Can't forget THE MAN

Along with our trip to the card show, Max, Christopher and I also went to AAA Collectables in Matthews, NC today and I got a Brooks Robinson I needed for my collection... 1964 Topps. Very reasonable price as well... Its not in the best of shape, but I like it, which is pretty much par for the course when it comes to my cards.

A productive trip to the card show...

Yes I did. I got the two cards I had in my sights. Good versions too. I got 17 cards I needed for the 1955 set, leaving me with 29 to go. The biggest name left now is Phil Rizzuto... Max also got a sweet 1954 Al Kaline RC, his first big name RC and vintage card. I'm very happy for him.

I am almost done with this set! I have no idea what will be next, but who knows, something may fall in my lap...

Got my sights set on 2 cards....

I'm getting close. So close. I will own these two cards soon. Mark my words. I will be on the lookout this weekend at the card show... I will find them. I will own them.

Getting the bug...

Now that the season is fully underway, I have a couple irons in the fire, so to speak, about catching some games in person this year. I fully intend to catch a lot more minor league games this year, as last year, we went to two games in Winston-Salem and had a blast. I got a bunch of autographs, met Brandon Snyder and Matt Weiters (yes THE Matt Weiters) and got a broken bat. That was in ONE trip. My ticket cost $7.00 and we were 3 rows behind the dugout. You can't beat that.

As I continue my weekly trek from Charlotte to Greenville, I have a more wide open venue for catching games. I have the possibility of catching Kinston Indian games (about 30 miles from my office in Greenville), Carolina Mudcat Games (in Zebulon, also about 30 miles from Greenville), Durham Bulls (David Price, anyone?) which are about 1.5-2 hours away, Winston-Salem Dash (most...awesome...name...ever...) when I go see my parents, Charlotte Knights (on the ass end of town around here...) and Kannapolis Intimidators (about 15-20 minutes from my house that you need to come and buy). Not a bad list of options.

Also, if you consider the fact that I am down the road from ECU, I can catch games there, as well as NCSU games because I will most likely be spending more time in that area because I finally have a friend who wants to share in all of my baseball joy that goes to school there... hahaha.

There is also the yearly pilgrimage to Camden Yards. Last year we had a good size crowd go with us: Me, my wife, my son, my little brother Andy and my cousin from Germany, Andreas all rode together in my wifes car, while Babe rode up on the train and met us at the hotel.

This year, I think I will scale back somewhat and return to the one on one approach, go with one good friend and have a blast. Mallory doesn't want to go this year because we are having our 5th wedding anniversary and for some odd reason, she doesn't feel that a baseball game is a good way to celebrate the fact that she hasn't smothered me with a pillow yet...

There's also the possibility of going to Cooperstown this year... Oh man, that would be SWEET!

Anyway, I'm excited. Once the house sells, the picture will be much clearer.

Breakout Season?

I sure think so. Adam Jones will be a STAR. He has started off the season on a tear, and I, and others believe that the kid is on the verge of breaking out and becoming a HUGE star for the O's. People give the O's crap about losing for so long, but let me tell you, they have a lot to get excited about. Thankfully, they signed Roberts and Markakis to extensions. They stole Adam Jones from the Mariners for Erik Bedard, who was out on the DL for a lot of last season, and never impressed me much for taking himself out of ballgames. The cavalry is on the way as far as pitching, with Bergesen, Tillman, Arrieta, David Hernandez, and Brian Matusz all waiting for a shot to get to the majors. I think next year, instead of me yelling CC WHO? You'll be hearing me say 'Yankees/Red Sox/ Rays/ Jays WHO??'

Amazing what you find when you have to box your stuff up...

I have been arranging and rearranging my cards while I am STILL in the process of selling my house (someone buy it PLEASE), taking stuff to Greenville, then looking through what i have IN Greenville to keep me from dying from boredom. I went through one of my many boxes in the storage facility and found the one in which I had placed my 13 rubbermaid 'shoe boxes.' Going through those boxes, looking for Russell Martin and Manny Ramirez cards for Max, I discovered 2 cards. One of which I had no clue I had, and the other, well, I thought I lost it somewhere...Card 1: 2006 Upper Deck WBC Inaugural Images Koji Uehara. Now, if the O's hadn't signed him this winter, i wouldn't give a crap about this card. BUT, since the O's DID sign him, well, when i found this among an assortment of other cards, well, you can imagine what i said... I think it rhymed with 'Oh Truck.' Ha ha. He also looked pretty good against the Yankees in his MLB debut, however, he did throw a LOT of pitches. I think he will be ever better next time around.

Card 2: Hank Aaron 1974 Topps #1. I already had this card in my 1974 set, but got it again real cheap at the card shop a while back. Then I forgot where I put it. Not good. Its amazing that i found the card in one of my boxes almost 35 years to the day that he broke the HR record. Supposedly, he will be throwing out the first pitch in the new W-S dash ballpark... Doubt I will be able to make it, but man, that would be cool.

Cards and Friendships...

For a long time, I chose my friends badly. 95% of the people I hung out with even 5 years ago are not around today. Most, if not all, of those people pretty much only hung out with me because I was easily accessable and loved to have a beverage or 12 and get crazy. Those days are long gone, and when the well dried up, a lot of people said 'F' you and took off. Sucks, I know.

I got myself into some trouble and cut out a lot of the late nights and partying, etc. I spent my saturdays working at the card shop because Babe needed a day off every now and again. Because I was working there once a week, I developed a good relationship with her. She and my wife also hit it off and have become best friends.

I met P.A. and Pete at the shop. Since then, both have been over to watch wrestling pay per views. P.A. and I plan on catching some minor league games this year (GO WIETERS).

I reconnected with my good friend Max because of cards. Now he's hooked... We also want to catch some games together as well, and its nice to have him close to Greenville. I can call him up and we can hit some of the Raleigh area shops. I have given him a 'welcome to the hobby kit' and he has taken off running with it, haha.

I'm really appreciative of the better relationships I have now due to my love for this hobby. If I tripped over some money tomorrow, I would open a card shop and spend my days sitting at the counter and shooting the breeze about baseball and the cards associated with them.

Along with the Orioles, I now follow because of my friends: The Tampa Bay Rays (Mike), Los Angeles Dodgers (Max), Atlanta Braves (Babe), The Texas Rangers and Houston Astros (P.A.) and Seattle (my wife, Mallory). Sorry Pete, I STILL hate the Yankees, lol.

Anyway, I thought I'd post a little different of a post instead of being cut and dry about 'I got this card, etc...'

Thanks to P.A. for coming to Wrestlemania last night and hooking me up with some sweet cards. I wish the rest of you were able to make it, we had a blast. Maybe next time! :)

Wrestlemania is Heeeere...

Not the best picture, but it is of HHH when we went to RAW in November 2007... I have a busy weekend planned, and this is following the awesome time I had hanging out with my best buddy Max this week as well. Went to Piedmont Dragway today and watched Dad do a burnout and then get pushed back off of the track due to water leaking from the car onto the track. When they got back to the trailer, they found that a push rod in the engine was broken, so their weekend was over.

Mike is coming over tonight so we can watch Stone Cold get inducted into the WWE hall of fame. Good times.

Tomorrow, we will have pretty much an all day long get together celebrating the 24th anniversary of Wrestlemania (for some dumbass reason, WWE is billing it as the 25th anniversary, you don't celebrate your first wedding anniversary the day you get married do you?). I hope everyone enjoys themselves tomorrow, I know I will! If you would like to attend, call my cell!