This is why baseball is the best sport...

You see, I cant be mad about todays loss to the Red Sox. Especially after last night. I now know that I could have never played baseball, even if i had a lick of talent. Its too up and down, and I get way way way too high and way way way too low in regards to wins and losses. I cant remain consistent in my thinking for this team because everyday is something new. Turn about is fair play, yeah yeah, whatever. Point is, as a fan, its 162 games just like the players. Nick Markakis will hit .300, Huff will have 25 bombs, and this team will win 70 games. It all evens out in the end, I realize that the same goes for life as it does for baseball. Doesnt mean I aint pissed cause it happened to the Red Sox. Also, you cant talk shit in baseball. There is not enough time to do so. 21 hours later someone somewhere will talk shit back to you because you are going to get royally screwed for opening your mouth. MASN has a great set of commercials regarding defining moments in Orioles baseball. I like them a lot. I just wish they had more moments like they show in the commercials than what plays out in real life. Fantasy or real life, Beckett is a smug bastard thats for sure. Rant over.

Questions Abound: Why?

Ok, so here is the picture of my newest additions from Sportlots. 1992 Topps was apparently the king of parallels before (fill in the blank)-refractors. They had Topps Gold, Topps Micro, Topps Gold Winners. AHHH. Anyway, my question is why do the Topps Micro? It serves no purpose. Was it available in Cracker Jack boxes? Totally confused by the point. Top card is the O-Pee-Chee version of the Topps card. Another issue: Why doesnt beckett recognize the OPC "parallel?" I think in some instances the OPC version of some of the topps cards come at a bigger premium according to their online price guide. Why no love in the magazine? Any answers in blogland?

Sweet Mailday Johnny Oates style!

Found the website http://www.sportlots.com/ and really raked in the goodies for Johnny Oates. Where do the two connect? Johnny Oates as many of you know was probably one of the most well respected baseball minds of our generation. Sadly, he lost his battle with a brain tumor some years back. He played for some of the really storied franchises in the game (Yankees, Braves, Phillies, Orioles, Dodgers). He managed the Orioles and Rangers before he passed. He was actually from my hometown area of Petersburg, VA and went to Virginia Tech (just like me!). His family and my family have remained close after all these years and lets just say his hiring in late 1991 was a crucial reason (and Cal Ripken) that I became an Orioles fan. Sportlots has given me a great chance to catch up on my Oates personal collection as he has 81 cards according to beckett and I now have 22. Who knew a role player backup catcher could have 81 cards including a 1/1???? I am also working on a project for our yearly memorial golf tournament and memorabilia auction as well. The auction and tourney raises money for his charity for pallitive care. So, if you have any Johnny Oates cards in those monster boxes, I would be glad to take them off your hands as I am trying to do a neat couple of pieces to donate to the auction.

1992 Ultra Review (17 Years Later)

Forgive me for using a picture of Glenn Davis (beardy and other O's fans know what I mean). 1992 Ultra. The second coming of the greatest set ever in the history of baseball. Yeah, I said it. Marble. I love marble. I need marble in my life. As you can clearly tell by the backdrop on this photo, I have no marble. Crisp photo, nothing like topps 09 photography but it doesnt have to be. Simple foil, not enough to kill anybody. Name, team, position. Cannot beat it. Oh, lets understatedly announce the year and product in the corner of the card. Awesome work!
Vitals Stats
Base: 600 cards (par for the norm in 92)
Inserts: Gwynn, All-Stars, Award Winners, All Rookies

We continue you with the marble theme in these cards. I love how Ultra gives you semi-star inserts. In 1992, the greatest thing for a Robin Ventura fan was to pull an insert of that player. Where else could this have happened? and with such frequency? Not a fan of Robbie V? Ok, Mickey Tettleton was an all-star insert too! OU: ONLY ULTRA!

Love how they chose a player to be a staple for a 10 person subset. Tony Gwynn, hall of famer, the definition of someon who could be surrounded by marble and be awesome.

Now, I would love to show you the back of the card, because I have a bold claim to make in regards to said back. However, new to this blog game, I dont know how to add two pictures and manipulate them within the blog. Any help? anyone? If so, you will a rush of posts of monumental proportions (unlike the rush of A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G resembling an offense with the Orioles right now).

I know, i know...im sorry...

been away awhile. a little busy, starting a new job, all that jazz. Not much time for blogging or baseball carding. I still need to do my weekly Ultra sets breakdown, but that will come later this week. I got cards in the mail today, first time in awhile. Sports Card Forum hasnt let me down yet as I created a trade from someone from the great white north, so it took a couple weeks to get accomplished. 46 singles from 91 Ultra, and that has been updated on the want lists. great stuff. I went home and found some more cards...this is really frustrating, but i found an entire 93 Ultra base set complete in a box. Cannot believe I forgot I bought that years ago. All that trading for 93 ultra for nothing. Ah well, still need massive amounts of inserts to put that set to rest. It is the first ultra base to be fully completed. Oddly enough, this 93 ultra i collected very little in the 90's. All the other ultras i bought large quantities of, but not this one, and its the first base set to be done. Weird how that works. As always check the want lists, some of you will be receiving packages soon. Oh, and i have some goodies coming from baseball card exchange later this week that i will share as well. Happy Hunting!

Product Review: 91 Ultra

And so it begins. I began my last post by talking about why I chose Ultra. I was not impressed with 91 Ultra when it orginally came out. Looking at all my monster boxes however, I really wish I would have been considering I have more 91 Fleer than any human should have. Thats melted yellow crayons thrown in a blender with mustard. Yuck. I guess they just wanted to go with a "higher end" card. Ultra in a sense is about premium, its better than regular fleer, blah blah you get the gist. On to the actual cards...


Vital Statistics
Base: 1-400
Inserts: Ultra Gold 1-10

The base card is nothing special. Plain on the front, ultra decided to go with the silver look, but its not glossy, so it just comes off as kinda gray. The back is pretty solid though. Multiple shots of the player and an up close shot. 400 cards is good for a base set and the cards are organized by team name and alphabetically through each team. I like that concept. I know the Braves are going to come first, etc. There is only one insert set, the Ultra Gold. I have to be honest, I have seen them, dont have any. Looks just like a star insert set with the regular culprits.

Overall Analysis: (C) Launching a new card line cant be that easy. It works because it fits in with most of the early 90's sets. Stadium Club was the revolutionary during that time frame, so this was a decent way to start it off. Ultra really takes off in '92. This didnt get my attention then, but its an ok springboard in what was to come.

Next week, we get down to the business of 92 Ultra!

A New Series Coming Soon...

People ask me all the time why I chose Fleer Ultra Baseball as my number one and only set to collect. When I was collecting in the mid 90's, for some reason I fell in love with it. Shiny things impress this native. It was really a combination of several factors. My best friend collected Leaf, and we always wanted to try different things so there was no way I was going to make my main set Leaf as well, we wanted to double our chances of getting great cards, not doubles. We hated doubles. So, Ultra was a respectable set, fairly inexpensive and just different. I like the photography, the color schemes, and I LOVED the inserts. I am not a huge "hit" guy, but I always felt the inserts had a point, they were different and usually fairly easy to pull from packs. That didnt always mean they were mid end inserts (sometimes they were), but it was nice to pull star cards at a good rate. So, with that being said I will begin by reviewing every Ultra set starting with 91 later tonight. Enjoy this blast from the past and dont forget to checkout my needs list from each set!

It was just a matter of time...

I mean, who hasnt had a hard day out in the field? You gotta do you, dog.

Mailbox Goodness

I made what I consider a great trade over on the sports card forum. Traded an 09 Clemente patch card from Topps for 4 Cal Ripken's and a Will Clark for my personal collection. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE UD Masterpieces and hate that they are not continuing the set after two successful years. Canvas looking cards, good mix of young, veteran and retired, some old school uni's, just a great base set to collect.

So good to come home after work to something that gives me a smile. I guess I should take a look at the bills now? Nah, we have cards here!

Great Trading Partner!!

I have done two successful trades with this guy Chris. I think his website is fantastic and what I wanted to do but I dont know crap about buiding a website. Great lists, great communication with him. Check Chris's site out!

If Good Pitching Beats good hitting...

Does good hitting ever beat good pitching? You always here that phrase thrown around but never the inverse. Weird. CC Sabathia mowed us down tonight, he was on, thats cool. I respect that. If he had lost, would it have been bad pitching and good hitting or good pitching with great hitting?

Never sure about these things, but an L is an L either way.

I feel like Yogi Berra at this point, I will stop rambling.

What a difference a day makes...

yeah, i was never on the ledge, but still 6 game losing streaks are tough. Beat Tampa tonight. Nick Markakis is the truth. That is all. Working on some trades for some people now and will update my lists soon. Thanks to all who are reading, its slow going getting a blog up and running.

Boy, are the Orioles bad.

Disturbing trends:
1) Guthrie cant get the third out of an inning.

2) Bats absolutely DIE after the 6th inning.

3) I know its just a slump and every team has them but this team has no FIRE. None. They go through the motions and thats it. Need an igniter, need some passion. I actually miss Kevin Millar.

Local Card show exploits

Havent been to a card show in years. Got a beckett and sure enough this weekend there was one at the local mall. I usually hate going to the mall, this was no exception, but we dont have many options left with card shops folding quicker than the Orioles bullpen. (Editors note: Yeah, George Sherrill, not a big fan of you right now.) Anyway, I bought 10 packs of 93 Ultra to help with sets for 50 cents each. I actually traded a Heritage auto card of someone I didnt care about for a Cal Ripken Donruss Threads card. When I get the scanner to work I will post the card. Show was good, saw a lot of things I didnt think I would ever see. No Will Clark stuff though.

Weekend Series at Toronto...

I have a love/hate relationship with baseball. I groan because our utilityman doesnt seem to fit anymore. What the hell is that? You are a bench player, you are used when needed. How do you suddenly not "fit" in an organization? Ryan Freel you are a bum. Maybe you would "fit" a little better if A) you hadn't been pegged in the back of the head on a throwback to second or B) you actually did something worthwhile to help this club. 2 hits all year and you dont "fit" anymore.

On the other hand, I think a little weekend trip to Toronto might be the trick to get us back on track. They seem all smoke and mirrors to me. Anyway...gotta get some sleep. Helping a friend move a tv tomorrow. Really. Big. TV.

Sigh...

Well, its late, I cant sleep and I have no idea how to fix this blog. I am just trying to put up my want lists with a link from my main page to another page, but dont know how. Tired. Frustrated. At least the layout looks better than it did.

Orioles vs. Yankees

Game 3 ran par for the course in this series. Orioles came back down to earth and showed that one of the "strengths" in the first 3 games of the season is an woeful weakness. Yankees took advantage. Earl Weaver used to say that you need to win series, not sweep them. Good guys are 2-1 on the season with Tampa coming to town. I need a new beckett, going to the store.

Posting links to want lists later...

First ever blog post...

Lets see, where to begin. First time I have ever done this, but feel its a pretty good way to get back into the game. I will post random musings about anything baseball related, specifically my favorite team, the Baltimore Orioles. I probably will need an outlet for my frustration this year, as well as a place to say "i told you so" in 2010. I have noticed quite a few blogs out there that I have been reading lately and this has brought me back to baseball cards again. The only thing I really care to collect is Cal Ripken, Will Clark, and Mark Grace cards. Since I stopped collecting in 1999, I am very well aware that things have changed in the industry so getting my bearings as well as my collection back up and moving is paramount to the journey. I fully plan on taking all cards other than my three player collections and some base sets and using those as trade bait to anyone interested. It will take no time for me to gather up anything anyone wants from any year (1980-current) as long as they have cards that I dont have of Ripken, Grace, and Clark. Thats all for now...more to come soon.