The Phillies have a winning record!

Solid pitching for the most part to start the season. Timely hitting to get a few runs on the board when it matters and they win! Who knows, maybe 1993 is going to repeat itself! The weather is finally getting warm.. but to make the joke one more time, Winter is coming, tonight at 9 on HBO!

Here's a new Rhino I picked up recently:

I like the background design of this year. I actually already had the 1 of 1 for this particular card too so it was cool to pick up the 1 of 3.

Also, recently the great Chuck Bednarik passed away. This is my only auto of his but I like it a lot. Very nice signature, maybe I can get a custom made out of it or something cool.

Hope everyone else is enjoying the start of the season. Pitching for the most part has been better then hitting, but I think it'll even out when the summer heat gets going.

Have a great day and Thanks for reading!

The Junior Junkie Delivers!

Much thanks to be apart of The Junior Junkie crazy exploits at the post office. His receipt was taller then me! I will have to find some Griffey's he doesn't have (if thats even possible!)

 

This is a nice cross section of old Phillies and new Phillies. From prospects to Steve Carlton and a Scott Rolen in between. I really like the 94 Finest set (opened 3 boxes a few months ago), its affordable and very green. Literally, after opening 3 boxes all I could see at one point was all the green borders. 

What's a package without a few new Big Hurt's! I really like Ginter relic's in general but even better to get Roy Halladay's. I went to Halladay's bobblehead game last year and he was there to get honored. For a pitcher he did not pitch here a long time he sure is well liked by everyone. He did always give it his all on the mound and retired when his body no longer could handle the rigors of pitching. Also, got a bunch of stickers! If only I were still in school, these would totally go on my trapper keeper!

Also, good news, the Phillies scored 3 runs as I'm typing this! Thanks Jeff Franceour for hitting a home run!

Thanks for reading!

Happy Opening Day!

Baseball is in the air! The weather co-operated in Philly, it went up into the 70s today and was a great day to play a game. Unfortunately the Phillies lacked the pitching and hitting aspect of playing baseball today. Good thing they get to go right back out there on Wednesday!

Ryan Howard hit a double today! He looked svelte and who knows maybe he'll continue hitting!

In honor of opening day.. nothing special just some pickups!

 

Ryan Howard pink out of 50!

Ryan Howard black out of 63!

Still chasing some of the other parallels but I do really like the look of the base set this year. We opened one jumbo box and completed the base set. Go Phils! (and my fantasy teams haha!)

Thanks for reading!

My Fantasy Baseball Team (2 of 2)

I completed my 2nd and final fantasy draft of the season on Tuesday night. It is a 12 team league with head to head scoring. Pretty normal categories..

Hitting:

Runs, Home Runs, RBIs, Stolen Bases, Total Bases, On Base Percentage

Pitching:

Wins, Saves, Strikeouts, Earned Runs Average, WHIP

The pick order was random and no keepers.

I got first pick!!!! wooo

Made it a no brainer.. I took Mike Trout!

After that my results were:

24. Bryce Harper
25. Corey Kluber
48. David Ortiz
49. Ian Kinsler
72. Greg Holland
73. Kris Bryant (I may have reached but I didn't think he was making it another 20+ picks)
96. Chris Carter
97. Devin Mesoraco
120. Manny Machado
121. Andrew Cashner
144. Steve Cishek
145. Lance Lynn
168. Francisco Liriano
169. Xander Bogearts
192. Matt Shoemaker
193. Ben Revere
216. Brad Boxberger
217. Yasmani Tomas
240. Carlos Martinez

I like grabbing Tomas really late. Maybe he'll hit like Abreu did last year? I like Machado late so he's my fill in til Bryant is back. I may have reached for the closer but the top guys were gone at that point. I need some starters besides Kluber to come through and I should be able to win some head to head matchups. I will say though I have the all baseball card team with Harper, Trout and Bryant! I would love to have all those rookie autos!

Thanks for reading.. also obligatory picture #2!

Love this card!

My Fantasy Baseball Team (1 of 2)

I have joined 2 Fantasy baseball leagues this year. Both of which I have now been in for several years! It's nice to see the same people back again year after year. Builds up some good competition. In this league, it's rotisserie with some non traditional categories.

Hitting:

Runs, RBIs, Stolen Bases, OBP and SLG. Notice no Avg and no HR's.

Pitching:

Total Bases, ERA, K/9, H/9, BB/9

No Saves and there is a 1000 inning cap.

I decided to go unorthodox and picked no full time relievers in the draft.

Also, this league is a keeper league. You can keep up to 4 and any person you keep is your first round pick, 2nd round pick etc.

I decided to keep 4 this year. Robinson Cano, Adrian Beltre, Jose Fernandez and Michael Brantley.

My Team is as follows:

After the top 4 that I had kept.. I drafted Adam Wainwright (63rd), Victor Martinez (68th), Hisashi Iwakuma (89th), James Shields (94th), Mark Trumbo (115th), Ben Revere (120th), Salvador Perez (141st), Starlin Castro (146th), Lance Lynn (167th), Gregory Polanco (172nd), Jered Weaver (193rd), Javier Baez (198th), Matt Cain(219th), Marlon Byrd (224th), Tanner Roark (245th) and Jose Quintana(250th)

This draft was tough with 13 people in it. No idea if my strategy of no relivers will work. I figure I have starters I can drop if necessary. I already dropped Baez and picked up Carlos Beltran. At this time gotta play a bit of wait and see but that spot is definitely fluid.

I really wanted to have Wainwright and Lester. Missed Lester by one pick so I settled for V-Mart and took Kuma with the next pick. 

Have one more draft tonight, completely different format and head to head.

What do you guys think? All criticisms or advice is welcome.

Obligatory picture..

Go Phillies!

Trade with Coot Veal and the Veal Tones!

I recently completed another trade with my friend Dhoff from Coot Veal and The Veal Tones! He posted up a bunch of trade bait and a few things caught my eye. He mentioned he was in the market for an I-Rod autograph and I happened to be able to find a nice one the next day at the Philly Card show! I was pleased that I found it and got it from one of the dealers that I like. Mr Dhoff more then sent his fair share in return!

Check out all the goodies!

 

The Klesko autograph is quite nostalgic. Back in 1995(I was ten) I pulled this card: (disclaimer, not my auction) Ryan Klesko It was the greatest day ever. My brother and I ran around the house like we hit the lottery! A one per case auto! Unbelievable, we're rich! I believe the card is currently in my dad's basement. Once I have more space I plan on getting those cards rescued. I like the design of the Hitting Machines relic. I have this Thome and the Frank Thomas from the same set. 

 

A few new Ryan Howards. A few new Frank Thomas's (now over 700 unique wooo!) and some cool Archives Reserves cards. I like those shiny reprints, they look good.

 

Oh Just a 1954 Bowman Robin Roberts ho hum. I have not attempted this team set yet for the Phillies so I'm pretty happy to start it this way! I now have 2 cards from this total set. Robin Roberts and Mickey Mantle, not bad. The Scott Rolen is a nice on-card auto. I will always wonder how his career would have turned out if he decided to stay on with the Phillies. They got pretty good after he left. 

Here's some more vintage and some numbered cards. I really like the card in the middle. Very sharp!

Thanks for reading and thanks for the trade.

Stay tuned for my first fantasy baseball team of the season. Draft went well I think, we'll see!

A Whole bunch of Mail! and other musings

I haven't been as active this year but thats due to life and stuff. All good things though! Working hard and enjoying things. I am excited for the baseball season. We plan on getting down to Baltimore (Camden Yards) and checking out the Nationals stadium for the first time too. (Not sure if that sentence made sense, but to clarify I have been to Camden but not to Nats Park). Of course, I have been to Citizens Bank many times and I'm sure I will go this year despite the team. There's really no buzz this year at all. Everyone just expects them to be in last. I am an optimist so who knows maybe they'll learn to hit and surprise some people.. everyone's 0-0 right now!

I received some mail this past few weeks from some people:

A "Brad" centric PWE from Weston at Fantastic Catch. I actually needed the two Phillies cards for the PC so that worked out. I wish Brad Peacock had a more fearsome last name.. like Brad Jackhammer or something cool! Oh well can't win them all.

These 9 cards were from my friend Zach over at Underdog Card Collector! He's a big Padres guy and likes to flip his Phillies to me, so whats not to like. The Padres should actually be fun to watch this year. They made a ton of moves this off season and could turn some heads this year. Who really knows but I like the attitude that they are trying to win. Bold moves. Also, thanks for the Heritage Howard, I wasn't planning on buying any packs so quite happy to receive that in the mail!

 This last card came from Red Sox Fan in Nebraska He shockingly, collects Red Sox. I sent him a purple parallel and he sent me a rainbow parallel! Parallel's all over the place. Despite the no logo it is a sharp looking card!

Thanks for the cards everyone and Thanks for reading! I think I responded or sent my part of whatever trade we agreed upon. Please let me know if I forgot someone, haven't been super organized lately!