Christmas Gift From Dalton

I was completely surprised at the huge box of stuff that came in recently from my good friend, Dalton.  He and I have been friends on Instagram and Snapchat for a long time.  He always comes to me for advice, and I try to help him out as best I can.  He had been hinting that he was going to do something big for Christmas, but I wasn't sure what it would be.  I never expect anything in return for helping him out, so when this big box came in, I was floored.

The box wasn't all filler, either.  He filled it up with some amazing stuff.  Some of the box was stuff I bought off of Dalton to help him finance some of his family's Christmas gifts, and the rest were surprises that he threw in.  The above Zach Britton signed photo was one of the surprises.

Dalton offered to sell me this signed Orioles photo a few times, but I didn't really have the money at the time.  I was really surprised that he ended up just including it in the package.  I asked him about giving so much, and he responded with "I wanted to make your Christmas amazing."  Well, he sure did that.

I was able to guess this signature right away, Trey Mancini.  I'll probably keep it in the top loader that Dalton provided, since my album pages aren't big enough.

Dalton knows how much I enjoy adding new cards to my auto binder, so he included three signed cards that he had.  I had gotten Carlos Baerga TTM (and I assume that's where Dalton got this one), but I hadn't gotten this particular card signed, so it was nice to get.  I assume he got the above Tim Laudner signed in person at a Twins Alumni event or something, seeing as the Twins are his hometown team.

I actually saw a bunch of Pat Dean cards the other day as I was cleaning up my minors box.  I wondered if I could get any signed, and I saw that Dalton included this.  I like these Elite Extra Edition cards; they look really nice when signed.

Finally, the stuff that really blew me away was all of this that Dalton included.  The bottom two balls (Manny Machado and Mark Trumbo) were what I bought off of Dalton to help him out.  The rest were ones he threw in.  Included was a multi-signed ball that included Greg Maddux, Ron Kittle, two game used balls and another that he had gotten signed, but I forget by whom, haha.

Dalton is a really good kid.  I sincerely enjoy helping him out.  I never did it with any thoughts of receiving anything in return.  He always has time to chat, even though he is always busy.  I think the world of him, and really am blown away at his kindness and generosity.  Thank you so much, Dalton.

My First Topps Now Card - Orioles Record Breaker

Topps came out with a really cool idea this season by putting the previous day's highlights on a card.  The concept gets even better in that the cards are only available for order for 24 hours, then the print run stops.  Some cards have been run for 200+ copies; some for over 1,000.  There have been a couple Orioles ones issued this year, but I finally took the plunge on Topps Now when the Orioles tied the home run record for June.

I bought the card off of the Topps website for $9.99 and it ended with a print run of 526 copies made.

This card will be an entry in my Chris Davis PC, but when I was scanning the card for this blog post, I noticed something about the card that I didn't realize before.  Have you caught it yet?

That is Matt Wieters on a Topps card.  Why does that matter?  Well, since he signed with the Orioles, Wieters has not been featured on any Topps products, with the exception of Topps Bunt and E-Topps.  He has had no regular issue Topps cards.  He signed an exclusive deal with Razor back in 2008 that would have allowed him to appear on Topps or Upper Deck cards one year after his debut.  He has had no Topps cards at all, so either he or they have not budged.  So, this Topps Now card could be his first ever Topps card (really, who counts E-Topps or Topps Bunt?).  That makes this card that much cooler for me.

There are two other Chris Davis Topps Now cards that I have seen.  I plan on picking them up, but am holding out for the National.  My hope is that a vendor there will have them, and I can rack up.  I really like this concept and hope that Topps keeps it up.  I also hope some of my PC guys do some major things to end up on future offerings.

Trade and Christmas Package From Nick S.

I have been talking a lot lately to a really awesome guy in Texas named Nick.  We have traded a few times, and chatted some, but recently, we decided to talk a lot more.

What started the whole thing was when Mark Trumbo was traded to the Orioles, Nick messaged me saying he had this Trumbo signed baseball and he wanted to know if I was interested.  I wasn't too interested at the time, but told him that I would think about it.  A week or so later, Nick messaged me again saying that he really wanted the ball to go to me,   So, I asked him what it would take to get the ball and we reached a deal really quickly.

The ball is really cool, it is a game used foul ball that Nick caught, and it is a commemorative ball of the Astros 50th season.  I am getting to where I really like these commemorative baseballs.  I have been getting quite a few of them, and I think that is really where the appeal was in this one.  That, and Nick was really awesome about the trade.  So much so, we became very good friends following our discussion.

Generally, when I am sending out a trade package, I try to include some extras.  I wanted to do that with Nick, since he was so nice, and also because it is Christmas.  I told Nick that I was going to include some extras for him, and he told me that he had already gotten some together for me.

When the package came in the mail, I was blown away.  Oftentimes, I will get to chatting with someone and feel like we hit it off, and folks would promise tons of stuff, only to have everything kind of die off soon thereafter.  Nick, though, really blew me away with what he "threw in" to the package.  Not pictured was a stack of Topps gold parallels that he included, two of which were 2014 Topps mini golds of Bud Norris and Dylan Bundy.

The above signed ticket  was from a game he attended (I think he said 6/13/15, and also the day Trumbo signed the ball, I believe); the ticket is signed by Carson Smith.  I don't remember who he told me signed the bottom of the ticket.  Maybe he will read this and comment.

Nick included these IP autographs of former Oriole-now current Oriole- LJ Hoes.  Hoes was a pretty decent prospect for the Orioles, but was traded to Houston in 2013 for Bud Norris.  Now he is back and is looking to make the team out of Spring Training.

I don't know if Nick knew this or not, but this Steve Bechler auto is tough to get.  Bechler was the pitcher who passed away in Spring Training 2003.  His death is the reason why ephedrine is now banned in baseball.  I remember when it happened, and it is still a really sad story.  I really appreciate Nick including this in the care package.  I think I have one other Bechler auto, and I was hoping to add some more over time.

Finally, here is a card I really enjoyed that Nick included.  Don't laugh, I'm serious.  This "well loved" 1969 Topps Hank Aaron appears as if someone ran it over a few times, dropped it in a puddle, then kept it as a wallet card for about 10 years.  The card would probably grade lower than a 1.  Maybe a 0.5?  However, since one of my favorite blogs is POBC (Poor Old Baseball Cards), I really think this card is cool.  I have quite a few POBCs, and this one now probably takes the top of the list.  I may actually make an album sometime with the ones that I have.  Nick might have thought sending this was a bit of a joke (and trust me, the kid is so very funny), but really, I LOVE this card.

Thank you so much for a great trade, an amazing care package and beginning of a really nice friendship.  This stuff really blew me away, and I can't thank you enough, Nick!  If you are on the Instagram, you can give Nick a follow as baseballcards035.

2013 Topps Series One - The Hits

Ok, I busted my 3 Jumbo Boxes that I purchased from Crane's Cards (the same guy I get my cases of ball cubes from) last night while Scott (from Mr. Baseball-Scott) and Andrew (Andrew's Baseball Cards) watched via webcam.  I decided to break up my stuff into a couple categories, you know, so I could milk a couple more posts about them.  So, here are the hits from my 3 boxes.  Most of these are definitely for trade, because, as you will be able to see, I didn't pull anyone from my PCs as far as hits go.  If I do trade them, I would like Orioles hits from 2013, if you have them.

First off, I wanted to show the manu-hits from this year, which I really like.  I pulled three Silver Slugger award cards.  I believe these were seeded 1:34 packs or something like that, compared to 1:32 for the Cy Young or MVP cards.  Funny thing is, I got 2 of the same card, the below Jim Rice.  One is already committed to a trade with Scott, a Red Sox fan.  I like both of the cards and the subject of each (CarGo above and Rice below), but I would have been much happier pulling the Eddie Murray Silver Slugger or the Cal Ripken MVP.

Something else about these cards is: They're BRICKS!  They are so thick and heavy, I think card shops are going to have a tough time with pack searchers.

The autos I got were really decent, to tell the truth.  All are young stars that I would be willing to hold onto unless someone came at me with a pretty sweet deal.  I got the above Chris Sale, whose auto isn't much to look at.

Of the 3 autos, the above Mark Trumbo is one I'm most likely to hold onto.  I probably would have to be blown away to part with it, as he is a solid player.

The above Jarrod Parker is really nice also.  I'm less inclined to hold onto a pitcher, as their careers can be so up and down, but he had a really good year last year.  I love the incorporation of the A's colors in the card, I think they really pop, if you ask me.

Now, onto the relics.  I was pretty underwhelmed with these.  Joel Hanrahan was just traded to the Red Sox, so Yuck.

The Brian Wilson is kind of cool, but he might not be able to come back from his injury.  The beard is definitely a novelty, though.  I know a couple Giants fans who might be in the market for it and if they aren't, my son will probably like it.  I'd be more inclined to trade it, though.

Finally, here is the last relic card and the last hit, a J. P. Arencibia jersey relic.  No, that is not a pinstripe on the jersey, it is just a diagonal strip of cardboard that makes no sense to me.  This one is definitely up for trade.

So, there you have it.  My hits from 2013 Topps Series One.  I'll go ahead and tell you, I would be very willing to trade some of these for Orioles parallels (you know, green/gold/black/platinum/camo/pink/silk, etc).  I plan on making rainbows of Chris Davis, Orioles Wild Card, Manny Machado and Dylan Bundy.  So, I have that to look forward to.

Tomorrow, I plan on posting a look at some of the inserts I pulled.  Stay tuned.  Also, if you are interested in a trade, please comment, for sure, then email me so I have your email address.  I feel like replying directly to email works better for me than replying via comments.  Also, a few of you have emailed me recently about trades, if I haven't followed up yet, please email me again with an address to send stuff to so I can add it to my notebook.

Thanks for reading guys!