Fearless Royal Rumble Prediction(s)

Ok, so, this is a baseball card blog... BUT this is MY baseball card blog; therefore, I can write about anything I want... hahahahahahaha. So, if you know me well enough, you know that my other big passion in life is Professional Wrestling. Do not message me and ask me 'you know its fake, right?' I'm not a 4-year old. Now, the first person that says the above to my son, well, I'm going to hit them in the head with a chair. That's like telling a kid that Santa doesn't exist. That's just mean.

So, tonight is one of the two big nights in wrestling for me. The Royal Rumble (the second night being Wrestlemania in March)... Traditionally, my friend Vinny would come over, I would make wings, have SEVERAL adult beverages and have a good ole time. We had packed as many as 15-20 people in my house for one of these Pay Per View parties. Nowadays, with us having moved, the turnout will be very limited, i.e. just my wife, son and I... Vinny couldn't get off work, and the others I had invited all cannnot come due to the wintry weather (I love the Rumble, but its not worth dying for)...
The Royal Rumble match itself is my favorite match of the year. Theoretically, each of the 30 participants has an equal chance to win (theoretically meaning, yes I am aware that the outcome is predetermined). Since 2000, I am 8-2 in predicting the Royal Rumble Winner.... I was 7-0 until that little bastard Rey Mysterio won in 2006, and I missed a pick again when I picked Triple H to win in 2008, not knowing that John Cena was going to come back early from an injury and enter at #30... lame. I hate John Cena. Funny, though, when Mysterio won in 2006, I had picked Triple H to win, then as well...

That being said, here are some fearless predictions for the Rumble match tonight...

Who I WANT to win: I'm torn between Triple H and Chris Jericho. Jericho virtually has no chance, since he really isn't in the title picture right now. I also doubt Triple H will win because it is looking like he may be headed toward a showdown with HBK Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania...

Who I think will win (my official pick): John Cena :( I really dislike him. I'm sick of WWE forcing him down my throat since all the kids and girls like the guy. I think he sucks. They need to quit jerking him off in public and hit him with a ladder or something, put him out of my misery. BUT, I do think he will win the match tonight. Sigh.

Who will win if WWE is throwing a curve... Ahhh, if only WWE writers would stop running a leprechaun out there every week and actually write some compelling storylines, this may happen: Randy Orton would defeat the human glowstick Seamus for the championship, and then Ted DiBiase, Jr. would win the Rumble, thus setting up a matchup between Orton and DiBiase for Wrestlemania... that would be worth the $50 I'm going to have to drop to buy the PPV.

Also, a returning Edge would make things interesting, however, this is unlikely, because I don't think he would be fully recovered from his injury in time for Wrestlemania, let alone the Rumble.

Fearless predictions on surprise entrants: One thing I love about the Rumble is that WWE will throw a bone to a couple wrestlers from the past and have them entered. Be it Roddy Piper, Superfly Snuka, Dory Funk, I always like seeing who they have each year. This year, I believe Booker T will be a surprise entrant, as well as possibly RVD. Jeff Hardy would be a nice surprise as well, but he may be under contract with TNA, or he may still be in jail, who knows....

Who other people are picking: My wife has gone on record and picked The Miz, while Christopher says Jericho.

Strong Showing? Each year, a wrestler or two lasts for a while in the Rumble and eliminates a good many people, only to come up JUST short of winning it all. In the past, wrestlers like Kane, Rikishi, The Rock, etc have put on a good showing, only to be eliminated... this year, I think we will see Ted DiBiase, Jr. and possible David Hart Smith look good while in the Rumble.

Final 4: Its always interesting to see who the final 4 wrestlers left in the Rumble are. Usually, they end up being the 4 biggest stars at the time, or 3 stars and one up-and-coming wrestler who will end up being a star (I like my wife's pick that The Miz would be in the final 4 this year)... Last year, the final 4 was Triple H, Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase, Jr. and Cody Rhodes (DiBiase and Rhodes are Orton's lackeys). With Orton coming out on top. This year, I think the final 4 will be: Triple H, John Cena, Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels.

Anyone else care to make a prediction? Anyone else ordering the PPV? Let me know!

Mail Day - Rise of the Machines

So, I'm a little late, but I got a package from Chris over at http://oncardautos.wordpress.com/ the other day. He's still jumping up and down over the numerous stacks of Nomars I sent him a while back. I got some Ripkens, Roberts and other Orioles that I didn't already have... No, he didn't write on the card, haha. There is a penny sleeve on it. I thought this was hilarious, so I'm keeping it as is! Sucks that I'm pretty sure Movie Gallery has shut down...?

I thought this was a really pretty card. Shiny things tend to capture my attention for brief periods of time... Too bad Alomar didn't get in the HOF this year. Oh well, 10 years from now, no one is going to remember that he was a 2nd ballot HOFer.

Ooooohhhh... The 2010 Topps Orioles card! I didn't have this one yet... I'm very pleased. This will most likely go in my set (if I ever A. get back to the shop due to this crappy weather or B. my jumbo boxes are released before 2012)...

Thanks a lot Chris! I really appreciate it. You'll have more Cubs and Nomars coming soon, I'm sure!

Snow Day!

So, we walked down the road to the Sheetz station this morning to get some coffee and hot chocolate. I've had just about enough snow I can handle. I remember being in school and loving it when it snows. My brothers, sister and I would play outside in it from the time we got up until well after it got dark. Nowadays, not so much.

So, I'm stuck inside with not much to do. I paid bills, cleaned up a little, took a nap, watched some TV, talked to some people on facebook and now, I'm about to begin partaking of some adult beverages and find a good movie to watch. Long story short? I'm effing bored, haha. So, let's catch up on a blog why don't we?

A couple weeks ago I bought a pack of UD Icons and Topps 206. I do not pack search, even though it would be quite easy to do so. I ended up getting two awesome GU Jersey cards out of the two packs I opened.
First up, UD Icons Legendary Icons Ozzie Smith. I really wasn't a big Icons fan this year. I really didn't feel that the cards were worth $11.00 a pack. I was very happy with this pull, however. You can never go wrong with an Ozzie jersey.

Next up, the 206 Polar Bear Albert Pujols GU Jersey. Wow, I just realized, I pulled jerseys of two Cardinals icons. Not bad. I'm a big fan of the 206 relic frames. I blogged the sweeet Nick the STICK jersey I got last month. Not bad, not bad. What do you guys think? Stay warm!!!

Come Look At My Balls!!

I'm hoping that you are reading this blog entry because you are interested in my BASEballs. If that wasn't the reason you clicked on this... wow. Scary.

Anyway, I knocked another Hall of Famer off my autographed baseball want list. Larry over at http://sewingmachineguy.blogspot.com/ sent me this Al Kaline ball in trade for a Sweet Spot WIllie Horton Glove Auto. Pretty fair deal to me. I think the next card show that comes around I will have it authenticated.

Now, I had a Kaline ball before, well I had it for like a day, but it wasn't intended for me at all. I bought it for my buddy and it has a prominent place on his shelf. Now I have my own Kaline!

I'm thinking my next HOF auto ball is going to be purchased online. I found a great place that has scores of autoed baseballs: http://www.halloffamememorabilia.com/ I've been eyeing Warren Spahn and Ernie Harwell, among others.

Mail Day - The Spawning

I received an email the other day from a dude who wants to remain anonymous wanting to send me a bunch of O's and Ripkens he had that I didn't have. Apparently he saw my Zistle list. Anyway, he hit a homerun on the Ripkens I needed. I don't have many Topps Chrome Ripkens at all, which is surprising, so that's why this one ended up here out of the cards he sent. Its also a refractor, which is SWEET!!

Now, of all the other O's cards, I LOVE this Brady he sent me:

I'm Flyyyyyyyyyyyyyying! Yeah, that's right! Brady was the man! I really like this card. I'm glad I am becoming more established in the online trading community. Keep the emails coming guys!!!

First Taste of 2010 Topps

Much like last year, someone brought me in a few Target packs of Flagship Topps the week before my Jumbo boxes were set to come in. Last year, it was P.A. bringing the cards in; this year, that honor went to Pete. I opened 8 Target retail packs and, so far, was pretty pleased with what I saw...

First off, the design is pretty cool. I really liked last year's design, and this year is right up there for me. I'm one of those people who kind of get tired of the white bordered cards, and it is always nice when they throw in a change-up, but the last 2 years have been really nice. I like the above card for one reason only. It shows one of my best friends favorite players (Russell Martin) without it being Martin's actual card. I always thought it was fun identifying the unnamed players on other cards, and this one was no exception.

Hooray. Topps. Town. Has. Returned. I. Can't. Contain. My. Excitement. I like that they have players on these, otherwise, I'd throw them in the trash...

I got a good many of the Red Back inserts. I was going to scan the Mantle I got, but I figured all 5 billion Yankee fans on the blogs would do that, so I scanned ole double X. Jimmie Foxx. Man, he was awesome. That'd be a sweet cut auto to get sometime... hats another blog for another day, lol.

Which brings me to 'The Cards Your Mom Threw Out...'

I pulled two of them, the 1977 Topps Reggie reprint:

Here is the reverse of the card: And here is the 1976 Mike Schmidt. Now, I had no idea, but apparently the ones with the actual card backs on them are short printed or something, and since this was the first of these I pulled, I had no idea until Pete caught a glimpse of the back.

See, I wasn't lying, stats on the back. Cool, huh? Anyone else know about this variation??
Now, I thought this next one was pretty cool, I am reading the book (off and on) called After Many a Summer, which talks about the move of the Dodgers and Giants from New York to California. Yes, I got the book to familiarize myself with my best bud's favorite team, but it really is a good read, and I always like to read about the history of the game.

So, I opened 8 packs of 2010 Topps and got only one Oriole. Freaking Ty Wigginton. Really? I mean, hes an ok player, but why couldn't I have pulled Roberts (who I think wont be in until series II), STICK, Reimold, Wieters, etc etc.

I really like the next Tales of The Game card of the Wizard doing one of his trademark flips. Really nice ptoto!

Speaking of nice photos, I like this POV show of Jose Valverde. I'm so glad Topps has taken initiative lately to have some great shots for their cards. I think the hobby got away from that for a while, its nice to see some of what has come out between last year and this upcoming year.

Prince Fielder must have thought Ryan Braun was Guillermo Mota for a minute...

Ahh, pulled a Lincecum. Can't go wrong there. Nice card of him.

So, after all this, man I can't wait until I get the call from Blake saying 'Your box is here!' I ordered a case + 1 box so I will get 3 boxes, Pete gets 2 and Max gets 2. It sucks Max probably won't be there for our box busting party, but when he gets here to open his, it will be just as nice. I'm just glad that after everything, he still enjoys doing this kind of thing with me!

I also really want to thank Pete for bringing the packs in last night. I hate that P.A. was watching George Strait and couldn't make it, but he hopefully will be there when we bust the case... I really can't wait, I hope I get some sweet pulls and have stuff to blog for a while haha.

A Rare Bird

A rare bird indeed. Reggie Jackson in an Orioles uniform. How many of you knew Reggie played one season with the Orioles? You didn't? That's ok, not a whole lot of people do. (Yes I knew already, thanks!) Reggie was traded to the Orioles from the A's in April 1976. Not happy with being traded to the Orioles, Reggie held out and didn't join the team when the season started.

He still played 134 games and hit 27 home runs, but never fit with the Birds and left via free agency. He signed a $3 million contract with the Yankees for 1977 and the rest is history.

As far as I know, this is the only card with Reggie in an Orioles uniform. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Mail Day - Mission to Moscow

I got the above stack of cards today in the mail. All from one person. Scott over at http://mrscotts.blogspot.com/ sent me a HUGE stack of O's cards.

I wish I had the time to scan more of the cards I got, but I don't :( Anyway, here are 2 good ones, I know I didn't have:

Nick the STICK Xponential. This is a very nice card. It's really shiny, which is always a good thing.

UD Masterpieces Brooks Robinson! Yaaay Brooks. I'm really happy about it. I need to go through and pull the Roberts, Markakis, Jones, etc cards. Woo Hoo!

Back to the Greenville Card Shop, With Max

Yaaay, so Max came over yesterday for a good bit of time. Anytime you can spend time with your best friend is always good. I decided to take him to the Greenville card shop for his first visit there.

He picked up some Dodger cards and a couple packs of Unique which I'm hoping will have him update his blog soon (along with his Christmas and birthday stuff). No, I'm not baiting him at all hahahaha.

Oh yeah, I have a blog to do. Oops, almost forgot. Yeah, so having already gone to the shop for shipping supplies the other day, I really didn't want to spend a lot, but I ended up getting some more 35 count snap cases as well as 2 more packs of Topps Unique.


While Max went through the single card bin, he found the below Tim Lincecum card. He and I both thought this was a good shot of Lincecum in a batting helmet. Sometimes I'm not too thrilled with the 'player out of their element' cards (cards of sluggers bunting, pitchers swinging and missing, Ramon Hernandez blocking the plate.....) but I really liked this one!

I bet all you Yankee fans will love this pull from one of my packs of Unique. I would have rather had a cool relic, instead of a Yankee card; however, with all the trades I have had going on, I think this one will land me some sweet Os cards, or maybe something else... Autographed ball anyone??? No? Crap.

Topps Unique Thoughts

I picked up a few packs of Topps Unique on my trip to the Greenville card shop the other day since my shop I help at didn't get them. I have heard some slightly negative comments about Unique, and was very curious as to what I would think of them once I saw them in person. The scans I had seen don't really do the cards justice.

I really liked this card because i have a tremendous amount of respect for Jim Thome. I also am partial to the Dodgers due to me being so close to Max. Obviously, this card went to him right away. I really thought it was cool to get one of Thome in the Dodger uniform, even if he played for them for a month or so...

Yaaay, another Reimold. I didn't pull this from a pack, I got it from the shop's loose card bin for a cheap price.

Awesome, ANOTHER Reimold. I also got this one from the single card bin. I'm a big Reimold fan. I hope he does well this year!!!

Overall, I like Unique. I'm not 100% convinced its worth $6.50 a pack, but I think the design is sharp. I was hoping I would pull a sweeet Button relic or something, but alas, I did not.

Trip to the Greenville Card Shop

I went to the shop here in Greenville to pick up some supplies for shipping and didn't make it 5 feet in the door before the owner stopped me and said 'We were just talking about you...'

He and the other guy there had just busted some boxes of 2009 Bowman Sterling and pulled several O's cards. The one guy was all ready to put them up on ebay and the owner had said 'No, we need to show them to the guy that comes in wearing the Orioles hat...' (that would be me).First up is this amazingly awesome Nolan Reimold auto. This card scanned so nice (I love my scanner). You can never have enough Reimold autos, so I was very happy when he showed it to me...

I got a prospect auto! I would have loved getting a Wieters or a Matusz, but i am perfectly content with a Hobgood auto. Unlike some idiots who comment on Roch Kubatko's blog, I think Hobgood was a great pick for the Orioles in this past draft and can't wait til he pitches for the Keys.

I'm so excited for the upcoming minor league season, $2 Tuesdays at Grainger Stadium in Kinston, AND the new Winston-Salem field opens this year. 2 great places to catch Keys games!!! More autographed balls yaaaaaay.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed my Bowman Sterling pickups. I'm all for bypassing the $50 packs and just buying exactly what I need for much cheaper!

Words Cannot Describe - Amazing Autographed Ball

I really don't know which ball I am more excited about, the Stan Musial auto I posted, or the above beauty I got today from The Bob Feller Museum.

I'm still amazed at how cheap it was to obtain this ball! Feller is 91 years old, and still going strong. He is a decorated veteran of World War II and one of the greatest pitchers of all time, even though he didn't get 300 wins (he would have had his career not been interrupted by WWII).

I believe he is the oldest living Hall of Famer, but I could be wrong. I wish I could have gotten him to sign this in person, but I don't care, I have his auto on a baseball.

I can't wait til we are out oof this apartment and in a real house again where I can have a man-cave to display all of my stuff.

Mail Day and The Temple of Doom

I'm not sure if you can make out the signature on the above baseball, but it is most definitely that of the one and only Stan 'The Man' Musial. F Yeah. This was to have come yesterday, but UPS delivers when most people are at work, so I have to pick it up while running some errands for work today.

I'm still amazed I was able to get this ball so cheap. I got it off of Musial's official webpage. I'm really excited to show it off to Max, Pete, P.A. and anyone else interested, haha. What do you guys think?

Mail Day: Jafar May Need Glasses

So, I have been trying to catch up lately. I owe a few people some mail, starting with Steve, whom I own a good many 1991 Fleer. As some of you may know, we had a death in the family this past week, so I spent Friday until Monday at my mom's house. I continued to blog, but was obviously without my scanner.

I also went to the card shop as scheduled on Saturday. I appreciate the well-wishes from the ones I have talked to. We lost my mom's step-dad (who was pretty much my grandpa from that side) to renal cancer. He'd be so mad at me for drawing attention to him, so I will conclude that.

Pete brought me this awesome Adam Jones on Saturday. I don't think I had any Jones relics yet, but I think I have lost track of what I have and don't have because of the move...

I received this Brian Roberts Goudey jersey, among other Os cards last week from my good buddy Drew. Check his site out here, its a good read all around, and it is a blog award winner!
I received a package today from Chris, whose blog is here, which had this Bedard Heritage among other O's. Give Chris a read too, he has a great blog as well.

I owe some people some stuff, so I hope to get packages mailed out soon. I haven't forgotten you, please be patient with me!!

P. A., a man of great ideas...

As is the norm at the card shop on Saturdays, Pete, P.A. and I sit at the counter and discuss all things baseball. From the relevance of Bert Blyleven to how old the Red Sox are getting, we always have friendly debates.

P. A. has decided to branch his collection into memorabilia. We discussed last week the possibility of doing some 'through the mail' autos as well as checking out various Hall of Famer's charitable organizations, websites and museums to see where and how we can get some legendary players' autos.

I counted that I had 17 autographed baseballs when I packed my card room into boxes. I, then, added no less than 9 more this summer as I was living in Greenville. This summer, notable autographs were picked up from Orioles Minor Leaguers Brandon Waring, Caleb Joseph and Billy Rowell, to name a few. I also picked up one from Orioles legend Boog Powell.

I already had an autographed ball of Brooks Robinson, and was asked not to bring anything to sign at the 'Evening With Brooks' dinner in October, but I was able to get my buddy Max, and my son Chris autographed programs from the event.

Yesterday, while waiting for the Yu-Gi-Oh kids to finish a round of their tournament, I decided to begin some research to see which Hall of Famers' had websites, foundations, museums, etc that sold memorabilia or allowed items to be sent for autos. Here are a couple I took a look at:

The Bob Feller Museum: http://www.bobfellermuseum.org/
For $50 you can get an autographed baseball from Bob Feller which says 'HOF '62' You can also pay a little more for various other inscriptions such as 'I struck out Lou Gehrig', 'I struck out Ted Williams', 'The Heater From Van Meter', etc. They also have a huge selection of autographed memorabilia from various other Hall of Famers and other former players.

Stan Musial's Official Webpage: https://www.stan-the-man.com/
You can get a Stan Musial autographed baseball from here for $100.00. Personally, I think that isn't bad at all for an autograph from one of the greatest of all time.

The Yogi Berra Museum: http://www.yogiberramuseum.org/
Currently, no autographed items are up in the shop section of the webpage.

Brooks Robinson's Official webpage: http://www.brooksrobinson.com/
You can send in items for a fee during certain times of year. The next time items will be accepted is April 2010.

Whitey Ford's Official webpage: http://www.whiteyford.com/
The shop section of the webpage is currently unavailable as upgrades are being performed.

So, there you have a few of the sites I looked at this weekend. My question now is:
Which living Hall of Famer's autograph would you want the most if you had the chance? My answer would be Stan Musial, followed by Hank Aaron.

Hall of Fame Thoughts

Andre Dawson got in the Hall of Fame. Good for him. I figured he would at some point.

This blog is not about 'The Hawk.'

I was very surprised that Roberto Alomar didn't get in. Enough that I said WOW out loud at work while listening to the broadcast.

I can understand someone being upset about 'The Spitting Incident.' Being an O's fan, trust me, I know all about it. If John Hirshbeck can forgive Alomar and move on (they are friends now by the way), then I believe the spitting incident becomes a non issue.

My real problem is with the Hall of Fame voting process. There are a few arguments I am sick of hearing. I will break them down for you.

No one should be a unanimous choice
That's crap. I'm sorry someone back in the day was so stupid that they did not cast a vote for Babr Ruth, Lou Gehrig, or Walter Johnson. For Bert Blyleven to miss by 5 votes and 5 jabronis submitted blank ballots really causes one to step back and think.

I have heard the argument made in years past that these guys submit blank ballots because they feel that since some of those I mentioned above were not unanimous choices, then no one should be. I'm sorry, but leaving Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn, Nolan Ryan, George Brett, etc etc off a ballot is just nuts to me. Those 5 guys need their PRIVILEDGE to vote taken away. Rescinded. Buh bye.

[Insert Name Here] is not a 'first ballot' Hall of Famer
Another load of crap. Ok, now, if you think about all the 'first ballot' Hall of Famers, man, those are some impressive names. Did you know that Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio were not? I didn't until it was mentioned in an article yesterday.

If someone is a Hall of Famer, they are a Hall of Famer on their first ballot or their fifteenth ballot. Granted, some have taken some time to get in, Bruce Sutter, Goose Gossage and Jim Rice come to mind.

I think Gossage and Sutter took so long because the voters had to weigh the impact they had on the game for some time, because those two pretty much revolutionized a new position, the role of the relief pitcher.

Rice retired right at the supposed beginning of the 'Steroid Era,' so in theory (my theory at least) is that had there not been a steroid era, he may have gotten more attention right when he became eligible (while McGwire and Sosa were smashing the HR record, etc). His numbers would have stacked up a lot better.

The Hall of Very Good?
Now, I'm not one of those that is all like 'Ohhhhhh nooooo I done gone and stung myself...' no, wait... 'Ohhhh nooooo, too many people are in the Hall of Fame... blah blah blah.' This is a very touchy subject and can cause good friends to hit each other with chairs, but here are my thoughts. No chair throwing please, just friendly debate.

The veterans committee selection process was so effed up for so long, pretty much anyone could get in. I think I heard a quote from Ted Williams (I think it was) one time about how the votes used to go down, for real. He said: It was a bunch of old men sitting around, ready to go to lunch. Someone said 'Hey what about that catcher who caught all those knucleballers?' 'Oh yeah, him... yeah he's in, lets go eat...'

I know all you Yankee fans love Phil Rizzuto. He should be in as a broadcaster. Because some sleepy old man put him in via veterans committee, now I have to be intoxicated to be able to tell myself I can afford his baseball card on ebay? Really? (another story for another day). His numbers don't stack up man. Good ballplayer. Not a Hall of Famer (in my humble opinion). Don't worry Yankee fans, I got a treat for you below.

Remember the old poem, Tinker to Evers to Chance? Yeah all 3 are in. All 3 were pretty much decent players, but Harold Baines has more career hits. He doesnt have a poem written about him. Sorry Harold, you gotta buy a ticket to get in buddy.

If Pete Rose isn't in, then [Insert Name Here] shouldn't get in
All-time hits leader not in. Fair enough argument. I think he should be. HOWEVER. Pete Rose signed an agreement that he would be banned from baseball for life. He did that. Sucks for him. Now, I'm all for time heals all wounds. I don't think a lifetime ban for anything is good. Times change, people change, etc etc. Pete Rose is not a saint. He profitted off of everything that happened after 1989. I do think he should be in there solely based on his accomplishments on the field. Character is part of the criteria one looks at when casting their vote. I've never been the greatest judge of character, so what do I know. I do know he was a hell of a player.

I also know that 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson should get in. Wouldn't matter much as he has no living relatives. The details behind the Black Sox scandal are so sketchy, I don't know if you really should hold him out because of it. Disagree with me if you want, but its my blog hahaha.

Its all about the numbers baby
Don Mattingly (see what I'm doing here?). You guys take note. I'm about to say something positive about a New York Yankee. Two of them actually. I think a Hall of Famer should be one of the best players of their generation. Donnie Baseball should be in the Hall. Once again, disagree if you please (and I do welcome the comments), but he was one of the best players of his era. He doesn't have prototypical 1st baseman numbers. He doesn't have World Series rings. He may have played one too many seasons. However, it is the Hall of Fame, and yes, Don Mattingly was one of the more 'famous' players of his generation. His numbers are very similar to Kirby Puckett. Mattingly has an MVP award. He should get in (and probably will at some point). Thurman Munson should too. Had he not gotten on that plane, he would (presumably) have had a pretty great career. He also had rings :)

The fans should vote
Oh hell no. Absolutely not. Fans (common fans, mind you) are stupid. Take the All Star vote. [insert random Yankee or Red Sox player here] gets in when clearly another player on another team outside of Boston or NY (where baseball doesn't exist, accoring to the 4-letter network) deserves it. I've seen that too many times. Fans will be voting in Jorge Posada or David Ortiz or JD Drew, etc left and right. Scary thought.

Does that make me a hypocrite? A troglodite? I don't even know what that means. No. The whole point of my rant here is this:

The Hall of Fame voting process is broken. Do I know how to fix it? Nope. I'm not an engineer. What it does do is create an endless amount of material for people to blog about, or to stand around a counter at a card shop and discuss in a friendly manner. No chair-throwing please.

Christmas from P.A. Part 2 - Some O's Cards

Finally, the last of the gifts P. A. brought with him to the shop on Saturday.

Another copy of the great and wonderful Eddie Murray and the Sideburns of Awesomeness card I blogged a few months ago. They still look airbrushed on.

I like the design of this year's Sweet Spot. Nice, clean design. Good photos. Here's to hoping Adam Jones doesn't get injured rolling out of bed this year. If he can play the full season and remain productive throughout the year, the O's will improve on their record for sure.

Yaaay, ROBERTS. I need to sit down and count how many cards of him I have now. One of these days I will. I have to start studying for my big exam in March, so it most likely will be after that.

Nick the STICK. The O's need to sign someone to give Nick some protection in the lineup, and I think he will do much better than this past year. Once again, if he improves some on his numbers, the O's will be greatly improved.
Thanks for the awesome stuff P. A., you're a great dude. I'll talk to you on Saturday!

Christmas from P. A. Part 1 - Greatest Movie Ever

I watched the return of Bret Hart to WWE last night, so that kept me from writing my blog on the stuff P. A. brought me for Christmas. I decided to break it up into two posts, one for today, one for tomorrow.

Since my Alien Quadrilogy is lost in a box somewhere (along with a lot of my other good DVDs), P. A. got me the Alien Triple Pack.

I know this is a baseball card blog, but anyone who knows me, knows that Aliens is my favorite movie ever. EVER. No, really, ever. I think I have watched Aliens more than 50 times in my life (which is a lot if you really think about it). I'm glad the movie takes the time to actually build to a climax and develop some characters that you can get behind and want to see get out alive.

"Let's rock!"

Oh, yeah, Vasquez kicks ass. 'I only need to know one thing. Where. They. Are.'

'None taken...' haha, I like that I can look at the picture and know the exact line that goes with it. That's either really awesome, or really sad, haha.

Of course, my 'lady friend' (Sigourney Weaver) is the star of the movie. Wooo Hoo. Yeah, so, Aliens is AWESOME. Thanks P. A.! Not to mention, Alien is a classic in and of itself. Don't get me started on Alien 3...

What do you guys think? If you haven't seen the movie, check it out. It would definitely be a good idea to check out Alien first, but Aliens stands on its own without Alien, so if you miss it, the story still isn't too hard to follow.

I get a nice 'Welcome Back to the Card Shop...'

After taking an unintentional month off from the card shop, I returned yesterday to a packed house of Yu-Gi-Oh kids, and a couple nice surprises.

P.A. brought in an awesome Christmas present, which I will blog maybe Tuesday. I'd do it tomorrow, but I'm committed to watching the return of 'The Excellence of Execution' tomorrow night.

I will also be posting the results of what I got out of the few packs I got of Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects.
Finally, a guy came in looking to sell some vintage cards, so I bought two off of him. One of which will be gifted later on, and the other is this below: 1962 Topps Willie Mays. I know its very rough, but it is about the same condition of the 62 Mantle I got a while back. As some of you may know, I'm not too married to the whole condition thing, so this card is still pretty cool for me.

Pete and I were talking about Hall of Famer cards we'd like to get, and I now have a 1962 Topps Mays, haha. I mean, I do have the 55, but that's in my set.

I think I will scan and blog some of my Hall of Famer cards at some point soon as well, it is still going to be a long time before Spring Training... What do you guys think?

Happy New Years

Happy New Years guys. I hope everyone had a safe night last night. I ended up watching Family Guy with my son up until about 5 minutes before the ball dropped, then we changed the channel and watched Dick Clark.

Now, I'll admit it, when I was looking through the guide, I was looking for Dick Clark, but man, I feel really bad that they keep parading him out there. I'm glad he's up for it, but you really do have to feel for the guy.

I finally will have a chance to work the card shop tomorrow, after taking a month off (unintentionally). First it was my real job, then that goe rescheduled to the week after, then it snowed really bad in Winston-Salem the next week, and the week after was the day after Christmas. I wasn't about to make that drive after all the driving I did the 2 days before.

I'm excited though, maybe I'll open a few packs and pull something blogworthy. I'll get to see P.A., whom I haven't seen in a while.

I hope you all have a great 2010. I am really excited for the 2010 Topps flagship, which come out at the end of the month. I am also excited for beginning another set soon. It looks like 1998 Topps will be next, but I am always changing my mind.

Drop me some comments guys!