Trade with reader Cam

I just received a trade package from one of my blog readers, Cam from Pennsylvania. For a whole mess of 2010 Topps commons he sent me a lot of O's I need and a bunch of 2009 Upper Decks I need to complete my set. Here are some of the highlights that I recieved:

2007 Topps Allen & Ginter Corey Patterson. I know during his first go around with the Birds he was not the on base machine he has been during his second stint. I think the prospect tag is gone from Corey and he now knows that he actually has to play well to stay in the majors.

1993 Studio Mike Mussina. I like the ultra-closeup of the bird logo on an O's hat, the holographic foil stamping in the brand logo and facsimile autograph. Also, Mike Mussina is pictured. Nothing wrong with that.

2002 Upper Deck Victory Tim Raines Jr. I'm not sure why Tim Jr didn't pan out. I guess having a dad who was one of the best players in the 80's does not guarantee success. I guess it's just testament to the game that baseball is a tough game to play.

2009 Upper Deck Spectrum Brian Roberts. A nice shiny Brian Roberts. I like Brian Roberts but I don't love Brian Roberts like some fans do. It has a lot to do with the steroids issue. His name was leaked from the infamous Mitchell Report. Even though he said he only used one single time, he still used. I still wrestle with feelings about him and his actions to this day. I know the feeling I have right now is that the O's need him back in a hurry.

That's all for now. Thanks Cam for a nice trade and good luck with the rest of your 2010 Topps set!

Trade with Thorzul

This is going to be a quick post because its Friday and I got stuff to do! The shortness of this post is in no was lack of appreciation of the trade from Thorzul. I really enjoyed this trade.

1983 Fleer Dennis Martinez. "El Presidente" seemed to pitch forever. Most of his career was in the Orioles organization, but was probably best known for his Perfect Game he pitched for les Expos.

1997 Fleer Eric Davis. I wish Eric would have stuck around with the Orioles for longer than he did. He swung a mean power bat while in Baltimore. He never got cheated at the plate.

1997 Topps Finest BJ Surhoff. I always enjoyed watching BJ play. I always thought that if you looked in the dictionary, you would find him under the definition of "Gamer". I also think that he would make a good manager.

Thanks again Thorzul for the trade.

Trade with Night Owl

I've been in a funk lately and haven't had much to post about. Today I got home from work and found a package from Night Owl. Here are some of my favorites from the trade we made.

2007 Upper Deck Future Stars Nick Markakis. Well the Future is now. Nick is our only Bona-fide star right now.

2009 O-Pee-Chee Aubrey Huff. The way garrett atkins has played as Huff-Daddy's replacement this year I really miss him. He's had an average start to the season in San Francisco. Decent average and a few homeruns. Atkins has zero!

2008 Upper Deck Heroes Brian Roberts. Heard Brian has pneumonia now. This guy just can't stay healthy this year. The back, the neck, stomach problems.... geez. Get well B-Rob, we need you back really bad.

2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Brooks Robinson. I really like this set. I hope to build the complete set one day. "Hoover" had a birthday the other day. Here's to many, many more. Happy Belated Brooksie!

2009 Topps T-206 Copper Border Nolan Reimold. I really hope that Nolan gets his hitting straightened out at AAA Norfolk, be cause we really need his power stroke in the lineup. He's still getting over his Achilles injury from last season so I think he will rebound soon.

Thanks for the great trade Night Owl, you helped fill some holes in my O's collection!

Disaster Week sponsored by Pure Misery

The past week has been a real piece of shit. There is no other way to sugar coat it.

On Thursday of last week I eagerly rushed home to start opening my 2 boxes of 2010 Bowman Baseball. Well I ripped the first few packs of the first box and noticed that ALL of the Chrome Prospect cards in the box were miscut. How disappointing! I was really looking forward to this release this year. About halfway through the box, my girlfriend called to tell me that her job will no longer exist as of June 30th. Purely a victim of the crappy economy of Virginia and the armpit of society that Richmond is. We kind of had an idea that this would happen so she has been unsuccessfully searching for a new job since March.

Friday rolls around and I get home from work to open my second box of Bowman. Well, this box was also miscut so I'm getting pretty mad now. I called Topps customer support at 4:40pm and get a recorded message that they are closed. Their business hours are from 8:30 to 4:30 pm, Monday thru Friday. GEEZ, I can't catch a break. Now I get to sit and stew all weekend with messed up Chrome cards sitting on my desk.

Saturday I was going to attend a card show I had never been to. I was at a flea market type place and they were having a 10 year celebration that day. Surely I would be able to pick up some good cards at reasonable prices. HA! When we arrived we walked the entire flea market and found 2 dealers that had regular "card shops". One had singles in toploaders. When I got to a 1991 Score Pedro Guererro for $2 I decided not to waste my money. He seemed more interested in selling those stupid flags that everyone hangs on the top of their car windows. The other dealer I came across was selling 1990 Donruss and 1990 Fleer wax packs for $1 a pack. Yeah Right. What a total bust of a card show if you can call it that. The rest of the weekend was relatively quiet.

Monday morning I called Topps and they told me to send the damaged cards back at my expense and that they would "look into the problem" and "maybe replace the cards". I'll keep you posted...

Monday afternoon at work, an email came that had urgent in the subject line. It called for an all hands meeting on Tuesday Morning 8:30am. All 3 shifts, report directly to the specified meeting area. UH-OH. The rumor mill has been going full tilt for the last 8 or so months since a larger pharmaceutical company "merged" with ours.

So this morning at the meeting 550 employees of the Richmond manufacturing plant of the largest pharmaceutical company in the world learned that they going to be losing their jobs. That's right, EVERYBODY will be out of a job within 2 or 3 years. I do not understand how the #2 out of 78 worldwide manufacturing plants is not a "viable site" in the company's "worldwide strategy". I just don't get it.

So since we all got to go home early today, I decided to check on my Beckett marketplace orders that I placed just over a month ago. I have been wondering why I still haven't gotten them yet. Well, due to a stupid mistake about $100 worth of cards from my set wantlist are floating around in the mail, trash or somebody else's collection. I haven't ordered from the Beckett Marketplace in almost 4 years. 3 1/2 years ago I moved into my own house (which will probably be on the Real Estate Market soon). I had my orders shipped to my old apartment by mistake. I went by the old (ghetto) neighborhood and the person that lives in my old aparment "has not even seen any mail with my name on it". The post office can't help me either. The same old postmaster that was an ass to me 4 years ago was an even bigger asshole to me today. He wouldn't even go into the back and see if the packages were there. So now I am relying on the actual sellers of the cards to see if the packages will be returned to them. Chances are, I'll never see these cards.

Thanks for reading my rant. I'm sorry for the long post, I just needed some kind of release. I hope I didn't bore you too much. When it rains it pours. BTW anybody need an Instrumentation Technician or in the market for a house in the Richmond area? Hopefully I can calm down and get back to a regular post in the next few days.

Squinty McBigtooth

Garrett Atkins I am done with you. You are statistically the worst 1st baseman in the American League. I wish you had never come to Baltimore to play for our team. I am tired of watching your really killing 35-hopper worm burner double play ground balls. I am sick of seeing you take up space on the Orioles roster. Enjoy your time in Baltimore, because most likely this will be the last time you play in the Bigs.

2010 Bowman Orioles by the box pt.2

Here are the Orioles I pulled from box #2. I got a few nice inserts in this box.

I'm off to baseball practice of my own. Have a good afternoon!

2010 Bowman box break #2

Here is the second hobby box of 2010 Bowman Baseball as I promised:

Jason Heyward Rookie! I was pretty excited to get a true Heyward rookie card. Looks like he's the favorite for the NL ROY at this point in the season.

Dustin Ackley Chrome Refractor #'d 117/777. This guy led college hitters last spring with a .417 Batting average. Wow. Nice looking card but it didn't scan so well.

Joey Votto Blue Parallel #'d 263/520. Nice action shot of one of the Reds young guns.

Josh Donaldson Chrome refractor autograph #'d 162/500. This card might be a case hit. I'm not sure though. He has a very nice autograph that you can at least make out some of the letters.

Caleb Joseph Bowman Chrome Prospect. I chose this one for a few reasons. 1. He is an Orioles Prospect, duh. 2. He seems to be a student of the game and really enjoys coming to the park on a daily basis. Sometimes he doesn't leave and stays in the clubhouse overnight!. 2. As you can see this box yielded 39 off-center Chromes. Geez Topps. This box was off-center left to right. I can expect this from cards from the 70s and 80s but not these days. I will be giving them a call Monday morning for sure.

2010 Bowman Orioles by the box pt.1

Please enjoy this Gallery of Orioles I pulled from box #1:

Enjoy your Saturday!