Trade with Adam of Arpsmith's Sportscard Obsession

I just completed a trade with Adam of the relatively new blog ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession.  Adam has been around the blogosphere for a while but just recently took the plunge and started writing his own.  He's a Giants fan so I sent him a bunch of cards from his wantlists and the 3 Willie Mays inserts I pulled from my Gypsy Queen packs.

This is the card that started the whole trade.  A mini of JJ Hardy.  James Jerry had a great year last year coming over from the Twins and it earned him a 3 year contract to stick around in Charm City and hand off SS duties to super prospect Manny Machado when he's ready.  Both have had slow starts to the season but I'm sure as the weather warms, so will their bats.  If anybody else has any mini Orioles from Gypsy Queen (especially the regular back minis) let me know, I'd love to trade with you.

Adam was also able to send a few Cal Ripkens that I didn't have before.  I chose this one card to show because he's wearing sunglasses while batting.  I think this is the only card that I own that shows him donning the shades while batting.

I still have a soft spot for Larry Bigbie.  Thanks a lot David Segui for ruining his career.  I really like this shot of Larry taking a secondary lead from 1st base.  You just don't see this odd camera angle that often.

Here's the first of two firsts that was sent to me.  This is my first Roberto Alomar relic card.  Though it is just a plain grey swatch, I still like the card.  Donruss Champions was a pretty neat set when it came to the relic and autograph cards but the base set was a little bit of a mess design wise.  There was just too much empty space for my liking.

And here's the second of my firsts.  A Lou Aparicio Bat card.  I think my buddy William also got one of these in a trade recently.  It's a really classy looking card in my opinion of a great player.  Everybody says that Frank Robinson was the missing piece that was added to the 1966 WS Champion squad before the season started.  That's true but Lou was an integral part who was aquired 3 years before the 66 season.  In my humble opinion, Little Louie was just as big a part of the team as the Robinsons were and I think a lot of people inadvertently forget that.

Thanks for the awesome trade Adam, I can't wait to trade with you again!

My Gypsy Queen Breaks

I couldn't resist the urge to rip some packs so I picked up 4 rack packs of 2012 Gypsy Queen over the past 2 days.  I think the cards look nice but the huge Gypsy Queen logo is a little distracting.  The player selections seems to be spot on with current players and retired ones too.  These packs are a lot of fun to open ( I guess that's why I made 2 separate trips to Wal-Mart and Target to buy some!).  Soooo you're probably interested to see what I got huh?  Here we go:

 These aren't the hobby exclusive mini inserts, just 3 Willie Mays cards out of 12 packs!  Too bad I don't collect the Say Hey Kid.

 The Blue Framed paper cards look pretty awesome.  I don't think that I could have gotten a better team since the Dodger blue matches the border so well.  I'm pretty sure this card won't last in my for trade list very long.

 Here's the 4 Photo Variation shortprints.  Another Kemp, Ryan Howard, Nelson Cruz and Joey Votto.  Who's the best player in the group?

And here come the mini's.  A Dan Haren Green, and Black Bordered Prince Fielder and Dee Gordon.  I like the Black borders but the Greenie doesn't do anything for me.  It's just another parallel for me to chase of Nick Markakis.

Alright, Here's the rest of what I pulled and what's for trade:

Photo Variation SP's: 83 Howard, 220 Votto

Retail Exclusive Gold Borders: 6 Moore, 10 Halladay, 50 M. Cabrera, 197 Freese, 231 Dawson(2),  249 Musial, 294 R. Jackson

Minis: 155 Yovani Gallardo, 271 Weaver, 295 Gooden

Red Back Mini: 261 Smoltz, 277 Worley

Black Border Mini: 124 Dee Gordon

Green Border Mini: 148 Haren

Straight Cut Mini: 19 S. Smith

Glove Stories: GS-TR Trayvon Robinson

Moonshots: MS-RH Ryan Howard

Future Stars: FS-JH Jeremy Hellickson, FS-JU Justin Upton

Good News Comes in Bunches

Well at least in 2's.  Adam aka Spankee, the genius behind "My Cardboard Mistress" announced his good news earlier today so I'm going to make another life changing announcement of my own.

Last week, the wifey and I got some good news.  We bought our first house!  We put in an offer on a house in mid-March and had it accepted by the homeowner and bank.  The real thing that makes the whole process incredible is that the house was a short sale.  Anybody who has dealt with a short sale before knows that they can take a long time to get approved.  Friends of ours had to wait 6 months for approval!  Ours went through in a little over 2 weeks.

We're both really stoked about moving into OUR house.  I actually own the house we live in but we have simply outgrown it.  We are only 2 people and a very energetic boxer named Heidi.  For the 3 living beings in the 980 sq.ft house, we have a lot of things.  I will now get my own mancave where I can have all of my baseball cards, collectables, and video games in its own dedicated room!

Orioles @ Tides IP Autograph #23

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.

#23) BRADY ANDERSON!!!

HOLY CRAP!  I was totally unprepared for Brady to be there but a fellow autograph collector named Mike hooked me up with this 1999 Topps card.  1999 Topps is one of my favorite Topps sets overall and probably one of my favorite Brady cards.  He looks to be in full home run trot after hitting one into the flag court.

He signed for a ton of people before the game.  He was actually working out with Brian Roberts in the outfield.  HE WAS OUTRUNNING BRIAN BY SEVERAL STEPS!  I swear he could still play!

So this concludes autograph weekend here on the old blog.  I hope I didn't get on anybody's nerves by my posts popping up every hour but I felt the need to show off my bounty from Norfolk.  

Orioles @ Tides IP Autograph #22

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.

#22 Brad Bergesen


I have a soft spot for Bergy since I was at Camden Yards during his MLB Debut.  I hope he regains his sinker this year and makes it back with the big club.  Damn you Billy Butler!

Orioles @ Tides IP Autograph #21

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.

#21) Ryan Adams


I got Ryan's autograph right before the game started.  They were landing a Helicopter in centerfield at the time.  I asked him and Xavier Avery if they had ever seen a helicopter on the field before a game before and neither had.

Orioles @ Tides IP Autograph #20

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.

#20) Zelous Wheeler


I know the other day I was lamenting how nobody has cool nicknames in baseball anymore.  Well Zelous isn't a nickname but it is the coolest name on the Orioles 40 man roster.  Zelous also had a few good plays  during the game.

Orioles @ Tides IP Autograph #19

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.

#19) Josh Bell


I finally got Josh before the game.  I've sent him TTM but haven't gotten anything back.  No more wasted stamps for Josh again.