Throwing in the towel

I'm not quitting the blog, if that's what you were thinking.  I just got this stuffed package from the Junior Junkie and had to show off the contents.  Starting with this towel card.

It's not often you see a card where a guy has a towel over his shoulder, but this 1988 Fleer gem of Charlie Hough features just such a picture.  The Junkie included the entire Texas Rangers 1988 Fleer team set.  If you didn't see his post about going to the post office and spending nearly $180 on shipping, just go here.

Like last night's post, I picked up another of those 2015 Topps Original Stamp cards.  This one is a Doyle Alexander, one of my favorite 1970's Rangers.  I always thought he looked like he would fit in with the gunfight at the OK Corral.

Here's a horrible picture of a Rafael Palmeiro Piece of the Action Bat Card.  I do like his uniform number cut into the bat sliver.  Or table leg, whichever it might be.

There was a big stack of cards to choose from, but my favorite of the bunch was this 2004 Topps Finest Michael Young refractor. So shiny and fun.

Thanks for the cards Junkie.

A Sticker Contest Winner

It took 30 packs to finally finish the first team in the 2015 Topps Sticker Album.

John Miller picked the Pirates and is the winner.  John, please email me your address!

Thanks for playing everyone.

I still have 10 packs to open, but in case you were wondering, here is the order and pack number in which the next 9 teams finished.

Pack 34 - Colorado

Pack 35 - Houston and Milwaukee

Pack 36 - Tampa, Minnesota AND St. Louis

Pack 37 - Cleveland and Atlanta

Pack 38 - Detroit

Until next time...

I've been Fergied!

You may have heard of Bipping.  I've been Bipped before, with real, honest to goodness Bip Roberts cards.  Well, I was also recently Fergied.

See what I mean!  Fergied!!  Hey, nothing against being Bipped, but I'll take a Hall of Fame Fergie-ing any day of the week.

The Fergies and a whole bunch of other quality Ranger and non-sport goodness came my way from the generous giveaway conducted by Drew of Drews Cards.  Somehow, Drew still has teams left to be claimed even though he posted that over a month ago.

I picked out the Treaty of Versailles card because I've been there and the Abraham Lincoln is one of my favorite historical figures.

Winner, Winner, 1992 Topps for Dinner!  I would have been so excited to pull those back in 1992.

I'm going to leave you with this.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Thanks Drew!

My second TTM returns...and it's my best ever!

Ok, I realize as I read the title that only having two TTM returns and describing one as the best ever doesn't mean it had much competition.  Well, regardless of how many I might have, this will always rank right up there at the top for baseball returns.

I sent two cards to the Texas Rangers campus on February 27th.

They were returned today.

(Sent 2/27/15 returned 3/23/15 total = 24 days)

I was very happy to open the envelope and find not one, but two Adrian Beltre autographed cards. He has a unique signature and I'm happy to have these two in my growing (3 now...) collection of TTM cards.

Another Sticker Contest Update - 5 more packs opened

Five packs = forty stickers.  That's a little over 1 per team, but it didn't work out that way.  Three teams picked up four more stickers, while eight teams added zero stickers.  Here is the breakdown:

Baltimore: 4/9

Boston: 1/9

New York: 4/9   5/9

Tamp Bay: 2/9   3/9

Toronto: 3/9       5/9

Chicago: 4/9       5/9

Cleveland: 4/9

Detroit: 4/9         6/9

Kansas City: 4/9

Minnesota: 3/9       5/9

LAA:  1/9              3/9

Houston: 4/9

Oakland: 4/9      5/9

Seattle: 3/9         5/9

Texas: 2/9           6/9

AL and NL pages...who cares...HA!

Atlanta: 2/9        4/9

Miami: 2/9          3/9

New York: 4/9   5/9

Philly: 4/9            6/9

Washington: 1/9

Chicago: 4/9       5/9

Cincy: 6/9

Milwaukee: 3/9  7/9

Pittsburgh: 4/9  7/9

St. Louis: 2/9

Arizona: 3/9        4/9

Colorado: 6/9     7/9

LAD: 2/9               5/9

San Diego: 3/9   4/9

San Fran: 4/9      5/9         

Three teams are only two stickers away from winning, while I'm hoping there is a Boston and Washington hot pack in the box somewhere.  I was happy to see Texas pick up four of the forty stickers that round.  

More to come...

A sticker contest update

I'm having a contest related to the 2015 Topps Stickers I bought.  I thought you might want a little update.

I'm taking it easy with these since there aren't any "gotta rip these to get the hits" moments with the stickers.  I've busted 15 out of 50 packs so far and here are your numbers.

By the way, I'm hoping the collation isn't as bad in the last 35 packs.  Packs 1-13 revealed one duplicate.  Packs 14 and 15 had 16 duplicates out of 18 stickers.  Not good.

Here we go:

Baltimore: 4/9
Boston: 1/9
New York: 4/9
Tamp Bay: 2/9
Toronto: 3/9
Chicago: 4/9
Cleveland: 4/9
Detroit: 4/9
Kansas City: 4/9
Minnesota: 3/9
LAA: 1/9
Houston: 4/9
Oakland: 4/9
Seattle: 3/9
Texas: 2/9
AL and NL pages...who cares...HA!
Atlanta: 2/9
Miami: 2/9
New York: 4/9
Philly: 4/9
Washington: 1/9
Chicago: 4/9
Cincy: 6/9
Milwaukee: 3/9
Pittsburgh: 4/9
St. Louis: 2/9
Arizona: 3/9
Colorado: 6/9
LAD: 2/9
San Diego: 3/9
San Francisco: 4/9

There you have it.

The very best news I could get

I got back from my week in Florida to find ONE of the 39 TTM requests I sent out on February 27th had been returned.  It's not a superstar or someone most of you will have heard of...well, you may have heard his name before because there have been two former major leaguers with the same name.

It's 23 year old Rangers prospect Alex Gonzalez.

(Mailed 2/27, returned 3/9, 10 days)

I have to say that as a rooke TTMer, I was very excited just to see a little return on my investment in envelopes and stamps.  The ink smeared a little, but overall, I'm still happy.  Of course, now I'm like a kid who can't wait for Christmas.  I'm waiting F.O.R.E.V.E.R for the mail to arrive and with one exception, disappointed yet again.  It's still fun though.  At the age of 44, it's nice to have something about the hobby that is new and exciting again.

Speaking of my age, the TTM, while fun, is NOT the very best news I could get.  The title of this post is more about the fact that my doctor told me I no longer have to take Metformin, a diabetes medicine.  Thanks to 3 months of Weight Watchers, I've lost nearly 40 pounds and all of my numbers, including blood sugar, triglycerides, cholesterol and blood pressure are normal.  I'm still on the blood pressure med, but that too will stop in 2015.

I have a feeling the rest of 2015 is going to be pretty good.

By the way, I have a contest going and YES, THE SAME TEAM MAY BE CHOSEN MORE THAN ONCE.  Go here for details.

Have a great Tuesday.  I know I will.

A contest because I just wanna have one

I just got back from a week in Florida.  Three days for a work conference and the rest for family vacation.  It was fun, but EXHAUSTING.  I don't know about you, but I'm one of those guys that needs a couple days off to recover from my time off.

I returned from Florida to find this:

It was tons of mail and a box from Dave and Adams Cardworld.  I was very excited to dig into this box because it had six blasters of this:

and 6 Hobby boxes of this:

and don't forget the DA bonus packs:

It also had a box of 2015 Topps Stickers and a sticker book.  I don't normally buy these, but it was the daily deal when I ordered the other stuff, plus the world famous Sooz (@yanxchick) picked out the pics so I wanted to give it a try.

So, I mentioned a contest.  Well, this box has 50 packs of stickers.  I posted the first couple of packs on Twitter (@patpdude), but I'm not posting the rest yet.

All you have to do to enter, is tell me the VERY FIRST team that I am able to complete a page in the album for and you'll win.  Or at least be randomized to win in the event more than one person guesses that team.  I will tell you that after opening 6 packs, I have some teams with 3 stickers and some with none.  I WILL not be using the 6 free stickers that came with the book unless I need them to finish the set.  I'd like to keep that sheet intact if possible.

The winner will get something along the lines of some of these stickers...maybe...and something else. Probably an unopened pack of something new.  Depends on what I can find I suppose.  It's easy and someone has to win, so why not you!?

Good luck and if you feel like pimping the contest, feel free, but it'll only get you my undying appreciation.  Thanks everyone.

I won what?

Recently, Matt of Bob Walk the Plank fame, reached his one year anniversary and held a simple contest.  Thank goodness it was simple because I entered and was one of the winners.

Boy, does Matt know how to send out a prize package.  Take a gander at these goodies.

So, way back in 2014, these Leaf Memories buy back cards hit the market.  Bob must have hit the mother lode.  This Jack Daugherty is stamped right there by his foot #5/5.  

This 2014 Memories Kevin Brown is #3/5.  Matt either bought a bunch of these packs or did some shopping for this prize pack.

Moving on to a Topps bright red jersey swatch with this Yu Darvish #11/18.  I like the bright red swatch and will take it over a plain white or grey swatch any day.  Even if it is just a piece of curtain from a renovation of the Rangers' clubhouse.  I kid, I kid.

Elvis Andrus has one ugly signature, but I'll take it any day of the week.  This design is not very appealing but just think, Elvis Andrus actually held the sheet of stickers this auto came from!!!  (Where is that sarcasm font again?)

I sure hope Matt Harrison can get back on the mound someday.  Maybe then he can have another auto in Lineage something.  

Now we're really walking the plank.  Sweet Derek Holland Triple Threads auto relic #25/50.  Most posts would find this as the top dog, but there is one card that I like better because its's an auto I didn't have until now.

This is another one of those 2014 Leaf Memories and it's a Goose Gossage auto hand numbered 4/54. I believed that's the first Goose auto in my collection.

Matt, you went way above and beyond and I do appreciate it!!