Holiday Gift From Scott

I got a really nice holiday package from my good friend, Scott not too long ago.  I feel bad that it has taken me this long to blog about it.  I have a ton of Christmas stuff piled up to talk about, so I should be good on blog posts for the time being.

Scott got me a few really nice cards as my gift.  The above Jonathan Schoop looks really great in person.  It is numbered 17/35 and is from 2013 Topps Tribute.  This is a really nice card, and I didn't have it in my collection yet.

Scott added this 2015 First Home Run coin card of Brooks Robinson that he has been sitting on for a little while.  He had originally wanted to trade it, but we never were able to match up.  I needed this for my Brooks PC, so I'm happy he ultimately added it.

Finally, Scott threw this Alfredo Marte 2013 Chrome Blue Refractor auto in as a kind of joke, since Marte was invited to Orioles spring training.  This is a really nice card.  I used to have one of these.  I have a sneaking suspicion that this used to be the one I had, but I haven't confirmed it with Scott.

Thanks for the awesome holiday package, Scott!  I loved everything that was in it!

Trade With Scott F. - A Nice RC and Set Needs

I completed a trade with my friend, Scott F. recently that was a long time coming.  I had picked up a nice Dellin Betances card from Michael, that I wanted to flip to Scott.  We just couldn't agree on the appropriate stuff for him to send in return.

Luckily, Scott went to a card show a couple weeks ago and called me from there so we could finish the deal.  One of the keys to the trade was this 2007 Bowman Chrome Clayton Kershaw card that I wanted to put with my good RCs.  Kershaw is a beast, and I'm glad to pick this up.

Scott also sent me 9 cards I needed for my 1969 set.  I am still needing more than 200 cards to finish this set, but I have kind of let it sit while I have been chipping away at my 1948 Bowman and 1959 Topps sets.  Getting 9 cards from Scott definitely help me whittle the number down, so I'm happy he found me some good ones.

Thanks for the deal, Scott!

A Surprise Package From Scott

I got a nice surprise package from my good friend, Scott, the other day that had several Orioles cards in it.  Scott said that he had found them laying around in his room and he wanted me to have them.  I really appreciated the gesture, especially since it has been since Fan Fest that I have seen him.

Scott just recently graduated High School and is set to attend JMU in the fall.  I'm really happy for him.  I'm a little disappointed that my graduation gift to him, which was supposed to ship on June 21 has not arrived yet, but I'm holding out hope that it will get here soon!

Thanks so much for the cards, Scott!

2014 Orioles Fan Fest Thoughts

Yesterday, I spent the day with my son and my good friend, Scott (from the blog Mr. Baseball-Scott) at the 2014 Orioles Fan Fest.  Originally, I was pretty upset that I was unable to get as many autograph vouchers as I had liked, but in the end, I did really well.  The above photo is of our first autograph session, David Lough, Ryan Webb and Dylan Bundy.  We also had vouchers for later in the day to the Bigbie/Urrutia/Wieters/De La Cruz signing.

The crowd wasn't quite as large as last year, but 15,000 fans still crowded into the Baltimore Convention Center

Nick Markakis brought his beard with him.  He looks like a young Chong, from Cheech and Chong.

Chris was recruited by my buddy, Michael to get him some autographs from the kids line.

Chris enjoyed meeting Matt Wieters for the third time.  He first met him in 2008 when Wieters was with the Keys, then again in 2009 when Wieters and Tillman were signing autographs with the Baysox.

So, here are Chris and Scott posting with our total haul.  Between the three of us, we got 24 signed baseballs, 21 signed post cards, 3 MASN bags, an Eddie Murray statue, a Chris Davis shirt, a Joe Mahoney Spring Training jersey, a Keys hat, 6 signed photos and 6 game used baseballs.

I doubt I'll post about each and every item, but I do intend to break out a few posts on certain items, so stay tuned.  In the meantime, I would like to thank Scott and his family for a great time and them being such amazing hosts.  I really appreciated our time together.

Card Show Pickup - 2012 Topps Mini Silver Chris Davis

I made a really good find at the card show with Scott.  We were looking through cards at a vendor who had a ton of recent parallels and he (the vendor) brought out this 2012 Topps Mini Silver Parallel.  He wanted $30 for it and since I knew I probably wouldn't see another one, I jumped at the chance.

The card is serial numbered 1/5, so that's really cool, too.  Also, I see that I have blogged Chris Davis cards two days in a row, so I know Scott is really enjoying that!

My Christmas Present From Scott - 2013 Topps Tribute Manny Machado Relic

Only a few tables into the card show (and before I got my ball, Foxx pin or Virgil Trucks card), Scott and I saw the above 2013 Topps Tribute Manny Machado relic.  The vendor quoted a very reasonable price on it and I told Scott that I liked the card.  He asked me if I liked it enough to be my Christmas present from him and I said, sure.

That escalated quickly!  We walked away from maybe the third of fourth table at the show with my Christmas present already.  This was our sign that this was going to be a very productive card show.  I'm seeing it now that we really made out like bandits because I had to decide what I wanted to write about tonight and thought to myself a couple times "Oh I forgot that I got that card!" or "Oh man, I got a deal on these..."

This Manny Machado relic is a sweet card.  It looks like it is from a Futures Game jersey.  I know it isn't from the All Star Game jersey from this year, that'd be too soon.  The blue on those jerseys was darker than this as well.  The card is numbered 92/99.

Thanks for the Christmas present, Scott!  I really appreciate it!

Card Show Pickup - Bob Lemon Hall of Fame Signed Baseball

I had one of the most productive visits to a Raleigh Card show in recent memory when I met my good friend, Scott, on Saturday.  We met up at 9AM and went inside and went berserk on the tables until we couldn't take it anymore (and we got hungry).

I wasn't going to buy any baseballs, being this close to Christmas, but when I saw the above Bob Lemon that I needed and heard the price the lady was charging, I jumped all over it.  She wanted $60 but said she would do $50, plus is it JSA, so I took the deal.

Lemon is my 96th Hall of Famer.  The ball is a Bobby Brown OAL ball.

Bob Lemon (b. 1920 - d. 2000) played in the majors from 1946 to 1958, all for the Cleveland Indians.  He had a career record of 207-128 with 1,277 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.23.  He had 20 or more wins in 7 of his 13 seasons, not bad.  He was the league leader in wins 3 times (1950 - 23; 1954 - 23; 1955 - 18).  He won the World Series with the Indians in 1948 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1976 when he got 78.6% of the writers' vote.

A Kind of Trade With Scott

I just got back into town from the Charlotte, NC Pearl Jam show that occurred last night.  It was freaking amazing.  Just saying.  We did have a blast.  I wanted to get a post done today since I'm pretty wore out and I still have to carve up two pumpkins.

I got a nice trade package from my good friend, Scott, the other day.  He sent me some Orioles, mostly 2013 Update stuff, in exchange for me picking up a Mike Napoli auto off of Ebay that he had been watching.

Scott's a great guy, so anytime I can help him out, I usually try to do my best.  I'm sure he is recovering from last night's Red Sox victory.  That was the first World Series in forever that I haven't watched the last out on TV.  Eddie Vedder gave an update during the concert, and I checked my MLB At Bat app on the way to my wife's parents' house to get the final score.  She and I have been together for the final out of the World Series since Luis Gonzalez got the winning hit in the 2001 series.  It's all good, though.  I missed it for a worthy reason, the Pearl Jam show was AWESOME.

A Birthday Present From Scott

I got a really nice package in the mail today from my good friend, Scott from the blog: Mr. Baseball - Scott.  Scott's a really great guy, whose birthday is coming up as well.  He sent me a stack of Orioles cards that I will hope to post at another time (probably after this travesty of a season is finally put out of its misery), but I really wanted to focus on the jewel of the package, this 2012 Topps Museum Collection Adam Jones jumbo relic.

The card looks awesome and I am actually a fan of the huge swatch.  I think the card is great, and I really appreciate Scott hooking me up for my birthday.

Please head over to Scott's blog and give him some follows and comments, he needs and deserves it!

Scott's Visit - Trade TIme

After Scott and I finished out Gypsy Queen box break, he got some cards from his car that he had brought along with him.  Among them were these two Orioles, the above Bowman Chrome Legends in the Making Dylan Bundy and the below retail exclusive foil Chasing History Manny Machado.

I didn't have either card, so I was really happy to add them to their respective PCs.  He also brought along a stack of other Orioles that I needed as well.  I had already put a package of cards in the mail to Scott, so I didn't have any Red Sox cards to hand off to him, so I just had him go through a few of my card boxes and pull out whatever cards he wanted.  I think he really enjoyed looking through my collection.

When we were done with our trade, I brought out one of my PC boxes and let him and his dad look through some of my rookies and vintage.  I think they were both appreciative at being able to see that stuff while they were here.  I sure enjoyed being able to sit down and have some folks excited about looking through my cards.  That's a rare thing around here.

Visit From Scott - Gypsy Queen Box Break

Yesterday was a really good day.  I was able to spend the day with my very good friend, Scott and his Dad since Scott and I both mistakenly thought the Raleigh card show was this weekend.  We had planned to meet up at the show, hang out as long as possible and then grab dinner afterward.  Since we realized that we had the wrong weekend for the show, and since both of us would be unable to attend next weekend, we decided to meet up here at my house.

Scott and his dad rolled in about a quarter to 11 in the morning, just in time to grab some lunch in downtown Greenville.  After lunch, Scott, his dad, Chris and I all did a tour of the two card shops in the area.  At the first card shop, in Kinston, Scott and I decided to go halves on a box so we would have something to bust when we got back to the house.

When we got back home, we split the box evenly and started ripping packs.  Both of us made out with our packs as each got a relic and auto and several short prints.  It wasn't until later that Scott texted me and told me that the Yu Darvish SP I got was, in fact, a super short print photo variation.  Not bad.  I think the odds of pulling one of those is 1:461 packs.  Really not bad.

I also pulled this sweet Matt Adams on-card auto.  I know two Cardinals fans who are going to be fighting each other to get this card.  The first one to email me and pony up some cash, will be the victor!

In all, I had a really great day hanging out with a fellow blogger/collector along with his dad, who was awesome enough to bring along some of his own collection (which isn't baseball cards) for us to look at.  It was really cool being able to sit around on the couch and talk about collecting, collecting regrets, auction sites, shows, etc.  I think we all decided that this would become a regular thing, so I'm hoping we all can hang out really soon.  Scott and his dad are awesome folks and I am so glad we got the date wrong on the card show.  This was so much more fun!  Go take a look at Scott's blog and give him some follows.  he's a hell of a guy and deserves more attention for his blog!