Jason Bay signs with the NY METS

Today is a good day for all of the teams in the AL East except for the Red Sox. Jason Bay has agreed to a 4 year $66 MILLION dollar deal with a possible 5th year, that would take the contract out to 80 MILLION. The deal is pending a physical. You can read all about it here.



As a Rays fan I am glad Bay is out of the division. However if you are a Jays, Yankees, or Orioles fan you should be even happier. Here is how Bay did last year against the teams in the AL East.

Bay vs. Rays
.254 average
15 runs batted in
4 home runs

Bay vs. Orioles
.368 average
9 runs batted in
3 home runs

Bay vs. Jays
.373 average
10 runs batted in
6 home runs

Bay vs. Yankees
.475 average
13 runs batted in
3 home runs

Good luck in the NL East Jason!

The Card Addict

Johnny Damon signs with the Yankees..........

On this day back in 2005 Johnny Damon decided to leave the 2004 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox and sign a $52 million dollar 4 year deal with the arch enemy NEW YORK YANKEES!

Sorry about the headline for those of you who care about the Yankees or Johnny Damon.

Oh how the times have changed. Where do you think Johnny will be playing in 2010?










Here is a pic of Johnny from his days with the Sox!




A few years later with the Yankees!



Johnny is one hairy dude!

With his new team do you think he will keep the same clean cut look he had with the Yankees, or will he go back to looking like he belongs in a Geico commercial? "Playing center field, so easy a caveman could do it!"

The Card Addict

A little RICKEY to lift my spirits!

Nothing brightens my day more then a few little Rickey cards. Enjoy!!!



Wow this 1986 Fleer Mini looks giant on the post. I heard a rumor that the Yankees are looking for a left fielder. I wonder if they still have Mr. Hendersons number on speed dial!



This little card from 1987 also looks huge scanned. I cannot believe I actually used to root for the Yankees! Loved me some Henderson, Mattingly, and Winfield back in the day.



I am not positive, but I think this miniature card was sold in Europe to promote the game of baseball. I opened a few of these packs back in '88. According to the back of this card, Rickey weighed 13 stone 13 pounds!!!



There were also a lot of little stickers of Rickey that somehow I have saved for 20 years.... Wow I opened a package of stickers 20 years ago and have been keeping this little guy ever since. Where does the time go?



Last but not least for this post is a 1990 SuperStar sticker. This little dude has a flame throwing Texan on the back. Thats right none other then Nolan Ryan!

I feel much better now that I have strolled down memory lane with my all time favorite player. If you have any Rickey Henderson doubles that you would like to trade, get a hold of me via email and lets try to work a deal. jmeloy1218@gmail.com

The Card Addict

2005 Topps series one pack break

So there I was, standing in one of the check out lanes at my local K-Mart looking over the slim pickins in addictive cardboard with grown mens pictures printed on it when a shiny box caught my eye. On the outside, written in bold type were the words 10 packs of baseball cards $9.99. Or something like that...... It was one of those boxes where the wax has been repacked and sold to suckers like myself.

As you can see from the title and picture one of the pacs was a 2005 Topps series 1 wax/crinkly chrome material pack with 6 cards. So I pulled out my trusty pack cutting scissors and hacked it open. Here is what I found.





Bill Muller played 11 seasons and last played for the Dodgers in '06, Ramirez played last year for the Royals, Mr. Park played for the Phillies, Josh Beckett is a Red Sox and Mark Bellhorn last played in '07 for the Reds.

You may be asking your self right now, did he show us 5 cards or 6? Well what was it 5 or 6? Does the checklist count? Do you feel lucky? Well do you? Here is the 6th card:


















A certified on card auto of Casey Kotchman, who when I last checked played for the Red Sox. Another interesting fact about Casey Kotchman is he played his high school ball right here in Pinellas County Flordia for Seminole High School, and my father-in-law was his coach! Well that is about all the excitement I can handle tonight. I wish I had that stinking NFL network so I could watch the Jags and Colts! If there are any Kotchman collectors out there that need this card, shoot me an email it is trade bait.

The Card Addict

2009 Topps Highlights and Updates pack break....

So I have been on the road a lot for work lately, and in my travels I sometimes make it to a small town in Northwest Alabama named Russellville. It is a very nice small community and every time I am there I like to make a trip over to the super Wal Mart and pick up a pack or two of cards. Here are the results of a Jumbo Pack I purchased back in November.



Mr. Ryan, according to the back of this card, Joe Torre hit a solo homer off Nolan in his major league debut.
Mr. Bailey, AL Rookie of the Year
Mr. Beckham, one fine rookie himself
Mr. Peavy gold! I think this guy will be strong in 2010!



Mr. Lugo, the ex-Ray
Mr. Buehrle, perfect game against the Rays
Mr. Cain , 1st time All Star
Mr. Hudson, one of my favorite players, Orlando was always very fan friendly when he was with the Jays!
ICHIRO, what more can you say?
Mr. Lilly, he looks very excited doesn't he?



Mr. Pujols, the best player in the game.
Mr. Lee, the newest member of the Mariners.
Mr. Halladay, the newest member of the Phillies.
Mr. Hunter, one smooth center fielder.
Mr. Fielder, 2009 Home Run Derby CHAMP.

I pulled a few others as well, and was pretty happy with this pack until I started looking at the 11 cards in the last two scans. Every single one of them has two vertical creases running the entire length of each card! I finally got around to sending an email to Topps tonight to voice my displeasure and received a response within 10 minutes. Here is what they sent:



Have any of you every complained about the condition of the cards in a brand new pack? What was the outcome? I will let you know if and how this is resolved. Thanks for reading.

The Card Addict

Second game of the Double header....

After what seems like the craziest month of my life I have returned from the land of the missing to pick up where I last left off, the second half of a great package I received from THE COLLECTIVE TROLL. In the first post I shared all of the great 69's the Troll was kind enough to send my way. Today I will share some of the new goodies that also showed up!

First off a sweet collection of Carl Crawford Cards!!!!



I did not need all of these for my Crawford collection, but who can turn down a Crawford? I really need to get a list of the Crawfords I have posted some where. Does any one have any suggestions on the best way to do it? By the way my fav off this first page has to be the blue bowman.......



Troll also sent me a CC rookie card... along with the GOLD version of the bowman, I guess I have the start of a rainbow! Troll was also kind enough to put this in the package!



And then my favorite Crawford of the bunch, a game used bat Ginter Card. This is one sweet slab of cardboard, wood and plastic!!!



The last card in the package was a card that I have been trying to buy from the Bay for a month with no success, then the Troll pulls it one out of a blaster. The SP of Rickey Henderson from the 2009 Topps Updates and Highlights. Thank you so much for this card, I absolutely love it. It is not that great of a Henderson card, but it is special because it is the first new card he has had in a long time... I was craving new Rickey material.



If you have not started following The Collective Trolls blog yet, you need to start. Marck writes great content, and has a super blog. He is also a great trader and is always looking out for his trading partners. Thanks again Troll, I put a package in the mail today for you, hopefully you will have it shortly.

The Card Addict