainly surprised me! Packed up in the bubble mailer was a card I really wanted from when I first joined the blogger community. Unfortunately I didn't have any Mets to trade him for the card so the trade fell through.

A Justin Verlander autoed rookie card, holy shit! I'm sure you all have seen how dominant he's been this year and will hopefully win 20+ games and the Cy Young. That would make the season better as I'm sure the Tigers will probably drop out of the race since that's what we always do.
I wanted to again say thanks to Joe, and I will be returning the favor to you when I order some new cards.

Need some help with the Twins....

Hey get your head out of the gutter......jeez.
Seriously though I need some help getting some Twins cards together for a future trade. My collections is lacking some Twins aside from base set cards. If any of you out there have inserts or relics/autos to trade let me know so we can work something out.
Come on help a blogger out.

Birthday swag and a hit

A few days ago, July 5th to be exact, I celebrated my 22nd birthday on a Delta flight back to Detroit. My girlfriend had no idea what to get me. There were a few ideas and in the end I wanted some baseball cards and a new Seattle cap since the one I wear all the time is getting worn out.
On our way passing through target to get her niece a present she picked me up several packs of cards, a few packs of Gypsy Queen and series 2 Topps.

The first pack of Gypsy Queen yielded 5 cards. I didn't even get a damn mini. There were 2 Twins, a Ranger, and the highlights were:

 Nothing too spectacular, but the Cobb is a welcomed addition.

Pack 2 was much better and made up for pack 1. Here are some of the cards I snagged.

2/2 on pulling a Tiger not too bad. Actually every pack I got yielded a Tiger. There was one more highlight but that will come later.

It was nice to finally open some series 2 packs. Money has been limited this summer so I've held off picking up any cards for the last few months.

A total of 6 Tigers in one day aint too shabby. Some shiny goodness which I was hoping would be an Indian for a trade that's in the works. Dennis, I set the Putz aside for you.

Finally what you all probably came to check out....

Jose "I hit monster home runs" Bautista
I'm glad it wasn't Gio Gonzalez like it seems every one else is pulling. Bautista has got a pretty decent looking signature, not too cramped and pretty loopy. I'll listen to offers on this card and I'm contemplating on having it graded especially if he legitimately breaks Maris's record.

Some (not so) Recent Additions

About a month ago I went with fellow blogger/Michigan alum Dennis, or you all may know him as caljr3000, to a football autograph signing. It was a pretty neat experience  all in all. Unfortunately it has been pretty slow at work so I lacked the necessary funds to get anything signed. I did however bring a couple cards I thought I'd try and trade. Dennis was nice enough to pick me up a couple cards in exchange for some cards he wanted off of comc.
Up first is a soon to be hall of famer.

Growing up in outside of Seattle, Griffey was always one of my favorites until he left Seattle for Cinncy.  As a kid I had quite the Griffey collection, all graded of course by 3 different authenticators....sarcasm btw. No but really I thought my Griffey collection was pretty awesome, but I realized I didn't have the card above nor do I have my cards from when I was growing up. Oh well this is a great card to start from scratch.

Next up is one of my favorite players whom I wish I could have seen back in the day.

Another base card to mark off the list. My eventual goal is to get every Maris base card while he was an active player.

Finally the card I was most excited for is.....

an autographed Kaline. I actually managed to trade one of the cards that I brought with me to a dealer for this card. Luckily for me Kaline had just gone through and the dealer managed to get a stack of cards signed. It's only a reprint not vintage, but still an awesome card.

Dennis, I've got some cards picked out from the list you sent. I'm hoping to get them ordered soon.

Diamond Giveaway score Pt. 5

I actually traded for this card right after my post about the Miguel Cabrera diamond die-cut. I didn't think I'd have any problems trading it for a King Felix. Here he is, reigning Cy Young award winner. Now if only the Mariners would invest in a hitter to go with their awesome pitching.

I've had some ridiculous offers for this card too. The only one that has been tempting is a Red Wilson from 1960. I thought about it and turned the offer down: the only way I'd trade this is if someone offers me the Maris die-cut.

Also, I've been in the midst of a move and packing for a vacation so to everyone whom I owe trades/working out trades with I'll be back to regular posting after the 4th of July.

A long lost post

Ted from crinklywrappers and I had a trade that took a few months to complete, which was my fault. I had a few manupatches I was waiting for, but during that time he had pulled them himself. He had one card that I was super excited for and one going towards my Ichiro pc (yes I realize there are quite a few players I have pcs for). Anyways towards the end of May we finally worked out an offer. I sent him most of my diamond sparklies well most of the ones I could find unfortunately my card collection is a mess right now due to an upcoming move and other obligations. I also included a couple short prints I had pulled from the 2011 set.

Sorry for the glare, but look at this beauty. I believe this is now the oldest card in my collection. I originally planned to take this to a recent Kaline signing, but I mixed up the dates and missed it by a week. Although this card would look awesome signed I traded for something which will be revealed in a later post. The card looks great, and I'm glad he reached out to me about trading it!

This was the other card I was looking forward to. Now all I need are the minis and the green border Target insert. Ted was also nice enough to include a handful of Tigers to add to my collection.

Thanks Ted for the awesome trade. I hope you enjoy your cards as much as I do mine!

Diamond Giveaway score Pt. 4

About a month ago I posted that I was able to knock one of my collecting goals off my list. I managed to trade for a '61 Norm Cash.

An awesome looking card of an awesome 1st baseman. Since I acquired this card I had been receiving some crazy offers for it, and I'm not talking about the good crazy. Someone tried offering me a handful of nobodies from the 90's. Listen buddy, I don't care that there are 14 cards for my one, they're crap....reject offer. I was getting tired of rejecting trade after trade. This card books at 8 bucks mint, but the price didn't matter to me. Eventually though I began receiving diamond die-cut offers. One offer was Cuddyer and Liriano die-cut. Although it was a tempting offer, trade bait purposes I swear, I rejected it.
Fast forward to last night. I'm sitting at my computer scrolling through offers and I find this one.

Finally, something I'm interested in! Without hesitation I accepted the offer. I figured what the hell? Cabrera is one of the best hitters in the game right now, and also one of my favorite players to watch on the Tigers.
How in the world could I trade vintage for a Topps gimmick? Well I found a perfect conditioned Norm Cash on checkoutmycards. When I get birthday money it too will be added to my collection, and now I can try and flip the Cabrera for a Maris, McCutchen, or a King Felix die-cut.

TTM Success (Help from a friend)

Recently I've been toying with the idea of doing TTMs. William who runs the blog foulbunt gave me ideas and advice on how to do it. While we were chatting he mentioned that Virgil Trucks is an awesome signer, and that they had become friends. He said he was sending another ball out to him so I asked if he could send one for me as well.

Virgil "Fire" Trucks is most known for pitching two no hitters during the '52 season; 5-12-52 and 8-25-52. He began his career with the Detroit Tigers and won the world series in '45 with them.  He even did his time with the Navy during WWII. All in All he reached a number of feats during his 17 year professional career. Of course I'd want to add him to my collection 2x no hitters, 2x all star, and a world series winner with the Tigers!

Fast forward to today and waiting for me in my mail box was an odd round shaped package. As I carefully opened the package up I was surprised at how awesome the ball looked.

All in all the ball looks great. He's still got an awesome signature for being 94 years old. I've now gotta go and get a ball holder so I can put this beauty on my desk. However, this isn't all he sent also inside was an envelope with a letter and card he had written to me.

The letter is a little hard to read but here's my best shot of transcribing it.

Hi Dustin,
Great to sign this ball for you and give you a card. This ball is from Mr. Regenthal, so you can thank him. And I'm not signing anymore unless they send a few bucks for my church. Have a great time learning in college. 
Sincerly,
Virgil Trucks.

Thanks again Will for your help! Mr. Trucks(or relatives) if you're reading this I will be sending some money for your church. Also if you guys haven't read foulbunt I'd suggest checking it out. Will has some awesome TTM successes, and I understand that he has quite the collection of Virgil Trucks memorabilia.

The SMG is one cool guy.

I received a nice surprise in the mail box today. Underneath the credit card offers was a yellow bubble mailer. Weird I thought. See I wasn't expecting any cards. I checked to see who the package was from, and Larry aka the sewingmachineguy was nice enough to send me a few cards out of the blue. I tore the package open barely containing my excitement. Seriously, my girl friend gave me odd looks from her spot on the couch. Here are the two cards that fell into my lap.

Believe it or not this is my first card of his that wasn't an insert or from the Heritage set from 2011. There he is in his sparkly goodness....too talented for the Pirates.

I love this card. I have the base of this, but not the gold so it is a welcomed addition to my personal collection. I'll be returning the favor soon Larry.
(Note these aren't the exact cards he sent. My ipod is dead so no camera.)

Major Collecting Goal Done

One of my major goals since I got back into collecting was to get a Johnny Damon auto. I checked everywhere at the last card show, but to no avail. I figured someone would have a signed card or something especially since he had a stint in Detroit last year. It's a shame the Tigers didn't keep him around especially since he's hitting .275 with 7 hrs, 55 hits, and 30 rbi as a DH. I'm sure all of you know that Damon is my favorite active player. I have quite the collection of his excluding most of his cards as a Yank.
My desperation to add an auto of his to my collection caused me to reach out to fellow bloggers. William from foulbunt helped me out. I had read that he was hitting the card show so I asked him to look for an auto for my collection. He didn't disappoint. After picking it up for me we worked out a trade for a few Orioles he could add to his collection.

The Caveman himself! Apparently, based off all the sites I've gone to for ttms he doesn't sign many autographs. I was pretty excited to add this card, and it's easily one of my favorite cards I own. William, thanks again for picking me up this awesome card!

Contest over at the Diamond King

thediamondking is having a pretty rad contest. Check it out there are some great cards up for grabs.

A Tale of two Perrys and a King

About a week ago Larry the sewingmachineguy was interested in the Brennan Boesch I posted on my trade bait page. We worked out a semi-blind trade which I was a little nervous on since I didn't want him to feel like he got the shit end of a trade. Apprehensions aside I think I got some cool cards set aside to send out his way. Hopefully he'll like them. Anyways he sent me some awesome cards. It was a nice surprise finding a bubble package in my mail box after coming home from a long night at work.
I eagerly opened the package and this was the first card I saw:

 Gaylord Perry in a Mariners jersey, awesome! I was glad to get this card especially since I traded my Gaylord Perry auto away a few weeks ago. It's an amazing lookin' card and very low #ed 05/30. This was only the first Perry in the package. Here's the other one:

Ryan Perry, the Tigers relief pitcher with a terrible era. I'm hoping that he'll get his form back with the Mudhens. The on card auto looks awesome, especially on the 206 set. Did I mention there was a king in the package?

King Felix from the Heritage set. Another #ed card 1945/1960. Another great card, and thanks to all you bloggers my Hernandez collection continues to grow.
Larry, thanks for the great trade! I'll have you cards out in the mail on Thursday.