More gift packs are shipping out Friday!

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It has occurred to me that I might need to remove the "Always" from the title of my blog! LOL - nah....

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Do not worry if you do not see your request listed yet! I am still putting these together and having quite a bit of fun in the process. I really had no idea how many of the same players were on so many different teams! I must say it lends itself to more than a few double-takes...

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Rocco requested Braves, Falcons, and FSU Football players. I didn't think I could pull it off, but I will let you be the judge: Twelve Chris Chandlers, eleven Jamal Anderson, ten Warrick Dunn, nine Leaf/Donruss Falcons, eight Braves pitchers, seven Seminole players, six Greg Vaughn cards, FIVE JEFF BLAUSERS... Four Devon Brazeltons, three Ben Grieves, two Jason Tyners, and a '77 Topps baseball card!

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Joey, your twelfth day goes something like this: Twelve Nolan Ryans, eleven random Rangers, ten Don Mattinglys, nine Rusty Greer's, eight Richard Hildagos, seven Billy Wagners, six Jeff Bagwells, FIVE '76 RANGERS.... four Pudge cards, three Paul O'Neills, two Blaylock Goudeys, and a Doug Rader '71 Topps!

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Bo, who asked for Yankees this year, gets a slightly different kind of surprise because I forgot to write down what was on the fourth day! So, here's the best I can do for ya: Twelve assorted Upper Deck cards, eleven Pinnacle Brand guys, ten random Fleer ones, nine Donruss too, eight Bernie Williams, seven Nick Johnsons, six Derek Jeters, FIVE ORLANDO HERNANDEZeses, four cards I forget, three Matt Drews, two Goose Gossage tributes, and a Babe Ruth Renata Galasso!

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Bart collects Royals with a little Carlton Fisk thrown in for good measure: Twelve '88 Topps cards, eleven assorted Royals, ten more random Royals, nine positions on the field, eight Bret Saberhagen, seven Bo Jackson, six Kevin Appier, FIVE MARK QUINN CARDS.... four George Brett, three Carlton Fisk, two Wally Joyners, and an Alex Gordon Goudey Rookie Card!

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And the last one for this evening (well, okay - this morning, given it is now 2:30am) goes to Mark who collects Mets mainly: Twelve draft/rookie/prospects, eleven random Mets cards, ten chrome/best/finest cards, nine assorted Donruss, eight Edgardo Alfonzos, seven Al Leiter cards, six Dwight Goodens, FIVE VINTAGE METS.... four Rey Ordonez, three Bobby Bonilla, two Eddie Murrays, and a Koosman Fleer Greats card!

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Remember, I am still putting gift packs together, so if you haven't seen yours yet, it just means the elves are still sorting and assembling!!

12 "Old West" Days of Christmas

Old West, you ask?? Why yes, this gift pack goes out to Brian, who requested Cowboys and Braves! :-) So, what goes into an "old west" gift pack?

12 Joey Galloway cards, 11 wide receivers, 10 random Cowboys, 9 random Braves, 8 David Justice, 7 Deion Sanders, 6 Mark Lemke, FIVE JAVY LOPEZ...., 4 Michael Irvin, 3 Troy Aikman, 2 'lectric diamonds, and an Emmitt Smith Eye of a Champion!

I want to state that I try very hard to limit the number of duplicate cards in each of these packs. Sometimes, though, I have to include duplicates. Even so, I have a feeling each of the recipients will be pleased with their "12 ___ of Christmas" packs! :-)

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Great Minds Think Alike!

Dayf commented that I had "stolen" his 12 cards idea. The funny thing is, I had not even read his post about the 12 Cards of Christmas before posting my giveaway! That is waaaayyyy tooo weird!!

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Speaking of the giveaway, things are rolling right along! Of course, in my haste to get the gifts out, I crazily combined two requests! I will remedy the situation before sending out the cards, of course! Somehow, I managed to put together a Cowboys, Braves, Falcons, Hawks combination - no easy task! I'm glad I not only made a list, but checked it twice!!

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I'm still taking requests, but please try to provide me with several teams (even in same sport is fine), so that I can do my best to send a variety of players and cards. What surprised me right off was the number of requests for Braves cards. Who knew!?

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The Holiday Season and 78 Cards?

I am putting together special "holiday presents" for folks that are interested. Each present consists of 78 total cards. The number is there for a reason (yes, another one of my hair-brained riddle giveaway/trades!).

DAYF gets the first stack because, well, I found a bunch of Braves while putting together eBay items when the idea hit me like the something falling from a partridge in a pear tree! In fact, I am calling his the "Twelve Braves of Christmas!" All together now: "In the "12 Braves of Christmas," davidinark gave to dayf: 12 Greg Maddux, 11 vintage brave cards, 10 John Smoltz cards, 9 Steve Avery's, 8 Chipper Jones, 7 Andruw (no-relation), 6 Tom Glavines, FIVE FRED MCGRIFFS.... 4 Dale Murphys, 3 Jason Schmidts, 2 Phil Niekros, and a Hank Aaron Annivers'ry card!

So, here is what I am going to do: Ask and ye shall receive. Okay, well, maybe not quite. How about: Ask and I'll do my best to see that ye receive.

Here is how it works: Email me (davidinark@yahoo.com) with your favorite team(s) - baseball, football, heck I might even be able to pull off a basketball gift. I could also do one hockey but it would not be team-specific. On the other hand, I could put together a ton of Tribe packs - LOL...

List the teams in your order of preference, and I will accommodate requests on a first-come first-gifted basis. :-) When you email me, send me your mailing address so I know where to send your Holiday Present.

That's it. Email me and ask. I will gladly receive requests until I can't fill the requests (if/when I reach that point, I will be sure to let everyone know) or until Christmas Eve, whichever comes first. Now, this is the season of giving and brotherly (sisterly) love, so please understand that I can only offer one gift per person per household - I want as many folks as possible to benefit from the 78-card gift packs. Cards will be mailed as I am able to put "12 ___ of Christmas" packs together, and you may not get them in time for Christmas Day (in case you were hoping to get these as a 're-gift' item).

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and remember kids, Do Cards, Not Drugs!

1997 Pinnacle Inside Dueling Dugouts Ramirez/Gonzalez

This is my latest acquisition: A 1997 Pinnacle Inside Dueling Dugouts card featuring Manny Ramirez and Juan Gonzalez. There are only 3 or 4 of these that feature Tribers, so I'll be on the lookout for those others.

The front of the card features one player (Gonzalez), lots of gold foil, the Pinnacle Inside '97 logo, and the team logo. The back features the other player (Ramirez), copyright info, and team logo in addition to the card number (13). Both sides feature a 3-hole window through which stats are displayed from various years.

The right edge (if looking at the card front) features a wheel with 1992-1996 printed on it. As you spin the wheel, stats are revealed in the triple-window on the front of the card. Collectors can then flip front-to-back and compare notes (er, uh, Duel those Dugouts!). Now that we know Mr. G is on "the list," let us compare notes, shall we?

player	year	avg.	hr	rbi
JG	1992	.260	43	109
MR	1992	.278	13	63
JG	1993	.310	46	118
MR	1993	.170	2	5
JG	1994	.275	19	85
MR	1994	.269	17	60
JG	1995	.295	27	82
MR	1995	.308	31	107
JG	1996	.314	47	144
MR	1996	.309	33	112

Well, it seems that the averages are fairly close to each other (except in '93). Things get very interesting in the HR and RBI columns, though. Now, I did not read to see WHEN JG supposedly used "enhancers," so I have no idea if his numbers reflect use or not. I will not speculate, but rather, I will leave that up to you, my reader, to make of the numbers what you wish. It could be the result of experience, the result of more stringent workouts, ya just never know. But, when the batting averages are similar, what makes one player have some killer HR/RBI stats versus another player? Talent? Skill? Experience? Luck? Performance-enhancers?

Regardless of what makes up the difference, in my eyes, they are both very skilled players. Period.