Goodies From Oklahoma

Jeff from Cardboard Catastrophes is at it again.  I saw the padded mailer on the counter today labeled "Napkin and Son Doon" and knew exactly who sent it without even looking at the return address.  Jeff has without a doubt been one of the most generous bloggers that I've met during this little blog project.

And this package was also sorts of cool.  First, and I assume this was intended for the "Son Doon:"

A huge stack of vintage Star Wars cards. These are so cool.  I've got a bunch more of these in a box somewhere, so I need to see if I have the complete set.  I bet if I didn't, this group filled in a lot of gaps.  I think my son wants to take these to school Monday.  I suppose he could take a few.

And there was something for moi as well, and this is plain badass:

I don't have any of these Camo cards of the Rangers, so I was really pumped to get this.  Not sure why my scanner cropped the hell out of it. 

Thanks again for the nice cards Jeff! 

Ranger Hits... And No Misses

Someone put together a Napkin Doon dream lot on eBay a few weeks ago, and thank god for us all, I won it.

It included a nice big handful of Ranger hits, including my first ever Yu Darvish relic:

Yeah, it's an all star game jersey, but so what?  My first Darvish relic!

The lot also included a pair of Heritage relics, including my main man Adrian Beltre.  I look at these and can't decide if they are boring or not. 

Two more of my favorites- Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler.  The Kinsler card is really sharp, and I love the blue swatch.

The lot also included one auto- David Murphy.

Finally, there were a few nice regular cards in the lot, including a gold parallel Elvis Andrus rookie, and some minor league cards of Jurickson Profar and Ian Kinsler.

My kind of lot!

A Card Show In My Mailbox

Jeff, from Cardboard Catastrophes, was up to his old tricks again last week and sent me an unexpected lot of cards.  What was great about these is they included stuff from issues I've never had before:

All three of these are awesome.  The Nelson Cruz card, as it turns out, is  "color swap" SP from Heritage and not that easy to come by.    The Frank Howard is the first vintage Deckle card in my collection.  In fact when I first saw it, I thought it was part of the 2012 Archives Deckle insert set, which shows how illiterate on this stuff I often am.  But it's a true 1969 Topps card, and it's going straight to my vintage album.   Finally  I’m always glad to get cards of Fergie Jenkins, especially in a Rangers uniform.

He also sent a few Obak cards, which are very cool.  I'd never paid much attention to Obak, but dagnabbit (as Jeff and his fellow Okies say)  if these aren't some pretty cards!  The David Clyde card would be fantastic autographed.  These are likewise firsts for my collection.

I could have gone to a card show and just come home with this group of cards and been happy.    That's some solid stuff!

Thanks again Jeff, and let me know when you get together a 1970 Topps wantlist.  I might be able to help a little!

Some Junk Mail

I'm sure I can't be the first person to use that play on words when posting about a trade with Wes of  Jaybarkerfan's Junk?  If I am, then shame on all of you.

This was my first trade with Wes, and hope not the last.  He recently had a handful of cards that he offered in return for vintage, any vintage.  He had a nice Neftali Feliz A&G relic that I liked so I claimed it, forgetting I already had one.  Oops.

Actually, no "oops" because I'm more than happy to have two of these, especially if Feliz reaches hi potential in the next few years.

Wes also through in an extra bonus:

An on card Ranger auto was a great surprise!

Thank you for the trade Wes, and I hope you like what I sent!

Value Boxes Called Me Back

I mentioned last week that Value Boxes were back in stores, and while I liked them ok, I was likely not going to buy anymore.  That vow didn't last long.  Here is what I got in the second value box I bought.

This Griffey chrome card was by far the coolest thing in the box.  I only got one code card, and once again, I just came away with a stupid virtual coin.

The two Heritage hobby packs gave me a couple of cards I liked, but nothing huge.

Same for the 5 Topps flagship packs.

Everything is for trade, but that Griffey will be hard to part with even though I'm sure I could pick it up cheap off eBay.

Topps Heritage Opens Old Wounds

Like many of you, I have tested out Topps Heritage recently.    Unlike many of you, I burst into tears when I opened one of the packs in the blaster I bought.

I totally forgot that Heritage runs these World Series cards.  What a painful reminder of that horrible turn of events.  Sure, this is a card of game two, which the Rangers won, but all I can remember about that World Series is the disastrous game 6.   In fact, when I first saw this card, I thought it was referring to Feliz coming in with the lead in game 6 and blowing it.  Now THAT would have been mean.  

From a marketing standpoint, wouldn’t it have made more sense to feature the ALCS instead of the World Series?  Isn't the ALCS a bigger deal than the World Series?  I know it was in 2011 anyway.  Wouldn't we all have enjoyed that?  Or maybe a great Rangers Moments from 2011 set?  Topps really blew it on this one.

It kind of ruined the whole box for me, and I have no interest in building this set.  But here are some other cards I got in my blaster.  Nothing really great:

 The Adam Jones is a Chrome refractor which is fine I guess, and the McCutchen mini sticker is ok.  

What a downer.  I guess I’m not over last season yet.  At least the new season is almost upon us and a new opportunity will arise.  I think the Rangers have a realistic shot of going 162-0 this year, barring any bad luck.  Let’s say 152-10 just to be safe.

If anyone is building Heritage, I’ve got some for trade.  Other than the Cliff Lee and Ian Kinsler cards, everything is available.  Especially the cruel World Series card.

A Trade with The Don

I recently completed my first trade with the Don of trading- Wicked Ortega.  I was a little nervous to be honest with you.  I didn’t want to end up like this poor bastard.

I think in my short time as a blogger that was hands down the greatest post I’ve read yet.  I would LOVE to tell someone I am going to rip their heart out of their chest and I’ve often wondered about the art of doing such a thing.   I'd probably find a way to mess it up.   What if you couldn’t get a grip of the heart?  Would you leave your hand in there and feel around until you had it, or would you just immediately pull your hand out and pretend all you meant to do was pierce your opponent’s chest?  What is the threshold of time you leave your hand in the body cavity before you start to look uncool?  Would you worry about your hand getting tangled in all the veins? And wouldn’t you be worried about cutting your wrists against the rib bone fragments that you just created?  I assume rib bones would be sharp.   Maybe pulling out someone's throat would be the way to go instead.  I saw Patrick Swayze do it on Roadhouse so I know that's a real thing.

Man, what a cool way to die!  If I knew I only had 24 hours to live, I might try to find a ninja (or Wicked Ortega) and ask him to rip my heart from my chest.  Actually, I haven’t put much thought into ways I would like to die.    However, I have given considerable thought to what I would like done with my remains when it does happen.  Would you like to know?  Sure you would:

1)      Krispy Kremated:  If Krispy Kreme would allow it, I would like them to run my body through their donut conveyor belt.  I would get deep fried, flipped, deep fried some more, and then my body would slowly roll under the glaze waterfall.  Then they could put me in a casket.

2)      Doon Chipper: I would like my body to be slowly rolled into a wood chipper that was pointing out into a lake or ocean.

It will be one of those two ways, mark my words.

Until then, I will enjoy the cards that the Don sent, and sleep with one eye open if I hear he is upset with me.

This sweet David Murphy auto/patch card was my main part of the trade.  I don't have any relics or autos of the plucky Murphy, and this card is just awesome.  But the Don wasn't done yet:

He also sent a big pile of Rangers cards, and these were some of my favorites.    The Cruz and Young Heritage cards are both numbered refractors, and are incredible cards.  Like how I scanned the Feliz card on the bottom row upside down?

Thank you for the trade Don Ortega, you truly are an all time great!

Catastrophe Schmutastrophe

Jeff from Cardboard Catastrophes keeps one upping me. Not only is his blog better than mine in general, I still haven't been able to come up with a better trade post title for trades with him than the one he came up with for trades with me:  Paper Products From a Paper Product.  Brilliant.
Then we sort of worked out a trade where I was going to send him some Red Man cards of Johnny Antonelli.  I say sort of because I actually was just going to send him the cards since I still owed him from our last trade.  I told him not to send anything.  But he went ahead and sent me a bunch of great Ranger cards, and they came in the mail today:

 My first Feliz relic card.  AWE. SOME.

 I'm more excited about this Gaylord Perry 1978 card the more I look at it.  Fantastic vintage.

And there were several current Rangers cards,with several A&G that I didn't have yet, and a couple of great Heritage Minors.  I hear Jake Skole is tearing it up in the AFL.

There were more as well, but these were my favorites.  Thank you so much for the great package Jeff!  I'll keep an eye out for more Antonelli cards!

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!

Diamond Success Again!

I have to say, I love the $14.99 value packs.  I didn't get a lot of great cards out of my most recent box, but yet again struck gold on with the Diamond Codes:

Now before my Yankee friends lay claim to this card, I will tell you that it is already gone.  I put up trades for Nelson Cruz, Neftali Feliz and Josh Hamilton.  I really didn't expect to get Hamilton, but very quickly after I posted my offers, this was in my portfolio:

That brings my Rangers collection to 3:  Feliz, Ian Kinsler, and Michael Young.  I may actually put together a whole team set!