Knuckle Ball Blues

Unexpected Pickup!

2010-09-02T20:20:00.005-04:00

This summer, I managed to land an internship working as a student assistant in the Media Relations office for NC State athletics. Naturally, I had inquired about a position working with the baseball team and voila, I pulled it off. Bruce, my "boss," is the Media Relations contact for the baseball team. He handles tons of behind the scenes stuff for the baseball team including the handling of stats and info on each player, putting together interviews between the team and the media, etc. I guess he's kind of the middle man between the athletes and the rest of the world. So I'm Bruce's assistant. Basically, I help him with all the above said and more. Of course, I get a lot of the busy work, filing papers, cleaning proofreading, cleaning, but it's all pretty cool. I get to sit around and watch the team practice, I get access to all the facilities they use, and in the Spring I'll be in the press box, keeping stats, scores and writing game summaries. (Can you say dream job?)

If you can't tell, I'm pretty stoked. My pay? An occasional "nice job" or a pat on the back. Today however, I was happy to receive some compensation that I could live with all year. After cleaning out the office and running files down to archives, I noticed a small pile of items about Sam Esposito, former major leaguer and legendary coach for the Wolfpack baseball team. Bruce insisted that I take whatever I found that I thought was cool. I ended up leaving with each of these cards of the former NC State coach, who has large plaque dedicated to him at the NCSU Baseball Hall of Fame. All I could say to Bruce at the time was "Holy shit, thanks!" I love vintage cards and each of the sets that these belong to. I am particularly excited about the '60, since I am trying to build the set momentarily. The '58 is a little rough, torn and taped over, but still cool. The '61 and the '63 look great as does the '60. Hopefully, I'll be able to move on to the other '60s sets after I finish this one, both of which will already have a first card.

Esposito was the head coach at NC State for 20 years, from 1967 to 1987 where he had a record of 513-253. He played for the Chicago White Sox for 10 years including 1959 with a trip to the World Series. Check out this article on the Wolfpack great, written by Bruce, himself...

Hey there, Scott

2010-07-28T22:01:00.004-04:00

Welcome to L.A Scott Podsednik.

I came home from work today, still patiently waiting to hear news of any Dodger trade rumors, opened my laptop, and was finally rewarded. But wait? It's not a pitcher... Hopefully that news will come a bit later.

Truth is, the Dodgers needed a solid outfielder/hitter that they could rely on. With the always-ailing Manny, and Reed Johnson injured, I was a bit nervous with counting on Xavier Paul and Jamey Carroll (Carroll's placement is still weird to me).

I had pretty much forgotten all about Podsednik. I wonder how with the kind of year he's having. Batting .309 with 30 stolen bases... It wouldn't be a stretch to call this a career season when looking at his .280 lifetime average.

Honestly, this pickup hardly surprises me. Leave it to Ned Colletti to make an "under the radar" acquisition. I feel oddly stoked and definitely satisfied with it, especially only at the expense of a couple low minor leaguers.

At this point, I still have faith for a playoff run, despite several disappointments. I'm pretty excited to see what Scott can bring to the team to help their chances.

Time to go back and listen to Vin Scully's voice and watch the Dodgers (hopefully) beat the damn Padres.

When Boredom Strikes

2010-03-15T23:22:00.004-04:00

I know I sound pretty lame in the video, that's me getting over a cold...

And yes, I know I'm a nerd. Thank you.

Haters

2010-03-15T21:51:00.005-04:00

Frankly, I've had it with the "shit talkers" out there. And I'm not talking about those who talk smack against rival teams and players, but those who claim to be "fans of a beloved team." Being a fan of the Dodgers on Facebook, I am bombarded with constant updates of anything that happens. I honestly love this. I can get important information about the boys in blue as soon as it happens. Unfortunately, these updates also come the comments of those with half of a brain and who say that they are die hard fans. Now, I understand that people are allowed to have an opinion, but when I see people telling Gagne that they hope he doesn't make the roster and gets hurt, it almost hurts me. First of all, he was given a Minor League contract, so anything that will happen can't have too much of a negative effect on the organization. Basically the only way is up. I'm sure you "die hard fans" weren't complaining when he was kicking ass as a closer for us. As for the steroids... It's hard for me to argue against the claims he was a cheater, but that seems a little harsh. Especially when some of the biggest players of our time were on steroids. I'm not excusing it, but there is a good chance that a recent player who you idolize has done steroids. Obviously Gagne has seen better days, but I like him. I was actually hoping he'd have an awesome comeback this year, but it doesn't look like it will be happening.

Don't even get me started on Manny...

Shit...

Can't stop now...

It seems that there are just as many Dodger fans that dislike Manny as there are fans of other teams. Come on now, it's Manny. You must be jealous that he's one of the most dangerous hitters ever. I don't have to go over the steroids issue as I've already discussed that. As for the comments that he's done with the Dodgers after this year:

That's fine. Think about it. He's probably right

about being solely a DH. He isn't young anymore. It's simply Manny being Manny, saying what he feels. Imagine how many other players feel the

same way when they reach the declining end of their career. Dodger fans should be happy he's in L.A. in the first place, as he's only going to put up good or great numbers. After the statements about leaving the Dodgers after this season, fans became worried about him not giving a rats ass about playing, or playing carelessly. Personally, I don't think this will be the case. As goofy as Manny is, he is a professional and damn good at what he does. In reaction to the statements, his fellow teammates said they weren't worried, as they attested to the fact that Manny was working hard during spring training. The team is confident that Manny won't be a problem, so how can the fans not be? It'd be one thing if he was a bother in the club house, but the truth is that he is a veteran, a mentor and a great asset who maintains the chemistry of the team. I'm never going to stop loving Manny, he's always been my favorite even before his time with the Dodgers and will be after he's gone.

Now that I'm done blowing off steam, I'll leave it up to discussion with the rest of the blogosphere.

Up For Grabs!

2010-03-15T21:19:00.004-04:00

I know it's been a while since 2010 Topps came out, but I'm finally getting around to showing off a few cards I got from the 2 boxes I bought. Shown here are two cards up for grabs to you Yankees and Phillies fans. OH YEAH! Before you start to question the photos, I'm without a scanner for about a week, so I'm sorry for the quality/lighting, seeing as how I had to use my phone. SORRY AGAIN.

First up, the Shane Victorino Peak Performance Auto. Pretty self-explanatory on this one. Straight outa the pack and ready to trade.

Now up is a CC Sabathia Silk Collection insert numbered 38/50. Same here as the last one, pulled straight from the pack and ready to go. Only problem I see is the glue separation at the top of the card, but it came out of the box this way.

So let me know what you think and if you have something to trade for these pretty cool looking cards.

Set update

2010-03-15T20:57:00.003-04:00

The fact that I actually have some time to return to collecting is awesome. Today, I went through and finished sorting 2010 Topps and have a full Series 1 (WOO). I also decided to break out last year's Allen and Ginter and sort those out. As you can see, I have a lot of holes to fill (notice the list on the side bar --->), so hit me up with any you'd like to send my way through trades.

P.S.

Don't forget about the '09 Heritage I still have over there. :)

Fantasy Draft Review

2010-03-15T02:49:00.004-04:00

It's that time again. Spring training is here, the 2010 season is just around the corner, and fantasy baseball begins. After finishing in last place in last year's fantasy league, I promised myself to actually take this year's draft/season seriously. I have to say that I'm pretty satisfied with the way my pickings came out, with the exception of a few...

Due to the fact that my Dad was bugging me to help him with yard work, I had no choice but to turn on autopick for my last few picks; the last thing I wanted to do.

And who else would I end up getting other than Joe Nathan...

woohoo.

I don't think I need to go on to explain...

John Maine and Joel Hanrahan were a couple more who were disappointing, as I believed I would've made better picks on my own.

Oh well. Enough complaining. Let's see who I actually made an effort to grab...

Bats

Hanley Ramirez. Now I know some people would question this as my first pick with Pujols topping the list, but Hanley is one of my favorites. Don't get me wrong, Albert is the man and has ridiculous numbers, but I would say Hanley will be just as good a pick. Besides, I've always been one to choose speed over power (let's not forget that Hanley can drop bombs, too).

My outfield looks pretty solid after picking up Andre Ethier, Hunter Pence, Matt Diaz, and some guy named Josh Hamilton. I had my eye on Andre from the beginning. Maybe it has to do with him being a top three favorite... Can't go wrong with Mr. Clutch. Josh Hamilton needs no explanation I hope and for the others, I'm really excited to see them bring me some solid points.

Also picked up were Robinson Cano, Todd Helton, Chipper Jones, James Lonely, Alexei Ramirez, and Brad Hawpe.

Russell Martin. I had picked my favorite player last year after his all star season of 2008. What happened of course? Yeah... you remember this past year. I refuse to give up on Russell and I have the most intense feeling that he will bounce back with a solid year. Let's hope he drops a couple of those middle names...

Pitching

Gonna keep pitching review short, seeing how it's basically self explanatory other than my previously mentioned "mis-picks."

Zach Greinke. Chris Carpenter.

Yeah...

Jonathon Broxton. I had JB last year and he was obviously one of the best. He's the man.

I'm really stoked on this year's fantasy season, especially as I watch the ESPN highlights of that Hamilton dude going 2-3 with a HR...

Revamping...

2010-02-22T23:17:00.003-05:00

Yeah...

It seems as if I am filled with false promises considering the blog hasn't been updated in about three months. (Thanks William for the research)

It's been rough these past few months though, dealing with school, work and such. But now things have cleared up and I'm ready to start writing again on a regular basis. (Hopefully)

I've decided to not only make this blog a card blog, but also an opinion blog on only the greatest team ever, the cherished Dodgers. I'll probably start off with a couple entries on how Ned Colletti needs to take a step back from himself, pull Jamey Carroll's bat out of his ass, and get us a legitimate addition to the team. Ah yes... many more rants to come.

Manny, you better watch out, too.

A LOOOONG awaited update!

2009-09-28T17:44:00.010-04:00

Hello all of you in the blogger world. It's been a minute hasn't it? Or maybe a couple months...

ANYWAY,

With school having started, and me lacking a job, it's been a squeeze to get anything when it comes to cards. I've actually received a few things over the past month, though. William managed to send a few minor things my way- random pickups from the card shop and what not. Always having to thank him, damnit. He definitely looks out for me whenever he's at the shop and I will always be indebted to him when it comes to cards and the such.

Luckily, I have been able to get organized enough to find time for collecting again. Thank goodness. I also have a job again, so money isn't TOO big of an issue anymore. So with all the recent happenings, I was able to meet up with William here in Raleigh to go to the Inside Pitch card show. As you can read on his blog, (foulbunt.blogspot.com) the vintage findings were

somewhat slim, as well as any of those "awesome" finds. However, it was still of course a fun time, and I managed to get some pretty significant stuff. So without any further ado, here are some of the "new" things I've been able to pick up.

Here's some cards I pulled from a couple packs William brought me. The Ticket to Stardom cards are pretty cool, I must say. Really sharp looking. Pulled the Kaline out of a pack of Goodwin Champions which almost made my day by itself. Couldn't help from laughing after opening the second pack of Goodwin and discovering that there were more basketball than baseball cards in it. Actually, there was only one baseball card haha. Out of a pack of Bowman chrome came the sexy looking Billingsley. I really, really, enjoy Bowman chrome. Definitely one of my favorite sets I've found in my days of collecting.

Up next comes a really SWEET pickup from over the weekend. With all of the Team USA happenings occurring in the Raleigh/Durham area, William and PA, (http://player2b.blogspot.com/) were able to easily gain access to meet baseball's young phenom, Bryce Harper. Yes, I said BRYCE HARPER. Like the awesome guy he is, William was able to get me a signed ball, which looks pristine, does it not? I am REALLY REALLY REALLY excited about this thing and almost jizzed when I held it in my hands. I showed it to a fellow baseball fan/suitemate who thought it was equally as awesome. This should be a priceless object sometime in the future, and I'm glad I own it. (knock on wood) Head on over to William and PA's blogs to see some more stuff they got from Harper.

I decided to post one of the many random cards I received from William, just because it's really pretty, and badass...

SP Legendary cuts Tom Glavine/Chad Billingsley jersey card. Pretty nice, huh?

Next up we have the acquisitions from the actual show. First up we have a few '09 Heritage cards I was able to pick up to help that set. The Smoltz and Francisco cards happen to be short prints/high numbers, a group of cards that I'm desperately trying to knock out.

Also from the show, comes something that isn't cardboard! I saw it and just HAD to have it. 2 minutes later, it was mine. Got it purrty cheap too...

Isn't it absolutely beautiful? Haha, but really, this picture does no justice to how it really looks, William can vouch for that. It will end up being another addition to the Awesome Wall whenever I make it home again. New pics of that will be posted when possible.

I actually ended up finding SOME good vintage, at least for me. The pic at the top is a '69 fold out I found for a couple bucks, just like the Robinson William picked up. This one really caught my eye, it turned into another one of those "gotta have it" finds. A pretty sweet addition to my collection.

Last but definitely not least from the show:

I managed to knock out a decent chunk of the 1960 set. All in all I ended up getting 19 cards for under 10 dollars, which really excited me. Actually, turned out to be 20 cards because some jerk, AHEMMM, decided to pick up another one for me. Yeah, it's the Gibson. Obviously, it's not THE biggest card in the set, but it's still a Bob Gibson card, second year no less.

Well it looks like that seems to be it, for the time being. Definitely expect more blogs to come, more frequently, seeing how I've hopefully ended my hiatus.

Nice Pack of '08 Stadium Club

2009-07-18T18:17:00.005-04:00

You figure that with 1 autograph per pack, you can get at least some excitement out of a pack of Stadium Club. I had no idea that my excitement would be on a different level than what I expected. Out of my pack I ended up pulling the Evan Longoria Rookie Auto:
Awesome pull to say the least. This is a sweet looking card with an even sweeter signature on the card.
Oh the surprises don't stop there either. Once I saw this I was completely satisfied, but had no idea that there would be even more awesome-ness left in the pack. Shown here is the other cool pull, actual bunting flag fabric from old Yankee Stadium. Numbered 147/199.
As much as I am not a Yankee fan, (Jackie's on the card though haha) I have a thing for cool memorabilia like this, and boy, is this awesome or what?

Overdue Updates

2009-07-18T17:11:00.005-04:00

First I'll start off with some miscellaneous additions to the collection. I always love getting some Dodger/favorite player cards, even if they aren't truly essential to building a set or what have you. They are essential, however, to my personal liking...The Garvey on the left comes from good ole' 1979, the Gibson from 1989. Couple of nice cards to span the decade. Thanks to William for both of these.
Also from William comes a 5,000 count box full of some randomly assorted cards. This will serve as an awesome time and boredom killer and will also give me many more opportunities in the near future to include more blog entries here.

Up next, a few cards received in a little trade with Mike from jdswildcardz.blogspot.com. Mike managed to grab me a couple of Topps golds (Randy Wolf, Chad Billingsley) and a couple SP Legendary Cuts (Manny and Clayton Kershaw). Thanks a lot Mike!
Also recieved in the mail from the blog world...
A Topps Opening Day Chad Billingsley from Steve at steveisjewish.blogspot.com

Thanks for this card Steve, I'll be sure to be on the look out for a couple of things to send your way.

Trip to William's or "You mean you brought home more stuff?"

2009-07-03T19:48:00.002-04:00

Some new schtuffff I had waiting for me...
Thanks Pete for grabbin' these for me!
We got good old Jeanson up there, a Goudey jersey card and his Chrome Topps Rookie. Also we have a Goudey Ethier Mini and a Gold Bowman Loney. Nice pick ups fo' meh.

And now folks, a review of the most exciting box break in history. Oh yes, I'm talking about a box of...

...1988 Topps!!!!!
That's right, William and I busted a box of '88 Topps he had sitting around. What's better is the fact that there are a couple blogworthy cards that came out of it.
Of course, I always love getting Orel...
...who in this photo looks like he's gracefully "gliding" like a fairy off the mound.
Up next is the prettiest card that came out of the box. Me and William actually couldn't stop laughing for at least a couple minutes after pulling Mr. Chest Pubes...

Ok, I'll admit. It looks A LOT better in person and was a lot funnier at the time. I guess Mr. Baller just looks goofy anyway.
Also, out of every pack, we pulled out a little mail in form to enter a sweepstakes. The winner receives a trip for 4 to the 1989 Spring Training camp of your choice. I've always wanted to send one of these in and see the reaction I get, so this will be my first one to do.

ALSO! Be sure to head over to foulbunt.blogspot.com and check out a little bit of me and William's day. The videos he just put up should be enough to entertain you for a few seconds.

I think that's pretty much it for this post, except for one more, serious and AWESOME thing. William, who is a "jerk" [ :) ] decided to pick me up something so ridiculous, I felt the urge to punch him. All the more reason to continue to maintain our good friendship haha. Here's a new Cherishyzm, one that should soon be on display:

"Jerk", haha.

Quick little notice I wanted to put out.

2009-07-02T22:28:00.003-04:00

I've put a little list to the side (<---) of cards I am searching for at the moment. Right now of course I only have a few up there; I'm too tired to stay up any longer. So, tomorrow, my lists of Heritage and other sets will go up, along with other individual cards I'm looking for. Please send me an e-mail! I'm would LOVE to trade with what I have! (Also being posted soon)

Trip to the card shop and more overdue whatnots...

2009-06-28T20:01:00.014-04:00

I guess you could call this first part of the update my 2nd installment of "Cherishyzm Collecting". I didn't really announce the first one, but it included my first big vintage find, my 1954 Kaline Rookie. (Cherishyzm is not only an ongoing joke, but it is a reference to cards that really, really, REALLY mean a lot to me. One of William's for example would be the Brooks RC.) I figure that I can put all of these such cards in a category, either "A", "B", or "C". "A" being a true prized possession, an irreplaceable card. And REMEMBER! "B" or "C" cards are most definitely still Cherishyzms, just not like those top ones. So, after all of that rampant explaining, I present you my newest class "A" Cherishyzm:1957 Kaline that I got from William. THANKS WILL! Apparently he got it for a near steal, so I don't feel AS bad haha. Oh, and this has helped me officially decide that Kaline is the big vintage player I'm going after, from now, until the end of time.

Ok, next up are some class "B" Cherishyzms:
Picked both of these up at the shop outa the vintage case. 1973 on the left and 1974 on the right. These are both great cards, and a nice addition to my Kaline collection. The '74 should be specially noted though. First- in the small info box on the back it shows that Kaline's present home town is Bloomfield Hills, MI. Definitely cool, as this is where my dad spent part of his childhood and saw Kaline play on numerous occasions. The second reason being that this is Al's last issued card for years he played. Listed on the back are stats from his incredible career, which he spent the entirety of with the Tigers. '73 dating back to '53 when he played a few games with 28 At Bats and a homer. I now have his "last" card as well as his first, a really cool accomplishment to say the least.

Here's another class "B" Cherishyzm:
1960 Topps Elston Howard. Sharp looking card for sure. Pretty good condition, too. I will be saving this one for a later post, I will explain it's personal value then.

Now for a grade "C" card. I'm not really actually meaningfully-tied to this card, but I feel like it is definitely of value to me . Not to mention it is TOTALLY BADASS.
Yes, I did pull this out of a new pack of '09 Legendary Cuts at the shop. GU Jerseys from Hanley Ramirez (with a nice pinstripe) and Ernie Banks. MR. CUB! Totally awesome. Gotta love the old wool uniform. I was really, really excited when I pulled this.

Now for some other stuff. They may not be "Cherishyzms", but of course they're cool.
The new SP Legendary Cuts look awesome, not sure how you could argue that. Managed to pick up a couple packs where I happily pulled Russ and Kemp:
Also, let me remind you, all of these pics are Hi-Res and look really good when you click on them.
Alright, up next a special shoutout to William's brother John who managed to hook me up with some sweet stuff. One card of which is a 2008 A&G Manny jersey. Very nice...
Also from John, I got a large number of other Manny cards as well as a few Hershisers. MORE OREL!
After coming home last time with a bunch of cool posters and stuff for the Awesome Wall, I decided to go ahead and grab as many Flashback Friday cards from 2007 as I could. (One of the posters compelled me to go for it.) I managed to get a bunch, but couldn't find the first five in the set. These came in a starter pack from '07. If anyone has any extra of these, or know where I could find them easily, let me know!
I'm going to go ahead and finish this update off, I'll post another soon, maybe even tonight once I get my bearings straight. Here are some Russell Martin's to finish up. I've had these for a while, but they haven't seen the blog.

Quick Update

2009-06-17T21:44:00.008-04:00

Set complete: 2009 Topps

Finally, officially completed Topps 2009. LOVE these cards. They really do look great.

Now for other stuff...
Let's see, I managed to pick up a few more, different Manny's. Seen here we have the Topps Gold border, Target Classic parallel, and the Wal-Mart Black parallel. I really like all of these cards, but the Black especially. It looks SWEET!I also picked up the Russ Martin Gold border. I would really love to get the Wal-Mart and Target Martins, as well as both Manny and Martin Topps black borders. Keep your eyes peeled for those, please!

RUSSELL MARTIN PRINTING PLATE WOOOOOOO. A beauty isn't it?And more Russell Martin...
The blue refractor is really just ridiculous. Looks so much better in person, I have a hard time keeping my eyes off of it.

Here is just another random card I picked up, Clayton Kershaw Spectrum. This is one of those you just have to talk about because it's Clayton Kershaw...
...batting. Haha.

Oh, and last but not least...
The latest edition of mail time...
Pretty, isn't it? I thought so, too.

Finally, a Series 2 posting. (And more)

2009-06-08T15:02:00.002-04:00

Busted Series 2 a couple weeks ago, but haven't had any time to update this thing. This should be a rather large post.
Series 2 printing plate came out of my box.
Jarrod Washburn. I'm sure a Mariner fan will enjoy having this. It will more than likely go up on ebay and hopefully somewhat offset my recent purchase of the Martin plate.

Luis Gonzalez bat card pulled as well as a Carlos Beltran GU pants card.
Got one black border. Jody Gerut numbered 24/58.

Of course, I pulled several WBC cards. Notables include an Alex Rios auto numbered to 100 and a MARTIN jersey card! Ok, well the Martin came from an immediate trade because William pulled it outa one of his boxes. He always pulls good stuff haha. Insert plug here: {http://foulbunt.blogspot.com/}And of course Turkey Reds. How could anyone not like these cards? They never fail to create excitement when pulled out of a pack. Especially when they're Dodgers...Still trying to figure out why Kemp is still #65 on this card...

Well Series 2 looks about wrapped up for the most part. What's next...

Picked up three more Foytacks in my quest to present my dad with vintage cards of his "favorite" player.SP Legendary Cuts. Great looking cards I must say. I really enjoyed opening the pack that William managed to get a hold for me. I did pull a Ripken/Tejada Combo relic. However, you won't see it on here because I "traded" it to William for these two. Trade. Hah.
Don Sutton patch 80/100 and Russ Martin patch. Really great looking cards.

I also managed to get lots of cool posters, patches, etc. from William since he knows I'm really into stuff like that.

LOVE stuff like this. I also have a thing for empty boxes. So, future reference for anyone out there...

Well that seems to be it for today. I still have a ton of stuff to go through. I still can't believe how much I've brought home in the past few weeks.

Mail Time!

2009-06-03T22:51:00.003-04:00

Gotta love seeing a small bubble-wrap package waiting for you at home.

Just a little update on the blog here. Have another Martin in the mail waiting to get here. Also planning on sorting through some Series 2 stuff tonight, so another update soon!

ATTN: Opinions Needed

2009-05-06T14:57:00.002-04:00

Well let's see here...
A couple months into serious collecting and I feel like I'm doing pretty good. However, upon completion of my first set, and with the purchase of my first big vintage card, I want more.
I'm planning on making my next big project a vintage set, but need some help deciding which one. I've already looked at '59 and '60 as possibilities, but my options are wide open. Please feel free to give any suggestions and also keep in mind that I'm a 19 year old college student with just a summer job. Don't need to be going after that Mantle RC yet...

Max goes to first card show, happiness ensues...

2009-04-25T22:06:00.004-04:00

Went to the card show today with William and it was AWESOME. Saw tons of sweet stuff, a lot of stuff that I had no money for. Haha. I'm super excited to go back to another show as soon as possible, and with having a job in the near future, I might be able to enjoy the next one even more.
I was finally able to pick up my MARTIN card today that I had ordered a few weeks ago. This made the day better than it already was...

What else...
We found a old card for my dad. 1962 Topps Paul Foytack. Who? Not too sure. The card and the story with it was originally a joke. My dad brought it up and told me that he liked Foytack not only because he was a Tiger, but because he happened to pull him out of nearly every pack as a kid. As the conversation went on, he informed me that Foytack was the first pitcher to ever give up 4 consecutive homers.
Now that's fan loyalty. Anyway, it took forever to find one, and dad thought it was hilarious when I brought it home to him. Good find...

I managed to complete my 1990 Topps set today. It didn't look like it, but it took about half the set to finish. To borrow a tradition, here's the "completer" card:

Also picked up a couple of '09 Topps Heritage packs, almost out of habit now, and pulled one cool thing:

I figure that I can talk about this next one last, as it is definitely the best. I will be honest, it is a little rough looking, but it is my first big RC and my first big vintage card. No more words need to be said, I'll let the picture say everything.

This is one of those ones that makes you feel good inside.

"Lead Off"

2009-04-08T20:07:00.006-04:00

What better way to start the blog here, (mind the main title) with a Matt Kemp A&G card. Kemp, the Dodger outfielder, sent one deep over the wall Monday night contributing to a win over the Padres.

Got the Allen & Ginters and a couple packs of Topps Heritage at the card shop in Cary the other day.
Nothing special pulled, but got a Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley Heritage so I'm happy.

I've just recently got into legitimate collection, so one could say that my numbers and variety are both scarce.
I, however, have a sweet hook-up. My good buddy William (foulbunt.blogspot.com) is continually letting me know what he's getting together to give me the next time we hang. It's pretty cool how lucky I am to have a friend who is willing to show me the ropes of all that is collecting. I already have more cards than I could have ever imagined having at this point.

If you couldn't tell already, I am a big Dodgers fan.
No, I am not a bandwagon fan, either.
I actually lived in L.A. until I was about two. Now I know that this is hardly enough for me to call myself a Dodgers fan, but with my parents having lived there for some years before, I was brought up to cheer for them. My true days of bleeding blue didn't come however until about 3 years ago.
You could say that my loyalty definitively solidified itself when my long time favorite player just happened to move to L.A. Of course, the one, the only, Manny Ramirez.

I see Manny's move as the greatest coincidence of all time, and if you hate me thinking that, oh well. Haha

So as empty as this thing seems now, it should fill up faster as the days go on. Especially after a visit with William, haha.