Trade with Tom of The Angels in Order

Within the last month I completed another trade with Tom of The Angels, In Order.  He sent out a sort of APB in a post that he was collecting the 2009 Upper Deck base set and I answered the call.  I  had just cleaned out a bunch of cards from my commons boxes and a large chunk of '09 UD happened to be one of the stacks.  I was able to help him out with his set and also scored some O's cards for my collection too!  Here's just a small sample of the cards he sent:

This pair of 2014 Topps cards goes into the team set binder for this year.  I haven't been keeping up with the new releases this year as much this year but I think I'll be able to get back into it full force over the next few months.  

I was very happy to see these 2 cards in the package.  They are going as upgrades in my "One Card of Every Oriole" binder.  There aren't bunches of cards of these guys in Orioles duds so tracking down cards of these guys wasn't as easy as you'd think!

These 2 Orioles farmhands from 2002 Bowman have the unfortunate pleasure of being added to my "Failed Orioles Prospects" mini-collection.  Not a knock on these guys but they just never were able to put it all together and make it to the majors.  Teams draft roughly 50 players each year and usually only 4 or 5 make it all the way to the big leagues.

Speaking of failed prospects, this guy totally fell of the face of the earth a few years back.  He had a pretty decent debut with the parent club, was sent down to the minors again and hasn't really been heard from since.  I think he got suspended for either PEDs or something and that's why the O's cut bait with him.  With Jonathan Schoop at 2nd Base now, Ryan Adams has become a faint memory with most O's fans.

Here's a Scope-fractor of a guy who's always in the front of most Orioles fan's minds. I guess this is an appropriate card to show him making a great catch when he just took home another Gold Glove this past week.

Thanks a bunch for the cards Tom and I'm glad I could help you with your set!

Group Break Good Luck

Hey Everybody, I'm checking in with what seems like my 1 monthly post.  I know I don't post much anymore and hopefully that will change in the near future but that doesn't mean that my collecting habits have really changed that much.  Sure I hold my "purse strings" a little tighter because of all the recent events that have happed over the last year or so but it has probably made me a better collector overall.  Seems strange, but paying less for cards makes you appreciate them even more.  That being said, I was able to jump into some group breaks on eBay for some recently released products and I think I did really well for price of admission!

First up is the Stadium Club break I got into.  It cost me maybe a few bucks more than I wanted to spend (which I'll get into at the end of this post).  I think I did OK with the results but I was really hoping get Jonathan Schoop rookie autograph.

I did land this nice diecut Cal Ripken card which will go directly in to my PC of him.  I didn't get the base card to join it in the binder but that's ok for now.  I'll wait for the secondary market to settle before adding it, unless somebody has one to trade me!

I also got this rainbow foil Manny Machado which I was pleasantly surprised to get when I opened the mailer at home.  I didn't see it on the video, nor did the breaker pay it any mind.

I didn't get the full team set from the 3 box break but I did get most of it.  I can't complain about the Ripken diecut either!

The next group break I got into was a 2014 Topps Update 3 box.  One box was a Jumbo (so a 99% guarantee of a team set) and 2 hobby boxes.

I ended up with 2 nice Adam Jones inserts.  Not bad at all..

2 Gold Bordered parallels that I won't need to chase down.

2 Cal Fond Farewells which I'm happy about.

Last but not least, this Nelson Cruz Autographed relic card from the All-Star game!  Its numbered 15 of 25 and wow, it's a really cool card.  I've seen a few of these on the 'bay go for a bout 60 bucks.  Even for a sticker autograph, I'm still happy with it.  Some of the ones I've seen on Ebay Nelson's autograph went off the sticker so I'm glad I ended up with one where he "stayed in the lines"!


The last group break I was in was a Bowman Chrome half case break.  I got in to this one with high hopes of getting an Adrian Marin prospect autograph but didn't get one.  But I did get some Marin love in the break:

This is one of the Static refractor #d13/35.  Not bad.  Adrian Marin was drafted in 2012 out of high school in the 3rd round.  He played on team USA in international competition and the Orioles have aggressively moved him through the minor league system by making him one of the youngest players at each level he's played.  That strategy may have hurt his overall numbers a bit but the talent is there.  He just needs to continue to hit and tighten up his glove work a little more.

So 3 group breaks for the price of a blaster and a half.  I don't think I did awful and I surely couldn't have bought the cards for less money.

Thanks for looking at my post!

Trade with Jimmy of S.Mack Talk

I haven't been as active here on my blog recently nor have I been trading as much.  Its getting harder for me to match up with traders here in the blogosphere since I'm no longer building sets and a lot of my Orioles wantlists are harder to crack.  That fact didn't seem to bother Jimmy from the brand new S.Mack Talk blog.  He found me some cards that fit right into my collection.

This Rodrigo Lopez card from 2003 Bowman has eluded me for quite some time.  It was also on my Top 10 Wanted list (which I have discontinued for the time being) for a good while.  Lopez was my favorite O's pitcher during the dark days of the early to mid 2000's.  He had fairly good results playing for some dreadful teams of retreads, never-has-beens, and never-will-be's.  I cautiously wonder what his spot on the Orioles would be today.

Talking about today's Orioles we have a 2013 Bowman Platinum base card of Adam Jones.  I'm slowly filling on my team set holes from '13.

Last but not least, Jimmy nearly completed my 2013 flagship set.  I consider the Update part of the regular set, sue me!  All 990 cards fit nicely into a 1000 ct box with a little room to spare.  I wish it would just be called series 3.  There's no need to call it an Update set because nothing is really updated.  The card design is the same!

Head on over to Jimmy's new blog and give him a follow.  I'm sure he'd appreciate the support.

Thanks Jimmy for the trade!

Trade with Judson of My Cardboard Habit

I was able to complete a trade with Judson of My Cardboard Habit.  I have been extremely busy lately but I was able to find a few moments to fit in some time with my collection.  You can read about Judson's haul from the trade right HERE.

Before we get into the cards Judson sent, please take a moment out to check out his group break.  He's busting a box of Allen and Ginter when it's released.  Check out the details HERE.

Alrighty, let's get right into the trade.

First, the crown jewel of the trade, an Adam Jones mini relic from 2013 Gypsy Queen.  Adam provided a much needed boost to the O's yesterday when he hit a 2 run homer off Mariano Rivera to salvage 1 game from the 3 game series in New York.  I didn't see it live but I'm sure I would have been jumping around the mancove!

I've actually acquired this card 3 times now but this is that last time I think I will need to chase it down.  I have one for my Ripken PC, one for my A&G & What's in a Name Complete set, and now I have one for my Master Team Set!

Jim Johnson was Golden last year when it came down to finishing off ballgames.  This year he's blown like 7 or 8 saves.  We'd be in first place if he was as dominant as he was last year.

Finally we have a regular old base version of Darren O'Day.  I hope that this card can find some ink in the next few months as I hopefully get to take a day and go to Camden Yards and see a game!

Thanks for the trade Judson.

Trade with Brad of Brad's Blog

Here's another one of my hauls from the tradebait blowout that I had going on last week.  This one comes from Brad of Brad's Blog.  We swapped a few autograph and relic cards.  You can see the cards that I send him in his trade post.  Here's the awesome cards he sent:

 I have an Earl Weaver autographed 8x10 but this is my first autographed card of him.  I'm not sure how many different ones there out there but I can now say that I have one!

 I'm also very proud to have my first Tsuyoshi Wada autograph card too.  I believe Brad pulled this one from his case break of this year's Topps Chrome.  I was somewhat surprised to see Wada have a rookie card in this year's products because I thought that you actually had to make your MLB debut before there would be a card made.

 I also snagged this Adam Jones Black Refractor and

a Mark Reynolds Sepia Refractor for my player collections. Brad had some really good luck pulling Orioles from Topps Chrome this year.  I've opened 4 or 5 retail packs and came up empty!

Thanks Brad for the trade!

Card Show Report: CSA October 2012

     I went to a card show this past weekend.  It's the one I normally attend at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Virginia.  It happens 3 times a year so luckily there is enough time for me to save up enough money to make going there worthwhile.  I usually go on Saturday or Friday afternoon but I had prior commitments this time that prevented me from going either of those 2 days.  I had to go on Sunday once before  and the crowd was not as large but everything seemed to be picked over.  This time was no different.  The crowd was small, dealers started packing up at noon, and everything seemed to be picked clean. I did get some good deals but I'll try my hardest to make it on Friday or Saturday next time.
     I had a plan that I formulated in the car that I was going to try to knock out a bunch of sets that were on my wantlist, pick up a bunch of Orioles cards for my team sets, and buy some much needed boxes and 9-pocket pages.  Once I walked thru the doors, I think I forgot why I was there.  I got some cards from my set wantlists, almost totally struck out on my team sets, but thankfully restocked my supply of storage boxes and binder sheets.  One and a half out of three isn't too bad.
     The show wasn't a total loss though.  I picked up a bunch of cards for sets I'm beginning to build like 2011 Allen & Ginter, 1980 and 1979 Topps.  I knocked some wantlists down to next to nothing including 2012 Topps series 2, 2012 Allen & Ginter, and 2012 Bowman Chrome Prospects.
     I also picked up a bunch of great cards out of the bargain bins including those starter sets.  I didn't see any nickel bins but there were plenty of dime bins.  Here's a few that I picked out of the dime bins:

Yeah, a 1982 Donruss Jim Palmer does not belong in the dime bin.  It belongs in my Palmer binder!  Can't beat this one for a dime!

Not minis but great rookie cards of awesome players.  Pudge and the Big Hurt will end up in Cooperstown one day and Kid K's career has been great so far.  If he keeps it up, he might soon be mentioned in the same breath as Koufax, Drysdale, Valenzuela, and Hershiser.  Each of these cards set me back a dime!

Whoever put this in the discount bin must have known I was coming to take a look see.  Davis has really grown on me during this past season.  He mashed 30 home runs and they all seemed to come in bunches.  Unfortunately for Birdland, he didn't hit any in the playoffs.  Instead he spent most of his time flailing at pitches in the dirt.  If he ever learns some plate discipline, he could hit over 40 bombs!  I still need a ton of Topps Chrome Orioles from 2012 including baseb card, regular refractors, Xfractors, Purple, and Orange.  Even if you have just one of them, please contact me.

Not everything came from the dime boxes but I did get great deals on these cards

I paid a buck for this sweet Nick Markakis from 2009 Topps Heritage Chrome.  I really think that if Nick wasn't out with a broken thumb (thanks a lot F.F. Sabathia), our playoff outcome could have been better.  Nick is the best pure hitter on the team and he's the most clutch out of anyone on the roster.  I'm pretty sure he could have come up with that key hit we needed.   That's baseball though, there's always next year.

There's no way I could resist this classy looking relic card of Jonesy.  It's numbered 28/35 which is pretty cool (right below his forearm).  I can't afford buying expensive boxes  like the ones that relics like this pop out of, so I let the suckers bust those boxes and capitalize buy buying the singles as they desperately try to recoup their loses.  I win every time because I only paid 6 bucks for this card.

I bought this card from the same dealer that sold me the Markakis Chrome above.  He had just traded a guy for it while I was walking up to his table so I got this card for 3 bucks.  WIN AGAIN!

I'm going to close here with another Ripken game used card.  I picked this one up for a measly 4 bucks!  I'm going to focus on the darkside of Cal's face.  I think that's the side of his face that likes the Yankees.  He sure had plenty of praise for the pinstripers during the TBS broadcasts of the ALDS and not much to say about the O's.  I understand that he's just doing his job but I think it not only broke my heart to hear him praise Arod and Jeter but it probably hurt a lot of Orioles fan's perception of him.  He probably felt he had to compensate because people that aren't normally baseball fan is a Yankee fan come playoff time (well except they don't show up to the park!) and he didn't want to sound like a "homer" .  He ended up over-compensating and .angering his fanbase instead.  It's OK to piss of the Evil Empire, Cal!  You're still my favorite all-time player though.  I'm sure he could win some of that fanbase back by doing some MASN broadcasts next year.  (GET ON IT MASN, SERIOUSLY!!!).

So, overall I had a decent time.  I think the crowd was small because football is in full swing and the O's and Nats had just lost on Friday night.  While not the best CSA show I've been to, but I still got some great cards!

Group Break Loot from Nachos Grande

I've seen everybody else posting their hauls from Nachos Grande's group break of 2 boxes of 2012 Topps Mini and 1 box of 2000 Fleer Impact, so I figured I mind as well post mine too.  These cards have been sitting on my desk for over a week now and I never put these cards away until they are scanned and posted.

The highlight of my chosen team, the Orioles was this gold border of Adam Jones. I got a nice pile of Orioles base minis that helped fill in my team set. Jones has seemingly cooled off from his torrid first half of the season but is still in the middle of most of the O's rallies lately.  He's also been keeping the shaving cream manufacturers in business because every time the Orioles Hero du Jour does a live interview on postgame, he's the one responsible for the pie in the face sneak attacks.

My random team was the Brewers.  I was pretty surprised that they weren't taken and I got 'em.  I was even more surprised to see that I snagged a relic card.  I love the Gold swatch!  For anybody that knows, what's the deal with the gold jerseys?  Are they only worn on certain days or occasions?

I also ended up with a Prince Fielder golden Moments insert.  I don't have that much to say about Prince other than his name is annoying, though I wouldn't say that to his face.  All of the Brewers I obtained in this group break are for trade including all of the base cards, the Fleer Impact cards, and the Axford relic.

Thanks for holding the group break Chris!

My 2012 NSCC Experience

I think I am finally officially back in blogging mode now since several things have have been resolved with the old and new house and we officially have internet at the new house!  This will make the process of scanning and writing much more convenient and easy.   Not a moment too soon either as my day at the 2012 National (Saturday) wrap-up will only take this one post.  I got a ton of cool Orioles cards that I won't bore everybody with since they are really only of interest to me and my team set binders.  I didn't make a ton of purchases but the ones I did make were pretty awesome.

I'm just going to get this out of the way.  I bought a 1957 Topps #328 Brooks Robinson rookie card!  This was the #1 priority wantlist item that I wanted and it was a long search for it.  I probably asked about 75 different dealers if they had one and I got the answer of "no"from 70 of them.  I think I wasted a lot of time looking for the right one but I'm very happy with the results.  There were several near mint copies that I saw that just weren't the right card for me.  When I was going to drop about half of my budget on 1 card, I was going to make sure it was the right one.  I got a great deal on it and spent about 15 minutes talking to the dealer that sold it to me.  It has a little bit of paper loss (near his ear), the corners are a little bit fuzzy and the centering is a bit off (the scan cut the bottom border off a bit) and there's a wax stain on the back.  This is what a vintage card is supposed to be (IMHO, of course!).  It's such a great card that I'll treasure always, especially since my wife gave me some money towards it as an early 1st wedding anniversary gift (she got a new puppy out of the deal, so everyone is happy)!

Moving right along to my next purchase is this triple GU card of the Orioles brightest stars in 2010.  It's number 9/18!  Adam is haveing a great season, Roberts can stay on the field long enough to contribute and Nick just came off the DL and is hitting like a crazed animal.  No matter the on field performance, this is a sweet card!  I've seen a few of these on ebay but was always outbid.  I got this card for an Andrew Jackson. The only way this card could have been better would be an Orange background instead of a green one.  This card will definitely be sitting on my desk so I can stare at it.

While on my search for the Brooks RC, I walked by a table that had tons and tons of Japanese baseball cards and memorabilia.  Since I have an interest in Japanese baseball because of my own heritage, I had to stop and check it all out.  There was a lot of cool things there including a bargain bin of unopened packs 5 for 10 bucks.  I rifled through the bin and found 3 of these showing Yu Darvish and Tsuyoshi Shinjo.  These are from the team set so there was an increased chance of pulling a Darvish card.  I didn't get one but it was neat to rip these packs.  I also got the one pack that was from the 2006 Tokyo Yakult Swallows team set since I actually saw them play in person that year.  I also grabbed a pack of 2009 Baseball Magazine First Edition because Darvish is on the front.

I bought myself a box of 2012 Topps Series 2 since during all the moving and painting, I almost totally ignored the set.  I'll be busting that box in the near future and posting up the results.

I also had a dumbass attack and bought 2 boxes of 100 ct. 1 pocket pages (for holding 8x10s in binders).  I didn't realize my mistake until I got home Saturday night.  If anybody needs them I'm willing to trade them to you since they do me no good.  I really needed some 9 pocket pages so I'll just have to wait til next time.

I perused a lot of bargain bins at the show and filled a bunch of holes in some of my O's team sets.  I even met up with Julie from It's Funner Here at one of the dime box tables.  We kept running into each other throughout the day exchanging pleasantries and showing our latest purchases to each other.

I also met up with fellow Orioles Blogger Ryan S. from The Great Orioles Autograph Project in a chance meeting while walking through the cardboard jungle.  We talked for couple minutes about the team and about our respective collecting goals.

And I can't forget my good buddy William from foul bunt.  He stayed at my house Friday night and we stayed up way too late looking through cards.  I appreciate him putting up with my scheduling conflicts and my random sense of humor.  It's always fun going to a card show with someone you know and being able to "geek out" with a person with similar interests.

Overall, I had a good time at the show.  I'm already looking forward to the next card show!

Trade with Jack the Baseball Dad

A quick post of thanks to Jack the Baseball Dad for sending over a few Orioles cards.  I'm running around packing up the house and working extra shifts at work so there isn't much free time lately.

Jack seems to have a penchant for pulling purple bordered parallels from Toys R Us.  He sent me an Adam Jones earlier this spring.  So far this season, Chris Davis has been playing great and showing the power and on-base ability that he had in the minor leagues.  Hopefully he's got it figured out and will be a fixture at first for the O's for years to come.

Another Topps parallel from 2009 Topps Update.  I think this is the exact swing that Adam Jones made to break the tie in the All-Star game that year and ended up being the game winner.

I stashed this card down at the bottom since everybody's seen enough Gypsy Queen to make their eyes bleed.  If you're a loyal reader and made it this far, thanks for reading!  This is the initial card that started Jack and I's trade.  It's too bad that the scanner cut of the right side though, it really is a sweet mini!

Thanks again Jack, I really enjoyed the cards!

Orioles @ Tides IP Autograph #13

It's IP autograph weekend here at "O" NO!!! Another Orioles Blog.  I'm featuring each and every in-person autograph that I obtained this past Wednesday when the Orioles played an exhibition game against their AAA affiliate, The Norfolk Tides.

#13) Adam Jones


Adam Jones was one of 3 players that signed as the Orioles jumped off of the bus.  Gypsy Queen = autograph perfection.

Trade with Jack of All Tribe Baseball

Jack (better known as Baseball Dad) saw my plea for help  few weeks ago for some help on my '09 O-Pee-Chee set and contacted me with a list of some cards that would help fill out my set.  I was very happy to get such a huge stack of cards this late in the game.  I sit only 28 cards away from completion.  I think there are some really cool photography in the set that gets over looked for some reason.  There are also a lot of the standard baseball pose shots too.  Not a knock on Jack or his cards, but there were a ton of the lame-ass baseball pose shots in the stack he sent.  I think that might be why I'm not into Topps Heritage that much other than buying a few sample packs.  Too many posed, hat-less cards.  Baseball players wear hats.  Anyways, Baseball Dad did send 2 other Orioles cards I wasn't expecting.

I'm really digging this card.  While the purple borders don't match anybody's uniforms but the Rockies, this is still a sweet card.  The scan makes it look black but I assure you its purple By looking at the uniforms the O's are wearing, they look like throwbacks.  Ask me what day or game they wore them last year, and you get a big "I don't know"!

B.D. also was able to find a Cal Ripken card I didn't have, which I keep saying is a rarity these days.  Anyways, I think this card is the black un-numbered retail parallel from '08 Baseball Heroes.  With Cal appearing on 3 different cards in the base set, that means he quite possibly have eleventy billion parallels to chase down.


Thanks for the great cards Jack!

Trade with Brian of Play at the Plate

I was contacted by Brain from PATP a few weeks ago asking for my address and saying that he had a nice stack of Orioles ready to send me.  Of course I sent my address along and started to wonder what he might be sending.  I had been saving a stack of Rangers for him so I dropped those in the mail as soon as I could.  A few days went by and these awesome cards ended up at my house.

I can't complain with 2 Oriole HOFers, especially high-end parallels.  Marquee is out of my price range but I have picked up a bunch of O's from trades and shows for bargain bin prices.  I can honestly say I've never busted a pack that is more expensive than 5 bucks other than Jumbo packs of Topps flagship.

I think Brian mentioned he had the Orioles in a group break randomly assigned to him.  I think that's where the Sepia Markakis and the Heritage Chrome Jones came from.  Lucky pulls for him me!

The Orange parallel Britton and the Orange Jones above came out of the retail Chrome value packs.  I almost pulled the trigger on buying both on COMC but I'm glad I didn't since I was able to trade for them.  Now all I need is Derrek Lee and Nick Markakis to finish up the team set.  I also scanned the regular Chrome version of Britton just cuz I think it's his best looking rookie card of the year.  For some reason, the horizontal picture just does it for me!

Thanks Brian for the great cards!  I've already started a new Rangers stack with your name on it for our next trade.

2012 Orioles Fanfest: Signed 8x10s

Alright here's my last post about the autographs I got at FanFest this year.  Both of these will proudly join my other 8x10s that I have hanging on the wall in my office/mancave.  Without further ado:

Adam Jones in a nice classic batting stance ready to swing.  I've gotten Adam's autograph TTM and even in one of the group breaks here on the blogs but never in person.  My thinking is that I better get his autograph while I can since he's been linked in trade talks to any team looking for good young ballplayers.  On a side note, I was reading an interview he did during the event that said he is open to a contract extension and staying in Baltimore for a long time.  Apparently he loves playing in Baltimore and wants to be part of the future here.  This is contrary to what has been "the popular opinion" in the media that he covets playing for a team closer to his home in California.  I personally would like to see him stick around for a long time as long as he continues to produce on the field.

From the present center fielder to a past center fielder. BRADY ANDERSON!  Obviously this is my favorite item of the show.  I've been a Brady fan since him and Cal were fixtures in the Orioles lineup.  It was a thrill to meet him and get his autograph in person.  Until recently, he hadn't been around the team much since his retirement so getting his autograph has been a little tougher than usual.  I'm very happy that he is back in the organization and is working out with the younger orioles players and teaching them about the game.  Brady is still in great shape and it looks like he could still get out there and play at a high level.  I don't think there is anybody better qualified to show these guys the ropes like Brady can!

So, that concludes my FanFest experience for this year.  I'm already looking forward to next year when Mike Mussina makes an appearance!  I can dream!

Topps Diamond Giveaway: The Shipment

I've been pretty quiet this year about the Topps Diamond Giveaway.  While I thought that the idea was cool last year, I wasn't sure what to think of it this year with the addition of the rings, diamond diecuts, and diamond embedded cards.  I guess everything turned out ok for me last year as I got all my cards in decent shape except I had to wait longer for my 1972 Topps Jim Palmer.

Since I'm not planning on buying anymore 2011 Topps cards and I've entered all 37 of my code cards, I decided to get my cards shipped to me to avoid the last minute rush of collectors cashing out there portfolios.  Out of the 37 codes entered, I ended up with 8 cards being shipped to me. This was by design because the shipping charges are a little high so quality over quantity wins in my book this time. I traded away a lot of crap cards I had no interest in for cards that I really wanted.

The following cards are brought to you by the number 2 and the Baltimore Orioles:

2 horizontal Orioles cards that fill needs in my binders.  Topps didn't bother coloring Stone's A's uniform!

2 1967 Topps Orioles for the teams set.  Lau is 40 years ahead of his time with the douchey non-curved hat bill.

2 1969 Topps Orioles that I surprisingly hadn't found in any bargain bin before now.  Topps was lazy again with the photoshopping on Richert's jersey.  You can see the pinstripes and the end of the Senator's logo in the bottom right of the photo.

2 positions were played by Mark Reynolds this season: home run and strikeout. 3rd base and 1st base.  I have a soft spot for Reynolds since I own his 136th career homerun ball.

2 Diamond Diecuts that I was able to trade for:  I was offered Jones for the Ethier I redeemed and got Reynolds for the offer of Youkilis.  Do you think these were good trades or did I get fleeced?