Trade with Johnny of Cards from the Quarry

Happy Memorial Day Everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying the 3 day weekend!

I just wanted to thank Johnny for trading me a bunch of 2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee cards for some Rockies cards I had for him.

I am officially going to build the set and I'm going to try and do it by trading cards I already have for them. I'm just going for the base set at this point but I also am interested in the Orioles black border cards so let me know if you have any of either to trade me.

Group Break cards from Cards from the Quarry

While I didn't get anything spectacular from hiflew's inaugural Group break, I did land some nice cards to add to my Orioles binders. I'm really enjoying all the breaks that I've been able to take part in recently. Only the cards you want and none of the leftover trash (wrappers) afterwards!

I don't know what else to say about Mike that I haven't said before but I like this card a lot. With this card it brings me down to 1 card needed for the team set (Sidney Ponson).

2008 Upper Deck Documentary has really grown on me the last few months. I started off hating it now they aren't so bad. I got a huge heap of them in this break so I'm well on my way to collecting all 162 Orioles cards in the future. If you have any to trade, let me know!

I'm not sure a lot of people know that Mike Fontenot was once and Orioles farmhand. He was drafted by them but was traded in the Sammy Sosa deal. I also have an in person autograph of him floating around here somewhere that I should show in the future.

I actually won this card in the randomization at the end of the break. It's the first time in my blogging career that I have won a contest or even a randomization. I'm happy to have this card of Ichiro as I have an elevated interest in his cards since I am part Japanese. I don't have a dedicated binder or anything for him but I'm always happy to acquire cards of him.

I want to Thank Johnny for holding the group break. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next month!

Trade with Dan of the Other World

Along with the group break cards that I posted yesterday, Dan also sent along some cards to complete our trade that we agreed upon during the packs being busted. Here's a few of the nice ones:

This Aubrey Huff from 2009 Finest finishes of my team set. I'm interested to see how this year's Finest turns out.

It sure is neat to see Arthur Rhodes still around. I think this year he's pitching for Texas. I know earlier in his career when he was with the O's he was a starter but he sure didn't his his stride until converting to a bullpen arm.

And here's a nice Ripken that I didn't have before. I have the Chrome version but I actually like this one better. It just looks better as the regular version.

Thanks to Dan for the nice cards.

Group Break Cards from the Other World

Here's the first of a few group break posts that will be going up over the next few days. This break comes to you courtesy of the Other World. Dan's selection of boxes was intriguing and I definitely had to get in on this one. I'm really glad I did. I picked the Orioles (of course) and my randomed team was the Astros. Here's the goods:

I've always liked Topps Gallery but I have a very precious few of them. This Marty Cordova helps me cross another card off my wantlists. I need more Gallery Orioles!

This mini Old Mill back of Jeremy Guthrie reminds me of the miniscule amount of runs the O's score for him while he's toeing the rubber.

Here's one of the many colored paralells from 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes of Luke Scott. I'm not able to feature many of Luke's cards because there just aren't that many of them. I don't understand why he doesn't get more hobby love because he is a legit power hitter.

Here's a pretty nice numbered insert card from the 2005 Upper Deck Classics box of Brooksie. He just celebrated a birthday last week. Here's to many more!

Here's the meat of the break for me. I think I did rather well with getting a relic card from both teams I picked. The real kicker is that I already had pulled the same exact Tejada from my own box last fall and traded it. I'm really happy with the Ripken Relic card too. One of these days I'd love to be able to pull some mojo of him out of a pack on my own. I can dream!

Here's a list of Astros that I have for trade along with Mr. Tejada from the break. Let me know if you see any you need.

Astros:

2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes: J.R. Towles, Hunter Pence, Roy Oswalt,

2009 Topps 206: Ivan Rodriguez, Roy Oswalt, Hunter Pence, Carlos Lee

2002 Topps Total: Jeff Bagwell, Mike Hill, Carlos Hernandez, Richard Hidalgo, Brian L. Hunter, Scott Linebrink, Orlando Merced, Brandon Puffer,

2003 Topps Gallery: Roy Oswalt, Jeff Kent

5-19-11: Bowie Baysox @ Richmond Flying Squirrels

I'm finally getting around to writing about this game nearly a week after the game has been over! This was one of the most interesting games I've been to in person and absolutely the best pitcher's duel hands down. This game started at 7:05pm and ended at 11:50 pm. Nearly 5 hours and I barely missed a pitch except for the home half of the 3rd when I left my seat to grab a bite to eat. Let's back up a bit to the pregame though.

I arrived at The Diamond at about 5:30 in hopes of collecting some 'graphs of the Orioles farmhands. I'd say it was a successful outing in that regard. I ended up with 6 of my "Top Prospect" cards, and 5 regular cards signed. Among the regular cards I got signed was this card of Dan Klein. I asked him if he had ever seen one and he said it was the second. He really studied the card hard and pointed out to me that they (Topps) must have airbrushed the Orioles onto his jersey because he only used an Easton Glove in college. I told him Topps is famous for airbrushing cards.

Nick Bierbrodt was a spring training invite pick up for the Orioles this year. I remember him when he pitched with the Diamondbacks a while back among other teams. He asked me if he really wanted me to sign this card because "I think I'm past the Top Prospect part of my career". I insisted and he signed it anyway! He would go onto play a large role much later in the game. His veteran arm pitched 4 scoreless extra innings in relief and showed the youngins how it was done! Hats off to you, sir!
So the game started and with Richmond scoring in the first inning and Bowie fighting back for 1 run in the third. The score remained tied until the 10th inning when Bowie Outfielder Xavier Avery got a BROKEN BAT single deep into the 5-6 hole and later came around to score. All Bowie needed was to get 3 outs and the game was over.... Not this night!

After some shoddy defense, Richmond scored a single run in the bottom of the inning and the marathon game was on.

Now I capitalized the BROKEN BAT for a reason. I seemingly was the only Orioles fan in the stands near the Baysox dugout and pitcher Eddie Gamboa gave me a nod and thumbs up pointing to my hat. So after Avery broke the bat, Gamboa was playing around with it in the dugout and talking with his teammates. In the bottom of the 15th he looks at me (the only person within 30 feet of me) and gives me a look like "You're still here? You must really be a fan!" I put my hands together like I was holding the bat and he motions for me to come and get it!!! BADASS! Here's the Picture of it:

Though it's cracked on the handle and isn't good for anything but kindling. BUT I HAVE A GAME-USED BAT!!!

Anyways, back to the game, the Baysox were able to push across one run on a walk, sac bunt, and a double by Ronnie Welty (his only hit of the game). Richmond went quietly in the bottom of the 16th.

The Fireworks after the game was almost postponed because of a city ordinance that wouldn't allow them after 12 midnight. Luckily for the few hundred fans that stayed, the fireworks were really nice. It kinda got me in the summer mood. Then I realized that I needed to be on my way to work in 5 hours!

It was a long night considering the night before I had watched the Orioles on TV go 14 innings and end just after midnight. In two days I had watched 30 innings of ball but it was all worth it!

So I'll leave you with a question, What was the longest game you have been involved in or watched in person?

The Bowman Retail Bug

So in an effort to fill out my base set and prospects set I've bought a metric ton of 2011 Bowman rack packs. Searching various forums, the blogs, and trusting my own gut, I've determined that rack packs are the way to go with just about any product. This year's Bowman is no exception. These things are loaded! I've feel that I've been extremely lucky with my pulls so results are not typical. Here's some of the goods that I've pulled out of roughly 20 rack packs from various stores around my area (2 different Wal-Marts and 2 different Targets).

Here's the 4 autographs I've been fortunate to pull. I think Choice might be the best out of the bunch but I'm happy to have them all.

Here's a few of my Army of Green parallels. Why did Topps number them to 450?

I got a few Orange and Blue parallels too:

And the Internationals I got. I'm pretty happy to get the Matusz so I don't have to chase that one down on eBay.

I pulled 4 purple refractors but 1 was a double of the Red Sox guy (of course)

and one regular refractor

I also was able to get lucky and get 6 Bryce Harpers. 3 Chromes and 3 regular prospect cards. I'm keeping 1 chrome and 2 regulars so the others are for trade. The crazy thing is after getting none in my HTA box, my first rack pack yielded a Chrome and a base in the same pack!

I've got a bunch of inserts that I am too tired and lazy to list here so if you are looking for a specific player, please leave a comment.

Box Break: 2011 Bowman HTA Jumbo

Since I am a big Bowman Collector, I pre-ordered a Jumbo box of the 2011 iteration way back in January. I always enjoy reading the backs of the prospect cards and gleaning out which are are the true Major League quality prospects and the set filler guys. Probably my favorite section on the back is the "Up Close" section. There are always interesting tidbits of information on the player that any self respecting Jeopardy fan would love (I'm addicted to the show!).

I know a lot of collectors that arent' huge fans of Bowman for various reasons (crazy-ass numbering system, prospects that never pan out, etc...) but I look forward to it year after year. I'm not a "Rookie Card Investor" by any means but I do like to see the next wave of players on the way to the show. So, here's the goods from my box:

I got loads of base cards, prospects, golds and Chrome prospect cards. It's a good start on the set. Nobody wants to see anymore of these so I'll spare you. But if you have needs, let me know and I'm sure we can trade.

Chrome Prospect Refractors seem to be a little more rare this year. I got two: Chris Dennis, Brandon Guyer. Guyer already made the majors this year and jacked a homer in his first At-Bat.

Gold Refractor: Everett Teaford 17/50. I did get some color in this box (more farther down) so that's exciting I guess. I don't know if Teaford is a hot prospect for the Royals or not. They have so many nice young players down on the farm to keep track of.

The box also produced the promised amounts of regular parallels too. I got one Orange Border; Adam Dunn and three blue borders; Josh Hamilton, Michael Spina and JA Happ. No Orioles but I'll take'em for trade bait. I also got one International Parallel of Jack Shuck. I'm happy to see these back after a 10+ year lay-off. I wish they were one per pack though in place of the gold bordered parallels

I feel that this year there are a couple too many inserts. I like the Topps 100 Prospects, Bowman's Best and Finest Futures but I think I could go with out the others. I don't even remember the names they are so forgettable. The one notable Bowman's Best card I got was Bryce Harper. Again, everyone has seen this card before. It is interesting to note that this was my only Harper I got out of the entire Jumbo box though. I'm a little disappointed.

Printing Plate: Bowman Prospects Nate Freiman. Well what can I say about Printing plates... I just don't see the point in Topps putting them in products. Yeah they are one of a kind but I don't even consider them "Hits". They are worthless pieces of junk to me.

Bowman Chrome Prospect Autograph Matt Hague. According to the back of the card, Matt is not a bad Prospect. We'll see how he turns out in a few years. First Base Prospects haven't panned out well for Pittsburgh recently. Rico Washington, Brad Eldred, Walter Jones or Steve Pearce ring any bells?

Orange Refractor Autograph Sean Coyle 2/25. This is a pretty rare card I believe. Leave it to me to pull a BIG MOJO HIT of an AL East rival of the Orioles. It's either dumb luck on my part or that Topps is swayed towards the Red Sox and Yankees that I keep pulling these cards. I haven't decided whether or not to hang on to this card or not.

Here is my third promised autograph card of the box. I don't get really upset with pulling redemption cards. I understand their place in the hobby. I know that the players have lives and don't have all day to sit around autographing cards all day long and that Topps has printing deadlines that must be met. It's a minor inconvenience to type in the redemption code or mail the card in but I think it's worth it in the long run.

From doing a little bit of research, I have found out that the three possible rookie autographs I could possibly get are Freddie Freeman, Aroldis Chapman and Lars Anderson. I would really be thrilled to get Freddie, happy with Chapman and disappointed with Anderson. Since Anderson plays in the Red Sox Organization, I wouldn't be surprised if I got him!

Well there you have it. I'm pleased with what I got but not overwhelmed. I didn't get a Chrome or base Harper prospect so I'll have to buy some retail to hopefully get lucky. I've already started my retail binge of Rack Packs and I've already got some nice cards to show off from those packs at another time.... Until then I will leave you in suspense.

Thanks for reading!

Take a Closer Look at your 2011 Bowman cards

One of my favorite things about Bowman is the Scouting Reports on the backs of the cards. I like the Resume part that tells about what the player has done in the past, the Skills portion that tells about the player's tools and specifically the Up Close Portion. I'm going to hold just a little contest for fun.

Go look at the backs of your 2011 Bowman Prospects cards and find the oddest or coolest fact that you can and post it here. Post it here along with the card # and the player. Also feel free to add a snarky comment or two

I'm not giving away any prizes but I think everybody can have some fun with this.

Here's an example of the one I found:

BP73 Kevin Rivers..... Says he is afraid of birds. (I hope he never gets traded to the Jays, Orioles or Cardinals)