Ultimate Utility Player? for madding...

While waiting for my son to get back from a church youth group thing, I decided to take madding's idea and see where it led... What you see is where the road took me. Frankly, I don't know how PunkRockPaint does everything he does using only Paint! This took Photoshop Elements and Paint together to achieve. But, it was also a LOT of fun!

Moonlighting (or taking one for the team)

See the guy up there? Remember him? Yeah, the kick-butt catcher that was out long enough for the guy below to make a huge name for himself on the Tribe. Well, you wanna talk about making yourself indispensable, Shoppach has worked his way into the line-up such that Martinez may be playing some first base action this coming season so that Shop can play in more games as catcher. So, V-Mart gets to moonlight at first while taking one for the team... Let's just hope we all get along with these new living arrangements.

So, just how DOES one end up with 20,000 "extra" cards?

That is the question I have been asked a lot since posting my 'calling all baseball card collectors' entry. So, I thought I'd share the back story for everyone's amusement (or bewilderment, most likely):

Before setting up '12 Days' this past holiday, I went on eBay and started looking for a few 5000-count box auctions. I opted to stay with baseball cards, and found several offers at prices i thought were fair for what was being described. In fact, I had bid on about half a dozen auctions. And, so I waited and watched.

And, I watched.... And very few other folks were bidding... And, suddenly as the ending times drew near, I was actually hoping to LOSE some of the auctions. Alas, the great auction gods smiled (or perhaps laughed) at me, and I ended up winning nearly every single auction.

Over the course of the next few weeks afterward, box upon box arrived at our doorstep. In fact, two of the boxes came in the midst of the '12 days giveaway.'

As I mentioned in my other post, I got the cards at pretty good prices. I think that's what surprised me in the first place. I figured my bids were low enough that anyone looking would easily snipe them away. Guess no one was looking. As my son would say, "I blame the economy."

For me, it was like hitting the jackpot. Okay, maybe not "THE" jackpot, but "A" jackpot. A card collector's jackpot of random cards. And what better way to share a jackpot than with my friends and fellow collectors!?

Thanks for reading, and keep collecting!

'Nuff Said

Calling all baseball card collectors!

Seriously. Does anyone collect A's or Expos? Does anyone that DOES collect those teams want any cards? I don't even mean in a "hey, let's set up a trade" situation, either. I mean it in a "Holy crap, I have more than 2000 A's and probably close to that in Expos and I need to give some away" kind of way.



I actually have a bigger dilemma than that. See, right before my last "12 Days Giveaway," I bought some more cards to make sure I had plenty to give away. Well, I overshot the mark by about... 20,000 cards. Really. Quit laughing. It's not THAT funny. Well, yeah, I guess it is... All I can say is that it's a good thing the economy is where it is because I paid peanuts for them. And that was before the whole Salmonella thing, too!

I've been debating a 'free-for-all' type giveaway out of fear of somehow 'cheapening the collecting spirit.' But, honestly, I have cards coming out of places there shouldn't be cards. Don't worry, those will not end up in the giveaway. :-)

Some folks are already going to get cards that I haven't sent cards to in a while: The girls at Dinged corners are getting a nice selection based on their favorite criteria, John Across The Pond is getting a nice stack of Red Sox, and Kris is getting cards based on one of the criteria given for '12 days.'

But, I have GOT to share the cards I have with folks, or my wife is going to run me out of the house. so, like those overpriced lots on eBay, "My wife says it's me or the cards - one of us has to go!" The difference here is that I am giving these ones away!


Want some cards to start, build, or possibly complete your collection? They're yours! All ya gotta do is ask. If you want to send Tribers in return, that's great.. If you don't have any Tribers but want cards anyway, that's great, too. If you just want a box of cards because I'm offering them to anyone and everyone, that's perfect!

Seriously. Ask and ye shall receive. There is only one catch. well, three, really. The first is that you can request only by teams (sorry way too many cards to pick out certain players). second, you will most likely get doubles. Again, way too many cards to sort through and pick out doubles (no worries, I will make sure there is nothing on the scale of dayf's Alomar trick!). And last, there is no time frame. I have a lot of sorting to do and I'll send the cards out as I get shipping boxes, envelopes, etc.

I had actually thought of a fourth catch, but then I forgot what it was, so we'll leave it at three. :-) Oh, yeah, I remember. Sorry. The fourth is that there is no minimum or maximum card offer. You request the team(s) you'd like, and I'll put together a package based on those teams.

You are also welcome to request "Anything! Send me anything!" packages, too. In those cases, there is no telling what you'll get. :-) again, nothing on the duplicate scale of dayf's Alomars. That was pretty much a one-time thing. Or at least until the next trick-or-treat... LOL!!

So, shoot me an email (davidinark@yahoo.com or davidinark@gmail.com) with the subject something along the lines of "Are you CRAZY!? Send me free cards, man!!" and your mailing address (though I would venture to say I have many of your addresses by now through various other trades).