One Last Etopps Delivery

I've been meaning to take one last delivery of eTopps cards from my portfolio- at least some select cards- before I'm done here.  Delivery is damn expensive ($12 first card, $1.75 each additional), but I'm getting worried that soon Topps is just going to pull the plug on the site (they stopped making new cards back in 2011, and recently took down the message boards) and my cards will be lost forever.  So I figured I'd bite the bullet and get the cards I really wanted and hope for the best on the rest.  I have a couple of complete sets that would be painful to ship, but I'm hopeful that someday there will be a special offer to clear out one's portfolio.

Anyway, my cards arrived the other day:

Four bubble wrapped blocks of shiny eTopps cards.  Aren't you excited to see them all?

Here they are out of the bubble wrap:

Sorry, I know that's a strange angle.  All the cards come in their own little zip-loc baggie.  So we'll take the next step and look at them all lined up out of the wrap and out of the baggies:

These are the T-206 cards.  They are every bit as beautiful as you think they are.  I still need about 8 cards to finish the set, but they are getting really hard to trade for on the site.

I didn't take an individual shot of the Matt Weiters card in the bottom left of the photo above.  But I managed to trade for one and took it in hand.  Why?  It's Weiter's only Topps card.  I learned that from a comment by a guy named Stubby on a previous eTopps post I wrote.  Thanks for the tip Stubby!

So the challenge of taking pictures of eTopps cards is that not only are they in hard plastic cases, the cards are shiny too.  So my picture styles aren't consistent.  Because I just kept snapping away until I got images that didn't have ridiculous glare.

As much as it ticked me off to pay that much for shipping, I absolutely love these cards.  Especially the T206s.  Here are a few up close for ye:

At some point, I plan to have this Willie Keeler card in it's original T206 form too.  For now, this will work.

I took a bunch of standard eTopps cards too:

 It's neat to have a couple of cards of Christian Colon, who has been mentioned on my blog many times before.

 I got this Mauer just because I thought it would be a nice looking card in hand.  I was right!

 See what I mean by shiny?  Isn't that Maddux gorgeous? 

I took all my Derek Jeters for delivery.  No way I'm leaving those at risk with the website.

These two are from the 2004 set.  As far as eTopps sets go, 2004 is considered one of weaker offerings, and the cards are very cheap to obtain up front before delivery.  But I have to say they are very striking in hand, and a great value in comparison to the other sets.  If I decide to take more cards in the future, I'm loading up on stars from the 2004 set.

I could probably get 2 or 3 more posts out of this haul, but you get the idea.  I will say that I'm not especially interested in trading these just because I wouldn't know what would be fair for them.  On the one hand, the degree of difficulty getting these in a portfolio, coupled with expense of shipping means I'd want something good for them, but on the other hand the initial "cost" per card doesn't warrant getting something good for them.  Mostly, I don't want to go to the effort to replace anything I trade out.

Thanks For The Memories MY

I'm enjoying the nice attention Michael Young has been getting today after announcing his retirement.  I'm also happy to see he is retiring as a Ranger, and that he and Jon Daniels have repaired their relationship (although that's really none of my business so I don't know why I'm happy to hear about it).

The consensus on Young:  good player, not great, not a HOFer but it's not a ridiculous question to ponder, great teammate, great person.  That pretty much sums up the narrative I think.

Anyway, MY is one of my personal Hall of Famers and I'll miss watching him play.

Shining It Up With Brad's Blog

My Rangers Album just got a little brighter, thanks to a nice lot of shiny cards from Brad's Blog.   I had some old Phillies cards that I didn't need and he gladly took them off my hands and sent back these beauties:

These two numbered refractors were the cards I knew I was getting, and they are fantastic.   I definitely need to build a team set of the sepia cards.

However, that wasn't all that was in the padded mailer from Brad, much to my surprise.  He also sent a big stack of other cool Rangers:

I love these "ice" cards from Bowman, and am really stoked to get the card of Luis Sardinas.  He's a SS in the lower levels of the farm system and the Rangers are pretty high on him I hear. 

 Brad also sent a few great base chrome cards.  I don't have many cards of Leonys Martin, but he's quietly turning into a star, so I'm very excited to get this one.

I'm hearing lots of noise about Mike Olt being part of a trade package for Matt Garza of the Cubs.  I like Olt a lot, but I'd be all for that trade, considering the volume of the Rangers starting pitchers that are on the DL. 

There were several other cards in the package, but this by far was my favorite "bonus" card.  I love getting Darvish rookies!

Thanks for the great trade Brad, and I hope you enjoy the vintage Phillies!

The Vealtones Touch My Hot Spots

I’ve traded with Dustin from the highly literate “Coot Veal and TheVealtones” several times now, and he always makes me moist….with perspiration!

He pretty much hit on all my hotsports:  Rangers, Razorbacks and Darryl Strawberry, with many other goodies thrown in.  

This was the main card of the deal on my end:

I have always been an  Al Leiter fan, and enjoy watching his commentary on the MLB Network, especially when he’s discussing the craft of pitching.  I’ve heard he is interested in going into politics, or maybe he used to be.  Sure, I could see it.

Dustin also sent an unexpected bonus:

I’ll always take MY cards….as long as he’s in a Ranger uni.  I don’t want any of him in Phillie uniforms.  I consider him retired.

Speaking of Ranger unis, Dustin sent several current Rangers:

AND a star Congressional witness:

AND cards of a big goober.  An awesome goober, but still a goober.

AND Darryllllll……Darrylllllll…….Darryllllllll

 AND some vintage (love the Jenkins):

AND a couple of awesome Razorbacks to top it off.

Thanks Dustin, and enjoy that new baby of yours.  You should know I intended to pepper this post with lots of parenting advice for you but the lovely wife said that if I actually did like you I would keep my tips to myself and save you from going down a horribly wrong path.

Brother Wes- The Patron Saint of PWEs

Wes from Jaybarkerfan's Junk is at it again.  Seriously, if the baseball card blog community ever evolved from community to cult to full blown religion, I would like to nominate him for Sainthood.  In fact, St. Wes is how he will be known going forward on this blog.    Here are a few things I got in one of his famous PWEs last week:

Some old, some new, and several candidates for the sampler album.  Thanks again Wes, you are the man!

A Blue Yu From Hoo Hoo!

That hoo hoo is the hoot of an owl, The Night Owl that is.  I'm officially a real baseball card blogger now that I've completed a trade with the gazillion time winner of card blog of the year.  It only took me two years to complete a trade with the Night Owl, so I guess my tactic of playing hard to get paid off.

It wasn't the biggest trade of the year, but I think he liked what I sent, and I was definitely happy with my end, especially this Blue Yu:

If Darvish takes the next step this year and becomes the Ace we Rangers fans are hoping for, I'm going to go Darvish crazy.  I've got a nice little assortment of Darvish cards now, but I figure there will be a ton made in 2013 for me to hunt. 

There will be more Michael Young cards in 2013 too, but I won't want most of them.  I have no interest in seeing him in a Phillies uni.  This pic of him in an throwback uniform is fitting and a nice last Rangers base card of him, but I wish the picture was of him hitting.  I can't say I'm going to miss his fielding too much.

Speaking of throwback unis- here are those same unis, except they weren't throwback unis when these cards were made.  These have already filled some gaps in my sampler album.

He also sent a handful of Piazza and Beltre cards.  I wonder how Dodger fans are feeling about Piazza these days after he called out Vin Scully?

Thanks for the trade Night Owl!  I look forward to doing it again in two years!

AJMcCarron'sgirlfriend's Junk

I assume that Wes from Jaybarkerfan's Junk will be changing his blog name soon to take advantage of the name recognition of the current Alabama quarterback's best asset.    If you do, Wes, and your viewership explodes, just remember who gave you the idea.

I imagine there is general agreement that Wes is one of the most generous members of this little fraternity of card bloggers.   Last week I came home to another unexpected envelope from him containing some nice Ranger cards:

I was happy to get all of them, but especially the 3 1997 Topps cards on the bottom because my sampler album page for that year is pretty sparse.

Not only do I want to publicly thank Wes for these nice cards, I also think he deserves some kudos for yet again holding a Blogger of the Year award.  It's a pretty cool thing to be able to have an outlet to give recognition to the guys out there with exceptional blogs.  The only thing I didn't like about the contest was that he would not allow himself to be nominated.   

Thanks for being such a positive part of this community Wes!

Farewell Face

 (Turn around) every now and then I get a little bit lonely and you're never coming round
(Turn around) every now and then I get a little bit tired of listening to the sound of my tears
(Turn around) every now and then I get a little bit nervous that the best of all the years have gone by
(Turn around) every now and then I get a little bit terrified and then I see the look in your eyes 

(Turn around, bright eyes) Every now and then I fall apart
(Turn around, bright eyes) Every now and then I fall apart

And I need you now tonight and I need you more than ever
And if you only hold me tight We'll be holding on forever
And we'll only be making it right 'cause we'll never be wrong
Together we can take it to the end of the line
Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time (all of the time)
I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark
We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks
I really need you tonight, forever's gonna start tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight

Once upon a time I was falling in love, but now I'm only falling apart
There's nothing I can do... a total eclipse of the heart
Once upon a time there was light in my life, but now there's only love in the dark
Nothing I can say... a total eclipse of the heart

(Turn around) bright eyes, Every now and then I fall apart
(Turn around) bright eyes, Every now and then I fall apart

And I need you now tonight
And I need you more than ever
And if you'll only hold me tight
We'll be holding on forever
And we'll only be making it right
Cause we'll never be wrong together
We can take it to the end of the line
Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time (all of the time)
I don't know what to do, I'm always in the dark
We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks
I really need you tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight

Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I'm only falling apart
Nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart
A total eclipse of the heart