A post-weekend cardboard binge

I went to my LCS today to pick up a card that I bought on Ebay from him and also browse around the store for a few little pick ups. After about an hour of wading through a box of cards, I found an awesome stack of Dbacks and Rays cards!!!! I was so pleased because they would not only bolster my collection, but also give me some trade bait for pretty much the first time. While this was happening these 3 people came in trying to sell cards and memorabilia  but something was wrong with them. They were sweating and stumbling all over the place! I have never felt like I was going to be hurt by someone before, but these people made me feel that way. After about 10 minutes of the owner telling them that they do not buy the things they were selling the guy and his female friends ran out. They also stole all the cards that were on the counter. I could not believe the disrespect. It's not the first time that I have witnessed something like that, but to think that they stole those cards just made me sick to my stomach. Thankfully they took nothing of real value, but I still have a queezy feeling in my stomach.

I ended up finding 10 of the cards that I originally had in my pile, and I only paid .50 for all ten. 

Here are a few..... I'll post my Ebay pickup tomorrow!

Evan Longoria 

2012 Topps Finest

Matt Moore

2012 Topps Update Blue Border

Matt Moore RC

2012 Topps Chrome

      I picked these up for  Dan from "It's Like Having My Own Card Shop" 

 Ian Kennedy

2012 Topps Finest

Justin Upton

2012 Topps Finest

50 Longos

It's been a while since my last post because I have banned myself from baseball card altogether, but its time again! First off I will share my two Ebay frustrations....

Today I thought I had placed a bid for a lot of 2 autos. Both cards were "Ticket to Stardom" autos with one being Conor Jackson of Dbacks fame, and the other was Scott Kazmir of the Rays. I thought I placed a bid but for some reason it never posted, and I never thought to check again. It went for a total of 5 bucks shipped.

I also was submitting an offer for a 2012 Topps Triple Threads Longoria auto, but the sellers counter offer was only .50 less.... However, I did see a Longo Triple Threads auto of a lower number at a very low price. I clicked it with only 20 seconds remaining, tried placing a $20 dollar bid, but was beat by the buzzer. Who knows if someone had an auto bid, but it was heart breaking.

So now I would like to post my 3 favorite Longoria cards in celebration of obtaining my 50th different Longo card. It's crazy to think that just back in April I had zero cards period! Thanks again Dan!

Longo card #50 for me! Courtesy of Dan @ It's like having my own card shop

2012 Topps Tribute 17/99

2012 Topps Museum 21/75

The Good & Bad of the Alumni Game

Let's start with the bad first!!!

Bad: 

The suite thing was a disaster. I had pretty awesome seats that I gave up for nothing because I won a suite, and I regretted it right away. They over booked the room, so once we got there the only seats in the room were taken. I ended up sitting on a barstool, and but was pretty obstructed from the field. I pretty much just watched it on the TV.

Also with the suite, average priced food was so far away that I never got to eat my food. We were unsure of the Alumni appearance so leaving could be disastrous.  This is my last game of the season more than likely, and I did not feel it was a good one to end on. 

Good: 

The Matt Williams bobblehead may be my favorite yet. It was really well done.

The Alumni game was alot of fun, and I think it really lived up to the hype. 

While we did not get to meet alot of the Alumni team as mentioned.... we did meet and hang with Mike Hampton, Greg Swindell, and Matt Mantai. All of which were really awesome guys, and I am pretty sure that Mantai fills in for the Greys Anatomy star that plays "McSteamy". I only know this because my girlfriend watches it. They signed a OMLB for me and for Dan. I brought quite a few alumni cards, but I skipped those ones because I thought for sure we would have a Webb, Gonzo, Finley visit us.

At the end of the game we were leaving, and I thought I would give it a shot to get some on field autos. I wanted Albie Lopez since he was a Devil Rays at one point, but Finley was my main one because my sister asked for his auto. I actually saw him walking away from the dugout, and called him over and he signed one card for me! So I am pumped that I have that for her even though he didnt have time to sign me ball.

All in all a success.

DBACKS ALUMNI NIGHT!!!

As I've been watching the Rays game today, I have also been browsing the web for just about everything. I noticed that Gonzo was replying to people via Twitter through the Dbacks account, so I decided to give it a shot. I asked a few questions, and he responded to a couple of them which was pretty cool. 

I was just about to leave the house when I got an alert to my phone from the Dbacks, and it was telling me that I won tickets to the Alumni suite, and get to have a meet and greet with the Alumni team! Talk about right place right time because I was actually trying to take a nap!!!

Pick up from It's like having my own card shop (Dan)

Dan from It's like having my own card shop spotted a card at his LCS that he knew would look mighty fine in my newly started collection. I believe the story went that he saw this card in a case that was 50% off, and he was able to get it for $33 bucks. He brought it in to work, and I bought it from him yesterday.

This is a quick copy from an ebay post but this is the same card. 2008 Bowman Chrome Refractor 79/99 and it really is a beauty. I buy packs quite a bit, so at $33 for my favorite 2 players it was a great pick up. Ebay has the card listed very high, but I have zero intentions of selling this. It is easily my favorite card! 

Thank you so much for keeping your eye out for me Dan, I really appreciate everything you have done for me to get me back into the hobby. Also thanks to everyone in this community also, I've met nothing but great people in this hobby. I wish I had a bunch of awesome cards to repay everyone! I will always keep my eyes open too!

Best stuff ever!

I got to turn my birthday into a birthweek! We celebrated with my grandma today, and my girlfriend got me a cake to look like a baseball card. Then I went to my LCS and bought an awesome 16x20 Longoria auto! I love it! Its authenticated, and official. The guy also gave me a bunch of his extra topps chrome rays.

Thank You!

Thank you so much Stealing Home and UncleMoe for passing on some great Rays cards! I really appreciate it, and I will keep my eyes open for things for you guys also! I will post some scans up here shortly, but I wanted to get out a formal thank you as soon as possible!!!

Thanks again!

Trades?

As many of you know, I am new to the card game and am looking for ways to upgrade my Rays collection. I have been buying a lot 2012 collections like A&G, Gypsy Queen, Bowman, Bowman Plat, Heritage, and only a little Series 2 and Archives. It is mainly base and some inserts, but that's all I am looking for in return. Let me know of a team or card you are looking for and let's see if we can make it happen.

Thanks!

2 Packs

Tonight I went on a scavenger hunt to find a golden Parra bobblehead.... I did not get one :( 

I got all the clues, followed the directions, but the problem was there was a Streets of New York on both sides of where I was. I ended up choosing to go towards the one that I figured had a better shot of being the one that they chose, and I ended up blaming my girlfriend for not telling me to go to the other location.

Anyway, we ran into Wal-Mart and I grabbed a couple packs. I got the worst pack of Allen & Ginter that I have ever opened where a card featuring "Rocky Mountain Oysters" was my highlight card. Once I opened the Bowman Platinum pack this beauty was sitting right on the top. I have no idea who he is, but it's an auto and opening it was awesome still. It is not #'ed but the card looks awesome in person.

Zorilla!

I am not too sure why I never mentioned this card, but here it is! Ben Zobrist signed my Rays team ball, but he also signed this 2010 Allen & Ginter. He's having a down year this year, but he still is one of the best utility players in the game.

Bowman Platinum 2012

With Bowman Platinum's release last week, I picked up a few packs in California. I really love the look of these cards, but then again I don't think there have been any cards that are boring or ugly so far. The Longoria insert I picked up on Ebay for I think $1 or less shipped. The other cards were just a few that I liked from the packs I purchased.

 

Rays: Day 2 California

Ill update this later, but I was excited to post day 2 asap.
The added signatures are Luke Scott, Ben Zobrist, and Jeremy Hellickson. I was really bummed that price never signed because he walked right by me. Hellickson was awesome and easily my favorite auto I got. I was saving my extra ball for David Price so I had him sign the team ball. Looking back, I'm really bummed I did that. Oh well! Rays also won 3 to 0. I love the look of Anaheim Stadium but the customer service is a joke. While I was waiting for Pena to sign I got kicked out from by the dugout. It was 45 minutes before the game and I was not blocking anything. This man came up to me and said "where are your seats?" I just replied "over there" and then he said " well then you need to be in them over them" I told him I was just waiting for this player and asked if I could stand there for 5 minutes and he said "sir, I asked you to go back to your seat, now you need to go". That was after another usher refused to let me go down to a section that was 3 sections down from mine.
Terrible. Good times though.

Anaheim Trip

My girlfriend and I drove out to California to catch two of the Rays vs. Angels games this weekend. Our birthdays are in July & August so we pooled together and made a 4 day trip with baseball and Disneyland. I had a few goals when the season started that I wanted to accomplish on this date that I mentioned when I first started this blog. I wanted to get the David Price Sports Illustrated cover signed, and also the game 162 Longoria homerun 8x10 signed. With Longo hurt, and David Price being dominant it seems like both are impossible. I will give an update but here's what has gone on so far.

Game one:

The Rays lost, and it was 1,000 times worse in the opposing teams stadium. No cool in-game stuff to go over except that Angel stadium has a terrible seat  arrangement more than likely from being so old. I was in the second row and just a few sections short of the foul pole. In Chase Field these are premiere seats, but in Angels Stadium they are not very good, but still have a high price tag.  I was constantly blocked by people having their heads in the way or doing the wave. Oh, and not one but two Angels fans that got their whole families ejected when they interfered with the ball. 

High points*

We did get there very early, and sat around waiting for players to come out. I did not know this but even during BP the ushers will not allow you to stand by the dugout for auto opportunities unless you have those tickets. This guy stopped me and explained that but then told me just to sneak down there. While I was standing by the dugout I managed to get Sam Fuld, Desmond Jennings, and Ryan Roberts all to sign a ball. I could have had a few more but I was being stubborn and not moving because David Price was my main goal. He even messaged me on Twitter to tell me that the bubble that had blew on the cover of SI was indeed a real bubble. Many Rays signed but just for a second and maybe for 1-2 fans. Joyce and Matt More both told me they would sign when they returned but when they did return they both signed for other people. Tomorrow I will shift my focus to Price, and then just whoever I can get to sign a card. My girlfriend's first favorite player for the D-Backs was Ryan Roberts so of course she made sure that I got him to sign the ball before Kyle Farnsworth. He was nice as usual, and he smiled and gave a thumbs up when he saw our D-Backs backpack also.

Price! I am getting that 8x10 auto'd and that is final.

Mail from the White House?

Regardless of what you think about our current President, he still is a very historic one and also a leader of our great country. My girlfriend Erika has both her aunt and uncle that work directly with the President in Washington D.C. so we always get little nicknacks from the White House. This past Tuesday was her birthday and today she received an 8x10 signed by the President. I don't think he actually did the personalization of it because that penmanship is amazing, but the name is 100% real even a nice little smudge in it. I don't really get into politics much, but this kind of stuff is pretty cool!

New Cards!

 Dan from it's like having my own card shop was going through his cards and found some Rays cards and was nice enough to give them a new home. Thanks a ton Dan! I went ahead and posted a few that were my favorite, but seeing some of the names in the box he gave me made me laugh. I used to think players like Rolando Arrojo and Joe Kennedy were going to be unstoppable, and I was quick to learn that they were terrible players. I was excited to see a Tony Saunders card not because he was a good player (He did actually win a World Series with the Marlins), but because he was just a fun player to watch.  He broke his arm while throwing a pitch, and then in his rehab assignment he broke the same arm. After only 3 seasons he went ahead and retired.

Thanks again Dan!!!

 

                              . 

Add caption

Add caption