TTM Success Mike Bielecki

Here are a few cards that I have received back in the mail from former Major Leaguer Mike Bielecki. Mike had a nice career pitching from 1984 - 1997 with the Pirates, Braves, Cubs, Indians, Braves, Angels, and Braves. His best season came in 1989 when he won 18 games with the Cubs. His best decision probably came in 1993 while with the Indians. He was invited to go on the boat trip with teammates Steve Olin, Tim Crews, and Bobby Ojeda. He declined. That day there was an accident that killed Olin and Crews, and nearly Ojeda.

These cards are his 1988 Topps and 1990 Fleer.

$5 Group break plus!

thorzul makes me sick.

No really. I'm enjoying a nice Tuesday evening at work when my wife stops by to give me some packages I received to help me pass the time at work. There were some ttm successes and a big box from our favorite Wisconsian Thorzul. I barely had the chance to dig through the box before I felt like I was going to be sick. 2 hours later, the flu hits, 1 day later, my face hits the bowl and I go headlong into a puke shower.

A week later - I finally dig into the box he sent.

I was the Mets of course for this group break, and while they are not the "best" cards of the break, these are hands down my favorite. I will always have a soft spot for Gregg Jefferies rookie cards - These will be going out in the mail soon in hopes of getting some scribbles from Mr. Jefferies. Also is a Big Pelf Rookie, a Wright All Star, HoJo and a nice looking Delgado.

Thorzul was also kind enough to send me cards for my 07 Topps 52 rookies, 91 Fleer Ultra, 93 Donruss Series 1, and 89 Donruss sets. A great package and many thanks my friend. There is a return package on its way to you as we speak.

Clearance Trade with Andy 88

When Andy of 88 Topps and 78 Topps called it quits like the rest of you, I was sad to see him go, but when he announced the great 70s Topps purge, I had to jump in line for the Mets cards! I sent him a few game used cards I had hanging around in return, A Billy Wagner and a few Biggio's I think and what I found in the mail was incredible! A bunch of 70s Mets Topps cards from the years 74, 73, 71, and of course, 1978!





I chose just to highlight one page of my favorites.





First up we have Tom Terrific from the 73 Set. This was the one Seaver card in the lot and of course it's my favorite card I received. As a lifelong Mets fan whose life hasnt been that long, I never got to see Tom pitch in person, but I've done lots of reading and am certain that he along with Mike Piazza is the greatest Met of all time.





Another card I loved is of the Stork, George Theordore. Besides looking like the A/V guy at your highschool according to the cartoon on the back, he also enjoys marshmellow milk shakes. Now I can die in peace knowing that.






Eddie Kranepool is the quintessential early Met - he held the longest tenure of any of the inaugural squad and lends his name to the great mets blog the Ed Kranepool Society.





Skip Lockwood has a dirty name





Now - I am too lazy to do the proper researching on this, but if memory serves me correctly Joel Youngblood is the only player to play for 2 different teams in one day when he was traded between the Mets and the Expos during a double header. But like I said, I could be wrong. If I am, feel more than happy to correct and I'll be a better person for it.





I am supremely jealous of Bob Apodaca's haircut.





And finally Bobby V - I can barely recognize him without his glasses.

So now that I have this great package, I got one last surprise late last night when I saw that Andy is back in the fold with the 88 Score Traded Blog! So everyone, get ready for a daily dose of mediocre players and better analysis! It's been a great read so far, but there have been errors on both cards 1 and 2 - so lets see how far that continues!

Quick Trade Thanks

Recently I posted up a want list of 1989 Topps cards when I realized I was pretty close to completion of it. One of the first knights in shining armor who came to my aid was mark of Marks ephemera blog. In finally going through the cards and getting a post up for them, I realized that I had filed them all so. I do not know which cards where provided (as they are already crossed off the checklist) so I cannot say Mark - thanks for the Gene Larkin card! Because I just don't know.

But what I can ask you to do is go over and check his blog out. He's recently decided to refocus his collection - part of this plan seems to be getting rid of a bunch of 1980 Topps cards - I know that I don't have any of those and I'd like to build all of those 80s Topps sets from my youth, so you can be sure I will be following up on that with him. It also looks like we have an Expos collector - I do not know of any other of those out in Blogville, so gentlemen, get out those 5k boxes and start sorting. This man has a plan.

BLOODBATH!

Let's have a moment of silence for the 277 people who died last night in various plan crashes, gun battles, stabbings, and falling off balconies.



Lets see who did it.

Jack - 1 Kill
Everyone else - 276 kills

This is by far momemtus for a few reasons - 1 - its the largest body count of any episode this season and it also accounts for Jack's first kill.

So - nobody guessed the overall kill total so the prize of 100 cards of a team of your choice will be carried over to next week. So if somebody gets the call right then, they will receive two prizes. Ya dig? But wait you say - what if nobody gets it right the rest of the way is there no winner? No! What I am going to do is keep a list here of who came closest each week - they will get a point - if at the end there are no perfect guesses, then whoever has the most points will get all the goodies.

Hypothetically lets say that no one guesses for the next 3 eipisodes then someone gets it right, they will get all the prizes, but the points left over for the non perfect guesses will still count towards the end of season prize if there is not a perfect guess for the final episode.

So who is this weeks closes guesser?

Andy from the new 88 Score Traded Blog! Nobody guessed the overall body count so we know that it then defaults to who guesses the kills closest for Jack. Both Andy and Chris from Nachos Grande had guessed one kill for Jack. Andy guessed a closer count on kills for the rest of the cast with 7 - so he is our point getter this week.

Andy 88 - 1 point.

see you next Monday!

24 Body Count Thread

OK - we all know the rules by now right?

- All guesses must be in the comments on this post before 9pm EST today.
- guess 2 numbers -
1) how many people Jack Bauer will kill
2) how many people EVERYBODY else in the show will kill

Thats it -

To change it up - from this point forward - if the exact number of total kills is not guessed (thus far its been very close each time) I am going to carry the prize over to next week and so on until the exact number of overall kills is guess correctly! I'm taking the free parking approach to really make for some sweet winnings here.

This weeks prize is 100 random cards from the team of your choice! good luck and enjoy!

2 more cards to go!

Hey all - I've got 2 more cards to go for my 08 UD Baseball Heroes set -

Complete!

If any of ya'll has these 2 hanging out anywhere and are willing to spare them, I would be indebted! Thank you!

Face Plant

So a quick note to say sorry for no posts lately - Since late Tuesday night I have been hit with the flu something awful - I've got packages here for Sam and Mark that have yet to hit the mail - but they are ready to go - I promise - I've gotten packages in the mail from Andy and Thorzul - they will be posted on --- eventually - right now sitting here isn't all that pleasant. I'm going back to bed.

Oh - the low point of this (minorly graphic, but i recognize that it is funny) and the reason for the title of this post

in my hurry to get to the toilet to purge through the mouth, I ran in and for support, put my left hand on my toilet paper dispenser and began puking - while trying to get my right hand down on the side of bowl for more support, the dispenser breaks and i went head first into the toilet bowl hitting my chin on the bowl and making a big pukey mess. Yes - This is how my year seems to be going.

The card world better have something good coming for me.

30 Packs for $15 Part 3 (I think)

So Next up in my recent repack box purchase was 5 packs of 89 Topps. Let's see what we got

Pack 1

Dave Valle
Kevin Bass
Jay Tibbs
Benny Santiago
Barry Lyons
Rick Cerone
Bryn Smith
Dave Schmidt
Gary Carter Record Breaker
Bobby Bonilla All Star
Robin Ventura #1 Draft Pick
Danny Tartabull
Joe Magrane
Jack McKeon
Ron guidrey

Well - got a rookie of my all time favorite player Robin Ventura, Also got bobby Bo who is a great signer by mail, 2 Mets, a Gator, and a catcher to throw from his knees - great way to start!

Pack 2

Giants Leaders
Tim Flannery
Don Slaught
Ricky horton
Dave West
Shawon Dunston
Greg Minton
Danny Darwin
joe Morgan
whitey Herzog
Ken Gerhart
Wade Boggs
Curt Ford
Curt Wilkinson
Steve Curry

A HOF in Boggs, the "rifelman" Shawon Dunston and another Met - so far so good!

Pack 3

Scott Garelts
Mark Davis
Mike Smithson
Pat Clements
Mike Davis
Tim Birstas
Paul Mirabella
checklist
Terry Puhl
Scott Lusader
Chili Davis
Terry McGriff
Andy Bens #1 Draft Pick
Jeff Robinson
Wes Gardner

Not too much here besides Chili, Mike, and Mark Davis



Pack 4

Mike Scott
Charlie Leibrandt
Terry Clark
Mickey Hatcher
Luis Polonia
mitch Williams
Calvin Schiraldi
Roger Clemens
Lee Mazzilli
Tom Browning
Tom Pagnozzi
Jose Oquendo
Bob Forsch
Barry Bonds
junior Ortiz

Pretty good pack here of people most Mets fans hate. 1) Mike Scott and his damn ball scoffing almost costing us a trip to the world series 2) Barry Bonds - well we all hate him 3) Roger Clemens - another nemesis in 86 - also was originally drafted by the Mets but chose college over the Apple and 4) Lee Mazzelli - we actually don't hate him, but I am pretty sure he laid pipe in my cousin Denise.

Pack 5

Tracy Jones
Charlie O'Brien
Charlie Puleo
Tony Fernandez
Dave Righetti
Ron tingley
Jim Snyder
Trevor Wilson
Carlton Fisk
Brian Holton
Brewers Leaders
Mel Hall
john Davis
Cecil Espy Gold Cup
Steve Lombardozzi

Pudge is really the only player of note here - I had a lot of fun with these packs especially since I just started putting together the set.

24 Body Count Week 2 Winner

This week's winner is SamDaMan!

He has won the complete 1987 Fleer Baseball Award Winners 44 card set (with stickers). So SamDaMan, please email me with your address and I will get your cards out to you! Thanks for playing and good luck next week!

For the record - the overall body count for this episode was 0. yes - ZERO - not a single casualty - sam Guessed that Jack would kill none and all others would kill 2. So great job and once again, good luck next week!

To make things more interesting there will be a slight rule change going into next week. Stay tuned and as always, thanks for playing and reading!

Is There Anything Else to Say

24 Body Count Official Thread

Here it is!

Once again here are the rules

Please put a comment on this post with 2 numbers

1) the number of people who die by the hand of Jack Bauer
2) the number of people killed by everyone else in the show

The comments must be on this post before 8pm eastern time to qualify

The person with the closest overall kill total wins. If there is a tie - the person closes to Jack's number will win. Any other tie breakers will be determined as I need them.

Last weeks winner Chris from Nachos Grande won 2 autographed cards and a game used bat card. the prizes may not be like that each week, but I also don't have a ton of cards! This weeks prize will be a complete set of cards from the late 80's produced by a major manufacturer featuring baseball players - They are a brand of set that have recently been written about in one of the more widely read blogs recently. I'll announce the winner tomorrow!

Skills That Blow My Fucking Mind

Sometimes you see people do things that you know you couldn't do. In this case I am talking about skateboarding. Sure we might be able to ride the board or ollie - but even that all becomes a little boring to see others do regardless of the skill involved.

but when you see someone demonstrate complete mastery of that skill - it is really something to behold. Please - take 6 minutes and watch this. this is like no skating you have ever seen. At one point Rodney Mullen, the man we are about to watch actually does a handstand on the board, does a flip of the board, and lands on his feet. This is not something that can actually be done - at least it should not be able to be done. Enjoy Rodney Mullen.

30 Packs for $15 part 3

So this next pack isn't necessarily a normal pack of cards - but 1992 South Bend White Sox Team Card Set from the Midwest League - Class A Affiliate

When I busted this open to check it out I was wondering what future stars I might come across....I'm still wondering.

There were only 3 players in the entire set that I had heard of.

James Baldwin
Olmeda Saenz
Terry Francona

2 MLB bench/role players who never really did too much and a manager who has now won multiple world series - I'm not too excited - These will be going out to Steve @ White Sox Cards in the next week.

1989 Topps Want List

Here is another one -

I need to ask - does anyone know of any websites (not ebay) where you can buy singles from sets for cheap? I did a quick search at work last night and did not quite find what I was looking for. I came across a site that was great a few months ago - most of the cards were between 5 and 20 cents for commons - but for the life of me I cannot remember. Thanks for any heads ups you have!

Here is what I need!

COMPLETE!

Helpers:
Mark from his Ephemera blog has me 32 cards closer to completion!
Reader Duane got me 5 cards closer!
Dayf the Cardboard Junkie got me very much closer to set completion
Jeff @ Cardboard Junkie got me a small amount closer to set completion! Thank you sir!
Cliff @ Capewood's Collections got me to within 15 cards to go! Thank you sir!
2 more from Greg the Night Owl
3 more to go thanks to Greg @ Lake Effect Cards!
4/3/09 - READER bRANDON FINISHES THE SET OFF!!!!

30 Packs for $15 park 2

All Right! The packs from my Target repack are 3 packs of 1990 Superstar Stickers from Topps! Each pack comes with 5 cards. The Fronts are a player card with stats and the backs have 1 or 2 stickers on them - I have scanned the front and backs of all the cards and now I am just going to choose which side is better - if you disagree let me know!

Okay - Scans of fronts are up top, backs on the bottom - this is the format for the whole post -

Roberto Alomar Vs. Daryl Strawberry and random Ranger
Edge - gotta go Strawman! The back really should lose for the faceless Ranger, but as a Mets
fan I gotta go with my guys

Mark McGwire Vs. Barry Bonds
Edge - wow - Here is a decision the HOF seems to not want to make either - we'll go McGwire for being less of a douche

Carlton Fisk Vs. Doug Drabek and Faceless Indian
Edge - Fisk no doubt

Ruben Sierra Vs. Barry Larkin
Edge - Larkin - While he may be on the fence - he at least had the career to get some HOF consideration

Joe Magrane Vs. Steve Bedrosian (?) and Carney Lansford
Edge - Gonna go with Joe Magrane here for being on my new favorite channel MLB Network all the time

Robin Yount vs. Random Astro and Terry Steinbach

Edge - Yount - HOF vs borderline all star

Howard Johnson Vs. Vince Coleman and Shane Mack?

Egde -C'mon - HOJO JO!

Mark Davis Vs. Von Hayes

Edge - Von Hayes has a shot named after him - he wins

Mike Scott Vs. Philli and Randy Johnson

edge - The Unit - future HOF for sure

Doc Gooden Vs. Daulton and Lee Smith

edge - do I even have to say it? Dr. K

Terry Steinbach Vs. A Pirate and Jack Morris

Edge - Jack Morris just for that Gem in the playoffs Vs. John Smoltz

Bret Saberhagen Vs. Ryne Sandberg

Edge - Ryno - sabes had a nice career but Ryno was one of the best of his generation

Steve Sax Vs. 2 Assholes

Edge - 2 Assholes

Gregg Olson Vs. Ron Darling and Bearded Twin

edge - Ronny Baseball

Cal Ripken Vs. Mark McGwire

Edge - gotta go with Clean Cal

So I'm going to put aside the Mets for me - the rest of this going into the "random box" anyone want any of this? let me know!

30 packs for $15 - Part 1

So recently at one of the big box stores I found a repack box that had 30 packs for $15. This is the the 2nd time I have given in to this temptation, and while I didn't get too much of value - I really did have $15 worth of fun opening them all up. I will be periodically showing everyone what was received set by set.

Today we have a pack of 89 Topps American Baseball. These are the first that I have come across these cards - They are all the mini variety and are pretty forgettable actually. I did pull a Met (David Cone) so I can't be too upset. Here is the total pack of 5 cards.

We got 1 Hall of Famer and 4 All Stars. I suppose that one cannot really be upset about that.

Each card on the back has a "Talkin' Baseball" box. Lets see if we can learn anything new! (all printed exactly as they appear)

* A Strike is a legal pitch called by umpire due to one of the 7 factors. One factor occurs when pitch is swung at by the batter and is missed completely.

* The "IP" category indicates the number of Innings Pitched by a pitcher. Innings are divided into thirds, crediting pitcher with number of outs achieved.

* A Forfeited Game is a game declared ended by an umpire in favor of offended team as a result of violations of the rules. the score is officially 9-0.

* In order to earn a Save a pitcher must finish game won by team, not earn win and (optional) enter game leading by 3 or less runs and pitch one inning.

* A Called Game is one which, for any or a number of reasons (such as inclement weather or field conditions), an umpire decides to terminate play.

Nothing really to earth shattering there, but I did not know that a forfeited game had an official score of 9-0

I'll Tell You What I Want (what i really really want)

Now that we have all officially turned the page on 2008 and are scrambling to close the book on all of those sets we have 80% done (looks like they will join the almost complete 1990 Topps set in my closet) it's time to look forward to 2009.



While I know I am a small fish in this pond, Dave from Fielder's Choice (who is hosting this, the 3rd blog bat around) raises a good point. There is no doubt that our blogs/community does have an effect on how the card companies are doing business. We have seen exclusive rights given (of course, then taken away), large publications pilfering ideas (without credit no less), and many other small things that may not be so significant in the grand scheme, but that are affecting the hobby we all love. So here is our chance to let them know what we would like to see this year (although this year is already quite a bit set as far as the card companies are concerned).



The one thing that I love about baseball cards is that they seem so timeless - yes 1990 Donruss is ugly (as is 91 Fleer) but they were perfect to represent that era. The designs may not always age the best - but often times the sets we hated at the time they came out we ended up loving (does this mean that in 2029 we will be saying that UD X and Artifacts were great sets? I hope not).



What I am getting at is the kind of sets that I am interested in seeing produced would the kind that tell the story (not literally, I'm looking at you Upper Deck Documentary). I want a base set of at least 500 cards. I want to see some all starts, I want to see some rookies, and yes I want to see Greg Brock (or should I say Damion Easley to update this a bit?). One day hopefully I will have children to share this all with and I want to be able to grab by binder of 2009 Topps cards (the complete set of course) and be able to go page by page and tell them all about each player - give them my own oral history of the game.



I understand the niche that the high end products like Sweet Spot and Sterling fill - and I think its great that it's there for those of you who can afford to do it. If I had the extra paper, I probably would myself. What I don't get is the pointless stuff like Artifacts and X. There is nothing that set the sets apart from the rest as far as theme (an x? picture of a scroll?) that make them worth carrying. I think everyone agrees that if we want to see historic figures, that what A & G is for. I feel that if the set cannot hang it's hat on a good theme that brings something new to the table it should be not hit the shelves.



Here is what I would like to see return next - Stadium Club done right. I understand that the Topps base product will always be a little underwhelming. But I don't mind - it is what it has always been. 1000 cards that show what happened giving a lot of players cards and documenting the season. Let's see stadium club come back without the focus on the autogamers. Let's limit it to a few box hits and be up front about the short printing this time around.



Of course Heritage, Goudey, A & G (but lets change it a little this time), UD are all going to be in my collections. I wish Masterpieces would come back as I think its the best looking set produced all of last year, but we don't have that kind of pull - maybe 2010? One set that I missed out on a few years ago that I would love to see back would Topps Total.


As far as increasing the amounts of game used and autos, I think that it's a terrible idea. What ends up happening here is the SRP of these products ends up going way up to accommodate for all the sigs or memorabilia that ends up going into these packs just so you can get your Cory Doyne Auto'd card on a sticker no less. Let's make the hits... here is a novel idea... of players people want hits for!!!! Holy Shit! Stop the presses! What an idea. With less hits of better players it becomes special again, and the boxes will more likely retain their value for resale if thats your bag.



I am okay with short prints - They annoy the hell out of me when I need them, but I like the challenge and the fact that it can make a crappy Oliver Perez card a bit more desirable. As far as the parallels and insets - thats fine - just keep the parallels pertinent and lets trim the fat a bit. I love Masterpieces, but how many different borders were there? Overkill. And please for the love of god - kill the gimmicks. Waste of time and an insult to our intelligence.



Thanks for hosting Dave -

To the Victor Goes the Spoils

Ok - so I got the choices from Chris over @ Nachos Grande and lets all see what he picked!



For having the gift of knowing who will die and by whom, Chris will soon be the owner of 2 auto'd cards from the 07 Topps 52' Rookies set - the first of Oriole farmhand Cory Doyne and the 2nd of Cubs pitcher Billy petrick (this one signed in red and numbered 26/52).



Finally - no suprise he chose the Adam Dunn bat card from the 06 Bowman Heritage set - this is a card I bought @ a show for $2 with the purpose of trading or giving away - I'm like a fat Santa... wait a minute...

The official thread for next weeks contest will be up Monday afternoon along with the prize that will be up for winning!

Help! My dumb question for January

So I often see people make mention of where their hits come from - ie... Google, links from other pages, so on.. and how many hits they have total as well as how many are from different people... how would I find that information? Any help would be apprecaited.

24 Contest Winner episodes 1-4

Wow - a good amount of interest! I'm happy to see that you guys are with me on the 24 train. By my Tally (and I did rewind a few times to verify a death or 2) there were a total of 8 kills in the first 4 episodes.

Jack Bauer - 0
Everyone Else - 8

Here is how I choose the winners - whoever guesses the overall death total will be the winner - if there is a tie (as there was this week) who ever is closer to Jack's total gets the prize. If I need to come up with other tie breakers, I will at that time.

FanofReds guessed that Jack will kill 3 and 8 will die total
Bobble Mike guessed that Jack will kill 6 and 8 will die total

Since Jack killed 0 and Fanofreds guessed 3 vs Bobble Mike's 6 - that makes FANOFREDS our winner from week!

So Chris - Congratulations - please take a look at the prize list and shoot me an email with your address (in case I cannot find it) and the 3 cards you want from Monday's post!

The official thread for next weeks episode will be posted Monday afternoon and all comments to qualify must be in before 9 PM Eastern Standard time. I will scan the cards that Chris chooses.

Thanks for playing and see you all next week with another contest! This will go on all season!

24 Body count Week 1 prizes

All right - we have 7 competitors this week - I have not yet had a chance to watch last nights episodes (I work nights) and to keep those of you entered interested in what happens tonight, the prizes for this weeks winner will be their choice of three of the following cards.

Autos -
07 Ud Artifacts Jessie Crain
07 Bowman Heritage Signs of Greatness Andrew Fie
07 Bowman Heritage Signs of Greatness Elliot Johnson
07 Tristar Farm Hands Todd Frazier
07 Topps 52 Rookies Cory Doyne
07 Topps 52 Rookies Alberto Arias
07 Topps 52 Rookies Billy Petrick 26/52

Game Used-
08 Upper Deck Jersey Andy Pettitte
07 Yopps All Star Swatches John Lackey
07 Fleer Ultra Faces of the Game Omar Vizquel (Bat)
08 Upper Deck Robb Quinlan
2008 Upper Deck Game Jersey Kendry Morales
07 Fleer Ultra K Zome Roy Oswalt
08 Upper Deck Ben Sheets
08 Upper Deck David Wells
07 Bowman Heritage Brad Lidge
06 Bowman Heritage Todd Helton (w/ purple stripe)
07 Fleer Ultra Faces of the Game Miguel Cabrera
08 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection Carlos Lee (Bat)
08 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection Johnny Estrada
2008 Upper Deck Timeline Jim Edmonds (Bat)
08 Ud Masterpiesces Aramis Ramirez
08 Topps A & G johnny Damon (Bat)
08 Ud Masterpieces Derrek Lee (w/ blue stripe)
06 Topps Turkey Red Brad Lidge
08 Topps All Star Jersey Adrian Gonzalez
08 Topps All Star Jersey Chipper Jones
06 Bowman Heritage Adam Dunn (bat)
08 Topps 07 Highlights Cameron Maybin

phew - sorry for no scans - that would have taken way tooo long - they are all in very good condition. so when I announce the winner - you get any 3 of the cards listed above. For the rest of you - if you see anything you want up there in trade - get in touch with me - I like trading! but of course I will wait until the winner chooses their cards. Take care everyone until then!

Back With a Contest

Hey everyone - I'll be back to normal posting this week.



Just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for the kind words and well wishes. Me and my wife are both doing fine and we do appreciate it.



Now - as I mentioned I would be before - I am going to be having a weekly contest for the duration of Season of 24. Each week (this week will be combined Sunday and Monday) I will be counting a body count for the show - there will be 2 talleys -



1- how many people die at the hand of Jack Bauer

2- how many people die at the hands of everyone else on the show.



All you need to do is put a guess as to how many people will fall into each category and put that in a comment on this post. The comments this week must be in by 8 PM tonight - each week the prizes will be different - sometimes oddball - sometimes really good, sometimes other stuff - Eventually - I will put a list on a sidebar for prizes to choose from - Since this week is 4 episodes I will make the prize a good one - probably a few game used cards - I will get those scanned and up tomorrow probably -



I will have the episodes watched by Tuesday afternoon so winner will be announced then!

Bad News = A Break

I'm gonna take some time off. I'm not sure how long. Me and my wife just found out that we lost the baby we were expecting and so I am going to take some time to collect my thoughts and be a husband. I'll back in a while. Might be a few days - might be a week. We'll see.

Clay Davis is the Sheeeeeet

Any of you fans of the wire out there? I got into the show and through the wonders of HBO on demand - knocked out the series within one year and did quite enjoy it.

If you haven't seen the show - there are many memorable characters... McNaulty, Bunk, the ultimate badass - Omar. But I don't think I am alone in saying that Clay Davis is without a doubt the most memorable of all of them with his catchphrase that you will find below.





And in my quest to explain how funny that was to my pal Joe, the MLB Collector (Updates son!)
I found this gem.




Hopefully that made your day the way it made mine.

TTM Success - Andy benes

Well it's been a little while since I have posted up one of my TTM successes, so let's say hi to Andy Benes. Andy had a 13 year career pitching with the Padres, Blue Jays, Mariners, Diamondbacks, and Cardinals with a career record of 155-139. His best season was in 1996 with St Louis when he went 18-10 and finished 3rd in the Cy Young ballot. He was an all star once and finished in the top 5 in the 1989 ROY ballot.

As you see, Andy was kind enough to sign these 2 cards for me, a 1990 Fleer Rookie card and a 91 Donruss kids birthday party themed card. You gotta love that big ass B he uses in the Benes.

David Wright cards care of Wax Heaven

Last week - man am I behind on getting these posts up, I received a thank you from Mario over @ Wax Heaven. I sent Mario I 2 packages, a 2008 Timeline Andrew Miller GU Jersey card and a HUGE Topps Chrome of Jose Cruz Jr (I don't believe that they have been showed off yet on his blog), but he must have liked them because in the mail for me the other day was 19 different Wright cards from the past few years - What a great holiday treat and certainly over payment for a Miller/Cruz combo - but as we all know - we like and value who we like.

First we have the cards of David on the base paths - 08 Masterpieces, 08 UD base, and 08 Bowman - yea the Bowman one he has his glove on, but still, in the base paths! My favorite of this group is the Masterpieces - I think this is my favorite set of the year - I still need a whole bunch of them as I've cut back on my purchasing, but I really do like them.

Next up we have David Looking pretty in a series of portrait cards. Below we have 08 Heritage, 07 Goudey Mini, 07 UD Artifacts, 08 Ginter State Card, and finally the Chrome and Base of I'm not sure what retailer did this card - but you will see them below. My favorite card is the Goudey mini - i don't normally like minis, but this is the first Wright mini that I own.

Finally, we have David doing what he does best - Swinging the bat! 07 SP Authentic, , 07 Topps, 2 07 Topps Generation Nows, 07 SP Rookie Edition, 07 ultra, 08 UD Spectrum, 08 Timelines, and 2 08 Ud Heroes, one of the charcoal variety. My favorite here would have to be the SP authentic Rookie Edition Card. Not sure why, but it looks like he just got a hold of a nice gapper (and I'm not talking about a southern girl) in the photo.

So Mario, Thank you much and as always I'll keep an eye out for cards for your collection.

A New Year - The Easy Life Gets Harder

I'm a lucky guy and its been a great time so far. I am blessed with a fantastic wife, great family, and the best friends a guy could ever ask for. That's why I called this blog the Easy Life - its a name that was meant to be used about 12 years ago for a punk rock fanzine I was going to write with my friend Carla. While that never got off the ground, I never forgot the name - always thought it suited me.

So while nothing has changed in that first paragraph - I feel like this year is going to be the best but most challenging year of my life. As I have mentioned, I have a baby on the way. While I cannot wait to meet the little one and be the best Dad that I can be, I know that my free time and disposable cash will dwindle quit a bit. We have to move in March or so to make room for the baby - That is never a fun time, and finally - My job is at jeopardy - I don't know that I have ever mentioned it on here, but I work for AIG as an Underwriter - and now, I don't go quail hunting or get included in spa retreats. But with everything that has gone on, my division is up for sale and who knows where that will leave me and my family.

So what does this mean to you, the reader? Well for right now, nothing really. Posts should still be coming about 5 times a week or more, I'll still be trading and building sets, and helping you with yours. But in the long run, I think you will see more of my other interests creeping into the blog for a few reasons.

1) Money - very soon I'm not going to have any. With a baby on the way I'm going to be shifting myself into debt clearing / prepare of baby mode. I'm going to try to give myself a card budget, but at this moment, I cannot guarantee anything. I'd like to have my card paid off by May, that means double payments.

2) Break the monotony. I've never really felt that I had something to say, and while I think I do an OK job here at the Easy Life - I know that there are many blogs out there covering the same beat and doing a much better job at it. Whether it be analysis, news breaking, controversy, box breaks, history - I'm lightweight in a sea of heavy hitters. And that's okay. But to help get a bit more of a voice, I may start mixing things up a little bit. The focus will always be on cards, that will not change, but you will see more of me show up here. Hopefully you'll stick around with me.

One thing that I plan on doing on here on a sidebar, or something - I haven't really decided how yet, but I am a big dude - I mean BIG - over 3 bills and with baby on the way I need to start taking care of myself. So I will be doing a Biggest Loser - Easy Life Edition if you will. and to help garner your support, I will be figuring out some kind of contest to go along with every 10 pounds shed. I know that my wife and friends will love me now matter what I do - but if I have to answer to all of the Internet, well that's pressure! So I will figure that out - there will also be a weekly 24 body count contest that I will be doing, so if there are any fans of the show - keep an eye out here for more details as we get closer to the premier.

Well, I figured it out, so I will just amend this scheduled post and add it in - I currently weigh... 339 pounds - holy smokes! So here it is - everytime I lose 10 pounds - there will be a post with a trivia question of some kind - simply to be the first to say congratulations and answer the question - I will send you a gift of some kind - sometimes it will be a bunch of stuff, sometimes it will just be a little thing - I do hope you enjoy and participate!

I still have a lot of ideas going forward that I think people will enjoy. I guess time will tell. That said - Happy New Year everyone and take care of yourselves.