Remembering the insanity and hoping for this year

 Insanity is all over the place here at my residence Those were the days.  Joey Bats was the big slugger in Toronto.  Just came out of nowhere and developed into a superstar.  

And now we head to 2026 with a new cast and crew.  Vladdy Guerrero, George Spinger and a noteworthy group of players head toward another chance at the World Series.  Unfortunately, Bo Bichette has moved on.  We shall see if the replacement for him in the lineup will meet the expectations.  

With the pitching signings they made, I am going to predict 90 wins.  I think this group, after what I saw in the playoffs, if they stay healthy, can produce some runs.

Here's hoping, Robert

Drawing a line in the sand

I spent a good portion of this past Sunday updating my Blue Jays want list (no, it's not posted yet).  I took a break from the updating to read Greg's post on the Night Owl blog entitled "Uninspired".

His thoughts on that post mirrored what I'd been thinking about for the previous few hours while updating the Jays list...

When the hell does this all end??

There were times when I knew that there was no way in hell that I was going to put on all the parallels that have come out over the past few years in the flagship release.  This year is even better.

Do I want to create a 2014 want list for the yellow, green, blue, red (2 kinds of red no less), camo, pink,  black and gold parallels?

Hell no.

When I posted last year's Blue Jays want list for the flagship, I stuck to three colors (blue, red and green) because I knew that only going after those 3 would be realistic.

I drew the proverbial line in the sand.  I probably will stick to 2 or 3 colors again this year, once I finally post the updated Jays want list (the goal is still to have it posted and current by the end of March).

I said to myself after thinking about it "do I really want 9 different colors of Esmil Rogers?"

OK, the answer was yes, but my point here is that I'm not going to chase after them all.  I'm also not going to sit there and type out a monster want list for all 9 different colors.

I wouldn't expect anyone else to do the same.   It's bloody insane.   I already have one project that defines my insanity.

If I pull a parallel card of one of your teams, I'll do the right thing.

I'll ask you if you need it.  I know that everyone out there isn't as crazy as I am.

Consider the line drawn...

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thanks for reading the insanity, Robert

Serial insanity cards 876-880

The last post of my 2nd year on this blog is another serial insanity post.   I figured why not go out with a bang, since this is kind of my signature now (I guess)

880 cards total equals 58.67 % completion.  You'll see 60% by the end of July.


Card # 876:  Chris Young

Serial Number:  975
Team:  Oakland A's, card # 40 out of 50

No, this is the other Chris Young.  The one that spent 7 years in AZ.  Part of a 3 team trade last October, his offense has tailed off dramatically since his shift to the AL.  Hitting .190 isn't going to cut it, no matter where you are...


Card # 877:  Jay Bruce

Serial Number:  932
Team: Cincinnati Reds, card # 28 out of 50

He's only 26???   Seems to have been around forever....looks to be headed for a career season in most offensive categories.  Currently leads the NL in doubles with 28.

Card # 878:  Johan Santana

Serial Number:  842
Team:  New York Mets, card # 30 out of 50

Loved the fact that it was Johan who pitched the first no-hitter in Mets history last season.  A numbers freak like me enjoys seeing the amazing 3 year run he had between 2004-2006, where his WHIP was less than 1.000 each season, his lowest strikeout total was 238, and his highest ERA was 2.87

Get healthy soon Johan...


Card # 879:  Ruben Tejada

Serial Number:  1254
Team:  New York Mets, card # 31 out of 50

I like him already.  Ruben shares my birthday (October 27), but he's a few years (22) younger than I am.  The Mets 360 website graded Tejada's first half of 2013 with a big fat F.   I remember F's.....

Card # 880:  Fausto Carmona

Serial Number:  1306
Team:  Cleveland Indians, card # 29 out of 50

A big thanks to Max at the Starting Nine blog for sending me another great addition to the SNI project. 
It's too bad he doesn't exist anymore.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Serial insanity cards 871-875

I've set a small goal for the insanity set, in that I hope to show the 900th card of the set by the end of July.

I've been on a eBay kick over the past few days.  I'll be showing off quite a few gold cards that I've purchased at my "preset" price of 50 cents per card (or less if I'm lucky). 

In the meantime, please enjoy the next 5 cards towards the 1500 card set.

Card # 871:  Kevin Cameron

Serial Number:  966
Team:  San Diego Padres, card # 33 out of 50

I would be quite interested to find out what happened to Cameron after the 2009 season.  Kevin pitched for three years between 2007-2009, the numbers weren't too shabby, but then he just fell off the map after the 2009 season.   Anyone?

Card 872:  Chan Ho Park

Serial Number: 907

Team:  New York Mets, card # 29 out of 50

I remember Park finishing up the 2010 season with the Pirates, he actually pitched quite well for them in August and September.  Looking at his Mets stats, it's kind of interesting that he got a card in a Mets uni.  Park pitched a grand total of 1 game for NY, and didn't fare too well, giving up 7 ER in 4 IP.

Card # 873:  Juan Salas

 

Serial Number:  554
Team:  Tampa Bay Rays, card # 32 out of 50.

I had heard of Fernando Salas, and even Mark Salas, but Juan Salas wasn't on my radar (there's a palindrome joke there somewhere...).  The 2007 season it turns out was his most successful as a MLB pitcher, 34 games with a 3.72 ERA.  Another player that kind of fell off the map...

Card # 874:  Mike Scioscia

Serial Number:  521
Team: LA Angels, card # 41 out of 50

I'm a little bit surprised that the Angels end up being the first team to 41 cards.  Hard to believe that his next game as manager of the halos will be number 2200.  I guess you can't argue with his success (or maybe you can, I won't tell you what to do), but only 3 of his 13 complete seasons saw the Angels with a below .500 record. 

Card # 875:  Travis Snider

Serial Number:  492
Team:  Toronto Blue Jays, card # 39 out of 50

I had high hopes for him when he was traded to Pittsburgh, but the same problem is plaguing him in the black and gold...inconsistency.  Travis hit .300 in April for the Pirates, but has since seen his average drop to .226, and now he's lost his starting job in right field to Jose Tabata.  The upside is he's still only 25 years old, which means that there's a lot of time for him to find his game.

Thanks for reading, Robert

3 in a row from the same set. how does he do that?

I am a believer.  The man has mystical powers.  He hits multiple want lists with relative ease.  He even sends packs of cards when they aren't even expected.

Yes, I'm talking about Mr. 500K himself, the Night Owl. 

Since I'm tired and totally unwilling to do a lengthy synopsis of the multitude of great cards in the envelope Greg sent (that was long..wasn't it?), let's do a 5-4-3-2-1 countdown.

Let's start with 5 Blue Jays from the 80's

In case you really cared, Barry Bonnell is exactly 14 years older than I am.  So, the way I feel right now, that would make him about 106.

Next, we have 4 Junior Felix cards...

Yes, Junior is his real first name.  It seemed like every other Jay in the package was Felix, so why not showcase him?

Not to be outdone, 3 serial insanity cards were in the envelope

OK...3 in a row from the same set.  All 2006 Topps cards.   Serial #'d 1333,1334,1335.  Really?  Come on blogosphere, let's see you top that trick...

2 '77 Topps cards are up next....

50 left to go for the set, and Reggie Jackson is on his way to me.  The end is nigh...

Finally, we have a Mitchell who's a SP...

Russ Mitchell (no relation) leaves me with 31 SPs left to go to finish the '11 Heritage set. 

I haven't even mentioned the '73s yet....that's another time.   Thank you Greg...I'll be hunting for Dodgers this weekend at the show.

I'm going to bed now....

thanks for reading, Robert

It's like I have my own personal shopper

I received an unexpected envelope in the mail today, from one of my faves in the land of the blogs.   Max over at the Starting Nine blog sent me some cards, and it appears as if he heads to a show with a copy of my personal want list in his brain.

11 cards, all of them right on the money.

Max digs the insanity set, so he knocked 2 more off of my list for me...

Ohio players only on this excursion, including Griffey Jr who makes his first appearance in the insanity set with card #1491.

Max knows I'm very partial to the team featuring the blue bird, so he sent me a few.  Here are my favorite 3...

The trio features the Wal Mart parallel of Shawn Camp from 2011, a Bowman's Best card of Jose Bautista, and my favorite card of the three, the Game Changers insert from 2012 Topps Finest.  The Jays logo is in a shiny background, which looks a lot better in person than in the scan.

Max also sent me a card towards my Joe Sakic PC, one that I'd never seen before.

If RC's in the 80's were handled the way they are in today's card world, this is what Joe Sakic's rookie card might have looked like.  This is actually a lost rookies insert card from 03-04 Topps. 

Last up, we have a couple of Maple Leafs.  First let's start with the new...

I really like Tyler Bozak as a player, and if his defensive zone coverage ever improved, he would be such a solid player in the NHL, because his offensive skills are good and his ability to win face-offs is among the best in the league.   This card I already have for the set, so it goes with the Leafs collection.

Finally, I almost fell over when this card came to my eyes...

A vintage beauty

Hot Damn!!  57-58 Parkhurst Jim Morrison.  If someone hadn't taken tape and pulled off a fair portion of the left hand side of this card, it would be no worse than NM.  The corners are in great shape, the back is flawless, and the surface is smooth.   A great addition to the collection! 

Max, thank you again for this great surprise, it really is appreciated!!

Blogger generosity at its finest....

thanks for reading, Robert

It's official, there are 16 people who are truly insane

To those 16 out there,  whose ballot box stuffing efforts to try and get me elected Blog of the Year fell just shy this time around, I have only one thing to say.

Try harder next time....AHEM....(clears throat)

Thank you very much for voting for me.  It really is nice to know that my slice of insanity is entertaining at least a few of you out there. 

While I may not reign supreme as the king of the blogs, I'm sure that at least a job in the royal court is a possibility.   Court jester perhaps?

To be a part of the top three with what are the two best blogs going (Night Owl & Dime Boxes), it is truly an honor.  Thank you to Wes as well over at Jaybarkerfan's Junk (kind of a misnomer if you've been part of one of his card drafts) for running the vote. 


One card rule is still in effect...this one is a hats off to the champ..

thanks for reading, Robert

Pass the mustard + one of the best photos I've seen on a card

Blogger generosity.  I've written about it several times in the past.  Yesterday I received one of the best envelopes in the mail that I've received since I started the blog.   This one was from Brian over at the Classic Card Collector blog. 

Out of the blue, Brian sends me an email, saying he has a bunch of '73 Topps cards that he would rather see me enjoy than have them sit in his doubles box. 

Wow!  What a great stack of goodness I had bestowed upon me.  100+ 1973 Topps cards, + 5 for the insanity set.  Going through the '73s, I saw 2 that stood out for me right away.

The first one was a Rookie Cup card of Dave Roberts.

Those early Padres uniforms were definitely yellow!!   I don't think that I ever saw those uniforms when I was a youngster, my first memories of the Padres were of the brown tops later in the decade.  "Pass the mustard" was just something that came to my head when I looked at this card. 

A little research into Mr. Roberts showed that he was the 1st pick overall in the 1972 draft, and played in the '72 season!  The '73 season was Roberts' career year, hitting .286 with 21 HRs.  The '74 season was a complete disaster for him, hitting just .167 in 318 ABs, after that he spent the better part of the next 8 seasons bouncing around as a utility player (in '79 Dave played every position in the field except for shortstop and pitcher), finally retiring after the '82 season.

This next card is one of the best photos I've ever seen on a card, and I'm sure that it is kicking around in one of GCRL's double play binders:

It appears as if Tony Perez is going to be safe at first base on this play.  (turns out he was) Love the cloud of dust around 2nd base after what looks like a hard slide.  Bench took out Dick Green to break up a double play...great photography!

This card just reinforces my love for this set.  This is one of about half a dozen action shots that were in the lot of cards that Brian sent me.  I'll feature those in posts over the next few days.  There were even some cards in the lot that were "well loved" that I'll show as well. 

Brian, thank you very much for the cards, they really were appreciated here!

thanks for reading, Robert

No Mo, No Less

As always, Michael from the Nomo's Sushi Platter blog did not disappoint when he offered up a trade to me recently.  I believe that this was our 3rd trade, and the cards that came my way brought a smile to my face.  Then again, when do cards that arrive in your mailbox not bring a smile to your day.

Michael was one of the many who have recently sent me a great deal of '12 Topps Update cards which you've all seen many times, so I will not show them off to you.  If you read the "epilogue" post to my top 25 countdown the other night, you saw the Bill Madlock '75 card that he sent me.  A rookie cup card no less!!

Here's a few more of the great cards he sent me...

My recent turn towards vintage was noticed, as these 3 cards from the '68 set were sent my way.  Still a long way to go to complete the "burlap" set, but these cards brought me up to a dozen total.  Surely another set that over time will be brought into the fold.

Still in tune with what's happening in my little corner of the world, some Chrome Blue Jay goodness came my way in the form of Adam Lind.  I hope that Adam rebounds and has a good season with all that new talent that has been added to the roster. The return of Jose Bautista, combined with two remarkable trades, has a lot of Blue Jay fans thinking that the glory days of the early 90's may be returning to the dome.  The '73T card of Billy Williams, outside of being a little off center, is in fabulous condition, and is a "hero" card (#200).  Still a long way to go to finish the '73 set, but it's still one of my favorites.

Finally, what's a trade without some insanity coming my way?

Now, there are some of you out there that my cry blasphemy when I say this, but I like the orange Giants uniforms.  Better than the gray for sure.  I guess it's because I like to see a little color in the uniforms, and the orange really stands out.  ( I can hear the gagging from some of you out there now....lol)  The Giants card in itself might be the reason that Spiegel was more than happy to send it my way. 

Ryan Madson, I have only one question for you.   How in the world do you remain standing after a pitch?  That may be one of the most extreme follow throughs I have ever seen immortalized on a baseball card.

Speaking of insanity, Brian, the answer to your question as of this writing is 743.

Michael, thank you again for the great cards, they are very much appreciated!!

Thanks for reading, Robert

Kerry Christmas

It's always great when post titles just fall into your lap.  I had forgotten that I sent some cards to Kerry over at the Cards on Cards blog a little while back, the product of Kerry commenting on my "not a spring cleaning" post.  I sent Kerry a few colored parallels, along with a framed paper GQ card, all Cardinals of course.  In return, I received a healthy stack of Update, a few Jays, and a little insanity (which for me goes a long way).

Among the update, I found 3 photos that I really like.  The common element being the baseball.  Jose Bautista about to make a great semi-diving catch.  That blue glove is awesome.  The shots of Cano and CarGo making contact with the baseball are what intrigue me the most.  The timing on these photographs is incredible, although I'm sure that today's camera technology makes it a lot easier to catch these moments.  The Gonzalez on the right is the image I like better, the ball having just made contact with the bat and ascending to its flight path is a great photo.

Poor Eddie Zosky looks like he was photographed right after a workout.  Come on Score, if you're going to show the guy in a sweat, give him an action shot or something, not a posed head shot. 

Check the eyes on the "Crime Dog", love the concentration on this photo.  McGriff always amazed me, the power he could generate for being as skinny as he was.  McGriff is another player that I would have loved to see longer in Toronto, but hey, he brought a couple of the key pieces in the World Series teams, so I really shouldn't complain.

Naturally, I was intrigued by the diamond sparkly parallel of Jon Rauch.  I knew that he only spent a short time in T.O., so I decided to take a look at his career.  The guy is a workhorse.  88 appearances in 2007, 85 in 2006, 3 other seasons that he had 70 or more.  Damn.  Honestly, and I'll probably be damned for saying this, but $3.5 million a season is probably a steal for someone who can throw in a lot of games, and can be a spot closer when needed (he's saved in double digits 4 times in his career).  Just the intimidation factor alone standing 6'10" on the mound should be reason enough to get him into a game...somebody give this guy a contract. 

Let's finish with a little insanity, shall we?  Yes, it is Russell Branyan, then of the Seattle Mariners.  But how cool is a card where the player is wearing sunglasses on the Chrome technology.  The scan really doesn't do the card justice, it looks really good in hand.  Russell is still looking for a contract for 2013.  If he could turn last years brief stay in Scranton-Wilkes Barre into a full season somewhere, he would have people talking.  11 HR in 110 ABs...project that out over 550 ABs...not too shabby. 

Kerry, thank you for the cards, they are very much appreciated!!

I hope that all of my friends, along with the entire blogosphere, are having a Merry Christmas.

thanks for reading, Robert

Another set bites the dust...

2012 Topps Series 2 is done.  Finally.  I have a wantlist up for the Update series, I think I need about a third of the set to finish off this years flagship.

For those who don't feel like checking my wantlist, here's a list of what I need for update...

3,5,8,12,16,18,23,26,27,29,35,36,37,40,44,45,48,59,60,66,68,70,72,73,77,80,83,84,91,95,96,97,98,
100,103,106,107,109,110,114,116,117,118,120,125,127,128,129,131,134,139,145,147,150,152,157,
159,166,167,171,173,174,175,181,185,187,188,192,195,204,205,209,214,215,218,222,224,225,227,
230,233,234,236,249,251,253,255,256,259,264,270,274,277,279,283,284,285,290,293,297,300,301,
306,308,309,311,313,315,319,322,324,326,330

What left me scratching my head about the final card that I needed to finish series 2 was the thought that I had seen the card before when it arrived in the mail last week.

Here's the card I needed...

Here's why I thought I had seen it before:

#250/2012

OK good, I wasn't going crazy.  Don't need it for the insanity though...any fans of the north siders out there need it?  If so, drop a comment and I'm sure we can work something out.

Likely not going to reach the goal of 25 sets completed by the end of December, but I know that I have at least made some progress this year, especially on some older sets that I've been trying to clean up for a long time.  Nineteen is not a bad number...

There's always 2013.....

Thanks for reading, Robert

2x3=9

Sometimes, blog post titles are just too easy.  I still owe the very generous Jeff over at 2x3 heroes some cards in return for the great deal of insanity he sent my way.  Included was this little beauty...

I thought this guy was a corner back?

Why so special?  It's serial #'d 23/150.  The card completes my 6th page of insanity!!  Take a look...

7 different bloggers contributed to this page, with Dennis at Too Many Grandersons Verlanders contributing 2 of them (the Drese and Loretta).  6 pages down, 160 to go....no sweat.

If you're wondering why I didn't entitle the post "2x3=6" (the 6 would have been appropriate because this is the 6th page completed), well, everyone already knows that 2x3=6. 

At least 2x3=9 makes you wonder a little before opening.

Thank you Jeff!!

Thanks for reading, Robert

The Signature and the Shaker

Looking back to when I first started blogging, I really had no idea what I was doing. I'm sure that there a few people out there that would argue the same thing a year and a half later.   The posts were horrible and short (now they're horrible and long winded....lol), and for the first three weeks, the post just kind of ended.  Reading those posts over again made me remember my thought process at that time.  I needed something to write something that made me feel that the post was done.

Fast forward about 15 months, and twice within a 2 week period, 2 of my favorite trading partners just happen to mention my signature on their blogs.  First, Dennis over at Too Many Manninghams used the signature at the end of the trade post for the Turco relic I sent him.  Next, Charlie over at the Lifetime Topps Project mentioned the signature yesterday as well.  (BTW Charlie, congrats on hitting the 100K hits total for your blog)

To be honest, when I started using the signature line at the beginning of week 4, I did it solely to give closure to the blog post.  It always felt odd when I finished a post and there was nothing there to make it feel like the post was done.  After a little bit of thought, I came up with the "thanks for reading, Robert" signature to not only close the post, but to thank anyone and everyone who did stop by to read what I had written.

Politeness never hurts, right?

To be honest, I had never really thought much of the signature until both Dennis and Charlie had mentioned it on their blogs the past couple of weeks.  I will say this, it really made me feel good that the guys mentioned the signature.

Gentlemen, thank you!

OK then, onwards...

I received in the mail the other day a card unlike any other that I have received over my blog's existence.  It was of one of my favorite Jays from the 80's, Lloyd "Shaker" Moseby.

Guys, this thing is damn big...just for comparison's sake, an 82 Jerry Garvin is scanned next to it.

This oversized thing of beauty came to me courtesy of Pat at the newer Hot Corner Cards blog.   I will say this, Pat has definitely been paying attention to my blog, because he's hit me for a couple of trades already, both of which have hit my insanity, Sakic, and Blue Jay lists very well.  Pat is a devoted Tiger fan, so if you've got any extra Tigers on your hands, check him out..  Pat, thank you for the cards in each of our trades as well!

Thanks for reading, Robert

My 14th season of insanity.

December, in my line of work, is the month of darkness.  You may or may not remember that I work in the transportation industry. 

Transportation, a fancy word for getting your packages to you as quick as possible before you start calling and screaming at me. 

Over the past 14 years, I've learned a lot about people, especially when it comes to their packages.  (Speaking of packages, I haven't received any lately....I'm kind of bummed)  People get mad when you leave packages at their doorstep.  People get mad when you don't leave packages at their doorstep.  People get mad when you ask them for a signature.  People get mad when you don't have them sign. People just get mad.

You know what, for the "Christmas" season, this is the time of year when people are the bitchiest. Working the phones this time of year is even more stressful.  At least there's one thing that I can rely upon right now to get me out of the doldrums.

A little insanity.

The boys have been good to me lately.  Over 700 cards are in towards the insanity set.  I've had people send me a couple, I've had people send me a dozen.  I've had people send me blue cards, green cards, orange cards and red cards.  Pretty much most of the colors under the rainbow that Topps has released over the years has found its way to my doorstep via trades, eBay, and of course the mighty blogosphere.

I decided to wax a little nostalgic and dig up some cards that are part of the first 700 and show them off.

First up is old/new Jays manager John Gibbons

Card # 430

Gibbons garnered fame the last time around as Jays manager by getting into a heated confrontation with Shea Hillenbrand.  A couple of days later, Hillenbrand found himself wearing Giants colors, and by the end of the next season, found himself out of major league baseball for good. 

This next card is one that I grabbed very early on in the project, and has been one of my favorites.

Card # 22

There's something to be said for the red X-fractor cards from the 2005 Topps chrome set.  Even the name on top is a X-fractor. 
Fun fact:  Tucker's career batting average during the regular season is the same as his post season average.  .256

Here's a couple of cards that are back to back in the set that you might find ironic:

The Manny is #689, the Rodriguez is #690.  The cards came from two different bloggers.  How wild is it that two consecutive cards, from the same set, come from two different bloggers.  Maybe more coincidental is that they are both admitted "performance enhancers"?

Then, there's the most interesting man in the world (wait, I meant on the free agent market...)

I was going to put card #1391 in here, but that would have been redundant...

This is a guy I want to succeed.  The demons he faces are tough.  The temptation has to be incredible.  Yes, alcohol is a choice we can make, same as tobacco, but once the alcohol demon has a hold of you, it is tough to let go.  I can relate...Josh, I hope you get a big contract and end up somewhere that gives you peace for the remainder of your career.

finally, there comes a time where I just feel like showing off a full page of insanity...

just because...

Here's hoping that my month of insanity for the 14th year helps you, in some way, get all the packages you ordered on Black Friday/Cyber Monday or any other day that you order in the next 2 weeks to your door.

If you leave it past the 13th...you're on your own.

Thanks for reading, Robert

I have a lot to be thankful for

Yes, I know that I'm 3 days late with this post.  But, in our household we don't always do things by convention.  Our Thanksgiving dinner actually occurred on Saturday instead of Thursday in order to accommodate our friends travel plans.  No worries here, the turkey, potatoes, green bean casserole and stuffing all went down very quickly!

On that note, I do have a lot to be thankful for.

First and foremost, I am thankful for my loving wife, who supports my hobby and as she was during my return to college, is my best sounding board for post ideas.  Without her as the rock in my life, this blog likely would be disorganized chaos (instead of the semi-organized chaos you're used to seeing).

Secondly, I am thankful for all the faithful readers, traders, and bloggers that there are out there.  Almost 16 months in, I have about 100 trades under my belt now, along with many other "swaps" with bloggers without a formal trade ever being mentioned.

Without the blogosphere I wouldn't be almost halfway finished with the insanity set:

Without the blogosphere I wouldn't have new Leafs cards coming into my collection:

Without the blogosphere I probably would never have known about "delicious" Blue Jays cards such as these:

1998 Oh! Henry Blue Jays, a great set...

Most of all, I am thankful to a lot of you for the inspiration for posts.  I have received a lot of support for this blog, and for that support I do say thank you very much!!

I am also stealing an idea from a couple of bloggers out there, and running my own countdown.  Going to do it my way though, and my countdown will not feature individual cards, but sets.  Sets are more my speed, and I can try out a top 25 countdown of the sets that I've collected over the years that were my favorites.  I may graduate and do a series similar to the Night Owl (Top 100 Jays...), but I've got to get caught up on all the Jays I haven't cataloged yet before I attempt something like that.

I'm also thankful for the support I have received on the new series I've started "Before there were lockouts and strikes", and I'm enjoying those posts so far.  I will be featuring baseball players on the BTWLAS series as well as hockey, so if you have any player suggestions you'd like to see on one of these posts, just let me know and I'll do my very best to accommodate. 

Keep blogging out there, and most of all

thanks for reading, Robert

This isn't really a spring cleaning

The winter blahs have already set in for me, and it's not even a month until winter.  The last couple of days have been cold and windy here, and with the clocks falling back, darkness comes way too early for my liking.

Because of this, my mindset over the past few days is cleaning off my disaster of a card table/desk.  Kind of a spring cleaning, except it's not spring. The desk has gotten so bad that I worked on cleaning it last night rather than writing a post. 

One thing that I secretly hoped for when Update/Highlights was released last month was the potential influx of gold parallels for the insanity set.  My luck so far has been very disappointing.  So much so that I have all these for trade, mainly because I'm hitting numbers that are higher than 1500.

Need more info on any of these?  Comment/email...

See any you need?  Let me know...

How about minis?  Have an eight spot of those if you're collecting that set...

I also have quite a few sparkly gold and Wal-Mart blue if you're collecting them....better they go to someone who will enjoy them....let me know if you're looking for anyone in particular.

Not unlike many other bloggers, I enjoy the cartoons on the back of older card releases.  I managed to pick up about 3 dozen of the 76-77 OPCs I needed for my set, but a couple of Leafs cards caught my eye because of the similarity of the cartoons.

Both Mike Pelyk and Bob Neely seem to have been injured quite a bit during their careers, as evidenced by the generous amounts of bandages adorning their cartoon bodies. 

Mind you, those weren't the only 76-77's I was able to buy.  I found one table that had a nice assortment of these cards, and I grabbed a few of the star cards I needed...some notable HOFers here.

The cards are in good shape, and the dealer was good enough to cut 20% off the price.  My purchases weren't limited to vintage...I did manage to find some more modern cards to fit my collection;

probably overpaid for this, now that I think about it

along with a few others to fit other people's collections (if they so choose to have them...)

All these, plus about 400-500 Blue Jays that I've been too lazy to catalog, piles of doubles from sets that I'm currently building, and assorted piles of top loaders, penny sleeves and single cards that I've picked up here and there. 

It's all driving me crazy.  I hope you will pardon me while I clean up the disaster area....

Thanks for reading, Robert