More 2008 Topps Opening day, Pack 8

Another pack nets me:

Giants - Lincecum
Astros - Loretta
Padres - Kouzmanoff
Cubs - Ramirez
Braves - Francoeur
Royals - Gordon

Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat day!
Dawgbones

Contest Results from way back...

Way back in January, that is.
back in January, the fines folks over at the Community Gum, held a contest based around their first anniversary. Long story short here, I was the third prize winner. I say third, but I DON'T THINK SO!
I don't know, you be the judge.

The following is from Andy's original post, here.


Winner #1
Matt H.
This one was a softball (for us, not Matt). In honor of our 1st anniversary, Matt H. wins for having the 1st post on our anniversary contest post!

He won the following jersey card and base cards:

Winner #2
gokings02
A semi-softball.  Gokings wins because he was the 12th comment on our post!
He won the following:

That's a pretty schweet jersey/patch/loose thread card, in what Andy calls, "arguably the most coveted prize of the package in the sweet Paul Pierce patch."


the third winner was me.

Winner #3
Dawgbones
Frequent CG commenter and trade partner Dawgbones is our third and final winner because his lengthy and awesome comment happened to contain the 365th word posted in the comments.
for which I received the following:

Now everyone knows I don't follow any sports other than baseball, and the occasional NASCAR race here and there. So I figure I'll have another card to use as trade bait when it arrives. Off I go to Pannini America's website, fill out the required information (could not be easier to accomplish) and sit back to wait... I check once or twice, then totally forget about it until last Monday, when I receive an email stating that a package has been mailed. Fast forward to Saturday, open the snail-mail box to discover a bubbler from none other than Pannini America.

Here is where I beg to differ with Andy's fine post concerning the order of winners...
I pop open the envelope to reveal my Rookie Recruits Silver Signature card of Mr. Derrick Favors, probably a sticker auto on a cheesey card that nobody will trade me the time of day for, right?

Not even close!! I pull out a very nice card, with what looks like a piece of white shoe leather (could be basketball hide, don't know for sure), with a very nice auto, signed in blue pen, and it's numbered  17 out of 25. My lucky number.

Definitely a keeper for me and what I feel is the best prize to come out of that contest.
You be the judge here. What do you think?

Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat day,
Dawgbones

More 2008 Topps Opening day, Pack 7

Another pack nets me:

Cubs - Soriano
Mariners - Clement
Ryan Howard Flapper Card

Cubs - Zambrano
AStros - Berkman
Phillies - Burrell

Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat day!
Dawgbones

'"O" No!!! It's Another Trade Post...

This time around, I got a package from Ryan, over at '"O" No!!! Another Orioles Blog.
He sent over a bunch of 2011s, a smaller bunch of 2010 Updates, and capped it off with three of the R's of Phillies Baseball, 2 Ryans, 2 Roys, and a Raul.

I'm going to start a page in my Phillies binder for those orange chromies I've got a couple now.

Thanks for the trade Ryan, I'm going to get something in the mail to you soon,
Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat day!
Dawgbones

More 2008 Topps Opening day, Pack 6

Another pack nets me:

Rays - Crawford
Braves - Jones
Padres - Maddux
Rockies - Torrealba
White Sox - Broadway
Yankees - Rodriguez

Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat day!
Dawgbones

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...CLICK!!!

You know, sometimes things just don't click right away. I got an email out of the blue, from Ron, over at Section 36. He generously offered to send me some cards from my want lists.
A package shows up at my house yesterday from him. He hit several inserts from my Updates list, as well as several cards from my 2011 lists.

Then he threw in a few Phillies cards that I do not have, plus one that I'll end up with three of shortly!!

The Then and Now is cool, and it hits both my Phillies and my Yankees PCs!! That Twins card is hilarious, it could go one of two ways, the pitcher and catcher are talking stuff that they don't want the other team knowing... or they could be shooting the bull about last night's Survivor episode!!

Who really knows...

The '92 Fleer Ultra Curt Schilling card is pretty cool, I scanned the back only cause it was difficult to tell at first which side was the back. The Platinum Utley is very nice. I've included a scan of the Target Throwback backs in this picture.

 The 1987 Topps Mike AllStar Schmidt card is too funny. This is the first one I have in my PC (1st one "in hand" but 3rd one overall). I traded Play at the Plate what I believed at that time were a bunch of Million Card cards that I was not going to have shipped (during his little MCG card contest), for... a 1987 Topps Mike Schmidt AllStar, which I decided to have shipped last Monday. I "pulled" a second one in Benny's Ragu break last Tuesday, out of one of his over-production packs! Too funny, now I'm not going to stop with these three, if you have one, send it too me, hell, if you have ten, BIP me with'em. I'm going to fill as many pages with this card as I can find. I'll even start a side bar counter on my blog when I get a full page's worth.

Wow, pictured below the 1987 Topps Mike AllStar Schmidt is another card from my "Introduction to Baseball" moment. I wrote about the first one of these here. This card depicts the same play of the '09 World Series, game 4. And also clearly shows the number 7 on Feliz's jersey, Too cool!!

And now, to explain the title of today's post:

Ron throws me for a small loop, including at first what I see is an Atlanta Braves card. Anybody who's a true Phillies fan knows that the Braves were the thorn in the Phillies side last season so I did not understand at first why this card was included. Then...  ...Click. I inspect the card a little closer and realize it hits one of my secondary collections too well. My off-center, mis-cut cards collection. Looking at this card made me laugh like hell. If it were cut any more off-center, it would have been the next card on the damned sheet. Too funny, and a very nice fit for my sub-category!!

Thanks for the cards Ron, I am going to take a little time with a return package cause I want to find something nice to send you back.

Thanks for the cards,
Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat weekend, I'll be working again,
Dawgbones
on a side note, I just noticed the Page views has hit 1968, the year I was born, very nice...

More 2008 Topps Opening day, Pack 5

Another pack nets me:

Mariners - Hernandez
Brewers - Estrada
Marlins - Hermida
Phillies - Burrell
Twins - Hunter
Padres - Giles

Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat day!
Dawgbones

Something Wicked this way came...

 I recently contacted the Wicked One about a possible trade, if you have been looking for him, he's moved over to Blogger dot Com, here: My Past time... I Love It.

I soon discovered that I did not have a whole lot of stuff that he did not already posess. He told me he would send me a bunch of "hated" Phillies, and I could find something for him later. Well, he must really hate the Phillies, cause I think he tried his damnedest to rid the state of Florida of every Phillies card he could find. The package that arrive earlier this week was AWESOME!

The Halladay is from the 2011 Topps, I like some of the Ticket to Stardom cards, some of the pictures could have been better in this set though, Mr. Utley kinda looks like Mister Peanut in this shot.

The faces of the game look great, even without being a relic. My Mini collection is really growing, How do you guys keep these? Do they make smaller card pages for these? I pulled a Roy Oswalt Kimbals from a Wally World rack pack this morning. I like the grey border TR cards. Looks like Mr. Ibanez is pulling off the Planters look now!!

A bunch of Goudeys and a Taguchi joins the pile here:

Looks like I don't need any Phillies for the '08 Opening Day set that I'm trying to put together. I'm really growing wearey of seeing Rowand in this particular pose, whether he's in a Phillies uniform or not. Look close, the Opening day card is cropped from the other... or is it??

I really like the hologram cards, Wicked included a couple of these, as well as several shiny chromes and two Masterpiece cards, I love the Utley in this set.

A couple of pitchers, along with a slugger - Richie Allen (I was richie for most of my life, prior to starting my working career)

New Phils, old Phils, and not 1, or 2, but at least 3 Schmidts in the pile now!

Looks like Christmas with all the green borders for my red Phillies on the Score Select cards.

Thanks for the cards Wicked, I've put together a box that will be headed your way by Saturday at the latest. Mrs. Dawgbones had some pity for my overtime schedule and is trying to get by the post office before she goes to work this week for us. (I'm also sending mailers to Flywheels, "O", No, and My Cardboard Mistress, trying to clear out the Blog Trading Box, so look for them)

Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat day!
Dawgbones

More 2008 Topps Opening day, Pack 4

Another pack nets me:

Twins - Mauer
D-Backs - Webb
Phillies - Ruiz
Red Sox - Buckholz
Athletics - Swisher
Pirates - Sanchez

Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat day!
Dawgbones

More 2008 Topps Opening day, Pack 3

Another pack nets me:

Mariners - Balentien
Orioles - Tejada
Rays - Kazmir
Cardinals - Edmonds
Red Sox - Beckett
Marlins - Cabrera

Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat day!
Dawgbones

More 2008 Topps Opening Day...

Another pack nets me:

Phillies - Victorino
Marlins - Uggla
Athletics - Harden
Padres - Giles
Dodgers - Penny
Brewers - Fielder

Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat day!
Dawgbones

2008 Topps Opening Day...

Found some packs of Opening day from 2008, trying to get the puzzle pieces from the inserts.
Pack 1 gets me:

Nationals - Detwiler
Rockies - Helton
Puzzle Piece # 28
Brewers - Gallardo
Pirates - Gorzelanny
Braves - Jones

Not too bad, got a piece for the puzzle set. And I'm hanging on to these cards for now as I am undecided about going for a complete set, I like the design of these cards.

Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat day!
Dawgbones

Wow, what an exciting finish to the 500...

I was truly happy to see Michael Waltrip back in victory lane on Friday.
Too bad he did not fair better today.  If Rooty could not win, and Mikey did not cross that line first; I am very happy to see some Old Blood (driven by New Blood) visit that coveted spot.

Congratulations to Trevor Bane and the Woods Brothers for an outstanding effort.
I've been a Michael Waltrip fan since I got the chance to meet him in person, naturally transferring my allegiance to his team when he formed it. Michael is one hell of a nice guy, and I actually started semi-rooting for him when he drove...

That's right, he drove the 21 car for the Woods brothers from 1996 thru 1998, including an exciting victory in the 1996 All-Star race .

this is the car I took with me on that day when I first met him in person, he signed the hood for me.

I was too excited for him on that fateful day 10 years ago, it's hard to believe 10 years has passed. I realize the world lost a very talented, tenacious driver, but Michael not only lost a dear friend on that day, but also the savory sweetness of his first Daytona 500, as well as his first NASCAR win on that same day. Hopefully, Friday night brought a little of that sweetness back.

Here's the Chevy he drove for Earnhardt.

and the Dodge from his team start.

Michael has driven several different cars, for several manufacturers, for several different teams, before he started one of the flagship teams for Toyota.

I had mixed emotions when he decided to retire, I liked him as a driver, but am happy to see him concentrating on becoming a better team. I now root for Reutimann and wish to see a MWR car in victory lane again soon.

Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat week.
Dawgbones

Another Fan pack...

This one from the Nationals. Took a month or so, kind of blah, not GReat, but not bad.
Including:

 The standard form letter, a 5x7 pitcher picture, a 11x17 team photo/preliminary 2011 schedule and a Nationals Magazine with some pitcher on the cover!!

Thanks for peeking in today,
Have a GReat day!
Dawgbones

a Crinkly Follow-up...

Well, looking back through Ted's trade offerings (see yesterday's post A Crinkly Email) I noticed this card:

It's card number AGHS6, from the 2010  Allen & Ginter's. I am not collecting this set, mainly because of the size and price range of the packs. I buy mostly single packs here and there, and mainly base Topps (read cheaper) for set building.

Anyhow, looking at this card, I came through the following realizations:

1st glance tells me it's a New York Yankees card (one of the teams I collect, my favorite A.L. team)

reading the front tells me it's Johnny Damon, nothing special there.

I now notice the other player in the picture...

1st glance tells me it's my favorite team, the Phillies (I bleed Phillies red, don'tcha know?!)

closer inspection reveals to my wandering eyes that it is a player wearing the number 7 jersey, none other than Pedro Feliz. Players wearing the #7 jersey is one of my sub-categories, as explained in this post, and also in this post.

Flipping the card over reveals the following info: apparently, this particular sketch tells the story of 2009 World Series game 4 when Damon pulled off the double stolen base which would set the stage for the Yankees defeating my Phillies 7-4.

As Paul Harvey would say, "and now, for the rest of the story..."

The ultimate irony of this card and why it struck a chord with me, resulting in this rare, second posting of trade results lies with my true introduction to baseball. Growing up in a house full of women (my dad proudly served our country in the U.S. Navy for 30 years, leaving me with my mom and two sisters) I was never a big sports fan. I attended every football game in high school only because I was in the marching band. I did not start watching NASCAR until the mid 80's when Davey Allison was the hottest driver on the track.

I'd gone to two baseball games in my life at that point, both of them Norfolk Tides games which I could not tell you a single thing about.

Now comes October, 2009... the Phillies had won the series in '08, and were headed back to the series again.

For some reason that I can not begin to fathom, I sat down and watched the second game of the series, and absolutely fell in love with the game. I can remember watching game 4 as well as this particular play. I was disappointed when the Phillies eventually lost the series to New York, but was not unhappy to see the Yanks get #27. I was now hopelessly hooked. I watched every game that I could last season (my wife HATES baseball), and kept up with all the games on my laptop. My 2 live games in 30+ years has turned into 2 live games last summer. Once again, both Norfolk Tides. Their loss to the Toledo Mudhens was witnessed by myself and my mother the night before mother's day (I was rooting for the Hens). Game 2 was another loss to the Buffalo Bisons, which was a family outing, as well as Military Appreciation night at Harbor Park. (I was rooting against the Mets' farm team Bisons that night!) I am hoping to make it up to Citizen's Bank Park this summer for my first MLB game.

I also started collecting baseball cards, the 2010 Opening Day set was my first. This also led to internet searches, trying to find other collector's that could maybe help me finish the set as well as take some doubles off my hands. These searches have led me on a strange and wonderful journey right up to this very blog post. Meeting all of you guys has been GReat. Finding other people out there that I can talk to who understand the compulsion behind these "little cardboard pictures of men" has been truly wonderful this past few months. I look forward to seeing what the next season, and all of your posts, brings.

Thanks again Ted, for the GReat trade, and a neat card that flooded my thoughts with such GReat memories. It is truly weird how one little word or picture can trigger such an out-pouring from the ole memory banks.

Earlier this week, the Other World had a contest entitled Card Love, at that time, I could not imagine carrying a baseball card around in your wallet for any reason. This IS my "wallet card", though I'll never subject it to possible damage in such a manner.Thanks Ted, for adding it to my little world here.

Thanks for joining me in the "Way-Back" machine today.
Have a GReat day,
Dawgbones

from a Crinkly email to a Crinkly Contest...

Would you like a chance at 1 card from each year 1952 to the present? I know I would, go on over to Crinkly Wrappers, Ted's having a 60 years of Topps contest, here. It involves a little following, a little commenting, and maybe a little pimping if you're up to it. He's also the source of this morning's post, as well as tomorrow's post, hint hint...

These are not necessarily the cards you'll win, I just stole the picture from his post, cause I felt like it!
Have a GReat night!
Dawgbones

A Crinkly Email...

Let me start this post with a simple statement of fact: When I started this little ole blog, I would have never believed  that I would be getting offers of help from every corner of this great country of ours (and from outside as well), I absolutely love the new friends I've met through this hobby.

Late last month I got an email from out of the blue, just after I completed my want list page:

Ted, from the Crinkly Wrappers blog, spied my newly created list and proposed a trade for, "a big stack [of 2010 Update] that you need to finish your set." Now I use the term trade extremely loosely here, as the only thing that Ted needed in this trade from my end was my address. Apparently he had an over-abundance of update extras that he wanted to be rid of. I obliged him with my snail mail, and, to put it lightly, he produced.

The two scans do not come close to indicating the cards that I received in the mail on Monday:

Ted managed to reduce my 2010 Topps Update needs list to almost nothing. I scanned the base cards in one picture, not pictured are the Turkey Reds, Peak Performance, Legendary Lineage, More Tales of the Game, Cards Your Mom Threw Out, and Attax cards that he sent me as well. The only cards that were not included were from the Target and Wally World exclusives (I did not expect the volume of what was included either!)

Now, I was totally stoked, and would have been completely happy to have received such a generous offer of help for my needs lists. But, from what I've been able to deduce, Ted being Ted, he could not, or would not, leave well enough alone as he also included several (and by several, I mean a true BUTT-LOAD of) singles from my Personal Collecting categories. He hit every one of my teams and included very nice cards for each of them. The second scan is from some of the extras:

And he even topped off the package with a Fleer Baseball Sticker of the Phillies Team History, a first for me and very cool!

I would wrap this post up with my usual thanks for the trade, blah, blah, blah... but that don't quite cut it for this one-sided offer of help from the GReat white north. (and please do not read this wrong, I enjoy each and every trade that comes my way)

Ted, you frickin ROCK dude!! I know you said you did not need anything in return, but I'm going to find something, somewhere, to send back your way, might take me a while, but I will find something.

Thanks for the help on my set Ted, it's very close to completion now.
Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat day!
Dawgbones

On a separate note, I would like to take this opportunity to wish my wife the very happiest of Anniversaries today as it is our 17th February 17th together. I would not trade the last 17 years for anything, including a '52 Mantle! I love you more today than ever, thanks for the last 17 years!

I can not wait to see where this journey takes us in the future...

a Trade from up North Eh!

Got an email earlier this year about a possible trade from across the border with one of my loyal blog readers, B. Matts. he offered up some Updates for my set, and threw in some extras for my Phillies PC as well, in return for some of my "up for grabs" cards from some of my pack breaks. After filling out the appropriate paperwork for exporting anything beyond a letter from our fair shores, a package was dispersed to the Niagra area, and I received the following cards in last Friday's mail:

an '07 Bowman Heritage Freddy Garcia

3 Topps Chromiums :
'98 Gregg Jeffries Phillies, '09 Cole Hamels Phillies, '09 Cliff Lee Indians

and 2 Jim Bunning Phillies from '05 Upper Deck Classics and the '03 Topps Gallery


Thanks for the trade Brian, it did not take that long to get here from there, but it cost a few pennies more for your end of the trade. Hope you enjoy them.

Thanks for reading,
have a GReat day!
Dawgbones

Clear Cut Contest spotted...

Surfing through my blog list last night, I spotted a contest posting over at BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet. He took a short break from the Ragu Break to let his readers know about a cool contest over at Clear Cut Cards, it's run by the Brooklyn Met. I'd ran across this blog a while back, but lost it in the mix somewhere. (sometime before I really figured out the whole following thing) But I'm following him now, he's got a neat little blog, despite being a Mets fan.

In honor of that other New York team's reporting to spring training today, he is having his first contest, read all about it here. Looks like a pretty Schweet prize to be had as well.

He's got some pretty simple rules for gaining extra entries too. Go on over and check it out, and as always, if you like what you see, tellim Dawgbones sentcha! Thanks Mike!

Thanks for reading, have a GReat day!
Dawgbones

The Other World... Card Love

The fine folks over at The Other World are having an interesting contest for St. Valentine's Day, you can read all about it here. It takes a little bit of work to enter, but it should prove very interesting. You need to compose a blog entry about those little pieces of cardboard that we covet so much. Here's my entry:

Being very new to the hobby of collecting baseball cards, it would be so easy to pick out one card from my collection that takes me instantly to a happy place, let's say the Fleer Ultra Derek Jeter Faces of the Game relic card. Pulled from a $1.59 discount pack picked up at my local Target, this card is special to me for many reasons, chief among them is the fact that it is the first relic I've ever pulled out of a pack. It proved extra special that Mr. Jeter plays for my favorite American League team, the New York Yankees.

It contains a piece of uniform, gray in color, obviously from a road jersey, that I can imagine may have came from an inter-league game played with my Phillies. (Hey, it could happen)


That would be a very simple, nice neat package that would qualify me for an entry into the Card Love contest.

Or I could choose another card, say the John Elway card I picked up in Arizona on my vacation last year. 
Anybody that has read my blog knows I do not follow football at all. I love every football movie that has ever been made, but do not like watching the actual sport at all. The reason I added this card to my collection is Mr. Elway is pictured in a New York Yankees uniform. Apparently, John spent one season in the minors before being drafted by the NFL, where you all know the end result way better than I. This card reminds me of being on vacation, surrounded by my family and my dogs, having a good time, without many cares to worry me. Once again, a nice story that would tie in very nicely with the intents and wishes of the Card Love contest.

Let's say I choose the oldest card in my collection. It reminds me of a new friend, met through the fruits of the blog-o-scape labor. Back at Christmas, we spent several weeks, on a daily basis, entering the Grandbaby Troll, guess the time, date and name contest. Long story short, I was a runner-up and was rewarded for my efforts with a 1960 Robin Roberts Phillies card. This card will always remind me of the new friends that I have made through the magical portal of my laptop. And the card is in GReat shape considering it is about 8 years older than the author of this blog!! Thanks Troll, I still love this card.

Speaking of contests, I attempted to enter another contest late last year, over at My Cardboard Mistress. I did not win, but spied several cards on his blog that I just thought were neat. Spankee and I struck up an email conversation that proved most interesting, seeing as how we both grew up in the same hometown (where I still live) and he now lives in the city where I now work. I pulled off my very first surprise trade, sending him a package without his knowledge, thanks to a little help from Mike, over at BA Benny's. Spankee soon retaliated, adding several relics (and the first ones) from my beloved Phillies, as well as the one card first spied during his contest.
This card normally takes me to a happy place, remembering the friendship I've made with a long lost neighbor. The other place it can take me is happy most of the time, but sometimes it can be sad. The person pictured is obviously Mickey Mantle, one of my PC subjects, and probably the most famous player to have ever worn the number 7 jersey. The sometimes happy/sometimes sad part is the cute pup perched on Mr. Mantle's knee. The first dog that came into my life was a very beautiful German Shepherd - Golden Retriever mix that we chose to name Seven. She looked almost identical to the pup pictured on the card. Sadly, we lost her to cancer shortly after her 7th birthday. There are days when I really miss her, despite having four other dogs in my life currently. Looking at this card reminds me of that crazy little puppy that entered my life for such a short time, but left a permanent  love for dogs in my heart. This is definitely one of my favorite cards and such a great addition to my collection. Seven is the reason that I collect players wearing the #7 jersey. Thanks for adding it to my collection Spankee.


I could very easily pull card after card out of my collection, each and every one taking me on a very enjoyable journey. Each card that is added to my collection, whether it is from purchased packs, or especially the cards that my new-found friends in the Blog-o-Sphere have chosen from their own collections to send to me (Cam @ the Bullpen Cardboard, Big D @ Hey, That's Mine, Tim @ Tim's Baseball Cards, Sam @ The Daily Dimwit, Colby @ Cardboard Collections, and even loyal readers without blogs, B. Matts just to name a few), is loved for one reason or another. I love all the cards that I've managed to add to my meager collection, and even the ones that I've managed to trade away, cause in trading them away, I've acquired more cards to love, and made some awesome new friends in the process. Thanks to every body that has made this journey very successful, I look forward to reading the blogs every day, and sometimes twice on Sunday.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone and thanks for every bit of Card Love that you guys have sent my way.
Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat day,
Dawgbones