24 is the new 21 don't you know...

We all know that if you've ever played Blackjack you don't want to go over 21 or you bust. I'm quite glad that the trade that came to me this week has a guy who's favorite player wore #24. One of the newer blog sensations is TJ who is a Junior Junkie. I recently sent him a small box with a couple of extra Griffey's I had laying around (you get a few cards of Ken when you are a Mariners collector). He in turn sent me a small flat rate box packed with all kinds of M's cards. The most important cards were definitely these 4 babies!

The last 3 cards I needed to finish off the 1991 Upper Deck Update cards. I really thought those three might be the death of me since they seem to be ones I don't see around very often. I was not surprised to find a 98 UD Griffey I needed too. Who wouldn't think that a Junior collector wouldn't come through with some of his cards. Also in the mammoth box was some cards of my favorite current Mariner in Kyle Seager. I don't know why, but this kid is one I really like and think he might have the chance to do some good stuff.

Not to be outdone, there was a few cards that hearken back to when I first became a Mariners fan. I found the team in the summer of 1982, when I came to the Seattle area with my grandmother when she moved here. It was a nice vacation from living in the desert in the 110 degree summers. There was rarely too many games on TV back then, but I would listen to Dave Niehaus on the radio and became a Mariners fan, and some of these guys were the first ones I got to know.

Not to be outdone by putting cards to knock down the Super Set, TJ included a couple of cards from my favorite Mariner still to this day. There is a reason why he is still known as Mr. Mariner. While I have no disrespect for his favorite guy in Ken, I still believe the Mariners need to do the right thing as an organization and retire #21 for Alvin as the first number to be retired. Alvin came in to the team after Ken Phelps broke his hand in the third game of the season. All Alvin did was become an All Star and win ROY in 1984 with teammate Mark Langston finishing second. We would be with Seattle through 1991, only to be released at play a season closer to home in Riverside, CA with the Angels. I have a special place for these Alvin's.

In about the middle of all the Mariner goodness was this beauty. While I'm not a guy who goes after autos, relics or any of that stuff, It always cool to get one just to say I have in my collection. This a pretty nice one of a guy that had promise but injuries have derailed him. Adam Moore was going to be the catching savior that Jeff Clement couldn't be. We've only really ever had one good catcher in Dan Wilson. Adam showed promise in the appearances he made, but after continuing to tear parts of his knees it all went downhill. What good is a catcher if his knees are shot? Adam was let go last year, and caught on with the Royals, but is in their camp this spring as an NRI.

If you have any cards of Ken, whether they be Seattle, Cincinnati, or White Sox send them down to Louisiana way. I also know that if you have cards of players that were born in the Bayou State or the Saints he would be happy to see those too. I might have to put together some Who Dat's for him since I have a stockpile of stuff from when my cousin was a Saint for 5 seasons. Gigantic thanks again to TJ and go see him and see if you can hook him up too...

Not to end the fun there, I was the victim of the highly common PWE Bombs that are sweeping the nation. I think everyone knows the sneakiness of Wes who runs Jaybarkerfan's Junk. You open your mailbox and BOOM! there are random cards you weren't expecting. I got an envelope that contained the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I would classify Mark Lowe and Sean Green as the good. Jeff Harris was bad, he just wasn't all that great and somebody had to be the bad guy. Sorry Jeff. I won't hide my disdain for this guy and will always call him the ugly stain on the M's franchise. The Orioles gave us a worthless Erik Bedard, and got some damn good players in return. I don't even know what happen to Erik, nor do I care. I just want Adam Jones back so we could have a good center fielder. We haven't had one since this guy on his old school looking card. But Mike has to share company with an old card in Mark Langston and his spring training mesh back hat.

Big thanks to Wes for some random M's from all over the board. Keep an eye on your mailbox because you never know where he might strike next. It could be you, or any other of the great bloggers and traders out there who get free cards at any time without warning!!

Lucky 7!!

Since it has been a week since I sent them out, I hope everyone that wanted the 2013 Topps from the box break got their cards. I set aside the Pirates for Big Daddy Filth of Gravediggers, Mooses, and such fame. He was nice enough to send me back a few Mariners in return. In fact all 7 cards were of two guys that I needed for the Super Set. Victor sent these 3 beauties from Score to knock it down needing 11 cards from them. Look at Junior and Randy in all their Mariner glory:

Randy is looking at The Kid thinking why do we have to be on the same team, if he wasn't here I'd be the star of this city. We had so many good guys in the 90's that it's sad they couldn't bring it all together just once to make the Series.

Not to be out done, there was another 4 cards from Upper Deck that will be going into the binders to knock down the needed number even lower. It amazes how many cards Ken had during his heyday as the face of MLB that I have to collect as a Mariner. As you can see, Griffey won out on the numbers game against Randy again:

Thanks to Victor, that now brings me down to only needing 93 cards to bring this lifelong project to completion. I'm hoping that as the season comes, and progresses I can either trade or buy my way to making this dream a reality.

If you have anything laying around that is Pittsburgh related in any sport, go and see him and see if you can work a deal with him. I know that he will take care of you the way he helped me. Big thanks again to Big Daddy Filth, and for him I say raise the Jolly Roger for the Buccos!!



Brighter than the sun!!

First off I will admit I am more of a rock kind of guy. It doesn't make if it's rock from the 60's all the way to a lot of modern rock. I do like that song by Colbie Caillat, and she's easy on the eyes too. I know how does her and the song relate to cards?? Follow my lead and you will see...

Not too long ago, I hooked up with Ryan of Building a Better Collection about working a deal. I sent him some Braves and some other random football stuff for some Mariners he had laying around. The first thing of beauty was my first 2013 Topps card of flamethrower Carter Capps.

There were some colorful shiny cards of parallels from the last few years, but the blinding need that was in there starts with these cards that are now 25 years old!! That's right folks, 1988 Score Rookie&Traded is 25!!

Also not to be out done on the brightness scale was the last needs to a very cheery set in the 1991 Fleer updates. These four guys found their place to the Super Set, and I continue to chip away at whats left  of the less than 200 cards I need to finish it. Maybe you have some I need, or I might hit Sportlots one day.

A big thanks again goes out to Ryan, and hit him up if you have Braves, or Redskins laying around and want to hook up a trade!!

Hubie at home

Do you ever get that random e-mail? Another blogger or reader says "hey, I have a card for you!" You go back and forth asking what can I send in return, and they say nothing. They ask if your address is still the same and the next thing you know, BAM! cards in your mailbox.

I recently got that e-mail from Steve. We made a trade in 2010, but I can't remember what was sent(bad blogger on my part). Steve had the 1992 Upper Deck of Hubie Brooks for the Angels in the Desert PC.

He insisted more than once that I didn't need to send any return, just keep up the great?! blogging I do. I'm self critical so I don't think I do all that great on these. Yesterday I come home from work and in the mailbox is Hubie. He will now find his place in the binder of other Angels from Palm Springs. Big thanks to you Steve for sending Hubie to his new home showing him batting at home plate.

Purple Rocks in the Emerald City

Have you ever noticed when you made deals, you are surprised that people are nowhere near their teams? I've seen it quite often with many of the bloggers that I've made deals with. While some of us are near where our teams call home, some are halfway across the country, some are on opposite coasts, and some are on totally different continents. Is it because they grew up with a team and moved, or is it just a love affair with a team that started at a young age?  I recently found another who is removed from his team. Johnny(aka hiflew) of the great Cards from the Quarry is a big Rockies fan. He is based nowhere near Denver, which is cool to find a Purple fan. I sent some assorted Rockies, and I got a package all over the map to help many needs.

How about some cards from a side project that has been taking a nap? Johnny sent me about 10 cards to add to my Angels in the Desert project. Do you have some 70's and 80's Angels laying around that might fit the criteria for the collection?

What is a trade with a Mariner fan without some Mariners? A '92 Score for the Super Set, and some Canadian Mariners. Also some nice Laser cut Topps. While I'm not a big fan of this overkill kind of cards from the 90's, I will definitely add them to the great pile of Mariners.

As you may have seen recently, I have been working on trying to bump up the few player collections I really want to make look like collections. One of those players is the should be HOF'er Dale Murphy. Johnny was nice enough to send some Atlanta Murph love to add to the binder. Why can't he get more of the vote to get in?

The last few cards I'm sure made him happy to get rid of. As a Rockies fan, I'm sure he's not too high on players from other NL West teams. As you may have seen, my son has become a big fan of Tim Lincecum. Johnny was also nice enough to send along a few cards of the Freak for him. Big thanks again to hiflew for helping me along with many collections. It is too bad that his team wasn't around for the 1979 Topps set. It would have been fun to see the colors and how they would have fit in back then.

The Haves and the Have Nots

I don't if anybody saw this coming down the pipeline today. We Mariners fans have wanted something exciting to happen to the Mariners roster all offseason. Today they made a big trade. I personally am not too impressed with the deal. The mighty Yankees have pulled down the Mariners pants in front of the whole school. Back in June of 2010, the Mariners and Yankees were working on a deal to send Cliff Lee to the Yankees for catching prospect Jesus Montero. The deal fell apart and Cliff went to Texas instead. Today the M's finally got Montero. They also acquired Hector Noesi.

In exchange for a right handed hitting catcher that can't catch, we give up a big horse in Michael Pineda. Also going to the Yankees is Jose Campos, who spent last season on A Everett.

While I know that everybody thinks that Jesus is next hot commotity, I don't know if I'm sold on him. I would assume that since he can DH and Justin Smoak can play 1B, that pretty much takes us out of any slight chance there was of getting Prince to come to Seattle. I  think we still need a lefty hitter, but I guess we will probably roll out another stinker this year. I'm starting to feel the pain of Royals and Pirates fans, every good kid gets dealt. I sure hope there is some more signings or deals to come before Spring Training.

Owl Droppings

I came home yesterday to a small but much appreciated package in my mailbox. Thankfully it wasn't on my doorstep for me to step in. We all know about Greg from Night Owl Cards. He is one of the best bloggers about cards, is a die hard Dodgers fan, and is a very generous giver of cards. When I opened it up I felt like Brendan Ryan, and wanted to congratulate somebody like Adam Kennedy here.

The nice thing about those two cards is that finishes 2011 for me. Also in the little bubble, I was PINEDA'd!! As a Mariners fan I think that is a good thing. Even though his second half kind of fell off, you can see the potential in this kid for years to come. I think he and Felix are good building blocks to start around.

Also in there was a sad reminder of the tragedy that struck the Mariners family not too long ago. Two new cards of former Greg Halman. It is sad that he was taken over something so petty.

Big thanks again to one of the kings of the card world in the Night Owl. If you want cards or have cards to give you need to get in contact with him. I know everybody reads his works, how could you not? Thanks Owl!

Division Enemies=Trading Friends

Have you ever noticed that fans of teams in your division make great traders? I have had great experiences in the past with Rangers fans. The Angels are a team I have a soft spot in my heart for. Their #1 blogger is Tom from The Angels, In Order. He does pretty historical and in depth work on the Angels. He sent me a few cards to help out on the Mariners Super Set.

The Peguero gets me one closer to finishing 2011. The two Donruss cards finish the 1982 and 1992 sets. I'm finding that the more I chip away at this thing, it seems like myself and no one else was collecting in the mid to late 1990's. Most of my wants seems to be in that era.

Tom also sent these that will be going into the boxes of different Mariners cards. I like the two players with coneections to the ownership in Japan. The gutierrez is my first Lineage card since I don't really buy much other than flagship stuff. I can't figure out why the A-Rod has a hole in it, is that where the steroid syringe goes into his butt cheek? I think it's cool to see a pitcher like Salkeld with a bat in his hands. I don't like to see pitchers hit though, both leagues need to use the DH. Jay Buhner is wearing the face mask and glasses so nobody will reconize him in New York.


Big thanks again to you Tom. Keep up the great work on the Angels. I wonder if Athletics fans make good trade partners? Does anybody know of some active A's traders? Hello Oakland fans are you out there?

Pip Pip Cheerio!

Not too long ago a package was in my mailbox from a guy that is a long ways away from me. How far you ask? I don't know if this is anywhere close to him:

All joking aside, John of Pursuit of 80's(ness), Pursuit of Red Sox, and Pursuit of Jacoby fame sent me some cards to start my journey into collecting my first set I pursued. Here is a showing of the 65 cards of 1980 goodness I received thanks to the Royal Mail of the UK.

Alot of the cards are common players that no one would recognize, unless you are older like me, or if they were on your favorite team. Some of the most recognizable names in the bunch were Alan Trammell, Don Baylor, Ray Fosse, Bert Blyleven, Mickey Lolich, Charlie Hough, and Carl Yastrzemski. If you include the two 1980's I already owned, I now own 67 of 726 of these beauties.

It always seems that every trade I make the other person always have a bunch of Mariners cards laying around. I know that I'm one of the few people crazy enough to give this team my heart and soul. The nice part about being a fan of a less than popular team is most everyone has extra cards of my team. John was nice enough to include some Mariners of old and new. I'm excited to own a 2011 Bowman Chavez card. This kid is a couple years away, but is supposed to be a big deal when he makes it up the big leagues.

Thanks again to my favorite new trader across the pond, and also the new favorite of my son. Andrew is into all things that have to do with the UK. He was excited to see a package from overseas. Your cards are on their way to you John.

This junk will rule!!

OK, maybe not completely. Recently I sent some 1989 Bowman needs to the great Thorzul Will Rule. He in return, sent me a few needs cards for two collections.

The '88 Fleer gets me closer to finishing that year, the four cards from '92 Fleer finish off the regular set, and an elusive '94 Donruss card.

Also, he chipped away a little on the old Angels in the Desert list.Two '90 Fleers get me down to one needed from that year. The '92 Upper Deck's are firsts in the Angels needs.

Big thanks to one of the big dogs of the blogging world for helping out a little guy work on his dreams of collecting cards.

Some kept and some snatched

Not too long ago, Kevin aka The Diamond King asked me if I could use some cards for my player collections. Me being someone to never say not to cards of players I like, I said I would like to get more player cards. A small bubble mailer shows up from the southern part of my state in the mailbox and it didn't disappoint. My son and I opened it up together, and he started making two piles. One for him and one for me. I'm sure you know who ended up with bigger stack in this deal. His first player to go into his stack was all these awesome cards of this stud my son wants to pitch like.

My son was blown away that Nolan pitched for all those teams and lasted as many years as he did.

Just as good if not better in the end as in the beginning.

He then puts this guy to my side, because he hasn't heard of him and dad needs some cards. I really think that Dale is not appreciated enough for what he did during his career.

My son than puts the card from this guy to his side. During regular season baseball this year he wore #8. He watched videos of Willie from the 1979 World Series. His team mates were calling him "Pops" all season. He wanted to be the leader of the team, and the happy teammate like Willie.

As soon as we got to this guy in the stack of cards, Andrew says, "I know dad, don't say it. This guy is all yours, I know that anything Tony is all you." Smart kid, I've taught him well. I still love Mr. Padre.

Lastly in the pile of players was some love from the legendary Big Papi. David was one of the two players my son wanted represent in All-Stars this year by wearing #34. To Andrew, 34 means Papi, Felix Hernandez, and Nolan Ryan for part of his career. He didn't know he was with the Twins. I said yes, and was he was in the Mariners organization as David Arias before we traded him away.

Big thanks again to Kevin, and go read The Diamond King. He does an awesome job, and holds some cool contests too. Thanks from two Washingtonians to another for some great cards.

Bloggers make the best Traders

Not long ago, the Topps Series 2 cards started coming out. As I have done in the past, I begged all of you to send me any extra Mariners to me so I don't have to buy them. (...Joe) from The Sandlot was the first to help out with a card of Erik Bedard. Next came an e-mail from Anthony of Cheap Card Collecting. Anthony had been a case break, and had 5 team sets of Series 2 for the Mariners. Here's what it looks like:

 I Like the fact that most of the new guys all are in M's unis or Spring Training unis, but they decided to keep Jack Cust airbrushed. Bad idea Topps, get it right, please!

Anthony was also kind enough to send a few extra goodies that he got from the Series 2 stuff. My son has already claimed the 3 cards of Felix.

Big thanks again to Anthony and Joe for killing Series 2 so quickly. Now it's time to wait for the cards from the Update Series.

The Staggering Awesomeness of a Heartbreaking trade

With the way my days have been filled with work and coaching 12 year old baseball, I haven't had too much time. In this past week we have had 6 games in 7 days due to rain out makeups.  A while back, the great Matt of Heartbreaking cards of Staggering Genius got together with me to help me out with some M's Super Set needs. Early this past week, I got a small package in the mail and was excited to see what was inside. There was great assortment of cards the show Mariners players, both new and old.

Also, Matt sent some 80's cards to finish off a couple of those years. A few Upper Deck cards continue to push that manufacturer towards completion. The oldest and coolest set card from Matt was of a former President who played in Seattle:

Oh, that's right. This John Kennedy has the middle name Edward. Pretty close, JEK and JFK. Maybe the grassy knoll was a fake and he changed his name to play baseball???? Depending on your viewpoint, he was a better politician than infielder. Any card that helps me get the '69 and '70 Pilots sets done, is OK by me.

The most unexpected cards of the lot were these:

My son at one time loved Richie Sexson. He wanted to be #44 and hit bombs.

Now with him making the 2011 Mt. Rainier 12U All Star team, and pitching as well as he is he want to be the King Express. One coach told him he looks like Felix, and has the classic over the head wind up like Nolan Ryan. He decided to be #34 on the tam this year. Last year he wore 42 to honor, Jackie, and in 2009 he wore 24 to honor Willie Mays. Dad gets to coach this year, I wanted 19, but the manager took it so I will honor "Pops" with 8 this year. My son took #8 this regular season after seeing a special on the 1979 Pirates and liked Willie. His teammates even call him Pops.

Please don't think I have forgotten about sending you my end of our trade. I have a great '69 Pilot card for you Matt. Also there will be some other cards of players and teams you like. My apologies for taking so long, and my thanks for being understanding in me taking too long to get you your cards.

This Trade is Cool...

Recently Ryan of This Card Is Cool-My Life in Baseball Cards got together for a little trade. I sent him a 84 Donruss DK he needed and a few cards for his Awards/Leaders set he's building. In return, he sent me little of this and some of that. The first card is now in my son's possession:

A nice SHINY Papi card for the boy, and it's #'d to 499. He loves new cards of Mr. Ortiz.

Also were there these nice 1994 offerings from Fleer and Score to help out with the Super Set. Slowly but surely, I continue ever closer to getting this behemoth put together.

Not to be forgotten were some Mariners of different varieties, both newer and older.

Thanks again to Ryan for his help, and give him a read. He does some interesting writing and has fun stuff to show off.

Teal Theme Trade

Not long ago, I decided to focus this blog on the Sharks for awhile. I know that most of you are bored to death hearing about hockey, deal with it. Anyways, recently Mike of the newer blogs NYC Cards and Bombers Blog commented that he had some Sharks cards if I was interested. While I don't do much hockey, I'm always open to stuff from my team. I sent Mike a few Jets, Devils, and Islanders and these are some of the sweet stuff he sent me. This would be some of the cards of current players and the General Manager:

Also included were some older cards of all kinds of Sharks players. It is sad that there isn't a name I don't recognize:

After looking through the cards, my son staked his claim to these since he loves Nabby and wishes he was still in the pipes for Team Teal:

Mike blew me away with not one, not two, but three special cards. Autos of Torrey and one of my favorites, "Pickles." Also a nice black relic of Cheech. It is sad how his career has de-railed after being sent to Ottawa. Hopefully after this last season in Worcester, he might make it back.

Mike also is like everyone else and can easily see my obsession with Tony Gwynn. He sent this 1985 beauty. I have never seen these before but I kind of like it. The scan looks off, but I didn't want flatten a 3-D card.

Thanks again to Mike for some fun cards that were different than my other obsession with the Mariners.

Also, if you missed last night's Sharks game it was AWESOME!!  This team seems to thrive on living on the edge by going to OT. Four of the five wins so far all have taken extra time to decide. I didn't think they were going to pull out game 1 at home. Halfway through the 3rd period, Mr. Clutch Joe Pavelski put life in us Sharks fans.

Then, seven minutes into OT the birthday boy gets the game winner. On his 24th birthday, little used 4th liner Benn Ferriero beat Jimmy Howard for the WIN! Benn is the first player in NHL history to get an OT winner on his birthday. I don't think there was a better way for Benn to celebrate it.

I'm not too sure who these characters are that are out in Detroit, and Boston wearing uniforms that say Seattle across the front. These aren't the Mariners that I was not long ago. It is hard to believe they are only 3 games under .500 and playing good baseball. After the unfortunate passing of his father, Justin Smoak must be dedicating his season to him.

This kid is absolutely hitting the cover off the ball. I was happy to see him come from Texas last year. I think he will continue to improve. Off to the Sounders match tonight with my son for a little guy time against Toronto FC.