Trade with Ryan's Memorabilia Blog

Well, call it a new record: I got these cards yesterday, and am posting them only 1 day later.  For me, that's like an improvement of 2-3 weeks over my previous fastest turnaround. This trade package came courtesy of Ryan's Memorabilia Blog, in return for some Ripkens, Markakiseseseses, Robertseseses and a few other random O's.  This trade started with me coming across his third trade bait post and finding a Brandon Flowers jersey card I really liked.

I haven't seen too many jersey cards of Hokies in their VT jerseys, and I love that the card has the silver VT logo on it.  It is serial numbered on the back #22/75.  As I went back and browsed the first and second trade bait posts, I found a couple of nice N43s of David Wright and Ryan Zimmerman.  I had never come across any N43s, so I jumped on them as soon as I could.  These are some awesome looking cards, though I am not sure where to put them because of the odd size.

In addition to those cards, a load of 2008 Masterpieces and 2009 A&G National Pride were included, as well as a few nice Wrights and Zims.

I needed all 3 of those, and that Zim Masterpiece is just plain awesome.  Thanks for a great trade!

"Trade" with Collective Troll

Collective Troll posted a "trade" we recently made.  He sent me a stack of Space Shots packs since he remembered that I posted on Play at the Plate's blog that I liked those cards since I am a NASA guy. 

















He didn't ask for anything in return, but I am not allowed to accept gifts, so I made it into a trade by sending him some cards I thought he would like.  I also threw in a NASA meatball sticker and a NASA pen for good measure. He included some random old packs: 2 1995 Bazooka and 2 1989 Topps American Baseball (slightly mini cards). 

Very cool!  I love the mini-ish Topps cards, and picking up a Ripken is always nice.  One of the Bazooka cards made me think of BA Benny's suggestions for strange collections:

Anyone have a sunflower seed card collection?

The highlight of the surprises was definitely the bazooka gum...

I am sure it was pink and soft at some point...I remember being a little kid at my brother's little league games and exploring under the bleachers to find lost nickels to go buy bazooka gum to try and collect the full 50 comic set.

As a kid, these were hilarious.  Just one of the many collections I wish I still had.

As for the Space Shots packs, I intend to rip those in my first ever live pack break.  I would LOVE to have the live break take place on site at NASA, just for the coolness/nerdiness it would add.  However, I am currently checking with the ethics officials to see if I am ethically permitted to do such a thing. Seriously.  My wife wouldn't be too happy if I lost my job because of some cards with ugly Russian astronaut chicks on them.

Trade with GSNHOF

You may have seen GSNHOF's trade post the other detailing his end of our recent trade.  I sent him a Mother's Cookies Rusty Kuntz that I pulled from a Dollar Tree Repack, a Carlos Delgado jersey card that I have pulled twice from Wal-mart discount blasters (and now traded twice), and some 1995 Topps cards that I hadn't touched since, well, 1995.  I will never ceased to be amazed what ridiculous cards you can find takers for.  When I saw the Mother's Kuntz (that just sounds dirty), I couldn't help but think what an incredibly random card that will be in a box in my closet until I die.  Despite that, GSNHOF just happened to be out there with a Rusty Kuntz Want List.  Amazing.  If you get a chance, I recommend browsing his site.  He's got some great collecting interests, and just recently counted all of his autos/relics. 

GSNHOF hooked me up with a stack of Michael Vick and Lee Suggs cards to add to my VT Hokies PC.  I actually didn't have any Suggs cards before he sent these, so I was extremely happy to take them off his hands. 
Some of the highlights:

It seems like people are much more willing to part with their old Vick cards these days...

Trade with Too Many Grandersons

CalJr3000 of Too Many Grandersons recently posted his end of our awesome trade.  What started out as a request for some 1999 Finest Ripkens, quickly escalated to a multisport, big time trade.  I sent him some Ripkens, a couple Gwynns, and a big stack of Michigan Wolverines and he sent be a bunch of the player I collect and a big stack of Hokies.  The highlights:

A nice numbered blue Kevin Jones, an intimidating Vick, and a sweet Eddie Royal with a VT helment in a Senior Bowl Jersey.  Strangely, I used to be a huge Vick/Falcons fan until everything went down a few years ago, yet I didn't have any Vick cards until I started this blog. 

A couple of numbered Zimmermans.

A BJ Upton numbered to 200, and an awesome Justin Upton Bowman Chrome RC Refractor.

A 2002 Bowman Draft BJ Upton RC that I really wanted.

A few David Wrights I needed












I love that propaganda poster.
The diamond of the trade, for me, was a card I have wanted for a very long time.  2002 Bowman David Wright RC.

That card is just incredible.  When I get a chance to update my Top Ten, look for this card to enter somewhere in the top 5. 

Just an awesome trade.  A lot of great cards changed hands, and I couldn't be any more pleased.

2010 Topps Chrome Baseball

With the start of the playoffs tonight, I'll post the 2010 Topps Chrome baseball that I have purchased lately.  I haven't bought much since my pockets are light, but I've been happy so far.  I bought two rack/value packs from Wal-Mart, one of which was showing an orange Scott Sizemore refractor that is shown below, a hobby pack that yielded only base cards, and one Scott Sizemore auto off Ebay.  I love the xfractors, so retail was definitely the way to go for me.  I picked up three xfractors:

A nice Austin Jackson RC, a Ryan Dempster, and a nice horizontal Matt Holliday.  I really dig the orange value pack refractors as well, especially for teams who have orange as a team color.

Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee look good in orange, along with the aformentioned Sizemore RC and an Ike Davis RC.  The Mike Napoli and Luke Hochevar aren't bad, but don't necessarily look great on orange.  I also beat some odds by picking up two purple refractors:

John Ely RC #330/599 and Jose Reyes #374/599.  All of the cards except the Sizemore, including base, are available for trade.

I also picked up a Sizemore Auto for cheap on Ebay.

Well, that's it for tonight.  Enjoy the Series opener.  GO RANGERS!

2010 NBA Opening Night

To celebrate tonight's first NBA games, I figured I'd make a post of my recent basketball packs.  When I broke from baseball collecting in the mid 90s, I picked up basketball until the early 2000s.  I then took a break from all collecting, as a poor high school and college student.  Since about 2006, I've gotten back into baseball heavily, football partially, and basketball only slightly.  I found a few cheap packs of basketball at Target, K-Mart, and the Dollar treat not too long ago, so this is my NBA opening night tribute. 

3 Packs of 2006-07 Topps Turkey Red:
Pack 1:
JR Smith
Sean May
David West
Hedo Turkoglu
Leon Powe RC
LaMarcus Aldridge RC Red

Pack 2:
Shannon Brown RC
Rasheed Wallace
Allan Ray RC
Shelden Williams RC
Anderson Varejao
Martell Wester Red

Pack 3:
Ryan Hollins RC
Promoz Brezec
Richard Jefferson
Wilt Chamberlain
Oscar Robertson (gotta love the Big O and Wilt)
Luke Ridnour Red

2007-08 Hot Prospects:Mehmet Okur
Caron Butler
Richard Hamilton
BJ Armstrong Stat Tracker .451 3FG% Postseason (not BJ Armstrong really should be in an insert set, but .451 is pretty nasty for the postseason.  Another one of the little guys that helped MJ win 6.













2008-09 Fleer:JR Smith
Jason Terry
Josh Howard
Zach Randolph
Alonzo Mourning (a good local guy.  He was a monster at Indian River High School)
Glen Davis
Stephon Marbury
DJ Augustin FY Phenoms













2008-09 MVP:Marcus Camby
Adam Morrison (yeah, he really panned out)
Martell Webster
Francisco Garcia
LeBron James (getting kind of tired of everyone acting like he did some horrible thing.  He left an organization that didn't appreciate him to go play with his friends.  Man, what a terrible person)
Zach Randolph Team MVP
Darrell Arthur RC Silver Script
Scottie Pippen MVP Legends (Scottie was the man.)












2010 Greats of the Game:
Darrell Griffith - Lousville
Danny Ferry - Duke
Christian Laettner - Duke (one of the greatest college basketball players of all time.  Just didn't translate to the NBA though)
UCLA Banner Seasons - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton
Michael Jordan - UNC (who doesn't love an MJ)

Not bad for a few cheap packs.  I can't wait for the NBA this year.  I really hope LeBron and Co. take down the Lakers.  At the least, it would make for a really exciting finals.

2010 MLB Playoffs Contest Update

With the Rangers playing the Giants in the World Series, the 2010 MLB Playoffs Contest got really slimmed down.  With the knockout of the Yankees and Phillies, the following people lost players:

HR:
Mark Teixeira (BA Benny)
Jorge Posada (mmosley)
Ryan Howard (Steve D)
Placido Polanco (AdamE)
Chase Utley (cubsfan731)
***Jayson Werth (Ryan aka Orioles Magic)
Shane Victorino (madding)
Robinson Cano (Bo)

SO:
Brad Lidge (Dan)
Mariano Rivera (BA Benny)
Ryan Madson (mmosley)
Kerry Wood (AdamE)
CC Sabathia (cubsfan731)
David Robertson (madding)
Joba Chamberlain (Bo)

***Technically Jayson Werth hit the latest homerun so far, so Ryan aka Orioles Magic still has a shot, but only if Play at the Plate's Josh Hamilton doesn't hit a homerun.  If Hamilton does hit a homerun in the series, Play at the Plate will win something.  If Hamilton hits the last homerun of the series, Play at the Plate will win something a little better.

As for the Strikeout race, things will be interesting as tomsuzuki has the Giants closer Brian Wilson and Play at the Plate has the Rangers closer Neftali Feliz. As of right now, Brian Wilson recorded the final strikeout of the NLCS.  Good Luck!

Trade with mmmRhubarb

I have finally gotten to some trade posts I have needed to make for quite some time.  A while back, mmmRhubarb AKA Rhubarb Runner from e Rayhahn Rayhahn posted his end of our trade.  He sent me a number of awesome Michael Cuddyer cards and a few set needs.  The Cuddyers were mostly older prospect and minors cards that I really wanted.  Since I wasn't collecting baseball at all in the late '90s and early 2000s, it is nice when I can pick up some of the cards I missed out on.

Great trade and I am ecstatic with my new Cuddyers.

Doppleganger Sighting

So, maybe I'll have a recurring theme every now and then of cards where the person looks like someone else.  Here is the first one, motivated by a Vic Power card I saw on Collective Troll's Blog.  Here is the card:

Now, is it just me, or does that guy look just like Benjamin Buford Blue, better known as Bubba from Forrest Gump.

Ebay pickups: Sizemore and Wright

Here are a few of my latest cheapo ebay pickups for my PC. 

A nice Sizemore Futures Game Jumbo Jersey #045/139

A Sizemore Tristar Obak Auto #14/75, the only Obak I have other than the Burdicks I just picked up 

And a really nice Sizemore Topps 206 Framed Auto

I'm putting together a nice Sizemore auto collection, but my base/parallel/insert collection sucks with the exception of 2010 Bowman.  I've also picked up a 2010 Topps Chrome Sizemore Auto, but haven't scanned it yet.

I also snagged a couple of nice David Wright cards for really cheap: a nice sterling bat and a refractor

Topps Chrome Baseball Retail Math

Ok, so choosing what cards to buy isn't rocket science.  In my personal experience, I can tell you it is much harder.  I can't tell you how many times I've stood in Wal-Mart or Target for 20 minutes at a time just staring and trying to figure out what I want.  Last night, we went to a Wal-Mart I don't get to a lot over by my parents' house, so I had a fresh set of rack packs, gravity feeds, and blasters to search through.  I noticed that, at the bottom next to the blasters, was a row of plastic containers holding full 24-pack 2010 Topps Retail Boxes, at a price of $72.  Now, maybe I am missing something, but let's do some math.

Retail Box
$72 / 24 packs = $3.00 per pack

Retail Rack Pack
$9 / 3 packs = $3.00 per pack (not to mention the orange refractors)

Blaster
$20 / 8 packs = $2.50 per pack

For an even playing field, say you want 24 packs of cards:
Retail Box: 1 x $72 = $72
Retail Racks: 24/3=8, 8 x $9 = $72, plus you end up with 24 orange refractors
Blaster: 24/8=3, $3x20 = $60

Can somebody explain to me why you would buy one of the retail boxes when 3 blasters is cheaper and 8 rack packs are the same price but you get 24 bonus orange refractors.  Am I completely missing something?

As far as what I have bought thus far:  I bought one rack pack from Wal-Mart and one hobby pack from a card show before last night.  Last night I originally wasn't going to buy anything, until I noticed that the first rack pack was showing the first orange refractor, much like this Peyton Manning.  Well, the card read Scott Sizemore, so I grabbed it.  Hopefully I'll post my chrome purchases soon, but who knows, I suck at getting things scanned and posted in a timely manner...in fact I'm pretty sure Too Many Grandersons and e rayhahn rayhahn would like for me to reciprocate with trade posts before the new year.

1999 Omega Baseball

Yeah, so now I'm going to go back a few years with a pack of 1999 Omega Baseball that I picked up for dirt at the card store.  It was next to the Finest that I have been buying, as well as the 1999 MLS that I'll be posting soon.  I had no idea what to expect out of 1999 Omega because I had never seen it, but neverless I was interested.  I certainly didn't have high hopes though.




































Matt Stairs, Jeff Kent, John Smoltz, Luis Castillo, Orlando Cabrera, Will Clark.

Well, the design is certainly interesting.  It looks a little bit like something you might expect out of a box of cereal, but I like that you get two shots of each player on the front.  If anyone wants any of these let me know.  The Clark and Smoltz are pretty cool, but really I could go the rest of my life without seeing another Luis Castillo card.

2010 Topps Platinum Football Retail

Ok, so I opened two retail packs of 2010 Topps Platinum Football a while back and I've been so slow with my posts, that I just now got to it.  As for my backlogged posts, I have a few trade packages that I really need to post, especially before the next round of packages start arriving.  I also have a bunch of random packs I need to post, such as 2010 Topps Chrome Baseball, 1999 MLS, 2008 Sage Hit, 1999 Omega Baseball, 1999 Finest Baseball, 2008 Topps Chrome Baseball...and the list goes on...Oh, I also have some 2008 Press Pass Football and Press Pass SE football to post, in which one of the cards is a huge kick in the face from the cardboard gods...so you won't want to miss that.  Of course, at my pace, that post probably wont come around until 2012, and the world is supposed to end that year anyway. 

Oh well, back to the 2010 Platinum in the boring packaging.  I was very disappointed in Topps for the retail packaging showing quite obviously 4-5 thick packs per box with the remaining packs being thin.  Needless to say, by now, all of the thick packs have been bought from Target, leaving a ton of thin packs.  Of course, autos aren't thick variations, but seeing as some people have pulled patch autos from retail, I would say that  going with the thick packs was pretty obvious, especially given the thick rookie variations.  I picked up one thick pack and one thin pack, just for good measure.  All I ever get with thick packs is a huge chunk of blank filler cardboard anyway, never one of those M@$$IV3 M0J0 H1TZ that I see everyone else get.   

Pack 1:

112 Taylor Price RC (a third rounder with 0 receptions this year)
92 Ed Reed (the beast-man)
149 Wes Welker (ooh lucky me, two Pats WRs in one pack, at least this one has caught some balls this year)
5 Eddie Royal (now that's more like, an awesome Hokie for the PC)




















Pack 2:
129 Ryan Grant (out for the season)
65 Dezmon Briscoe RC Variation (yay a thick card of a 6th rounder who was dropped by the Bengals and now is on the Tampa Bay practice squad)
138 John Skelton RC (5th rounder who is currently 3rd on the depth chart for the Cardinals)
155 Sidney Rice (recovering from surgery...maybe back in late November)

Sidney Rice is nice, but really, this pack just sucked.  Aside from the Eddie Royal, these cards are available.  I don't plan on buying anymore Platinum because I just really wasn't impressed. 

Burdick is in the house!

Well, I finally acquired the Jefferson Burdick cards I wanted from Obak.  I wanted a base and a mini, and I wasn't buying any boxes, so it was up to Ebay.  I found a three-pack for a reasonable price so I picked it up.  It came with a base card, a mini, and a black mini numbered to 50.  The black mini was just kind of a bonus.
















You gotta love it.  A card that just needed to be made. And for those of you who don't get it:

COLLECT

COLLECT

COLLECT

COLLECT

COLLECT

COLLECT

2005 Pros and Prospects

I'm sure I'll get around to scanning and posting some newer stuff, but in the mean time, I'll at least try to post something.  I bought a pack of 2005 Pros and Prospects at Traget recently (and I've bought a few more since) and wanted to post the results.  I'm not a huge fan of this set after opening this pack, but I did get an auto, so I can't complain about a $1.59 pack with a hit.  This is, I think, my 5th Target $1.59 pack with an auto, all-time.  I got a 2008 Stadium Longoria RC AU a while back, a Brandon Phillips that I posted about, a Jason Bartlett, and at least one from and old Bowman pack.  Combine that with a few relic cards, and I've done considerably well with the bargain cards at Target. 

Anyway, back to the pack.  The base cards weren't very exciting, but I did get a Tier 1 Chris Chelton Prospect Futures card #'ed to 999.  The really wierd thing about this card is that it is about a millimeter taller and wider than all of the base cards...not sure how that happens, but it did. 

As for the auto I mentioned, it's Akinor Otsuka, a Japanese player who was a set-up man for the Padres and later the Rangers.  He seemed to be doing decent, until arm issues forced him to the DL and he was eventually dropped.  I'm actually surprised he hasn't made a comeback somewhere.

It's a nice looking card and auto, but I really have no connection to it.  Both of these cards are available, and if anyone is looking to complete the base set, I can check to see if I have any of your needs.

Ebay Lots

I've picked up a few player lots lately on Ebay for cheap to boost my personal collections, particularly with cards from sets I will likely never buy.  I picked up a couple of lots of BJ Uptons, adding about 40-50 cards for well under 10 bucks. Some of the highlights:

The draft pick card is one I have wanted for a while.  I'm always happy to pick up older A&G since I didn't buy much until 2009.  I like the UD X Xponential inserts, though in 2009 they went a little overboard.  The blue Bowman is a nice numbered pickup (#/520). 

I also picked up a lot of Ryan Zimmermans:

I have never opened any Topps Finest or Bowman's best (except for 1999 Finest) so it's nice to pick up some of those cards.  The '52 RC is cool since I never opened much of that, either.

Last, but certainly not least, I picked up a couple lots of Justin Verlander:

All of these are nice pickups since I didn't really start getting back into cards until 2007, so I am always happy to get some of the players I collect from the earlier years. 

My BJ Upton collection is currently at 72 cards, while my Zimmerman collection is nearing the century mark with 92.  My Verlander collection recently hit 100 (including this lot) and now sits at 104.  All of those, however, are chasing my David Wright collection, which is now up to 124.  However, I am most proud of my Scott Sizemore Auto/Relic Collection, which has 7 Autos and 2 Relics. 

Craptastic Blaster

A while back, I opened a 2009 A Piece of History blaster that was discounted at Wal-Mart, and in the post I mentioned that I bought another one that was terrible.  Well, here it is.  Well, the base cards didn't yield ANYTHING from my want list, so I'll start with the red parallels.  I don't really care for the red parallels in this set, since they are unnumbered, but at least they aren't one per pack.  The two I got here:















A freshly free-agented pitcher and a guy who left the majors for the Japanese League.  And yes, I find it hilarious that he is on the Swallows.  Nothing special here.  Maybe I'll get some great UD 20th Anniversary cards that I don't want...

Ok ok, so I can't complain about the Tiger, but a Dow Jones card? Really?  Sucktacular...
Well, maybe the guaranteed hit will be something nice...

I would rather have a white or gray jersey card than a Padres tan/brown swatch - especially when the card has Young in a nice blue jersey. Just not an exciting card.
So, with the non-base cards not blowing up my skirt, I am already somewhat unhappy with the blaster.  Well, upon further inspection, the base cards crapped in my hands.  If you don't know anything about APOH, it consists of 100 base cards, 50 rookies, and 50 history cards.  For lack of a better term, the Rookies and History cards are short-printed.  A few of the rookies I got:

Seriously, 35 cards in a blaster and I got a double and triple rookies.  As if it couldn't get worse, each rookie had a corresponding history card:

Awesome.  On top of it, none of those RCs or history cards were ones I needed.  In fact, I already had trips of all of them. 

I did get two more of these blasters for my birthday a week ago, but I probably won't post them.  The highlights were a Jordan UD 20th Anniv, a Griffey UD 20th Anniv, a Joey Votto Timeless Moments #524/999, a Roy Halladay Franchise History Jersey, and a Carlos Delgado Box Score Memories Jersey (yes, the same exact thing I just traded to BA Benny a few weeks ago).

Again, if anyone is looking for anything from this set, let me know.

Playoffs Contest Update: Giants and Rangers deal big blows

With the Braves and Rays dropping out, it should shorten the remaining field considerably:

The newest losers are:

HR:
Evan Longoria (Dan)
Carl Crawford (wickedortega)
Carlos Pena (dayf)
Jason Heyward (Dustin)

SO:
David Price (wickedortega)
Rafael Soriano (Steve D)
Tim Hudson (Mariner1)
Billy Wagner (dayf)
Grant Balfour (Ryan aka Orioles Magic)

So Dayf, Mariner1, WickedOrtega, and Dustin have all left the building.   The remaining picks are very Yankees/Phillies heavy with the exception of tomsuzuki picking Brain Wilson, and Play at the Plate picking a Rangers sweep.  Man, a Giants-Rangers World Series would totally rock this contest.  And seriously, how did no one pick Cliff Lee...


Still active (10/13 3:33 PM):

HR:
Mark Teixeira (BA Benny)
Jorge Posada (mmosley)
Ryan Howard (Steve D)
Placido Polanco (AdamE)
Josh Hamilton (Play at the Plate)
Chase Utley (cubsfan731)
Jayson Werth (Ryan aka Orioles Magic)
Shane Victorino (madding)
Robinson Cano (Bo)

SO:
Brad Lidge (Dan)
Mariano Rivera (BA Benny)
Ryan Madson (mmosley)
Kerry Wood (AdamE)
Brian Wilson (tomsuzuki00723)
Neftali Feliz (Play at the Plate)
CC Sabathia (cubsfan731)
David Robertson (madding)
Joba Chamberlain (Bo)

BA Benny and the Topps Million Giveaway

So I decided to drop by my Topps Million Card Giveaway portfolio today because I hadn't checked it in a long time.  I was looking at the trade offers, and I had 35.  Of those 35, 28 were for my 1986 Pete Rose MGR #741.  Of the 28 offers, I noticed that I currently had 20 offers from the same user, markhuff.   He made the offers to me of cards from '76, '77, '79, '80, '82, '87, and '89.   I was just kind of impressed by the number of offers.  As I got to the end of his list of offers, I came to an offer from a familiar name, BA Benny.  I'm pretty sure BA Benny has no idea that I am drum2livv, holder of one of the 845 copies of that card. 

Well, BA Benny, I'd be more than happy to grant you this card, as long as you can provide me with a decent reason for wanting it.  In fact, if you don't want to part with the Seaver and you give me a decent reason, I'll trade you the Pete Rose for any card in your collection.

Playoffs Contest Update: Reds go home

Well, I have a huge backlog of posts to make, including some great trades, but for now I'll just update the contest with the Reds heading home.

The newest losers are:


HR:
Jay Bruce (tomsuzuki00723)

SO:
none (though dayf picked Billy Wagner whose career is pretty much over, but we'll keep him in the list anyway)

Well, only one Red was picked, so not too much damage yet, though the Rays-Rangers and Giants-Braves games look to really shake things up. Still no bonus prizes have been awarded, but we could see a dramatic game 5 moment tomorrow night.

Still active (10/11 2:43 PM):

HR:
Evan Longoria (Dan)
Mark Teixeira (BA Benny)
Jorge Posada (mmosley)
Carl Crawford (wickedortega)
Ryan Howard (Steve D)
Placido Polanco (AdamE)
Josh Hamilton (Play at the Plate)
Chase Utley (cubsfan731)
Carlos Pena (dayf)
Jayson Werth (Ryan aka Orioles Magic)
Jason Heyward (Dustin)
Shane Victorino (madding)
Robinson Cano (Bo)

SO:
Brad Lidge (Dan)
Mariano Rivera (BA Benny)
Ryan Madson (mmosley)
David Price (wickedortega)
Rafael Soriano (Steve D)
Kerry Wood (AdamE)
Brian Wilson (tomsuzuki00723)
Neftali Feliz (Play at the Plate)
CC Sabathia (cubsfan731)
Tim Hudson (Mariner1)
Billy Wagner (dayf)
Grant Balfour (Ryan aka Orioles Magic)
David Robertson (madding)
Joba Chamberlain (Bo)

Playoff Contest Update

Well, the Twins have been eliminated, so a few people have lost their bids for HR and SO player.

The newest losers are:

HR:
Joe Mauer (mariner1)
Delmon Young (mmmrhubarb)

SO:
Matt Capps (mmmrhubarb)


So it looks like mmmrhubarb didn't have the greatest luck in this contest.  Mariner1 still has hope for Tim Hudson to give him the last K, but who knows.  Too bad nobody picked Halladay, that no-no would have been grounds for a bonus prize.

Still active (10/10 1:53 PM):


HR:
Evan Longoria (Dan)
Mark Teixeira (BA Benny)
Jorge Posada (mmosley)
Carl Crawford (wickedortega)
Ryan Howard (Steve D)
Placido Polanco (AdamE)
Jay Bruce (tomsuzuki00723)
Josh Hamilton (Play at the Plate)
Chase Utley (cubsfan731)
Carlos Pena (dayf)
Jayson Werth (Ryan aka Orioles Magic)
Jason Heyward (Dustin)
Shane Victorino (madding)
Robinson Cano (Bo)

SO:
Brad Lidge (Dan)
Mariano Rivera (BA Benny)
Ryan Madson (mmosley)
David Price (wickedortega)
Rafael Soriano (Steve D)
Kerry Wood (AdamE)
Brian Wilson (tomsuzuki00723)
Neftali Feliz (Play at the Plate)
CC Sabathia (cubsfan731)
Tim Hudson (Mariner1)
Billy Wagner (dayf)
Grant Balfour (Ryan aka Orioles Magic)
David Robertson (madding)
Joba Chamberlain (Bo)

Trade with Stale Gum

I have a huge backlog of posts to make, but I really need to get some trade posts up here.  I'll start with my trade with Chris at Stale Gum.  I sent him a number of Topps and Bowman cards from his 2005-2010 want lists, along with a sheet worth of "COLLECT" stickers at his request.  I was excited about getting his mailer because I really didn't know what I would be getting.  He said it would have a few VT alums and didn't give me too many other hints, so I was really surprised.  

He did come through with a number of Hokie cards, including some Topps Unique and Topps Magic

I'll show a couple of the Topps Magic backs, because I liked the questions on them

The one on the right: "Which Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end is VT's all-time sacks leader?" 
>>>Easy.  Bruce Smith.
The one on the left: "Which current pro DE also graduated from Deep Creek High and followed DeAngelo to Blacksburg?"
>>>I have an unfair advantage on this one.  It's Darryl Tapp.  I know that because my cousin was the Defensive Coordinator for Deep Creek when they had Hall and Tapp, along with James Anderson, Vegas Robinson, Chris Clifton, and Josh Hyman who also went to VT.  I also had the pleasure of being a student at the time they were there, and got to see them play on multiple occasions.

My favorite VT card of the lot, though, is one of the many Eddie Royals he sent

On the baseball side of things, Chris certainly didn't disappoint

Bowman goodness including a sweet Sizemore auto that completely surprised me.  He also decided that he should send along some 1987 Topps Galarragas, including an auto. 

Ok ok, so it's not a Galarraga auto.  It's a Chris Harris original 1/1.  I thought that with his standing as a big dog in the hobby blogger park that he wouldn't go with a sticker auto.  But, it was free, so if I get cold this winter, at least the sticker will make the card burn longer.

In exchange for the "COLLECT" stickers, he returned some Burdick Posse stickers and a BaseballCardPedia card.

Great trade.  Big thanks Chris, we'll have to do it again sometime.