Christmas Gift From Ryu

I got a package in the mail that was waiting for me to open the day after Christmas.  It was among 3 packages that were there, this one being from my good friend, Ryu.  Inside the package was a nice note from him, and this 2007 UD Spectrum Miguel Tejada patch card.  The card is numbered 47/50.

I was a fan of Tejada when he was first signed as an Oriole; and he had several good seasons for them, but then I kind of soured on him toward the end of his deal.  He seemed really pouty at times, and was pretty much the star on some terrible Orioles teams.  Add into it that he was named in the Mitchell report a day after he was traded away to the Astros, and also the ESPN interview where they surprised him with his real birth certificate (making him 2 years older than he was listed).  I actually felt really bad for Tejada at that moment.  I forgave him for a lot of things during that interview, and really began to sour on ESPN themselves.  Just my opinion, though.

All of that being said, I have two Tejada cards that I cherish.  One was given to me by an old friend, and this one given to me by my buddy, Ryu.  It is a beautiful card with a really nice patch.  We all know how I love patches.

Thank you so much, Ryu!

Christmas Gift From Brian

I got a Christmas gift a few days ago from my little buddy, Brian.  He is a fellow North Carolinian that I met at one of my shows in Raleigh.  He and his dad are big Orioles fans, so I sent him a little something for Christmas.  I wasn't expecting a gift in return, but Brian sent me a nice PWE full of Orioles stuff.

Brian must have gotten this Zach Britton signed IP or TTM, but it looks really cool.  I liked the blue sharpie.

Brian and his dad are some really nice folks.  I like that they have kept in touch after that initial meeting at the show.  I have some stuff for them from this year's Fan Fest that I need to send along.

Thank you so much for the gifts, Brian.  I really appreciate it.

Christmas Gift From Kyle

I am finally home from the North Carolina Christmas Tour 2015 and I hope that all of you had as great a Christmas as I did.  I spent time with my family and got lots of messages from my friends.  When I got home today, I had some mail to open that I included with my opening of Christmas presents here at the house.

One of the packages that was waiting on me was from my friend, Kyle.  He is one of the very first people I made a successful deal with on Instagram.  Since then, we have become good friends, even though the two of us are usually busy and rarely have time to talk.

Thankfully, though, when it comes down to it, we still think of each other, and the both of us exchanged gifts this year.  I got Kyle something that I hope he can use in his PC, and he sent me this really nice Kevin Gausman relic/auto from 2014 Triple Threads.

The card is numbered 25/50.  I love the green on the card; it makes it really stand out.

Thank you so much for the gift, Kyle, and for always thinking of me!

Christmas Gift From Michael

My buddy Michael's Christmas gift came yesterday and when I opened it, I was blown away.  I posted a couple days ago about how I had six of the 2009 Bowman Sterling Nolan Reimold autographs and I was going to be looking for the gold parallel sometime soon.  What I didn't know, however, was that there was a black parallel!  I may have seen one back in 09 when these came out, but I had obviously forgotten them.  This card looks awesome.  It is numbered 9/25 and is in amazing condition.  I plan on picking up a magnetic case soon, which is where this will reside.

Not to be overlooked, Michael also included this awesome Sonny Gray triple relic/auto from 2015 Triple Threads.  This one is numbered 62/75 and also looks awesome.  It will also be put in a magnetic case.

Michael really blew me away with his gifts.  He didn't have to go above and beyond for me, but he did.  I really love the gifts!

Ebay Pickup - 2013 Topps Mini Chris Davis Plate

I picked up a nice addition to my Chris Davis PC when I got this 2013 Topps Mini Chris Davis printing plate.  I thought I had a couple of these already, but that was the regular sized printing plate.  I have two of those now.  I didn't realize until now that I didn't have many of the mini parallels, so once the smoke settles from Christmas, I will have to add some of them.

It's funny that Chris Davis's printing plates really don't cost all that much.  With him being as big a star as he has been for the O's, you would think someone other than me would be picking them up.  Oh well, that leaves more for me!

Christmas Package From Robert

I got an awesome Christmas care package from my little buddy, Robert, the other day and was really excited to see what he included.  Robert is fairly new to my little Instagram chat group, but he has assimilated into the group almost seamlessly.

Robert really came through and sent me some stuff that I love!  The above Christian Walker blue parallel auto from 2015 Inception just looks so cool!  It is numbered 75/150.  I actually don't think I have seen one of the blue autos yet.

Robert also included this 2009 Bowman Sterling auto of Nolan Reimold.  This is my favorite card of Reimold.  I have 6 of these now.  I still need to get myself the gold parallel.  These cards just look awesome.  Since I have so many, I ought to send one of them to be graded, you know, just for fun.  I may do that at some point.

Thank you so much for the Christmas gifts, Robert.  I appreciate it, and I am glad that we were able to meet and become friends these last few months!

Christmas Gift From Frankie

I got an awesome Christmas package in the other day from my good friend, Frankie from the blog "My Life In The Sportscard Hobby".  I met Frankie last year through my good friend, Drew.  Frankie and I did a couple trades, then we spent a lot of time together at this past year's National walking around and enjoying the show.  Frankie is a really good guy, but I did not in any way expect that he would land this kind of gift on me.

Above is an awesome 2013 Topps Pro Debut Sonny Gray printing plate.  This is the cyan plate.  Also of note, Gray appears as a RockHound on this card.  My son, Chris, was a RockHound for two seasons, and had a very special time on those teams.  So, I think it is really cool to have this card with Gray in the RockHounds uniform!

Frankie included a few Orioles cards as well, most notably this Cal Ripken from 2015 Topps Hi Tek that I didn't yet have in my collection.  The card is numbered 48/50 and is acetate.  Frankie must have read the several posts of mine where I discuss how much I love acetate cards!

Thank you so much for the awesome Christmas gifts, Frankie!  I really appreciate it!