TTM Success - Wilin Rosario

I saw that Wilin Rosario was signing TTM while he was with the Rochester Red Wings, so I found a few cards and sent them out.  A short time later, they all came back signed.  Normally, I would have had a lot of cards to choose from, but I typically give all of my Rosario stuff to my friend, Noah, so I was lucky to find these three cards.  The 2012 Bowman Platinum turned out really well.

I also had a 2012 Topps and 2015 Topps.  Rosario probably could use a new Sharpie, soon.  However, I am happy with what I was able to get.

Rosario (b. 1989) played in the majors from 2011 to 2015 for the Rockies.  He had 413 hits, 71 home runs and a .273 batting average.  I was surprised to see that he hasn't been in the majors since 2015.  I think injuries have really limited him. 

A look at his stats show that he didn't play at all between 2016 and 2018.  He played 105 games this year at AAA Rochester in the Twins system.  He had 124 hits, 24 home runs and a .300 average.  Maybe this is an indication that he is now healthy, and a team will give him a Spring Training invitation next season.

I mailed to Rosario on July 23 and got the cards back on September 10, for a 49-day TAT.

Christmas Gift and a Deal From Brayden

I got a surprise direct message a few days ago from someone on Instagram that I had never talked to before.  His name is Brayden, and he told me that he wanted to send me a care package because he had seen that I did a lot for the card community.  Brayden had some Orioles cards that he wanted to give me and we continued talking well after this was established.  It turns out that Brayden gets a lot of autographs from around Texas and had some baseballs I was interested in.  We made a quick and easy deal for the above Adrian Beltre signed ball.

The ball is a 2011 All Star baseball, but it was signed on the wrong side panel.  I didn't mind, and Brayden was really nice and made me a sweet deal that I couldn't refuse.  I wanted the ball because I feel like Beltre will be a Hall of Famer once he becomes eligible, so he would fit into my HOF collection.

Brayden included the initial cards that he wanted to send with the Beltre ball.  Among them was this 2012 Bowman Platinum Schoop.  All of the cards Brayden sent were great, and I really appreciated them.  The best part of it all is that I feel like I made a new friend.  I hope we can keep making deals and talking in the future because he seems to be a really nice guy!

Thanks for the awesome deal and Christmas package, Brayden!

Christmas Gift From AJ

I got a really nice Christmas gift in the mail from my little buddy, AJ, that had a ton of Orioles and a few other relics and autos included.  AJ is a huge Reds fan that I try to help out when I can.  He has had a couple older "graphers" give him a hard time at games, so I try my best to send him some stuff to help his collection since the older kids seem to think making fun of someone's collection is something to do.

AJ sent me this awesome Manny Machado blue parallel from 2012 Bowman Platinum.  I need to pick up a magnetic case for this.  The card looks great, and I really appreciate AJ sending it along.

AJ sent me a handful of these Orioles holiday parallels from Topps Retail.  I really liked this Wieters, especially since he probably won't be an Oriole in 2017 Topps.

Among the relic cards that AJ sent, he included this Adam Jones relic from 2015 Topps.  AJ also sent one of his own cards, signed, from his past baseball season.  I thought that was a really cool gesture, which I definitely appreciated.

Thank you so much for the Christmas package, AJ!  I appreciate it!

Weston Returns

I got a care package in the mail recently that really took me by surprise.  Not so much that I got a care package in the mail, moreso because it came from my old friend, Weston.  Weston and I used to talk all of the time, and he is the one who introduced me to my good friend, Andrew.  However, Weston is a busy guy, so he has had to step away from the hobby on numerous occasions in order to tend to his other activities.  Thankfully, he never forgot me, and has tried to keep in touch.  He sent me this care package as a way to say hello and that he hadn't forgotten about me.  It was a really nice gesture that didn't go unnoticed.  Thanks, Weston!

Awesome Package From Wes

 

I got an email recently from a guy named Wes who reads my blog.  The email was quick and to the point, asking me for my address because he had some Orioles cards for my collection.  As you can see from the photo above, what he sent me was far more than I could have imagined.  It got better, too, when I flipped through the cards and saw a ton of Orioles that I needed and came upon some awesome relics and autographs.  I was amazed at the things I found in the pile.  Here are some of the highlights:

This Brian Matusz Razor Lettermen auto was so cool.  I had another of his, a Z, I believe, but this one was a different color and looks really awesome!

I don't believe former Oriole reliever Rocky Cherry has made it onto the blog before, but this Upper Deck Exquisite auto looks so cool.  It is also numbered 1/10.  Cherry didn't last long for the O's but this card is still really cool and I'm glad Wes included it.

Finally, I was really happy to get this Mike Wright Bowman Platinum auto, red parallel, which is numbered to 25.  I already had the base and now I have the red.  I like Wright because he went to nearby ECU and was really cool when Chris and I met him a few years ago.  I hope he makes it to the bigs and pitches as well as he is capable.

It is going to take me some time to go through all of these cards that Wes hooked me up with.  If you're reading this, Wes, thanks so much!  I really appreciate the package!

Old Foul Cardboard in the Mail

I got a nice surprise envelope in the mail from Chris and Kyle over at the fantastic blog "Old Foul Cardboard."  Apparently, my blog was one of the inspirations that led Chris to start his blog.  I don't know how it was, but that's cool.

Anyway, Chris and Kyle sent me a few O's cards.  One of them was the above Mike Wright Bowman Platinum auto.  I didn't know it at the time, but my son Chris and I met Wright at an ECU game a couple years ago.  Chris was watching him warm up in the pen; Wright signed a ball and tossed it to him.  Chris left the ball in the car, which rolled out at my in-laws house some time later.  Several months after that, my mother in law hands me the ball "This was on the ground by the driveway after you left last time, it looks like it was signed."  I looked at it and yep, it was signed.

Funny thing was, though, I immediately recognized the signature as well because I remembered Wright had been drafted by the Orioles.  Since I live near ECU, I paid special attention to guys from there that were drafted and I thought it was cool that the O's picked him up.  So, now, it's even cooler that we have the ball signed by him AND that it had it's own journey to get here.

January 17, 2013 Trip to the Card Shop

I posted yesterday that I went to the Greenville card shop to pick up some team bags for a project that Ryan and I are working on.  I discussed the two packs of 2012 Panini Golden Age that I got.  Well, I also got a couple packs of 2012 Bowman.  I picked up one pack of Bowman Chrome and pulled the above Blue Refractor auto of Jays prospect Jake Marisnick.  Pretty sweet card, if you ask me.

I also got one pack of 2012 Bowman Platinum and the highlight of the pack was the above Giancarlo Stanton.  There wasn't much else to speak of in the pack.  I'll probably hold onto the Stanton, though.  Everything else will likely go out in trades.

Dec. 2012 Raleigh Card Show Part 4 - Dylan Bundy

I told you in my last post about the Raleigh card show that I discovered a new vendor who busts cases of cards to build sets.  He sells off his inserts in order to fund his habit, so I was fortunate enough to be able to find some SWEET Orioles inserts while looking through his wares.  I asked him if he had any Dylan Bundy Bowman Platinum, to which he replied "I think I sold them all..."  So, I looked through his Bowman Platinums anyway, and guess what I found?  Oh?  You say it's easy to guess because I have already posted the pictures?  Ah crap.  Yeah, I found two Dylan Bundys out of 2012 Bowman Platinum.  I guess we wasted the good surprise on you, huh?  Gold star if you get the movie reference right there.

Anyway, yeah, I got two Dylan Bundy 2012 Bowman Platinum cards, one of which was a purple parallel.  Pretty sweet.  That being said, I added those two cards to my stack of O's I got, along with a couple Tim Lincecums for Chris and paid a whopping $6.00 total.  That's right.  I win.

I'm really excited about what the future holds for Bundy.  I really hope he doesn't turn out like Mark Prior.  Ouch.  Only time will tell, but he has looked really good so far!

August 18, 2012 Trip to the Card Shop

Since it had been a while since I had bought some new stuff, I decided to go to the LCS and see what they had.  I got a pack of 2012 Topps Finest and 2 packs of 2012 Bowman Platinum.  I also got a tobacco sized screwdown case for me 1930 World Series ticket, which I didn't think they made.  It is the size of a normal screwdown, except the inlay is fitted for tobacco cards.  The ticket fits perfectly!

 The highlights of the packs I got are the above Yu Darvish RC and the below Liam Hendriks auto.

The auto is on card and it looks really sweet.  The 2012 version of Finest is nice, as always.  Finest is always sharp looking and I would buy more if it was a little more affordable.

Bowman Platinum is becoming one of my favorite Bowman issues each year.  This year's looks really good.  I pulled the above Bryce Harper, which is definitely a good pull for me.

I was slo happy to pull this green chrome Mike Montgomery numbered 307/399.  I saw Montgomery pitch in person a couple years ago against the Kinston Indians and he was electric.  I think he is going to be a huge star for the Royals.

So, not bad for a couple packs at the LCS.  I hope I can add a few more Platinum and Topps FInest over the next few weeks, but I still need to recover from my vacation (financially, I mean).