I'm Thankful For...

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.  I appreciate all of you taking the time to read my blog over the 5 years of its existence.  Yeah, that's right, I passed my 5-year anniversary a couple weeks ago.  Hard to imagine how much of a failure that I thought this blog would be.  I'm very thankful that Pete and P. A. talked me into starting it up back in November 2008.

I'm thankful for the close friends that I have gained because of this blog.  Andrew, Drew, Scott, Ryan, Nick, Schuyler, and many others.

I'm thankful for the opportunities it has provided.  Interviewing Mr. Virgil Trucks and trading with Nolan Reimold's wife.

I'm thankful to all of the former players who have responded to my TTM requests.  The players who took the time to put in a little something extra for this fan.

I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to interact with some of those players before they passed away this year, such as, Virgil Trucks, Mule Miles, Mike Palagyi, Bob Savage, Sophie Kurys, Chuck Diering, Babe Martin, Moon Mullen, Bob Turley and Earl Weaver.

Outside of the blog, I'm thankful for, obviously, my wife, Mallory who puts up with me (which is a lot more difficult than you may believe); my son, Christopher (who - SPOILER ALERT - will have his own blog soon), my mom and dad, my brothers and sisters and the rest of my extended family.

I'm especially thankful I have been provided another year with my grandmothers.

I'm thankful for all of those who choose to call me their friend.

I'm thankful for the company that I work for and the awesome people I work with.

I'm thankful for Buck Showalter.

I'm thankful that a late inning reliever, whom I loved, could be traded for a power hitting first baseman who smashed the Orioles single season HR record.

I'm thankful for Roch Kubatko's blog on masnsports.com.

I'm thankful for Fan Fest and being able to make a friend there, Michael.

I'm thankful to my brother, Adam, for introducing me to the Columbia Antique Mall.

I'm thankful for Double Stuff Oreos.

I'm thankful for a well-cooked steak.

I'm thankful for a lot of things.  So, thank you everyone for your support over the years.  Please continue to check in here and see what's going on, I sincerely enjoy it.  I hope you all have a safe and healthy Thanksgiving a merry Christmas and Happy New Year, but that's getting ahead of ourselves.  Let's get this turkey cooked first.

COM Pickup - 2012 Topps Chris Davis Target Red

As I prepare myself to cook the turkey tomorrow, I wanted to get a quick blog posted and continue to work on my COMC stack that came in a while ago.  I was going through my 2012 TOpps cards of Davis and realized that I have all of these parallels now, but I didn't have the base card.  How the heck did that happen?  Well, I know what happened.  I opened 3 boxes and ended up with two cards that went into the two sets I built.  I never thought to get another, but luckily, my best buddy (Andrew) is hooking me up with one.

I have a multitude of Davis cards here that still need to be blogged, so I guess I need to keep up.  I have also begun my Christmas shopping for a few fellow bloggers whom I am rather close to.  I also have the Black Friday weekend sale coming up for my COMC page.  I put everything on sale, so I hope I can sell some stuff to help with my Christmas budget.

My Second Trade With Matthew

I have no idea what I sent him in return, but I made a second trade with Matthew recently which landed me this 2013 Topps Chrome Yasiel Puig RC, which I will be needing to complete the Chrome set.  Yeah, I said it.  I'm going to try to put the set together.  It shouldn't be too hard, seeing as I have opened 3 boxes.  I bet I'm relatively close, but we'll see when I sit down and sort everything.  I haven't had much time for that recently.

I got a bunch of other cards in my package that Matthew was nice enough to throw in.  My package wasn't the best of the bunch, though.  Matthew included a bunch of cards for Christopher, and, well, he really blew him away with his generosity.  I was very impressed.  I will have to let Chris tell the story of what he got, though.

So, that's 2 trades I have done with Matthew.  He seems to be learning the ropes pretty well.  Head over to his blog and check it out.

COMC Pickup - 2006 Topps Chrome Brian Roberts Black Parallel

Numbered 391/549, I got this 2006 Topps Chrome black parallel off of COMC for $0.55.  Not bad for a black refractor.  I always liked 2006 Topps.  It is the first issue of Topps that I was around for in its debut since i got back into collecting in 2005.  I got back in the middle of 2005, so I wasn't there for the debut of '05 Topps.  It was kind of plain anyway.  2006 was really cool because of the more complex borders, etc.  It kind of stands out in the mid 2000s set offerings in my opinion, and it looks really good in the Chrome variety.

I need to go back and take a look through my 2006 set and see the names that showed up in there.  I can't even begin to name off any of the good rookies in there, with the exception of the oddball Alex Gordon card/non card that popped up.

Now, this card itself, looks really cool with the black and orange and matching up with Roberts's uniform.  I'm enjoying this card quite a bit for sure.  Especially for 55 cents!

Trade With Max of Starting Nine

I completed a trade with Max over at "Starting Nine" recently when I sent him a Collin Cowgill auto in exchange for some O's stuff and a stack of 16 2013 Topps Emeral parallels for my set.

I really like the above Adam Jones green parallel from 2013 Bowman Chrome.  I'm not too sure green and orange go together, unless you are a Miami Hurricanes fan like my older brother.  Still, it is a really sharp looking card, which I enjoy.

Finally, one of the emeralds I needed was this Zach Britton.  I hope to complete the emerald set sometime soon and this trade stack definitely puts a sizable dent in it.

Thanks for the trade Max, let's do it again!

Hall of Fame TTM Success - Jerry Coleman

My last TTM success was June 1, 2013 and there has been quite a gap in between my sending off anything to get signed.  Mainly because I just haven't had time to get anything together to send.  Or, my own laziness.  Take your pick.  Nevetheless, I did, in fact, get a TTM success today.  This is my 75th TTM success and just so happens to be my 95th Hall of Famer.  The ball is signed by 2005 Ford Frick Award winner Jerry Coleman.

Jerry Coleman (b. 1924) played in the majors from 1949 to 1957, all for the Yankees.  He had 558 hits, 16 home runs and a career .263 batting average over 9 seasons.  He was a member of 4 World Series championship teams (1949, 1950, 1951, 1956).

After his playing days were over, Coleman switched to broadcasting.  Coleman became the voice of the San Diego Padres and 1972, a position he held every year since, except for the 1980 season (He managed the Padres that season).

I mailed to Coleman on November 12 and got him back today, making him a 10-day TAT.  He signed my ball with no fee.

COMC Pickup - 2012 Topps Chrome Chris Davis Blue Parallel

I'll say it again, I love the Chrome parallels.  The Blue and Red ones the most.  Those two really pop when scanned.  Ok, maybe I like the Oranges a bit too, probably because I'm biased.  Anyway, this is a really awesome Davis card.  The blue picked up really nice.

I've got a bunch of Davis's 2012 Topps cards now, so I need to sit down and figure out what I still need.  This card is numbered 140/199.