Wednesday, December 31, 2008

12 Days. And then some (To the land of the living...)

I knew it had been a while since I lasted posted ANYTHING on here, but I had no idea it had been nearly two whole weeks! AUGH! The original plan for "12 Days" was to post the "twelfth day" list of each gift pack as I went along. As you are more than aware, this did not pan out. I am still putting gift packs together, but I thought it would be kinda fun to show the twelfth day for all the packs that have gone out and that have been recently assembled (if you don't see your name here, it just means I amm still getting those done and will have them done by the end of the weekend). So, without further adieu:
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White sox cards - On the twelfth day of Christmas, Tribecards gave away: 12 Ozzie Guillen, 11 Ray Durham, 10 Wilson Alvarez, 9 Harold Baines, 8 Scott Radinsky, 7 Marc Buehrle, 6 Carlos Lee, Five JERMAINE DYE, 4 Chris Singleton, 3 Steve Sax, 2 Jeff Abbott, and a Frank Thomas 5x7 Card!
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Brian R - On the twelfth day of Christmas, Tribecards gave away some more: 12 Ron Gant, 11 Mike Stanton, 10 Tom Glavine, 9 Fred McGriff, 8 david justice, 7 errell Wade, 6 Sid Bream, FIVE LONNIE SMITH, 4 Jeff Treadway, 3 Darrell Evans, 2 Chipper Jones, and a 1970 Bob Aspermonte Topps!
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David - On the twelfth day of Christmas, Tribecards gave steelers and somee Braves: 12 Pittsburgh Steelers, 11 Mark Lemke, 10 Javy lopez, 9 Steve Avery, 8 Jeff Blauser, 7 Kent Merker, 6 andres Thomas, 5 OTIS NIXON, 4 jerome bettis, 3 kordell stewart, 2 time hudson, and a Steelers Courtney Hawkins serial! (112/500)
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Mark - On the twelfth day of Christmas, Tribecards gave some mets to mark: 12 doc gooden, 11 todd hundley, 10 keith miller, 9 paul wilson, 8 bobby bonilla, 7 kevin mcreynolds, 6 edgar alfonzo, FIVE HOWARD JOHNSON, 4 isringhausen, 3 carlos beltran, 2 pedro martinez, and an eTopps Mets team Card!
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Joe S - On the twelfth day of Christmas, Tribecards gave some more Mets away: 12 david cone, 11 howard johnson, 10 john franco, 9 keith hernandez, 8 ron darling, 7 mark carreon, 6 lance johnson, FIVE DARYL BOSTON, 4 jose reyes, 3 baerga, 2 moises alou, and a cliff floyd ud flyball card!
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Paul H - On the twelfth day of christmas, tribecards gave some mets to paul: 12 gregg jeffries, 11 sid fernandez, 10 kevin elster, 9 rey ordonez, 8 aguilera, 7 gary carter, 6 jeff kent, FIVE DAVID CONE, 4 tim bogar, 3 mookie wilson, 2 mike hampton, and a kaz matsui ud flyball card!
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Paul E - On the twelfth day of Christmas, Tribecards gave a variety of cards: 12 assorted football, 11 boston celtics, 10 assorted basketball, 9 new orleans saints, 8 new england patriots, 7 minnesota vikings, 6 aaron brooks, FIVE JOE HORN CARDS, 4 NY sixers, 3 antoine walker, 2 philly eagles, and a dustin fox spxciting card (814/1499)
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Rod - On the twelfth day of Christmas, Rod's gift pack was made of these: 12 tony gwynn, 11 trevor hoffman, 10 san diego chargers, 9 phil nevin, 8 benito santiago, 7 joey hamilton, 6 fred mcgriff, FIVE JAKE PEAVY, 4 tim flannery, 3 eric owens, 2 xavier nady, and a derrick lee classic best rookie express card!
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Erin - On the twelfth day of christmas, Tribecards sent some Cardinals Erin's way: 12 pedro guerrero, 11 todd zeile, 10 felix jose, 9 different smith cards, 8 andy benes, 7 willie mcgee, 6 ray lankford, FIVE KEN HILL CARDS, 4 rick ankiel, 3 jd drew, 2 mark clark, and a mark mcgwire etopps card!
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Kerry B - On the 12th day of christmas, tribecards created a variety pack: 12 portland blazers, 11 jose oquendo, 10 tom brunansky, 9 terry pendleton, 8 omar olivares, 7 ray lankford, 6 vince coleman, FIVE JUAN AGOSTO, 4 tim jones, 3 jim edmonds, 2 jack clark, and an oregon ducks football card!
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There are still more to come that have already gone out, but it is getting close to New Year's Eve PARTY TIME!! :-)

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Ho-Ho-Ho!!


The first "round" of gifts is getting mailed off tomorrow!! The scan above is only a sampling of the ones going out. I still have plenty to catch up on, but have no fears! If you asked for a gift pack, Tribecards will get one out to ya!

Also, please know that these are not being completed in any order. All requests will be filled, and everyone "should" get them before Christmas Day. :-)

If I don't blog much between now and then, it's mainly because I'm fillin' up those "12 Days" stockings! :-)

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Cheating a Little: The Voltaire Edition

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Voltaire sent me a big ol' box of Tribe cards! If you've been following along in recent months, you also know that I vowed to post pictures of every card I receive from the great folks reading my ramblings. Well, I stayed true to that in spirit, though delivery may leave a few things to be desired. Before we get to that, though, let's dive into this wondrous gift!

Starting off, Voltaire created two of his own cards (the "1985" Betancourt and Sizemore cards). These look great and could easily be mistaken for manufactured cards! We also have three 1984 "Fun Foods" buttons, a sticker, a game-used ticket, and some great Tribers. I am a big fan of the Fleer Flair cards. Those were done right as far as higher-end product goes:

The next group of cards is where I began to 'sift' through the box and start to pull out cards because I knew I was going to have to 'cheat' due to the sheer volume alone. My apologies to Voltaire for that. Vizquel and Thome make up the bulk here:

And this lot is a bunch of Thome cards! I know I have not seen a lot of these before, so I was excited to not only get Thome cards but that I knew they'd be going into 3-ring binders before too long! I like the SP red and silver versions, and the Topps 3-D is very cool! He even threw in a couple scratchcard game cards. I'm tellin' ya, scratchcard fever is in the air already! Add to those some classic and HOF guys, too:

I wish I had put the Harrah supersized card in full shot instead of putting him at the bottom of the photo. This is one big card (5x7 or 4x6 I would guess). It's a 1983 Donruss Jumbo. Also in this grouping are some vintage Tribe, fan faves, and more! There's even a "Major League Prospect" of Eric Wedge in a BoSox uni:

And, here is where the 'cheating' comes in. The main reason I opted to go this route was so I wouldn't bore you to death with my going on-and-on over the awesome Tribe cards Voltaire sent me! The cards are not the problem, it is the author you are reading here! There are so many cards, I feared you would lose interest long before I reached the end of the box! Simply amazing how many cards there are:

And, this is the final scan. As you can tell, the cards go for days! Simply incredible generosity from Voltaire and from ALL of you folks that send me cards! I appreciate it so much!

Again, thank you Voltaire for a wonderful box of cards!

When I started this blog, it never occurred to me that finding folks to swap cards with would be part of the adventure. Every time I see a post on one of your blogs or when I get an envelope (or a box) of cards at my mailbox, I am awestruck at what a great community of card traders we have. Folks all over the world (literally!) have found a fun and easy way to keep this addiction, er hobby, alive and kickin! Thank you for making me a part of that!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Sox and Thoughts...of Christmas

I had two more packages delivered to my mailbox while I was in Phoenix. One was from AdamE at Sox and Thoughts, and the other from Voltaire. I'll get to Voltaire's in a bit (it was a big box, like 500-count or something!), but after I removed the paper wrapping AdamE's was sent in, I found this:

The box is covered with foam Christmas shapes! The Henderson household was VERY excited and thought this was a GREAT idea!! Then, when I opened the box, I found these:

WRAPPED cards! Man, this was like getting my own "12 Days of Christmas" gift! Plus, it turns out the box AdamE used was actually the box we had sent HIM for Trick-or-Treat! Another very cool surprise!

So, the question now remains: Do we open the cards NOW or do we make them the official first presents under the tree? I will let YOU decide!! Respond here and let me know what you think! :-)

Monday, December 8, 2008

Tribers Traverse the Pond

One of the packages I received while I was navigating the 'hills' of Arizona came from John in England! I'm building a package for him of his favorite team - The BoSox - so, he can expect a package for Christmas!

his package had Tribers that sent me down memory lane (even if some of the memories were "collective" rather than actual). Folks like Feller, Doby and Lemon. Players such as Barker, Bannister, Diaz. And then, he brought me back to today with V-Mart, Bard and Betancourt:

I saw the Manny Trillo and had a flashback. For whatever reason, Trillo has always been on my "other players" list of cards I collect. And, now I had an early card from when he first became an Indians player! Awesome! Tucked in there is the "Flaming Balls" of Doug Jones, so watch yourself:

And, rounding out the package is Sizemore, Lewis, Otto and more. And if you look very carefully, you might even spot the ever-elusive SCRATCHCARD! I think someone is gearing up for the next tourney... :-)

Thank you very much, John! Your gift is greatly appreciated, and as I mentioned, I've got Sox comin' your way shortly!

Holy @#$! Boxbusters!

I am not one who is prone to cussing, but when I opened the padded envelope from Boxbusters, I couldn't stop myself. The Game-Used VicMart card is sheer awesomeivity! The color looks so cool as the backdrop and is just enough of the 'wrong' blue that it gives the card serious pop! This was coupled with a 2008 UD-X VicMart to boot:

The rest of the envelope had Stadium Club, Donruss, and more! I always though the Alomar Jr in the "Rookie of the Year" photo made him look like those basketball draft cards where the players are in suits. Why do they make ballplayers wear suits, anyway? Ah, well, here are the other cards from the package:

Great stuff, Boxbusters!! This is far better than I had expected of the card! Thanks a TON!

A few (weeks) late

After much delay for ALL kinds of reasons, I am proud to FINALLY show off the box of cards sent to me by Sam!

The box starts off with two "Tipton-esque" cards that were used as padding in the box. I love stuff like this. To me, it's a lot like those TV shows where they never quite let you forget it is a TV show, after all (Boston Legal comes to mind). Receiving oversized cards that have been folded up to serve as padding is kinda like that - never forget that at the end of the day, these are just pieces of cardboard, after all. The first one is Matt Miller from the 2006 team issue and the other is Jason Stanford's 2004 team issue. Each is about 5x7. Jason's sports the tag line; I play for you!" The "I" is, of course, the "I" from the Indians script. Priceless!

But that's not all! As you can see, there are all kinds of goodies in here, including Gaylord Perry and The Eckster, plus other cool Tribers:

How about a Tommy John Archives Reserve? Or a Lance Caraccioli? Lance who? Sorry, I have no idea, but without folks like Sam to give me the cards, I probably would have never known! There are Jones', Crisps, and Cooks, too! The UD Cover Glory is one I don't believe I have seen before - Colon is cool in the red-hot heatwave effect:

Up next, Bazookas, Auroras, and Authentix, oh my! Sweet Indians cards are found throughout the box. It never ceases to amaze me that the Indians have had great ones on board like Gaylord Perry, Doc Gooden, David Justice, and others. I have often said the Tribe is a place where nonames get their names and where great ones come after they've peaked. We're like the revolving door of the MLB:

Dayf may need to avert his eyes on this next one, as the Alomar Juniors abound. For the readers who were not able to catch the "wrath" (as dayf is quick to call it) of the Trick-or-Treat giveaway, Dayf's virtual TP-ing of my 'house' led to my sending him several hundred Sandy Alomar Jr cards, all in Padres uni... Ah, I still bask in the glory of it all... No fear, though, he'll get a nice Christmas present!

Sam also included a die cut 2002 Fan Club card and a gold Bazooka. I like the inclusion of many players on different brands:

Lee, Lofton, Thome, Martinez, Triple Play, and more round out this next group. I don't know how other collectors feel, but the Tribe sure make for some colorful cards!

Finishing out the box is a comic, some stickers, a Gold Glove and more:

Thank you so much, Sam, for a GREAT box of cards!!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Checking in and catching up

Man, I feel like I've been on a whirlwind tour the past two weeks! First with Thanksgiving and then a trip to Phoenix.

I received a box of cards from Sam before I left for the big AZ, and had hoped to post the contents before I left, but prep for the trip took over instead. Hopefully, sometime tonight (Saturday), I'll get a post up!

Speaking of cards, I came back to a LOT of Indians cards! Man, you guys (and gals!) are incredible!! I haven't had a chance to bust open the packages I've received yet, but I can tell you I am looking forward to perusing some Tribe-al cardboard!! Thank you all so much. I'll thank each person individually with posts once I get everything opened up and scanned in.

The "12 Days Giveaway" is a HUGE hit this year! I was able to get WhiteSoxCards' package wrapped up before I left and I'll be working on the others this weekend and onward! I've received several requests over the past week, and if you've sent a request and are a regular (or even not-so-regular) reader, I just wanted to let you know I've received your request and you'll get a personal email from me soon! Remember, I'll start shipping them out around the 10th!!

The bad news is that I did not get to make it to Goodyear to see the Indians new spring training facility, nor did I get to make it over to see where the D-Backs play. The conference took place at the JW Marriott Resort on the VERY North end of Phoenix, putting me out of reach within the time frame I had. That's not to say I just stayed at the hotel, though! No way! My colleague and I hit McDowell National Park and then Sadona Red Rocks Pass on two separate trips. There might have been more, but my boss and her boss were there and were the ones who invited me along in the first place. Scenery or not, I know where my bread is buttered!

I have been posting slideshows of my adventures on my 'personal' blog, and still have a couple days' worth to post, but if ya like, you can check 'em out: http://poppedinmyhead.blogspot.com/.

Thanks for hanging in there while I was away. :-) Speaking of, I have a LOT of catching up to do in the clubhouses I visit!! :-)