Shields Allen and Ginterness

Had a nice PC mail day yesterday. A nice lot of four Allen and Ginter 2011 Shields cards. The mini cards are the regular, A&G back and the black border. The full sized card is a break the code card, so I'm still missing the regular full size card which will hopefully be in my box that's coming from the States. Although it would appear that the box has been strapped to the back of a turtle for delivery it's taking so long.

As usual it's a great looking set of cards, I really like the black border this year and the cool code cards. I'm hoping for some Pacquio cards but will probably end up with Ian Desmond cards instead.

Newk.

Don Newcombe was one of the lucky ones, he only played one year in the Negro Leagues before being bought by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1946. After three years in the Minors Newk was promoted to the Dodgers in 1949. In 49 he was voted rookie of the year and went to the all star game. Newk was the pitcher relieved by Ralph Branca in the famous 1951 play off with the Giants, Branca went on to throw the fateful pitch to a grateful Bobby Thomson.

Not only was he a great pitcher he was also a great hitter, his lifetime average of .271 is the ninth best by a pitcher in baseball history, he is one of the only pitchers to be used regulary as a pinch hitter.

Newk lost two years of playing time due to the Police action in Korea.

Newcombe is the only player to win the MVP, Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards. So hats off to Don Newcombe still going strong at age 85.

Trade With Collector From Across The Pond.

Here are the results of a trade with Tony from the blog Collector From Across The Pond. In exchange for some Brandon Belts, Timmy Lincecum and Yu Darvish cards Tony was kind enough to trade me these beauties. First up is the iconic 1955 Bowman of Phil Rizzuto, I really like this set, the TV screen is such a cool idea. Shame Topps can't think of something this good in 2011. There is a little paper loss on the front and back, but who cares it's a HOFer and from a cool set.

Next we have a 1952 Topps Gene Woodling card, I know nothing about Gene Woodling and can't be bothered to google him, but he is a Yankee and a sweet old vintage card.

Lastly we have a 2001 Cooperstown Collection Johnny Bench Bat card. Bench is considered one of the best catchers of all time. I love having Hall of Fame GU cards in my collection and this will sit nicely with my others.

A word about Tony. Not only is Tony a great guy to trade with and a good mate he is the Uk's premier Adam Lind collector. So if anyone reading this has some nice Adam Lind cards they want to off load via trade give Tony a look via his blog.

Allen and Ginter But not 2011!!!

As we all know Allen & Ginter fever has hit the blogsphere, so I thought I would show off my new Allen & Ginter purchase. It is from the 1888 World Champions set, yes you read that right. This card is 123 years old and for it's age it's in amazing condition.

Albert Hamm was born in Sambro Nova Scotia in 1860, he went on to become a professional rower. He won races in Canada, America even in the UK. He went on to coach the Lurlaine Rowing Club in Minnieapolis. He had to leave the post in 1891 due to bad health, he returned to his home in Nova Scotia where he died in 1891.

He may have died 120 years ago but Albert Hamm has been immortalized in cardboard form for the last 123 years and hopefully this card will last another 123 years.

3000 And 1.

Even though he is a Yankee congrats to Jeter on getting hit number 3000, being the first Yankee to reach this milestone is a great achievment.

Meanwhile on the West coast a young man got his very first MLB hit. Mike Trout reached on a bunt single, only 2999 more Mike!!!!

A J Sends B J.

It's not often I send random e mails to people, but here are the results of one such random mail. About a month ago I came across the blog The Lost Collector, the guy who runs the blog A J is a massive Yankees fan. I had a few Yankees laying around gathering dust and thought it might be an idea to see if he wanted them. A few e mails back and forth and a deal was struck. A J received a couple of Mantle cards and a Phil Hughes GU and a Mariano Rivera GU. In return A J was good enough to send me some nice prospect cards and the two cards you see here. The first is a very nice B J Upton Gold Refractor from the Topps 206 set. I love refractors and Rays refractors are always welcome to my PC. Second card is a Ryan Brett Purple Refractor, as well as being a refractor it's a Rays prospect refractor which makes it even sweeter. So a big thank you to A J for doing the trade and for being brave enough to ship overseas. I would like to point you all towards his blog, even though it's Yankees based it is a very interesting read. He gets some really sweet TTM autos which have made me very jealous.

Are You An Azkal?

As you may know I am currently residing in the Philippines. In the last twelve months something very strange has happened here sportswise. This country is basketball mad due to the influence of the USA, it is the only country in this part of Asia that is not soccer mad or should I say was not soccer mad until about 8 months ago. During late December and early January there was an international soccer tournament called the AFC Suzuki Cup, this tourney is for the lower ranked Asian countries. To everyones surprise the Philippines national team reached the semi finals by beating local soccer super power Vietnam. In the semi final the Philippines were up against another power house in Indonesia, the semi was supposed to be played home and away, but due to the ongoing reconstruction of the Filipino stadium both games were played in Indonesia. Sadly the Philippines lost both games 1-0 to exit the competition.

The country was finally taking notice that they had a halfway decent soccer team. The next set of games were world cup qualifiers against Mongolia (hands up those of you who knew Mongolia had a soccer team). By now the team was known by it's nickname The Azkals which is Filipino slang for street dog. The Azkals brushed aside the Mongol hordes 3-2 on aggregate to progress to the next phase. The next phase was on Wednesday when the Azkals travelled to Sri Lanka for the first leg. Although they played very poorly they escaped with a 1-1 tie and vital away goal. Everyone here is getting very excited as on Sunday the Azkals play leg two at home in Manila. To be brutally honest the Azkals have no chance of getting to the finals in Brazil,but to see a country become soccer mad virtually overnight is really cool. So next time you watch Brazil or Spain just remember on the other side of the world there are low ranked teams living the soccer dream.

I hope the soccer bug stays with Filipinos,the biggest fear is that as soon as they have a bad run all the good work will be forgotten. Maraming Salamat Po!!!!!