A trade with Too Many Verlanders

I very recently completed an excellent trade with Dennis Blay of Too Many Verlanders and Too Many Manninghams - two exemplary blogs, indeed.  Dennis has been a generous and affable trading partner, and I definitely look forward to trading with him again in the future!  You can check out what he got from me at his blog.  Here's what I received in return:

A selection of Lakers cards from the big pile that Dennis sent.  I especially enjoy the Stadium Club cards of Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel.

A smattering of cards from the Dodgers and Yankees I received.  My Derek Jeter and Ryne Sandberg collections are quite substantial.

2009-10 Upper Deck Be A Player, Dual Signatures autograph card of identical twin brothers, Henrik and Daniel Sedin.  The Sedin twins are two of my favorite hockey players.  Isn't it neat when brothers play on the same team?  It is even more awesome when both brothers are elite performers.  Looking at you, Upton bros.

2012 Topps Chrome, rookie refractor autograph of Zack Cozart, #'d 146/499.  Cozart was a mix of solid and streaky last season, his rookie year.  I hope he improves and continues to start in the lineup this coming season.  The Reds should probably drop him in the batting order though.

2005 Flair Significant Signings auto of Zack Greinke, #'d 231/250.  This is a simple, elegant card.  It is a definite upgrade over my other Greinke signature card, an ugly foil sticker autograph from the rather unattractive 2009 Topps Unique set.

Awesome!

Much thanks to Dennis for a ballsy, easy, and fair trade!  Party hard.

Please to check out my trade bait, if you'd be interested in trading with me!

2010 Upper Deck Baseball, Complete!

I finally completed the entire 600 card set of 2010 Upper Deck Baseball Series 1.  Interestingly enough, the very last card I needed to finish my set was the last card in the set itself.  Welcome to your new binder, card #600:

 Look at that roster.  No wonder they came up last in their division.  The Nationals have done much, much better for themselves since then.

I believe congratulations are in order?  (I kid.)  Y'all can check out my set wants here, if you ever want to work out a trade.

The Dark Knight is Ballsy

I like comic book trading card sets.  I've found that you can sometimes obtain some sweet sketch cards, as well as the complete base sets and inserts, from these releases at a reasonable, cheaper price online - rather than purchasing an entire hobby box.  Indeed, it would be near impossible to collect every single sketch card from a release such as Cryptozoic's DC Comics Batman: The Legend.  But, I do have one unique "1 of 1" sketch card from that set for myself:

"Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight."

There was another sketch card I really wanted that depicted Batman as a bit older, grim, and worse for wear with a bunch of face stubble.  That card might have been portraying Batman from Frank Miller's excellent, seminal The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel.  Good stuff!  Now I feel like watching all the recent Batman movies again...

Nicknames

I believe in general that nicknames - at least the positive ones that act as terms of endearment or denote familiarity - are to be earned or given, not bestowed upon oneself.  Basically, someone else should dub you with the name you are effectively known by.  That does not mean, of course, that your nickname necessarily needs to be created by someone else.  It's just cooler when you don't tell people what you want to be nicknamed, right?

What about the nicknames that people don't like and don't want?  Gegard Mousasi, one of the top light-heavyweight mixed martial arts fighters in the world, hates his nickname:

The Dreamcatcher.

"The Dreamcatcher" is not a very badass nickname for one of the baddest dudes on the planet (or at the very least, in the sport of MMA).  I believe "Dreamcatcher" was also a sci-fi movie where toothy alien worms exploded out of people's butts.  But, what do you know, after all that and Leaf still decides to put that nickname on a sports card.  Mousasi still autographed the card, but I doubt he was ecstatic about it.  He was likely getting paid to sign anyway.

I've had some pretty good nicknames before: Fish, Robot, and Dr. No.  I've had some less good ones too, like Four-Eyes or Nerd.  Kids are jerks.  Stating the obvious here, but many sports card and memorabilia bloggers are often known by their internet nicknames as well.  Some are better and more well-earned than others, some are just usernames, and some are a result of simply not knowing a blogger's real name.  What are some of your favorite or least favorite sports nicknames?  How about positive or negative personal nicknames?

Dimwit's February Group Break Haul

I partook in Sam's (The Daily Dimwit) February group break recently.  He busted a box each of 2005 Topps Updates and Highlights Chrome, 2011 Panini Limited Baseball, and 2013 Topps Series 1 Jumbo.  I naturally secured the Dodgers as my main team and received the Seattle Mariners as my randomized second team.  I was particularly excited for the 2005 U&H Chrome box because of the Matt Kemp rookie cards present in that set.  Ultimately, I did not get anything from the 2011 Panini Limited box, but I did receive a nice haul from the other two hobby boxes:

Ol' Thomas Oldham there on the left looks like Sergeant Brody (Damian Lewis) from Homeland.  Though Oldham is out of professional baseball as a player, he apparently runs a baseball school in Nebraska - Tom Oldham Baseball.  I imagine Oldham's daily life to be much less stressful than that of the fictional Sgt. Brody.  Also, Pokey Reese.

Dodgers!  The Russell Martin rookie card is nice.  I do enjoy pack-fresh older issue Chrome cards.  Jealous, Zakwin?  Jose Valentin's (far right) son Jesmuel was the Dodgers' first round pick in the 2012 MLB Draft, 51st overall.  I posted a card of Jesmuel Valentin a few weeks ago.

Yay!  I got the Matt Kemp rookie card.  It's your standard Chrome base rookie of Kemp, but pack fresh!  I am also happy that I got the Mariners as my second team, because of what I got above.  Rumors abound that "King" Felix Hernandez signed some insane, mammoth blockbuster of a contract today.  This is my first rookie/prospect card of King Felix.

A pile of Seattle Mariners cards from the 2013 Topps Jumbo box.  The Mariners only have 9 cards in their team set for this release.  I tend to root for the underdog Mariners if they are not playing one of my favorite teams.  But hey Seattle, at least the Seahawks are really good!

Mini-King.

A pile of Dodgers cards.  Some of you might be aware of my general ambivalence toward Topps and its products.  Heck, I've even moved beyond ambivalence into unbridled animosity and pure hatred for that company at times, depending on what new way they decide to screw me over.  I do not trust Topps after several debacles with their shoddy customer service and community support, as well as having to experience their absolutely atrocious 2011 UFC Finest set - the very pinnacle of their failures in quality control.  That being said, I do like the photography and design of 2013 Topps Baseball.

Emerald thing of Dee Gordon.  So, are you Team Hanley or Team Dee for Dodger shortstop?  I am Team Put-Hanley-at-Third.

Lastly, an insert card of Jackie Robinson.  Happy belated burfday, Jackie!

Thanks for the group break, Sam!

Super Bowl!

I am rooting for the Ravens, but think the Niners will win.  Time for beer and pizza!

A trade with Spiegel (in-person)

I completed an in-person trade with cool cat Spiegel of Nomo's Sushi Platter at Dodgers FanFest 2013 last Saturday.  This was my first in-person trade outside of a local card shop since I started collecting cards again in 2009.  I traded autographs of Chin-Lung Hu and John Ely to Spiegel.  Here are some of my favorites from Spiegel's trade package:

Chin-Lung Hu is currently playing for the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.  I did not know that team or league existed until I looked up what Hu was doing nowadays.  Hell, I thought he was still on the Mets.  The Matt Kemp card is one of those holographic deals.  I think I still like the old "Rookie Card" logo more than the new one.

1995 Score Gold Rush #238, Orel Hershiser.  It is always nice to get new cards of Bulldog.  Hershiser has some interesting photos on his cards.  Look at that expression he's making on the back of this one!  Great.

1978 Tommy John #375 and 1979 Charlie Hough #508.  Nice condition vintage cards.  What do you think, should Tommy John have been elected to the Hall of fame?  The Dodgers have had quite a few knuckleballers in their history, the most recent being Charlie Haeger.  There was also Hough, of course, as well as Hoyt Wilhelm, Tom Candiotti, Dennis Springer, and Nap Rucker.

Three TTM autographs!  1991 Fleer Ultra Rick Honeycutt #249, 1974 Claude Osteen #42, and a 1991 Fleer Mickey Hatcher #206.

Thanks for the trade, Spiegel!