Serial Insanity cards 921-925

While cleaning and trying to get some envelopes together to ship this weekend (there should be quite a few of them), I thought I'd show off 5 more cards towards the 1500 total.  

Take a look...

Card #921:  Mark DeRosa

Serial Number:  1198
Team:  San Francisco Giants, card # 26  out of 50

The ultimate utilityman, Mark has had 6 different seasons in which he played at least one game at 6 different positions.  (not counting DH)  Mark hit career home run #100 this year with the Blue Jays.



Card #922:  Justin Morneau

Serial Number:  1095
Team:  Minnesota Twins, card # 28 out of 50

I was really surprised that the Twins put Morneau on waivers, but not unlike everything else, all good things must come to an end.  Maybe.  There were a few quick whispers that the Pirates might go after him, but they died out quickly.


Card #923:  Ian Kinsler

Serial Number:  1004
Team:  Texas Rangers, card # 37 out of 50

The Diamondbacks really liked Kinsler, so much so that they drafted him twice (2000 & 2001).  Both times, he did not sign.  The Rangers picked him in the 17th rd in 2003, and the rest as they say is history. 

Card #924:  Johnny Cueto

Serial Number:  994
Team:  Cincinnati Reds, card # 31 out of 50

I am not a Cincinnati Reds fan, but for some reason, I could see myself being a Johnny Cueto fan.  I don't know if it's the Luis Tiant spin in his windup, but I really do like watching Cueto pitch.  Maybe one day if he changes teams I'll follow him even more....

Card #925:  Johan Santana

Serial Number:  970
Team:  New York Mets, card # 34 out of 50

How many of you out there knew that Santana was a rule 5 draftee?  I'll go one better, the day he was selected by the Marlins in the Rule 5 draft, he was traded to the Minnesota Twins for Jared Camp.  Jared never pitched a game in the majors, and we all know how Santana fared in the Twin Cities.  I can't see the Mets picking up his $25 million option for 2014.   Any takers?

Thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Insanity cards 916-920

I decided to give you as much a break from the serial insanity set as I could, but with so many cards on the back burner I need to start posting some more of them.

Here's the next 5 for you...

Card # 916:  Josh Johnson

Serial Number:  1485
Team:  Florida Marlins, card # 30 out of 50

With a 6.20 ERA and a WHIP over 1.6, he's probably seen his last trip to the mound in Toronto.  I don't see the Jays bringing him back off the DL this year, or re-signing him as a free agent over the winter.  So much for the "Marlins rape" by the Jays...


Card #917:  Francisco Cordero

Serial Number: 1426
Team:  Cincinnati Reds, card # 30  out of 50

The Jays gave Cordero a shot in 2012 as a bit of insurance out of the pen.  When Frank Francisco went down with an injury, Cordero got the closers job, and promptly lost it.  6 appearances later with Houston and his career was pretty much over.  It was kind of shocking to see it blow up that quick, as 2011 was a great year for Cordero with the Reds, 37 saves, 2.45 ERA and a WHIP just under 1.1.

You just never know....


Card #918:  David DeJesus

Serial Number:  1350
Team:  Kansas City Royals, card number 29 out of 50

It kind of makes me wonder what this guy has to do to get a steady gig.   All he did in KC for years is hit for a good average (.280 or better 5 times), have a career fielding percentage of .992 while playing all 3 outfield positions, and even lead the AL once in taking one for the team (23 HBP in 2007).  Yet, he's bounced around the past couple of seasons, and finds himself now on the Nationals, a team that's not going anywhere this year anyway. 



Card #919:  Mike Napoli

Serial Number:  1287
Team:  Texas Rangers, card number 36 out of 50.

I would have loved to see how many home runs he would have hit in the SkyDome.  40?  Trading him for Frank Francisco is probably a trade that AA would love to have back...

Card #920:  Fernando Martinez

Serial Number:  1238
Team:  New York Mets, card number 33 out of 50

Was traded by the Astros to the Yankees back in June for Charles Basford.  Don't look and I won't tell you...

Thanks for reading, Robert

Just one

I would say that over the past couple of weeks, I've started to focus a little bit more on completing sets again.  Some new, some not so new.  Originally, set completion was going to be the primary focus of this blog.  But that kind of got sidetracked when I started trading, and found out that there was a whole world of cards out there to be had.

I also had this crazy idea for a frankenset that steered me off of the beaten path as well.  That project is still kicking and is approaching the 2 year mark. 

This past weekend I hit Sportlots and started to go back to my roots.   Set building.  For the most part.

There is one seller that I go back to over and over, because he's somewhat local (maybe 90 minutes from my house), and every order that I've completed with him has arrived within 2 days.

You read that right, two days!!

The latest order arrived today, and hit a few different want lists.  Instead of boring you with a whole bunch of players that you may or may not know about (do a search for Mike Iggulden, and you'll see what I mean), I'll show you just one card from each of the sets that arrived at my doorstep.

If I was collecting the 2013 Heritage SPs for my set, this would have been a card that I would have needed to buy twice.  But since I decided to work the base set only, this beauty goes into the Jays collection.

Adding Mr. Reyes leaves me with just one more Jay to complete my team set for this year's Heritage.  It's already on its way to me...

I also received 6 "Marquee Rookies" from the 08-09 OPC hockey set today.  But I'll just show you one, the one that actually has become a solid NHL player.

Alex Goligoski played all of 3 games in the 07-08 season, but that was enough to earn him a rookie card in the 08-09 OPC set.  The Penguins ended up using him as a trading chip to make themselves deeper up front, acquiring James Neal from the Dallas Stars. 

Finally, I'll show off a card from the 95-96 Collectors Choice Players Club parallel set I'm still working on, a future hall of famer by the name of Chris Chelios.

This guy posted numbers during his career that would have made any fantasy hockey player drool.  For example, his 1992-93 season consisted of 73 points, 282 penalty minutes, a +14 rating and 8 power play goals.  I found one season that amazed me more numbers wise.   2001-02, 39 points, +40 and over 25 minutes a game for the Red Wings, at the age of forty!!  Incredible.

I'm sure that I wouldn't be so flustered as often as I am if I wasn't working on so many sets.  My life would probably be so much easier if I had only one set/goal to work on at a time.

Just one?  Come on, who am I kidding?  Where would the fun be in that?

Thanks for reading, Robert

A Max-imum trading partner

One of the best and steadiest trading partners that I have been fortunate enough to deal with since I started this blog is Max, who writes the blog known as Starting Nine. 

Max always sends me great packages, whether it be part of a trade, or just something out of the blue (that's something I need to do more often...).  This package was no different.

I received my first Gypsy Queen insert, a dealing aces card featuring R.A. Dickey.

Anybody know if aces is a slang term for home runs now?  Because if it is, then this card is very appropriate, because R.A. has dealt 27 of them so far this year.  I was quite apprehensive about a knuckleballer coming to Toronto because past pitchers who threw that pitch for the Jays weren't very successful.  I'm hoping that R.A. will prove me wrong.

Max also sent me my first Topps Tribute card, of the home run machine himself, Jose Bautista

Although not quite as thick as Upper Deck's the Cup, these base cards are really nice and remind of the very high priced hockey product.  I'm hoping that Jose will become a winner in a Jays uniform like these two guys were...

I could go on and on about these two, as I have in the past, so I won't.

I don't believe I've ever seen any of the 2009 Topps Attax cards on any blogs, so I thought I'd show a couple that Max sent my way.

Every other Attax card I've seen or own is blue, so the red in these 2009's is a welcome change.   I like them!

Max is a hockey fan as well, and he always manages to include at least one Leafs card in a package.  Tom Fergus from the '91-92 Upper Deck set came my way.

I had forgotten that the Leafs had actually picked Tom up several years prior to this card in a trade with the Bruins.  One of my favorite players, Bill Derlago, wound up going to the Bruins.  The year that this card was released, Fergus was traded to the Vancouver Canucks for cash, to help afford the contracts of players such as Gilmour, Fuhr and Andreychuk as the Leafs revamped their roster.

Finally, another piece of the '64 Topps set came my way.

Just 44 more cards for me to reach the goal of 60% complete by the end of the year.  It may be the only goal I reach....

Max, as always, thank you for the cards.  Much appreciated!!  I hope you enjoy the return envelope...

Thanks for reading, Robert

Living vicariously through the Gint-A-Cuffs posts

I waited until the last day to decide, but I chose to not participate in the Gint-A-Cuffs V competition this year.  To those of you out there that are in the competition, good luck!

I have taken the time in the past couple of days to start looking at some of the posts, and I will say that I do like the cards so far.  I think that the lighter "border" this year are what appeals to me, and from the blaster/rack pack that I bought, the inserts are all right as well.

I guess I'll show off what I pulled, so you can see if there's anything that may interest you for your collection/set building needs:

How about the SPs to start?  I snagged 5 of them, one of which is Josh Johnson of the Jays.

Tell me how handy it was that the week this set is released, Jason Dufner wins a major!  I decided to run a quick eBay search, and thought it interesting that an auto'd A&G card is on a BIN for $100.   Wow.

You're wondering about the minis?  Sure, have a look:

There's that Dufner guy again.  The Doerr and Murray cards are both A&G backs.  I like the black bordered Scutaro mini.  I'm sure that these will find their way to good homes...

If I were to collect any of the insert sets, it would probably be the palaces and strongholds set.  I've always been fascinated about how man built some of the world's greatest structures, and these would be no different. 

I like the across the years insert set as well.   Comparing the birthdays of these ballplayers to other famous people was interesting to me.

Kudos to Topps for making the nameplate of Paul Goldschmidt absolutely unreadable.  It would have been very interesting to see what the NL central race would have looked like if Johnny Cueto had been healthy this year. 

While what I've posted here doesn't compare to the GAC posts, hopefully somebody will see a card or 3 that they want, and post a comment on the blog. 

Good luck to every one in the GAC competition, I'll be following the posts as closely as I can!

Thanks for reading, Robert