Trade with Ryan at "O" No!!! Another Orioles Blog

Around the time this blog was created, I was surfing various other blogs for ideas and stumbled upon Ryan at "O" No!!! Another Orioles Blog. As primarily a set and player collector, I really appreciated Ryan's blog set up which clearly shows a wantlist and tradelist. As such, we quickly agreed upon a trade which helped with the collection.

These three parallels add to my Southern California high school collection. Ryan McMahon was better known as a quarterback at Mater Dei. When I spoke to him at the Area Code Games in 2012, it was at the start of football "Hell Week". He mentioned that playing baseball was much more enjoyable than going through those first week conditioning workouts. Dominic Smith was the Mets first round pick last year. I got him to sign a custom card for me at Area Code Games; hopefully I will be able to pick up his certified autograph in the future. Jonathan Pettibone was an under-the-radar prospect in the Phillies system who made his big league debut last year. Good luck and best of health to the tall righty from Esperanza High.

Ryan also added these two mascot cards. Gapper was a 2012 set need and those are always appreciated. Is it just me or does anyone else think that the Opening Day inserts are much more interesting than the base product inserts?

Finally, I picked up these two 2014 Topps green border cards. Sure, the color scheme may be unsightly, but I try to pick these cards up whenever possible. Only 320 green cards away from the Series 1 set!

Thanks again to Ryan for the trade. I hope to do again in the future.

Rainbow of Goodness

I stumbled upon Alex at Chavez Ravining a week a so ago, and we were quickly able to come up with a trade that helped both sides. As a fan of the Angels, I checked and the last time the Dodgers and Angels made a deal was 1993. The trade? The immortal Reggie Williams for the equally memorable Mike James (check the stats; the Angels won that one!). I'm sure it won't be that long before Alex and I trade again.

 

 

Anyways, Alex sent over a beautiful array of colors to help with the various parallel sets I'm working on. Three purple refractors, 16 target reds, 3 red foils, and 8 topps yellows.

 



I would have to say that my favorite card in the bunch is this yellow Anthony Gose. One of my side collections is getting players who played high school ball in Southern California and Gose fits the bill. Gose played at Bellflower High and was drafted by the Phillies before being traded to the Astros in the Roy Oswalt deal. He was then traded that same day to the Blue Jays for Bret Wallace.

Thanks again Alex for the great trade and keep shopping at Target!

In Person Autograph - 1992 Upper Deck Mike Benjamin

Rummaging through some commons today at the local card shop, I stumbled upon this Mike Benjamin card which pictures him wearing a vintage "mini" glove in throwback Giants gear. Knowing that ASU was in the Southland, I really wanted to get this card signed. I made the trek across town and arrived just as the last out was made. Mike gladly signed outside the stadium and now I can add this oddball card to my IP autograph collection.

Diving In

Welcome! After surfing around and seeing a ton of amusing and interesting blogs, I've decided to join the ranks. Thanks to Marcus for encouraging me to set one up and to Ryan and Alex for some website tips. Definitely going to be a work in progress. My intent is to primarily use this site as a trade resource, but we'll see how things go.