I got that bling bling ring thing!

Diamond Giveaway: I own you now!

I finally received enough codes to push me past the 45-code threshold, and that exclusive set is mine! I'll be requesting shipment on that and some of my cards in the next day or so (I'll tell you which ones once the order's complete). Meanwhile, I have a little story to tell.

Getting 45 codes is not easy if you aren't busting cases. I did a good job with series 1, getting 15 codes all through packs. Series 2 was a little tougher, but I still managed to get that 30th code after finding one at a card show. But Update was very difficult. Money's tighter, and I bought nowhere near as much Update as I did Series 1 and 2 packs. With my deadline quickly approaching - I doubt I'll have my cards by January 9 even if I requested them tonight - I hit eBay to get ripped off.

I finally won an auction for six code cards - $9.99 plus $5 shipping. That's less than $3 a code (the approximate average going rate). I figured if I could get the seller to email me the codes after paying, I'd get a real good deal. The seller was firm that the cards had to be mailed (um, wtf?), though he offered to ship for $3 instead of $5. After multiple requests for a proper invoice so I could get the rate he promised, I gave up and paid $5 for shipping. Whatever.

The cards came today in a manila envelope, wrapped in a sheet of paper. I'm not sure if it was his fault or the post office, but the cards were bent to shit. Have a look at the envelope:

Thankfully, the cards don't matter (all I wanted were codes) and the codes were intact (and worked). After all this crap - negative feedback is in order. For $5 shipping, he could have used a bubble envelope. His shipping rates (even at 6 cards in one lot) are very high, and his communication was poor (given the lack of sending a proper invoice after several requests). Am I wrong for thinking this? Make your case below - I'll be leaving him feedback soon. I rarely leave negatives, but this experience has been quite negative for me. Heck, there's a seller that's sending me a third package in order to get the right cards to me, and I'm planning on leaving him positive feedback, because he's trying to rectify the situation quickly and properly.

Anyway, I entered the codes and it must have been vintage day. Here's what I unlocked:

 1969? Great start!

 A nice action 1975? Awesome!

 Eh, 1980? At least it's not 2009.

 Hey! A good pitcher! But it's 1986!

 That's much better!

 Yeah! The 1960s wallpaper set!

Wait, that's 7 cards! Where'd this great 1971 card come from? Why, Zippy Zappy! He gave me a code (back when I needed them) to help me reach 45 and I just now entered it. Not a bad card to unlock.

So a great set of cards unlocked, and 45 rings reached for my full set and some cards shipped free! Once Zippy Zappy finishes up our trades (if he hasn't already; I'm writing this post 33 hours before it goes live) (I'm getting two cards he wants delivered with my order) it's off to request delivery!

And then, after Christmas, any ring offers will just be automatically accepted. I can't wait to see if I get any offers for the cards I leave in my account, too.

(Have you ever noticed that I use parentheses a lot?) Apparently I don't use them quite correctly, since I don't have complete thoughts in half of them. Oh well, it's a writing tool. P.S. lady, a better way of saying, "Picking blackberries (I'm sure you will agree with me) is a tasty pastime" would be, "Picking blackberries is a tasty pastime. I'm sure you will agree with me." This video is annoying. Let's watch something better. A new WolfgoreShow video! (I think I still have some old ones in my videos-to-post queue!) (Hey, a complete thought in a set of parantheses! I used them correctly! And again! Wow! Learning is fun!)

P.S. If you think I indulge in mind-altering substances, you're wrong. I just enjoy really strange videos. (And that's two P.S. comments in the same post. And another set of parentheses.)

Diamond Giveaway Insanity - Ryne Sandberg is HOT

If someone offered you 127 cards for a single non-black diamond die cut, would you take it?

crumberger really wants my Ryno. The oldest card is, obviously, from 1971 (there are three), but about a third of the offer is 1970s. There's some scrub diamond die-cut at the bottom of the offer, too. Am I going to accept the offer? Nope. But that's just crazy - how long did it take to check off all 127 cards in his portfolio for this one request?

The other offer you see (I've already declined the other 140 or so offers in the portfolio) is from plockhead, for three diecuts - Scherzer, King Felix, and someone else. I'm keeping that one as a debatable offer, but really I would rather turn the Sandberg around for a black die-cut.

About half the offers I receive are for that one card. I have 36 cards in my portfolio, going back to 1958. I've been offered 1953 Topps cards for the Sandberg, but I've declined them. cardboardicons, I see you with your 15 different (nice) offers, but without a black diecut, I gotta decline them all. Maybe if someone offered me two nice legends - perhaps two of the following: Schmidt, Gwynn, Griffey Jr, Frank Thomas, or Nolan Ryan - I'd pull the trigger.

Heh, Homer's got crabs. Nobody better lay a finger on my Ryno!

Topps Diamond Giveaway: I've got a case of the Mondays.

Office Space. Great movie.

Okay, enough of that. What's the point of all those videos? I'll tell you: I entered my 41st Diamond Giveaway code tonight, and unlocked this card:

I don't need it for my set, so I'm going to trade it for another '73 I need. Which will be tough, thanks to Jim's awesome help with the set - I have 53% of it, with almost all the low-numbered commons done. We'll see if someone's interested in giving me some higher-numbered scrub for one of Chicago's finest. By the way, Jim - I have a nice Christmas present for you, so we need to grab a beer sometime before I head across the Pacific.

As for the dig, this one was a Washington Senators legacy team ring. This puts me at 41 rings, all unique. Four to go!

Oh, crap, it's December. Happy December, everyone! If that means anything to any of you!

Topps Diamond Giveaway Site - Update with a RYNO of a good pull!

It seems like the downtime did some good for Topps's Diamond Giveaway site. Perhaps they moved it to a new server, or replaced parts on the old one that were causing problems. Maybe they rewrote the code so the site is more efficient. Or perhaps, collectors had given up for a while on the site. Logging in around 1:30 AM Sunday morning, the site ran as fast as it ever has, and I have 112 offers for my cards - about the same quantity as I had before the site went down. They might be the same offers as before. Within a week, we'll have a good idea about how the site is really functioning.

That said, I need five more codes to reach 45 rings. I don't care about the cards, and I believe once I reach 45 rings and have the set shipped to me, all my cards are shipped for free. Can someone please verify this?

If this is true, and you have codes to enter, I'd love to take them off your hands. I'll let you know what cards I unlock and I'll be sure to forward them on to you if you want delivery (or I'll trade them to you), just so I can get that silly Diamond Anniversary set with the super-cool extra foil stamping!

Speaking of entering codes, I haven't really updated you on the ten codes I entered so far since Update has been released. Here are the cards I thought enough of to screen-capture (I missed one).

 Hrm. Vintage 1970s is acceptable. If I had to pay for it, I wouldn't request delivery though.

 Likewise with the 1980s stuff. Joey's Mc-Laughin at me.

 Another 1976? I wonder if I was smart about trading my cards, if I could somehow accumulate an entire 1976 set through the Diamond Giveaway site.

 1982 again? What is UP with THAT?!

 Wow! Now that's the ticket! You wouldn't believe the number of offers I've had for this card. People are offering me all sorts of stacks of cards, including offers of 1953 cards. I will gladly trade Ryno here away for any black diamond die-cut, though - player doesn't matter.

 Okay! Back to back greatness! It's probably the weakest 1950s Topps set, but it's 1950s!

 And then, the not-Jr! In super-awesome 1975ness!

 Aw, okay, that couldn't last forever.

And let's end on a weak note - yet another 1982. I wonder if Topps bought back a big lot of 1976 and 1982 cards right before Update was released.

Again, I need five more code cards. All I care about are the rings, so you're welcome to any of the cards I unlock. I'll even toss in some of these 1980s beauties, if I don't have to pay for delivery. I also want a black diamond die cut of any player. If you have one to offer, talk to me. I have regular die-cuts of:

• Marlon Byrd
• Martin Prado
• Heath Bell
• Jered Weaver
• and of course, Ryne Sandberg

I need at least one for my type collection, but I'll entertain offers for a black die-cut! 

Topps Diamond Giveaway Site

Okay, seriously, this is pissing me off. I don't know what's going on, but the usually slow Topps Diamond Giveaway website is now essentially non-functional. It loads slowly if at all. I'm getting error messages just trying to browse through trade offers. Making an offer takes about as long as writing a symphony, and accepting a trade offer only results in errors.

I know to expect slower service during peak times - evenings and weekends especially - but I was trying to complete a trade at 2AM last night and couldn't get it to go through, and now at 11AM I'm having the same problems and worse. The site wouldn't even load the first time I tried getting to it.

This type of poor design is a huge turn-off for me, and I'm sure other collectors. Why should I continue to buy Topps products to obtain codes for a website that doesn't even work? I need nine more codes to reach 45 rings, so I'm going to reach my goal, but this experience just means that next year I'm not even bothering with the code cards.

The French are glad to die for love...

Oh, if only I had more time to spend with this post. I'll revisit it sometime and do the full concept I was thinking about.

Meanwhile, while Nicole Kidman does her take on a classic, I'll provide you with some related baseball card content!

Yesterday wasn't too bad of a day. The weather was nice and I was up relatively early, so I took my season pass and spent a couple hours at one of the local theme parks. If I was independently wealthy, I'd probably spend half my time traveling, half that time on roller coasters, and half my time with baseball cards. Traveling (and everything that goes with that - eating at new places, going to amusement parks, photography, discovering new and exciting things) and baseball card collecting are my two biggest interests. Anyway, I digress. After flipping upside down a few dozen times, it was getting hot and crowds were getting crowdier so I headed back home, but not before stopping at a Target to check out their baseball card stash.

Oh, how I wish the Targets nearest me were as well-stocked as this one. And oh, how I wish this one had Bowman Platinum. There was Heritage in several packaging formats, Gypsy Queen looseys, Topps 1 and 2 in various formats, and even some Ginter looseys. For the first time in the Bay Area, I saw a couple value boxes - they're smaller than the first time they were released. Knowing that I have plenty of Ginter on the way, being essentiallydone with Heritage and Topps 1, and wanting a pack fix, I figured it was best to go with some Topps 2. I grabbed one of the four-packs with a code card, and two rack packs.

I'll save you from the scans. I'm kind of lazy right now anyway. I knocked out 10 of my base card needs, one Kimball, and two 60 Years of Cards Your Mom Archived. That means I have a new large stack of extras - base and inserts. As I work through trades I'll check your want lists again.

In addition to the guaranteed Diamond Giveaway code, I pulled one from a rack pack.

What did I get?

For nearly two decades, Bill Robinson traveled a bit, playing for the Braves, Yankees, Phillies, Pirates, and Phillies again. His career highlight is winning a World Series championship as a player in this year, 1979, with this team, the Pirates. He would go on to coach with the Mets and Marlins, winning a World Series ring as a coach with each team (1986 and 2003, respectively). He also coached with the Yankees and Phillies, and managed in the Venezuelan League. He died in 2007 in his hotel room as a hitting coordinator for the Dodgers minor league system. Playing-wise, he wasn't great, a career .258 hitter with 166 home runs and 641 RBIs.

The die has been cast again! This time, Josh Beckett, obviously (I take it you can see his name in the screenshot). This makes my fourth die cut - I also have Martin Prado, Alex Rios, and Heath Bell. Within an hour of unlocking the Beckett I had a trade offer for someone wanting it in return for a second Rios. Yeah, I think that's a DECLINE. However, if anyone wants my Rios I'll trade it for pretty much any other die cut out there. I really want a black diamond card for my Zoo collection, but so far I've been shut out on trades. I've not really made any spectacular offers but I'm only asking for the scrubs like any player on the A's or Wandy Rodriguez (or even Alex Rios). I'm considering offering up Rios, Prado, and Bell for a black. What do you think?

More cards came in the mail these past few days. I'll play show and tell this weekend.

Stuck in the Past

Earlier this week, I made a run to Target for a couple things on my shopping list, hoping to maybe find some A&G to open for the fun of it. Well, no A&G, of course, but there was Topps Series 2 on the shelves, and since I'm still not done with the set, I figured I could pick up a few packs and add to my ring collection with a code card. I grabbed two rack packs and a four-pack blister with a code card.

Only later I realized the two rack packs were from series 1. Not only that, they contained no code cards. They were a total bust, except for a few cards someone needs in a recent trade.

The blister pack wasn't much better for my base set, though I received two inserts I needed for the sets I'm collecting. The highlight of the series 2 packs was the two code cards (one guaranteed, one in packs). Here's what I unlocked:

 They call him Big Popo. That's a lot of fans in the stands, there, buddy.

And a little older.

Vintage is always nice! I'm trying to trade for a black diamond cut of anybody, but I don't think I'm going to have any luck. My digs didn't uncover anything great - two doubles, actually - but I traded the Ruth extra ring for a Gehrig, and I'm going to see if I can pawn the Tigers ring for another team. It's all about the number of unique rings, after all, and I have 26 unique rings right now (soon to be 27, I hope). I need that magic 45 number to get my set. I figure if I get 3 more code cards from series 2, I'll be on track for the Update code cards to finish me off.

Diamond Giveaway - Series 2's First Pulls

If you've been following my happenings since Wednesday, you know I opened four $10 boxes from Target and pulled four code cards (as expected). So what did I pull?

First, I've been unlucky at unlocking diamond die-cuts, so I put together a trade that was accepted for an Alex Rios. When I opened the page to enter codes, I saw this:

Apparently Alex Rios has put on so much weight in the off-season they had to put him on a horizontal card.

Now on to the cards:

1979, at least it's over thirty years old.

Hey, Diamond! A little late. But that's okay. That means that I'll trade the Pence or Rios for a Giants diamond die cut, or a Tony Gwynn or Nolan Ryan if there's one available. Not that anyone's really willing to trade for either of them.

Awesome! Nothing says Topps code redemptions like 1987. I think the 1987 design is better than 1961, but I guarantee I won't be getting this card delivered. You want it? Make an offer, I'll accept it. Just tell me first since I don't keep up with the site.

But wait, it gets better:

That's right, more junk wax era stuff I won't get mailed to me! I already have this card. Again, if you want it, it's yours!

I have 21 rings now, but pulled a couple duplicates today. I've stuck them up for trade for Braves rings since I don't have any. Now to get my series 2 set completed...

My 2011 Topps Series 2 cards needed and for trade are listed on this page.

Continuing from yesterday's post, here are the other six codes. To refresh your memory, the oldest card was from 1969. So, what do we have in store today?

First, I get:

Hey! 1964! And the Colts! Wait, they don't exist anymore. Well, not by that name. That's kinda cool. Gerald Grote and Larry Yellen rookie stars - a brand new battery for the Colts. Wait. Gerald Grote? His name is Jerry Grote. Playing from 1963-1981, he was a part of two all-star teams with the Mets. He had a career average of .252, but probably is most famous for being a part of the 1969 Miracle Mets. Larry Yellen, on the other hand, would pitch in a total of 14 games by the end of 1964, never to be heard of again.

And it can only get better, right?

Okay, at least it's older than I am. And he's got a 'fro. Take that hat off and show the 'fro, bro! Enos Cabell played from 1972 to 1986, with a career batting average of .277. 

And from there we go to:

Awesome! 1962! Tom Morgan got his start with the Yankees in 1951, ending his career in 1963 with the Angels. 1961 was his best year, and this card commemorates that (granted, he was generally a middle reliever after the first few years). His career ERA of 3.61 isn't that amazing, and he never won any awards.

Well, that's great, what's next!

Oh. Well, I thought maybe after '62 I would get maybe a '52 Mantle. Or not. Francisco Barrios played his entire career ('74-81) as a starting pitcher with the White Sox, with a 38-38 record and a 4.15 ERA.

Okay, now we have:

Another '79. Alan Ashby, now a commentator, had a career average of .245 over 17 seasons with the Indians, Blue Jays, and mainly the Astros.

Okay, I had six codes to redeem, so the sixth is:

Another '79! That's a total of 3 cards from the 1979 set. Larry Cox, another catcher? That's three catchers (and six pitchers). Cox played from '73 to '82, with 4 different teams, and he changed teams five times, because he played with the Cubs in '78, between stints with Seattle, and returned to the Cubs to close out his career. So, maybe he's walking from one team dugout to another in this picture. He batted .221 as mostly a backup catcher.

Well, that was my last code. Again with the ring digging, I got stuff. Again, does it matter? You just need all 60 different rings to get all the prizes. Out of the 12 rings I've dug up, I have one duplicate (Angels). I have a $10 gift card to the Topps store - not sure what I can use that for.

I'm not sure what that next prize is - custom skin-it? Oh, I see. I can put a team logo on my iPod, or maybe my laptop? Okay, fine. I would like to get to the 45-level prize - the complete set. I'm guessing that some of the rings are limited, though, to reduce the number of sets and rings (60-level prize) they have to give away.

I would like to pull a die-cut card, for my collection.

Hrm. This is kind of like a lottery. An expensive lottery - if you pay for the codes, or pay to have 25-cent cards shipped to you. But it's kind of fun.

Diamond Giveaway - my first five codes

Over the past month I've managed to pull 11 of the diamond giveaway code cards. I've been putting off redeeming them, but now is a great time to take my first stroll through the digital card universe.

After registering (I never bought any cards with the 2010 codes), I set to enter five of my 11 codes. (Well, I entered them all at once, but I'm splitting this into two posts.)

So, without any more delay, here's what I got:

Not a bad start. Not a great start. At least it's not from 1987. Don Robinson played from '78 to '92, including the San Francisco Giants back when I first started collecting cards here in the bay area. He had a 109-106 record with a 3.79 ERA.

Next up,

Another 1980 Topps card? Playing from '71 to '88, George Hendrick had a respectable career batting average of .278, and hit 267 home runs.

And then:

Jackpot! Or, bust! In four years, plus two games, Justin Thompson had a 36-43 record and 4.02 ERA. He was named to the all-star team in 1997, a year he had a 3.02 ERA and his only winning season (15-10). Playing for Detroit didn't help with that.

After that greatness, we unlock:

A 10 year old card! Hey, that's an HTA logo on the card. Does that mean if I have this card delivered I get an HTA card too? Jeff Cirillo played from 1994-2007, was named to two all-star teams, had a career batting average of .296, and took home a division ring in his last year with Arizona.

My last card from this group of five was

Now we're talking! Something from the '60s. Sure, late '60s, but the '60s. Now that's a boring card design. Deron Johnson played from 1960 to 1976, taking off the 1963 season. He batted .244 lifetime. Nice hair.

I dug for rings, and came up with, well, rings. And after entering five codes I get one free, which was:

Back to more recent stuff. Wilbur Wood was a three-time all-star, playing from 1961-1978. Yeah, this is his last card. Or should be. I didn't actually research this to find out. He had a career ERA of 3.24, with a record of 164-156. He won 20 or more games four times (in a row), when he became a starter. You see, he was a reliever until 1971 (his first 20-win season). In fact, that year, he had an ERA of 1.91, second only to his relief-filled 1968 season ERA of 1.87. There were a few better pitchers in '71 - he finished third in Cy Young voting to Vida Blue and Mickey Lolich. And then, in '72, second to Gaylord Perry. 

As for rings, does it really matter? I have six different rings. That's all that matters. I'll enter my other six codes tomorrow!