No Heritage for me

I still can't find any Heritage packs here. So, I broke down and bought a cereal box of Topps. There were two in the local Target. Mantle and Ruth. I choose Mickey. I wasn't going to collect Series One but after this I might. First, I really like the boxes.  Inside was a Ted Williams Chrome refractor. Nice. Very Nice. I also pulled a Roy Campanella legends card and a David Price Rookie Gold border.  Not to mention a Turkey Red Curtis Granderson. Also, are the toppstown cards inserts? I don't think so but the one I got was Longoria. I'm holding on to it. 

After I opened it my wife asked if I had checked the mail. It had been raining most of the afternoon. I trudged out to the mailbox. Inside was a envelope from Greg at nightowl. He had scored some Stadium Club cards and had even thought of me and picked up a Chase Utley that he knew I needed.  He also included a bunch of 2008 Topps U&H's I needed. That list is getting short. Thanks, nightowl. 

Later that evening, after a great dinner at Pane y Vino, downtown Charleston, we ran by Target again. I grabbed the Ruth cereal box off the shelf and a $4.99 repack thingy. My wife shook her head. The cereal box contained a Carl Yaz legends card, a Topps Turkey Red Jimmie Foxx, (Red? Foxx? haha) and another Chrome Teddy Ballgame. No other doubles for the base set. Well, darn. I guess I'm collecting 2009 Topps Series One. 

Jeff's pack, Part 2

Also in the package, protecting the cards were four 1990 Fleer Action Series Sticker Cards with a Baseball Quiz on the back. The 7-year-old in me wants to paste the stickers on my closet doors. The 41-year-old in me will get his butt kicked by his loving, devoted wife. Let's just take the quiz. Good Luck to all and no peeking.

Who is Yamid Haad?

This evening I returned home to find a very thick package waiting for me. Honestly, I'm finding that the best part of card collecting is trading on line. I get great mail all the time now. Before it was all bills and junk. 

     Occasionally, ESPN the Mag or Inside Pitch. Now I never know what will be waiting for me. Card bloggers are the best people. 

The package was from Jeff at Card Junkie. Thanks, Jeff. He had a bunch of Topps stuff he needed so I happily sent him what I had. He did the same for me, slashing my '08 Series 2 and UH in half. I won't post all of the cards but, the last one I was inserting really caught my attention. 

UH6 Yamid Haad. I'd never heard of him so I flipped the card over to see his stats. I assumed this guy was some young rookie.

This "rookie" has been playing ball professionally since 1997. He was twenty when he started in Erie hitting .290 in 43 games. He has played in 18 major league games.  1 game with Pittsburgh in 1999 and 17 games with the Giants in 2005. In his time with the Giants he had 10 starts (playing behind Pat Methany). Then he was suspended for steroids for 50 games in May of 2006. He played in the D-Rays system but was traded to the Indians. He was called up but never appeared in a game with the Indians. 

That, my friends, is living the dream.

Who knew?

Like so many I'm waiting on the '09 Heritage from Topps to be released. I was going to swing by the store on the way home, but luckily I checked a couple of my favorite blogs and they mentioned that the release was delayed. That's probably for the best. I'm not exactly flush with cash right now. 

Speaking of flush. I have twenty cards left to finish the 2008 Topps Stadium Club set. I'm not being picky about cards. The variations in this set could make a grown man cry. I just want to finish with at least one card of each player in the base set 1-150. I've been lucky enough to pull a couple of autos and a beam team of Delwyn Young (which I traded to nightowl). But, basically I just want to finish the set. So, last night I headed to ebay to see what it would take to go that route.  I managed to find all the cards I needed from the same dealer. The cost, however, gave me pause and I will continue to search for more trades.

The Spring Training exhibition season has started. If you can't get down to Florida (or Arizona) I suggest swinging by Matt Cerrone's Metsblog.com.  Matt has posted videos, interviews with players and coaches, updates and fun stuff  from Duffys. It's like I'm there. Matt has the fans in mind. He asks the questions you would want to ask. He does a great job. Or if you want to check out photos from my trips in the past, then read the posts below. 

My boss came by my office and asked, "Now that Spring Training is underway, are we going to get any work out of you?" My reply, "You don't get much from me to start with." haha funny guy. 

Help.

I visited my friend at the flea market a few weeks ago. He had a stack of photos sitting on the table. The top photo, (5x7,  b/w, autographed) was of Gil Hodges in a Mets uni. "What's that," I asked? "Take a look." I picked them up. Fifteen black and white photos, all autographed, of the 1969 NY Mets. A little tattered, dogged eared, and yellowed. He got them in an auction. 

I can't determine their origin. Are those actual autographs? I checked a couple of the players against signatures I found on-line. They look like matches. 

Last week I went back to the flea market. My friend hasn't been doing well health-wise. I sat down to talk and saw another picture sitting there. It was Ken Boswell. "Oh, yeah" he says, "that goes with the set. I saved it for you." 

Where did these come from? In my mind I've created an entire story. It involves an 8-year-old kid from Queens. His dad takes him to a fan-fest type thing at the beginning of the 1969 season. You pay a buck or two. The players sign these pics and slide them across the table to you. "Thanks Mr. Swoboda. I hope the Mets win the series this year." "Thanks kid." 

Anyway, they mean the world to me. 16 photos of the "Amazing Mets". I will be finding frames and hanging them in my office. Anyone have any ideas about their origin?

Here's the line-up

Tom Seaver

Jerry Koosman

Cleon Jones

Tommie Agee

Jerry Grote

Ron Swoboda

Tug McGraw

Donn Clendenon

Ed Kranepool

Wayne Garrett

Bud Harrelson

Gary Gentry

Ron Taylor

Art Shamsky

Ken Boswell

Gil Hodges

Am I a Blogger?

    Spring Training is here. How do I know? The Yankees had a press conference so some other player could express his sorrow for cheating. I'm sorry I don't like A-Rod. He tried to choke up some tears. He tried to seem like mattered to him. He doesn't give a c@#p. Enough.

   I still haven't decided what, if any, cards I might collect this year. Last year was my first and I started late. I ended up hooked on Stadium Club. I tried Series 2 Topps. I tried Topps U & H. I tried Heritage High Numbers. Liked those. This year I will continue my pursuit of building Mets team sets. 2009 Topps here I come. 2009 UD. Look out. I saw a post on paulsrandomstuff about 2009 Topps Heritage. They look cool. This stuff is addictive.