Trade with First Day Issue

Bud of First Day Issue: Baseball Cards and the Neverending Pursuit of Everything Ken Griffey Jr. and Viva La Vidro sent me some cool cards recently.

Here's a handful of them:

Brooks!  Check out that old school Orioles logo.  

 

Fantastic card.  A blue chrome refractor.  A tough pull of a superstar.

Hernandez s/n to 199.  Blue refractors are some of my favorite cards.  I only have a few.

Hanleys, Cabrera, and more Orioles.  Win, win, win.

Jake Arrieta.  I have hardly any Arrieta cards.  He is another Baby Bird that is going to take the baseball world by storm!  

Thanks for the cards, Bud!  Your package has  been sealed and ready to go for several days.  I will mail it soon.  I see Collective Troll just sent you 37 Griffeys so I hope I haven't duplicated his stuff much.    

Trade with Carl Crawford Cards (My First Trade)

I received some super jersey cards from CCC (Carl Crawford Cards) a few days ago.  I sent over some Carl Crawfords he needed and he sent me some Orioles cards.

I got quite a bit compared to what I gave, so part of the deal is CCC is also due some CTBNL (Crawfords To Be Named Later).

This is my first quad jersey card and it's a beauty!  Old guard Mora and new era Markakis.  Two Orioles plus another player I have collected for years (Cabrera).

Now that Cabrera is pursuing ongoing treatment for his drinking problem, it will be a big story watching a sober (hopefully) Cabrera in 2010.  This guy has been one of the best hitters in baseball.  What can he do with a clear head?  In an era that was all about performance enhancing drugs, we have Cabrera drinking and eating like a madman.  I'll be cheering even louder for Cabrera in 2010.

 

I've wanted this card from the first day I saw it online.  Markakis is Mr. Cool in this pic.

Markakis had a disappointing 2009.  He still managed a .293 ba, with 18 hr, 45 doubles and 101 rbi.  The major dip came from getting less walks (2008:  99 bb, 2009:  56 bb).  He will be back.  He's a fantastic player.

I really like the old-school feel of the picture in the background.

Gotta love Roberts.  Any team would be lucky to have him at second base (56 doubles, 16 hr, 30 sb).  I sometimes feel sorry for Roberts.  He has been a loyal Bird.  He has waited and waited for things to turn around.  We are now on the cusp of flipping the switch.  I just hope the good days start while Roberts is still a strong player.  He deserves it.

I have very few Reimold cards and no jerseys until now.

Reimold will be exciting to watch in 2010.  A full season.  MLB Network was doing over/under predictions for 2010.  They predicted both Reimold and Weiters would hit over 20 home runs.  I think that's a safe bet (especially Reimold).  Throw in Markakis and Adam Jones and we are looking at four 20 home run players.  Adrian Gonzalez would have been a perfect bat in the middle of that power.

CCC included this wonderful quad swatch even though it wasn't part of the deal!

So it was a banner day for my Orioles collection.  Thank you CCC for making my first trade so enjoyable.  The hunt for CTBNL has already begun!

2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Retail Box Breaks (6 boxes, Just The Hits)

2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Retail Box

24 packs, 4 cards per pack

Cost:  $9.99 (Blowout Cards - Black Friday deal)

Box 1:

Russell Martin (Framed Brown, s/n: #047/100).

Victor Martinez game used jersey.

Box 2:

Lance Berkman (Framed Brown, s/n: #013/100).

Miguel Cabrera game used jersey.

Box 3:

Victor Martinez (Framed Blue, s/n: #008/125).

Chad Billingsley game used jersey.

Box 4:

Stan Musial (Blue Framed, s/n: #034/125).

Nick Blackburn auto.

C.C. Sabathia game used jersey.

Box 5:

Stan Musial (Framed Black, no serial number).

Miguel Cabrera (Framed Black, no serial number).

Eddie Murray (Framed Brown, s/n: #001/100)

Back of Eddie Murray.  Love this card.  Interestingly, this is the only box that did not have a game used card.

Box 6:

Alex Rodriguez (Framed Black, no serial number).

Pedro Martinez game used jersey.

And finally, the card that made me want to post these hits right away:

Frank Robinson (Framed Silver, s/n: #20/25).

Frank!  What a nice card.  This is the first silver framed Masterpieces in my collection.  I am very happy it's an Oriole and one of my favorite players.

These retail boxes are a super deal at $9.99.  What makes them a steal is the stack of base stars.  There are only 10 or so cards per box that aren't star players.  And even those are mostly rookies that haven't made their mark in the majors yet.

And although it is rare to pull an auto from these retail boxes, and the jersey cards are almost all plain white swatches, the hits are icing on the cake anyway.

Just when you think you've seen all the cards in the set, another wonderful short print will pop up. 

At the usual cost of $20 per retail box, they are still a good deal.  A beautiful set that never gets boring.