Another TTM Success From JJ Hardy

A very exciting TTM success came in from Spring Training when this 2013 Topps wrapper redemption JJ Hardy came back signed. Hardy was a guest instructor at Orioles camp in February, and I took a shot at trying to get him TTM. I'm so glad I got this back signed.

I had gotten Hardy via a private signing before, but this was a straight-up TTM request.  I didnt get the other Orioles guest instructors, but I did try.  I missed sending to Brian Roberts, but did send to Adam Jones and Nick Markakis.  I saw some other folks had gotten Jones, but I wasn't one of them.  I'll take the Hardy, though!

I mailed to Orioles Spring Training on February 18 and got the card back on March 3 for a 13-day TAT. 

TTM Success - JJ Hardy

Game 2 of the 2014 ALDS still is the greatest baseball game that I have attended.  The Delmon Young 3-run double in the bottom of the 8th inning resulted in the loudest moment I've heard at a ballpark.  I had hoped for a private signing with Young for some time now, since his 2015 Topps shows him at bat for that hit.  That hasn't happened, but JJ Hardy's 2015 Topps also captures part of that moment.  As a result of a signing with Hardy, I was able to get a few of his cards signed and added to my album.

I couldn't settle just for the base card being signed.  I had this blue refractor from 2015 Topps Chrome, and sent it along, as well.

Hardy's 2015 Bowman also shows him rounding the bases as part of the Young double, so I included it in the package, as well.  I topped the request off with the above 2012 Bowman red ice parallel because it looks so cool.

Hardy (b. 1982) played in the majors from 2005 to 2017 for the Brewers and Orioles.  He had 1,488 hits, 188 home runs and a .256 batting average.  He was a three-time Gold Glove Award winner (2012, 2013 and 2014) and an All Star twice (2007 and 2013).  He also won the Silver Slugger award in 2013.  He appeared on the 2023 Hall of Fame ballot, but received no votes.

I mailed to the signing on February 14 and got the cards back on March 9, for a 23-day TAT. 

A Bunch of Signed Cards From Michael

I got a bunch of signed cards in a deal recently from Michael, which helped push me to get some of that stuff out of my box, scanned and into my album.  I had this 2017 Donruss silver parallel of Jonathan Villar that he got signed for me a couple years ago just sitting and waiting to be scanned.  I finally got around to it, and it is now in my album.

I love this JJ Hardy certified auto from 2004 Topps.  Hardy was a great pickup by the Orioles.  I wish he could have stayed healthy there at the end, as he was a huge part of their defense that was sorely missed once he was gone.

Michael sent a ton of signed cards to clear out some extras that he had.  I needed all of the ones I scanned, as far as I could tell.

A few of these save me some stamps on what would have been future TTM requests.

This is the first signed soccer card that I've gotten.  I'm not a soccer fan, but the card will still go into the album.

I sent to David Hale fairly recently, and got a nice return.  I didn't have this card, though, but now I do.

Thanks for all of the cards, Michael!  I apologize for how long it took to get the Villar posted.

Christmas Gift From Michael - Lots of Signed Cards and Other Stuff

Michael sent me a nice Christmas package, which came in a few days ago.  In it were several signed cards that would look great in my album, and also a signed 1987 Topps John Shelby (above) that I needed for my set.

I already had Dempsey in my set, but this one is nice, also.  I needed the other cards, and they all look great.

I've actually got a 5,000-count box of 1994 Score that is at the bottom of my stack of card boxes, so it is very hard to get to.  I need to get in there sometime and really thin it out.  I'm not sure if I gave this cards to Michael from that box and he got it signed, or if he had it on his own.

Finally, Michael gave me these two nice JJ Hardy cards.  Hardy is sorely missed on the Orioles, and he definitely became a fan-favorite during his time there.  I hope he gets into the Orioles Hall of Fame soon.

Thanks so much for the package, Michael!  I know I will see you soon.

Christmas Gift From Ethan - Orioles Postcards and More

I got a nice Christmas package in recently from my friend, Ethan, that had a ton of Orioles signed postcards.  The biggest name in the bunch was the above JJ Hardy signed card.  I really enjoyed Hardy's time on the Orioles, and now that he is a free agent, he will be sorely missed.

Here are some nice Orioles alumni that Ethan included, John Miller, Ken Dixon, John Stefero and Josh Towers.  I don't believe that I have met any of these guys, so it was cool to get their autos from Ethan.

Finally, here are the last two guys, TJ McFarland and Jimmy Williams.  McFarland is still playing in the majors, and Williams was a former coach for the Orioles who passed away in 2016 at the age of 90.

I now have an album for signed postcards, so these will all be put in there.

Ethan also included a team bag of Orioles cards for my collection.

Thank you so much for the awesome gift, Ethan!  I really appreciate it.

Card Show Pickup - Another Orioles Quad

I didn't really make many purchases for the PC at the most recent card show I attended.  The show was on February 11 and I went mostly to pick up some bulk Topps cards for more TTMs, but I did find this quad relic Orioles card that I thought would go nicely in my Davis PC.  The seller wanted WAY too much for the card, but as I was about to leave at closing time, I made him a reasonable offer, and he accepted.  Yeah, the patches are great, but there's no way I would pay the sticker price he had on the card ($100).  No way at all.

Luckily, I got it for a LOT less than that.  I also got it for exactly what I had left in my wallet, which worked out nicely.  I had a great time at the show, Chris came with me and actually helped me this time.  He didn't get too bored, and actually picked up a few things for himself.  One of which was a really sweet Matt Cain patch card for an absolute steal.  He may have done better than I did!

Ebay Pickup - Orioles Quad Patch From 2016 Museum Collection

I finally got a good deal on a quad relic of Orioles from 2016 Museum Collection.  I got it for less than $20 and it is already in a magnetic case.  It features Jones, Davis, Hardy and Machado, with a patch from Davis.

I now have Davis patches from 2014 to 2016 Museum Collection and I plan on adding some more, if I can get them as reasonable prices.

More Pickups From the Card Show

I got a bunch of deals while at the show this past weekend, and added a few nice cards to my collection.

I got the above 1975 Topps Mini Brooks Robinson for my PC.  Thing is, I thought I had this already, but I can't seem to find it.  So, for $5, I grabbed this one while walking around Sunday at the show.

Right after I picked up the Brooks, I kept walking and checked out another table nearby.  I saw that he had this Chance Sisco gold mini shimmer from 2015 Bowman.  This one is numbered 20/50 and looks really cool.  The vendor really needed to put his glasses on, though, because he kept telling me it was Christian Walker on the card.  I didn't want to be rude, but I did correct him, because I felt like he was about to charge extra because it was Walker.  I ended up getting this for $5, though.

The vendor next to me had a nice box of recent stuff and parallels that I went through a little later when I was bored.  I found a few cards for friends of mine, and this Adam Jones for myself.  I had been tipped off by my friend, Tim.  This Adam Jones black refractor from 2014 chrome is numbered 80/100.

Finally, I got this card from Tim, himself.  He had gone through a dime box and rescued this purple JJ Hardy for me.  It is numbered 55/250.

I feel like I did really well at this past show.  I sold a decent amount of stuff, and have enough to carry over to the one day Easter show, if I'm able to attend that one.  I also bought some nice stuff, but didn't break the bank.  I wish I could say that for every show that I go to, though.

Relic Cards From Blaine

Continuing on with what I got from my friend, Blaine, here are some of the miscellaneous relic cards that were included in my package.  I don't know about you, but I really like the 2014 Triple Threads design.  The cards have what I would call a matte finish and it is really visually appealing with these cards, I think.

This 2014 Triple Threads Gausman relic is numbered 10/36.  The bright orange swatch really pops.  Gotta love the orange alternate jerseys.

This 2013 Allen & Ginter JJ Hardy is a nice card.  I don't have a whole lot of Hardy stuff, even though I really like the player.  I just haven't really done any kind of PC with him.  He has been the backbone of the Orioles these last few years, and I am glad that he is around.  He may be declining offensively, but he is still amazing with the glove.  He fills his job well as the "field general" in Baltimore.

I have a relic card like this one of Christian Walker from 2014 Topps Heritage Pro Debut, but it is a different color (white, I think, but I don't remember).  This blue one was nice to find in my package from Blaine.  Walker hasn't yet caught on with the O's, but with Chris Davis's impending departure, the first base job may be his (Walker's) to take.

Finally, I was pretty sure I had one of these, but I need to look through my boxes to verify.  This is a 2011 Goodwin Champions Manny Machado relic.  This is one of the first relic cards issued of Manny, so this is a pretty cool piece to have.

Blaine's deal still continues to deliver.  I will close it out tomorrow by showing off the autographs that were included.

2015 Orioles Fan Fest Autograph Station 4 - Clevenger, Hardy and Orsulak

I wrap up my autograph station posts with the final three baseballs I got signed in person.  The first guy at the station was Steve Clevenger, the Pride of Pigtown.  He is from an area of Baltimore called "Pigtown" and is now one of the Orioles backup catchers.  I'm not sure if he will stick with the team, but he is a heck of a nice guy, and you can't help but root for him.  I also got a couple post cards of him, but sent one to my nephew for his birthday.

The reason I got vouchers for this station was because I had never met JJ Hardy.  He was a really nice guy, and I got him on this Rawlings Gold Glove baseball.  It looks great, and he left me a really nice signature.  I'm really glad that the Orioles extended Hardy.  I hope he can stay healthy, and retire as an Oriole.  I really enjoy his glove work and the fact that he is the captain of their infield.

Finally, another guy I was glad to get at this station was former Oriole, Joe Orsulak.  He was on the first Oriole teams that I watched at a kid on HTS.  I'm glad that he has come out to these functions.  I made sure to tell him when he was signing my baseball, to which he said "thanks."

None of these guys really said a whole lot, but, again, we were run through there pretty quickly.  I didn't mind it, though, because by the time we finished this session, I was wiped.  We would reset for a second, then we headed back up to the memorabilia room one more time.  I didn't buy anything at the end, but we did go through the freebie line as well.  That's where I got my 164 rally towels.  I'm down to something like 135 now, with all of the ones I have sold and given out to friends.

In all, we had a great time at Fan Fest, and I hope Mom and Christy did as well.  I can't wait for next year.

Care Package From Bryce

I got a surprise care package in the other day from a new friend off of Instagram named Bryce.  He and I have traded, I think, twice now, and I actually had sent him a care package the same time he sent me one.  So, this was almost a blind trade.  I sent Bryce a huge stack of Brewers cards that I had put aside for a deal I was working on with another Instagram kid who ended up not sending payment. Instead of putting all of the cards back into my trade box, I just contacted Bryce to see if he would take them, since I knew he was a Brewers fan.  Bryce happily accepted, and mentioned that he had assembled an Orioles package to send my way, as well.

The above 1965 Topps Brooks Robinson was the biggest surprise of all.  I already owned a Brooks card from '65, but I was more than happy to take another.  I really love this design, and who can refuse Brooks vintage cards?

Bryce also sent an assortment of color parallels from 2014 Bowman.  This JJ Hardy gold parallel was especially nice.  It is numbered 8/50.  Bryce also included green parallels of Wei-Yin Chen (41/150) and Adam Jones (110/150), as well as orange parallels of Chen (119/250) and Jones (74/250).

Among an assortment of recent Orioles cards was this 2012 Museum Collection Frank Robinson that Bryce included.  I don't have much from Museum Collection prior to 2014, so I will be working toward adding more to my collection.

Museum collection always looks great, and I feel like I never have enough cards of Frank represented in my collection.

Finally, while I already had one of these, it was really cool to see this Cal Ripken relic included in the package.  The card has a big crease running horizontally in the middle of the card.  It still does not take away from how nice the card is and how cool it is to have that orange swatch of jersey imbedded in it.

What might have been the best part of the package, was how Bryce included a separate envelope for my son, Chris.  Inside was an assortment of Giants cards, including what seems like a near complete team set of orange parallels from 2014 Bowman.  I love care packages for myself, but when you also include Chris, well, you really win me over (not that Bryce needed to win me over at this point).

Thanks so much for the care package, Bryce!  I really appreciate it, and I know who I'm going to first when I get any Brewers hits, from now on!

Trade With Blogger Tim

I made a trade recently with a new trade partner through the blogosphere.  His name is Tim, and his blog is "I Love The Smell of Cardboard In The Morning,"  I recommend you check it out.

Tim approached me after taking a look at my needs list for 2014 Topps Chrome.  Tim knocked a bunch of those out, 15 to be exact.

It's the extra stuff that Tim included that really blew me away.  Beginning with the above Brooks Robinson auto, and continuing on with the stuff I'll show below, Tim went above and beyond!

I love the color parallels, as always, and this blue 2014 Chrome Manny Machado doesn't disappoint. Numbered 110/199, this is new to my collection.

I haven't been through my Roberts PC recently, so I need to see if I had this one yet, or not, but I'm still glad to have it.  Any time you can add a gold parallel to your PC is a good day.  This one is numbered 39/50.

Finally, Tim included this JJ Hardy relic from 2013 Ginter.  I don't have very many JJ cards as it is, so this one is especially welcome.  JJ has become a great player for the O's and I'm very glad that he signed his extension this offseason.

Thanks so much for the deal, Tim.  I'mm continue to keep an eye out for cards for you, so we can do this again!

Three Orioles Win 2014 Gold Glove Awards

They say pitching and defense wins ballgames, and the Orioles again showed that their defense is superior in the American League tonight when three of their players took home some hardware.  Nick Markakis (above) won his second Rawlings Gold Glove award when he was named the AL winner for Right field.  Markakis beat out Kole Calhoun of the Angels and Kevin Kiermeier of the Rays.

Adam Jones won his 4th Gold Glove when he beat out Jackie Bradley, Jr of the Red Sox and Adam Eaton of the White Sox.  I'm surprised that Mike Trout wasn't birthed with this award, since all of the baseball pundits feel that he is the greatest player alive.  Jones is now tied for third All-Time on the Orioles (with Mike Mussina, Jim Palmer and Bobby Grich) with 4 wins.  Brooks Robinson has the Orioles All-Time lead with 16, followed by a tie between Paul Blair and Mark Belanger with 8 each.

Finally, shortstop J. J. Hardy won his third straight Gold Glove tonight when he beat Alcides Escobar of the Royals and Alexei Ramirez of the White Sox.  Hardy and Jones have won three straight gold gloves as teammates.

A Big Package From Weston

I got a really nice package in tht mail from my buddy, Weston, recently that had a ton of set and PC needs.  He included 6 2013 Topps Emerald parallels that I needed for my set and bunch of Orioles.  He was able to do what not a whole lot of people have been able to do, he found me a Cal Ripken that I didn't already have in my collection.  The above 2012 Triple Play Hall of Fame card is really awesome, even without the O's team logo.

Weston really scored here with this awesome JJ Hardy All Star jersey relic.  I wasn't expecting something as nice as this, but I definitely appreciate it.  Weston really went above and beyond by sending this card.  I hope the Orioles can hurry up and extend JJ.  They both seem to want to get a deal done, so come on guys, lets get moving!

FInally, I wanted to show off this really sharp looking 2004 Donruss Brooks Robinson.  I'm really excited that Panini is bringing back the Donruss brand.  They were a huge part of my childhood, so it will be nice to see the brand come back.  Even without a license, I think Panini does a good job.

So, thanks for the package, Weston!  I really appreciate it.  Everyone, please go check out his blog, he works really hard on it and does a good job.

Dec. 2012 Raleigh Card Show Part 3 - Oriole Pickups

One of the best parts about the December 2012 Raleigh show was that there was a new vendor there selling all of his 2012 inserts.  He had busted cases of 2012 Bowman and 2012 Bowman Chrome and was practically giving away the inserts.

I have been wanting some Bowman Red Ice parallels for a long time, but because they are numbered to 25, they are hard to come by.  He sold me this J. J. Hardy Red Ice parallel for $3.00!!  I have seen most Red Ice parallels go between $15 and $25, so I had to jump on that deal.

I also got several other Oriole parallels, including these two Bowman Chrome green parallels.  I think these look really nice.  I'm a fan of the colored Chrome parallels, when they are of players I want, so I was glad to grab a few greens for the collection.

I was able to get some Bundy cards from the guy as well...  I got the above Bobby Bundy in my package of O's inserts and the guy also sold me a couple parallels of Bobby Bundy's younger brother, which I will blog tomorrow.  All of these cards, including the Hardy, were sold to me for $6.00.  A STEAL!  So, stay tuned to see the 'other' Bundy's I picked up!

The Orioles Are Beginning to Bring Home Some Hardware

The 2012 Rawlings Gold Glove Awards have just been announced and the three nominated Orioles won for their respective categories.

Adam Jones won his second Gold Glove (last winning in 2009) in Center Field.

Matt Wieters won his second Gold Glove (he won it last year) for Catcher.  Is it not ridiculous that Wieters has yet to have a Topps card?

Finally, J. J. Hardy took home his first Gold Glove at Shortstop.  He is the first Orioles shortstop to win the award since Cal Ripken did it in 1992.  It has been that long?  Jeez.

Anyway, there you have it, the three nominated Orioles took home some awards.  I anticipate one more award being handed out to an Oriole, a Manager of the Year Award to Buck Showalter.  I believe that award will be announced next week.