Tradin' with Troll

It's a rare thing for me to post trades, let alone two days in a row, but that's what I'm doing today. I shared my end of a trade with GCRL yesterday and today I'm showing off what the always giving Collective Troll sent my way.

The best part of the box that Troll sent was that he included cards/items for both me and Kalina. She did a guest blogging post to thank him a couple weeks back and now it's my turn. I have to start out with the more surprising and unusual items he included.



Like these two 14 year old starting lineup Orioles figures. My dad and I collected most of the Cal SL figures, but we never expanded to the other Orioles. These two have piqued my interest into possibly collecting all of the Orioles who were featured. But in addition to my bobbleheads, shelf space is a bit tight around the house already so I might need approval from Kalina before I start on this one...

He also threw in a few Cal card "packs" from the heyday of card production when you could buy cards in cans, tins, barrels, coffee mugs, and water bottles. Of course I kid, but only slightly.

Troll also threw in some awesome vintage O's and many of my 2009 Topps & Heritage set needs.

As I mentioned at the top of the post, Kalina already thanked the Troll for her cards, but we didn't have anything scanned at that point.

He included this awesome Nyjer Morgan autograph,

some really nice Carlos Pena cards, including this bat relic, and a HUGE stack of Scott Kazmir cards, including probably 10-15 jersey patches. 

THANK YOU so much Troll. This was an amazing trade package and we have a box with your name on it set to go out, hopefully by this weekend. Oh, and congrats on being a new grandpa! Atlas is a lucky boy!

Guest Blog: Merry Christmas, Troll!

Dear Troll:

Thank you SO much for the VERY generous Kazmir and Pena collection! I love them all, and it was a wonderful surprise! Thank you also for the kind Merry Christmas note...I don't have many cards that Ryan doesn't, but whatever I have that you need/want is yours. Thanks again, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Kalina

Also congrats to Troll who just announced that he's going to be a GRANDPA soon and is having a contest to celebrate. Go check it out!

Autographs from Orioles-Rays series

As I continue to play catch up, here are some more autographs I got at the O's-Rays series in mid-April.

Cesar is one Oriole who has been playing pretty well and I feel he should bat lead-off until someone else can step it up.


Berky has been pitching pretty well too, but for some reason Trembley doesn't bring him in very much. This card was really made to be signed, wasn't it? Look at all that empty space.

Mark Hendrickson has done alright too but I feel like he lets too many inherited runners score.

Our sometime closer JJ, now he hasn't been very good. Can someone please find the 2008 version of him and bring him back to Baltimore? Please?


The Rays were pretty good about signing. I saw Longoria sign for a few people and I could've gotten Carlos Pena's autograph again if I had remembered to put another one of his cards in my Rays team set after he signed for me in Spring Training. I really feel like I should do better with those things by now.

2009 breakout star, Ben Zobrist signed. I've gotten his autograph before so if anyone is interested (ahem Troll) just let me know.

I figured that a good use of my team card would be to get the Rays' President/GM, Andrew Friedman to sign. And this was before I knew that Carlos Pena was going to sign; that would've been a better use of this card but eh. Oh well.

Wrapping Up the Spring Training Autos

And it only took me a week and a half. Not bad considering I always seem to get behind with things; 10 days isn't half bad for me. Without further delay, here are the final autographs that I got in Spring Training.


Palmer was at both of the O's games that I went to. He was there to throw out the first pitch on Tuesday and looked like he just wanted to shoot the breeze on Monday. Luckily for me, he was in a signing mood too and signed this Crown card and also a ball for me. He included "HOF 90" on the ball without even being prompted.


Pena was the only Ray who signed for me, but since I was camped on the Orioles side of the field, I would say that I got lucky even getting him. Anytime you happen to be in the right place at the right time to get the reigning AL HR champ's autograph seems like a good place to be at.


Luke kept telling people at the game that he would sign as he was leaving the parking lot. I figured that we had all heard that one before so wasn't expecting much. But as Luke was leaving the lot, he pulled over and graciously signed and talked to everyone who was outside the lot. Granted there weren't more than 10 of us at that point but he was with his family and considering the number of players that drove by without acknowledging our existence, it was a nice change. Luke has always seemed like a very cool and down to earth person. I really hope he can stay hot at the plate for a full season this year. LUUUUUKKKEEE.


If you have been reading the blog for a while, you probably already know this, but I like sidewinding pitchers. Which makes Cla a pretty obvious choice to be my favorite reliever. You can't really see his pitching motion on the card, which I don't like, but it's a great card for an autograph and Cla did a nice job signing this, even adding his number.


This is probably the most illegible Guthrie autograph that I have, but he still seems to be a good signer. Now if he started having some success on the mound this spring...that would be nice.


Chris signed another card for me. This orange jersey beauty will go with my orange jersey mini collection.


Michael has had a "lost" spring training with various minor injuries and ailments robbing him of playing time and at-bats. I got his autograph when he was leaving the parking lot and really like the way this card looks now that it's signed.