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.

*61 and the inadvertant history makers

I've been reading the Roger Maris biography that came out last year since school got out and I'm no longer forced to read books on the government of Japan or China. So far it's a pretty good read, but I had an idea that hit me almost like and epiphany.

I should collect the '61 Topps base cards of every pitcher that gave up a home run in Maris's run at breaking the Babe's record. I haven't seen anyone in blog'o'land that's done it yet. So starting today I will be after the pitchers whom inadvertently became part of history. Not only will this add to my Maris pc, but it'll also give me things to write about. So, keep checking back while I attempt this feat. Also if any of you fine bloggers out there can help me out by trading or what not let me know.

New acquisitions from COMC

I placed a COMC order a few months ago but had $3.60 left over. I had over estimated shipping costs since I heard they were pricey. That $3.60 looked awfully lonely on my dashboard so why not try and snag some cards.

I've decided not to go after the entire Gypsy Queen set and instead aim for the players I collect. Here's what I got for $3.00.

Yay! I knocked out 2 bronze bordered cards from my want list.

 You might be thinking hmm what is he going to use the last $.60 on? Well, I'll tell you....it was on some sweet vintage.

A little beat up yes, but what do you expect for $.60? This guy was almost traded for Roger Maris shortly before the '60 season. It would have been interesting to see how everything would have panned out had the trade gone through.

I now have to wait on these cards until I add more money to my account. Until then they'll take up space in my shipping cart.

Baseball Cards Rule contest!

Head on over to http://baseballcardsrule.blogspot.com/ and enter the contest. Up for grabs is an awesome Prince Fielder card!

Trades with Tomahawk Chopping and the Daily Dimwit

A few weeks ago Derek over at http://tomahawkchopping.blogspot.com/ posted some Gypsy Queen doubles he had up for trade. I want to complete the base set, but money has been tight as work has cut down on my hours. Why not trade some cards on hand for some Gypsy Queen? I gathered up some Braves to send his way and this is what I got in return.

(Don't mind my hand)
I got five cards I wanted for my personal collections/ team collections. The Scherzer or Maris is probably my favorite out of the bunch. Thanks again Derek!

Last week the Daily Dimwit pulled an Al Kaline sepia mini. I jumped on it before any other Tigers collectors could lay claim. I sent him a few cards off my trade bait. We put together quite a few cards, and let me tell you I wasn't disappointed.

#'d 95/99
It's a great looking card in person.

More Damons for my pc I need a few more cards to complete the Gypsy Queen. I wish he was still a Tiger especially with his batting line so far in the season.

He was also nice enough to send me the base cards of Kaline and Ellsbury which are also going in my pc stack.

Finally, we come to the main card of the trade.

This card is a beauty, but unfortunately I need to use it in another trade. I'm not too upset though I've got a awesome card coming my way.
So with these two trades I've knocked out quite a bit of the Gypsy Queen set. There are some more cards I want though. I've decided I'm going to chase after the minis and what not for the players I collect. Check out my want list, and see if you can help me out.

Diamond Giveaway score pt. 3

It's no secret that Johnny Damon has been one of my favorite players since I was a kid. Like many of you bloggers out there I stopped collecting cards throughout the 2000s. I missed roughly 9 years worth of sets. As a result I had a large gap in my pc. I had Damon has Royal and a Tiger, but no cards in between. I had quite a few cards in my Topps diamond giveaway haul that I could have cared less about; mainly cards from the 70s and 90s. I didn't really want them since I had no plans on completing the sets and I was tired of them taking space on my virtual card viewer. I figured why not offer them about and see what I can get in return. Here's what I managed to get.

4 more cards to add to my growing collection. I recently came to a startling realization. As much as I hate the Evil Empire, 2 players I actively pursue; Damon and Maris are part of the Yankee legacy.....sigh.

Trade Bait

I finally went through my stacks of cards and got a trade bait page together. Take a look everyone!

I need some help

I don't need to have an intervention or anything..... my collecting habits haven't gotten that bad yet. One of you fine collectors out there picked me up a Johnny Damon auto at a card show today. We're planning an exchange, but the only thing is I don't have a single Orioles relics or autos. If any of you out there have any that you're trying to push let me know so we can work out a possible trade.
Thanks!

Diamond Giveaway score pt.2

After I snagged the '61 Cash I got a little more confident with my trades. I was beginning to think everyone was hoarding their cards are something. (Side note it would be interesting to see someone on Hoarders that hoarded cards instead of spoiled food and dead cats)....Back to the topic at hand. Gates Brown is one cool mo'fo'. I went to a Tigers game last summer when they played the Twins. I was already excited to see Damon, a childhood hero of mine, and Joe Mauer. However after wandering around Comerica I ran into Gates Brown doing a low key autograph session. My girlfriend and I approached him not only did he sign my Michigan hat and several other pieces of Tigers memorabilia, but he also let me put on his World Series ring! Damn are those things big and heavy. After shooting the shit with him for a couple minutes we returned to our seats.
I have very few vintage cards, but I wanted to add a Gates Brown to my collection after meeting him that day. I found out quite a bit of info on the guy after looking him up online. Apparently, in one game he got called on to pinch hit right after he got a couple of hotdogs. He couldn't let the coach see his hotdogs so he stuffed them in his pants and went up to bat. I believe he hit a single but had to slide into first, hotdogs in pocket mind you, and ended up with mustard all down his uniform. What players can get away with that these days? Now it's about hiding  performance enhancing drugs, not ball park snacks.
Anyway I offered up this card:

and in return I got this:

Card Show pick ups

This post is only a month late but I went to the local card show back in April. I was lucky enough that Dennis aka caljr3000 let me take along with him. It was pretty cool needless to say. Dennis had a few Damons and an A&G relic of Felix Hernandez for me.

I set a 35 dollar cash limit for myself otherwise that '55 Mantle would have seemed like a great idea. Now I had a few cards in mind for what I was looking for including a Prado for a fellow blogger(which needless to say none of the vendors had any Braves).  I was also after an Ellsbury rc and maybe a McCutchen auto. Some of the prices for those cards were absolutely ridiculous. One vendor was asking $220 for an Ellsbury auto....the kids good, but not $220 good sorry pal. Disheartened I wandered around with Dennis looking through some boxes of cards. 
I found this beauty:

Edwin Jackson! I liked Jackson when he was on the Tigers. I still don't get why they let him go but all is well that ends well. Now we have Scherzer. I can't remember how much I spent on this card, maybe $3.00. After having it in my possesion for a few weeks it's now going to a good home (hopefully you'll like it, Spiegel).

I picked up a football card which was an auto for Dennis since he snagged me that Hernandez earlier. He was also nice enough and got me this as well:

Sweet, another Hernandez relic! I don't know how I overlooked this card.

and now onto the hits...well not really, but they are some bad ass vintage cards.

Trade with Nomo's Sushi Platter

A few weeks back Spiegel over at nomossushiplatter made a post about a number of Upper Deck Goudeys he opened and was willing to trade. There were a few that caught my eye so I reached at to him about a possible trade. Honestly, I forgot we had set something up since I was overwhelmed with studying for finals at the time. Well yesterday I went to check my mail and found a package from Cali. Here are the goodies I found inside (these are some of my favorites).

The Felix is numbered which is hard to tell in the picture. Since it's a black back it's out of 34, my card is number 11! This is my lowest numbered card in my collection. With all of you great bloggers out there my Felix collection has grown considerably.

He also sent over a few players for my PCs. Including 2 Damon's I didn't have yet and an Ellsbury.

I've gotta as much as I loved that Felix this was my favorite in the package he sent.....

A chrome McCutchen with a rookie all-star trophy.McCutchen has turned into one of my favorite players to watch. I hope he'll eventually leave the Pirates since they're god awful. There were a ton of Tiger's included in the package as well that I didn't have so that was a nice treat as well. 

All in all this was a great trade! I feel bad though since I've still gotta get his package in the mail. Spiegel thanks for the awesome trade. I'll get your stuff out this week and will be looking for some Dodger's to send your way next time the card show comes through.

Diamond Giveway score pt. 1

Jesus it's been awhile. Luckily I'm done with school until September so that leaves me with months of free time. There's no longer any excuse for me to neglect my blog. Anyway onto my post.

One of my short term collecting goals was to get an original Norm Cash card. I went to a card show and found plenty of them, but being so close to Detroit the home town favorites are generally marked up in price so I refrained from purchasing it. It also didn't help that I blew all of my money on a couple vintage Maris's. Good ol' Stormin' Norman was, in my opinion, one of Detroit's best hitters. Back in '61 while Maris and Mantle were clobbering home runs, Cash led the league in hits and had his best season out of his 17 year career. He also had 22 doubles, 8 triples, and 41 home runs. He finished the season with a .361 batting average. By the time he retired in 1974 he amassed 1820 hits, 241 doubles, 41 triples, and 377 home runs. That's a pretty impressive career if I do say so myself.

While at work this past Friday, which was dead due to the law students graduating, I got to looking on the Topps Diamond Giveaway. I've redeemed 14 codes so far and the oldest card I've gotten was this.

 Hey cool a '58. Too bad I've never heard of the guy. So just for the hell of it I offered it up for a couple of potential trades. I'm sitting at my desk and I get a call about a problem with the printing network, so I'm away from my desk for 15 minutes. Imagine my surprise when I come back and find this in my collection.

A '61 Norm Cash! I honestly didn't think Anyone would take the '58. The only thing that sucks is sorting through the 20+ offers for it daily. My favorite so far has been three Oakland A's from the 90's......yeah reject trade offer.