Big D is Giving away a Custom Custom!!!

Big D of Hey, That's Mine is giving away a custom custom card. You get to pick the subject.

GO ENTER NOW.

Click here.

Hurry.

How did he do that?

I know most of you are tired of the Topps Million Card Giveway gimmick. I get it. Really, it makes sense. It was fun at first, but it got old. Maybe when Series 2 arrives, you'll get back into it for a bit.

I'm still trying to trade up as far as my portfolio is concerned. I have 63 cards now and I'm trying to make trades for older cards before I request to have mine shipped.

As you probably know, Topps is holding contests in connection with the MCG. The latest one to end was for 2 boxes of 2009 Tribute and the winner was the person with the most Red Sox cards.

I didn't have quite enough Red Sox to win. As a matter of fact, this is the one and only Red Sox card in my portfolio.

I'm not a Red Sox collector, but I ended up with this one because it fits the vintage catcher profile.

The winner of the contest had 557 Red Sox cards.

557!

How on earth is that possible? I've been questioning my MCG compulsion lately, but my obsession is nothing compared to that guy. I thought I was doing good having 16 Rangers and 11 vintage Senators.

Bring on Series 2!

In a little rut

My scanner is giving me trouble so I haven't been able to post some cards I've received in the last week or so.

I've been having the trading blahs. I've claimed a couple of cards and I need to find stuff to send those bloggers.

I have packages to mail to GCRL and RGB.

I want to have a look at Chicle for myself. I haven't seen any in my neck of the woods. I refuse to buy it at the local card shop because his prices are so far out of line with the real world. I'm not completely crazy about all that I've seen, but I like to pick up some to judge for myself.

(This is where I would normally show an image of a Chicle card, but I didn't want to "steal" one from another blogger.)

I think I might even buy a pack of two of Bowman just to have something new to open. If I could find it.

Having said all that, I'm not bored with the hobby. I'm still adding more vintage cards to the collection. I'm still sorting and organizing past purchases and hoping to get some "new" wantlists posted sometime this decade. I'm on the lookout for discounted blasters of past products. I'm putting away a few dollars here and there so I can get a couple of hobby boxes of 2010 A&G and be ready for Gint-a-Cuffs II.

So, the rut I'm in is minor. There are still so many things to enjoy and love about this hobby.

I recently busted a $20 "blaster" you won't believe.

Now, if I can just get that scanner back online...

Welcome back to the Show!

Derek Holland is back in action for the Texas Rangers.

So far he has pitched in two games since his return from AAA Oklahoma City. He is 2-0 with a 2.38 ERA and 10 Ks in 11.1 innings pitched. I'll take it.

He threw 6 shutout innings against the A's last Wednesday and followed that up with a 5.1 inning performance last night agains the Angels. He did give up 2 homers and 3 earned runs as he tired in the 5th and into the 6th innings. However, 2 wins over division rivals is alright with me!

Last year, Holland appeared in 33 games for Texas, making 21 starts. He ended up 8-13 with a 6.12 ERA and 107 Ks in 138.1 innings pitched. He did throw one complete game and one shutout.

We just missed out getting Derek to sign some stuff last Wednesday. He signed for quite a while, but finished just as we arrived.

Derek, welcome back to the Show!

**Many thanks to Wicked Ortega for those Holland auto'd cards from 2008 Bowman Chrome and 2009 Topps Chrome!**

Where's Mojo?

I could not care less about Waldo, but Mojo is different story. I knew before I went the Ranger game last Thursday that Mojo, of Mojo and Beardy's Fantastic Card Blog, was going to be there. He said so in one of his blog posts. I thought it would be cool to meet him, but I didn't get around to emailing him beforehand.

I was waiting and hoping to get some autos with my sons on the Rangers side of the field and Mojo was over on the other side hoping to get Dallas Braden's auto. You can see the results of his wait right here on his blog. You've probably already read about my experience, but if not, check it out here.

After reading Mojo's post and seeing his picture, I went back and looked at the pictures I took.

That's Rangers centerfielder (for now at least) Julio Borbon doing some throwing drills. Can you see Mojo? No? Go here again and see what Mojo looks like. Now do you see him.

Maybe this will help.

That's Mojo, leaning on the rail in what he calls the "Pee Shirt". Hey, he said it, not me. I didn't know that was him until I read his blog.

Mojo makes some great pulls when he busts wax so I'm hoping just being this close will help me when Gint a Cuffs Part 2 rolls around.

Mojo, welcome to Texas, and specifically the North Texas area. I hope everything goes well with your new job!

Play at the Plate Part 17: Jeremy Giambi vs. Jorge Posada

2010 Topps Tales of the Game "Jeter: The Flip"

October 13, 2001

From the card back: "The Yankees faced elimination by Oakland in Game 3 of the 2001 AL Division Series, but avoided it thanks in large part to a heads-up play by Jeter. After a throw from the outfield overshot two cutoff men, Derek snared the ball with two hands near the first base line, then immediately flipped it backhanded about 20 feet to the plate. The toss was just in time to nail Jeremy Giambi, preserving a 1-0 lead."

It's another stinkin' Yankee card. Of course, I'm the dummy that keeps posting them, saying how much I don't like them. I picked this card because 1) I had it scanned already 2) I needed a PATP card and didn't have time to scan any others because I'm writing this on Friday morning.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Cards from the Old Man Part 18: Duke Snider

This is the eighteenth in a series of posts about cards I received from the old collector in our town who had library catalogs full of cards from the 1950's-1970's. You can see those original posts here and here if you missed them.

Counting this card, there are 4 cards left in the series. I love these old vintage cards, but I'm looking forward to this series of posts ending. It doesn't draw any comments and the number of site hits on the weekend really dwindles. Of course I write that as I say to myself "I write this blog for me...no one else". But I don't think that is really true of any of us. We love the feedback and it probably doesn't hurt the ego to see the site hit numbers go up.

Boy, I got sidetracked.

I have to say I picked this card for the name. I very quickly learned who this player was, but I didn't know at the time I acquired the card.

1964 Topps Duke Snider

It's weird to me now to see Duke Snider in anything other than a Dodger uniform. Snider played 18 seasons, mostly with Brooklyn and L.A. He had 2,116 hits, 407 homeruns, 1,333 RBIs and a .295 batting average.

Snider played in 6 World Series, losing 4 of them to the Yankees and winning against the Yankees and White Sox once. It would be easy to understand if he was bitter about the Yankees. He was a 7 X All-Star and was the Sporting News Player of the Year in 1955.

This card has a crease running all the way across from 1960 to the right side, but he has a great name and I'm glad to have it in my collection.