Another Reimold In The Mail

A few days ago, I got the 2009 Topps Red Hot Rookie Nolan Reimold in the mail after purchasing it on Ebay.  I would have loved to have pulled it from a pack back in 2009, but I wasn't so lucky.

I think the card looks pretty cool.  I fully intend to add more of Nolan's 2009 Chromes to my collection.  I have seen Gold and Red Chrome autos on Ebay recently, so I might save some expense checks and jump on them.  We'll see.

I also want to knock out his variations of 2010 and 2012 Topps.  I might aggressively pursue his parallels much like I did with Brian Roberts' 2007 variations.  If I recall, I think I had 10 or so different Topps cards of Roberts for '07.

If anyone has any 2009 or 2010 Reimold parallels, please let me know!

My Son Gave Me Some Minor League Cards

At our last card show in December, as we were leaving on the final day, one of the few vendors remaining gave my son a box of minor league cards from the early 90s.

Chris and I weren't expecting much, as many of the packs had been busted.  Several had been opened, so I figured that whomever had the box got the card they wanted out of the box and left the rest to anyone who took it.  I was surprised at some of the cards that Chris and I pulled.

The card that I thought would definitely be gone was, in fact, in one of the unopened packs.  Here, you see a minor league card of Big Hurt.  Frank Thomas is a definite Hall of Famer, and pulling this card from a pack was a nice surprise for Chris and I.  Well, more for me, because Chris didn't know who Frank Thomas was.

 Another good card was this Jeff Bagwell.  Like Frank Thomas, I think it is a matter of time before Bagwell gets into the Hall.  Many people forget that he was once a Red Sox prospect.

 I got a couple Orioles, the highlight being this Chris Hoiles card.  I have met Hoiles on several different occasions and he has always been awesome.

Another former Oriole is Curt Schilling.  Another possible Hall of Famer, too.  I wonder how Schilling's career would have gone if he had remained an Oriole instead of being shipped to the Astros in the ill-fated Glenn Davis trade.  Yuck.

So, I will put these cards aside to one day give back to Chris.  They were a nice product to open a while ago on a rainy Sunday.  He sure enjoyed it.

A Reimold Rainbow

Recently, I got on Ebay and decided to try to get all of the 2011 Topps parallels of Nolan Reimold.  I was successful in getting all of them with the exception of some of the 1/1s (Canary Diamond, printing plate, etc).  I had already had his 2011 Topps base card and his Cognac parallel, so I needed to knock off the Hope Diamond, Diamond, Wal Mart Blue, Target Red, Gold and Black parallels.  My favorite so far is the above Hope Diamond.  I think those cards looks really nice with the blue hue to the diamond concept.

The regular diamond parallels look nice, as always.  All of Nolan's 2011 Topps came out of Topps Update.

I like the red Target parallel and blue Wal Mart parallel.  They are a nice addition to retail blasters.  I'm glad they did something other than the black Wal Mart parallel this year because they were a little hard to tell apart from the regular black parallels.

 The black parallels are always nice.  I usually do pretty well in pulling black parallels from my boxes.  I have several of some decent stars for sale in my booth at the card shows.

You can't go wrong with Topps Gold.  They have had these parallels since 1992.  I always enjoy pulling a gold parallel of an Oriole out of a pack.  I bought this one off of Ebay and a day later got another one in a trade with my buddy Nick.  My good friend Ryan will probably end up with the one that I bought at some point.

So, I will keep a lookout for the Canary Diamond 1/1 and a printing plate of 2011 Topps Nolan Reimold, then I should have all of his 2011 variations.  I highly doubt I will get the Canary, but you never know.  If anyone has it, please let me know!

Awesome Mail From Virgil Trucks

I'm speechless.  I got home from work today to some mail I was expecting (I got all but one of the Nolan Reimold cards I had ordered) and an envelope that I wasn't expecting.  When my wife told me "You got a letter from Virgil Trucks," I was thinking no way, I haven't written him since Christmas.

Well, Mr. Trucks felt that he should properly thank me for the donation I sent along with a Christmas card back in December.  Something that surprised me even more, was that when I opened the envelope, I saw that the stuff inside wasn't meant for me, but for my son, Chris.

The letter says:  

Dear William and Chris,
I have been pretty busy these past few weeks.  So thought I would drop you a line and I haven't thanked you for the check.  Its about time I did.  So thank you so very much.  Also, the church thanks you.  Enclosed are a few photos for Chris if he wants them.  I hope they find you all well and wish you and your family a great 2012.

Sincerely,

Virgil Trucks

WOW!  He already thanked me last month when he sent a reply along with a couple signed cards.  This was completely unexpected, but welcome!  Chris was so excited to get these photos in the mail, plus the fact that they were signed is great.  He signed everything he put in the envelope.  Please, all of you take a look!

I plan on framing all of these and hanging them in Chris' room.  You all know how I feel about Mr. Trucks, but it cannot be stated enough.  He is an absolute treasure to the game and in life in general.  Always gracious to anyone who takes the time to send him a letter, Mr. Trucks is without peer.  His generosity is definitely something that I will remember for the rest of my life.

I have already had Chris draw Mr. Trucks a picture and write a thank you note to him, so I should be able to get that in the mail tomorrow.

If any of you have been thinking about writing a former player, put Mr. Virgil Trucks at the top of your list.  Also, if you have the means, send a few bucks to his church in his name.  I'm sure they appreciate it and I know he does.  Let's all do something good in honor of a man who does plenty for us!

Some Card Shop Pickups

I went to the Greenville card shop a couple weeks ago to pick up some trade supplies and decided to dig through their dollar box to see what I could find.  I ended up with a couple cards that I thought looked really nice and were of players who I really admired.

The first card is this 2004 Sweet Spot Classic Hank Greenberg.  Like I said in my previous post, I really enjoy the Sweet Spot Classic and Legendary Cuts sets.  Anytime you can get a Hank Greenberg card for a dollar is a good day, so I was glad to add this to my collection.  Greenberg was a beast.  I was reading recently in a book called "The Only Game in Town"  and learned that Hank Greenberg taught Ralph Kiner some pointers early in his career that led Kiner to become to power hitter than he was known for.  You always think of Greenberg as a Tiger but he did end his career at a Pirate.

Another card I got was this 2005 Legendary Cuts Jim Palmer.  This one would have looked great autographed if I had it with me when I went to Fan Fest, but oh well, it looks great anyway!

I love digging through the bargain boxes at local shops and card shows.  You never know what you will find and can usually find some stuff from some of those older sets that may be forgotten but look great!

Trade With Nick

I completed a trade with Nick from Baseball Dime Box when my package arrived yesterday.  He sent me some really nice Hall of Famer cards and a few Orioles in exchange for some 2012 Topps inserts he needed for various sets.

 I really like Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts.  Any year of it.  Really.  It might be a set that I miss the most, well that and Masterpieces and Sweet Spot Classic.  This Jim Bottomley card is really sharp.  Bottomley is one of those Hall of Famers that I'm going to have to take a closer look at later on, but in a nutshell, he was the 1928 NL MVP and retired after 16 seasons with 2,313 hits, 219 home runs and a .310 batting average.

 Donruss Threads was another set that always looked good and this Brooks Robinson is a prime example.  It is just a really colorful card.  I wouldn't mind picking up some more of these or maybe busting a box of them at some point.

 2007 Legendary Cuts also looked really good.  This Jim Palmer is a great card.  This is yet another set that I would love to bust a box of.  Maybe a future group break or something like that.

 I put a big Ebay order in the other day for as many of the 2011 variation cards of Nolan Reimold that I could find.  If I had waited one more day, I would have known that Nick had this 2011 Topps Gold Reimold available.  Oh well, now I will have 2 of them.  Once all the cards come in, I'll put up a bog of all the Reimolds that I picked up.  I'm waiting on 3 more to find their way to my mailbox.

 Speaking of collecting a player's inserts, I already have 3 different versions of Brian Matusz's 2012 Topps card.  His base, black and gold parallels.  Not too bad.

Finally, here is a 2003 Topps Gallery Robin Roberts.  Roberts, a former Oriole, might be one of the most underrated pitchers in the Hall of Fame.  His 286 wins are impressive enough, but when you factor in that many former players of his era (Virgil Trucks, for one) regard him as the best pitcher of that time.

Thanks for the awesome cards, Nick.  If any of you haven't had the chance to read Nick's blog, definitely follow him.  He has some of the most well written posts I have seen and I have quickly come to enjoy his blog.

Ebay Pickup - 2012 Topps Golden Pin Brooks Robinson

Any time I can add a new Brooks Robinson to my collection is a good day.  I remarked when I pulled my 2012 Johnny Bench Golden Pin from 2012 Topps that I would really like getting the Brooks out of that insert set.  Well, I found this one on Ebay for around $20, so I jumped on it.

I can't wait til they put out the 'Retired Rings' Brooks, because I will jump all over that one, too.

I'm not the biggest fan of the manufactured patches, but some of the Brooks Robinson ones look good.  I am STILL working on getting all of his 2009 Letter Patches, but they are so much harder to find now.  If any of you can knock one or two off of my want list, I will be grateful.