The Plan

Tomorrow is the big day.  Off to Cleveland to get into trouble buy some cards.  When I went to the show in May at Robert Morris college in the Pittsburgh suburbs, I stuck to the plan that I made before hand, and wound up spending a lot less than I budgeted.

The plan this time is pretty simple as well.   Five things I'd like to concentrate on during the first day, so I can use the 2nd day to wander the halls...

1.  1964 Topps 

Remember these?  It's been a couple of months since I posted a card from this set on the blog.  I only need 13 cards to pass the 80% goal that I set for myself at the beginning of the year.

The bigger goal here is to try and pick up either the Clemente, the Niekro RC, or both if I can find decent copies on the cheap. 

2.  2014 Series 2

If I can find a box of this on the cheap, I'll grab it.  Time to put this years set to bed.

3.   SNI

I am just 1 card away from finishing off two more teams (Angels, Mets).  I'd also like to try and find a few Rockies and Orioles cards for this set as well.  I'm 42 cards away from 1200 for the set; that would be a nice number to hit, but it's not a necessity.

4.  Other people's want lists

There are a few people out there that I owe, so I've built some mini want lists for those people.  Hopefully I can find some other cards on the cheap to sprinkle around the blogosphere. 

5.  Vintage 

I had some good luck at the Baltimore National finding some good vintage for cheap, and I'm hoping to do the same here.  I'll probably pick up a few more cards from some of the sets that are remaining in the tournament. 

There's also the long overdue completion of the '73T set as well, but finding a reasonably priced Schmidt rookie is pretty tough to do...

Looking forward to tomorrow is probably an understatement. 

thanks for reading, Robert

By the page: Shawn Green

Another player who didn't spend long enough in a Blue Jays uniform in my opinion.  This guy was a great talent who unfortunately wanted out of Toronto to be closer to his family.

I guess I can understand that.

I have enough cards for at least two pages of Shawn Green cards; welcome to the world of the mid 90's!!  Plenty of choices and inserts to satisfy everyone's pallet.


Top line:  Trying to be fancy

The Crown Royale card in the center is fabulous.  It looks a lot better in hand than it does on a scan.  I hadn't seen a green Record Breakers insert card until I received this one a while back from a fellow collector.  The Skybox Metal card just didn't scan very well, and looks kind of bland here.


Middle row: Chrome & shiny 

These three cards just seemed to fit together.  Ultimate Victory you could probably classify as an oxymoron; I'm not sure why UD took a base product like Victory and tried to jazz it up with foil.  I guess when you end up with a license to print money like companies had back then, you'll do anything to make a buck.

Bottom row:  Nothing but base

I'm going to have to take a look at the Shawn Green cards I have, because it seems that the common thread for each of them is Green hitting.  Yes, he was a solid hitter during his time in the bigs, but he also was a pretty good fielder as well, ranking in the top 5 in outfield assists 5 different times, as well as having a 1.000% fielding percentage in 2005.

Maybe I just need to look harder for cards featuring him fielding...

Here's the final result.

 

Not too bad, a little bit dark on the top and middle right but overall a pretty decent looking page.  This page brings the total # of cards out of the box to 85.

I'm going to have to figure out a way to speed this process up a little....

thanks for reading, Robert

Getting ready for Friday

Part of the task of getting ready for Friday is this post.  One of the goals I have for the National this week is to knock down the SNI want list as much as possible.  In order to do that, I have to update my current list.  Which means you're getting a post of the remaining 14 serial numbered cards that were part of the envelope that Max sent me last week.

Mike Leake is serial #'d 1283 and is card 41 for the Reds out of 50.
Charlie Morton is serial #'d 789 and is the 36th card out of 50 for the Pirates.
Nate Eovaldi is serial #'d 929, and now the Marlins have 35 out of their 50 cards for the set.

Vicente Padilla is serial #'d 1020, and Scott Podsednik is serial #'d 1110.  These two bring the Dodgers total up to 35.
James Loney, the former Dodger, is serial #'d 1404 and gives the Rays their 45th card toward the set.

A pair of Astros brings the team total to 31, leaving the Orioles and the Rockies as the only teams below the 30 mark.  J.D. Martinez is serial #'d 1043, while Erik Bedard is stamped with the # 1227.

The Diamondbacks now have 35 out of their 50 cards thanks to Brandon McCarthy (823) and J.J. Putz (777).  Brian McCann's card gives the Braves 41 cards towards the set.  His card is #'d 1085.

Does anyone out there realize how hard it is to type Alburquerque?  Because of that I'll only do it this once.  Al's card is serial #'d 904.  The other Tiger is Torii Hunter, serial #'d 847, and the two of them bring the Tigers total up to 33.
Kevin Correia is the final card of the post, 1015 are his digits, and the Twins are now at 33 as well.

With only 342 (lol only) cards to go, the set stands at 77.2% complete.   If I can get out of the National at 80% complete (42 more cards to hit that goal), I'll be happy. 

I also believe that this run of cards I've posted recently is going to get another page or 2 completed.  Stay tuned for that as well....

thanks for reading, Robert

By the page: 1990 Bowman

I have never really paid the 1990 Bowman set much attention over the years.  The 9 cards that I have for this particular page have decent photos, but the one thing about the cards I could never figure out is the back.

No write ups at all.  Nothing but stats broken down by team. 

With inter-league play the norm in today's MLB, these card backs would be impossible to create (or the printing would be so small that nobody could read it without a magnifying glass).

Today's 9 cards were easy to break up into three rows of three.  Posed shots, posed shots with a bat, and game action shots.

Top row, posed shots:

The most interesting character on this line is Bell, who was the main cog in the Jays offense in the late 80's.  George's power numbers were down a bit in 1989 but a .297/18/104 line isn't too shabby.

Middle row, posed with bat shots:

Glenallen Hill never really got a chance in Toronto to play full time.  He wound up being part of a trade package in 1991 with Mark Whiten and Denis Boucher (a very big price that turned out to be) for the rental of Tom Candiotti and Turner Ward.  The Jays did end up winning the division in '91, but were knocked out in 5 games by the Twins in the ALCS.

Bottom row, game action shots:

I decided to take a look at the Junior Felix statistics, and was surprised to find out that he was out of MLB at age 26.  It makes me wonder what happened, because his final season in 1994 he hit .306 with 13 HR and 49 RBI in only 86 games.  He was only 26 at the time, so I wonder why he wound up out of baseball so soon.

With the rows out of the way, here's the final product:

 

I might be getting the hang of this page creating business.  I've now pulled 76 cards from the box and put them into pages.  A long way to go, but page by page I'll get there.

thanks for reading, Robert

$10,950

One of the great things about writing this blog is the enjoyment I've received out of poking fun at myself.   If you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at, right?

About a month ago, I caught the Night Owl in a typo (yes, it even happens to the great ones) when he stated that my blog was named $30 a day habit.  Greg even had some fun laughing at his typo not too long afterward in his viewer mail post.   The dream sequence portion of that post really gave me a good laugh, but it also made me think about what I really could do with that kind of money dedicated to the hobby. 

I didn't think about it for too long, and moved on.

Once again today, this little slice of insanity that I write was the "victim" of another typo.   The same typo occurred again, only this time on Commishbob's blog, '59 Topps:  one f/g card at a time.  (Note to Bob, thank you very much for the plug!!).  Right in the first paragraph no less.  Here's the quote if you don't want to link over...

Come on people, I know there are some of you that still look at this blog from time to time! The Topps '59 cards are asking you to go vote for us in the "What set should I finish?" tournament on Robert's $30 A Day Habit blog!!!

(by the way, if you haven't voted on this week's match yet, go here to cast your vote)

The same typo twice in a month?  Two different bloggers?  I'm beginning to wonder if my previous spending habits have made the blogosphere brand me as an extravagant spender.  Maybe the chase of the '64 Topps set, along with other various projects going on in my collecting world have made me look like Donald Trump (I wish my hair was as good as his!).

Think about it.....$10,950 a year to spend on cards.    I would have had the '64 set done by now, and a good head start on another vintage set.  Over the time I've been blogging, that would be a little over $33K total. 

That would have bought a whole lot of color TV's...

Guys, I swear, I truly do my best to limit my spending to $30 a week.  I do go overboard on occasion, but $30 a day?  That would involve another word, something that I've already gone through once and would rather not do again...

divorce...

thanks for reading, Robert

The wise one whittled away at my want lists

I was fortunate enough to catch a tweet earlier in the week from Greg at the Night Owl Cards blog, offering up some of his massive stack of Dodgers doubles.  I inquired about the availability of the 78-80 Topps portion of the doubles box, and during our twitter dialogue he informed me that an envelope was headed my way.

That envelope arrived last Thursday, and all the cards hit the Blue Jays want list, except for one solitary Dodger which knocked another number off the SNI list.

Let's take a look, shall we?

One of the earliest sets that I completed while writing this blog is the 2006 Topps set.  This was in large part due to a large donation from Greg.  Now, he finishes off the Blue Jays 2006 team set with these two cards:

On the back of Burnett's card, Topps mentioned that A.J. had the highest average fastball in MLB during 2005.  The 95.6 average is quite impressive, although I'm not too sure that I can remember the 104mph pitch that the back of the card claims he threw during that season.   I'm sure we would have heard more about it over the years with all the flame throwers that dominate the closer position now...

Greg sent a small sample of Panini needs my way.  It's kind of disappointing that Panini isn't able to secure a MLB license, because cards like the Hometown Heroes Shawn Green on the right would have been so much better with the Jays logo. 

Staying with the modern issues, this quintet of recent releases were all knocked off the want list.   The A&G Melky Cabrera is one of the 2 Blue Jay SPs.  The 2 opening day cards cut that list in half.  Drew Hutchison has become a part of the Jays rotation this year, and has pitched OK so far with a 7-9 record and a 4.44 ERA.   The Jays need to let him hit more, he's 2 for 3 so far this season!

Knock one more card of the serial insanity set.   Jon Garland is serial #'d 715, and is the 33rd Dodger card out of 50 for the set.  Just 355 more serial #'s to go.

Greg's note inside the envelope said there was a reminder of the good ol' days.  Sure enough these three 1992 Donruss cards did just that.   Greg Myers was actually traded during the 1992 season, right before the July 31st trade deadline in a deal that saw Mark Eichhorn return to the Jays.  Both Duane Ward and Mike Timlin were integral parts of the teams that won the '92 and '93 World Series.

Speaking of the 1992 season, included in the package was something I hadn't seen in a very long time.

A pocket schedule from the '92 season, in perfect condition! 

The one thing I got a kick out of when I read it was the note on the middle panel.   All games on CJCL Radio 1430.  With the Blue Jays having success in the previous seasons leading up to 1992, CJCL in Toronto realized there was a big opportunity to increase its listener base, and thus became Canada's first all sports radio channel.   The station eventually migrated to AM 590, where it sits today as "The Fan 590", which I still listen to for Leafs broadcasts, and anytime I'm able to head home for visits with family and friends.

All in all, a great package, and very much appreciated.  Thank you Greg!!

thanks for reading, Robert

What's next? Quarterfinals: (1) 1965 Topps vs (8) 1959 Topps

A match up featuring two sets that easily could have made it to the final if I were doing all the voting.  A great pair of cards on the scan, featuring a pair of NL Central clubs battling it out for the title again this year.

This round instead of the "tale of the tape", I'm going to answer a trio of questions:

How they got here:

1965 defeated 1978  17-2
1959 defeated 1966  11-9

How big a head start do I have on these sets?

1965 Topps:  Minimal  17 out of 598
1959 Topps:  Minimal  10 out of 572

Favorite card that I own from each set so far:

1965:  # 303 Rico Carty (Rico played for the Blue Jays)
1959:  # 134 Jim McDaniel (I like the Sporting News rookie card design)

I really like how the backs look on both of these sets, so that's a wash for me.

So, which set do you want me to build?  Let me know in the comments.

thanks for reading, and voting, Robert

The last of the final 8 has been determined

It appears that I saved the best match for last in the 1st round.  The voting was tight through the whole week, but thankfully I didn't have to account for any hanging chads or tampered ballot boxes.

With a final tally of 12-10, the set moving on to the final 8 is....

1963 Topps!  This is the one card that I own that probably contains the most star power.  Robinson, Aaron, Musial, Davis and White is a great group of 5, none of them hitting below .323 in 1962.

Now, we re-seed the remaining 8.  I take you back to the original post  and give you the following paragraph for determining the seeds...

After the round of 16 is completed, I am going to re-seed the final 8 sets by the number of votes they received during their particular match.   If there is a tie, it will be broken by the higher percentage of votes (for example, if one set received 24 out of 32 votes, and the other received 24 out of 35 votes, the first set would receive the higher seed).  If there is still a tie, I will put the older set in the highest seed (totally arbitrary and random, I know).

With all that in mind, here are the match ups for the quarter finals:

(1) 1965 vs (8) 1959
(2) 1960 vs (7) 1963
(3) 1974 vs (6) 1969
(4) 1976 vs (5) 1967

Tomorrow will start the next round.  1965 Topps vs 1959 Topps.  A great way to get the ball rolling.

I look forward to reading the comments in this round, because a lot of the pretenders have been weeded out, and the decisions are going to be a little bit tougher this time.  At least I think they will be....

thanks for reading, Robert

Page me, page me not

I still have quite a few cards from the many packages I've received over the past week that I need to go through and catalog/remove from the want list.

For tonight's post, I figured that I would take a few of the cards that Max sent me, and go through a few of the players and see if they were "page worthy". 

How many cards will I show off tonight?  Let's let Paul Molitor answer that...

I have always liked baseball players as part of a playing card set, especially when they are hall of famers such as Mr. Molitor.  

Is this going in a page?  Absolutely.  The card even tells me what position in the page to put it into.  I already have 2 pages worth of cards for Molitor, so this is probably going to bump something back into the box.

I always liked Pat Hentgen, largely because he was a battler on the mound.  This 1993 Leaf card is OK, but I don't think it's going to be part of a Pat Hentgen page.  It will probably end up as part of a team set page instead.

This is one guy that I really want to succeed in a Blue Jays uniform.  So much so that the Jays jersey that I own has his name and number on the back.  I guess there's just something about Canadians playing for the club that really sparks my interest.   This card will definitely be part of a page for Mr. Lawrie.

I remember the name Felipe Crespo, but I couldn't remember a lot about his time with the Jays.  A little refresher with baseball reference reminded me that he was with the Jays for 3 seasons in the late 90's, and only played 2 more seasons after that.  Crespo probably will not get a player page, and this card will probably end up with a couple of other Aficionado cards that I have...if and when I find them.

I could sit here and gush all night about the Topps Gold Label cards and how much I have liked them over the years.  This card, to me, is great.  It will find its way into a Shawn Green page sooner rather than later.

Shiny?  Yes.   Logos?  Nope.  Would absolutely love this card if it had the Jays logo on it.  It'll probably end up on a Panini page rather than a R.A. Dickey page, because to me it'll stick out like a sore thumb on a player page.   I'll put it with its Panini friends, and it'll be happy there.   Trust me.

A page for Dave Stieb?  You better believe it.   Enough cards to fill a page that aren't already in 80's and early 90's team pages that are lying loose? That's a different story.  Stieb is one of those "must have" players that must have a page dedicated to them, but I'm going to have to find some newer releases and out of the norm issues in order to put a page together.   Stay tuned for that one....

There will be a day when I have every Blue Jay card that I own organized, and in a 9 pocket page.

What date that will be, I have no idea.  I don't think that I'll even try to set that date as part of a New Year's goal.  Maybe to start a new decade??

thanks for reading, Robert

Farther than I'd ever thought I would go.

Three years ago today, I started with a two line post that simply thanked Kerry at the Cards on Cards blog for sending cards in a trade.

3 years later, this is now my 1090th post, and a helluva lot farther than I ever thought I would go in this fast paced, card crazy world we all know as the blogosphere.

So to all of you out there who read my little slice of craziness, and especially to those who send me great stuff like this:

Another great card from Wes!!

What I have for you all is 4 words, which probably aren't enough.

thank you very much 

Robert

4 lines of 3

I have plenty of material for posts over the next while.  What with the 21 count of serial numbered cards from Max that I started showing off last night, combined with the myriad of Blue Jays cards that I'm attempting to put into pages and get into binders, there are plenty of posts at my disposal.  Tonight, instead of creating two posts, I decided to find out what happens when you decide to combine two posts into one.

I decided to use Jose Bautista as the Blue Jay player to feature in a page today.

Top line:

 
It's kind of plain, and doesn't feature much of Jose's face, but the 2011 Bowman card on the left has kind of become one of my favorites of Jose, because it features a photo of him wearing #23, instead of the usual #19 that he wears. 

Middle line:

I decided to put 3 inserts in the middle row, using the horizontal Then and Now card as the middle.  Don't ask me why, I just thought it looked good in the center.  Doesn't hurt that Harmon Killebrew is there as well.   This row also made me think a bit; it made me realize that with the newer sets/players, I'll have a much easier time creating player pages with the amount of parallels that are available. 

Bottom line:

Parallel city down here.  The light blue All star jerseys really fit well with the blue bordered Wal Mart parallel.  The more I see cards like the 2011 Topps Chrome in the center, the more I'm glad that the Jays went back to the old style logo and numbering on their jerseys.  The classics really do never die.

Here's what you get when you put them all together.

A pretty good looking page if you ask me.  I still have plenty of cards for player pages to use, so I'll have lots of practice putting these together.

I still have the serial numbered cards to show off:

For tonight's post I pulled together a threesome of 2012 Topps parallels.  Let's make this quick and easy:

• Gerald Laird is serial #'d 740, and is the 31st Tiger out of 50 for the set
• Jose Tabata is serial #'d 863, and is the 35th Pirate towards the 50 needed.
• Fernando Rodney is serial #'d 917, and is the 44th TB Ray card in the set. 

To sum up:

The Bautista page means I have pulled 67 cards from "the box" and put them into pages.  The trio of insanity cards brings the total to 1144, leaving 356 serial numbers still remaining.  That number will decrease with the rest of Max's great contribution still to be posted.

If you haven't voted on the final round of 16 match featuring a great battle between '63 & '72 Topps, click on this link to make your voice heard.  It's a close race, only 2 votes separating these two!!

Thanks for reading, Robert

There has been a lot of interest in the Serial Numbered Insanity project since I started it a couple of years ago.  I've done my best to keep track of what cards have been sent to me by what person.  I counted 62 different bloggers/traders that have supported this project by sending me some great stuff.

For those of you that remember Ted from the retired Crinkly Wrappers blog, he was (and still is) the biggest contributor so far, with 90 cards towards the set. 

Out of those who are currently active in the blogosphere, there are none that have contributed more than Max over at the Starting Nine blog.  I was fortunate enough to open a package today that contained 21 more cards towards the insanity.  Once all 21 have been posted, Max will have contributed 74 cards towards the set (if my math is correct).  Incredible stuff...

These three cards tonight put the set above the 76% mark, leaving only 359 cards to obtain (less the others that Max sent, which will be shown over the next week or so).  

Let's look at the first three...

Serial Number 1284

Interesting to read that the Blue Jays are rumored to be possibly in the running to pick up Ian Kennedy, who is now pitching for the Padres.  Ian had a couple of good seasons with the Diamondbacks in 2011 and 2012, and is throwing some good numbers so far this season, even though his record is only 7-9.  Kennedy is the 33rd D'backs card out of the 50 needed for the set.

Serial Number 1354

Jackson finished 2nd in the ROY voting in 2010, losing out to 40 save man Neftali Feliz of the Rangers.  Kind of weird stat:  8 of his 28 RBI's in 2014 have come via the sacrifice fly; he currently leads the AL in SFs.  I thought that the Tigers might be one of those teams that were finished early in this project, but since this is only the 30th card for them, they might end up as one of the last.

Serial number 200

Serial Number 200 is now off the list courtesy of Brian Stokes.   There are only 5 of the 15 "round numbers" left to go.  Brian's major league career ended after the 2010 season, due to a shoulder injury that actually caused a free agent contract he signed with the Blue Jays to be voided.  Stokes did pitch for a couple of months in the Diamondbacks system in 2011, but struggled at AAA and was released in the off season.  The Angels are now the 2nd team at the 49 out of 50 mark, joining the Mets on the precipice of completion (man that sounds hoity toity, don't you think?).

Max, as always, thank you!  The whole envelope is great and truly appreciated.

thanks for reading, Robert

It really is a GREAT problem to have

I had it all planned out.  Start thinning the three row shoe box piece by piece.   Putting together pages of Blue Jays with common themes, and show them off to the blogosphere.

The dry July would just fly by quickly, and the piles of cards would slowly get worked through.  Marked off the want list.  Entered into the Blue Jays spreadsheet.

It actually started off quite well.  I managed a to show off a couple of pages in between the Friday/Saturday tournament posts, and I thought I was starting to get a handle on things.

In the vernacular of today's acronym laced generation, I just LOLOLOLOL now.  Great men of the blogosphere, named Brian, Matt, Tom and Wes have added 4 packages of Blue Jays goodness (of varying amounts, I might add) to the pile, and brought a screeching halt to any progress I made over the past couple of weeks.

While perusing the great package I received today from blogger extraordinaire Wes from the Jaybarkerfan's Junk blog, I noticed the following.

Serial numbered parallel.  Jersey card.  Bat card.  Auto.  Auto.  Jersey card.  2 more serial numbered parallels.  Gold.  Green.  Silver.  Holy shit!!

I showed my better half of the cards, and explained that I wasn't even expecting this envelope today.  What does she do?  Naturally, she provides an epiphany.

"You really aren't paying for these cards, right?"  This statement made me think (she's good at that).  I've now entered over 4400 cards onto my Blue Jays spreadsheet, passing that mark largely because of the envelope that Tom sent me ( I owe you still Tom, I need to augment what I already have for you...), and thought to myself that I probably have received all but 10% of those cards from everyone out in the blogosphere. 

That's almost unbelievable.   But it is a GREAT problem to have. 

These two pages of 1991 and 1992 Upper Deck that I was able to pull out of the box only manage to put a meager dent into the "problem".

The '92 page is more interesting for me.  It made me remember that Jack Morris was a 21 game winner that year.  It made me laugh that Cory Snyder got a Blue Jays card even though he only had 49 ABs with the club, hitting a paltry .143.  Dave Parker had fewer ABs than Snyder (36) as a Jay, but also managed his final "sunset" card in 1992.  1992 was also the final season of Pat Tabler's career, but at least he managed to get a ring out of the deal.

15 out of the 18 cards here came out of the box (the other 3 were in a pile on the desk), bringing the total to 58 cards out of the box.  The problem is that I now have about 300 more that need cataloged, sorted, and put into the box for "posting".

Yes indeed, a GREAT problem to have.  Stay tuned...

thanks for reading, Robert

What's next? :Round of 16: (1) 1963 Topps vs (16) 1972 Topps

The end of the round of 16 is finally upon us.  This is the last match, featuring two pretty solid sets.  The two priciest rookie cards out of 1972 are both multi player cards, but feature some pretty good players who had long careers in MLB.  Today was the first time I had to look over the '63 set, and there are some pretty scary cards in there $$ wise, which has the cheap ass in me worried a bit.


Tale of the tape:

1.  Set Size:  1963 has 576 cards.  1972 has 787 cards
2.  Key RCs:  1963  Pete Rose, Willie Stargell  1972 Fisk/Cooper, Oglivie/Cey
3.  Cost of complete set in NM condition:  1963  $6000      1961  $7000
4.  Number of cards with high book at $100 or more: 1963: 11 (Rose RC = 1K)   1972: 1 

Blogs:  1963 Topps vs   1972 Topps

Jim from Downingtown appears once again on the blog stats; his 1963 Topps blog is actually a collaborative effort with the Troll and Commishbob both being listed as contributors.  The 1972 Topps blog is unfortunately dormant; the last post there was 4.5 years ago, and stopped at card #135.  [EDIT:  thanks to Jim for the update on the '72 blog, the link has been updated to reflect the '72 Topps countdown blog]

thanks for reading, Robert

Another landslide, and that's no Bull

A pattern seems to be developing.  For the 3rd straight week, by a margin of 16-4, we have a landslide winner.

Yep, '74 Topps put a hammering on the '61 set. I guess I'm not surprised by the outcome, but I thought that '61 might garner more than a couple of sympathy votes.   I love the old style Phillies uniform with the stylized "P", featured here on card #360 of Greg Luzinski. 

Speaking of sympathy votes, don't be afraid to vote with your heart during this tournament.   I'm prepared to live (or die trying) by the verdict handed down by the masses.  I have enjoyed putting together the '64 set, and have been buoyed by the availability of bargains for some of the pricier cards (Mantle, Rose).  It'll be a challenge to put together whatever you send me off to build. 

The final match of round 1 starts tomorrow, and probably will be the best contest in the first round, as 63 Topps faces off against 72 Topps.  If this one ends in a blow out, I will be shocked.

Thanks for reading, and voting, Robert

Good things come in 3's

I walk up the pathway to my house, and I see the mailbox overflowing.  "You hit the jackpot today" my wife tells me.

Did I ever.

Not only did I come home to start the first of 3 consecutive 3-day weekends, there were 3 packages in the mailbox for me.  Let me rephrase that, there were 2 bubble mailers, and a box that couldn't fit in the mailbox.  The wife didn't even touch them.  I honestly like to think she waits on the porch just to see the look on my face when I see them.  You know....bug eyes....

Inside the box, which came my way courtesy of Brian from Play at the Plate, were 3 (there it is again) cards for the SNI set.  Brian is one of the top contributors to the madness; with these 3 cards there are now 45 listings on the spreadsheet with PATP beside them.

Let's not wait any longer, here are 3 more serial numbered cards for your perusal.

A much needed Astro!!  J. D. Martinez is the 29th Houston Astros card that has come my way.  Even better, his serial number is 99, which knocks the two-digit serial numbers remaining to a paltry two (35 & 41).  I have a question, how did the Astros let go of this guy?  He signs with Detroit two days after getting released by the Astros near the end of spring training, and all he does so far in Tiger land is hit 13 HR and .346 in 55 games.  Not too shabby...

To be honest, I had never heard of this guy until I got the card.  80 ABs over 3 seasons with San Diego and the White Sox is probably why.  So far in 2014, he's spent the entire season with the White Sox AAA club in Charlotte.  Blake's card is serial numbered 420, and I now have 44 out of the 50 Padres cards I need for the set.

Eric Hosmer seems to struggle during even numbered years so far during his 4 year career.  2012 was not kind to him, only hitting .232/14/60.  So far in 2014, it's .268/6/42.  The Royals are only 2.5 games out of the wild card going into the 2nd half, and I'm sure that they're hoping that Hosmer can pick up the pace for them.  This card is serial #'d 1184, and it is the 33rd card for the Royals in the set.

By the way Brian, as a little aside, I showed my wife the box that you sent and told her it was filled with Blue Jays.   The first thing out of her mouth?  "Send it back, he needs to sort it first before sending".

Why didn't I think of that???

thanks for reading, Robert