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.

Another Rays Prospect.

Picked 42nd overall in the 2010 draft Drew Vettleson was one of the shining lights in the Rays Roookie ball team. Overshadowed in the draft by his fellow Washington state native Josh Sale, Vettelson went on to make Sale look very mediocre.

Playing for the Princeton Rays of the short season Appalachian league young Mr Vettleson put up some very nic numbers. He had a batting average of .282 which is pretty good for his first season using the wooden bat. He hit seven home runs and had forty runs batted in. He is also a threat on the basepaths with twenty steals, although he was caught six times. His fielding was very solid with only three errors committed from the outfield, he also had six outfield assists.

To my mind he is certain to start next season in full season Low A ball with the Bowling Green Hot Rods. At only twenty years old Drew seems to have a very solid career in front of him and is near the top of my Rays prospects watchlist for 2012.

Goodies From New York New York.

1968 the year I was born,also the year Topps did the baseball game insert. The cards above are from that set, these were accquired in another great trade with AJ from The Lost Collector blog. AJ has completed the 33 card set and these are some of the dupes he had. I sent AJ three vintage Yankees which will look much better in his collection than mine.

I love these cards as they are a cheaper way of getting some cool HOF'er cards. I think I will chase down the rest of the set now that AJ has given me a healthy head start. The Mantle and the AAron will be the most expensive ones to track down, but looking at the prices on ebay they do appear very affordable. As this is a vintage set I won't be in a huge hurry to finish it due to other pc considerations, but I am determined to get it finished off.

As always many thanks AJ.