2013 Topps Trade Bait/Wants

One of the things I received for Christmas was one of those Visa Gift Cards. It had $100 on it and I’ve been saving it for the release of 2013 Topps. Yesterday I stopped by the” Store with the Blue Parallels” and picked up 4 blasters. I didn’t get a chance to scan anything yet, but I wanted to post a Trade/Want list as early as I could.


The only parallels I’ll be collecting are Rangers and the ’72 minis. I’m a sucker for minis.

Here are the parallels I have for trade on a first come/you’ve got Rangers for me basis.


EMERALD Foil:

Sean Doolittle, A’s
Vernon Wells, Angels
David Robertson, Yankees
J.J. Putz, Diamondbacks---Too Many Verlanders
Josh Johnson, Marlins
N.L. Wins Leaders, Gio Gonzalez, R.A. Dickey, Johnny Cueto
Rafael Soriano, Yankees

Cut to the Chase Die-Cut:
Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies--The ToddFather

Gold parallel:
Jonathon Niese, Mets

Chasing History:
Roberto Clemente, Pirates----Nick
Cal Ripken Jr., Orioles----Superduperman

Mariano Rivera, Yankees----Superduperman

Evan Longoria, Rays----Superduperman

Ken Griffey Jr., Mariners----Superduperman

Ken Griffey Jr., Mariners
Matt Kemp, Dodgers----GCRL
Chipper Jones, Braves----Waxaholic
Ted Williams, Red Sox----Superduperman

Alex Rodriguez, Yankees----Superduperman
Chasing the Dream:
Mike Trout, Angels----Superduperman

Drew Hutchison, Blue Jays----Superduperman
Drew Smyly, Tigers----Superduperman
Brett Lawrie, Blue Jays----Superduperman

Brett Lawrie, Blue Jays

Calling Cards:
CC Sabathia, Yankees
Mark Teixeira, Yankees
Reggie Jackson, Yankees
Kevin Youkilis, White Sox----Nick
Albert Pujols, Angels

Commemorative Patches:
CP-1 Adam Jones, Orioles----Zack
CP-2 Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox

Blue Wal-Mart Parallels:

Braves:
Mike Minor----Waxaholic

Marlins:
Josh Johnson--30 Year Old Cardboard
Adam Greenberg--30 Year Old Cardboard

Mets:
Kirk Nieuwenhuis
Johan Santana
Jeurys Familia

Nationals:
Jayson Werth
Bryce Harper
Sean Burnett
Christian Garcia
Tyler Clippard
Danny Espinosa
Eury Perez

Cubs:
Anthony Rizzo----Nick

Reds:
Johnny Cueto
Joey Votto

Pirates:
Brock Holt

Cardinals:
Matt Holliday, Wild Card----Superduperman

Yadier Molina----Superduperman

Adam Wainwright----Superduperman

Jon Jay----Superduperman


Diamondbacks: Ian Kennedy
Daniel Hudson

Rockies:
Rob Scahill

Dodgers:
Ted Lilly----GCRL
Dee Gordon----GCRL
Josh Beckett----GCRL
Adrian Gonzalez----GCRL
Chad Billingsley----GCRL

Giants:
NLDS Game 5
NLCS Game 7
World Series Game 3
Brian Wilson
Buster Posey

National League Leaders:
Wins, Gonzalez, Dickey, Cueto
RBIs, Headley, Braun, Soriano

Orioles:
Tommy Hunter
Luis Ayala
Jim Johnson

Red Sox:
Will Middlebrooks----Nick
Alfredo Aceves
Jacoby Ellsbury

Yankees:
Andruw Jones----Nick
Rafael Soriano
Mark Teixeira
CC Sabathia ALDS

Rays:
Jeremy Hellickson
J.P. Howell

Blue Jays:
Rajai Davis
Adeiny Hechavarria
Kyle Drabek

White Sox:
Chris Sale----Nick
Alex Rios----Jeff
Paul Konerko----Jeff
John Danks----Jeff

Indians:
Justin Masterson----Masterson

Tigers:
Delmon Young

Royals:
Eric Hosmer
Jake Odorizzi

Angels:
Kendrys Morales
Jason Isringhausen
Maicer Izturzis
Albert Pujols

A’s:
Sean Doolittle
Ryan Cook

Mariners:
Brendan Ryan
Carter Capps
Dustin Ackley

Here’s what I have and I want any Rangers that aren’t listed. I also want the Will Clark Commemorative Patch. What I have is very thin after 4 blasters. Very, very thin.

Commemorative Patch:
Nolan Ryan

Wal-Mart blue parallels:
Neftali Feliz

Die Cuts:
Nelson Cruz----pending

1972 Minis:
List pending

That’s it.  If you have anything I don't, let me know. 

I want your 2013 Topps Rangers!

Ok, I just busted a blaster (4 of them) and I've lots of trade bait for your Rangers parallels and what not.  I'll have a comprehensive list posted in the morning of what I have and what I want. 

Capiche?

Throw the book at 'em

The latest PED story that broke yesterday didn't surprise me.  The fact that Alex Rodriguez was linked, yet again, to PEDs didn't surprise me.  He's been the #1 most hated former Ranger since he left the team.  What surprised me was seeing Nelson Cruz's name in the story.

I like Nelson Cruz.
 

I have a special place in my collector's heart for Nelson Cruz because my son had a personal encounter with him. 

I don't want to believe that Nelson Cruz would be stupid enough to take PEDs.

That said, if it's true, I say throw the book at him and the others.  No more kid gloves.  I know it would never get by the player's union, but if these morons are stupid enough to take PEDs in any form, I would fully support a lifetime ban.  Make the ban Pete Rose got look like a slap on the wrist.  Wipe their stats from all official MLB records.  Make like the CIA and get rid of any records that show they ever existed in baseball at all. 

At some point, MLB needs to legalize all of it and let the players sentence themselves to a life of inflated heads, shrunken balls and early deaths or make the penalty a career killing death sentence. I'm not proposing the lifetime ban for people like Bonds and Clemens because they played in the era of PED acceptance in locker rooms and front offices (even if team execs claim they didn't know what was happening), but I think you need to tell these kids in adult bodies that it won't be tolerated anymore.

Of course, I may be wrong.  It could be that I'm just extremely disappointed to see one of my guys implicated.  Again. 

Care for a drink?

I'm not a drinker, but I could go for a little snifter of Cognac. 

Mmmm, that is smooth. 

One of the things I really respect about catchers is their desire to keep the runner from crossing the plate.  Wearing very little protective equipment and trying to stop a guy the size of Frank Thomas...well, that's a job I don't think I could do.  Sure, I played catcher in Little League, but I was bigger than every other kid and relished the thought of someone trying to run me over. 

As intimidating as the Big Hurt must have been, I can only imagine seeing this guy barreling down on you.

Man, I love a good play at the plate card.  

It's true

Guess what I did last night. 

That's right, I sorted cards.  And I actually enjoyed it. 

Things are lookin' up. 

It's about time...

You may have noticed the content around here has dropped off to nothing...or close to it.  I'd like to say it's because I've been organizing and getting my collection in order.  I'd like to say it's not all the same crazy life stuff that's been going on for the last 4 months.  I'd like to say those things, but I can't. 

What I can say is I've got 11 packages ready to mail today and at least 5 others I need addresses for before I can send them.  I've got a nice pic of the packages on my desktop, but Blogger won't let me load it.  Oh well.

Scattershooting packages across the U.S. and around the world, I hope you all enjoy what arrives in a few days.  We'll be making stops in Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Texas, Alabama, South Carolina,  Maryland,  Pennsylvania, New York, Canada and the UK. 

Thanks everyone!

A door opened

I mentioned earlier this week that a door closed when my son brought me most of his baseball stuff and said he didn't have room for it. 

After almost two solid months of not looking at any of my own cards (except those I've received in the mail), I opened the door to my locker at work to see what I could see.  I generally keep my locker stuffed with cards to trade and sort.  My months long funk has resulted in me failing to complete my end of numerous trades.  For this, I apologize sincerely. 

The open door allowed me to either put together or finish 11 trade packages.  I've got at least 6 more to finish putting together next week.  Included in those packages are the end of the year prize from 2010 (that's right, 2010) for The Diamond King and the three prize packs for the winners of my last contest in September.  That's how long I've been in this tailspin.  I really do suck. 

I'm hoping to have as many as 20 packages ready to go out on the 16th when I get paid.  If you receive one, it's because you've already sent me something so don't send anything back or I'll  owe you again and I can't be sure when another round of packages will be going out. 

Thanks for your patience. 

Another door closes

Still sorting out everything here, waiting for answers for my wife. 

Another door closed over the Christmas holidays.  We bought my son a full size bed to replace his twin bed and his room shrank as a result.  Funny how that happened.  He had to do some serious housekeeping after we put the bed together and while he was doing it, I was sitting at the computer in the office.  He walked in and put all of his autographed baseballs on the desk.  "I don't have room for these, do you want them?"  I just looked at him, at the balls and back at him. 

Long story short, he's pretty much done with collecting baseball...anything.  I'm hoping it's a temporary "break", similar to the ones I've taken throughout my hobby career.  I'll keep all his stuff with mine and pass it back to him down the road.  Hopefully. 

I'm a little sad because I was hoping to create a future collector.  All things considered, I guess that's what they call a "first world problem".  I'll still be collecting, sporadically buying some new stuff, but I'm a big fan of all the people going vintage this year.  I think I'll concentrate on organizing, getting out many overdue packages and working on my Rangers collection. 

Tomorrow, a door or three opens.  Until then...thanks for hanging in there with me.