A Four Pack from a Shot Not Taken

Back in October, I sent a few of my non-essential relic cards to Raymond over at Shot Not Taken for a 4 pack of Ranger goodness. Essentially, I sent over 2 Mets jersey cards, a Mavericks jersey card, and two Wrestling? event worn relics....I think I pulled those out of Americana. Here is what I got in return.

2005 Just Minors Nelson Cruz Silver #81/200

Nelson will always be part of a special memory for me. His 2009 Topps card was the first card out of my son's first ever pack of cards.

2008 Just Minors Chris Davis Gold #51/100

2008 Just Minors Chris Davis Auto

I hope this turns out to be a good card to have...that depends on Chris I suppose.

1999 Pacific Omega Jeff Zimmerman #130/299

Jeff was a like a shooting star. In his rookie season (1999) he went 9-3 in 87 IP with a 2.36 ERA and made the All-Star team. He tied a record winning the first 9 decisions of his career. 2000 was a down year, but he bounced back in 2001 to go 4-4 with 28 saves and a 2.40 ERA. A series of injures led to two different Tommy John surgeries and he has not pitched in a major league game since 2001. Jeff officially retired in 2006, but signed a minor league deal with Seattle in April of 2009.

Raymond, thanks for the trade and bringing back the memories of the flash that was Jeff Zimmerman.

You think you've got redemption problems?

If I had pulled a Cat Osterman auto redemption from 2009 A&G only to be told "sorry, can't help ya", I'd be ticked. Imagine if you will then, how thrilled I was to find these bad boys.

2001-2002 Bowman Hockey Mike Comrie Autographed Hockey Puck

EXPIRED 5/30/03

2002 SPX Hockey Rookie Redemption Montreal Canadiens

EXPIRED 4/30/05

2002 Donruss Elite Football "Turn of the Century Autographs" Card #131 Demontray Carter

EXPIRED 1/1/04

2002 Fleer Maximum Alex Rodriguez Maximum Power Game Used Bat Card

EXPIRED 4/30/03

Explain to me why you need a redemption for a bat card. Really Fleer?

2002 Upper Deck Authentics Authenticated Memorabilia Dave Winfield signed 5x7 picture

EXPIRED 3/21/03

These were inserted every 108 packs.

2002 Upper Deck Authentics Authenticated Memorabilia Ken Griffey Jr. signed baseball.

EXPIRED 3/21/03

This is the one I most regret not redeeming.

I found all these redemption cards while going back through a couple of old 32oo count boxes I had in my garage. I had a good laugh until I saw the Griffey Jr. ball redemption. That is one I wish I had sent in. I may be the reason redemption cards have expiration dates. No one could reasonably expect these to be honored (even if the company is still in business). Of course, we all expect CURRENT redemption cards to be honored with the person represented on the card.

Or maybe that's just me.

More Lame Hits from Stats on the Back

Back in August, Mark over at Stats-on-the-Back listed some Lame Hits for trade. I've already posted about some of the cards I claimed. Of course, Mark kept posting more hits so we ended up with two trades. What do you say we start basic and work our way up? Or should that be down?

What we have here is one of the few 2006 Allen & Ginter cards in my collection. Simple, clean and the card stock just feels good.

Another card from a set where I never busted a pack. This 2005 Topps Turkey Red David Dellucci will fill a nice spot in a binder...and lead to me to investigate which other cards I need from the set.

This is the way to do a checklist card. This 1991 Fleer Ultra Checklist No. 400 has The Ryan Express hiding in the background on both sides. Sure, it's not a vintage beauty from the 1970s, highlighted here by Night Owl, but it has a bona fide Hall of Famer on it.

I love getting cards that were issued before I started collecting. I started in 1981, so anything like this 1980 Topps Buddy Bell and earlier is very nice. Thanks to this card, I now know that Buddy Bell's first big league homerun was a grandslam on 4/22/72.

This is a nice, "not boring white swatch" 2007 Topps Turkey Red Hank Blalock blue jersey card. I like Hank. I hope he continues to do well whether he's a Ranger or not. Hank is a good strong baseball name.

The observant among you will note this is not a Texas Ranger card. However, I must defend myself for wanting it because it IS Marlon Byrd, who did a nice job for the Rangers. I also get that it's a sticker auto....a serious no-no, especially if it doesn't fit into the design of the card. I seriously question the placement of this sticker. It is in a recessed window, but they had to cut out a portion of the "frame" to wedge it in there. All that said, I still like having it. It's a Diamond King auto, my first, and #60/100. I prefer autos to bat cards because they get so MANY stinkin' bat slivers out of one bat. They only get one auto out of an auto, sticker or hard signed. That doesn't mean I wouldn't like a bat card from the Babe or Ty or Lou or...on and on.

Mark, thanks so much for posting what you considered Lame Hits. Another man's lame is another man's...well, that just sounds wrong, but you know what I mean. If you ever feel like posting more of them, I'll be watching.

Night Owl Niceties

Night Owl has a collection of cards that spans the decades. I don't know how many cards he has, but he has a little of everything I think. Here we have a trade package he sent me back on August 20th, which would be one of the first I ever received.

I love getting new cards I don't have like this one.

We all know this isn't a great card. As far as cards go the 2009 Topps Gold parallels are nice for team/player collectors, but they're really just another gimmick. But, I love them. I want all of the Rangers who have a gold parallel. I even like to have multiples of the numbered cards just because I'm a little nuts. Who needs multiple copies of Greg Olson's 2009 Topps Gold Card? I do! And since this is my first, I'm looking for more! Besides, he looks like he's really confused that he even has a parallel. Poor guy.

You can count on Night Owl throwing some older cards in your trade package too. I know this 1996 Upper Deck card isn't "old", but when I say older, I'm talking about 80s and 90s stuff. We all love vintage, but older is good too. When it's a Ranger Play at the Plate card, that's just icing on the cake. Helmet off, dirt flying...very nice!

This 1994 Stadium Club Manual Lee card is interesting. I think he's looking into the future and seeing that next season will be his last and he's a little sad. He did play one game for the Cardinals in 1995 and his batting average for 1995 was 1.000. That's right 1 game, 1 at bat and 1 hit. I think he wanted to go out a winner! I got to see him play a few times in 1994, but I don't remember any spectacular.

Oh my goodness!! Chris Carpenter pitched for the Rangers?! How could I have missed that? Because it's not the "I should have won the Cy Young in 2009" Chris Carpenter. It's the "there's no H in Cris" Cris Carpenter. His career was finished the year before the GOOD Chris came along. This Cris was traded to the Rangers on July 17, 1993 by the Marlins for Robb Nen and Kurt Miller. I remember being upset that the Rangers traded Nen. Cris pitched in 74 games for the Rangers in 1993-1994, going 6-6 in 91 innings.

Poor Kevin Belcher. First, there's the BIG glasses. Too bad he came along before LASIK. I wonder how many of today's players have had eye surgery. Kevin managed to get into 16 games for the Rangers in 1990 going 2-15 with 6 strikeouts. He scored 4 runs...what I would give to play in 16 major league games and cross that plate even once!

1985 Topps Danny Darwin. This was Danny's last full year in Texas (he had a 7 game stint to finish out the 95 season). Danny was one of those middle of the road guys. In 21 big leagues seasons, he posted double digit wins only 5 times with a high of 15 in 1993 (Red Sox). He pitched for 9 different teams. His numbers reflect a long career. His record was 171-182, career ERA of 3.84 with a little over 3000 IP and 1942 strikouts. During his last 8 seasons, he only had an ERA under 4.13 once (3.02). He did manage to mix 32 saves in along the way.

1982 Donruss Buddy Bell. Buddy was one of my favorites when I first got into baseball. It wasn't until I got my first Buddy Bell card that I realized he had played for the Indians before he came to the Rangers and I was a little hurt. I was more than a little hurt when he was traded to the Reds in 1985. Buddy won 6 Gold Gloves, all as a Ranger, between 1979-1984.

Lastly we have some cards to fill a need.

Thanks Night Owl! I appreciate the blasts from the past!

Wicked Friday!

Although I just got this trade package on November 9th, this post is long overdue. The first trade package I got from Wicked Ortega is somewhere at the bottom of the trade package pile, so I'm posting this one now. Wicked either has an incredible collection (I know this is true) or he frequently picks up trade bait for others (also true). If you read any blogs at all you see frequent trade posts indicating both his generosity and willingness to get you cards you're going to love. The people at the post office must hate him because he sends so many packages. I'll tell them the same thing I tell the postal employees at my local post office--You're losing money hand over fist, don't roll your eyes because I've got 8 little packages for you to weigh!! Ok, I don't really say that out loud because I don't want my packages to "get lost", but I think it...and boy does that help.

Wow, where did that come from?! Let's pick up with our current post already in progress. Here is what the Wicked One sent me this time.

Thes look like the 2009 Topps Walmart Blaster Black versions that had everyone in a tizzy. I got a few of these, but not one Ranger was among them, so it's nice to have them now.

Seriously, stop already. Just take action shots of Michael. He either doesn't like your photographer or has Chandler face when he gets his photo taken. Don't act like you don't remember that episode of Friends when Chandler....oh never mind. Yea, I watched them all.

Gotta love that old-school catcher's gear. No body armor like they wear today. Johnny Bench was great and is definitely on my all-time favorites list.

A couple of newbies to my collection. Pudge as a Detroit Tiger (blech!!). Still, they're Pudge cards so I like them.

Yet another player on my favorite player list. Congrats Mr. Joe Mauer, MVP!

Here is one of the key parts of the trade. My first Pudge Marlins relic. This one is even numbered 139/200 so sorry all you other people that can't have it. Like you care, but I do! Thanks WO!

This is my second most favorite card of the trade. A TTM from Bobby Witt that Wicked was kind enough to share with me! AWESOME!!

Last, but certainly not least, is my favorite, a 1992 Fleer Dean Palmer that WO got signed TTM. He had a post about getting some TTMs from Dean that inspired a post of my own about meeting Dean years ago and the next thing I know, one of his TTMs arrives in the mailbox. Thanks for being so generous Wicked!! I should have your package in the mail by Monday at the latest. I look forward to many more Wicked trades!

When the Saints Come Marching In

We're not talking Drew Brees and Marques Colston. No, we're talking trade goodies from Saints of the Cheap Seats. Dan and I pulled off this trade back in early September. He sent me a shiny filled pack of goodies. Let's have a look, shall we.

It's not shiny, but let's start with 2008 Goudey. Dan knocked off about 10 of my wantlist needs including this nifty Bo Jackson. I guess it's true what they say "Dan knows Bo".

R.A. Dickey is one of those guys the Rangers had high hopes for and he just never panned out. He did win 16 games for them over 5 seasons and pitched in 35 games for the Twins in 2009.

Thomas Diamond was the Rangers 1st round pick (10th overall) in 2004 and was rated the top prospect in the Rangers organization by Baseball America that same year. He was frequently mentioned in trade talks as a piece other teams wanted, but the Rangers always said no. He missed all of 2007 after having Tommy John surgery. He NEVER pitched an inning at the big league level with the Rangers and according to a press release, was claimed off waivers in September of 2009 by the Cubbies.

This is a nice piece of shininess from 2007. Chris Davis needs to do SOMETHING in the off-season to cut down on the strikeouts. I do like his potential so we'll see what he does in 2010.

There were almost 20 other Chrome cards in the pack, every single one new to my collection.

2005 Upper Deck ESPN Michael Young. Dan included a couple of these from another set I never saw. I need to put a checklist together for Mr. Young and see what other kind of goodies are out there that I haven't seen before.

2000 Fleer Ultra Tom Goodwin. Tom stole a few bases in his career. He didn't always take them home, which he appears to be doing in this photo. I liked Tom when he was with the Rangers. He didn't have any power, didn't knock in a lot of runs, but he could scoot and stole bases, scored runs and could run some balls down in the outfield.

For some reason, this 1992 Jimmy Dean unlicensed Juan Gonzalez card makes me hungry. For breakfast. I think IHOP is open.

This is my favorite card from the package. I didn't have this 2007 Bowman Ian Kinsler and now I do.

Dan, thanks for the trade and I look forward to more deals with the Saint.

I am thankful for...

There are so many things to be thankful for, but since the subject matter of our little community is the card collecting hobby, I'll stick to the subject.

I'm thankful my addiction to cards in the late 90's/early 00's didn't lead to me being single again.

I'm thankful I didn't get rid of ALL my cards at that yard sale a couple of years ago.

I'm thankful I was bored silly at work one night and for some odd reason did a search on "baseball cards + blog" and discovered this community.

I'm thankful for all the trades completed with other bloggers. The generosity around here is truly astounding.

I'm thankful for the encouragement I received from some of you to start blogging.

I'm thankful none of you has begged me to stop blogging (at least not out loud). YET.

I'm thankful for all 31 followers and every single comment ever made on one of my posts.

Most of all I'm just thankful to have a hobby that I enjoy and other people to share the experience with.

Oh yea, I'm thankful for all the regular stuff too--God, family, job, folks in the military, etc.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! Have a blessed day. And Go Cowboys!

A collector is born

I've recently mentioned in several posts about my son starting to collect 2009 Topps. Without retelling the entire story, he has seen my cards since he was young enough to slobber on them, and over the summer started buying a few packs of 2009 Topps Series One. He was excited to have his own collection and decided he would try to get the complete set.

I don't know if this will stick, but I'm doing all I can to encourage him. Whenever I give him some little reward, I try to make it a pack of cards. I've collated all the cards he bought and the couple of blasters I bought and given him all the cards towards his set (I kept the dupes). A few people have sent him some cards in the trades I've made. He likes that and I really appreciate it. A few other people have asked for a wantlist for him and we finally got it together over the weekend. It's heavy on the first series because he only has what he bought. If you can help, I'll do what I can to meet some of your wantlist or player/team needs. Thanks!

Topps Series 1 list: 1,3,4,7,16,17,18,22,27,29,31,32,34,35,42,45,46,48,50,54,66,74,75,76,82,

83,84,87,94,97,101,109,115,117,119,125,126,127,131,135,136,138,140,143,147,150,152,169,

170,176,179,181,184,188,191,195,200,202,205,208,210,213,216,217,219,220,222,223,224,

225,232,241,243,245,246,250,255,259,260,262,265266,267,270,275,282,283,295,297,298

312,316,317,321,328,330

Topps Series 2 List

335,353,361,380,384,385,396,407,411,419,421,428449,457,487,494,495,516,527,533,539,

541,554,555,594,597,603,609,629,630,633,636,644,652,656,660

Wow, it didn't seem like that many until I had to type it. Thanks everyone!

Updated 12/24/09

Contest Results

We have a winner in the 1991 Stadium Club pack break contest. The winner only missed by 30, while the greatest margin was 2531! The 12 card pack gave up the following cards.

The first card out of the pack was the best one.

Cal Ripken, Orioles--430

I always liked how they showed the player's rookie card on the back.

Sid Bream, Braves--427

Jose Offerman, Dodgers--340

Ernie Riles, Athletics--432

Russ Swan, Mariners--577

Tim Burke, Expos--514

Roger Clemens, Red Sox--309

Wally Backman, Phillies--368

Matt Young, Red Sox--426

Hubie Brooks, Mets--325

Brian McRae, Royals--478

This is the closest I came to pulling a Ranger out of the pack. Jeff Huson in what was obviously an exciting (yawn) play with Brian McRae.

Tom Candiotti, Indians--405

That's a total of 5031 so Bud over at First Day Issue wins with a guess of 5001. Great guess Bud. This is the second contest in a row that Bud has won! Bud, I'll get your prize pack out in a couple of days.

The Troll Man--Our first Trade

This one goes all the way back to August 14th. If you've noticed, the Collective Troll is MIA, but he has touched base with Wicked Ortega so we know he's out there....watching, always watching. Troll, hope everything is ok with you. Back in my very early trades I was seeking 09 A&G Minis. (I still am) Troll sent me some of those and a few Rangers goodies as well.

Here are the minis. Notice the nice Michael Phelps on the bottom right. Not a bong anywhere to be seen.

I think we need a new rule: All Michael Young cards should show him in action. Check out Night Owl's blog if think I'm kidding.

This one's not too bad and is my favorite card of the trade (next to the minis). It looks like the sun just exploded over his right shoulder, but that is my bad photography.

These were a surprise. I'd never seen these before and I like them for that very reason. They are 1987 Donruss Opening Day Rangers. Thanks for giving me something new to look at Troll.

1982 Topps. More cards that take me back to my early collecting days. This is what we had to look forward to during my second year in the hobby at the ripe old age of 12. Pre-price guide and when the trades were flying. I miss those days....but the blogosphere has brought that back to a certain degree.

I saved this one for last. It made me think of Beardy. I don't know why.

There were another 35 Rangers plus a few regular A&Gs in the package as well.

Troll, thanks for the nice trade...I've still got one or two more to post from you!