Topps Diamond Cut Cards

I recently took delivery of my handful of Topps Diamond cards.  I have 5 of the Rangers, and want to add the Adrian Beltre.  Nolan Ryan will be too expensive, and I am not interested in the Vlad Guerrero. 

These are really nice cards!  I guess I’ll leave the protective film on them, although it really bubbled up on Michael Young.  I saw on eBay that someone was selling the entire set of this line.  How much work must that have been to put together???  I thought I was a big timer by scrounging up 5!

Etopps offering 8/22

This week's etopps offering:

Derek Jeter
Ubaldo Jimenez ????
Brandon Beachy

I'll likely pick up the Jeter and maybe the Beachy for possible ROY points.

Be online at 1 pm est on WWW.etopps.com to order if interested.

Blog Dog Championship Tournament: Match 1

Five Guys vs Kum and Go

This has massacre written all over it.  First, let’s meet the first contestant, seed #8, Kum and Go Hot Dog. 

Yes, this little convenient store with the filthy name had the odds stacked against it. 

Here was my hot dog, spinning around on rollers with his brothers and sisters and cheddar brat cousins, oblivious to his impending doom.   After dressing it up with mustard and relish (the standard condiments I will give every hot dog in this contest to keep it fair) this is what my $1.59 got me:

And do you know what?  It was EXCELLENT!   The bun was soft, the meat was plump and juicy (no dirty jokes please) and the condiments were just fine for coming out of a bottle on the counter.  I have no complaints about this hot dog!  An impressive start to the competition, and Five Guys had better have their act together, or they are in big trouble.

So let’s see if Five Guys answered the bell.

There was a noticeable tension in the air behind the counter at Five Guys as I ordered my hot dog for $3.99.    Were they aware of what had happened earlier in the day at Kum and Go?  I don’t know, but here is what they served up:

Uh oh, not too impressive looking.  Could it be possible that a hot dog from a Five Guys Burgers, an establishment just recently featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, could lose to a place called Kum and Go, who was featured in Maxim Magazine's "Found Porn" segment?  Let's see....

Ok, Kum and Go, it’s time to go… home.  This Five Guy hot dog makes a man want to slap his mamma!   The bun was warm and fresh and the meat was deep fried and had an audible snap when I bit into it.  This deep fried hot dog may just roll through the competition like it rolled through my bowels this evening.  What a freaking masterpiece!

Round one result:  Despite a valiant effort by Kum and Go, it’s hot dog was simply outclassed.  But don’t worry, Kum and Go.  You’ve earned my trust and respect, and I will be seeing you again soon.  But the moment belongs to Five Guys, so congrats to them!

Next round:  Chicago Dog vs. Back Yard Burger

Lineage Rangers

I don't know what happened, but I very quickly changed my mind on Lineage.  I still love the mini relic cards, and some of the other inserts, but I have no interest in the base other than the Rangers cards.  Luckily,  neighboring state (OK) blog Cardboard Catastrophes (BTS, the more I read his blog and correspond with him, the more I realize we have in common- except I LOVE Star Wars) cares even less for Lineage and sent me the Rangers cards he had from his purchase:

This about covers my needs for Lineage base.  The Cruz card is super cool, and now I think I have all of the mini relics of the Rangers since I also received this Kinsler relic off eBay:

While the base doesn't do much for me, I still am enamored with the mini relics.  Once they come down in price, I will probably fish for a few more online.  I also really want the Josh Hamilton 3D card.

Thanks for the trade Jeff! 

Blog Dogs

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the first annual Napkin Doon Northwest Arkansas Hot Dog Tournament Championship!  Gathered today are the 8 best Hot Dogs available in Northwest Arkansas!  That I know of!  Here are your contestants and their seed in the tournament:

1)      Five Guys Burgers and Fries

2)      Chicago Dog

3)      Sonic

4)      Tusk and Trotter

5)      Sams Club

6)      White Oak Station

7)      Back Yard Burger

8)      Kum and Go

You may not be familiar with some of these restaurants, but I won’t let that stop me.  I will give more detail on the restaurants and dogs over the course of the tournament, as well as exciting action photos!

I have appointed seeding based on a cursory, top of my head ranking of these hot dogs in 4 key areas:  Price, Meat, Bun, Fixins.    I am not 100% sure on these prices, but I think they are close enough.  Yes, there really is a $12 Hot Dog available in Northwest Arkansas.

	Price	Meat	Bun	Fixins	Score
Five Guys	$3.99	1	1	1	1.7
Chicago Dog	$3.50	3	2	2	2.6
Sonic	$1.99	6	4	5	4.2
Tusk and Trotter	$12.00	2	3	3	5.0
Sams	$1.50	5	7	7	5.1
White Oak Station	$2.99	9	5	6	5.7
BYB	$1.99	7	8	8	6.2
Kum and Go	$1.50	10	10	10	7.9

Clearly, Five Guys is the heavy favorite going into this tournament, and Kum and Go has almost no chance of winning.  But, as we know from sports, rankings and seeding mean nothing!  It has to be settled on the field, or in this case, in my gut. 

So over the next several weeks, buckle up while I figure out which hot dog I like best!  The first contest should be a blowout, with Five Guys Burgers going up against Kum and Go.    But you never know how this thing will play out.  We could be looking at an historic upset.  Stayed tuned for the first matchup!

What does this have to do with baseball cards?  Nothing.  It just needs to be done.

I can just sense the lovely wife turning red with embarrassment already…

Side note,I hope this post shows up correctly.  Apparently there were problems with my last one and it didn't show up on followers reading lists. 

Logic and the Lovely Wife

Besides being smoking hot, the lovely wife is super sharp and does not let anything get by her.  Case in point, the controversial Bob Feller card that I declined to go after at Cleve’s the other night  (BTW it went for over $30, so I’m not kicking myself for missing out on it.  Plus, now I’ve gotten my week hiatus out of the way, and this Tuesday I can go hog wild!!!).  After I won a magnificent Satchel Paige card the week before, I agreed with her that I should take a hiatus from Cleve’s auctions and get myself back under control.  But then I saw the 1953 Feller, and it was too much for me to bear.   I am a great admirer of Feller as a player, patriot and ambassador to baseball, and was genuinely sad when he passed away.  Yet, I do not have a single vintage card of him.  I explained to the lovely wife that this was a special circumstance, and I REALLY wanted this card, despite agreeing to take an auction break.  In fact, a helpful handful of you agreed I should go for this card now and take a break later.  The lovely wife thought about this and asked, “But don’t you think you will be able find a ‘special circumstance card’ at Cleve’s EVERY week?” 

Touché.  

So, to gain credibility when I advise her of cards I really want, I have come up with a “Special Exception” list.    I hear of couples making “exception” lists of famous celebrities they have permission from their spouse to “be” with should the opportunity present itself.  In that spirit, I am going to list the cards that I should be able to bid on at ANY time should they find their way to one of Cleve’s auctions and come at a reasonable cost.  This way I can simply point to this legally binding agreement and show the lovely wife that the player in question is on the list, and I have already made public my desire to purchase a card of said player.

I give you the Napkin Doon exception list: 

Hank Aaron

Grover Alexander

Roberto Alomar

Walt Alston

Sparky Anderson

Cap Anson

Luis Aparicio

Luke Appling

Richie Ashburn

Earl Averill

Frank Baker

Dave Bancroft

Ernie Banks

Al Barlick

Ed Barrow

Jake Beckley

Cool Papa Bell

Johnny Bench

Chief Bender

Yogi Berra

Bert Blyleven

Wade Boggs

Jim Bottomley

Lou Boudreau

Roger Bresnahan

George Brett

Lou Brock

Dan Brouthers

Mordecai Brown

Ray Brown

Williard Brown

Morgan Bulkeley

Jim Bunning

Jesse Burkett

Roy Campanella

Rod Carew

Max Carey

Steve Carlton

Gary Carter

Alexander Cartwright

Orlando Cepeda

Henry Chadwick

Frank Chance

Happy Chandler

Oscar Charleston

Jack Chesbro

Nestor Chylak

Fred Clarke

John Clarkson

Roberto Clemente

Ty Cobb

Mickey Cochrane

Eddie Collins

Jimmy Collins

Earle Combs

Charlie Comiskey

Jocko Conlan

Tom Connolly

Roger Connor

Andy Cooper

Stan Coveleski

Sam Crawford

Joe Cronin

Candy Cummings

Kiki Cuyler

Ray Dandridge

George Davis

Leon Day

Andre Dawson

Dizzy Dean

Ed Delahanty

Bill Dickey

Martin Dihigo

Joe DiMaggio

Larry Doby

Bobby Doerr

Barney Dreyfuss

Don Drysdale

Hugh Duffy

Leo Durocher

Dennis Eckersley

Billy Evans

Johnny Evers

Buck Ewing

Red Faber

Bob Feller

Rick Ferrell

Rollie Fingers

Carlton Fisk

Elmer Flick

Whitey Ford

Bill Foster

Rube Foster

Nellie Fox

Jimmie Foxx

Ford Frick

Frankie Frisch

Pud Galvin

Lou Gehrig

Charlie Gehringer

Bob Gibson

Josh Gibson

Warren Giles

Pat Gillick

Lefty Gomez

Joe Gordon

Goose Goslin

Goose Gossage

Frank Grant

Hank Greenberg

Clark Griffith

Burleigh Grimes

Lefty Grove

Tony Gwynn

Chick Hafey

Jesse Haines

Billy Hamilton

Ned Hanlon

Will Harridge

Bucky Harris

Gabby Hartnett

Doug Harvey

Harry Heilmann

Rickey Henderson

Billy Herman

Whitey Herzog

Pete Hill

Harry Hooper

Rogers Hornsby

Waite Hoyt

Cal Hubbard

Carl Hubbell

Miller Huggins

William Hulbert

Catfish Hunter

Monte Irvin

Reggie Jackson

Travis Jackson

Fergie Jenkins

Hughie Jennings

Ban Johnson

Judy Johnson

Walter Johnson

Addie Joss

Al Kaline

Tim Keefe

Willie Keeler

George Kell

Joe Kelley

George Kelly

King Kelly

Harmon Killebrew

Ralph Kiner

Chuck Klein

Bill Klem

Sandy Koufax

Bowie Kuhn

Nap Lajoie

Kenesaw Landis

Tommy Lasorda

Tony Lazzeri

Bob Lemon

Buck Leonard

Freddie Lindstrom

Pop Lloyd

Ernie Lombardi

Al Lopez

Ted Lyons

Connie Mack

Biz Mackey

Larry MacPhail

Lee MacPhail

Effa Manley

Mickey Mantle

Heinie Manush

Rabbit Maranville

Juan Marichal

Rube Marquard

Eddie Mathews

Christy Mathewson

Willie Mays

Bill Mazeroski

Joe McCarthy

Tommy McCarthy

Willie McCovey

Joe McGinnity

Bill McGowan

John McGraw

Bill McKechnie

Bid McPhee

Joe Medwick

Jose Mendez

Johnny Mize

Paul Molitor

Joe Morgan

Eddie Murray

Stan Musial

Hal Newhouser

Kid Nichols

Phil Niekro

Walter O'Malley

Jim O'Rourke

Mel Ott

Satchel Paige

Jim Palmer

Herb Pennock

Tony Perez

Gaylord Perry

Eddie Plank

Alex Pompez

Cum Posey

Kirby Puckett

Old Hoss Radbourn

Pee Wee Reese

Jim Rice

Sam Rice

Branch Rickey

Cal Ripken, Jr.

Eppa Rixey

Phil Rizzuto

Robin Roberts

Brooks Robinson

Frank Robinson

Jackie Robinson

Wilbert Robinson

Bullet Rogan

Edd Roush

Red Ruffing

Amos Rusie

Babe Ruth

Nolan Ryan

Ryne Sandberg

Louis Santop

Ray Schalk

Mike Schmidt

Red Schoendienst

Tom Seaver

Frank Selee

Joe Sewell

Al Simmons

George Sisler

Enos Slaughter

Hilton Smith

Ozzie Smith

Duke Snider

Billy Southworth

Warren Spahn

Al Spalding

Tris Speaker

Willie Stargell

Turkey Stearnes

Casey Stengel

Bruce Sutter

Mule Suttles

Don Sutton

Ben Taylor

Bill Terry

Sam Thompson

Joe Tinker

Cristobal Torriente

Pie Traynor

Dazzy Vance

Arky Vaughan

Bill Veeck

Rube Waddell

Honus Wagner

Bobby Wallace

Ed Walsh

Lloyd Waner

Paul Waner

John Ward

Earl Weaver

George Weiss

Mickey Welch

Willie Wells

Zack Wheat

Sol White

Hoyt Wilhelm

J.L. Wilkinson

Billy Williams

Dick Williams

Joe Williams

Ted Williams

Vic Willis

Hack Wilson

Jud Wilson

Dave Winfield

George Wright

Harry Wright

Early Wynn

Carl Yastrzemski

Tom Yawkey

Cy Young

Ross Youngs

Robin Yount

Keep in mind, this list only applies to vintage players.  I have an obligation as a Blogger and American Consumer to continue to purchase modern cards at my discretion.  Now, let’s see her argue with that.