Congrats Mets Fans

Congrats to the long suffering Mets fans about never having a no-no.

Johan Santana just became your all-time hero.Way to go.

Just a short post to congradulate the Mets and their fans.Now its time for the Padres to get one.

A. L. Report

First post in a series on the standings throughout the year.

The American League

East
Baltimore        20-12 ---
Tampa Bay      20-12 ---
Toronto           18-14  2.0
New York       17-14  2.5
Boston             12-19  7.5

One word comes to mind,WOW...never did I think that the powerhouse/money guys would be 4th and 5th.....yeah,I predicted the Yanks to be 4th,but,that was just because I hate them.

I hope the O's can continue to actually play good against the Yanks,they usually never do.

Go Rays and Jays.

Central
Cleveland       18-13  ---
Detroit            16-15  2.0
Chicago          15-17  3.5
Kansas City    11-19  6.5
Minnesota        8-23  10.0

Only comment here is how bad the Royals are showing themselves so far.I figured Minnesota would not have a great year and it doesn't surprise me at all.

West
Texas             21-11  ---
Oakland         16-16  5.0
Seattle            15-18  6.5
Los Angeles   14-18  7.0

Texas is slowly running away with it,but I wont count out the Angels.The A's are playing above their heads and it will slow down soon.

So,if season ended yesterday,the O's and Rays would have to have a one game playoff for the division title and loser would play the Jays for the Wild Card in another one-game playoff.

The Indians and Rangers would also be in.................so,no Angels,Redsox,Yanks or Tigers....Oh my.

I know its early,but Wow,things are not going that great in a few cities so far and I haven't even done the N.L. yet.

Any comments?

Favorite Baseball Announcers

I have been swamped at work and thankfully making a few sales on ebay which has kept me busy like crazy.

Also,baseball has started and i watch as much as i can,free preview just ended and now i only have limited amount of games to see.

The channel i watch most is the MLB Network,but i'm in the Braves territory,so i get Braves games on their 3 different networks.

While i had the free preview,i try and watch the broadcasters from all of the teams and see who i like and who i dont like......without my YES prejudice.

I grew up listening to Milo Hamilton on the Astros radio network and on the TV side,i've always enjoyed Chip Carey,because he also did the Orlando Magic games when i lived in Florida.

Who are your favorites and from what team.

2012 Predictions

2 down,2428 to go.......Number of regular season games that are supposed to be played.Two have finished playing in Japan,now the North American games begin soon.

Every year i try and predict the outcome of the season,this year will be very scary as i will be able to look back at in print and say how waaaaayyyyyy off i was.

National League
East
1. Phillies
2. Nationals
3. Braves
4. Marlins
5. Mets

I do think even with all of the injuries the Phils have,they will overcome them because of their pitching staff.
Braves and Nats will battle for second and Nats will win it in late Sept.

Central
1. Cardinals
2. Pirates
3. Reds
4. Brewers
5. Cubs
6. Astros

I'll start by saying its alot easier to predict the bottom as both the Cubs and Astros will really stink this year(it pains me as i grew up listening to Milo call the games on the radio).
Even with Pujols gone,i dont see the Reds,Pirates or Brewers having enough to overtake them.

West
1. Rockies
2. D-Backs
3. Giants
4. Dodgers
5. Padres

Toss up for me,as i find myself surprised about last years D-Backs team and wonder if they have it for 2 years in a row,then i'll be drinking the kool-aid.Rockies look good so far in spring and i actually like the look of this team.

American League
East
1. Rays
2. Redsox
3. Bluejays
4. Yankees
5. Orioles

Hey,i could dream right.....if you dont know,i hate the Yanks and i love 29 teams and hate 1.Truth be told,they look good this year,but i will cheer my a$$ off for the other 3 and hope Yanks dont make the playoffs.,However,I do see the Rays winning the division.

Central
1. Tigers
2. Royals
3. Indians
4. Twins
5. Whitesox

Wow,where do i start,easy division for the Tigers,most likely by at least 15 games.I like the Royals to compete for the Wild Card.Twins and Whitesox will not be too fun to watch this year.

West
1. Rangers
2. Angels
3. A's
4. Mariners
5. Astros(early 2013 prediction)

I think the Angels have too much ground to make up to catch the Rangers.

Wild Card Teams
N.L.
Nats,Braves and Pirates will battle till the end and Pirates will be looking at the game on TV.

A.L.
Redsox,Jays and Royals will battle it out and the Yankees will be the spoilers and Bluejays will go home.

I'll make predictions after the season for the playoffs.But if everything goes well,i see the Rays and Phillies in the World Series.

Thats mine,whats yours??

HELP Please,Going to Atlanta

I have read a bunch of posts from alot of bloggers in the last few months,but cant remember who had the blog i'm looking for.
Someone posted a "review" of the Atlanta,GA. card shops,please direct me to that blog,i will be going to Atlanta soon and would like to know who has the better "dime boxes","team boxes",etc.

Thanks for any help.

Work and MLB Network

Wow,work has been fun lately......wait,wrong part of post,work has su%^ed lately,there we go,working wayyyyy too many hours.At least when i'm at home and wife and kid aren't wanting to do something to occupy my time,i GET to watch BASEBALL.

Literally,i have have been watching Baseball on my local channel for the Braves,WGN for the Cubs or WSox,ESPN for an occasional game,but mainly MLB Network for non-stop baseball games at any time of day or night.I woke up at 2:00am,put tv on,a game,4pm,a game......this is so cool.

Can we have non-stop games during the regular season? Probably not,oh well,enjoy it while you can.

Really,3 days in a row

Dont get me wrong,i'm glad there is a channel on my TV that actually has baseball games to watch.MLB Network is and has been the best network on my television for years now.

BUT.

Yankees VS. Phillies for 3 days in a row,come on.I mean on Sunday,the network showed 3 games that all started at 1pm est.,so of course they pick the Yanks game to be live and the other 2 to be shown on tape delay including Stephen Strasburg's first outing.

Today at least,all 3 games being shown at going to be live,but they cant come up with another game for 1pm,seriously.

If you cant tell,i'm NOT  a Yankees fan and am always sick to my stomach if i have to listen to that egomaniac Michael Kay.....the funny thing is i have always loved Ken Singleton going back to when he played for the O's in the 70's.

At least i can see how the Phils are coming along w/out Howard.

Wins and losses are never important to me during the spring,just hearing the crack of the bat,the catcher's mitt pop and the homeruns and when i used to live where the Nats play,the smell of the popcorn.

Thanks for reading my rant.

Team Checklists

Checklists are needed cards in the collecting world.Knowing who's on what team,you can turn on a tv now a days and see who's there.But......in yesteryear,ok,the 80's and before,you had to count on the back of a team checklist to know that Kiko Garcia was on the 1978 Orioles or Bo Diaz was on the 78 Redsox or that Mike Schmidt was on the 78 Phillies,jk.

The cards kinda changed to make one member of the team stand out,like the Topps Total insert card of Garret Anderson,YES,i said insert.They made them inserts instead of regular cards for that set.The 2009 OPC set had different looks to them,some with the stadium,some with a few players on them(i guess the rest were playing golf and forgot about Upper Deck coming by for a picture).

The early Fleer team checklists had to share it with other teams.Some manufacturers didn't even include team checklists-ie,Donruss.

My favorites had to be with all of the members of the team like the 78's above.

Whats your favorite?

2011-2012 NBA Hoops

The new Hoops cards from this year.

I was thinking about getting some packs,mainly because i saw the price point was only .99c a pack(retail,of course).

Now,i dont know.The box prices have gone nuts on ebay thanks to all of the "Linsanity".

I ran across some 10-11 Donruss cards and actually loved the Panini design(i miss Donruss baseball-the real stuff).

Who is going to collect this basketball set?

Vlad,Johnny,Manny and Raaaaauuuuuuulllllll

Vladimir Guerrero,Johnny Damon,Manny Ramirez and Raul Ibanez........

The 4 OF/DH types that could help a team in some way IF the price or situation is right.

Well,what is the price,hopefully not too much if they actually want to play with spring training starting in most places tomorrow.The leaves the situation,well,thats alot harder to figure out.

The A's could get one of these players and they have been rumored to Manny,but why......to trade them come July 31st for more prospects of course.

The Yanks need/want a DH type to "fill in" when their players aren't in the DH role most of the year.

Who else?

Who else needs them? Who else wants them??

Too bad,some great careers coming close to an end.

Jorge Soler-Where are you going?

A fresh 19 year old outfielder from Cuba is now being entertained to offers to play in major league baseball.There are at least 8 teams that i have heard about wanting this alledged 5 tool player.

Where do you think he'll land?

Do you think he'll be a superstar or a bust?

Will it be a surprise team like Oakland getting Despedres(i think this is how you spell it)?

Oh,where oh where will Jorge Soler be to start 2012.....

Late 90's Color Explosion

I know,i know,nobody likes these overproduced cards from the late 90's.Actually,i do!!!!

Now that i'm back into the collecting and finishing off sets,i'm gonna see how close i am from knocking these explosive cards off my wantlists.

I really do like the design of the 1998 Circa Thunder cards-the "weirdness" (if thats a word)of the mixed up colors,I dont even think there are 2 cards alike and the 1997 Fleer Ultra cards are similiar to me in the sense of different team colors and a lot of sharp pictures(or pitchers-either spelling).

On another note.....If you have unwanted 2012 Gold Inserts,please go and read the post of the year and see why The Night Owl was the 2011 blog of the year.I just started reading these card blogs at beginning of this year and really enjoy his and about 30-40 more on a daily basis.Makes me want to sell some gold......

LCS Trade Day

On Wednesday,i went to my local card shop(ok,only card shop in the area-a good 21 miles from door to door-i calculated)and was told that on Saturday they had a trade day from 2-4pm.So expecting to see maybe 5-10 people,i brought a box of baseball,some new some old,to make trades with.

Got there around 11am because i forgot what the guy told me,was thinking 10-2,so i bought some cards,went to lunch and came back around 1pm.Well,from that point on shocked me,about 30-35 people came in that little store full of comics.

Earlier i said i bought cards from the store while waiting.First card out of the pack was the #1 prime 9 trade card for which the shop gave me the redemption of the Hank Aaron Home Run Legends card above.Sweet card.

The Nolan Ryan was one of many great inserts,but of course,no major pulls,did get in a drawing for a relic,well see???

The Crawford jersey numbered to 50 and the Bourn auto I got for trading a Bowman Strasberg that I received from Ebay last month for .15c shipping included......wow.

The Crawford bowman chrome numbered to 50 and the Glavine tools of the trade card numbered to 50 I got for trading a  Jeter and 2 David Ortiz 2012 classic walkoff inserts of which i had duplicates already.

The Maddux epix card is numbered to 350 and is a great addition to my collection.

As you can see,i collect alot of numbered cards and players like Ryan,Maddux,Randy Johnson,Halladay,and batters like Crawford,Berkman,Sheffield,Ripken,and many more stars......but,Halladay,Maddux,Sheff,Crawford and Berkman- I have a ton of numbered cards under 25 and will always accept more....lol.

Thanks for reading.

2012 Topps

2012 Topps is here.......and i got 3 Nolan Ryan's in 14 packs on his birthday......When they said "Gold",they weren't kidding.....i got 3 golden giveaway cards,4 timeless talents,4 golden greats including 2 different Ty Cobb's,3 gold standard(2 pitcured and Bob Gibson),3 gold parallels,1 gold future,5 golden moments,3 classic walk-offs,and 5 1987 topps minis...........and,of course,no major hit.....kinda expected that coming from retail.

On Wed,when hobby stores get the cards.....i will travel 17 miles one way to the only card shop in the Montgomery,Alabama area........

Kinda cut off the minis.....hey,there small anyways!!

Waiting and Waiting and Waiting

The 2012 baseball season is almost here.......its hard waiting and waiting and ....well,you know,waiting

So,a great distraction is only a few days away.......the 2012 Collecting Season is here,the new 2012 Topps will be out in a few days.

Its a time of year that means that Spring Training is just about to start.

For card collectors,it means no more spending money on old product or on ebay,its all about the 2012 stuff.Wantlists get forgotten about,put aside,lost,you name it........

The baseball season is almost here.

My Wantlists

This will be a work in progress,as i'm old school and use a small memo book to list them.

I'll start by saying i'm close to finishing off a few sets=2001 Topps,2003 Topps,2000 Ultra,2001 MVP,2001 Tradition,2001 Victory,2005 Topps,2006 Fleer,2005 Tradition

Then there are sets i'm after because of my absence from the hobby the last 5 years that i want to collect.....just started some of these=09 OPC-regular and black border,2008 Topps,2009 Topps,2010 Topps,2003 Donruss,2002 Topps-series 2

Player collections include Roy Halladay(many numbered),Carl Crawford,Gary Sheffield(only numbered),Lance Berkman,Nolan Ryan,Cal Ripken,etc

I'll try and specific numbers as i get close and/or i have the time to list them here.

Thanks.

The Prince of Belle Isle

Yes,its finally official,Prince Fielder signs with the team everyone was talking about the Nats,wait.....the Cubs,wait.....going back to the Brew Crew,wait.....seriously,when SuperAgent Scott Boras mentions a mystery team,i guess he ain't kiddin'.
Prince signs with the Tigers for 9 years to go with DH Victor Martinez and 1B Miguel Cabrera.

They can work on where everyone will play when they need to,as a fan of 29 teams i think its great that hes not going to the Yankees.

Was there anyone that saw this one coming?

Airbrushed again

I quit collecting cards back when the "famous Jeter card" came out in 2007,you know,the one with Mantle and Pres. Bush in it.It was the last straw for me back then,Ebay was a joke,Topps making cards up to make them sell better on the open market.

The cards should be what they are,about collecting for the enjoyment.Thats why i came back in 2011 and I really love collecting again,and yes,i still buy and sell on Ebay.

At least last year and this year,they made these cards SP cards and NOT part of the regular set.I,for one,will NOT collect them as part of the regular sets,i didn't for Crawford or AGone,and i wont for Pujols(above)and Reyes.

Redsox Vs. Yankees

I know its early,but here we go again.

Yankees finally make official the trade of Michael Pineda to the Bombers for Jesus Montero,then the Sox go ahead and trade Scutaro away and now looks like they will sign Cody Ross and maybe Roy Oswalt.

Its starting early this year.

On another note,one of the core 4 of the Yankees is "officially" retiring tomorrow....finally.Do you think he's going to Cooperstown?

My Favorite Cards



 A few cards from my collection.

The Ripken is numbered 001/100,my number one favorite.Book value of $250.00,but worth more to me because of what he meant to the game.

Haven't quite figured out how to size these cards on the blog yet,guess i should fix my scanner? Or go take a class on computers? I'm old school.

The Gretzky/Messier is also an awesome card = dual jerseys.
I've got dozens of Sheffield numbered cards.

What are some of your favorite cards?

Thanks for reading.

2012 Goals

Yes,a new year for cards and a new small budget to buy them with......unlike $30 a week habit , i dont think i can afford that much per week,but when new boxes come out,hey there's no telling.

Then i calculated $30 x 52 weeks and it said $1,560.00 for the year.....i spent more then that from April on last year,ouch!!.....wow,thats alot of money i dont have,no wonder i'm always broke.

Now i'm depressed...well thats kinda good,might help me sleep.

See ya'll later(i'm orginally from New Orleans)(and miss Mardi Gras badly)

Overnight/Ebay

Its always fun to get off work,like i did 40 minutes ago,turn on the computer and go to my ebay and find out i sold some cards.
Like Mr. Night Owl ,i work overnight and have so for 17 out of the last 24 years including the last 26 months and yes,i started collecting in 1975 like him as well.

Now on to reading your blogs,this is fun.

Thanks for blogging and thanks for reading mine.

Your wantlists

As i have stated before,i have been looking in on these card blogs for 3 weeks now and found many cards for people to trade,however,i having a hard time knowing how to get in touch with people.....like i said,new to blogging......when i click on someone's profile and it says "email" ,i click it and it says,its not set up right......i'm assuming its meaning me and not you guys,so what am i doing wrong here....any help is welcome.

Thanks.

The Prince of ??

Wow,my first post and i cant even spellcheck.....like i said,i'm new to blogging.

All right,where in the world does everyone think the Prince will sign with.I,for one,think it will be wherever Scott Boros can get his a#$ kissed the most....sorry,hate that guy.

As a fan,i kinda hope it will be a place like the Nats or even the M's so that new teams can start winning games....what do you think?

Hi to everyone

I new to the Blogging scene,but not new to the Baseball or card collecting.Been collecting since 1975(yeah,i'm really old and feel it too) and have waaaaayyyyyy too much stuff.

Accidently found these card blogs about 3 weeks ago and thought "Wow,other card collectors that are positive about the hobby".I hyave really enjoyed reading about 40 of you guys so far on a daily basis and will continue to do so and hope you guys start reading mine as well.

I will try and post things about baseball and baseball cards and every once and a while,other sportscards.Now that i bored you for five minutes,i'll sign off.

Thanks for reading,Cool Breeze

P.S. Just a nickname........