Trade With Greg From Plaschke Thy Sweater Is Argyle.

Here are the results of my epic trade with Greg from the wonderful blog Plaschke Thy Sweater Is Argyle. Greg left a comment on my Topps Finest break, he was asking if the Dee Gordon Refractor auto was for trade. After a few emails back and forth we struck our deal, Greg got the Gordon auto, Gordon base and Andre Ethier base and a ton of A&G 2011. In return I got these beauties. First up is a Chris Perez 2007 Bowmans Best Auto, Perez is currently with the Indians where he posted a 4-7 record in 2011, but also recorded a nice 37 saves.

Next is a very cool 2008 Tristar Farmhands Auto of the Cardinals Lance Lynn, unlike a lot of collectors I have no problem with Tristar cards,in fact I actually like them quite a lot. Lance was 1-1 with one save for the Cardinals in 2011, he also won a game in the Wrold Series. Nice.

Next up is a very nice Allen & Ginter framed auto of Yunel Escobar, I love A&G autos,Topps does a really nice job with the framing and a nice addition to my collection. Yunel hit .290 with the Jays in 2011.

Now we come to the crowning glory of the trade, during our email converstaion I mentioned to greg about my collectiong the Topps 1968 Game Inserts. Greg then offered to go to his local LCS to track down some of the outstanding cards I needed, this was above and beyond the call of duty and very much appreciated. In the top picture we have two Hall of Fame players in the late great Harmon Killebrew who sadly passed away this year, and we have Mr Frank Robinson, who was not only a great hitter, but also the first African American to manage a MLB team. What I love about these cards is the fact they are the same age as me and my wife tells me the same condition, namely a bit wrinkly and a bit out of shape. So in conclusion a huge thank you to Greg for such an awesome trade. Would I trade with him again? OH YES!!!!!!!!

Mini Randomness Part 3.

Today's random mini cards bring us the greatest female golfer of all time and a rubbish bear. Annika Sorenstam is far and away the greatest female golfer of all time. Seventy two wins on the LPGA tour,seventeen wins on the European tour, two wins on the Japanese Ladies Tour and of course she is the winner of ten majors. She has won over $22 million in prize money $8 million more than her nearest challenger. Since retiring in 2008 Sorenstam has gone on to make big bucks outside of playing, a course designer, her own range of perfumes and a line of clothes, it seems she won't be short of cash for the foreseeable future.

Awwwwwwwww!!!! It's a big cuddly Panda, yet another of the animals in peril. Why is the Panda a rubbish bear I hear you ask? Well the joke goes like this, what would you rather fight, a Panda or a Grizzly Bear. Answer is of course the Panda because it's already taken a beating judging by his black eyes!!! Baaazinga!!!!! I'll get my coat.

Mini Randomness Part 2.

Some more random mini cards for you. We kick off today with Dr Watson, Watson of course was Sherlock Holmes sidekick. The Ying to Holmes Yang, a great many actors have played Watson in the movies including a very good portrail by Jude Law in the recent Holmes movies. But the king of Watsons is the mighty Nigel Bruce who played Watson in the great 1940's Holmes movies alongside Basil Rathbone. As has been pointed out a lot of times the name of the set is wrong, penultimacy meaning second to last of course, but I won't point that out as hundreds have done so already.

Moving right along to Watsons partner in crime, the mighty Sherlock Holmes. Detective,pipe smoker,wearer of very odd hats and of course opium addict. Holmes was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I would like to thank Sir Arthur for writing some of the slowest moving and dull detective novels ever. The Holmes on this card is of course the spitting image of great actor Basil Rathbone, the greatest Holmes in movie history, Rathbone also played a masterful Guy of Gisbourne in the Errol Flynn classic Adventures of Robin Hood. Even though Holmes is a work of fiction tourists still flock to 221b Baker Street in London to have their photograph taken in front of his famous address.

Finally today we have another animal in peril, the Phillipine Eagle, this is the national bird of the Phillipines, as you may know I am currently a resident in the Philippines and have yet to see this mighty bird. These birds can weigh up to 18lb and grow to between 2.5 feet to 3.5 feet in length. If you are a native monkey beware, because this bad boy will have you for lunch. Sadly only 180-500 are left in the wild, this is due to the Filipino habit of hacking down every tree they can see. If you kill one of these wonderful birds you can expect to spend twelve years in a jail.

Mini Card Randomness Part 1.

I thought I would do a few posts on the random mini cards I have laying around. First of all we have a 2008 Allen and Ginter mini of a Mako Shark. A few facts for you about the Mako shark, they grow to a size of seven to nine feet, feed mainly on Mackeral and don't attack humans too often, but three fatalities have been recorded in the last twenty years. Not to be confused with the actor Mako who starred in M*A*S*H.

Another animal card, this time a 2011 Sea Otter mini. The poor little fella is part of the animals in peril set in this years A&G. These little chaps have seen their numbers drop from 300,000 to 100,000 in the last two hundred years, this is because they were hunted for their fur. Cute fact alert!!! To stop them drifting apart Sea Otters sleep holding paws. Awwwwwww!

Goodwin time, a 2009 black border Phil Helmuth Jr. This guy is not small furry or cute. What he is is a very fine player of Texas Hold Em. Helmuth holds the record for most bracelets won in WSOP play, his total stands at an amazing eleven. Critics will always tell you that all his wins have been in Hold Em events, therefore he is not an all around player. Helmuth is also prone to toddler style tantrums and outbursts at the table. He does this to put off his opponents which sometimes works very well to his advantage. He also does it because he is a whiney little girl.

A Great Gloveman.

Yay!!! Another sweet Brooklyn Dodger for my PC a 1950 Bowman. Pictured above is great third baseman Billy Cox. Billy debuted in the NL in 1941 with the Pirates, the war took away four years of his career and h returned to baseball for the Pirates in 1946. He joined the Dodgers in 1948, becoming the third baseman of a steller infield. Hodges at first, Robinson at second and Pee Wee Reese at shortstop, has there ever been a greater infield? Cox only hit sixty six homers during his career and only batted a modest .266, not great numbers for a third sacker. It was his skill with his beat up glove that kept him in the game. Leo Durocher once said of Cox " Thats not a third baseman, thats a fucking acrobat". High praise indeed. Cox finished his career on June 11th as a member of the Orioles. A major character in Roger Kahns wonderful book The Boys of Summer, Cox ended up being a barman in his local legion. To me this shows the difference between then and now, does anyone think a star third baseman from 2011 is going to end up tending bar?

This card is part of my Boys of Summer project, the idea being to get one vintage of every player interviewed by Roger Kahn. The biggest problem is price, the only Andy Pafko Dodger card is at least $500, and the Robinson cards are a little pricey. At least there is no hurry to finish the project.

Shiny Chromeness...

And so it begins, the yearly hunt for every variation of Topps Chrome James Shields cards. In 2010 I was fortunate enough to get a Superfractorless rainbow. How will I fair this year? To start with I have the very nice looking Sepia Refractor #/99, I have to be honest here and say well done to Topps, these sepia cards are very very nice.

Moving right along to the Black Refractor, again a new addition to this years set. These are #ed to 100, again a very nice looking card.

Which brings us to the Atomic Refractor #ed to 225. Unsure if I like this card or not, I like the effect on it but it does look a bit like a broken window to me.

Finally today we have the retail only Orange Refractor, strangely the orange and purple are sometimes the hardest to find for a UK collector.

I have incoming the Gold,Purple,Blue refractors, an xfractor and a base refractor. The hunt for a plate and a Red refractor continues.

My 2011 Finest Break.

Here are some of the bettr cards from my recent Finest break, a Zach Britton Finest Freshmen insert. I don't know too much about Mr Britton apart from he seems to be following me about.

Told you! A nice Zach Britton Xfractor #/299. I also got his base card.

The lowest numbered card in the break was this Brett Wallace Green Refractor #/199. I don't follow the Astros so again know nothing about him. It's a very cool looking card though.

The first auto was of the Dodgers Rookie speedster Dee Gordon, this one is #ed out of 499. On card and shiny, very nice.

The best card was this Craig Kimbrel auto/GU to 499. Sadly Mr Kimbrel and the Braves choked away the value of the card (LOL).

Overall it was a fun break and the cards are very nice to look at, just missing a few lower numbered cards, but we can't hit paydirt everytime.