Who has time to blog?

Here is what I've been spending my spare time doing.  

So far I've sorted through nearly 3 full boxes and have this one and half another one that are going out to the following people:

Baseball Dad

Once a Cub

Captain Canuck

Caitlyn

Cynical Buddha

Angels in Order

$30 a Week

Capt Kirk

Brady Umfleet

DGAO

Bob Walk the Plank

Night Owl

Nachos Grande

Need More Cardboard

Mark Hoyle

AdamE

Junior Junkie

Cards on Cards

Tony L

Bigbern28

Hiflew

Mark Aubrey

Chuck Bertz

Ryan G

Most of these people asked for cards when I posted the contents of the four 5000 count boxes I bought from my friend.  A couple of them didn't ask for anything, but I'm digging for them anyway.  I still have one whole box to go through, but I'm guessing I'll end up with somewhere around 8000-10,000 cards to send out.  That's going to take a bit of $$ so I'll send them out a couple at a time.  I'll let you know when I've finished sorting.  I have a job interview on the horizon so my blogging/card time is limited right now. 

Have a great weekend.   

Feeling Lucky?

One of the best contests of the year is back and you can enter over at Autographed Cards.  I can tell you from experience, the prizes are fantastic!

Go get entered!

From troubled waters to silky smooth

The last two weeks have been crazy.  My wife was involved in a wreck that may have totaled our car (I find out this morning).  The wreck wasn't her fault and she has had pretty significant back and neck pain which is getting worse, not better.

Things at work may be changing soon.  I'm sure you're holding your breath so I'll let you know when I find out.

The unknown with my wife, my car and work is stressing me somewhat.

I thought I'd find comfort in some silk.

Silky Jurickson came via Ebay.

Silky Elvis came via my buddies over at Community Gum.

The cards aren't making me feel any better.  Yet.

Maybe when all the uncertainty is over, I can appreciate them more.

Thank you

For all who served and didn't come home...

and all who still stand watch around the world.

Thank you.

A Familiar Face

You see it all the time.  An image of a baseball player that is used on different cards from different sets. Sometimes the image may be used in different years and even over a period of several years if it's one of the many cards now being produced each year that feature "legends" from the past.  

I don't generally see that kind of stuff happening with the Rangers for a couple of reasons.  First, the Rangers don't have the pedigree of actual baseball legends like some other teams.  Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, Stan Musial, Ted Williams...the list could go on and on.  Sure, Nolan Ryan played here for a few years, but there aren't 200 different cards being made of Ryan every year.  It seems like there are that many "new" Jackie Robinson cards every year and many of them are using the same photos.  

I did happen to notice one picture of a current Ranger that was used on a couple of different products.  

This is a 2014 Bowman Silver paper parallel of Derek Holland #1/75.  When I got it, I knew I had seem that same expression on another card.  

This is a 2013 Triple Threads card of Derek Holland.  If the 'stache wasn't disturbing enough on the Bowman card, you get a close-up on the TTT card.  Same expression, same grip, same red laces on the glove.  Regardless of the re-issue of the same image, I'm getting more into chasing Derek Holland cards.

I wonder what image has appeared on the most cards (insane Topps parallels of every color not included). I'm sure someone out there has a pretty good idea.

Feeling up to a challenge?

Breakin' Bad can be Good

I'm a team collector first and foremost.  I've discovered that can lead to much heartache as the reality that I'll never have a complete Rangers collection.  The advent of parallel cards alone will see to that.  The pursuit of the a complete team set from every product can be approached from different directions.  You can bust packs.  That gets expensive very quickly.  You can trade with others and quite honestly, that's my favorite way to get my Rangers cards.  There's also box or case breaks.

About 10 days ago, I saw a break on Ebay that was really cheap.  It was a 1/2 Jumbo Case of 2014 Bowman.  That's 4 Jumbo boxes.  I'd been watching these off and on since Bowman had come out.  The Rangers, I believe driven by the ridiculous Russell Wilson SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSP, had been selling for about $40-$45 for a 1/2 case break.  The one I was watching was sitting under $20.  I ended up winning the auction for $19.50.  I just hoped that I'd end up with something worthwhile for the price of a blaster.

I think it was one of the best breaks I've been in Rangers wise.

I got all the base cards and dupes and some of the State Flag cards.   I also got a few nice parallels.

I got two of the Blue Wave Minis.  They were both of Rougned Odor and are numbered /250.  I watched the other half case break by the same seller (where the Rangers sold for $44 and pulled one base auto by the way) and these were the only two blue wave minis in the whold case.

I also got a blue refractor auto of Yohander Mendez #120/150.  That was nice, but the hit of the case for me was this card.

That's a Luke Jackson green refractor auto #69/75.  Those are selling pretty well.  As pretty as it is, I think I'm going to end up trading it to Judson for his pursuit of all the Jackson autos.  He's promised me $$$ worth of cards.  Or maybe I made that up.

Anyway, I was very happy with the results and if I had pulled all that out of a blaster, I would have probably passed out right there in the Walmart parking lot.  That's where I open all my cards you know.  At least it was before the card aisle shrank down to nothing.

Working hard for you...

I've been working hard going through the 5000 count boxes I bought from my LCS buddy.

Shhhhhh.....I have those boxes at a place that isn't my house.

It was a particularly slow night at that place that isn't my house so I got a good start on one of the boxes.  I don't know how many different stacks that is, but a bunch of you will have cards coming in the next few weeks.  I'll have to space out the mailing a bit or I might have to get a second job.

I'll be adding to the stacks until I get through all four boxes.  If you don't hear from me in a week, send help. I might be under 16,000 cards.

(Sorry for the black boxes..my co-worker wanted me to edit her out!)

Dwindling options

I did big time grocery shopping today at Walmart. I do most of the cooking in my house because I love to cook so I do most of the shopping.

Anyway, I actually checked out in the card aisle and was stunned to see the "card" part of the aisle had been cut in half.

The panoramic picture looks a little odd, but that is one aisle. The part on the left with all the stuffed animals used to be the Pokemon or whatever cards. The part on the right used to be all sportscards. Granted a lot of that space used to be discounted blasters, but there hasn't been one of those at my Walmart in a long time. Now the sportscards part is literally about 12" wide. There are 3 rows up top for blasters (the one football blaster on the left is in the wrong spot), 3 pegs for hanging value packs and that little box that is three blasters wide on the shelf. The supplies on the bottom never get touched.

I guess I'll be shopping at Target more often. Orrrrrrrrr.....maybe this is a sign I should stop buying current stuff. (Like that's ever going to happen.)

Catching a Wave

Many of you keep a few packs or boxes to open for a rainy day.  I don't have the patience to save an unopened pack.  Not even one.  I almost always open my packs in the car and that's only because the store's frown upon you opening the packs in the checkout line.

That's why it was so hard for me to have the 2014 Bowman Hobby Box that Topps donated for my 2000th post contest lying around.  I wanted to tear into that thing and see how many Superfractors could be in one box!   Jedi Jeff over at 2X3 Heroes will be happy to know that I didn't open it and it went out in the mail on Thursday.

To celebrate my remarkable control not to tear open the Hobby Box, I purchased the last 2014 Bowman Value Pack from my local Walmart.  That pack had been there for 4 or 5 days, all by itself.  I didn't really want it as I was holding out for the possibility that they might get some of those blister packs of Heritage with the black parallels.  Maybe they only have those at Target because I still haven't seen one.

I decided since I gave away a box of Bowman so I'd just buy the value pack.  No one else seemed to want it.

Pack one was pedestrian.  The usual assorted base cards, prospects and two Chrome cards of players I've never heard of and probably won't ever make it to the Show.

Packs 2 and 3 made me laugh.

Here we are in the car.  Can you tell how excited I am?

Here are packs 2 and 3 from the value pack  Same Chris Bostick base card for the Rangers.  If you have to get a dupe, it might as well be for the team you collect.

Wait just a minute. Am I seeing dueling Orange Wave packs?

Isn't that something.  Two Orange Wave refractor packs.  The same two base cards on top and 5 Orange Wave refractors in one pack with 4 Orange and 1 Green refractors in the other.  I was shocked as I hadn't pulled any of these in the two blasters or two value packs I opened previously.

The Orange Waves are:

Logan Vick--Indians
Cesar Puello--Mets
Micah Johnson--White Sox
Zach Borenstein--Angels
Jacob May--White Sox
Jordan Paroubeck--Padres
Josh Hader--Astros
Rustin Wright--Phillies
Gabriel Rosa--Reds

The Green Wave is Jake Barrett, #10/25 for the DBacks.

Judson from My Cardboard Habit and I were talking about how I seem to pull DBacks all the time and this is just further proof of that.

Have a great weekend and may all your packs have hits from your favorite team/player!

How to turn one mini into 462 minis

I suppose I should have called this post "How to turn one mini and $12.21 into 462 minis", but that would have been a bit cumbersome.

You may recall almost a month ago I pulled a red mini from a pack of Gypsy Queen.

This Masahiro Tanaka red mini #8/99 sold for $34.79 on Ebay.

After a bit of trolling around I ended up buying these:

That is a big ol' heap of 1975 minis.  462 of them to be exact.  I had to add $12.21 to the Tanaka-mini-money to buy them, but I think it was worth it.  The seller said there were "some" doubles, but his definition of "some" and my definition of "some" are not the same.  There were 156 doubles which left me with 306 cards toward the set.  1/3 is a little more than some in my book.  Still, at a cost of 10 cents per card (15 cents if you figure just the non-dupes), I think it was a great deal.  I could easily sell the dupes as a lot, but I think I'll hold on to them for trade material.

I know it was a lot of fun sorting though them and I look forward to getting these in some of those new pages I keep hearing Night Owl talk about.  I guess I'll need to make a wantlist for these too.  Out of my 156 dupes, only two of them were on Night Owl's wantlist so I'll have plenty to trade.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

We're friends right?  This is a blog about baseball cards, right?  I need you to bear with me and read through to the end even though this isn't necessarily a post about baseball cards.  Especially since most of you aren't Rangers fans.

I've been thinking about this for a couple of weeks and I just had to sit down, do the research and write about it.

The Texas Rangers are driving me crazy, but a little background first.

I started cheering for the Rangers when I was 8 years old.  That's 1978.  I cheered patiently, and not so patiently, for 32 years before they finally made it to the 2010 World Series.  They lost, but I was riding high on the World Series experience and while I was sad, I was just happy they finally made it.

Lo and behold, they made it back in 2011.  Unlike the previous year, I wasn't satisfied just to see them in the Series.  I was devastated when they lost.  Especially when you consider how close they were to winning in Game 6.  2012 was disappointing with the failure in the play-in game and in 2013, they faltered badly late in the season and allowed Oakland to take the West.

Fast forward to 2014.    Injuries have devastated the pitching staff.  Losing Derek Holland before Spring Training was a killer. Questions about Colby Lewis and Matt Harrison returning from injury were there, but Harrison slept on a mattress that was too soft(?) in ST and missed the beginning of the season.  Now Martin Perez is injured and last night Harrison had to leave the game in the second inning with a stiff back.  On Wednesday, the Rangers will start Nick Tepesch, their 9th different starting pitcher in 41 games.

The Rangers are experiencing one of the most Jekyll and Hyde seasons ever for a pitching staff.  The Rangers pitching staff has 9 shutouts this year, with Martin Perez throwing two complete game shutouts.  In the other 31 games, the team ERA is 5.75!  That's a 5 in front of that number.  How does a team throw 9 shutouts in 40 games and post a near 6 ERA in the other 31?  It's mind-boggling.

I'm just thankful for the shutouts.  The Rangers offense is terrible.  Two of the Rangers shutouts were 1-0 wins.  Two others were 3-0 wins.  In 40 games this season, the Rangers have scored 3 or few runs 21 times, with 9 games of 1 or fewer runs.  That's not going to cut it in the American League.

In 2013, the Rangers hit 176 home runs (6th in A.L.) and scored 730 runs (7th in A.L.).  The pace in 2014 is nowhere near those numbers.  This season the Rangers have hit 25 home runs (on pace for just over 100 for the season) and have scored 163 runs (on pace for about 580).  Those are huge drop offs for a team.  I keep hearing the bats will come to life, but I think 25% of the season is a pretty good sample size.  At this point the two big bats in the lineup are supposed to be Adrian Beltre and Prince Fielder.  Beltre gets a bit of a pass, but he's only got 3 homers and 12 RBIs through 40 games.  Fielder is a different story.  He hasn't missed a game and is on pace for 12 homers and 56 RBIs for the season.  That is an EPIC FAIL for the kind of money he is getting, regardless of the fact that Detroit is picking up some of the contract.

Having watched a number of games this year, I think Fielder has lost considerable bat speed.  He just doesn't get around on the ball like he used to and my lord he hits into that funky shift a lot.  I think the Rangers got hoodwinked on the Fielder-Kinsler trade.  Kinsler is a head case sometimes, but I'm afraid Fielder is going to be the financial albatross around the Rangers' necks the same way Alex Rodriguez was for so many years.  I'll be the first one to stand up and eat crow if Fielder comes around and starts mashing balls out to right field the way he should be doing.  As a matter of fact, I'm praying that I have to eat that crow. Nothing would make me happier.

Now come on Rangers, don't get embarrassed by Houston again tonight.  (And don't look up, but you're in 4th place in the West for goodness sake!)

Icy reception

14 days.

It was 14 days between my "Queen Walks into a Museum" post and my 2000th post contest.  I didn't want to do the 2000th post without having the prize from Topps in my grubby little hands.  I wasn't resting on my laurels during that two week break from the blog.  I spent many hours sorting through the 5000 count boxes from my LCS buddy.  I combined the contents of all 4 boxes and I think I started to go blind.  Maybe it's the fact that I'm 40-something, but those 16,000+ little numbers on the back of all those cards just about blinded me.

During those 14 days, I also received a number of Ebay purchases (I'm going to have to go cold turkey on there soon) and made a couple of trips to my LCS buddy's house.  My LCS buddy has been having some health issues in his family so we've mostly just spent my time there talking about cards and family.  He hasn't brought out any new stuff for me to look at which is fine.

Now that summer is approaching (it's already hit 90 here in Dallas), Ebay provided some relief in the form of ICE.  As in red and purple ice.

This is the 2013 Bowman Red Ice Derek Holland and OMG it's an Ebay 1/1 because it's #25/25!  I'm RICH!!!  

While I'm being ridiculous, I just thought I'd say how irritating it is to read all those Ebay auctions that say every other card is an EBAY 1/1!!!!!  If you want to look at it that way, every single serial numbered card is an EBAY 1/1 because there can only be one of each number.  Only one 212/500, only one 213/500 and so on.  The whole thing is just stupid.  

Moving forward to 2014, we have a red ice Adrian Beltre #16/25. I'm going to try not to get too worked up over the numbering this time.

I've become a little obsessed with Derek Holland cards.  This 2014 Bowman Purple Ice is # 8/10.  I'm not finished scanning all the stuff I bought on Ebay, but you'll be seeing this one again.  Or one very much like it.

I've got more red and purple ice to show off soon.  I know you can't wait.

It's Elemental

The great thing about blogging and being a part of this community is the generosity of fellow bloggers. Getting a package from someone just because is a nice way to end the day.  Back before my short "2000th Post" hiatus, I received just such a package from Tim of the blog, Home of the Toddfather.

Tim took the time to gather up some Rangers from my want lists.  Knowing how much everyone loves "trade" posts (even though this isn't one), I'll just keep you briefly and show three of the cards that caught my eye.

I like cards with throwback uniforms (provided they aren't the Pittsburgh Steelers bumblebee unis).  I'd rather see the Rangers wearing the powder blue uniforms from the mid 70's though.  This card does remind me of the time the ball bounced off Jose's head and over the wall.

Rick Helling was a hard throwing rightie, but he didn't last too long.  He looks like he belongs in the cornfields in Field of Dreams.

Michael is serious.  Don't mess with Texas.  (Especially you Rockies....I hope we don't have to play them again.  Ever.)

Tim, thanks for the cards.  Your generosity won't go unrewarded.

Bowman Box Winner!

First of all, I want to thank all of you again for being so supportive over the last 2000+ posts.  I would have walked away from this a long time ago if not for you guys keeping it fun.

Secondly, I need to thank Topps again for provided the prize.  It was very generous of them to support a blogger this way without asking for anything in return.

Counting bonus entries, we had over 200 names in the randomizer.

The winner of the 2014 Bowman Hobby Box is.....

Random picture inserted here so you don't see the randomizer on your feed.  Sneaky, I know.

Congrats to Jedi Jeff!  Jedi Jeff, please send me your address and I'll get the prize right out to you!

Thanks again everyone.  I wish I had a box for all of you!

Some of the Colors of the Rainbow

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. ROYGBIV.

Some of the colors of the rainbow are better than none.  Thanks to Night Owl, I added a red a green and a violet (purple really) to my collection.

  

Red.  That's a lot of power right there.  I think Trout might be the first $50 million/year player when he hits free agency at the ripe old age of 29.

Green.  You can't read the foil board name, but that's Kyle Hendricks.  Hendricks is in the Chicago farm system now at the AAA level.

Purple.  Luis Sardinas is on the Rangers 40 man roster this year.  He has appeared in 3 games and is 1/3 at the plate. He is not currently on the 25 man roster.

This is a pretty nice card.  It's from 2012 Bowman Chrome ( I guess.  I can't keep Bowman straight.)

I don't recall ever getting a package from Greg that didn't include at least one mini.  This 2013 Ginter mini of David Murphy is one of the best in the whole set.

 Look.  It's a Nelson Cruz relic that looks like a baseball.  I have it on good authority that this is from a cloth napkin stolen from the team plane by a teenager that stowed away in the plane's wheel well.  Sweet.  

Thanks Greg.  I have Dodgers for you.  I'll mail them sometime.  

The last three 5000 count boxes from my buddy

It's been a few days, but I recently posted the contents of the 1st 5000 count box I bought from my LCS buddy.  I offered up some of cards and some of you claimed stuff.  I'm going to get around to mailing that stuff soon, but first I wanted to give you the chance to claim EVEN MORE stuff.

I'm going to list the contents of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th 5000 count boxes too.

Just to remind you, I paid $5 for each of these boxes.  That's $20 for over 16,000 cards.

Box #2

1991 Fleer--145 cards
1998 Fleer Tradition--13 cards
1999 Fleer Tradition--621 cards
2000 Fleer Tradition--263 cards
2001 Fleer Tradition--186 cards
2003 Fleer Ultra--4 cards
1998 Skybox EX--14 cards
1999 Topps Gallery--17 cards
2000 Topps Gallery--2 cards
2002 Topps Traded--19 cards
2002 Topps Traded Chrome--3
1991 Upper Deck--1 card
1998 Upper Deck--2 cards
1999 Upper Deck--68 cards
2000 Upper Deck--1 card
2001 Upper Deck--835 cards
2002 Upper Deck--33 cards
2003 Upper Deck--53 cards
1999 Upper Deck MVP--1080 cards
2000 Upper Deck MVP--187 cards
2001 Upper Deck MVP--71 cards
2002 Upper Deck Ovation--5 cards
1999 Upper Deck Retro--1 card
1999 Upper Deck Victory--6 cards
2001 Upper Deck Vintage--82 cards
2002 Upper Deck Vintage--66 cards

Total--3877 cards

Box #3

1990 Bowman--3 cards
1991 Bowman--1  card
1993 Bowman--8 cards
1998 Bowman--366 cards
2001 Bowman--197 cards
2002 Bowman--165 cards
1999 Bowman Chrome--1 card
1987 Donruss--18 cards
1988 Donruss--237 cards
1989 Donruss--75 cards
1990 Donruss--179 cards
1991 Donruss--31 cards
1992 Donruss--243 cards
1993 Donruss--36 cards
1995 Donruss--7 cards
1997 Donruss--132 cards
1998 Donruss--4 cards
1999 Donruss--6 cards
2002 Donruss Classics--49 cards
2002 Donruss Originals--59 cards
1999 Donruss Preferred--36 cards
1995 Flair--3 cards
1998 Flair Showcase--1 cards
1999 Flair Showcase--27 cards
2002 Flair--50 cards
1982 Fleer--3 cards
1983 Fleer--2 cards
1984 Fleer--43 cards
1985 Fleer--1 card
1986 Fleer--1 card
1987 Fleer--23 cards
1988 Fleer--1 card
1989 Fleer--11 cards
1990 Fleer--83 cards
1991 Fleer--93 cards
1992 Fleer--203 cards
1993 Fleer--2 cards
1995 Fleer--31 cards
1996 Fleer--1 card
1997 Fleer--1 card
2002 Fleer Authentix--25 cards
1999 Fleer Brilliants--126 cards
1994 Fleer Excel--35 cards
2001 Fleer Focus--8cards
2001 Fleer Futures--1 card
2000 Fleer Gamers--8 cards
2000 Fleer Greats of the Game--14 cards
2002 Fleer Maximum--14 cards
2000 Fleer Mystique--2 cards
2001 Fleer Platinum--1 card
2001 Fleer Red Sox 100th--1 card
1986 Fleer Star Stickers--5 cards
1998 Fleer Tradition--177 cards
1999 Fleer Tradition--65 cards
2000 Fleer Tradition--163 cards
2001 Fleer Tradition--148 cards
2002 Fleer Tradition--6 cards
2001 Fleer Triple Crown--20 cards
1999 Fleer Ultra--4 cards
1991 Leaf--100 cards
1992 Leaf--3 cards
1997 Leaf--2 cards
1998 Leaf R&S--20 cards
2002 Leaf R&S--3 cards
2004 Leaf 2nd Edition--1 cards
1999 Pacific--64 cards
2000 Pacific--15 cards
1999 Pacific Aurora--26 cards
1999 Pacific Crown Collection--35 cards
1999 Pacific Invincible--11 cards
1998 Pacific Omega--50 cards
1998 Pacific Paramount--10 cards
1999 Pacific Paramount--1 cards
1999 Pacific Prism--12 cards
2000 Pacific Private Stock--3 cards
2000 Skybox Impact--488 cards
1999 Skybox Metal--1 card
2000 Skybox Metal--241 cards
1998 Skybox Metal Universe--218 cards
1996 Studio--10 cards
1999 UD Black Diamond--16 cards
1999 UD Choice

Total--4761 cards

Box #4

2001 Bowman--268 cards
1995 Flair--95 cards
1998 Flair--25 cards
1999 Flair Showcase--52 cards
1984 Fleer--12 cards
1989 Fleer--5 cards
1990 Fleer--25 cards
1991 Fleer--49 cards
1992 Fleer--93 cards
1993 Fleer--1 cards
1995 Fleer--11 cards
1997 Fleer--8 cards
2002 Fleer Focus--6 cards
2000 Fleer Gamers--4 cards
2000 Fleer Greats of the Game--10 cards
2002 Fleer Maximum--38 cards
2000 Fleer Mystique--15 cards
2001 Fleer Premium--3 cards
1986 Fleer Star Stickers--30 cards
1998 Fleer Tradition--24 cards
1999 Fleer Tradition--11 cards
2000 Fleer Tradition--472 cards
2001 Fleer Tradition--205 cards
2001 Fleer Triple Crown--44 cards
1991 Fleer Ultra--6 cards
1997 Fleer Ultra--1 card
1991 Leaf--83 cards
1992 Leaf--40 cards
1993 Leaf--29 cards
1995 Leaf--16 cards
1998 Leaf--3 cards
1998 Leaf Rookies and Stars--15 cards
2001 Leaf Rookies and Stars--1 card
2002 Leaf Rookies and Stars--158 cards
1999 Pacific--230 cards
2000 Pacific--29 cards
1999 Pacific Aurora--81 cards
1999 Pacific Crown Collection--86 cards
1999 Pacific Invincible--29 cards
1998 Pacific Omega--272 cards
1998 Pacific Paramount--33 cards
2000 Pacific Paramount--12 cards
1999 Pacific Prism--7 cards
1999 Pacific Private Stock--1 card
2000 Pacific Private Stock--3 cards
1995 Pinnacle Aficianado--1 card
1998 Skybox Dugout Axcess--123 cards
2000 Skybox Impact--113 cards
2000 Skybox Metal--225 cards
1998 Skybox Metal Universe--482 cards
1998 Skybox Thunder--202 cards
1999 Skybox Thunder--15 cards
1991 Studio--4 cards
1996 Studio--3 cards
1999 Topps Stadium Club--358 cards

Total--4167 cards

That makes the total for the four boxes a whopping 16,956 cards.  All for the low, low price of $20.

That makes the price per card a ridiculous .0012 cents per card or roughly 8 cards per penny.

If anything on here looks like it might be something you want let me know.  I know some of you claimed stuff before and I'll use that list, but it wouldn't hurt to claim it here as well.

I'm back with post #2000 and the biggest prize I've ever given away

Hello dear readers!  I'm back after a brief hiatus.  I'm celebrating post #2000 today and want to thank all of you who have shared this experience with me.  Whether you were here from the first day or you started following somewhere along the way, you've all contributed in making this hobby and this blog so much fun for me.

I started this blog with the idea that I could do some trade posts and maybe show off some of my Rangers. I also wanted to share my story about the dangers of overspending on cards.  As the blog developed, I created massive want lists, made countless trades, won Gint-A-Cuffs (twice) and saw a lot of good bloggers come and go (and come back too).

I've been the recipient of some of the most amazing generosity and I've tried to repay that with card packages and giveaways.  We've shared a lot over these 2000 posts and I truly appreciate every single one of you who stops by to read, leave a comment or search your cards for something off my want lists.

Thanks to a fellow blogger (he knows who he is) I was able to contact a Topps rep who generously donated a great prize to celebrate the 2000th Play at the Plate post.  I've been waiting for it to arrive and yesterday it was waiting for me when I got to work.

I didn't know what Topps was sending so it was a little like Christmas in May.

Nice.  Thanks to Topps, I'll be giving away an unopened Hobby box of 2014 Bowman!

I'm not going to make this too hard.  No trivia, no guessing a number, no predictions.  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post.  It could be any comment.  You can enter once per day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  You don't have to publicize the contest on your blog, BUT IF YOU DO, I'll double your entries (so you could have up to 6 entries).  If you decide to mention the contest on your blog, PLEASE mention that Topps donated the box for the contest.  I want to make sure they get props for their generosity as well.  On Monday, I'll randomize the entries three times on Random.org and announce a winner.

Thank you guys and gals for all the support, all the cards and all the great comments over the last 2000 posts.  I can't express enough how much I appreciate all of it.  I've always said that I write the blog for myself, but knowing someone out there is reading it makes it a lot more fun.

Here's hoping you (and I) are all still around for #3000!