Three balls and you're out

*This is my entry in round 1 of Nachos Grande's Blogger Bracket Challenge.*

"Kids, I'm Ken Caminiti and I'm here to talk to you about the dangers of steroid use.  Forget about all the stuff you've heard about how it can help you hit the ball farther, heal faster or win 1996 N.L. MVP Awards.  There's a dangerous side to steroid use.

That's right, I'm talking about growing a third testicle.  Some people get lucky and it grows down there with the other two, but some people, like me, have to live with their third testicle right out in the open where everyone can see it.

Unfortunately, my extra testicle, my ball three if you will, grew right there on the inside of my elbow.  It's tough to swing the bat or throw the ball now.  Hell, I've even been tossed out of games by umpires who thingkI'm playing the old hidden ball trick!  Like this ball is hidden or something!

So kids, take it from me, Three Ball Ken, stay off steroids and stay in school."

The preceding has been a public service announcement and may or may not reflect the opinons of this blogger.

The Rangers are in the World Series!

In a manner of speaking.

Koji Uehara is some kind of 38 year old phenom for the Red Sox.  He was pretty good here in Texas, but he didn't want to be here.

Mike Napoli, aka Yukon Cornelius, has been a force for the Red Sox. I liked him while he was here.  He was blue collar and I hated to see him go.



                                             

See, Yukon and present day Napoli look just alike.


Matt from Once a Cub sent these over after the end of the Fantasy Baseball Season.  I finished 5th so I'm happy to receive this "Ranger dump" as he called it.

I'm showing this card for one reason and one reason only. In all likelihood, Geno Petralli's 1989 Donruss card has NEVER been shown on the internet.

I've mentioned many times how much I like Flair cards.  This Ken Hill doesn't look as good scanned as it does in person.  Trust me.

Mini Kinsler time.  Mini Kinsler.  Mini Kinsler.  I can't say it three times and I couldn't type it either.

You'd think a blog that celebrates plays at the plate would be run by someone who knows if he has all these awesome Gypsy Queen Collisions at the Plate cards. Well, I don't. I shall try to rectify that. 

I'm willing to bet this is the WORST Ian Kinsler card ever.  Care to guess why?

I picked this card up and instantly got 7% stronger due to PED contamination.   Hey, I'm just kidding Sammy!

Matt, thanks for running the league.  I'll try to win the whole thing next year!

I didn't know they made Ducky Dynasty cards

Ok, maybe they don't.

This could be an early version of one, don't agree?

Jim Kern is rockin' the beard and I'm diggin' the old school Rangers jersey and cap.

Blow hard

Nothing beats a good bubble gum bubble on a bubble gum card.

Jeff Kunkel is getting some great hang time out of that bubble.  I love the look on his face.

The Wild Thing is NOT impressed by the Kunkel-bubble.

How many pictures of Rusty Greer can you fit on one card?

This is a new card to me.  It's a 2006 Tristar Prospects Plus Kasey Kiker pitching with the Spokane Indians.  Kasey's record on the back was a very non-Prospect Plus like 0-7.

If you're still reading, and I hope you are, you're wondering why I'm posting these cards.  I'm posting them because they came in the form of a just because package from Tom over at The Angels, in Order.

Ahh,some good old Upper Deck Confusion.  It's a 2002 Upper Deck MVP Alex Rodriguez jersey.

Front of card, Ranger photo?  Check.  Front of the card, Rangers' swatch??  WRONG.

That's a Mariners relic masquerading as a Rangers card.  Funny how UD did stuff like that.  (He says, knowing Topps probably did the same thing.)

Tom, thanks for the great cards...

I always appreciate whatever you send my way.

69 is a great number

1969 that is.

If you're here for some other reason than 1969 Topps, you probably have the wrong blog.

While I wait for the rest of my 2013 Chrome to trickle in, I thought I'd show one of my vintage Ebay purchases.

One of the sellers I was watching items for had this lot of 1969 Topps cards and I couldn't resist.

I don't know if I got a good deal at $3.75 including shipping, but I was happy to add to 4 cards to my vintage catcher collection.

Doesn't Randy Hundley look happy to be a part of my collection?  I thought so too.

Cards got kicks...or should I say kicked?

Last night had to hurt if you're a Cardinals fan.  I don't think the Redbird faithful thought Wainwright would get knocked around like he did.

I thought I'd soothe the burn a little for the few Cardinals fans who read this blog by showing them a card I picked up for nothing, literally, from my old card shop owner's house.

This 2002 Leaf Rookies and Stars Jim Edmonds Dress for Success card fits nicely into my relic type collection.  It features a piece of "game worn" jersey and shoe.

I like these because they show the actual jersey and shoes the swatches were taken from, at least according to Leaf.  This one is #82/250, which begs the question, how many swatches can you get from a pair of shoes?  Is it 250?

You tell me.

Don't think for a minute this means I'm rooting for the Cardinals.  I'm still mad at them for beating my Rangers a couple of years ago.  I'm not rooting for the Red Sox either.

I'm hoping for a tie...that never ends.  Until pitchers and catchers report at least.  

Sometime it helps to give your post a little bump

I had a post scheduled to go live earlier today at 5:30 PM central time.  It hasn't posted yet as far as I can tell.

I've noticed with Blogger lately that when a post doesn't go active when it should, the moment you try to do another post, it gives that delayed post a little bump into the active blogosphere.   That's what I'm trying to do with this post so please feel free to disregard this little "maintenance" post.

Unless you want to bad mouth blogger which is what I'm doing in my head.

UPDATE:  It finally posted in the middle of the night.  You can check it out here if you're interested.

Super Size Me

I knew when I pulled the Josh Hamilton box loader from my 2013 Gint-A-Cuffs box that I wanted to collect the whole set.

Hamilton may not be a Ranger anymore, but I can still appreciate a great card when I see one.

I decided to use some of my Apple funds to pick up a few more of these super size treasures.

One of the sellers I was buying from had three of the box loaders priced right so I added them to the lot and got shipping for only a quarter each.

Giancarlo...

Albert...

and Matt set me back a total of $6.00 and knocked a little dent in the Box Loader Checklist. Wouldn't these things look nice with a big blue Sharpie auto across the front?

These are the 2013 Allen and Ginter Oversized Box Loader cards.

OB-AP Albert Pujols
OB-BH Bryce Harper
OB-DW David Wright
OB-GS Giancarlo Stanton
OB-JH Josh Hamilton
OB-JV Joey Votto
OB-MC Miguel Cabrera
OB-MK Matt Kemp
OB-MT Mike Trout
OB-PF Prince Fielder
OB-RAD R.A. Dickey
OB-RB Ryan Braun
OB-RC Robinson Cano
OB-SS Stephen Strasburg
OB-TT Troy Tulowitzki

That's 4 down, only 11 to go.  If you have any that aren't checked off and you're not collecting them...let me know!

Don't say I didn't warn you...The Gint-A-Cuffs Prize box giveaway

I told you I was giving away the hits from my Gint-A-Cuffs prize box against my better judgement.  I said that because I had already busted the box.

You'll see what I mean in a few seconds.

The partakers in this little exercise are:

Chris Reed--Reds
Dions IP Autos only--Angels
petethan--Dodgers
Wilson--Cardinals
Matt Pederson--Cubbies
Chris--A's?  Funny
gcrl--twins?  Why the questions marks fellas?
Cardhobbyist--Braves?!  Now an exclamation point as well! Exciting!!!!!!!
J. Meeks--Nationals
Mark Aubrey--Indians!
Captain Canuck--Just like my Canadian friend to pick two teams.  I'm giving him his first choice of Pittsburgh.
Backstop Cards--Padres!
The Angels in Order--Red Sox
Chucks Used Cards--Yankees
JediJeff--White Sox!
Daniel Wilson--Diamondbacks!  Man, this is getting exciting!!!!!!
Madding--Astros
Baseball Dad--Tigers
Chunter--Marlins...
Need More Cardboard--Mariners
Night Owl--Metsies...WTH?
Swing and a Pop-up--Giants
Greg Zakwin--Royals
irondequoit36--Rays
zman40--Rockies
Bo--Brewers

This is going to be anticlimactic, so let's just do it.

I can't believe no one picked the Phillies.  Even Roy seems a bit disheartened.

Mark Aubrey, aka the Commish, wins the big one...or maybe it's just this Justin Masterson full size jersey relic.

The final hit was another framed mini jersey relic.  It was damaged pretty badly on the bottom so I'm trying to get Topps to replace it.  If (and when) they do, I'll give it out according to the list above.

Overall, the box wasn't that great.  No hand numbered minis, no autos, no 1/1 card in the lid.   Just three plain jersey relics.  It was however, VERY  much appreciated and I thank TOPPS and Mark Aubrey again for the prize.

My first Check Out My Cards purchase

I know many of you have made purchase on Checkoutmycards.com, but until a couple of weeks ago, I had only stuck cards in a cart.  As a part of my Apple funded shopping spree over on Ebay, I thought I might as well pick up a few of the cards I had been eyeballing at COMC.

I misplaced the shipping invoice and for some reason my purchase won't come up when I log in so I can't tell you what I paid for each card (not that you care), but I do know the total.

Without too much fanfare, I'll show you the goods.  Ok, maybe a little fanfare.

I picked up a few Casey Cox cards because I met him at the Rangers Hall of Fame Luncheon and had a nice 30 minute conversation with him.

Thanks to a certain blogger friend of mine, I am going to send these off to Casey to see if I can get them signed.

This was the worst one of the bunch.  It has a pretty bad crease forehead high and a nasty stain on the bottom left corner.  It won't matter much to me if Casey signs it.

What's better than a Flair card with two photos on the front?  How about one with three photos on the front. This is a 1999 Flair Showcase Ivan Rodriguez.  Back in 1999, a card numbered out of 3000 would have been "rare".

I recently traded one of the 2000 Aurora Net Fusion cards away...a Larry Walker I believe.

That led me to investigate whether any Rangers had Net Fusion cards of their own.  Lucky me, I found two.

I'm not entirely sure about this card.  David looks a little creepy.  I guess I fell under the spell of the low serial numbering....55/88.

Ooooh, look.  Could that be a fake jersey relic numbered 13/35?  It's a possibility.

I'm starting to lean toward Derek Holland as my favorite Ranger.  That's a weird for me because I've never had a pitcher hold that position.  Blue refractors sure look good when the Ranger is in blue too.  This one is #130/150.

This card threw me a little.  It's from 2011 and is #171/245.  I think it's from some type of factory set.

Here is another blue refractor of Derek Holland.  This one is circa 2012.

You can't tell from the scan, but this is the 2012 Topp mini version of another great David Murphy card.  In keeping with my serial numbered obsession, this one is #10/61.

I picked up these two full size 2013 Allen and Ginter Ian Kinsler relics to go with the full sized bat relic card.

They need to use more red jerseys for Rangers relic cards.  I mean, they should be able to find fake red jerseys just as easy as they find fake grey ones, right?

Here is where we run into a bit of a problem.  I'm curious if it's ever happened to anyone else.  Somehow I ordered three of these 2013 Gypsy Queen Derek Holland black minis.

I didn't mean to do it, but I ended up with #34/199, #76/199 and #141/199.  I know these were only 99 cents each so it wasn't that big a deal.

I guess I should be happy I didn't end up with three of these Matt Harrison green minis.  (#68/99)

Last, but not least, I picked up three more 2013 Topps Chrome cards towards my madness.

Derek Holland black refractor, #8/100.

Ian Kinsler blue (looks more like purple) refractor, #159/199.

Finally, a Nelson Cruz black refractor, #67/100.

All in all, I was happy with my first experience with COMC.   Counting the $3.00 flat shipping fee, I spent $39.66 for 21 cards.

Do any of you sell on COMC and is it worth the effort to do so?

The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse

Years of war had ravaged the planet and depleted the Armed Forces of the world's nations.  It was the perfect time for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, also known as the board of directors of Upper Deck, to attack and take over the world.  

The Four Horseman of Upper Deck laid waste to the world, burning bridges, faking autos and using logos without a license. Oh, the humanity!  

As the flames of overproduction grew hotter, a savior appeared on the horizon.  It was none other than Rickie Weeks!  His thousand yard stare betrayed a man who had seen plenty of bad decisions at the hand of Bud Seligs' minions.

No matter.  He was the man to repel the Four Horseman of Upper Deck.  The Horseman entered Milwaukee, the center of the known universe, prepared to land one final blow against humanity.  A shout reverberated across the land....TOPPS ATTAX!!!!  With one mighty swing of his maple bat, Rickie destroyed the Four Horseman easier than a Roy Oswalt fastball.  

"Rickie....Rickie....HEY RICKIE!"  

"Wha...what, what is it?"  

"Dude, you were dreaming again."  

"Aw man, thanks for waking me up and ruining my dream Ryan Braun!  I was saving the world again!"

"Hey, your dream isn't the only one I've ruined lately."

**I haven't lost my mind.  This post is for the Nachos Grande contest.**

Against my better judgement, I'm giving you my Gint-A-Cuffs hits

I busted my Gint-A-Cuffs prize box.   Many thanks to Topps and Mark Aubrey.

I got three hits, as expected.

One was damaged.  I'll be sending it back to Topps for possible replacement.

That leaves two hits to give away.

There is one from each league, American and National.

Claim your team in the comments and the two people to claim the correct teams will get the hits.  The first person to claim a team will get it so don't claim a team that has already been picked.

This is open to all, not just Gint-A-Cuffs participants.

The best card I pulled for my own collection?

This Nolan Ryan SP mini.  That's a lot of tough for such a small card.

How often does a blaster pay for itself?

Not very often.

At least, not for me.

That wasn't the case for a blaster I bought on Friday.  I saw the freshly stocked card aisle at Walmart and it had plenty of 2013 Topps Update blasters so I bought one.

I got two cards of note.

The 6th pack had this Yasiel Puig Walmart blue parallel.  Not too shabby I suppose.

The bonus pack had this Cal Ripken Jr. Rookie Card reprint manu-patch thingamajig.

I looked both cards up on Ebay and decided to list them in a one day auction.

The Yasiel Puig sold for $10.50.

The Ripken, which I started with a price of .99 cents and a buy it now of $21.99, sold for a whopping $30.96.

I was tempted to buy another blaster over the weekend, but I decided not to press my luck.