Mail Day - Dream Warriors. Plus Thoughts on 2010 Topps Finest

So, I think I'm running out of awesomely bad sequel titles. I may need some help with those down the road, or abandon that idea all together...

Anyway, I put an order in over at Sportlots because I kept seeing that sad, lonely single card I needed to fill my 1998 Topps set. I don't like only buying $0.18 worth of cards on there, so I usually tack on a few things to get to a respectable amount of around $10 or so... I ended up getting a SWEET RC I have been wanting as well as a few 2009 Allen and Ginters to push that set closer to completion.

Ahhhh, the 2010 Upper Deck Brian Matusz RC. I know I have said this a billion times already, but seriously, look for Matusz to bust out this year and nab the AL Rookie of the Year award. No, really. He's damn good.

I also had company in town (Babe-O-Licious, my good friend who got me started working at the card shop way back in 2006) for my epic fail of a Wrestlemania party. We went to lunch yesterday and after lunch, I took her to the Greenville card shop. The shop owner there is really nice and he let me go through a box of 2010 Topps Finest. He let me pick out/buy the cards I wanted, so I grabbed a whole bunch of them.

This is a pretty sick Russell Martin. I love it. Too bad its not mine haha. I like the 2010 Finest design. One of these days, I'm going to buy a box of Finest and bust it.

Yeah, the cards were in order and the Roberts was near the bottom of the stack. I was sweating a little toward the end until I happened upon the Roberts. Just a good looking card. Thankfully Roberts' neck has healed and he is slated to be leading off on Opening Day. I'm looking for 50+ doubles again this year. That is definitely not too much to ask.

I love the black jersey on STICK. He has beefed up a little in the offseason and has been tearing the cover off of the ball so far in Spring Training. I look for STICK to hit 30+ homers this year and lead the O's in that category.

What do you all think? I think Finest is pretty sharp this year. Now I need to look for some of the refractor variations....

A Very Brady Mail Day

See what I did there?

I got a nice package in the mail today from 'the brooklyn met' who has a blog over at: http://clearcutcards.blogspot.com/ who got a decent Met haul in return. I love Brady Anderson. He was a huge star for the Orioles when I was a teenager. He was a big part of the 1996 AL Wild Card team who ousted the Indians in the first round of the playoffs (only to lose to a 12-year old with a glove...). Effing lame. A very sharp looking 1989 Score. This is not Brady's RC though, he had a RC in the 1988 Score set. Still a really sweet card. I like how it pops via scan.

Here is Brady hitting a homer (hopefully) and probably saying BITCHES afterward. Like I said, Brady is the man.

This card came with an assortment of other Orioles. Of course, the card is very nice looking, but one who follows the Orioles can't help but remember Steve Bechler and the cautionary tale he has become.

Bechler came to spring training in 2003 hoping to win a spot in the Orioles bullpen. He had desperately tried to shed pounds in order to get into a better playing shape. Bechler died of heat stroke at the very beginning of spring training that year. The coroner discovered that high levels of Ephedra contributed to his death. It was because of this that the supplement ephedra was pulled from shelves.

Random Thoughts

- I bought tickets to the Tampa Bay Rays vs. Durham Bulls game for April 3. Hit the bull win a steak... I'm really excited about this. I'm going to try really hard to get a Longoria auto while I'm there.

- There is a 170-table card show in Raleigh that morning. I'm really excited about that too. I have saved up some money, so I should be able to get something good. We'll see. Not too sure what I will get... I'd love it if someone had the Brooks patches I'm looking for.

- I am still looking for people to claim some teams from my 2 big boxes. Only a couple teams have been claimed. Someone help me out by taking some of this stuff off my hands (did I mention it was FREE???).

- Brian Matusz has been a BEAST so far this spring. I am really hoping he has a good year. The Orioles beat the Skankees today 8-0, yeah I know it is only spring training, but Brad Bergesen looked great (he had been injured for a good bit of the spring). The Yankees had pretty much their whole opening day lineup out there today, so don't tell me the game didnt mean anything.

- Brian Roberts will play in his first game of the spring tomorrow. Whew. I was starting to worry. I am really hoping he hits 50 doubles again, but with the herniated disc in his neck... I'm a little anxious.

Hope everyone is doing well. Send me some comments, and some messages.

03/19/10 ECU Game With Chris

On Friday, I picked my son Chris up from day care, took him to Great Clips so we both could get haircuts and then took him to the ECU game. The Pirates were playing Monmouth. The ECU stadium is reeeeally small. I was disappointed when we took our seats when I saw that we had to sit a good ways up in the bleachers. There was also a net that extended the whole way along all the seats (lame). The Pirate came pretty close to us, Chris was scared at first, then after he went away, Chris was disappointed that he didn't get to 'shake his hand.' Haha.

After being initially disappointed with our seats, we walked down and found out that we could stand directly behind the outfield wall (had I known this, we would have stayed there the whole game). The bullpen is located in this area as well, so Chris and I watched one of the pitchers warm up. The bullpen catcher ended up giving Chris a ball.

This is the view from our seats. I was disappointed that we couldn't sit down the line and have a better chance to catch foul balls. Right now, I'm torn between South Carolina's and NCSU's stadiums.

Thoughts on Upper Deck Champs Hockey

I, as you all know, don't really care for hockey. I went to the 2008 All Star Game when it was in Atlanta and had a blast. My wife loves hockey and the Detroit Red Wings, so I have some exposure to it, and I follow how her team is doing.

When someone bought the 2010 Upper Deck Champs Hockey from the shop the other day, I was curious as to what it was all about, since there is a big dinosaur on the packaging.

It seems that the set has historical figures, artifacts, dinosaurs, and oh yeah, some hockey players. I picked up 2 packs. Here is an example of one of the dinosaur cards. Pretty cool. Fits right in with my major, haha.

I also got this Steve Yzerman (one of my wife's favorite players). She was happy when I brought this home... Too bad it will end up with my cards anyway.

I am seriously considering building this set... or at least busting a box to see what I get. I love the design. I wish they would do something baseball like this. We'll see, I guess.

Thoughts on 2010 Topps Heritage

I have opened quite a few packs of 2010 Topps Heritage now and I have to say that I am pleased with how the 1961 Topps design has carried over.

I had been thinking before the product came out that I wouldn't be too impressed, but I'm glad I was wrong. I like the fact that they even used the old school All Star Rookie logo. I'd buy a box, but I'm holding out for Topps Series II and some more vintage stuff.

I'm interested in finding out what you all thought of 2010 Heritage. I also only got one response to my offer of free stuff... Come on now, I will definitely hook you up!!!

Trade with Pete

You all remember this card I pulled from Topps Unique a few months ago... Well, I had no idea when I posted it that I would have such a huge response to it. I had 3 or 4 people right off the bat ask about it. Now, I have several people I trade with regularly who are Yankee fans, so pretty much all of my Yankee cards are spoken for. Pete gets first crack (and any Mattinglys), then Drew, followed by Nico. I still feel like I owe Mr. Scott some as well (working on that), but Pete does take top billing.

That being said, I wasn't asking for a whole lot in return for this card. Yeah, I probably could have listed it on ebay and gotten some cash for it, but I am not at a point right now where I want to do a whole lot of selling. Yeah, the money is good, but with the time it takes to list the auction, wait for it to complete, wait for the person to pay, stick it in the mail... I'd rather flip a card for some things that will be useful to me.

So, I present to you: Brooks Robinson 2010 Topps Heritage Memorial Stadium seat relic and...

Cal Ripken 2010 Topps Peak Performance pants relic.

Fair trade? I definitely think so. I also got a stack of O's cards (including chromes of Adam Jones and STICK) from 2010 Heritage. I still lack the Roberts, but I'm certain it will become mine.

***Alert - I have 2 huge boxes of loose cards (1980s - today) that I would like to clear out. If anyone is interested in certain teams or players, please shoot me an email and we can work something out. I need to warn you though that the following teams and/or players are already spoken for: Orioles, Yankees, Dodgers, Rangers, Astros, Cubs, Nomar, Manny Ramirez, Orel Hershiser, Kirk Gibson, Bo Jackson, Joe Mauer and Jim Thome.

Also, if you have specific set needs, I can help fill 2007-2010 Topps (I can help with other years as well, but it will take longer as those boxes are in a storage building), 2006-2008 allen and ginter (2009 is pretty much wiped out) and a few other sets... just ask me. Please email me a want list (I'd love to check each blog for specific needs, but I don't have a whole lot of time to devote to searching through what everyone needs...)