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!

Finishing off my TTMs

Here are the last three TTM autos I have to show for now. I recently sent out a bunch more requests so I hope to have some new returns soon.

Chuck Estrada 1960-64

Chuck chose to sign this card at an interesting spot, didn't he? He gave himself a little handlebar-looking mustache when he personalized this card to me. Good stuff Chuck.

He was a member of the Orioles' Kiddie Korps pitching staff in the early '60s and had an amazing rookie season in 1960, when he tied for the league lead in Wins with 18 and had a very respectable 3.58 ERA. He was rewarded by being named to the All-Star team, receiving MVP votes and coming in 2nd place in ROY balloting. (Side note-3 Orioles players received all of the 1960 AL ROY votes; Ron Hansen won the award, and Estrada and Jim Gentile tied for second place with 1 vote each. Maybe the 2009 or 2010 O's can sweep the ROY voting again!)

Estrada always had some control problems (think Daniel Cabrera) and things started to unravel for him quickly after his great rookie season. He was among the league leaders in wild pitches, walks and hit batters in 1961 & 62 and led the AL with 17 losses in 1962.

Chuck was out of baseball by age 29 in 1967 , but served as a pitching coach for the Rangers (1973) and Indians (1983) since his playing days ended.

Don Ferrarese 1955-57

Don played for 5 different organizations over 8 seasons in the Majors. He pitched in 183 games, and made 50 starts. He played for the Orioles for 3 seasons, his most with any franchise, and went 5-11 with a 4.85 over 50 games.

Since his playing career ended, he has started the Don Ferrarese Charitable Foundation which helps California youths obtain school scholarships. Way to be, Don.

Tito Francona 1956-57

Tito was another Orioles rookie who nearly nabbed the AL ROY; he came in second behind eventual Oriole, Luis Aparicio. He played for 9 teams over 15 seasons and made the All-Star team in 1961 and came in 5th in MVP voting in 1959.

He is the father of current Red Sox manager Terry Francona.