Dear Topps...or Upper Deck...or Panini...or...

It's past time for card manufacturers to start paying attention to collectors. Putting together panels is nice, soliciting opinions is swell, but if they don't DO something with the information they get, it's all for naught.

This is not where I start spouting off all the things that need to be done to fix what I perceive to be wrong with the hobby. If I had some cure-all, I'd be trying to get a job at one of the companies and more importantly, that's a whole other post. I'm actually just taking a look at the comments from my "What will you collect in 2011?" post.

Eighteen people commented on the post, which is pretty good for a non-contest post. There were 68 page views according to Blogger Stats. Here is a break-down of the comments. Keep in mind that some people have several goals in mind for 2011, so there are more than eighteen items of interest. I'll include my own plans as well.

2011 Products
A&G--7 people are interested, including one who "may drop serious coin". NachosGrande bought a case last year and I'll bet he does again this year. That's a break worth watching.
Topps Flagship--5 people are interested. That's not many and one of the main complaints is the high number of inserts Topps uses now.
Heritage--only one for certain. Bad news for Topps.
Football and Hockey were also mentioned by one waxy Canuck.

Vintage
Six people said they want to either go or continue in the vintage direction in 2011.

Team Stuff
Seven people said they would be concentrating on team collections, many buying only team sets of new products. That's an after market purchase and puts little or no money in the manufacturer's coffers.

Older Boxes
A surprising six people said they wanted to start or continue purchasing older boxes. This also puts no money in the company pockets and just proves that people know if you can get past the new card hype, you can get some really good prices.

Singles/PC stuff
Four people said this was one of their goals for 2011.

Undecided
A couple of people said they weren't sure how their purchases would go for 2011. I think that's appropriate. Take 2010 Bowman for instance. Once Strasmania hit, there were probably many people who bought Bowman that normally would not spend a penny on prospecting.

As for me, I like to buy at least a few packs of everything that's new, just to see it for myself. However, if the comments on the above post are any indication, this may be a seriously down year for big card companies.

They can all take steps to change that. Better designs, better photgraphs, better designs...did I say better designs yet? They can also...oh wait, I said that was for a different post.

In case you missed it...

I know we've been in holiday mode for a few days or for the last week if you're lucky.

If you've read these two posts, I'm not trying to beat you over the head with them, but I'm hoping to get a little more feedback on these.

This one only got 16 page views according to Blogger Stats. It's about an idea I'm going to try over the next couple of weeks.

This one got 29 page views and garnered 10 comments. I'm going to use the feedback in a post later in the week, so get your comments in if you feel so inclined.

Thanks for reading and welcome back to reality.

I know, I know, but don't be mad at me, blame the calendar.

Does this happen to you?

There are a handful of blogs out there that I can't visit.

It's not because I don't want to and it's not because I can't click on the links.

It's because everytime I try to open one of the posts on these blogs, it causes my computer to go haywire.

Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius, or The Ron Washington Appreciation Society as he is temporarily called, is one of them. Sully Baseball is another. There are others that I can't remember off the top of my head.

Every time I click on these blogs, my computer starts opening multiple tabs of the same blog page. It will open dozens of pages if I allow it. I immediately have to log off the computer and start over. It's very frustrating. I'm also missing out on some quality blogs, but I don't know what the problem is or how to prevent/fix it.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Check these guys out

I know it has to be tough to get your blog going, get a regular group of followers and then change names. You lose some followers and some of the momentum you had.

Mike, formerly of Offy's Sports Site, has changed over to Sports Syzygy. If you were following Offy and haven't made the switch, get on it. If you never were a follower, now is your chance.

Another new guy to me, is Justin from Justin's World. Justin is taking part in the great MCG Tradeathon and just happens to be showing off a few play at the plate cards. I'm not biased or anything, but swing by Justin's World.

Jimmy, from Prophet Got It... is another blogger I've recently discovered. He's taking part in the MCG Tradeathon as well and I've seen a number of trade posts by other bloggers who have been happy to deal with the "Prophet".

Do the bloggers and yourself a good deed by checking them out if you havne't already.

What will you collect in 2011?

The New Year is rapidly approaching and with it, comes a new season of collecting.

What does that mean for you? Will you be collecting everything that Topps and the others throw at us? Will you follow your same collecting patterns or change it up? Will you stick to your plans or cave in and buy everything under the sun? Are you even going to buy anything this year?

I think I'm going to buy the Topps Flagship product again. Beyond that, I'll probably enter Gint-A-Cuffs III, which will most likely be my only hobby box of the year. I'll buy a little bit of most releases, even if just a few packs, because I like to see and judge for myself. Don't get me wrong, I read nearly every blog I can to see what's being pulled and what the thoughts of each new product are, I just like to see them up close. I'm interested in Heritage this year, but no more than in previous years. I like it, but it's a tough set to build with all the SPs so I haven't finished even one yet and don't expect to do it this year either. I do want to start making some progress on the 1973 set so I'll spend a little more on vintage this year.

So what's your plan for 2011?

Planting Seeds

Every once in awhile, the topic of kids and cards will pop up around the blogs. Many times it is within the context of card companies' failed attempts to market cards to kids and you get arguments both for and against the way manufacturers go about it. As a father and a collector I have pretty strong feelings about this and it's like a lot of things. You can't expect society, or in this case, the card manufacturers to take responsibility for doing the job of the parent/grown-up.

I can't sit back and criticize society if my kid is cussing and treating people like garbage if I don't set any limits on the television, movies or video games he sees. From the hobby perspective, I can't criticize the card manufacturers for not marketing cards to my kids if I don't first expose them to the hobby in a real, personal way. My oldest son is well on his way to being a collector. I don't know if it will stick long term, but he's learning the ins and outs of the hobby. My youngest son doesn't care at all about cards. That's ok too. It's not for everyone.

I think it's fairly evident that this hobby is slowly dying. Does it help that with my son, I might have a collector in the making? Sure it does. Does replacing one aging collector (me) with one young collector solve the problem? No. There are many things which need to be done to not only create new collectors, but keep those of us who have been involved in the hobby for a long time coming back. However, that's a different post. This is all about one small idea that might just make a small difference for the future of this hobby.

I'm going to start planting seeds in December. I've started putting a few cards into team bags for my son to give out to his friends and classmates. Of course, around here, the Texas Rangers are most kids' favorite team so I'm including a lot of those in the team bags. Not just base cards either. The occasional insert, relic, and even an auto or two will be included.

My hope is that by doing this early in the month, maybe some kid will see all those packs on the card aisle at Wally World and ask for some cards for Christmas. I don't expect to change the world with this idea. It's not going to stop the North Koreans from shelling the South, put an end to poverty or hunger or cancer. But it just might spark an interest in this hobby in some kid who never saw a baseball card before. It might give my son someone to trade with besides me.

It's something we can all do, even if we don't have kids. Give the cards to nieces, nephew, grandkids, neighbors' kids. Whatever. If we plant enough seeds, we'll end up with a forest in the future.

Fun in the Background

I'm continously amazed by some of the vintage cards I've never seen before. The pictures, whether of the main subject, or the background, on some vintage cards are hilarious.

I ran across another one of these yesterday.

How's that for sheer awesomeness? At first glance, you think that Dalton Jones (circa 1971 Topps) doesn't realize that Farmer Joe and his tractor are behind him. You are in fact correct that Jones does not notice the out of place farmer and his trusty tractor. That soon changes however.

If you read closely, you see that Jones hit a "Grand-Slammer" (I love that terminology), but was credited with a single when he passed a runner on the bases. I believe the runner was so distracted by the appearance of the tractor that he slowed down and Jones, also distracted by the tractor, didn't see the runner and ran right past him.

At least that's what I think happened.

Ye Olde Tradeathon Update

If anyone is still interested in participating in Ye Olde Tradeathon, you can see the original trade post here. I'll let this ride through to the end of November and then finish it up. However, that's not really what this post is about.

I've made a number of trades since last updating the MCG Tradeathon.

The first three are trades that don't involve someone who is in the contest. These were just random offerings I accepted to upgrade cards in our lot.

I accepted a 1993 Will Clark for a 1993 David Wells. Huge upgrade in my opinion. I accepted a 1988 Tony Gwynn for a 1987 Tony Gwynn. Why you ask? Because I also accepted a 1987 Tony Gwynn for a 1987 Pete Rose. So basically that was an '88 Gwynn for the Rose, which I think is an upgrade.

This first trade with someone entering the contest came courtesy of Chris over at The Vintage Sportscards Blog. You should check his other blog out as well, 1973 Topps. Here is what Chris sent over in exchange for a 2007 Brian Fuentes card.

'70 Gates Brown
'72 Jim Fregosi
'76 Randy Moffitt
'79 Al Cowens
'86 Pete Rose
'87 Rich Gossage...Rich, not Goose (but it is Goose!)
'89 Pete Rose
'89 Team Leader Yankees
'90 Curt Schilling--oddly enough, I get quite a few trade offers for this card.

Next up is Justin. I don't know if Justin has a blog (let me know if you do!) He had only one card, but it was a definite upgrade. I sent Justin a 2007 Eijah Dukes ( I didn't misspell that, Topps has it listed as Eijah, not Elijah) for this:

A 1988 Andre Dawson All-Star card. As Justin said, it is very, very yellow.

Our next intrepid trader is Rod from the great blog Padrographs. He sent over some nice cards for a lowly 2005 Sidney Ponson.

'69 Lee May--that's a nice card.
'74 Jim Rooker
'74 Von Joshua
'78 Manny Mota
'80 Mike Heath
'83 Frank Robinson
'00 Jay Buhner
'07 Kris Benson

Last, but not least, is Scott from Smed's Baseball Card Blog. The Topps site was experiencing some technical difficulties when we were trying to make our deal, so we did a small experimental trade to test it. I sent over a 2007 Kris Benson for this:

A 1984 Topps 1983 Highlights card. 1983 was a bad year for the Big Train. Once we figured out the trading feature was actually working, we finished our deal. I sent Scott a 2005 Billy Koch and he sent over the following cards.

'78 Dave May
'87 Steve Garvey
'87 Eddie Murray
'01 Ivan Rodriguez
'07 Kris Benson--worst card ever!

That should give us 58 cards so far if I've counted right. Shoot me an email or leave if a comment if you still want to take part in the tradeathon.

*EDIT* Justin does have a blog...check it out at Justin's World.

Final Boarding Call for the MCG Tradeathon

I completed a couple more good trades for the Tradeathon and I'll be updating the progress a little later. If anyone is still interested, I have a couple more bloggers that I'm waiting on and then I'll try to wrap this up so I can start working on a big trade.

You can go here to the original post to see what it's all about.

I'll be back in the office at 3PM central time today if anyone wants to make some Tradeathon deals.

Funny Name, Scary Cartoon

As my 16 hour shift comes to an end, and my next shift starts in only 8 hours, I thought I would put up something to read for those of you not enduring the madness that is Black Friday.

I ran across this gem yesterday.

This is a 1959 Topps Solly Hemus. I daresay he is the only Solly and only Hemus to ever appear in an MLB game. I may be wrong, but you'll have to show me some proof of that. You'll notice that the card lists Mr. Hemus as Infield-Manager. I've always been intrigued by the player-manager and the most notable one in my memory was Pete Rose and I always associate that with the betting scandal. Solly Hemus played 11 years in the Majors, accumulating 736 hits, 51 homers and 263 RBIs while batting .273. He played primarily for the Cardinals and the Phillies.

You'll notice the write up on the back states that Solly was taking over as the Cardinals' skipper and would be pinch hitting and playing a little defense. He was also pretty young to be a manager at the ripe old age of 35. He actually didn't play much in 1959, appearing in 24 games, but only going 4/17 with one RBI. 1959 would also prove to be his last year as a player. He would go on to manage the Cardinals for 2+ seasons going 71-83 in 1959, 86-68 in 1960 and then 33-41 in 1961 before being replaced by Johnny Keane.

The part of this card that really caught my attention, even more so than Solly's name, was the somewhat disturbing cartoon on the back.


Is the batting crown of the Pioneer League so prestigous that you would actually kill yourself because you didn't win it? I can't imagine any card company using this type of cartoon today.

And then there were five

By now you've heard Josh Hamilton won the 2010 A.L. MVP award. Contrary to some bloggers' opinions, I think it was the right choice. I may be biased, but it's my blog so there.

Hamilton's award makes a total of five MVP awards for the Texas Rangers. Let's take a look at the recipients shall we?

In only the Rangers' third year in Texas, Jeff Burroughs won the 1974 MVP Award. Burroughs scored 84 runs, hit 33 doubles and 25 homers and knocked in 118 RBIs while batting .301. He was also at the center of the "10-Cent Beer Night" fiasco in Cleveland. In the 9th inning of a tie ball game, drunken Indians fans poured onto the field and surrounded Burroughs, attempting to take his hat and glove. Players from both teams rushed to help Burroughs and the game was eventually forfeited to Texas.

Juan Gonzalez was a two time MVP winner. In 1996 he scored 89 runs, hit 33 doubles and 47 homers and drove in 144 RBIs while hitting .314. His 1998 numbers are even better. He scored 110 runs, hit 50 doubles and 45 homers and drove in 157 RBIs while hitting .332. I was at the game on July 5, 1998. It was the Rangers' last game before the All-Star break and Juando drove in 4 to give him 101 RBIs at the break. That was astonishing. All the talk was of his chance to break Hack Wilson's single season RBI record of 191. Juan "only" had 56 RBI's after the break, getting nowhere near the record. His 157 RBIs is tied for 27th on the single season record list.

In 1999, the Rangers had their second MVP in a row and third in 4 years. Ivan Rodriguez had a great year, scoring 116 runs, hitting 29 doubles and 35 homers and driving in 113 RBIs while hitting .332. I was fortunate to see Pudge play in person a number of times and you always had to be paying attention because he would throw a laser beam to first or second and pick someone off in a flash.

Now to this year's MVP winner, Josh Hamilton. Despite missing 29 games, Josh put up impressive numbers. He scored 95 runs, hit 40 doubles and 32 homers while driving in 100 and hitting .359. I've heard people say he missed too much time to deserve the MVP, but take a look back at Joe Mauer's stats from his MVP year in 2009.

I wouldn't be shocked to be updating this post in 2011 after Josh wins his second consecutive MVP. Hopefully that post will come on the heels of a post celebrating the Rangers first World Series Championship. That's not such a far fetched notion anymore.

The What I Wish I Could be Thankful for Thanksgiving Post

I posted my "what I'm thankful for" post earlier today, but I saw a post like this on someone's blog a couple of days ago. I wish I could remember who it was so I could give them proper credit. It got the wheels turning and I thought of three things I would like to say I was thankful for next year.

1. The end of sticker autos. I know the reasons given for the use of sticker autos and I don't care. Figure out a way to do it cheaper. How about less crappy swatch cards that no one wants. Maybe that will help cut down on costs.

2. The end of the Topps monopoly. Topps hasn't proven that no competition is going to increase quality. It only serves to lower the effort to put out quality products with nice designs. Don't get me wrong, I like Topps and I'll keep buying Topps products, but I'd like to have a choice.

3. The creative Bloggers who do their own custom cards got together, got a license and put out a set of amazing cards with brilliant designs. Some of you are creating cards that put the big boys to shame. If I was a designer with one of those companies, I'd be hoping that none of the bosses happened across the blogging community and saw how talented some of you guys are.

What do you think? Would you like to see any of these or do you something you'd like to see in the New Year?

The What I'm Thankful For Thanksgiving Post

First, let me wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you are able to spend it with family and friends. Take a moment today to say a prayer, if you do that sort of thing, for all the men and women in the military or supporting the military around the world. They won't get to spend their Thanksgiving with family and it's always a tough day for those folks.

I could list all the "real world" things I'm thankful for, but I'll save that for my family time. I want to use this post to mention the things I'm thankful for about this hobby.

1. It has provided a connection between my youth and my adult life to my son. He hasn't gone crazy over the hobby, which is healthy, but he likes Rangers, Longhorns and Cowboys. He likes looking through my old cards and it's always funny to see his reaction when he touches a card that isn't slicker than a used car salesman. He still thinks a gray swatch relic card is "super sweet" and has Never, Ever, called a pull "sick". I love that unjaded view and it keeps me grounded.

2. I've "virtually" met some great people through the blogs. Many of you have become trading partners and even friends. I haven't traded with all of you (yet), but just getting to know you through your blogs/comments has been great.

3. Because of some of your amazing blogs, I've learned that the back of a card can be just as interesting, if not more so, than the front. I've also learned that the player isn't always the most interesting part of a card photo. Pay attention to what's going on in the background.

4. The Texas Rangers made it to their first World Series and I got to take my son to Game 4. I know that's not technically hobby related, but I'm still thankful for it.

5. This time around the hobby is just that, a hobby. I haven't let it become an obsession.

6. I'm thankful anyone takes the time to read the chaos that spills out on a semi-regular basis. I started this blog to post the numerous trades that I was making and it's turned into an outlet that I really enjoy

I'm sure there is much more to be thankful for, but as is the norm for me, if I don't write it down when it pops into my head, it oftentimes isn't there when I try to remember it later.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I want my own Heinie

I noticed something amazing on the Topps Million Card site last night while tooling around working on the great Tradeathon. Some lucky fool redeemed a code for some Heinie. Not just any Heinie, but this Heinie.

A 1909 Heinie Zimmerman. How sweet is that? I know practically nothing about cards from that era so I'm only assuming the Zimmerman is a T206 like this one.

This 1909 T206 Willie Keeler was also unlocked by someone. Can you imagine buying a $5 pack of Update, punching in the code and seeing this pop up? I can, but it didn't happen to me.

Along with these two, I also saw Cy Seymour, Monte Cross, Rube Kisinger, Paul Davidson and Bunk Congalton.

That's not going to make me go buy a lot more packs to get more codes, but it does make me want to save some money and buy something really vintage.

Congrats Josh Hamilton--A.L. MVP

I'm at the dentists office with the boys, but I wanted to congratulate Josh on a great season. I know he's a big fan of PATP (yea right).
I'll give him a proper post tonight!

I have a confession to make

I haven't touched a real baseball card in almost a week.

I've been too busy with "virtual" cards in the MCG Tradeathon that I'm putting together.

At last count, I had 19 cards (I think) from a total of 4 particpants. That first round of trades was covered here.

Today, we have two more transactions to cover.

First up, Ryan from "O" No!!!...Another Orioles Blog didn't have a card to throw in, but he offered up two codes for me to redeem. That's just as good as a trade and actually gets two cards in the mix without having to give up any. I waited until I saw a few '50s cards on the board and plugged them into the site.

The first code unlocked a 2004 Woody Williams. Meh.

The second code unlocked this nice Action card.

A 1972 Claude Osteen In Action to be exact. That will go nice with the trade I try to put together.

Thanks Ryan!

Next up was a trade from Darkship of Midwest Cardboard fame. He added 19 cards to the Tradeathon coffers. In exchange for a 2007 Brandon McCarthy, Todd sent over:

'74 Winston Llenas
'79 Jason Thompson
'79 Don Robinson
'79 Jeff Newman
'86 Tom Waddell
'86 Terry Harper
'93 Pete Smith
'93 Prospects Card
'94 Tim Hulett
'95 Gabe White
'98 Mark Grudzielanek (I'd like to see hs auto on a mini card)
'98 Luis Gonzalez
'98 Mark Loretta
'02 Dave Martinez
'05 Sydney Ponson
'05 Billy Koch
'05 Bob Melvin
'07 Brian Fuentes
'07 Elijah Dukes

During the email back and forth with Todd, he noted that he wanted to participate in the Tradeathon because he was tired of people offering 2007 commons for his 1970's cards. I thought it was ironic then that he traded me all his cards for ONE 2007 common.

I believe we now have 39 cards in the Tradeathon pot and three or four more people who are interested in partipating. Drop me a comment if you're interested and I'll try to coordinate a deal with you too.

The Texas Triangle

I'm wiped out.

In the NBA, teams will sometimes be forced by the schedulers to face the "Texas Triangle". That's three road games in a row that take you to Dallas, San Antonio and Houston (not necessarily in that order).

I faced my own Texas Triangle this week. I drove the family from Dallas to Austin on Friday. We enjoyed about 44 hours visiting with my mother and on Sunday at noon, we drove from Austin to Houston for a wedding. The wedding was at 4 pm and we left at 5:35 to drive back home to Dallas. We arrived home a little after 9:30, unpacked the car and I left for work.

Here I sit, tired and more than a little grumpy. If I can just make it through tonight, I'll be able to sleep good in the morning.

I'm hoping to update the MCG tradeathon tomorrow night. A few more people have expressed an interest and one person actually sent me two codes to throw in the mix.

Until then...

Richard Simmons was an All-Star?!

I'll bet you didn't know that.

I've got proof too.

Ok, maybe that's not Richard Simmons, but you have to admit the similarities are striking. I ran across this card on Friday and got a good laugh out of it. I looked Randy Jones up on baseball-almanac.com and was shocked to discover he won the Cy Young Award in 1976. I say shocked because I don't think I've ever heard of Randy Jones. For two years in the mid-70s, he was a star. Well, at least an All-Star.

Randy Jones pitched in the majors for 10 years. His career numbers are a 100-123 record, with a 3.42 ERA and 735 Ks to go along with 73 complete games. Those don't sound like amazing numbers, but pull out his two best seasons, 1975 and 1976, and he was very good. In 1975 he went 20-12 with a 2.24 ERA in 285 innings pitched. He had 18 complete games and a whopping 103 strikeouts. In 1976, his Cy Young year, he went 22-14 with a 2.74 ERA in 315.1 innings. He had 25 complete games and 93 strikeouts. Just think, he lost more games that year than Felix Hernandez won this year, and they both won a Cy Young Award.

Jones pitched in two All-Star games, both coming in his best years. In 1975 he pitched one scoreless inning, earning a save. In 1976, he started and pitched 3 scoreless innings, earning the win for the National League.

I'd say that's a pretty good couple of years for a guy I never heard of...until now.

You know you want in!

A few days ago, I invited people who had unwanted cards on the Topps MCG site to send them to me. The idea is for me to pool as many cards together as possible and trade them for something vintage and then random it off to all the participants.

Last night the trading started in the Topps MCG Tradeathon.

Jimmy from the blog Prophet Got It...was the first to respond to my email. We actually made three trades in a row.

The newest card in my portfolio was a 1980 Allen Ripley. Believe it or not, Jimmy sent over the follwoing cards for Mr. Ripley:
'87 Mets Team Leaders Card
'87 Tony Gwynn
'87 Mike Schmidt All-Star
'02 Reggie Sanders
'04 Danny Graves
'06 Chad Orvella
'08 Ryan Zimmerman
'09 Mariano Rivera

I immediately sent the '06 Orvella back to Jimmy for the Ripley with the idea that a 1980 card is better than a 2006 card.

Jimmy then decided to throw another 4 cards in the pile. I sent the '04 Danny Graves back his way and he sent these:
'87 Pete Rose mgr
'89 Ozzie Smith
'01 Dan Wilson
'06 Chad Orvella

Next up on the tradeathon is The Brooklyn Met from Clear Cut Cards.

I sent him the '06 Orvella in exchange for the following:
'81 Preston Hanna
'85 Tim Foli First Draft Pick
'02 Bobby Jones

The third trader of the evening was Kerry from Cards on Cards. I sent Kerry the '02 Reggie Sanders in exchange for:
'70 Fred Talbot
'84 Bobby Brown
'91 Roy Smith
'94 Manual Lee
'05 Matt Holliday

The final trader for last night was Jeremy from No One's Going to Read this Blog.

I sent Jeremy the '02 Bobby Jones in exchange for:
'07 Brandon McCarthy
'07 Garret Atkins

That's a pretty good start. If I counted correctly, that's 19 cards that I can put toward a trade for something worth paying to have shipped.

It's not too late to get involved. If you have unwanted cards and you want a shot at whatever vintage card I can trade for, go here for the details. I won't be able to get with you on trades until late Sunday/early Monday and then into next week. Leave a coment and I'll get in touch with you.

Standing By

If any of you bloggers/readers that were interested in the MCG tradeathon are up, I'm ready to start making trades. Just shoot me an email and we will get the ball rolling.



If you're not sure what I'm talking about, you can read about it here.

I've got the Power!

Back when the Rays and Rangers were set to play the in the ALDS, the Collective Troll and I made a friendly wager. Some of my stuff for some of his stuff.

You may have heard by now, but I'll remind you that the Rangers won that series and boy did the Troll come through with the goods. Not only was he a good sport about the Rangers winning, he changed the name of his blog to Troll at the Plate which was very humbling for me. I thought that was pretty cool and the Troll is one of my top trading partners. I would even say we've become friends over the last year or so. Taking all that into account, I wanted to send him the stuff I had wagered so I did. You can check that post out here. As for my winnings, the Troll sent me one of the sweetest play at the plate cards I have ever seen, much less held in my hand.


I'll start off with the most "Power"ful card of the bunch.

That is one sweet play at the plate card. Very vintage and just beautiful. I've been trying to gather as many of the '56 Topps play at the plate cards as I can via the Topps MCG site and this is one I hadn't been able to obtain. Now I can stop trying. When I first saw this card, I thought it must be some sort of modern reprint because it is such good shape. It's the real deal though and I had to slide it out of the topholder so I could feel that authentic cardboard. They do not make them like that anymore. One disclaimer I have to add is that these images came from another site because of my lack of a scanner. The one Troll sent is in even better shape than the one pictured.

Vic Power played 12 seasons in the Major Leagues from 1954 to 1965. He hit 126 homers, drove in 658 RBIs and hit .284. His best season was the season before this card came out when he hit 19 homers and drove in 76 while hitting .319. He also won 7 straight Gold Gloves between 1958 and 1964. I found this great quote about Vic Power on baseball-almanac.com.

"I think Vic (Power) was one of the best-fielding first basemen of all-time. He'd catch balls on one hop, two hops, all sorts of ways. I remember once when he missed a popup over his head, down the right-field line. After the game, he took his glove into the clubhouse and cut it into little bitty pieces. He said he didn't need that glove anymore." - Cleveland Indians Teammate Mudcat Grant (AP Wire, 11/29/2005)

Now that is a player dedicated to playing good defense.

The Troll send two other great cards that I'll get to in the coming days. He is also going to give away some great vintage cards when his blog gets to 100,000 hits and when I was writing this he was less than 300 hits away. Go check him out and get that hit counter up over 100K!

Thanks for the amazing cards Marck!

Who doesn't want free vintage?

I know I do. Chris over at The Vintage Sportscard Blog is trying to give away some of his vintage dupes....can you even imagine having dupes from 1952?

Get on over and check it out and give his blog a read. It's good vintage stuff and after all, he's an all-around nice guy. It says so right in his profile and I believe it.

Calling all MCG Card Holders

I've read numerous posts from people regarding the cards they redeemed in the Topps Million Card Giveaway. Many people have mentioned that they have a number of cards they are not going to have shipped. I thought about that for awhile and had a brainstorm.

Or was it a brainfart?

Most of you know I love a good contest. I like to enter them and hold them. How about one that involves those unwanted MCG cards? Here's the idea.

If you're interested and have some cards that you don't plan to request from Topps, you can trade them to me. All of yours for one of my unwanted cards. That way you are left with only one unwanted card and I get to build up a sizable lot of cards. You might have 20 cards from the junk wax era or a few unwanted older cards or anywhere in between. Every time I make a trade I'll make a quick post of what has been added to the lot. If you make a trade you get entered in the contest. The goal will be to build up as big a lot of cards as possible and then make one final trade for something nice and old. At the end, I'll do a randomization of everyone that bought into the contest by trading, and that person will get whatever vintage card I can obtain from the trade.

The more cards I end up with, the more trade ammo I'll have to use to get something good. Or at least something old. I'll leave this open as long as it takes to get it done, but would like to be through by the end of January. There will have to be some coordination to make the trades so that when you offer your 20 cards for my one 1987 Bip Roberts (or whatever) we can make sure I'm the one to accept the offer.

I won't be adding any of my cards to the pot, except the one card to get the trading started, but I also won't be in the running to get the end card.

If you are interested, leave a comment and tell me how many cards you have to offer. If there are multiple people interested (I hope there is, because it won't work otherwise) then I'll go in order of comment. I will then get with you via email and we'll work out the details of a trade. I think there are enough people holding unwanted cards in their portfolio that this could really work out well. Be patient if you want in and I'll get to you.

If you want in and want to make this work, it might help to publicize it a bit on your blog. It isn't required, but the more deals I can make, the better off we'll be when I finally get to the end.

In the event only a few people follow through and I can't get something at least from the '50s, I'll throw in something for the winner's collection or some packs.

This contest will not be a part of the 2010 contests which will have a big winner after the New Year.

Questions, thought, interest??? Let me know!

The End is Near

Whoa...settle down.

I'm just talking about my participation in the Topps Million Card Giveaway promotion. What, you thought I was talking about the end of Play at the Plate? Well, I've slowed down a bit and I blame that on one reason you probably don't want to hear about again (the scanner), but that will be rectified eventually.

The MCG promotion ends on March 15, 2011, but I'm going to be requesting my cards just after the holidays. I've been hanging on to a couple of codes to use when I saw another '50s trend, but Topps hasn't been doing that as much as they did early on. They seem to be a little more tight-fisted with the '50s stuff lately. So last night I noticed 4 recently unlocked 50's cards and decided to use at least one of my two codes and see what happened.

This is what Topps graciously added to my portfolio...with the second code I entered.

Are you telling me a 1987 card of 35 year old Fred Lynn doesn't excite you? Me neither. You'll notice I said that was the second code I entered. I wouldn't have wasted the second code if the first one hadn't given up vintage goodness.


The first code revealed this gem.





A 1953 Jim Fridley.

How could I not use the second code after unlocking this beauty? I'll do a little write up on Mr. Fridley when I get the card in hand. I really like the feel of that great old vintage cardboard so maybe that will inspire me to write something nice about Fridley.

I think that's a pretty good way to wrap up the MCG. I'll be making a few more trade offers trying to pare down the number of cards I have to request.

If you have any cards you are not going to get shipped to you, stay tuned for a post later today. I have an idea you might want to be a part of...

Is it that far from Pennsylvania to Texas?

I finally found a few 2010 Topps Update rack packs at the store last night. Since yesterday was payday, I picked up two "just to check them out".

"Just to check them out" means get a start on collecting the update set, but we don't have to call it that. Yet.

I'd love to show you the Nationals rookie pitcher I pulled....Luis Atilano.

I'd really love to show you the play at the plate cards of Ryan Ludwick, Marlon Byrd and Jason Kendall.

I'd really, really love to show you the beautiful Turkey Red Roy Campanella that I pulled.

Unfortunately, I'm still scannerless and unless I get one for Christmas, probably will be until after the holidays. So, as much as I'd love to show off those cards, I can't.

I can show the results of my two MCG codes.


First up we have...


a 1979 Dave Campbell. Well, not exactly what I was hoping for, but it beats a 2009 Jose Bautista.


The second card was a bit better.






Within a couple of minutes of unlocking this 1977 Dave Concepcion, I started getting trade offers. I accepted the second one which added this card to my "portfolio".




A nice 1976 Bert Blyleven. I'll get this one delivered, unless I can bundle it with some other cards in a trade offer for something better.

That's probably it for new card purchases until the new year rolls around. I'm going to be putting any card money towards that scanner anyway.

A little recognition never hurts

By now, I'm sure most of you have heard that Neftali Feliz won the A.L. Rookie of the Year Award.




I was glad to see Feliz get the award after his rookie record 40 save season. I didn't realize until I read it here that he was the first Ranger to win the award since Mike Hargrove won in 1974. That's a long time.

In that long drought, every other American League team won at least one ROY award, including one team that isn't in the A.L. anymore. Let's look back at all the teams that had a ROY since the Rangers last one.

Texas Rangers--2
Mike Hargrove, '74
Neftali Feliz, '10

Boston Red Sox--3
Fred Lynn, '75
Nomar Garciaparra, '97
Dustin Pedroia, '07

Detroit Tigers--3
Mark Fidrych, '76
Lou Whitaker, '78
Justin Verlander, '06

Baltimore Orioles--3
Eddie Murray, '77
Cal Ripken Jr., '82
Gregg Olson, '89

Minnesota Twins--3
John Castino, '79(co-ROY)
Chuck Knoblauch, '91
Marty Cordova, '95

Toronto Blue Jays--2
Alfredo Griffin, '79(co-ROY)
Eric Hinske, '02

Cleveland Indians--2
Joe Charboneau, '80
Sandy Alomar Jr., '90

New York Yankees--2
Dave Righetti, '81
Derek Jeter, '96

Chicago White Sox--2
Ron Kittle, '83
Ozzie Guillen, '85

Seattle Mariners--3
Alvin Davis, '84
Kazuhiro Suzuki, '00
Ichiro Suzuki, '01

Oakland Athletics--7
Jose Canseco, '86
Mark McGwire, '87
Walt Weiss, '88
Ben Grieve, '98
Bobby Crosby, '04
Huston Street, '05
Andrew Bailey, '09

Milwaukee--1
Pat Listach, '92

California Angels--1
Tim Salmon, '93

Kansas City--3
Bob Hamelin, '94
Carlos Beltran, '99
Angel Berroa, '03

Tampa Bay Rays--1
Evan Longoria, '08

The seven ROY awards Oakland has landed is quite impressive.

I did this little exercise to see which team is now on the clock as having gone the longest without a ROY Award and that team would be...the Chicago White Sox. Their last ROY was Ozzie Guillen in 1985.

Are you the master of your domain?

If you've been reading my blog very long, you know about my little (huge) problem back at the turn of the millenium. You know the one. The nearly $25,000 in hidden debt I incurred buying sports cards. I never went into great detail on that story, at least not yet, but it was a very big stumbling block that I threw into my marriage.

Fortunately, my wonderful wife somehow found a way to forgive me, and we are better than ever. It did take three years to pay off, so it's not she's forgotten about it.

Now, I'm pretty good at self-control when it comes to spending money on cards. No credit cards get used and I don't buy/sell on Ebay because that was a problem too. I like to think I would win the "Master of Your Domain" bet with Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer.

How about you? Are you in control. I don't expect any great confessions here, but it's a good time in the collecting calendar to take a step back and evaluate your current state of mind.

Take it from me, you don't want to let this hobby get a crazy hold on you.

So many...

Group breaks and so little (none) money. I wish I could get in all of them and I'm out of cash. Literally.

Maybe next time. Or next year.

Do you do it?

No, not that "IT".

When you comment on a blog post, do you click the little box to be notified via email when someone else comments? Some of the blogs don't have the box, but you can click on the subscribe to comments link.

So...do you?

I just wonder because I'll oftentimes respond to a comment made on one of my blog posts and I wonder if the person who I'm commenting back too even reads it.

I always do that when I comment on someone else's blog (except for a couple that won't let me for some reason) because I want to know if they respond to my comment and I like to read what other people are saying as well.

If you don't do that, I'm curious about that as well.

So which kind of commenter are you?

It's Official

My scanner is dead.

I just downloaded new software and new drivers. I eagerly awaited the opportunity to click on the scan button and....nothing. I now have a delicate, fragile paperweight. It wouldn't even be a good paperweight in a decent breeze.

*Heavy sigh*

After buying the water heater and paying to have it installed, I don't have any money to buy a new scanner. Time to sell some stuff as Dave Ramsey would say.

I have some very nice trade packages to show off too, including my second ever silk card. I just KNOW you want to see that.

Maybe we could have a garage sale this weekend....

Post #700: Happy Veteran's Day

I can't think of a better way to use post #700 than to say thank you to all the veterans out there who have sacrificed their time and in many cases, their lives, so we may all enjoy the freedom of living in the greatest country on Earth (no offense to my Canadian or English friends).

I had the distinct privilege to serve in the U.S. Navy and do things very few people have every done. I look back on those days with fond memories and with gratitude to the men and women I had the honor to serve with in various duty stations around the world.

Regardless of your opinion of the current political situation in our country, we all owe a debt to those who have given of themselves so we can enjoy the freedom we have today.

So I say thank you to all those in service today, from the mountains of Afghanistan to the skies above and seas below.

Thank you to all the veterans of the past, from the Minutmen of the Revolutionary War to the members of the Greatest Generation and everyone in between and since.

Thank you for making it possible for us to work, live, eat, worship, vote, and even blog the way we want. Without you and your sacrifices, we would all be living in a very different place.

God bless you and your families now and forever.

Seriously?

Derek Jeter won another Gold Glove? Instead of Elvis Andrus? That's totally ridiculous.

I can't do a proper post on this because I'm one day into a two day training class. The good news is that I have a new water heater and dry floors.

I'll be back tomorrow night.

November Contest Winner

Here is the randomization of the 184 entries in the November contest. It was a load of fun typing those names into the list.

I was surrounded by workmates so there's no narration, but you can see that I randomized the list 3 times.




Congrats to Hackenbush, aka Can't Have to Many Cards. Hack, shoot me an email address and some of your team/player/set interests and I'll see what I might have to add to the prize pack.

Thanks to everyone for participating!

The November Contest was a Rousing Success

I really just wanted to use the word "rousing". It's been a dream of mine for a long time and it only took 696 posts to get it done.

Seriously, I was blown away by the response to the November contest. The 9 questions I used for the contest had a total of 73 comments before the contest was posted. The contest resulted in an additional 111 comments, or answers, to the questions. Overall, 49 people posted 184 answers. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be doing a recap of the questions and answers because there were some great responses.

The blog set a new record for hits in one day as well with 522 hits the day I posted the contest. That's not to shabby for a blog that has averaged 114 hits/day over the last 6 months.

I'm about to start typing the names into random.org and I'll be posting a short video of the randomization and the name of the winner later.

Thanks for participating!

I haven't forgotten you

If you and I are in the middle of a trade and you're waiting on me, I haven't forgotten you. I plan on a trip to the post office at some point this week. If you're Emerald City Diamond Gems, I'm still searching for cards to add to your prize package.

I've been dealing with a little water issue the last few days. Namely, a water heater that decided enough was enough. When no one was home. For 9 hours. Can you say slosh? I can. If you're holding a group break (Wicked) and wondering why no one wants the Rangers, that's why. I've been pricing water heaters and well, guess what I'm getting the kids for Christmas? That's right, warm showers.

Anyway, that and a myriad of other issues (who doesn't have those right?) have led to a lot of baseball related stuff getting pushed to the backburner.

Stay tuned for a November contest update.

Box Break Question

I've only been around the blogosphere a little over a year. I participate in a group break now and then and I understand how they work. I can watch the video and see what cards come out of the break and everything makes sense.


I don't watch a lot of random box breaks on Youtube, but I will occasionally check out a break if there is an opportunity to get in on a box break from another blogger. That gives me some idea of what to expect out of a product I may not have ever opened myself.


What I don't understand are the videos where some guy is apparently opening a whole box or boxes for someone else. Why do some people order boxes only to let some other person open the box? A huge part of the thrill of buying packs/boxes is opening the packs myself. I can't imagine ordering a box of cards only to watch a video of someone else having all my fun!

Does anyone have any idea why this happens?

One Last Time

This will be the last reminder for the November Contest. The response has been amazing.

I'm currently traveling out of town, so I'll leave the contest open until Sunday night at which point I'll do the randomization for a winner.

Thanks!

It's a Wash

Ron Washington signed a new two year deal to skipper the Texas Rangers through the 2012 season. I thought this would be a good time to have a little Washington throwdown. We'll do a few comparisons and see whether George or Ron comes out on top.

First up, let's go with best card.

Here is a 2009 Topps American Heritage George Washington. A very nice card, even if George does have rosy cheeks. I'm particularly impressed with his title as General of the Armies of the United States.

I know Ron has a number of nice cards from his playing days, but we're focusing on his days as the Rangers mangaer. This is his 2009 Topps card. It's not bad and I actually like the photo.

Edge: George

The second category is honesty.

Little George demonstrated his honesty when confronted about a chopped cherry tree. I cannot tell a lie was his reply. Unfortunately, this story has never been confirmed as true.

Ron came clean about his use of cocaine (after being tested) early last season. We'll give him the benefit of the doubt and the continued hope that it never happens again.

Edge: Ron

The third caterogry is mercy.

George didn't give the Redcoats any mercy during the Revolutionary War.

Ron was at the mercy of Jon Daniels and Nolan Ryan after the cocaine issue. They stuck by him and he has proven to be quite a manager.

Edge: George

The fourth category is firsts.

George was a unanimous selection as the first President of the United States. That's very cool.



Ron took the Texas Rangers to their first World Series. Ever. That's even cooler.


Edge: Ron

The fifth category is money

George is on the dollar and Ron just inked a new two year contract for lots of dollars.

Edge: George...hey, he's ON the dollar.

The sixth category is "kids".

Historians think George was sterile and he didn't have any children of his own.



Ron has "Little Ron". Ok, he's not Ron's child, but he couldn't deny him. I thought it was funny that the Rangers, at their thank you rally Wedneday, introduced Ron Washington and out runs "Little Ron".

Edge: Ron

Lastly, the category of stamps. This is the tiebreaker since its all even after six categories.

George has been on a number of stamps issued by the USPS. That's pretty cool if you ask me.




Ron put his "stamp" on the Rangers. They became a running team. The led the A.L. in sac bunts with 53. They also paced the majors in going from first to third on singles, doing it 122 times. That's 22 times more any other team in the majors. Throw in over 120 steals and striking out less than 1000 times for the first time since 2000 and you've got a Ron Washington team.

Edge: Ron

There you have it. In the Wash vs. Wash comparison, we have Ron winning 4-3.

Congrats Ron and here's hoping you win the A.L Manager manager of the year award!

Would someone buy me out...please!

I see the Rangers opted to give Vladimir Guerrero a $1 million buyout on Wednesday. I should have such terrible luck.




Vlad hit .300 with 29 homers and 115 RBIs last season. His postseason numbers weren't good, but he was a key part of the reason the Rangers won the A.L. West. He's 35 and I think he's got something left to offer. Rangers GM Jon Daniels said he had already spoken to Vlad and his agent. I wouldn't mind seeing him in Rangers blue again in 2011.

Do you think he re-signs with Texas or finds another home next season?

Consider this today's reminder about the November contest. Quite a few people got multiple entries yesterday so get in if you're so inclined.

Another '56 play at the plate

I know it may not seem like it lately, but I don't only talk Rangers. I also collect play at the plate cards.

You may also recall I have had a bit of a crush on the Topps Million Card Giveaway promotion. I can admit in hindsight that I fell for it in an unhealthy way. I used to log in throughout the day trying to make trades. Now I still log in each night, but that's normally to decline about 40 trades and make the occasional offer.

Last week, I finally made an offer that was good enough to obtain one of the 1956 play at the plate cards I've been drooling over.





I recently posted about my desire to get this 1956 Bill Sarni play at the plate card. I wanted it for 3 reasons. First, it's vintage. Second, it's a play at the plate. Last, and certainly not least, I'm convinced it features a steal of home by Jackie Robinson. Why do I think that? Well, I suspected it when I made my post. I was convinced when I read this post by Night Owl. He found a game that fits the action on the card and it was indeed Jackie Robinson involved in the play. You should check out Night Owl's description of the play.



I'm not going to recap Bill Sarni's career. I did a very brief write-up in that original post.

This is one of 45 cards in my MCG portfolio. I'm still trying to make one last trade for another '56 patp card and then I'll request shipment of the cards.

I'm looking forward to the feel of this cardboard greatness in my hand.

By the way, I noticed today that I had 102 followers. That's cool. It's only about 101 more than I thought I would ever get.

The November Contest

I recently asked a question about contests? A number of you were kind enough to reply and I appreciate you taking the time to write out an answer. Every comment you leave on another person's blog has an impact on that person. It could be an affirmation that they are putting out good content, it could be constructive (or not) and it most certainly lets them know someone is reading. That's a good thing.

When I ask a question, it is sometimes to help me understand you a little better. It's easy to fall into the trap that everyone looks at things the same way you do and getting a little feedback is a positive thing. Especially when it comes from such a varied group of people.

The November contest is going to require a tiny bit more than just leaving a comment on this post. Many of you are already entered, some more than once, and you didn't even know you were entering. I like to reward the people who comment and if you recall, one of my contests simply was a randomization of all the people who left comments in the previous month. This time it's going to be a randomization of all the people who answered some questions I asked over the last two months.

What's that? You didn't answer any of the questions, but you still want to enter? Lucky for you, I'm going to link all the eligible questions right here so you can still answer and get an entry in the contest. Every question answered is one entry in the randomization. If you've already answered a question, you already have an entry for that one. Only one entry per person, per question. Here are the 9 eligible questions.

September
What is vintage to you?

What are your collecting priorities right now?

What is the cornerstone of your collection?

Starting over...What would you do differently?

October
What is your favorite...?

What is your best baseball memory?

Does timing really matter?

Have you ever...?

November
Contest question

I'll leave this contest open for a couple of days so make sure you get an entry or 9 by answering some questions. The prize will be at least two packs of 2010 Chrome and something that fills your collecting needs.

There will be only one more chance, the December contest, to get into the year-end contest in which all the monthly/special winners will be eligible for a prize of unequaled (not really) and unparalled (again, not really) value.

My first World Series Game

After much nail-biting and price-watching, I finally bit the bullet on Halloween afternoon at about 4:30. I bought two tickets to Game 4 of the World Series on StubHub. Up to that point, I had been unwilling to pay $400 each for seats, but as the day wore on, people who wanted to turn their tickets into some cash were lowering their asking price. I finally decided to buy when upper deck seats started coming down to the $225 area and ended up getting two seats in section 310 for $235 each. With the ridiculous 10% fee StubHub charges, I paid just over $500 for my son and me to go to the World Series.

It was actually my first playoff game of any kind and I have to say, even though the Rangers lost the game, it was worth the money to be a part of that atmosphere. We arrived about 5:30, got our free rally towel and World Series pin and as soon as we entered the centerfield gate, it was a sea of red and blue. It was almost impossible to move around the stadium and the line into the main gift shop was 10 wide and 30 or 40 deep so we headed past the centerfield visitor's bullpen to our seats. The only problem was the ESPN guys, Bobby Valentine, John Kruk and Karl Ravitch had their mini-studio set up next to the bullpen and there was an incredible logjam of people. If you've never been to the Ballpark in Arlington, there is a narrow walkway behind the visitor's bullpen that leads to a narrow doorway that goes under the left field seats and onto the concourse. Well, it took us 20 minutes to go about 50 feet as people were basically stuck there. It didn't help that the people directly behind the ESPN stage wouldn't move whenever those guys were on live.

We finally made it around to the concourse and my son really wanted to go to a gift shop. There is a small gift shop behind the homeplate are and we waited about 30 minutes to get in and another 20 minutes to check out. Three t-shirts and two programs later, I'm out another $100, but that's ok. We were actually in the middle of checking out when Lyle Lovett started singing the National Anthem so we missed that. We were headed up the double set of escalators to the top of the stadium when they introduced both President Bush's and didn't get to see the ceremonial first pitch. I was very disappointed in that, but hey, my son got a shirt right?

The crowd was awesome and the noise was fantastic. Here is a view of the field from section 310.





I went to the very first opening day at the Ballpark in Arlington back in 1994 and it was nothing compared to the electricity of Game 4.

The game itself was obviously disappointing. Madison Bumgarner was lights out and pitched the Giants to their second shutout of the series. That was the first time a team had been shutout twice in the World Series since the Orioles shutout the Dodgers 3 times in the 1966 Fall Classic. Aubrey Huff and Buster Posey homered, the Rangers couldn't mount any kind of threat and the Giants took a 3-1 series lead. All that was disappointing to be sure, but I'm still glad I was at the game.

Just being at the game, a World Series game, was amazing. Being able to share it with my son was the best. My younger son didn't want to go. That's ok too. He's more into basketball so maybe I'll take him to the Finals if the Mavericks ever get back there.

Only 150,000 or so people got to attend the first ever World Series in Rangers history. I'm glad we were two of those people. One thing I'm sure of....it won't be another 50 years before this franchise makes it back to the World Series. Oh, I guess you can never sure, but the Rangers are a hungry, young team and with the new ownership group andI think they have a very bright future.

The World Series Contest Winner is...

Wait. I'll get to it in a second.

I decided there was no need to wait to announce the winner of this contest.

I was going to work through my World Series hangover first, but those of you that picked the Giants deserve to know who the winner is, sooner rather than later.

Here is a list of the people who picked the Giants.

hairy lemon
tony mc
fuji
the brooklyn met
the gooch
wickedortega
mariner1
darkship
abhishek duggal
the diamond king
madding
fan of reds

The winner is.....




Mariner1. Congrats!

The video is to show the randomization, but you're welcome to watch it. Mariner1, get me your address and I'll start working on a package for you.

Sad, Not Mad

Of course I'm sad the Texas Rangers lost to the San Francisco Giants in the World Series.

I'm not mad though. The Giants pitching overwhelmed the Rangers hitters. The Rangers pitchers weren't as sharp. It's really that simple.

I still want to do a recap of the game I went to, Game 4. I need to do a Series recap, maybe as a cathartic way of dealing with the result.

I'm just not up for it today. I'm spent.

Literally spent.

I've gotten very little sleep the last few days, yet the responsibilities of real life don't take a break because your favorite team is in the World Series.

I've got a lot of blog housekeeping to take care of this week. I need to mail a number of packages in the next couple of days. That means I have to prepare them for the PO. I have to randomize the World Series Contest winner. I need to post the November contest. I have to figure out the issue with my scanner, if it can be figured out.

And guess what? You all don't care about that stuff. You just want what you want. And I know that is for Spring Training to come soon. That's what I want.

I love November baseball! Especially when it involves my Rangers!

I'm going to sleep about 10 hours later today. Hopefully, that will put me back on track and I can get back to my regular posting schedule. If you read this far, thanks. If you didn't...well, then you're not reading are you?

That hurts

More than I thought it would.

A lot more.

Contest Question

I’m a bit curious about your approach to contests. 

There are all manner of contests around the blogosphere.  There are almost as many types of contests too.  Some require a simple comment.  Some require following a blog, pimping a blog, solving a riddle, guessing something, picking winners, etc.  I could go on and on.  I typically make my contests fairly simple to enter.  On a day I have a contest (one’s coming tomorrow) I get about double my normal hits, but sometimes there aren’t that many entries.  Honestly, the number of entries isn’t that big a deal to me, but I’m curious why someone would see a simple contest and choose not to enter. 

What makes you choose to enter or not enter a contest?  Simple question.  Thanks for taking the time to read/answer. 

I should be back to a normal week of posts tomorrow.  The dayshift is busy. 

One and One

If someone had tried to tell me 6 months ago that on November 1st, the Rangers would have the same number of World Series wins as the Dallas Cowboys had regular season wins, I would have said they were crazy.

I didn't get to bed until after 1 AM so I'm a little spent, but I'm working the dayshift today. I'll try to get a game recap together. It will be more of a personal reflection on the World Series experience rather than the game since the game was a dud from the Rangers perspective. That's not to take away from a great pitching performance by Madison Bumgarner.

I'll also try to get my November contest up later today or tomorrow at the latest.

All the Rangers need is a three game win-streak.

Go Rangers!