This year's Trade Me Anything with Thorzul

Each year Thorzul perpetuates one of the greatest scams in baseball cards on his blog. He opens a box of Topps Update cards, takes the cards he wants and then offers the rest of the cards in trade for anything.

Each year he gets a lot of junk from his trade partners (myself included) but he also gets cards he needs and given that he requires his readers to send an SASE for their ends of the deal, he's getting good value. Stuff he potentially wants for stuff he doesn't want.

Now everyone enters into this willingly and I'm sure no one feels like they get robbed by Thorzul. I just think it's great that year in and year out he can get a mess of stuff from an unwanted portion of a box of cards.

As for me, I take part in it mostly to take part in it. Here is my link to last year's trade which also has links to the previous two. Yes, this is my fourth year finding stuff to send Thorzul in  exchange for a card or two.

This year I'm getting another Mat Latos card and a Steve Carlton card (although the latter isn't really card so much as an ad). So all told I've picked up two Mat Latos cards, an Adam Dunn card, a Chrsity Mathewson, a Jason Bay, a Steve Carlton and a Logan Morrison. That's really not too bad. Yes, it cost me an empty box of stuffing, some magazines and some other miscellanea (not to mention postage), but to paraphrase an overused credit card commercial, the enjoyment has been priceless.

Thanks again, Thorzul. I look forward to next year.

Belated thanks to Number 5 Type Collection

Quite some time ago, Matthew, over at Number 5 Type Collection, had a contest where folks could submit their favorite name of a major league rookie from this season. I put forth the Rangers Tanner Scheppers, as I think Tanner is a great baseball name, going back to the book/movie The Bad News Bears. Matthew chose my selection and my prize was this selection of Pittsburgh Pirates cards.

All but the Stargell and the Miller are O-Pee-Chee cards which was sort of neat. That might be fun, trying to collect a 1978 O-Pee-Chee set. The Topps set of that year was my first foray into baseball card collectiong when I was but a wee lad.

As I was not blogging at the time, a proper shout out and thanks was not given. So allow me to belatedly thank Matthew for the cards and for a great blog. Thanks.

Joy of a completed page - 2008 UDX Memorabilia

I'm sure I have effectively eliminated all traffic I once had to this site by not posting but thems the breaks. I intend to begin blogging again with a new blog (more information coming soon) and thought I would try and catch up some things/just write for the time being.

Like most of you, I continue to work on completing the 2008 Upper Deck X set. What's that? You're not trying to complete the 2008 Upper Deck X Set? You think that's a ridiculous idea? Hahaha, yeah, me too. That would be silly. I wouldn't do that. That set is so maligned. No one likes it. You're right, I was just messing with you. You got me....

I'm lying. I like the set, I have liked it, and I continue to try and "finish" it. In the not too distant past, I was able to acquire a small lot of cards I needed including the Freddy Sanchez memorabilia card which let me fill this page:

I love how this set looks. I can't help it.

I'm always interested in trading and if you're collecting the set, I'm sure I could fill some of your needs. Right now my biggest challenge with the set is the gold die cuts. If you have any of those, please let me know.

Look for more blog posts, including at least one other this week!

Cards from Number 5 Type - Part 2, The Reds

You can see the previous entry for the introduction. Here are my five favorite Reds cards I got from Matthew.

Start off with some old-timey baseball. Harry Wright and the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings. Great card.

I was a big fan of Hal Morris and it's always fun to get a card of his. 

It has been widely reported that Sean Casey is an ass. We'll put him up here anyway.

The main reason why I put the Reds number two was the opportunity to get an Adam Dunn card I didn't have. Bo and lehold, I did. I'm rooting for a comeback by him this season but I'm not feeling terribly optimistic.

I always liked Kirk Saarloos. I thought he had a shot to be a big time pitcher but something happened to him during the 2003 season. Maybe the level of competition caught up to him, maybe he was hurt, but he no longer seemed to be the dominant guy he had been in college and the minors (and even the majors his rookie season). It's a shame. I think there are more sad stories in baseball than good stories. Kirk's back at his alma mater, Cal State Fullerton, as an assistant baseball coach.

His name also puts him in select company. Only three other major league baseball players have two different pairs of consecutive vowels in their last names. Can you name them?

Thanks once again, Matthew, for the cards.

Cards from Number 5 Type - Part 1, Grab Bag

Matthew from Number Five Type Collection had a spring training giveaway where he had people choose five favorite teams and then distributed cards based on those preferences. He had a Grab Bag category which included minor league cards so naturally that was my first pick. I got to split those cards with two others. The Reds were my second pick and I was fortunate enough to rank them highest so Matthew sent those cards as well. There were 58 Grab Bag and 43 Reds cards for a nice total of 101 cards.

I had wanted to do a "pack break" video but after creating (no joke) seventeen video attempts, it became obvious that there's just something wrong with my microphone and the video quality isn't much better. Alas.

So you won't get to see all the great cards Matthew provided. I thought I'd highlight five of my favorites from each group, though.



There were a bunch of A&G mini cards. My favorites were these two of Impressionist painter Claude Monet. Monet is one of my favorite artists and to get both a mini and the black bordered one as well is very cool. 

 

There were also a handful of TriStar cards. I'd consider collecting these if the design was a bit better and if I had the Pocorabas to be collecting. This one is of Matt Wieters, likely future catching star of the Baltimore Orioles.

 

Has it really been three years since I was at the World Baseball Classic? Sheesh. Time flies. I did not get to see Chin-Lung Hu play nor will I likely get the chance. The Cleveland Indians had him in for spring training but released him a few days ago. I expect that he will play somewhere in Asia this season. Still, I like the WBC cards.














This last one is a fun card. Hey, wait a minute?!?! It's card #5 of this set. Should Matthew have been sending this to me? Searching his blog it looks like Stockstill was the fifth card in another set earlier in his career but this card has never been featured on Matthew's website. This card looks to be a promotional card made by TCMA in the early eighties and given away by Tulsa TV station KOTV-Channel 6.

Looking at the backs of the cards he sent, there's a whole bunch of number fives. That doesn't seem right to me for some reason.

Getting back to the card at hand, I like guys like Dave Stockstill which is why I'm featuring this card. Stockstill was a professional baseball player for 16 years. SIXTEEN! Never once saw a day in the majors. He started his professional career when I was in first grade and wrapped it up right after I graduated college. That's a long time. You can get to see some of his minor league stats at baseball-reference but it's his Mexican League numbers that really stand out and which aren't included on BBR. Here's the slashlines from his career once he headed to Mexico:

1986: .358/.454/.653
1987: .323/.430/.539
1988: .356/.449/.549
1989: .301/.412/.503
1990: .341/.427/.530
1991: .384/.474/.643
1992: .338/.435/.476
1993: .335/.432/.449

Wow! Those are some fine hitting numbers.

After the 1993 season he joined the Baltimore Orioles organization, first as a coach and then moving up the ranks to his current position with them, Director of International Operations. That gives him something like 18 years working under Peter Angelos which may be even more amazing than his lengthy playing career.

Interestingly, Dave's younger brother John was drafted by the Chicago Cubs out of high school in the tenth round of the 1978 draft. Dave was not selected in the draft but the Cubs signed him, too, and they both were started with the Cubbies Gulf Coast League team. Dave hit right out of the gate and was bumped up to Pompano Beach while John struggled and was sent to the GCL for the 1979 season to repeat the level. John earned a promotion in 1980 but struggled with the bat and was let go.

John went into the baseball business with the Cubs after he was released and he worked his way up to General Manager before rejoining Dave on the Orioles. He started with them in 2005. Dave and John actually switched positions in the Orioles organization not too long ago. John is currently the Director of Player Personnel. I wonder if their parents are proud?

So that's the Grab Bag component of the cards I received. Thanks a lot, Matthew, and if you want the Stockstill card back, I understand.

Just one fewer ground ball with eyes....

"That means if you get just one extra flare a week - just one - a gorp... you get a groundball, you get a groundball with eyes... you get a dying quail, just one more dying quail a week... and you're in Yankee Stadium."  -- Crash Davis in the movie Bull Durham talking about the difference between hitting .250 and .300.

My goofy mind got rolling on some thoughts. Here's the ride it took for your edification. Last week Thorzul wrote a post that referenced an episode of Parks and Recreation. In that episode there was a baseball card shown that, it turns out, was manufactured by the show but made from a Walt Terrell card (pictured in that link).

On that card, it says that Terrell threw his first major league one-hitter in 1986. My reaction to that was "First?!?!?! Walt Terrell threw multiple one-hitters?" I was right to react in that fashion because that one-hitter was Terrell's one and only. I guess Topps was feeling optimistic about Walt's career.

Just as when most people think of no-hitters and immediately think of Nolan Ryan or perhaps Sandy Koufax, when I think of one-hitters, I think of Dave Stieb. Rightfully so, as Stieb threw five one-hitters in his career.

THAT got me thinking, what if Dave Stieb had got just one fewer extra flare in those games, just one? One fewer groundball with eyes, one fewer dying quail. What if Dave Stieb, instead of throwing five one-hitters, had instead thrown five no-hitters? I think he's in the Hall of Fame.

And that got me looking at one-hitters (for clarification, I'm talking complete game no-hitters). Who do you think has more career one-hitters, Steve Trachsel or Roger Clemens? Steve Trachsel or Greg Maddux? Steve Trachsel or Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux combined? The answers are Trachsel, Trachsel, and it's a tie (3).

Bert Blyleven had five one-hitters. Think his HOF candidacy is as protracted and full of argument if those are no-hitters?

Nolan Ryan had 12 one-hitters which may be as amazing as his seven no-hitters. Except for the fact that Bob Feller also had 12 one-hitters (say, wouldn't a Baseball Book Club involving a book about Bob Feller be a good idea (hint, hint)?).

Charlie Hough is the only player from 1919 on to have lost two one-hitters in his career, the only two he threw (and somehow he gave up two runs in both games).

Eight pitchers have thrown one-hitters and lost where their one hit was a home run. None of those were walkoffs which would have been downright torture for those pitchers. One pitch and you lost the no-hitter, the shutout and the game. It's still bad to have your one hit be a game deciding homer but if it's in the third inning, I don't think it's as painful as the bottom of the ninth.

But then maybe a one-hitter isn't that big a deal. I mean if Steve Trachsel threw three, how hard can it be?

Don Drysdale never threw one. Nor did Jim Bunning or Catfish Hunter. Andy Pettitte? Zero. The Forsch brothers and the Reuschel brothers never threw one (though both Niekro brothers did). Dwight Gooden never threw a one-hitter. Lots and lots of pitchers never threw one. Yes, it's not as rare as a no-hitter but it's still quite an accomplishment.

I don't really have a point to all this. Just thought I'd put down one of my random explorations. But anytime you get to mention Dave Stieb and Steve Trachsel, I think it's a good thing.

Just checking in

I'm juggling a few too many balls at the moment. Hopefully I'll get to set them down in the near future and not have them all crash on top of my head.

In the meantime, I got a new baseball card! Yes, one card. I took part in Thorzul's Trade Me Anything group activity for the third consecutive year, almost entirely to say that I took part in it for the third consecutive year (links to years 1 (I also got a Mat Latos gold rookie) and 2). I like Logan Morrison and think he's going to be a star if not more so I thought I'd trade for a nice parallel card of him. Although Thorzul initiated the whole thing in November, it took me until December to find an envelope and I try to make it a point not to go to a post office in December because it is a miserable, soul-sucking experience. I finally got the package out to him earlier this month and I got the LoMo card two days ago and opened the envelope yesterday (I can't even get my mail opened on the same day. Sheesh).

Hoping to share a fun baseball item I found in a post for tomorrow.

And I hope that everyone who is taking part in the Baseball Book Club is enjoying the book. More on that in the near future.

Better mail than I got from Rowland Office

Matthew over at Number 5 Type Collection recently had a contest where he was asking people to nominate their favorite baseball card with an error. That was easy for me since I had such fond memories of looking for this one.

Back in 1988, my friend KB and I bought a bunch of Topps rack packs and opened them, recording the sequence of cards because it was pretty well known at the time that Topps inserted cards in their rack packs following a sequential order. You could flip over a rack pack, look at the numbers of the three cards on the back, and know what every single card was in the pack.

We each had our own players whose rookie cards we were trying to stockpile in an effort to become extremely wealthy before we even graduated high school. KB loaded up on Sam Horn of the Red Sox and Joe Magrane of the Cardinals. My early retirement plan involved Houston's Ken Caminiti and Kansas City's Gary Thurman. I thought Caminiti would be Wade Boggs but with more power and speed (Caminiti actually had more steals than homers in the minors). As for Thurman, he was coming off of his third straight season of fifty stolen bases and had seen his batting average dip to a mere .293 after two season over .300. I thought I'd be dining with Warren Buffett sometime soon.

There was one other rookie that we both wanted. It wasn't because we thought he was going to be any great player, it was because Topps had botched his card and then corrected it. Here's the two versions:



The picture on the left is of Steve George. The one on the right is Leiter. Sadly, poor Steve George never got a major league card of his own.

So that was my nominee and I was fortunate enough to be selected for the prize, a 1948 R346 Blue Tint of Johnny Mize:



I believe this is the only card from the 1940's I own. Mize is shown wearing a St. Louis cap, even though by the time this card had come out, it had been six years since he had donned the cap (so Rowland Office would have mailed any autograph request Mize had made to St. Louis) as he had been playing for the Giants since 1942.

Thanks a lot for the Mize card, Matthew. I like it a lot.

The most amazing TTM autograph response ever

A week or so ago I was talking to my ex-wife on the phone and she mentioned that I had received an SASE in the mail from an autograph request I had sent out.

"Really?"

I moved to where I live now almost three and a half years ago. So the request had to be at least that old. I asked her to open it up and see who finally responded to me after all these years and so I could check my database and see when I sent it. She opened it up and out came two Rowland Office baseball cards. Here's a picture of one of them:



For those of you who are uninitiated to the majesty of the 1982 Topps card, that autograph you see is not Rowland Office's. It is a facsimile that Topps printed on the card. The cards were returned unsigned.

When did I send that request out? According to my database, I mailed the request out on March 9th, 2007. Being as my SASE had a 39 cent stamp on it (which the post office delivered without requesting extra postage), that sounds about right.

So Mr. Office has sat on my cards for over four years, doesn't autograph them (and I sent a nice letter with my request), and then sends them back to me (years after I have moved from the address on the envelope). But wait.....it gets better.

There was nothing else in the envelope but my two cards. Check out the back of the envelope, though:



Mr. Office went and had a stamp made requesting $25 to sign cards. He doesn't say who to make a check out to or even if he'll take a check. He doesn't say where the money is going to go. He doesn't give a mailing address. Oh, and I like that he puts the dollar sign after the 25 instead of before and then still writes out dollars.

But beyond that....$25 for Rowland Office? By contrast, his HALL OF FAME teammate, Andre Dawson, signs for less than that with the money going to his foundation for children.

Let's recap. Rowland Office, a man who had a Wins Below Replacement of 3.9 according to baseball-reference.com (yes, I wrote below. His WAR was negative), sits on my autograph request for over four years, stamps the back of my envelope asking for money with no other details and sends it back to a place I no longer live. What is the rationale? Does he need money? Say so then! Why did he take so long to respond? Is he in poor health? Has be been moving around and he just got done unpacking the box that had his fan mail from 2007? I'm tempted to write him again to get the story but I figure by 2016 I won't really care.

Thanks, Mr. Office, for at least returning my cards. Even if it was four years later.

My experience with the Topps 2011 Heritage "H" Looseys

I had been reading about the Target H packs on various sites and when I found myself at a Target this afternoon, I decided to take a look and see what I could find. Having committed the appropriate code to memory, I looked through the packs and found two that had the proper identification. Bought them and went out to my car to open them.

Uh oh. Go to open the first pack and found that someone had opened the top of the pack. I slide the cards out and they are all base. Worse, there are only eight cards in the pack. Looks like a pack searcher beat me to it and shoplifted the special card. Nice.

Second pack was intact and it contained a Robinson Cano All-Star short print. So my sample size of one proves that the packs are hot.

Target took back the opened pack and refunded my money. I wondered how many people have bought those packs, taken out the special card and returned them. I tell you. This card business stuff is shady.

Here are the cards I got. I'm not collecting them so if you need something, let me know.

45 Longoria
81 Varitek
115 Soriano
160 Jones
315 Sabathia
327 Lopez
349 Bonderman
366 Porcello
467 Cano

Help me complete my 2008 Upper Deck X Exponential Sets

If you can believe it, I need one card each from the 2008 Upper Deck X Exponential Sets X, X2 and X3.

I need:
X-DL Derrek Lee
X2-GS Grady Sizemore
X3-AP Albert Pujols

If you have any of these to trade, please leave me a note in the comments. Thanks.

Training Update: I came home from work yesterday and was absolutely exhausted. It was a very taxing week. I got on the rower and was just feeling too wiped out to do anything. Had dinner and went to bed around 8 PM.

Put in a good workout today, though. Goofy intervals - 4min, 2min, 1min, 2min, 4min with alternating 3min and 30sec rest. Went outside and did 10 shoulder press x 135, 15 front squats x 185 and 15 push presses x 115. I was pleased with my row and the weight was a nice change in that it was on the lighter side.

The generosity of others

Speaking of Mark, he sent me a package the other day. Opened it up and found:



Have to love a couple Stack-o-Expos. Mark sent me a lot of cards I needed.

I'm not the only one to be on the receiving end of Mark's kindness. He gave a lot of cards to his local childrens hospital.

I also received a package today from my roommate in Cooperstown, Marty. He's been collecting Coke Rewards points for me and sent me five weeks worth of points (Coke limits how many points you can enter each week).

Thanks a lot, Mark and Marty! You guys rock!

Jimmy Wynn, Thorzul making me collect cards again, and a Hall of Fame event I didn't write about yet

This must be the longest title of a blog post for me. But all these things came together in my head so why not combine them in a post?

We'll start with Thorzul. I should probably include a Thorzul tag as much as I have mentioned him here. He's easily had the most influence on my limited return to card collecting (with the 2008 Upper Deck X set (want list here)). The "problem" is that in the few years I've been back into collecting, no other sets have really struck my fancy, Upper Deck has vanished and Topps has turned into the gorilla who couldn't care less about collectors. So I've soured on the product that is available, and I don't enjoy collecting cards enough in general to just be picking up cards willy-nilly (in part because I don't have a favorite team) nor can I really afford to do so.

Despite this, Thorzul had a cheap group break at the end of last year which I took part in. I like to be a part of the community at least a little bit. In the post for the break he highlighted what he thought was the most interesting card for each team. I took the Reds and he highlighted this card:



I took a look at that card and said, "What a great way to get back into collecting. I'm going to try and build a 1967 Topps set starting with Art Shamsky".

This would be a great idea if I wasn't broke. I'm determined, though, and I thought that I could cut some corners to free up five dollars a month to put towards collecting these cards. Found a guy selling a lot of 1967 cards on eBay and I won them while staying in budget. This lot was a no-brainer for me because it had two of the most under-appreciated players of the 1970's, and two of my favorites, Jimmy Wynn and Mack Jones.



I've already written about Jones as part of the stagnant Group of 80 Project. Jimmy Wynn, though, is one of the best players ever. He's one of the reasons why you won't see me getting into Hall of Fame arguments with people. The Hall is so goofed up already with who is in and who isn't that I can't take it seriously. I have a Hall of Fame in my head and Wynn is in it. Andre Dawson and Jim Rice and Bruce Sutter and numerous others who do have plaques in Cooperstown are not.

How much do I like Jimmy Wynn? Last summer at the Hall, we interns had to staff the Hall's All-Star Game event. They sell tickets to the event and people come in after hours and get to watch the All-Star game in the big theatre. There's free food, fun events between innings, just a good time. The Hall has a collection of jerseys (although I don't think we ever got a definitive answer, there was talk that at least some of them were game used and judging from the randomness of some of the names and numbers on the back, some might have been) used for educational purposes and for events such as these. Here's a picture of me from the All-Star gala.



That's right, I'm sporting a Jimmy Wynn rookie season Colt 45's jersey. How do I know it was rookie season? Had the number 18. It obviously was not a game used jersey as I'm almost the size of two Jimmy Wynns and the jersey remained in one piece throughout the evening.

I think the reason Wynn is not appreciated is the low batting average. People see that and think he must have not been much of a hitter. He also played for some bad Astros teams which limited his runs and RBI's. He did walk a ton and had almost three hundred homers despite playing in the Astrodome for most of his career. Factor in that most of his career was also in a low offense era and his accomplishments are even more amazing. Check out baseball-reference's neutralized stats for him. .274/.395/.478, 331 HR, 256 SB. Maybe that still wouldn't have been enough to get inducted (he rarely played full seasons) but when you see how much his park and era deflated his numbers, you can maybe understand why he didn't even get a single vote when he became eligible.

What matters is that I like him, though, and it's really nice to have both him and Mack Jones in my 1967 card set fold.

Contest winnings

Matthew at #5 Type Collection had a contest where everyone was to submit three defunct major league teams from which they would like to have baseball cards. he then randomly selected five of us and I was fortunate enough to be chosen.

Desiring Expos, I added the Wilmington Quicksteps and the Louisville Colonels to my list of wanted teams to make sure I only got Expos (I would have been pleasantly suprised to pick up a 19th century card for free, though). Matt sent me fifteen Expos of which this trio I was especially grateful.



I think there is something wrong with a person when they open up a pack of cards, see the top one, and exclaim "ALL RIGHT, BILL ATKINSON!!!".

Thanks a lot, Matthew. I appreciate the cards.

Carl Pavano TTM request from spring training

Much to my surprise I found in my mailbox an envelope addressed to myself in my own hand. I had not sent out any autograph requests in ages and was shocked to find that Carl Pavano had responded to my request for an autograph.

Apparently once the Twins' season ended, Pavano sat down with his fan mail and went through it all. Given that his signature resembles initials, he probably can afford to wait until the conclusion of the season before he knocks them all out in a sitting.

Nonetheless, I am grateful to get the request back and thank Mr. Pavano for his time.

Thanks, Thorzul - Part II (Joy of a completed subset)

Thorzul had completed what he was collecting of the 2008 Upper Deck X set so I contacted him to see if he might have cards I needed that he was willing to trade. He did and with some fortuitous timing, I was able to find something to deal to him in exchange.

While I was at the Hall, the education department got rid of some of their old materials. We were told to grab anything we might want but by the time word trickled down to us librarians, the goods were pretty well picked over. Nonetheless, I found a black and white picture of Robin Yount and immediately thought of Thorzul. I asked him if he'd take it in trade for the UDX cards. He obliged and a trade was made.

One of the cards he sent was an Alfonso Soriano Exponential 4. This gave me the entire ten cards of the 4's (Albert Pujols is omitted from the scan for space).



I have to say, looking at this scan, I do not understand why people don't like this set. I think it looks awesome.

If you have 2008 UDX and would like to trade, my wantlist is here. I need gold diecuts the most. Also, if anyone can tell me with certainty that the signature cards on my list were actually produced, I would appreciate it. I have not seen signature cards offered anywhere of Ramirez, Buchholz, Lu, Longoria, Kennedy, Cueto, Hochevar or Balentien although they are on Upper Deck's checklist for the set.

And thanks again, Thorzul, for the trade.

Thanks, Thorzul - Part I

Thorzul recently ran a 5K race and held a contest on his site to predict what his time would be. I, of course, had to try and analyze the situation before making my prediction. I found the last time he ran the race, took into account that he was older and that virtually every card break he films has him consuming beer and predicted that his time would be slower.

Lo and behold, my prediction was closest even though he ran the same exact time he had previously. As the winner, Thorzul promised to send me cards of my favorite team. As you probably know, I don't root for teams (the Oneonta Outlaws of the NYCBL being the exception). But I do have a long going Expos project so I requested some Expos and Adam Dunn cards.

Thorzul obliged and sent me two serial-numbered Dunn's and a small stack of Expos. The two 1981 Fleer pictured below were the highlights for me:



Thanks, Thorzul, and nice job defying age and beer.

New SABR Baseball Card Committee

If you've been holding out on joining the Society for American Baseball Research and are a card collector, hold out no longer. SABR now has a new baseball card committee.

I am in my twentieth year as a member of SABR and highly recommend it to anyone interested in baseball. If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a line.

The joy of a completed base set

When I was over at the OTB over the weekend, I stopped by the KMart nearby to see if they had any cards. Lo and behold, they had a huge supply of 2008 Upper Deck X. Then I was out last night and was near another KMart and picked up some more. Included were this pair of cards:



Those were the last two base cards I needed to complete the 2008 Upper Deck X set. I'm going for the inserts, though, and have updated my want list accordingly.

I also picked up a box of 2009 Spectrum. And people think the 2008 Upper Deck X set is horrible? Spectrum is shiny purple. At least UDX has some variety in color.

If you need any 2008 Upper Deck X cards (either for the set or player/team collections) or 2009 Spectrum, let me know. And if you have anything I need, please let me know as well. Oh, and if you want packs for a buck and can't find, I might even make the trip for you. I won't be buying anymore since the base is done.

Spring training TTM

I sent out a pair of spring training requests and got one of them back. Scott Downs, closer for the Blue Jays. To give you a sense why the Blue Jays probably cannot compete with the Yanks and Red Sox, Downs is the Blue Jays highest paid pitcher at four million dollars a year.

As much as I think it would be a good idea to have Downs be the closer (he was to be last year until he got hurt), the Jays acquired Kevin Gregg from the Cubs and will likely go with him.

Thanks to Mr. Downs for signing for me.