Crickets

During one of my late night sleepy-stupor ebay visits I decided to diversify my collection a bit. Lately, I have been very curious about the game of Cricket. I would love to try it sometime. Anyway, like most things that exist in this world; the professional sport of cricket has trading cards. These two cards are obvious reprints and I have yet to research anything about them but they are interesting to look at and I can now say I own cricket cards. Classy ones at that.

Catching Up: TTM Returns!

I have had some really great TTM successes in the past few months. Not pictured are two returns from Clayton Kershaw. Both were sent over a year ago. He sent back a small card explaining his charity and a couple cards. I will have to dig them out. I must have sent at the perfect time because both cards are different so he probably ran out of the first style before he got to my second request.

First off is an amazing return and my new all time favorite card in my collection. I am such a fan of Lauren Shehadi for obvious reasons but I also think she seems super cool and makes MLB Central on MLB Network worth watching and the greatest show ever made. Her and DeRo together make an awesome show! It honestly took me 100X longer to find this card via trade then it did to get a scribble from her. Awesome woman and my one and only celebrity crush. 

Nick Solak was nice enough to drag his sharpie on a card for me. Funny thing is; since getting this return back I have pulled 2 of his autos from packs. Weird.

Rusty is my dog. I think I mentioned in a long lost post that my brother and I were sending 5 TTM requests to secret recipients in the other's name. He has received back Kaline and a denial from Adrian Beltre. I received this Carson Fulmer auto that he sent out in my dog's name. I like it anyway. Carson has a great signature and I will always think of my dog when flipping through my TTM binder.

This is actually a denial. I was lucky enough to get Salty to sign this card TTM a while back and then sent it to Josh Hamilton. It got returned unsigned. I am just glad it came back. I am sure Hamilton will be working the card show circuit someday and I can get the other half scribbled on.

Blog CPR - A Tiger Blogger Trip for Tramm3ll

I am back.

I may have lost some or all of my 4ish followers in my long hiatus from blogging. Oh well, the content never screamed "come back soon" anyway. Two things have kept me from blogging; 1. Lack of time, and 2. Trading Card Database . I am addicted to TCDB! Somehow life has gotten too rigorous lately to drop any thoughts on our blessed hobby but hasn't kept it out of my mind in any way. My collecting habits are as hot and heavy as they have ever been. I have found time spent screwing around on TCDB has offered me incoming trade packages almost everyday and drooling for more. I am almost to 100 trades completed and started in April. I now average about 3-5 trades a week. From PWE singles to 100 card lots. It is amazing what people will give you for cards you don't care for. If you aren't on the site you are missing out! If you are, I am pjdionne12 on there. Hit me up. 

Tiger Bloggers Unite!

I owe this post and a rejuvenation in blogging motivation to Dennis from Too Many Verlanders. Like roids to A-Rods ass; Dennis's invite to a Tiger game is the shot in the arm I needed and has sparked renewed appreciation for the blogging community. He never gave up on me and my horrible availability and found a way to unite he, myself and all star blogger John from John's Big League Baseball Blog for a dangerously hot Tiger game. Not just any game; the retiring of Alan Trammell's #3 game! 

There was a ceremony before the game celebrating Tram's career and many special guests attended. Between the guest speakers, the video clips and Alan's reaction to the whole thing I had chills the whole time. I would have paid for the ticket just for that! The Tigers whiff on special events OFTEN. This time they hit it out of the park.

Check out the scrolling 3's. 

The game itself was decent. The Tigers lost of course but there were some really great plays and some dingers. 

Our view of a great Ronny Rodriguez catch. He played very well at short. I am probably the toughest judge of short stops due to being the greatest undiscovered defensive short stop of my generation. He replaced Iglesias well for the day. 

We even got on TV for two homers. Well, 2 of us did. Sorry Dennis!

Being the card bloggers we are, you know we swapped some cardboard in the humid sun. Dennis and I always have running boxes going for each other. John and I had the same idea to grab a couple cards for each other too. There's bloggers for you. All the more reason to get this blog moving again. The comaraderie is second to none. I get ripped off from the trash on social media and ebay often. I have yet to find a blogger who isn't crazy generous. Here are the cards I took home:

The above are gifts from John. He pulled cards from his album that he pulled straight from packs and probably hasn't touched since. See: generosity at its best. Blogging is where its at! Crazy great cards. As you can see I have a thing for hard throwing pitchers. The Gary Nolan is the highlight for me. I might have heard the name before but knew nothing about the guy. I collect guys named Nolan and it is rare for Nolan to be the last name, how cool. Most notably for Mr. Nolan he was third in 1967 ROY voting behind some guy named Tom Seaver. Also, he averaged a balk a year in his 10 year career. Look, once in a while I drop some knowledge in here. 

Dennis brought some heat in a team bag himself as if we needed anymore on this day. Here is what he dropped on me:

Both autos are 01/ pretty sweet! Also continues my reign as #1 JaCoby Jones collector on TCDB. 

Such a sweet insert set!

Boesch is a personal favorite. The sig on this card has a blemishy smear. It makes it so much cooler to me. I don't know why. I guess it moves it from another scribbled on card to a more personally touched item. 

Refractor!

I LOVE acetate see-thru cards. Wish I could get better pics of them. Sweet card in person.

Crushing my Rey collection.

Gorgeous card! Churchs chicken insert. I might slab it its so pretty.

Busting out some HOF power! I needed all but one of these. Can't get enough Thome cards.

El Tigres. Brandon Inge was at the game for the Trammell ceremony too! Wish there would have been a signing somewhere. The local sports radio station I despise was dumbfounded by the warm reception Inge got on this day. 97.1 pull your heads out of your asses. I see through all your gimmicks, manipulation and exploitation of the local fan base. Shame on you and your agenda.

First edition! Both were needs.

Big Daddy!

One of my favorite sets! I need both of these. I love serial numbered cards from the pre-"serial number everything" era we are in. 

Dennis always brings something not-flat. This time an amazing SLU of Jose Canseco....in Devil Rays uni! Its so amazing. 

Such a great card compared to some of the older bland cards they used to make. 

Soooooooooooooo cool. 

Thank you to Dennis for setting up this get together and all the great stuff! You are the man. Can't wait to do it again. Thank you to John for joining us and the terrific cards. It was a pleasure listening to your baseball intel! Next time you'll have to join us Julie, you were missed. 

The blog is back, baby.