The Collective Troll

Happy New Year! or What Day is It????

2010-01-02T08:11:00.000-08:00

Greeting Blog-O-Sphere!!! Happy New Year to everyone! I have been working what seems like an endless shift. The other day when my double ended some people had called out, so I drank some more coffee and kept going… I don’t know how long I have been working, but it’s been a while… I am glad there is no one here with me now to snap a picture because you may get me confused with another blogger (I have a beard, sort of). I am somewhat delirious, but still can’t fall asleep so I got on the computer and was greeted with an amazing surprise… The 2009 Blogger Awards were announced… The Night Owl is the Blog of the Year, the MVP of the blog-o-sphere, Dinged Corners is the winner of the Most Creative Blogger, I Am Joe Collector is the Box Breaker of the Year, My Past Time…I Love It! is the Trader of the Year, Drews Cards is the Best Designed Blog of the Year and the Rookie of the Year went to… Well, you can read it yourself here. Other than the last Award I was pretty happy with the recipients, all great blogs, all well deserved honors…I was honored to be included among the nominees and listed among so many classy and inspiring blogs that I read so often. Congratulations to all of the winners, all of the nominees and all of the awesome and amazing blogs that I read everyday! I’ve said it before, but I will say it again…This community we have here is an amazing thing, I love being a part of this family and I love reading all of the blogs in the card blog-o-sphere! Huge thanks and congrats to Drew from Drew’s Cards for hosting the whole event, I know it was a ton of work and you did a great job on it. 2010 is gonna be a great year for blogging! I look forward to checking out all of the new blogs that will hopefully be popping up on a daily basis…Thanks! Happy New Year!!! Oh... I have got a TON of awesome packages in the mail that are awaiting posting. Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, trades and the like... As soon as I can solve the scanning and workaholic issues they will be posted, thanks again to everyone who has hooked me up!!! I have a bunch of pack rips to throw up, too... Troll (passed) out!

thanks...

2009-12-30T21:23:00.001-08:00

Well, today (Wednesday) was supposed to be my day off, but I got called in and ended up working a twenty hour double… Working another double tomorrow. New Years Eve is our busiest night of the year… Yuck. I only had to stay a little past midnight, but it was enough for it to become my birthday and everyone was nice and sang for me. I wanted to thank the readers who sent me birthday treats, as always, I appreciate it. I am still waiting for my secret Santa gift. Oh well. I had a special post planned to go up today, but alas, I don’t think there will be time. I am gonna try and get some sleep, gotta be back at work in 6 hours…Happy New Year to all! Troll out.

Pack #11 of 1994 Pinnacle Series 2 or The First Ever Post on My Brand New Laptop, Done at Work!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-12-30T02:51:00.000-08:00

Okay here we go…. I am at work, outside in the parking lot typing away on my brand new laptop. This is its maiden voyage and I am terrified… I am going to jump right in on the pack rip though… we are up to pack #11 of 1994 Pinnacle Series 2. Before I continue, a few of you emailed me this week wondering what the hell was going on my blog. Where are the long stories, where are the Rays? To make a long story short, I decided to do an 84-pack group break without a video camera and I am posting the results pack by pack… The original post that sort of explains all of the craziness is here. Standard posting will resume as soon as I am done with ripping all 84 packs… I am about a third of the way there, so I am going to get to it… Here we go!
#480 Greg Hibbard Seattle Mariners (Hibbard won 15 games for the Cubbies in ’93, but only won one more game in his career…)
#317 Tom Gordon KC Royals (Flash was a starter in ’94 and he won 11 games for KC that year. Gordon is still active and if he finds a team, 2010 will be his 22nd season in the majors. Over that time he has had 2 at bats and is hitless over his long career… He did win a ring with the Phillies in 2008-his first)
#487 Matt Walbeck Minnesota Twins (I guess the best way to describe Walbeck is unremarkable… ’94 was his first season with the Twins-he had a .284 slugging %)
#467Alex Cole Colorado Rockies (This dude could fly! I thought he was going to be a star… He stole 40bases in only 63 games for the Indians in 1990, but he never was able to do it over a full season. He spent one year in Colorado and swiped 30 bags for them in ’93)
#420 Corey Bailey Boston Red Sox
#333 David McCarty Minnesota Twins
#416 Alex Diaz Milwaukee Brewers (You gotta love the diving catch…)
#328 Craig Paquette Oakland A’s (Paquette had a little pop … he hit 22 homers for KC in ’96)
#438 Derek Lee San Diego (Lee turned down a scholarship at UNC when the Padres picked him in the first round in ’94)
#298 Matt Williams San Francisco Giants (The Carson Crusher led the NL in homers in ’94 when he hit a career best 43… He is 62nd All Time with 378 homers… He didn’t win the WS with the Giants, but finally earned his ring in Arizona in 2001)
#540 Darren Dreifort LA Dodgers (If ya can’t say anything nice then…this space will be left blank…)
#511 Mark Eichorn Baltimore Orioles (Coming into ’94 Eichorn had a career 2.99 ERA in 496 games)
#428 Ozzie Guillen Chicago White Sox (Have the Sox replaced Ozzie at short yet?)
#285 Mike Greenwell Boston Red Sox (I can remember watching Greenwell at Pawtucket in the 80’s-he was one of my favorites…)
Okay, got through it. This is the first post I have got paid to write. I typed between security walkarounds and this post ended up taking about 5 hours to write, but I have to say it is pretty freaking awesome to be able to post while at work! I would start another one, but I don’t have anymore scans saved on this computer. Welcome to a new age of the Collective Troll ladies and gentlemen, I like it!!!!

Keep on Ripping! Pack #10 of 1993 Stadium Club Series 3...

2009-12-29T04:49:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I have ripped a pack of the 1993 Stadium Club, so here we go with pack #10 of that box…
#706 Cris Carpenter Florida Marlins (Not to be confused with Chris Carpenter)
#684 Barry Bonds San Francisco Giants (Bonds led the league in homeruns only 2 times during his 22 year career. The first time came in ’93 when he hit 46 of them)
#614 Phil Plantier San Diego Padres
#635 Jeff Russell Boston Red Sox
#656 Mike Harkey Chicago Cubs
#670 Al Leiter Toronto Blue Jays
#740 Pat Mahomes Minnesota Twins
#745 Checklist
#618 Gary Sheffield San Diego Padres (Shef led the NL in batting with a .330 average in ’92)
#682 Kevin Stocker Philadelphia Phillies (The RC of the original Devil Rays shortstop)
#615 Jim Abbott New York Yankees (Was 4th in AL with 18 wins in 1991. The best word to describe Abbott’s career was AMAZING!)
#665 Greg Maddux Atlanta Braves (Maddux won his second of 4 consecutive Cy Young Awards in ’93)
#637 Tom Henke Texas Rangers (I very nearly listed his team as the Blue Jays, but I suppose play time should be over… I just felt like only one person was reading these posts and I wanted to have some fun…Henke was in the top-10 in saves 9 times during his 14 year career…He won the ’93 Series with the Jays collecting 2 saves)
#664 Doug Dascenzo Texas Rangers (Dascenzo was normally a speedy outfielder, but he pitched in 4 games for the Cubs totaling 5 innings without allowing a run and striking out 2) It is going to be a battle to finish this box break before the new year… I really miss my card of the day posts…They may return, who knows…For now I am buried in wax packs, ahh!!!!!!!! Till next pack, troll out!

2008 Allen and Ginter-Completed Page!!!!!!!!

2009-12-28T22:10:00.000-08:00

I love completed pages… This is the first of several pages featuring 9 different cards from the 2008 Allen and Ginter set… I didn’t rip any of this product in ’08, but fell in love with it after I finished the ’09 set and now thanks to Duane of Democratic Roadkill I am 80% finished with this awesome set!!! I have a few more finished pages to show off and a bunch of single cards, too. I need only 70 cards to finish the set, only 12 short prints… THANKS DUANE!!!!!! YOU ROCK MY FRIEND!!! More on this set to come… We will return to the group break in the morning, I apologize for the interruption, but finishing a page is HUGE and I had to share with the Blog-O-Sphere! Troll out.

Pack #9 of 1994 Pinnacle Series 2, Plus Some Exciting News...

2009-12-28T17:55:00.000-08:00

So my wife got me a laptop for Christmas!!!!!!! This is awesome!!! Life without a computer was pretty bad… I haven’t tried it yet and I am still posting this break from my parents computer and I will still have to scan over there, but I have a flash drive that I can keep on filling full of scans and I will now be able to post from home, woo hoo!!! Thanks Esther Gin N Juice!!! Here we go with Pack #9 of 1994 Pinnacle Series 2…
#327 Phil Hiatt KC Royals
#417 Jeffrey Hammonds Baltimore Orioles (Batted .296 with 8 homers and 31 RBI in ’94-finished 6th in ROY voting)
#468 Pete Incaviglia Philadelphia Phillies
#286 Roberto Kelly Cincinnati Reds (Kelly came to the Reds in the Paul O’Neill trade after the ’92 season. Over his career he was traded for Deion Sanders, Marquis Grissom and Henry Rodriguez. He was an All Star with the Reds in his first season there-he hit .319)
#481 Tim Pugh Cincinnati Reds (He was 10-15 for the Reds in ’93 in his only full season in the Big Leagues)
#488 Mike McFarlane KC Royals (McFarlane was a really great defensive catcher and he got beaned a lot… Led the league in getting hit by a pitch in ’92 and ’94. He is 74th All Time in that category)
#306 Jose Canseco Texas Rangers (It’s a bat Jose, it’s a bat…)
#502 Brian Hunter Pittsburgh Pirates (There were two different Brian Hunters in the mid-90s. This would be Brian Ronald Hunter, the slugging first baseman)
#446 Andres Galarraga Colorado Rockies (The Big Cat had some HUGE years with the Rockies, but more impressive to me was his first year in Atlanta when he hit .305 with 44 homers and 121 RBI without the benefit of Coors Field as his home field. He was diagnosed with cancer following that first season in Atlanta. He missed the entire 1999 season treating the cancer and returned in 2000, starting the All Star game, winning Comeback Player of the Year Honors and driving in 100 runs for the Braves. Galarraga finished his career with 399 homers-46th All Time)
#299 Brent Gates Oakland A’s (Gates played a full season as a first year rookie in ’93 and set personal bests for his 7 year career and he finished 6th in ROY voting)
#429 Alan Trammell Detroit Tigers (Trammell finished second in the MVP voting to George Bell in ’87. Trammell’s OBP was 50 points higher and AT prevailed in every stack aside from HR, RBI and SLG%, yet Bell won the award. Trammell’s numbers that year were his best ever overall-he batted .343 with 28 homers and 105 RBI. He also stole 21 bases while only being caught twice. Wow. The other WOW thing about Trammell is he spent his entire 20 year career in Detroit.)
#439 Tom Pagnozzi St Louis Cardinals (Kinda the Mike McFarlane of the NL-great glove, Golden even 3 times, not a whole lot of offense, but a really great catcher…I expected to see him as a big league manager)
#293 Rick Aguilera Minnesota Twins (Once Minnesota converted him to a stopper, he was awesome… Saved 42 games in the regular season in ’91, then saved 5 more in the postseason on the way to Aguilera’s second ring)
#524 Keith Mitchell Seattle Mariners (Kevin’s cousin spent parts of 4 big league seasons with 4 different clubs. He had a 16 year career in the minors). Another pack down. The next one may be posted courtesy of my awesome new laptop! This doesn't mean I can't flit around and do on location pack breaks, it just means I don't have to totally bother my friends and family just to post. I really can't believe I lasted a month without one. Now don't forget to vote for the blogger awards!!! Click here to see the nominees. Troll out.

Still Ripping-Gotta Get in Gear if I'm Gonna Hit #84 THIS YEAR-Pack 16 of 1997 Pinnacle X Press-With an Insert, Woo Hoo!!!!

2009-12-28T04:23:00.000-08:00

Good Morning! Buenas Dias! Welcome back to work everyone...Earlier in the box break we pulled a case hit card (1:288 packs) of Andruw Jones. In this pack we got a box hit (1:37 packs) insert. The mid to late 90’s were all about the big sluggers and this pack had 2 of the biggest (plus 3 other guys who hit a fair amount of homers) in it. Here we go!
#34 Dave Justice Atlanta Braves (Justice’s season ended in May in 1996-he was off to a hot start batting .321 when he went out for the year)
#91 Andy Ashby San Diego Padres (Ashby’s best season came in 1998 when he went 17-9 and the Padres won the NL Pennant)
#8 Andres Galarraga Colorado Rockies (El Gato Grande was probably the first Spanish I ever learned as a kid-it was Galarraga’s nickname)
#111 Jason Kendall Pittsburgh Pirates
#67 Bernard Gilkey New York Mets
Swing for the Fences Game Card -5
FAR AND AWAY Insert #4 of 18 Mo Vaughn BOSTON Red Sox (The Hit Dog was pure power in his prime… He won the MVP Award in ’95 when he hit .300 with 39 homers and 126 RBI. He was just getting warmed up-he had an even better year at the plate in ’96 when he set personal bests in all 3 of the triple crown categories. He hit .326 with 44 homers and 143 RBI. Wow. He had a fairly short (12 seasons) career which included a bunch of homers (ala Ralph Kiner)-he hit 328. His 162 game average was 35 per season) #18 Chuck Knoblauch Minnesota Twins (CK was like the AL version of Craig Biggio, except he went to the WS and won it-he did it 4 times actually. Once with Minnesota in ’91 and he grabbed 3 more rings with the Yankees) #140 Frank Thomas Peak Performers Chicago White Sox (Thomas reached base safely 15 straight times in May ’96-one time shy of Ted Williams record)
There we go with another pack down. The Mo Vaughn insert is pretty neat looking. Other than all the dupes, this is still a pretty fun set… 1994 Pinnacle is probably up next, but who knows…We are into the 3rd day of Kwanzaa, so Happy Kwanzaa to All!!! Happy Birthday to Dita Von Cheats, the "pin up who will knock you down" is still 6 foot 2 inches tall, but now she is a year older. Happy Birthday Dita!!! troll out!

One To Pack #15 of 1997 Pinnacle X Press!

2009-12-27T13:58:00.000-08:00

We got a little bit more variety out of this pack… Probably cuz I let my wife rip this one. Here we go!
#131 Damon Mashore 1997 Rookie Oakland A’s (Not gonna lie, I never heard of him)
#64 Craig Biggio Houston Astros (First ballot HOFer for sure)
#??? Swing for the Fences Game Card David Justice Atl Braves (I told my wife that he was married to Halle Barry, she said “Before she was famous, right?”)
#103 Andy Benes St Louis Cardinals (copy #2 of this one)
#24 Rey Ordonez NY Mets (I think this is copy#3 of this one I think…)
#9 Greg Maddux Atlanta Braves (Greg was 15-11 in ’96)
#42 Mark McGwire Oakland A’s (Have I mentioned how ridiculous it is that McGwire is on the pack wrapper as a Cardinal, but in the set as an Oakland A? McGwire hit 52 bombs for Oakland in ’96)
#130 Jason Dickson California Angels (another one I have never heard of)
#45 Ryne Sandberg Chicago Cubs (SCORE!!! This is the first card of Rhino in the break. I can’t believe it took this long to pull one, but I am glad I did. He hit 25 homers in ’96)
Not a bad pack. One Hall of Famer. 2 guaranteed future Hall of Famers. One guy who will always raise the question… Until the next one, troll out!

Never Gonna Stop, Never Gonna Stop, Never Gonna Stop RIPPING!!! Pack #14 (already) of 1997 Pinnacle X Press

2009-12-27T05:26:00.000-08:00

We are up to pack 14 of 1997 Pinnacle X Press…
These have been a lot of fun to rip, with only 8-9 cards to pick they post really quick which is nice, but the box yields 192 cards and I don’t know how many cards are in the set, but I wonder if it has more than 100 cards on the checklist. I am saying this because this pack was mainly dupes. Anyway, decided to post it none the less and here is what we got:
#61 Manny Ramirez Cleveland Indians (I scanned the back of this because I forgot what Manny looked like pre-weave…He had a pretty standard, read awesome, year at the plate in ’96-he batted .309/33/112.)
#50 Steve Finley San Diego Padres (I just posted Finley from ’94 while he was on the Astros. Here he is in his Padres uni coming off a year where he hit 30 homers and batted .298. He hit .381 with 20 RBI in the month of July)
#32 Derek Jeter NY Yankees (I don’t think anyone is gonna complain about getting 2 of these Jeter cards-I bet you can find a trader without much of a problem…)
#21 Vinny Castilla Colorado Rockies (Another card showing Castillo after a 40 homer season…)
#30 Barry Bonds San Francisco Giants (I still consider Hank Aaron the Homerun King)
#109 Tom Glavine Atlanta Braves (Glavine was 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA in the month of May ’96)
#??? Swing for the Fences Game Card Dave Nilson Milwaukee Brewers
#113 Troy Percival California Angels (Percy saved 36 games and struck out 100 batters in 1996)
#121 Wilton Guerrero LA Dodgers (Vlady’s little brother…)
Well that’s it, another pack opened and stacked in little team piles. The Braves are still the tallest. The Giants and the Rockies are getting taller. I will probably get a count and post the team by team results because I am a geek and I am addicted to stats. Until the next pack, troll out.

Removing Cards From Old Foil Packs-Pack #8 of 1994 Pinnacle Series 2

2009-12-26T17:54:00.000-08:00

Gosh, I really hope that I can have all of these pack-rips posted before the year is out, after this post I am 1/3 of the way there on this box… I got over 100 packs in the mail from readers and other bloggers (WHICH I TOTALLY APPRECIATE!!!) and I think I need to turn this blog into a pack a day pack ripping blog… The wife and I are celebrating Boxing Day with our duplex neighbors the super awesome Lydia and Chris… We got them a board game for Christmas call “Oh No! Zombies!”… We took it for a spin and Lydia won, but we all laughed our butts off. Good times. They are letting me use their computer to post and Lydia is keeping the Starbucks coffee (Kenya blend) flowing. Here we go with pack #8 of ’94 Pinnacle. This is what we got-
#351 Steve Finley Houston Astros (Finley should be an inspiration to us all. This guy suffered from Bell’s palsy and was still a tough as nails ballplayer for 19 years. The Astros were his 4th team (he played for 8 different total) and in ’93 he hit 13 triples to lead the NL. Over Finley’s career he racked up totals placing him in the All-Time Top-100 in games, runs, hits, doubles, triples and extra base hits. Plus he earned 5 Gold Gloves as a centerfielder and he won a ring in 2001 with the D-Backs)
#341 Angel Miranda Milwaukee Brewers
#539 Paul Spoljaric Toronto Blue Jays
#278 Randy Johnson Seattle Mariners (Struck out 308 batters in 1993 and held batters to a .203 batting average)
#451 Mike Gallego New York Yankees
#358 Marquis Grissom Montreal Expos (Grissom stole 53 bases for the Expos in ’93. He stole 429 over his 17 year career-good for 56th All-Time)
#421 Denny Hocking Minnesota Twins (Hocking played every position other than pitcher or catcher over his 13 year career)
#402 Joe Oliver Cincinnati Reds (In ’87 Oliver played for the Vermont Reds and was the starting catcher in the Eastern League All Star game held at Beehive Field, he went on to bat .305 in AA that year AND by 1990 he took over as the Cincinnati Reds full-time catcher and helped them get to and win the World Series against Oakland that year and Oliver hit .333 in the Series)
#373 Orestes Destrade Florida Marlins (1993 was Destrade’s only full season in the Major leagues and he hit 20 homers for the Fish. He became a star in Japan and was the Tokyo Sportsman of the Year in 1992. After that he also worked for the Devil Rays for a few years. One of the nicest people I have ever met in baseball. He wrote his autobiography in 1996 and it is a recommended read)
#395 Jeremy Burnitz NY Mets (Burnitz topped 30 homers 6 times and hit 315 over his 14 year career)
#501 Pedro Martinez (Before he was a Phillie, before he retired and before he was on the Mets Pedro was an Expo. He made his first All Star team with Montreal and won his first Cy Young Award in 1997 as an Expo)
#405 Chris Turner California Angels (This was one of 3 different catchers in this pack)
#515 Dan Wilson Seattle Mariners (Wilson set a record going 42 at-bats without a hit in the postseason. Not good. He won a Silver Medal with the 1987 USA Junior National Team as a pitcher and a catcher)
#499 Lee Smith Baltimore Orioles (I made a comment about Troy Percival someday going the Hall of Fame earlier-I admit I was way off base with that. Lee Smith on the other hand IS a HOF caliber closer. He was an All Star 7 times and led the league in saves 4 times. He was 478 lifetime saves with is 3rd All Time)
That concludes another pack of junk wax. I thought this was a pretty good one. It had it all-two great starting pitchers, 2 really good centerfielders and a really great closer and the worst postseason hitter of all time. Not too shabby. I have noticed that the comments were frequent in the beginning of these rips, now not so frequent. Are y'all bored of this? Or are you just busy with Christmas and Boxing Day? I received a pretty amazing gift in the mail from a reader named Henry... Lets just say after this rip is done, I can still rip a pack a day for the next 3 months. Thanks Henry!!! Anytime you want to rip wax vicariously through me, I got ya covered! Until next time, troll out.

Pack #13 of 1997 Pinnacle X Press-Guest Ripped by my Dad on Christmas Day!!!

2009-12-26T12:05:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a super Merry Christmas and I hope no one has to work this weekend. Also, wanted to wish my neighbors to the North and friends in the UK, Nigeria and Australia a very Happy Boxing Day. If any of you want to explain the Holiday in the simplest of terms, I am listening-er, reading… This pack is special to me because it was opened by my Dad-Papa Troll himself. The man who bought me my first wax box (1983 Topps) and unintentionally got me hooked on this hobby… Wanted to keep the pack rippin’ rolling, here is a quick pack of 1997 Pinnacle X Press for your viewing pleasure…Here we go!
#148 Commons Checklist Roger Clemens Toronto Blue Jays (This is at least the second copy of this card I’ve pulled…)
#4 Juan Gonzalez Texas Rangers (Gonzo had a monster year in ’96-batted .314 with 47 homers and 144 RBI)
#60 David Cone NY Yankees (Coney batted left handed, but threw right. I never noticed that…)
#53 Javy Lopez Atlanta Braves (I think I’ve pulled a Javy from every brand in the break now)
#1 Larry Walker Colorado Rockies (A Canadian getting the first card in a set?)
#??? Swing For The Fences Game Card +1 (Seriously, does anyone want these?)
#111 Jason Kendall Pittsburgh Pirates (I was in Pirates camp for about a week during Kendall’s first year-he was AMAZING!!! Fast, powerful, funny, just an all around great athlete and great guy… He will make a great coach when he finally hangs it up-or maybe he’ll just be a beach bum surfer dude, full-time)
#67 Bernard Gilkey NY Mets (Gilkey hit .317/30/117 in ’96)
#143 Mark McGwire Peak Performers Oakland A’s (Okay, I was really psyched to finally pull a Big Mac from this series, BUT he’s in an A’s uniform. If you remember he is the cover boy on the packs in a Cards uniform-doesn’t make sense to me…)
Thanks so much to my Poppa for handling the ripping duties! My carpal tunnel was acting up… I had moved out of my folks house long before '97, but around that time my Dad and I worked together and when we took coffee breaks I would read the sports section and bore him with what was going on in the baseball world, so we talked about nearly every player pulled in this pack and it was really awesome! To Larry Walker-Have a Super Boxing Day Sir!!! Hope everyone is happy and relaxing with family and friends…troll out…

Breaking Wax, Pack 7 of 1994 Pinnacle Series 2

2009-12-26T04:04:00.000-08:00

It’s been a couple of days since I tore up any 1994 Pinnacle, so I am gonna get down to it… This is pack #7 for those of you keeping track… No Hall of Famers, but two of the busiest pitchers of All Time make appearances again, here we go!
#296 Jeff Gardner San Diego Padres (Tony Fernandez and his hair are OUT at second!)
#494 Brian Harper Milwaukee Brewers (Harper was the catcher on the ’91 WS Champion Twins-he hit .381 in Series that year)
#289 Alex Fernandez Chicago White Sox (Fernandez was coming off his best season ever-he was 18-9/3.13 ERA for the Sox in ’93-he also went entire season without committing an error)
#473 Jesse Orosco Milwaukee Brewers (I didn’t even realize that the Brewers were one of the 9 teams that Orosco played for… He spent 3 seasons of his 24 year career in Milwaukee and was really effective. His numbers as a member of the Brew Crew: 9-7, 3.74 ERA, 9 saves, 143 Ks in 134 innings)
#320 Andre Dawson Boston Red Sox (The Hawk!)
#455 Mike Lansing Montreal Expos (Lansing stole 23 bases as a rookie in ’93)
#396 Dave Statton San Diego Padres (Played a total of 46 games for Padres between ’93 and ’94)
#368 John Franco NY Mets (Franco is 4th All Time with 424 saves)
#441 Phil Leftwich California Angels (No relation to Byron Leftwich, but won about the same amount of games…)
#448 Tim Wakefield Pittsburgh Pirates (Wakefield was just a baby in ’94-a 28 year old knuckleballer for the Bucs. He was 6-11 with a 5.61 ERA in ’93)
#281 Lou Whitaker Detroit Tigers (Lou was the ’78 Rookie of the Year and in 19 seasons never played a position in the field other than second base)
#431 Marc Valdes Florida Marlins (Made 3 starts for Florida in ’95, gave up 11 runs in 7 innings) #519 Jody Reed Milwaukee Brewers (3 Brewers in one pack)
#534 Mike Kelly Atlanta Braves (The Rays traded Dmitri Young for Kelly before their Inaugural season. Kelly spent just one year with Rays-hit 10 homers in 106 games)
Okay, another 14 card pack posted. Many more to rip, many more to scan and post…

Ripping Wax on Christmas Day! Pack 12 of 1997 Pinnacle X Press

2009-12-25T15:16:00.000-08:00

Moving on to pack #12 of 1997 Pinnacle X Press… I am likely off at work, but I scheduled this pack so y’all would have something to look at in the event you stumbled by here… I kinda regret agreeing to volunteer today, I am tired and want to rest, but Sally will have to rest twice as hard for me. Thanks Sally, you always got my back!Here we go!
#84 Jim Thome Cleveland Indians (Holy cow, Thome with a glove! This guy used to be a pretty awesome infielder I remember right… Thome hit .407 with 11 homers in August of ’96. Batted .311 with 38 homers and 116 overall.)
#24 Rey Ordonez NY Mets
#147 Alex Rodriguez Peak Performers Seattle Mariners
#21 Vinny Castilla Colorado Rockies (Castilla hit .304 with 40 homers and 113 RBI for the Rockies in ’96. He didn’t bring that same bat with him to Tampa Bay)
#??? Swing for the Fences Game Card-Ken Caminiti San Diego Padres
#12 Jose Canseco Oakland A’s (I think Canseco was the only slugger to NOT get 100 RBI in ’96, he only had 82-NEED MORE JUICE!!!)
#58 Moises Alou Florida Marlins (Moises hit .321 with 3 homers and 9 RBI in the ’97 World Series)
#64 Craig Biggio Houston Astros (Biggio’s career stats are AMAZING!!! This guy won a Silver Slugger as a catcher, and then won a few more as a second baseman. He is 13th All Time in runs scored, 5th in doubles and 2nd in hit by pitch. He had 3060 hits (20th All Time) and 414 steals. The only thing he didn’t do was hit in the postseason. Never won a ring because of it. He was 39 by the time the Astros finally made it to the World Series and he hit just .222 as the White Sox swept them. Still, first ballot HoFer for sure!)
#103 Andy Benes St Louis Cardinals (Benes was 2nd in the NL with 18 wins in ’96 and finished 3rd in Cy Young voting. He never made it to the WS, and he wasn’t that great in the playoffs either. I liked Benes though. I used to watch new episodes of Seinfeld on Thursday nights in hopes that Andy or Allen Benes would pop up and it would be determined that they were related to the Elaine character and hilarity would ensue. It never happened. I feel like the producers missed out on gold.)
These packs of X Press are getting better and better. I can’t believe the numbers that hitters were putting up in the late 90’s. Absolutely sick. Also, Craig Biggio was GREAT!!!! I knew he was an All Star and one of the best of the generation, but I didn’t realize how great his career numbers were. Wow. Another rip is coming soon, I’ve got the itch!!! Merry Christmas. Troll out.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!! Plus Birthday Wishes and the Collective Troll Card of the Day

2009-12-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Trollites!!! Merry Christmas Blog-O-Sphere!!!!! Happy Birthday to Ken of the Field of Cards blog and happy birthday to the Guy for whom most of us have the day off to spend with our families…I have never touched on religion on this blog and I don’t plan to start here, so I will stick with what I know-baseball and baseball cards and I will wish a happy birthday to Hall of Fame second baseman Nellie Fox. He would have been 82 this year. Sadly he passed away in 1975, 12 years before the Veterans Committee elected him to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997. This year was the 50th Anniversary of Nellie Fox’s finest year in major league baseball. 1959 belonged to Nellie Fox. He started both games of the 1959 All Star game. His team, the Chicago White Sox, won the American League flag and went to the World Series. Unfortunately the Dodgers rained on his parade and the Dodgers took the Series in 6 games, but Fox had a .375 batting average for the Series with 3 doubles. He also finished 2nd in hits and 4th in batting average that year. He won his second Gold Glove and took home the 1959 American League MVP Honors. Like I said, it was Nellie Fox’s year. This is the 50th Anniversary of that year, that Award and today is the 82nd Anniversary of his birth. Seems like high-time to make his 1960 Topps card #100 the Collective Troll Card of the Day, right? Nellie Fox wasn’t a power hitter, but he was a great hitter. He batted at the top of the order and he hit like crazy, nobody could lace a base hit like Fox. He led the League in singles 8 times over his career. He hit 2161 over his career which is 25th best All Time. He is 66th All Time on the hits list with 2663, which gives you an idea of how often he got on base, but how seldom he went for extra bases. He set the table better than anyone of that era and scored more often than not. He scored 1279 times over his career. I was happy when Fox finally went into the Hall. I wish it happened during his lifetime, but he epitomized the dedicated and gritty gamer-the scrappy middle infielder that is timeless and goes beyond steroids and juiced balls. Over his career he won 3 Gold Glove awards and played in 15 All Star games. As of 1960 he had played in 9 AS games and owned a .367 All Star batting average. Some other highlights from the back of his card in 1960 are as follows:
April 10-Nellie’s first homer in 623 trips beats Detroit in 14th inning.
July 7-2 hits in 1st All Star contest
August 3-2 for 4 in second All Star game.
October 4-In 4th game (of World Series) was 3-5. Average for series-.375
November 12-Wins MVP Award.
Like I said, it was his year. Its cliché to say, I know, but Nellie Fox played the game the way it was meant to be played. When current players are referred to as throwbacks-they are being compared to Nellie Fox. Happy Birthday Mister Fox!!! Happy Birthday Ken! Merry Christmas to the entire blog-o-sphere!!! From Sally the Cat, Emma the Dog, my sons Zadeh and Darvey, my wife (the legendary) Esther Gin N Juice and myself-from our family to yours MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!! Blogging with y’all this past year has been a wonderful experience. I have “met” so many wonderful people and it has been a fantastic ride. Thanks to everyone who has read, written or traded with me this year and Merry Christmas once again…Oh, by the way... I know that "Blow Out the Candles" is not my thing-be sure to check out Can't Have Too Many Cards who does the birthday wishes right! Happy Holidays from the Troll and a HUGE thank you to each and every person who has stumbled across this blog-I’m out!

Christmas Eve Treats....

2009-12-24T19:21:00.000-08:00

I am ridiculously far behind in posting trade packages and I apologize. I have got some pretty amazing stuff of late. Crawfords, Clementes and Bartletts oh my! I have also been on the receiving end of some AMAZING Christmas gifts from some amazing people. A huge thank you to Duane from Democratic Roadkill, Alfredo from My Past Time…I Love It! and Brian from Play at the Plate. You guys rule!!! I have also received some envelopes of awesomeness from readers, too. Thanks for the gifts to Frank, Sally, Derek and James. You guys went above and beyond. Man, I am just happy you read this! I have still yet to get anything from my own Secret Santa (tapping my foot) and I am pretty bummed about that. I thought the Secret Santa deal that Sarah organized was amazing and a very cool program to be involved with. At the time I was shopping I couldn’t rememeber how much we were to spend, so I dropped a fifty (oops!) so needless to say, I can’t wait till my recipient posts his cards, I think he is gonna be pretty happy! Over here at Troll HQ it doesn’t really feel like Christmas. Maybe its because it is 80 degrees out, I don’t know… We did (after much deliberation) decide to put up a tree and it is topped with a mini Rays helmet! We are getting ready to make the rounds and visit our Moms and Dad since I will be working all day tomorrow at All Charities. Thanks again to everyone! I didn’t think I would find my way on the good list this year, but I think I fooled some people… I will post the goodies soon. This wasn’t a gift, but it is soooo regal and spectacular looking that I couldn’t wait to post it. It came here by way of Paul from Carl Crawford Cards and it is my first slabbed Carl Crawford card. Graded cards are one of those things that I don’t really like (unless their in my mailbox!). Anyway, the card is from the 2001 Just Minors set. It is graded at a 9 with the autograph graded a 10. The signature looks nicer than some I've seen, but is Beckett really qualified to grade penmanship? Anyway, kidding aside, it is pretty awesome and I couldn't wait to take a picture and post it up. Thanks so much for thinking of me with this card Paul. I will find something more than suitable to return the favor with after the holiday. Anyway, off to my folks place, then my Momma-In-Law… Thanks to all and Happy Christmas Eve! Troll out.

Ripping Wax, Pack #11 of 1997 Pinnacle X Press... A Braves-Free Break...

2009-12-24T17:27:00.000-08:00

Back to the break… How about pack #11 of 1997 Pinnacle X Press? This was a good one… I pulled A-Roid and Jeter consecutively. You have to imagine me laughing to myself as I scanned the two together. It was a tough decision as to who was on top and who was the bottom… I really am morally opposed to gay jokes, but with two its hard to resist… They just make such a cute couple! Anyway, I am finally starting to pull some Indians cards (and didn't pull any Braves). I ripped a few packs ahead so I could scan them all at once, so I know what I am saying when I say a few… I mentioned I was a Marlins fan in ’97. I was, but even I didn’t think they could beat the mighty Indians. Top to bottom they had one of the best hitting line-ups of all time. The guy who got it all started was this man:
#6 Kenny Lofton Cleveland Indians (Lofton only stole 27 bases in ’97 and he broke his streak of 6 consecutive stolen base crowns. He is 15th All Time with 622 steals. When I look at the players from this era and think about the Hall of Fame-all of steroids and inflated power numbers-I think Lofton stands a better chance than anyone at making it. His stolen bases weren’t aided by a juiced ball or juiced player and he is 56th All Time with 1528 runs scored. Just something to think about…)
#15 Alex Rodriguez Seattle Mariners ( A-Roid had ridiculous triple crown numbers in ’96-.358/36/123)
#30 Barry Bonds San Francisco Giants (All you have to do is talk (type) about steroids and juice and blammo, Bonds appears)
#87 Jason Giambi Oakland A’s (and so does Giambi…)
#??? Swing for the Fences Game Card -2
#96 Randy Johnson Seattle Mariners (In the juiced era, they still couldn’t hit Johnson…He only started 8 games in ’96, but came back to win 20 in ‘97)
#32 Derek Jeter NY Yankees
#124 Dmitri Young St Louis Cardinals (Where is the Meat Hook??? Is he still active?)
#150 Chase Checklist featuring Hideo Nomo LA Dodgers (This one is for you Owl!)
Pack 11 is posted and done…A lot of juicers and a few potential future Hall of Famers, a nice Who’s Who of the 90’s… Christmas is coming and I am not close to ready… I decided to listen for a change and didn’t get my wife anything this year. She says “Don’t get me anything” each and every year and this year I actually did it (or didn’t do it). I will let y’all know how that works out for me…troll out.

1993 Topps Stadium Club Pack Number 8...

2009-12-24T15:50:00.000-08:00

Well this pack reminds me that poor collation and excessive amounts of duplicates is not a problem that began in 2009 for Topps-they’ve been doing it for years… Not only was half this pack dupes, the cards came out in the exact same order… I have to keep reminding myself that there are 84 packs to rip and some won’t be great. Here we go:
#732 Mike Draper NY Mets
#680 Charlie Liebrandt Texas Rangers (this is NOT Liebrandt’s rookie card)
#628 Gregg Jeffries Philadelphia Phillies
#688 Robby Thompson San Francisco Giants (1993 was a banner year for Robby. He hit .312 with 19 homers and 65 RBI-all career highs. He was an All Star and won both the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards for second baseman and earned a baseball card with a VERY goofy pose)
#603 Billy Ripken Texas Rangers
#691 Mike Lansing Montreal Expos
#630 Javy Lopez Atlanta Braves (The Braves are BACK!)
#733 Henry Mercedes Oakland A’s
#694 Kevin Mitchell Cincinnati Reds
#643 Alan Millis Baltimore Orioles
#712 Rene Arocha St. Louis Cardinals (Arocha was 11-8 as a rookie with the Cards in ’93)#611 Chili Davis California Angels
Okay, another pack down, many more to come! Thanks for reading as I rip! Troll out.

Ripping Forward-Pack 10 of 1997 Pinnacle X Press

2009-12-24T14:12:00.000-08:00

Onto pack #10 (of 36) of 1997 Pinnacle X Press… My back is still screaming and I’ve been listening to Concrete Blonde (thanks Can’t Have Too Many Cards for planting that seed!) and reminiscing about being a teenager and feeling really old… I was already a 20 something by the time these packs came out, but I was pretty immature and that will likely never change… This pack (the 27th overall) is the first pack I have ripped (I’m probably exaggerating) that didn’t have a single Braves card in it…Here we go…
#82 Darin Erstad California Angels (I think this is the 3rd Erstad card pulled)
#102 Kevin Brown Florida Marlins (Ahh, Brown in 1997… What can I say about this d-bag? Well, the Fish won the Series that year, DESPITE Brown. I wondered how much money he had bet on Cleveland to win cuz he was AWFUL in the Series. This was pre-Devil Rays and the Fish were MY team. I drove to Miami many times to cheer them on that year, I drove to Atlanta, and I flew to New York to see them. I probably saw them play 30 games that season… Brown was okay in the regular season, he was an All Star and went 16 – 8 and topped 200 Ks for the first time in his career. He was decent in the NLCS against Atlanta. He won the game I saw, but didn’t pitch great. In the Series he SUCKED!!! He lost 2 games and gave up 15 hits and 10 runs in 10 innings. After the ’97 season the Fish dealt him to San Diego and he went on to lead all of baseball in salary for 5 or 6 straight years. I am not a Kevin Brown fan. I wish I had some photo shop skills cuz I would tear this card up!)
#95 Brian Hunter Detroit Tigers (Is he the only Tiger in this set? I think I’ve pulled a few of this one)
#99 John Wetteland Texas Rangers (After winning the Series for the Yanks in ’96 he left as a free agent and went to Texas and had another good year-7-2/1.94 ERA and 31 saves. He is 11th on the All Time Saves list)
#22 Rusty Greer Texas Rangers (this is a Rangers HOT pack. I liked Rusty, he hit .332 and drove in 100 in ’96)
#55 Kevin Appier KC Royals (Appier was the Zack Greinke of the 90’s. A good pitcher on a bad team. He led the AL in ERA in ’93 when he was 18-8 with a 2.56 ERA)
#??? Swing for the Fences Game Card Vladimir Guerrero
#107 Bobby Bonilla Florida Marlins (Bobby Bo drove in 96 for the Fish in ’97-he added a homer and 3 more ribbys in the WS)
#35 Ivan Rodriguez Texas Rangers (3 Rangers out of 9 cards-Merry Christmas Brian! Pudge hit .313 in ’97 and played in his 6th straight All Star game. This guy revolutionized the position of catcher)
That’s it. Seriously no Braves. Not really good variety and the frequency of duplicates is troubling me, but I am still loving this…

I'm a Pack Ripping Fool-1993 Topps Stadium Club Series 3, Pack Number 7!

2009-12-24T10:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, I don’t wanna forget about Stadium Club now. This is pack #7 of 24 of 1993 Stadium Club Series 3…First up is:
#704 Willie Greene Cincinnati Reds
#629 Dave Stewart Toronto Blue Jays (It gives his numbers from April 88-’92, he is 19-4 in 27 starts-I guess the moral of the story is: Pitch well early so you can still be pitching in October?)
#642 Milt Thompson Philadelphia Phillies
#746 Frank Thomas Chicago White Sox (I resisted the urge to scan every Big Hurt card)
#676 Rickey Gutierrez RC San Diego Padres
#686 Tim Wallach LA Dodgers (BotC quote-“A 3-time Gold Glove winner, Wallach can still flash the leather”)
#657 Kevin Seitzer Oakland A’s
#??? Master Photo Redemption Card-Greg Maddux (This was a big hit back then. It is a redemption card and it is long expired, but at least it has a picture of the player on it. If you can read the back and see the other subjects in this series you can get a laugh...) #708 Steve Bedrosian Atlanta Braves (I had a friend in little league who was a Bedrosian fan-I loved to pull his cards and unload them on him)
#681 Troy Percival RC California Angels (Yep, this is Percy’s RC. It shows his numbers at AA Midland from ’92, he was 3-0 with a 2.37 ERA, Call that kid up!)
#613 Mark Williamson Baltimore Orioles
#673 Kirk Gibson Detroit Tigers (Gibby was on his way out, but I can never get that image of him limping around the bases out of my mind)
#710 Paul Wagner RC Pittsburgh Pirates
#701 John Jaha Milwaukee Brewers (After his playing career ended, John became a model-kidding…)
#679 Scott Sanderson California Angels
Okay, another pack down. I think that Troy Percival rookie card might be the most interesting thing I've found so far. I am sure it's a common card, but Percy has a shot at the Hall someday… Theses SC are the oldest cards in the break and none of them are stuck together at all. They are in an old school wax pack and the cards are perfect out of the pack. Both Pinnacle brands are in foil packs and are stuck together like crazy… Another pack of X Press is up next! I am seriously enjoying this trip down memory lane. Is anyone else? Are y'all bored of these by now? I should tell you that I have inside info that says the next pack I rip doesn't have any Braves in it, stay tuned!
Troll out!

Pack 9 of 1997 Pinnacle X Press

2009-12-24T07:46:00.000-08:00

I know I had promised the rest of my blogger award preview as my 300th post, but I am going to have to “back” out of that. I woke today with a major back pain-I have a bunch of herniated discs and sometimes I can deal really well, but today I can’t. This means less typing, less time sitting in front of a computer. So, how about some more pack rips??? Okay, let’s do it…Here is pack #9 of 1997 Pinnacle X Press:
#136 Deivi Cruz 1997 Rookie Detroit Tigers
#149 Commons Checklist Greg Maddux (any excuse to get more Braves in this series)
#120 Bubba Trammell Star Rookie Detroit Tigers (Bubba was soon picked up by the D-Rays in the expansion draft-I thought for sure he would be a 40 homerun guy)
#108 Brian Jordan St Louis Cardinals (Brian drove in 104 in ’96)
#5 Frank Thomas Chicago White Sox (The Big Hurt’s line in ’96-.349/40/134-He was the Pujols of the 90’s!)
#116 Andruw Jones Star Rookie Atlanta Braves (Is this Braves card number 6,012?)
#??? Booster Points Game Card +5
#40 Eric Young Colorado Rockies (EY SR hit .324 in ’96)
#27 Edgar Martinez Seattle Mariners (The greatest DH of all time? He had a typical year in ’96-.327/26/103. Will he go to Cooperstown?)
Okay, that is it. The Braves stack is towering over all others. The Rockies are close, but in no danger of catching the Braves… I will post as many as my stupid back will allow…Till the next one, troll out.

Happy 299th Post To ME!!!!!!!!! Important Stuff Regarding the 2009 Blogger Awards or VOTE!!!!!!!

2009-12-23T16:46:00.000-08:00

Welcome Trollites to the Collective Troll’s 299th Post!!! The number has risen pretty quick with all of the group pack breaks of late, but that has really only accounted for less than 20 posts… Anyway, for this momentous event I am going to take a quick (who am I kidding, really LONG) break from the group pack rips to do something a little different here. I did have a bunch of “Card of the Day” posts planned for this week and weeks upcoming, but they will remain on hold until this pack ripping is done and over with. No regrets here. I just had no idea how much time it would take to post the results of 84 packs (most with 14 cards in them). I know I can speed them up by limiting the number of cards that I scan, but I feel like if I pull a HOF player then I NEED to scan him. Same goes with a goofy picture or a really great action shot or a card of one of my childhood favorites. Any of those cards I just feel like I NEED to share them with the world, with the entire Blog-O-Sphere…Oh, speaking of Blog-O-Sphere (try not to slip on that smooth segue folks) I wanted to use this non-pack-ripping, milestone post to talk about the first ever, 1st Annual 2009 Blogger Awards. The brains behind these awards are two awesome bloggers in their own rights-Drew from Drew’s Cards and Alfredo from My Past Time…I Love It! Drew is the gracious host of the awards. He accepted and tabulated and organized all of the nominations and he is processing and tracking all of the votes. This is 100% confidential by the way. Only Drew and the person voting know who votes for whom and it will not be made public as to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings. Hosting the awards is a ton of work and Drew has a ton more ahead of him and unfortunately there is no reward or award for hosting the awards, so I want to take a moment and say THANKS DREW!!!!!! I would love to take up a collection of Nick Swisher and Robby Cano cards to send your way to say thanks after this is all said and done (don’t want them to be misconstrued as a bribe), but for now I just want to thank you for graciously volunteering all of your time and efforts so that the great blogs out there can receive their proper recognition. You can view all of the nominees and categories for the 2009 Awards right here. There is a vote for athlete, coach and sports moment of the year and there are votes for top products in both football and baseball as well. You can vote for your favorite insert set of the year, your favorite autograph and there are also a slew of categories celebrating You Tubers. It’s all on the front page of Drew’s blog. You can also vote for the regular Blogger Awards there, too. That is what I am going to talk about right now. A big part of blogging for me is connecting, communication and trading with other collectors out there. Like a lot of folks my introduction to card blogs involved scouring the want lists and trade lists of other bloggers out there. Eventually I started a blog of my own, but in the beginning I was just a reader named Troll who traded with bloggers. I think I started out as a pretty good trader. Folks seemed pretty happy with what I was sending and in the beginning there were a lot of people who were pretty excited to be able to get rid of all of their Devil Rays cards and get something in return for them. After a month or two, I ran out of cards and I didn’t have the funds to replenish them, so my days as a top-flight trader were very short lived. Being the best trader isn’t easy. These guys have like 30 deals going on at once. Keeping everyone’s cards together, going to the post office everyday, keeping everyone happy but keeping your collection happy, too, is a crazy balancing act and not everyone can do it. The five bloggers nominated for the Trader of the Year Award never seem to run out of great cards, they respond to trade offers quickly and they are mega super generous and trading with these top-traders is always a great experience. Before I name the 6 deserving nominees, I want to give a shout out to two of my favorite trading partners who for whatever reason didn’t make the final cut. These two have spoiled me this past year, filled my mailbox and my collection. They have sent me way more amazing stuff than I could ever pay back (but I will! Someday) and I wanted to thank them here on this post. It is funny, but both of them are Blue Jays fans (that is why I seek Jays cards in trades, to pay these 2 back!) and amazing internet friends. I get (almost) just as excited to get an email from them as I do when I get a mind-blowing package. They are Duane, who lives on the republican highway of central Ohio. He is a Jays fan and an Allen and Ginter mini maniac-he runs the blog Democratic Roadkill. The other super trader is Joe L from Upstate New York. He is a Jays fan and a Bills fan and a hockey fan of some team, too. He also collects Grady Sizemore and a class A great guy. He runs a blog, but doesn’t update it, ever-it’s called Cobb and Halladay and I thought he might update it now since the trade, but who knows… Either way these two guys definitely deserve an Honorable Mention (which is what I am giving them) as Trader of the Year because they represent everything a great trader should embody. So do these five nominees. I will say that all of these categories are very tough to pick from. I have traded with all 6 of these guys, some of them MANY times. They are all super generous, have great stuff and aren’t afraid to share it. They are collectors first. They aren’t dealers; they don’t make money on their cards. They love this hobby and they make everyone who trades with them love it even more. Okay, here are the nominees…First up is My Past Time… I Love It. Alfredo runs this blog; he is a rabid Florida Marlins fan with a long list of players he collects. He has a TON of cards and will always have the distinction of being the guy who finished off my 1978 Topps set. Next up is Ryan’s Memorabilia Blog. Mike (Ryan) is a Baltimore Orioles super collector and lover of all things Cal Ripken, Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer and all of the great Birds. I collect Brian Roberts and he has tripled my Roberts collection and I still owe him. The next nominee is another O’s fan and fan of all things bearded. I have only traded with Beardy’s Baseball Blog a couple of times. He has also hooked me up with plenty of B-Rob cards, but I remember him most for efforts in this years Gint-A-Cuffs which totally hooked me on that product. Number 4 on the list is a great friend. We worked out quite a few trades before he started his blog-actually I sent him one package and he sent me about 10. This guy is an amazing friend, a GREAT trader, a huge Texas Rangers fan and a very deserving nominee. Oh yeah, I am talking about Brian from Texas and his blog Play at the Plate. Next up is my buddy Chris and his blog Nachos Grande. He was one of the first bloggers I traded with before I started blogging myself. He is by far the most organized collector in the entire blog-o-sphere. He has amazing often updated lists and is very easy to trade with because you always know what he has and what he needs. He is also the only person out there who rips Topps Heritage as obsessively as I do, so you can imagine we have worked out quite a few SP for SP trades. The 6th and final nominee for this very important Award is the mysterious Mojo Hand. I can remember posting a whole bunch of refractors as trade bait a few months back. I had never communicated with Mr. Mojo prior to that. He had commented that he wanted them all. Okay, whatever I thought. Then I got an e-mail from him with a photo attached of a bunch of autographs and relics he was offering up. Holy crap, I jumped on that trade. Since then I have come home to a few emails from the mysterious Mojo Hand saying he pulled a hit with my name on it. I love that! He also gets points for being a super collector of my cousin (in-law) the legendary Cat Osterman. This was a hard one to choose. I ended up picking 2, ending my vote in a tie. All 6 of these guys have trading down to a science and all of them have seriously upgraded my collections.
Another Award is for the Most Creative Blogger. This is another biggy (actually they all are) because card collecting walks a fine line and to many outsiders this hobby can be seen as boring. Of course outsiders think we are all fat, bald, geeks, nerds and freaks, too. Anyway, it isn’t hard to come across as mundane when writing about a flat piece of cardboard. It takes a whole bunch of creativity to keep things interesting. I personally spend between 5 and ten hours a day reading and writing about baseball cards (I know, I need to get a life!) and if there weren’t creative and interesting people writing these blogs, I would be pretty bored and would probably stop. Fortunately there are a ton of amazingly creative bloggers out there that keep things fresh, exciting and interesting. At least 4 of the 5 nominees for this Award have the savvy to keep you coming back and wanting more. The nominees are: I’ll start with Beardy’s Baseball Blog. He is the 2001 Ichiro in this awards picture. He is nominated for Rookie of the Year, Blog of the Year (MVP), Best Trader and Most Creative. He deserves them all, too. Beardy is hilarious. He writes a great blog, he knows and loves the hobby and the sport and he keeps it fresh and funny. The next three nominees I will group together because that is how I found them all. Months before I bit the bullet and started a blog with a silly name I was just a regular blog reader. There were 5 blogs that I read every single night after I got home from work (I used to work during the day). I tried a lot of others, but there were 5 in particular that really stood out to me. They all had a little something extra, some savvy and creativity that I never before experienced in this hobby. Keep in mind at that point the few cards I had were packed away in the garage. I was not collecting nor did I intend on collecting again. It began as casual reading to kill some time while my wife was at school, but it turned into a reading obsession. Those 5 blogs are what roped me back into the hobby, what made me want to spend all of my time in front of a computer and spend all of my money on cards and postage. I don’t know whether to hate them or thank them, but those five special blogs (which are still 5 of my favorites) are White Sox Cards, Dinged Corners, Cardboard Junkie, Autographed Cards and the Night Owl. Three of those 5 are nominees for Most Creative Blogger. They all rock and it isn’t because they have better cards than everyone else or because they have some sort of fancy degree-it’s because they make collecting fun and interesting. They love to collect and they love to talk about it and it shows. They see past hoarding and move on to something deeper and you never know what they will write about next, but you know you want to be there to read it. Anyway, the 5 nominees for Most Creative Blogger are: Beardys Baseball Blog, The Night Owl, Cardboard Junkie, Dinged Corners and The Collective Troll. Hopefully you have paid a visit to that last blog I mentioned at some point in the past. You may have been bored to tears by those long and drawn out posts or you may have laughed at the implosion of his favorite team, the Tampa Bay Rays. Yes, I was nominated for that award, but I am not going to suggest that you vote for me. I know it sounds terribly cliché, but it is seriously an honor to be nominated. I am honored to have my name mentioned alongside those 4 amazing blogs. Beardy, Patricia, Greg and Dayf are all AMAZING writers and put together amazing stories that leave me in amazement. That said, PLEASE, please, pretty please with a refractor on top, go over to Drews Cards and vote right now for one of these fine nominees. The more readers and bloggers who voice their opinion and vote, the more meaningful these awards will become. There are other awards to discuss-The Rookie of the Year, The Coolest (Best) Blog Design, The Biggest and Best Boxbreaker of the Year and the biggest one of all-the MVP, the Blog of the Year. I am gonna have to save my breath on those for another time because I can’t afford to be late to work again. Just please head on over here and vote! These are peer awards, reader’s choice if you will. If you are a blogger or blog reader, then it is your choice and you should make that choice. Excluding myself these nominees are the cream of the crop and they deserve the recognition for all of their hard work-so go and show your appreciation and vote, PLEASE!!!! Regular blogging will resume tomorrow. Until then, vote. In case you were wondering the relevance of the cards shown in this post-they are all Award Winners. Cy Youngs, Rookie of the Year and MVP winners (and they were all recently scanned on the computer I am using). I love a good tie in. All of the nominees that I listed so far are linked so you can check out their blogs and make an informed decision. Oh, if you are wondering why I made a big deal out of post #299... First, I miscounted and thought it was 300. Second, it is a two part post. #300 will be up by morning with the rest of the nominees. Have a happy! Happy collecting! Troll out.

The Rip Fest Continues... Pack #8 of 1997 Pinnacle X Press

2009-12-23T14:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, here we go… this is the smallest amount of cards per pack, so therefore the quickest to post. Here is what we got: #25 Mariano Rivera New York Yankees (Mariano was 8-3 with 5 saves and 130 Ks in ’96)
#119 Jose Guillen 1997 Rookie Pittsburgh Pirates (Jose never panned out to be a star, but he still has a great arm and has a really long career)
#78 Jeff Bagwell Houston Astros (One of the Killer B’s, Bagwell hit .315 with 31 homers and 120 RBI in ’96)
#82 Darin Erstad California Angels
#??? Swing for the Fences Game Card -6
#73 Sammy Sosa Chicago Cubs (SAMMY!)
#37 Fred McGriff Atlanta Braves (The 3rd future HOFer in this pack. The Crime Dog drove in 107 in ’96)
#95 Brian Hunter Detroit Tigers
#51 Lance Johnson New York Mets (From the Crime Dog to the One Dog… Lance stole 327 bases in his career and I have NO idea what he is doing with his hands...)
That’s all folks. Quickest post ever! Many more to come, but no more packs breaks today for the Troll. Working a double and ran out of time. Until tomorrow… troll out.

1994 Pinnacle Series 2 Pack 6-the Wrappers Keep Falling...

2009-12-23T11:28:00.000-08:00

With this pack, this box will be 25% ripped. Here we go! #357 Todd Van Poppel Oakland A’s (For years TVP was the prospect that would not go away-he did win 7 games in ’94, a career best, but he lost 10 and had an ERA over 6. He still found teams willing to pay him and had an 11 year career, but was never the “Future Star” that all of the cards promised he would be.)
#531 Darrin Jackson Chicago White Sox
#479 Mariano Duncan Philadelphia Phillies
#444 Mark Wohlers Atlanta Braves
#486 Walt Weiss Colorado Rockies (The original Rockies shortstop-and the Rookie of the Year with A’s in ’88, also won a ring with them)
#415 Mike Hampton Seattle Mariners
#427 Jon Ratliff Chicago Cubs
#332 Dave Winfield Minnesota Twins (One of my favorites, EVER, the big guy was that good… I love the high five shot with 6’6” Winfield and Puckett)
#364 Rene Gonzales Cal Angels
#427 Tony Fernandez Toronto Blue Jays (coming off the season where he won his first and only ring)
#510 Brett Boone Cincinnati Reds (Boone was a great fielding second baseman, a little dude at 5’10”, but he had power. Put up Jimmie Foxx like numbers at the beginning of this decade)
#316 Pat Hentgen Toronto Blue Jays (he was 19-9 in ’93, but won 20 and the Cy Young in ’96)
#340 Damion Easley California Angels (is this guy still playing?)
#466 Cory Snyder LA Dodgers (This shot is eerie… Cory, his stache and his mullet led the NL in K’s in ’93 with 147-topping 100 Ks for the 6th time in 9 seasons)
Okay, 25 per cent of the way there with this box… More to come! Stay tuned, troll out.

Ripping in the Morning-1994 Pinnacle Series 2, Pack Number 5...

2009-12-23T08:24:00.000-08:00

Jumping right in to the 5th pack of 1994 Pinnacle Series 2… First card out is:
#355 Ken Hill Montreal Expos (1994 would be bittersweet for Hill… He was off to his best start ever. He made the All Star team and was the Ace on the best team in the NL and then came the strike… Hill is another guy who finished second in the Cy Young voting to Greg Maddux. They tied for the league lead with 16 wins, but Hill’s ERA was double Maddux’s)
#399 Darrell Whitmore Florida Marlins (The original DW on the Fish)
#330 Tony Phillips Detroit Tigers (Mr. Personality hit .313 for the Tigers in ’93)
#442 Jamie Moyer Baltimore Orioles (Yep, 15 years ago Moyer was just getting warmed up-he was 12-9 for the O’s in ’93)
#413 Carlos Delgado Toronto Blue Jays (This young catcher had no idea he would make more money than most countries)
#435 Jay Powell Baltimore Orioles (1st Round pick in ’93-had a long career, but never threw a pitch for the O’s)
#363 Gene Harris Sand Diego Padres (not all the photography is good in here)
#503 Tyler Green Philadelphia Phillies (was 18-25 over parts of 4 seasons with the Phillies)
#536 Steve Tracshel Chicago Cubs
#512 Luis Polonia NY Yankees (Swiped 55 bases for the Angels in ’93)
#338 Mike Stanley NY Yankees (hit 26 homers for Yanks in ’93)
#435 Jay Powell Baltimore Orioles MUSEUM COLLECTION (I do love these cards, but 2 Jay Powells in one pack?)
#275 Hipolito Pichardo KC Royals
#521 Jeff Reardon NY Yankees (1994 was the last year for the Terminator-spent it with the Yankees and appeared in 11 games, saving 2-he is 7th All Time in saves)
Okay, that’s it, more to come! Troll out.

1993 Topps Stadium Club Series 3, Group Box Break Pack Number 6!!! or No Sleep Till These Are Posted!!!

2009-12-22T22:34:00.000-08:00

Just got off of work and I am on location at my friend Chris’s house. He just got a new pit-bull puppy (12 weeks old) so I wanted to come and use his nice new scanner and computer again before the dog eats it. He asked me to mention I was at his place so he would be web famous-I explained that he would only be famous if someone read this blog… Anyway, the pack was ripped and sleeved earlier (I am on my third pack of penny sleeves already!) but lets get ready to post pack #6 of 1993 Topps Stadium Club!!! First up is: #733 Henry Mercedes Oakland A’s (Nico had commented that there was only one Oakland A’s card pulled-that is incorrect, but if it wasn’t-here’s card #2 Nico!!!)
#630 Javier Lopez Atlanta Braves (with all the Braves that have been pulled I think this is the first Javy card-he is my favorite Brave because he shares his birthday with my son Zadeh!)
#741 Alex Arias Florida Marlins (Now we have Arias in SC and Xpress)
#695 Phil Hiatt RC KC Royals (Mine!)
667 Randy Myers Chicago Cubs (They list Randall K’s career numbers with no rest and he is 10-7 with 37 saves and a 1.91 ERA)
#654 Ben Rivera Philadelphia Phillies (I guess I didn’t watch too many Phillies games in the mid-90s cuz there are a whole bunch of Phils that I don’t remember)
#601 Wade Boggs New York Yankees (I flipped this card to show his rookie card on the Red Sox rather than a large pic of him on the Yankees)
#716 Terry Mulholland Philadelphia Phillies (Terry was 5-1 in 6 starts in May of ’92)
#620 Joe Girardi Colorado Rockies (I don’t why the Rockies back-up catcher looks familiar to me, but he does…)
#694 Kevin Mitchell Cincinnati Reds (I was going to a lot of Mets games when Mitch first came up and he actually played shortstop and second base-I saw it in person. I mean the guy is a MOOSE and he played middle infield. He could play, but it just didn’t look right)
#607 Ellis Burks Chicago White Sox (this is right before he went to Colorado and became a 30-30 guy)
#691 Mike Lansing RC Montreal Expos (This is actually Mike Lansing’s rookie card, who knew?) #711 BJ Surhoff Milwaukee Brewers (oh my… this card has left me speechless. Someone else say something, please!)
#643 Alan Mills Baltimore Orioles (I am speechless, still)
Okay, there ya go. I don’t know what to say other than I am going home and going to bed. Thanks for your concern Madding-I probably could benefit from a little sleep. I need some badly, especially after seeing that Surhoff card; I will probably have nightmares…Thanks for the computer usage Chris! More packs to rip in the morning, plus Blogger Awards announcement and perhaps even a trade post. Stay tuned. troll out.