First game of a double header!!!!

So I posted exactly zero new posts last week, but I do have a good reason. I was in Wichita Kansas doing some training for my real job. It was my first time ever in Kansas, and all things considered it was not as bad as I thought it might be. I wish I would have written a few posts, but I simply did not have time. Getting home at 11:39 on a Friday after a week of working in Kansas is usually a pretty lousy ending to a week, but this homecoming was made a little better by a package from THE TROLL!!!! If you have never been to THE COLLECTIVE TROLL blog, do yourself a favor and check it out. Marck is a huge baseball fan and an excellent writer. He posts really great interviews, and writes an excellent blog. He is also a great trader! I am going to do this trade in two post because he sent so much. Here is the first part of what I will call the MOTHER LOAD!!!

A few weeks ago, I posted a link to my 1969 Topps want list. Troll took the time to check it out and he delivered.



ROOKIE STARS AND STRIKE OUT LEADERS......oh my!



A WORLD SERIES TRIPLE!



A TOTAL OF SEVEN FROM THE AMERICAN LEAGUE!



AND SIX MORE FROM THE NATIONAL! And since you asked, "Yes that is a DOC ELLIS rookie card!"

Thank you very much Troll, I will post the other amazing cards you sent in the second game of this double header.

THE CARD ADDICT

Welcome to Birdland!!!!

So I made the drive with my 9 year old nephew down to Sarasota today to welcome the Baltimore Orioles to there new Spring Training home, Ed Smith Stadium! We had a great time!

My nephew is a baseball fanatic. He likes talking baseball. He really likes watching his favorite team the Rays on TV. He loves playing baseball! He has already been playing for 5 years! He started t-ball when he was four and has been going non stop ever since. Two years in a row his team from Pinellas Park has won the Dizzy Dean Florida State Championship... I really love watching him play.

So when I found out the Orioles were having a Fanfest right down the road I decided I would invite him to go. He was up to the task and then some.

We arrived promptly at 1:25 PM to find this waiting for us!


The last thing the uncle of a 9 year old wants to see is a line like this. We waited, and waited, then right at 1:30 the gates opened and this thing started moving... What could have been a real downer quickly and easily passed as we walked through the gates. We were later told that the attendence figure was 3,500 people. Not a bad turnout. I think most of the people were there for this:



You read that correctly! A FREE SODA and DOG! Who could ask for anything more! They also were giving away new Orioles hats, one for the adults and a different one for kids. We also scored this cool pennant!



Next we went and played various games put on by various radio stations and cell phone companies. My nephew loved it! He threw balls and swung at virtual pitches on a nintendo Wii. This was followed by the National Anthem, and a question and answer period.



Who is that guy in the black you ask? None other then Hall of Fame pitcher, Jim Palmer. Here is the only downer for the entire day. Palmer did not stay and sign autos. He announced that he was going to a wedding in Stuart and would be leaving right after the Q and A. He did stick around a few minutes and sign a few items, but we were not lucky enough to score one.

We did score these though:

First off was JIM JOHNSON!





Next was 2009 All-Star and gold glove winner ADAM JONES!





Then we had to switch lines and wait for BRAD BERGENSEN!





Last but not least, NOLAN REIMOLD!



The weather was perfect, the free hot dog tasted great, and the autos came out very nice. This was a first class event and very well organized. We finished our day at the park with my nephew running for home!



I hope the Orioles were excited by the support of the community in Sarasota. We Grapefruit League fans do not want to lose any more teams to that wicked Cactus League out west. Thank you Orioles and Ed Smith Stadium. We had a blast!

The Card Addict

Crawford from the Bay!

So I was searching the Bay, one of my addictions, and came across this card. The starting bid was $.90 and it had FREE SHIPPING! I bid the minimum and hoped for the best. As you can see I won the auction. I almost feel bad because I know the seller of this card had to lose money on this deal. Kranky1024, the seller, sent it to me in a regular envelope which makes me mad if I spend the usual $3.00 shipping and handling fee but for free what should I expect. The card arrived in great shape and that is all that matters. So the listing had to be .15, the postage was .44, the top loader had to be .05 and the final fee was most likely another .09 to .12 cents. I am sure it took at least 5 minutes to list and pack this card. So in the end it had to cost more to send me this card then it was worth. I am glad you did. Thank you Kranky1024!

Getting some ink....

Bergesen is supposed to be there!



Hall of Famer Jim Palmer and never a player Dave Trembley are supposed to be there!



Super Rookie Nolan Riemold and recent Gold Glover Adam Jones are supposed to be there!



Last but not least, Jim Johnson is supposed to be there. Did I mention gold glover Adam Jones?

Hopefully this will be the last time I post these cards without autographs. I plan on taking my nephew down to the Orioles new spring training home, Ed Smith Stadium, in Sarasota for FanFest this weekend. You can read about it here. So good bye plain unsigned cards, hello sharpie ink. I will be sure to post the results of the trip some time in the future.

The Card Addict

Ken Griffery Jr. is not done!

Jr. has signed a 1 year deal to come back to the Mariners in 2010. Read about it here. In honor of the man with 630 career home runs here a few of my favorite Griffey cards. I am not a Griffey collector so don't expect firework here, I think I will also add some really bad commentary as well. Sorry I am in one of those moods tonight.

Jr. says, "Dad, your head is huge!"



Jr. says, "I will be taking this pitch the other way with full extension, and you will like it!"



Jr. says, "Man, it is hard being this pretty."



Jr. says, "Hey, you guys forgot your bats, is that the ice cream truck I hear?"



Jr. says, "I am so good, I can hit your stuff with no hands on the bat!"



Jr. says, "Hey guy with the camera, did you get my good side?"



Jr. says, "Are you seriously thinking about trying to score from third on this shallow pop up? GOOD LUCK!"



I am very glad Grif Jr. is coming back, I could watch that sweet swing for 10 more years and still not see it enough.

The Card Addict

Carl Crawford the TEN MILLION DOLLAR man!

Earlier this week the Rays picked up the $10 million dollar option for the 2010 season of Carl Crawfords contract. You can read all about it here. I happen to agree with the author of the article by the way. This is a very good thing for Rays fans! I do not think that Carl will finish the 2010 season as a Ray, and I will be really upset when he is traded, but the fact is he will be traded. Carl will be a FREE AGENT in 2011. If there is no extension signed in the off season, or before the end of Spring Training, I just do not see anyway CC puts on the number 13 for the Rays to start the 2011 season.

The Rays simply will not be able to afford to pay Carl what he will be worth on the free agent marked in 2011. If you look at the 2009 salaries of the top ten paid outfielders in the MLB you will see that even at $10 million Carl is under paid. Numbers do not lie, they don't always tell the whole story, but they do not lie. Carl will make more then the Rays can afford. The Rays also have a number of young prospects in the farm system that could fill the gap in the outfield if Carl was traded. Desmond Jennings, Frenando Perez, Justin Ruggiano and lets not forget Matt Joyce.

Here are what the 2009 salaries of the top ten outfielders in baseball made in 2009. When I look at this list I do not see 10 players better then Carl Crawford.

Manny Ramirez $23 million
Carlos Beltran $19 million
Carlos Lee $19 million
Magglio Ordonez $18.9 million
Torii Hunter $18 million
Ichiro $18 million
Alfonso Soriano $17 million
Vlad Guerrero $15 million
J.D. Drew $14 million
Matt Holliday $13.5 million

The Rays are not going to be able to spend that kind of money for a left fielder. Hopefully the front office will put together the kind of deal they did for Delmon Young and not the kind of deal they did for Edwin Jackson. Carl will have a good year next year for the Rays until about the mid point of the season and then I look for the Rays to unload him to a contender, who hopefully will not be in the AL East, for picks and prospects. I will curse them and be upset, but that is what happens when you root for a small market team. You get high draft picks, develop them into All Stars, and then ship them off to New York, Boston, or LA. Durham is our farm system, the Rays are the big money teams farm hands.....and that is what is wrong with the current system we have in Major League Baseball. Go Rays, and Carl, I will root for you where ever you go unless it is to the Yankees, or Red Sox.

The Card Addict

2009 Updates and Highlights box break!

I was on the road today for my real job, traveling in Northwest Alabama. The day started rainy and cool, but once the sun broke through and the temp warmed up is was very hard not to notice all of the amazing fall colors. This part of the country is absolutely beautiful this time of year. So while I was driving back to the airport from my sales call I noticed a Wal-Mart in Russellville, AL. I stopped in to see what kind of wax was on their shelves.

I found this beauty along with a very nice selection of other wax. I have been looking for a box of these for a while, so I dropped the $19.95 plus tax and took my chances.

Here is what I came up with:

This is my "ONE COMMEMORATIVE PATCH" per box. It is a Robin Yount. The patch commemorates the 1980 All-Star game.

I pulled two Carl Crawford cards in 10 packs!!!

I snagged this Reggie Jackson short print, too bad it wasn't the Henderson, but I still love the A's uni. I really like the gold foil on these cards much better then the silver.

I pulled 4 gold parallel cards in 10 packs. More on two of them in a second.... I still love to pull these things. I know there are 2009 of them printed and for some reason that adds value to them for me. I wish Topps would put print runs on all of their cards.

Did you know there were black background parallel cards in the 2009 Highlights and Updates? I didn't until I opened this box! Are they only in the blasters from Wal-Mart?


I did not pull anything great in them, but each pack did contain a gold parallel as well as the black background cards. Do you know if they made the SPs in the black background as well? I am going to assume they did until I hear or see other wise. I guess I can add a few more Crawfords to my want list. I need to stop busting wax!!! Over all I enjoyed the break and will have a hard time not doing it again.

The Card Addict

1993 Stadium Club Ryan Klesko Question???

Can someone who was collecting in the early nineties tell me something about this card. When this bad boy came out I was spending all my money on $1 pitchers at my favorite bar in Muncie, Indiana. All I know about it is that it is a Ryan Klesko Team Braves Stadium Club card from 1993. I am not sure if the auto is authentic. I also do not know if it was issued this way, or if someone got Ryan to sign it for them. Does anyone out there know if this is a real Ryan Kleako auto? Was this on the card fresh out of the pack, or did a previous owner have Ryan sign it? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. By the way this is on the trade block! I may even give it to you for a pitcher of dollar beer. Man I loved Wednesday night drink specials at Ball State!



The Card Addict

69th Post 1969 set building

Wow, I am already up to 69 posts! That is hard for me to believe. Look out number 100 here I come. So for my 69th post I would like to tell you about a set I am building. 1969 Topps! A while ago I decided I wanted to collect a vintage set because I thought it would be fun. It would also keep me from spending all of my money on wax. So I started looking at some of my older cards trying to decide which set to choose.

I love the 1959 set best of all, but decided it would simply be too much money. I only have a handful of '59 so I would be starting from scratch. 1959 commons sell for between $3-$6 bucks, minor stars book for between $8-$20, Bob Gibson has a rookie card that goes in the high $300s, and then there is the $1000 Mickey Mantle. 1959s were simply not in the budget......

I also really love the look of the 1965 Topps set. I have a few of these, but not many. This set is a little more reasonable booking at around $4,000 but again the Mantle is over $500 and the biggest rookie card is Steve Carlton.

So I decided from a money standpoint, 1969 is the way to go. This set books for around $3000, has Mickey Mantles last card, a second year Nolan Ryan, and Reggie Jacksons rookie! So far I have managed to put together 378 of these beauties. I still need 286 more including most of the big money cards. You can see what I still need on this web site I have set up to help me complete this set: 1969 WANT LIST If you have any 1969 cards that you would like to trade that are on the list, drop me an email. I have a number of doubles that I will be organizing soon. I will put up another site as soon as I have them put together. I also have this card that I would be willing to trade to help me complete my set. It does have a small crease right in the center at the top of the card, and the corners are not very sharp.


I would love to get a Bench in similar condition for this Clemente. So here is a plead for help to the entire blog-o-sphere, if you have any 1969s you are willing to part with, take a look at my list and see if you have any I need. I will post some of my trade bait some day this weekend.

The Card Addict

Ebay win!!! Carl Crawford Beam Team AUTO!!!!!

Wow it has been a tough couple of weeks for me on EBAY. I keep trying to win one of the many Carl Crawford Black Updates and Highlights cards but keep getting sniped at the last second. The same thing seems to be happening to me on the Rickey Henderson SP....

This makes me feel much better though. I paid a total of $4.36 for this card shipped. I am really excited about it! This is a 2008 Topps Stadium Beam Team Autographed card. It is numbered 01/99 and it is sweet.





The lesson I learned this week is to stay patient with EBAY, in the end it is still our best place to connect with the cards we love.

The Card Addict

Rays trade Akinori Iwamura to the Pirates!!!!

I just read here that the Rays in another cost cutting move have traded Akinori Iwamura to the Pittsburg Pirates for right handed relief pitcher Jesse Chavez. This blogger will really miss Aki and his alligator skin glove.

Aki was an outstanding defensive player, and always had solid at bats. Congrats Pirates, you have acquired a true professional in Iwamura.

Sportlots.com order is in.......

Sometimes taking ones own advice is the hardest thing to do! So when I saw the extra $20.00 I had left over at the end of last week in my wallet the first idea that popped into my head was..... WAX!!! How many Topps Updates and Highlights could I buy? 7 or 8 packs?

Then I remembered how I had just told another blogger to skip the packs, and just buy the cards you want. It will save money and you will not have buyers remorse after all the packs are ripped. I really only want to rip the update hoping for a couple new Crawfords and one of the Rickey Henderson SP cards. What exactly are my chances of pulling those in 7 packs? Not that great.

So instead I took my own advice and went to my favorite site to buy lower priced singles. You can click on it below. I love this site, because the dealers all seem to price their player cards reasonably.






After looking around for a little while I started filling my shopping cart. I ended up with 104 items by the way. Tonight I am going to post all of the Carl Crawfords I received. It would have cost me hundreds of dollars to open all of the wax it would have taken to acquire these cards.

HERE COME THE SCANS:








Finally, one of the cards I was hoping to pull. A Highlight/Update CC!!!


The key to making this site work for you is finding one dealer who has a lot of cards you want, and buying them all at the same time. I ended up paying about 25 cents a card for these shipped. If you can find one dealer to work with it saves on the shipping which can get crazy if you buy from more then one dealer at a time. I have placed a few orders now with www.sportlots.com and have been impressed so far with the dealers that sell from the site.


If your looking for a website that specializes in Single trading cards, check out

Sportlots.com. Sportlots has millions of cards to search through to help you find the cards
you're looking for. They accept Check, Money Order or Paypal payment. So the next time the wax calls, head over here and just buy the cards you are hoping to pull.