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!