2011 Topps Diamond Giveaway Haul

I had 25 of 28 cards shipped through the 2011 Topps Diamond Giveaway Web site for about $16 - the highlights were probably the three die-cuts; the rest are cardboard curiosities that I had delivered for whatever reason.

The oldest Topps card in my Diamond Giveaway collection was from 1959 and the newest non die-cut was from 1985 - the three cards I didn't get shipped included a 1982 Topps John D'Acquisto #58, a 1987 Topps Don Sutton #673 and a 1988 Topps Kirby Puckett All-Star subset card #391.

2011-BB-DDC-DDC-10 Howie Kendrick 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
2011-BB-DDC-DDC-11 Jered Weaver 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
2011-BB-DDC-DDC-25 Vladimir Guerrero 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1959-BB-TS1-194-NA Jim Brosnan 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1960-BB-TS1-113-NA Bob Skinner 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1972-BB-TS1-504-NA Ed Spiezio 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1973-BB-TS1-513-NA Dave Marshall 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1974-BB-TS1-455-NA Tom Bradley 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1974-BB-TS1-512-NA Joe Lahoud 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1976-BB-TS1-213-NA Dave Heaverlo RC 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1976-BB-TS1-32-NA Danny Frisella 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1978-BB-TS1-19-NA Darrell Porter 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1978-BB-TS1-301-NA Buddy Schultz RC 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1980-BB-TS1-137-NA John Castino RC 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1980-BB-TS1-97-NA Bill Lee 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1981-BB-TS1-170-NA Ross Grimsley 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1982-BB-TS1-356-NA Denny Lewallyn 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1982-BB-TS1-77-NA Miguel Dilone 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1984-BB-TS1-189-NA Tim Conroy 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1985-BB-TS1-3-NA Dwight Gooden RB 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1985-BB-TS1-630-NA Tim Raines 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1974-BB-TS1-96-NA Jerry Hairston RC 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1973-BB-TS1-439-NA Eddie Fisher 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1975-BB-TS1-542-NA Pete Broberg 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1981-BB-TS1-709-NA ALAN TRAMMELL DP 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED

Order # 308490-1 Order Date: 07/02/12 0299EDI
Shipping Method - USPS

2012 Bowman Platinum blaster recap

2012 Bowman Platinum blaster break [$19.99 each at a Target] - I like the refractor foil board finish of the base cards though perhaps I prefer, a lighter, brighter design.

Pack one
#11 Jose Reyes

#BPP 24 Starling Marte - looks like it has a refractor finish
#54 Evan Longoria
#71 Tim Hudson

Pack two
#17 Tyler Pastornicky
#62 Alex Gordon

#BPP 19 Brett Jackson - looks like an X-Fractor
#86 Ryan Zimmerman

Pack three
#75 Kevin Youkilis
#BPP 71 Zach Cone

#CES-1 Ichiro - Cutting Edge die-cut insert; the left hand corner of the back is creased.
#98 Freddie Freeman

Pack four
#83 Devin Mesoraco
#BPP 86 Cory Spangenberg
#26 James Shields - Gold parallel
#92 Wilin Rosario

Pack five

#78 Jered Weaver
#BPP 16 Billy Hamilton
#TP-JM Jake Marisnick - Top Prospects insert
#40 Ubaldo Jimenez

Pack six
#50 Josh Beckett
#BPP 98 Jordan Swaggerty
#34 Ryan Braun
#26 James Shields

Pack seven
#64 David Ortiz
#AP-TC Tyler Collins - certified autograph; blue ink on card

#35 Joey Votto - Ruby Red parallel
#10 Carlos Gonzalez

Pack eight

#16 Mike Trout
#BPP 92 Bryce Brentz

#89 Hanley Ramirez - Emerald parallel
#3 Liam Hendriks

Weighing in on Ichiro

I've been thinking about Ichiro's last couple of years - he's nearly 40, he can't get on-base, doesn't run as much, doesn't hit for any sort of pop anymore and getting to the 3,000 hit milestone as a MLB player seems like a pipe dream at this point.

Maybe the flair is still there and perhaps a desire to compile numbers - but maybe the nail in the coffin may have been his trade from the Seattle Mariners to the New York Yankees.

It doesn't compute anymore that is anywhere close to being a good player - it is sort of fascinating to see how he deals with what seems to be the tail end of his great professional baseball career, though it's sad that anything he good he does at this point seems to be a mirage and he's just seemingly hanging on after a 10-year period of metronomic excellence.

Featured autograph - Josh Hamilton

I got Hamilton to sign my 8x10 Photofile composite photo when the Rangers played the Angels this past weekend in Anaheim - even though he plays for a division rival, when the Rangers are in town, Hamilton is the guy to get since his stature in the game is larger than just your average superstar player.

He is treated as baseball royalty and actually getting his autograph in-person can be tough - with the number of people just wanting to reach out to him for a signature, shake his hand, take a photo op or tell him he is a role model.

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter's value pack recap

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter's Value Pack [$9.49 each at a Walmart]

Top section

Gold bordered mini parallel pack
#227 Michael Young
#213 Joe Nathan
#172 Chris Perez

First pack
#203 Ian Kinsler
#193 Jackie Joyner-Kersee
#235 Victor Martinez
#NNO Bruce Klugman - Murder in Willow Cove
#222 Yovani Gallardo - mini
#WIN 62 Jered Weaver - What's in a Name? insert

Bottom section

First pack
#97 Max Scherzer
#145 Drew Storen
#36 Kirk Herbstreit
#HTP 14 The Emancipation Proclamation - Historical Turning Points insert
#120 Mariano Rivera - mini
#WIN 47 Jacoby Ellsbury - What's in a Name? insert
Murder in Willow Cove - info card

Second pack
#263 Jason Motte
#137 George Brett
#AGR-CP Carlos Pena - framed relic card
#ML-17 Duke of Marlborough - World's Greatest Military Leaders mini
#305 Wilin Rosario - SP

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter's jumbo pack recap

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter's Jumbo Pack [$5.19 each at a Target] - I could probably pick up a hand collated set on Ebay, but I haven't gone into the site in a while since I don't use Paypal.

I might have to use primitive and more expensive ways of gathering 2012 Allen and Ginter's base cards for my in-person autograph endeavors - which is through loose pack purchases and maybe digging around quarter boxes.

Top section
#52 Cameron Maybin
#196 Lou Gehrig
#20 Miguel Montero
#160 Shane Victorino
#240 Steve Lombardozzi - mini
#WIN 37 Jason Heyward - What's in a Name? insert

Bottom section
#249 Phil Hughes
#239 Liam Hendriks
#241 Andrew Bailey
#304 Kyle Farnsworth - SP
#GS-13 Gray Whale - Giants of the Deep mini
#WT-B7 Chrysler Building - World's Tallest Buildings insert

2012 Topps Series II 72-card retail hanger box recap

I impulsively picked one up from Target after being inspired by this post on another card blog - the one per box Golden Giveaway code yielded a Rickey Henderson die-cut card, which was a nice surprise.

Featured autographs - Derek Jeter and Paul Konerko

Among the people who try to get autographs, I'm probably known as an in-person autograph collector who tries gets mostly cards signed - but I've gotten my share of baseballs for my collection; probably too many to count and keep track of.

Two of my favorite baseballs I've gotten signed in-person from this past year and in 2011 are these two pictured - one from New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and one from Chicago White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko.

I've gotten their autographs before but had not actually gotten the opportunity to do so again in recent years - I hadn't snagged a Jeter in about 15 years and hadn't gotten a Konerko in about six years, so I was pretty happy to be able to get something 'inked up' by the two veteran MLB players.

Digging through quarter boxes at the card shop - a redundant ritual practiced

I build up a stack of cards from several quarter boxes at the card shop I go to - a silly ritual I obsess over is playing which cards I'm going to whittle away from my stack.

I wonder why I just don't spend whatever it takes to pick up a whole stack of cards to flip through instead of putting cards back for whatever reason - maybe it's just one of those quirks where I don't see much value in spending more on cards that are not going to be worth anything more than what they are.

2011 Bowman Chrome Tim Hudson #58 - refractor
2011 Bowman Chrome Hunter Pence #77 - refractor
2011 Bowman Chrome Franklin Gutierrez #110 - refractor
2011 Bowman Chrome Brandon Morrow #139 - refractor
2012 Topps Casper Wells #526 x2
2012 Topps Ichiro #537
2012 Topps Brandon Dickson #559
2012 Topps Tony Campana #580 x2
2012 Topps Nelson Cruz #TM-74 - 1987 Topps Mini insert
2012 Topps Archives Ryan Braun #10
2012 Topps Archives Jim Palmer #81 - SP
2012 Topps Archives Jose Bautista #110
2012 Topps Archives Dave Kingman #206 - SP
2011 Topps Archives Wally Joyner #211 - SP
2012 Topps Archives Mitch Williams #214 - SP
2012 Topps Archives John Kruk #222 - SP
2012 Topps Archives Ron Gant #228 - SP
2012 Topps Heritage Ron Washington #102
2012 Topps Heritage Chase Headley #110
2012 Topps Heritage World Series Foes #331 - featuring Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols
2012 Topps Heritage Chipper Jones #347
2012 Topps Heritage Early Wynn #BF-EW - Baseball Flashbacks insert
2012 Topps Heritage Valentina Tereshkova #NF-VT - News Flashbacks insert

Where is Albert at this point?

With the emergence of Mark Trumbo as a potential All-Star, at times I wonder if the Angels needed Albert Pujols - by his sheer accomplisments alone, Pujols makes the Angels brand better; he never takes a play off, run the bases well, plays defense adepty and still has the ability to change any particular game.

On the other hand, he's put up pedestrian numbers in the first half of 2012 and has been a disappointment of sorts- I'm always checking to see his numbers on ESPN.com, wondering if his numbers are going to be in line with what he's put up with his old team.

I'm still kind of wondering where is that prolonged streak when he carries the team for two or three weeks at a time - I'm hoping he finishes up with some strong numbers but at times I feel like I've got more confidence in other guys putting up numbers.

For Pujols to 'salvage' his first season in Anaheim in the second half - he is probably going to have to put up an MVP run in the second half and do a combination of the following.

- He needs to have a couple of 10 home run months and at least five multi-home run games - at times it seems like his ability to crush the ball on a regular basis has been sapped and it would be cool to see him tee off on some pitchers.

- He needs a long hitting streak [maybe 20 or more games] - I haven't really seen where Pujols has been consistently great, so he needs to be on a roll where he's pushing his batting average up to about .300 and make it seem like he's getting hits in 15-20 consecutive games.

- He needs to push his on base percentage closer to .380 and his slugging percentage closer to .550 - those might not be vintage Pujols numbers in those areas, but if he gets to putting up an .930 OPS, it's a reminder that he is still in the mix as of the top commodities in Major League Baseball.

Featured autograph - Billy Hamilton

Billy Hamilton of the Bakersfield Blaze signed my 2011 Topps Heritage Minor League card last Sunday - in about two seasons, he has stolen about 200 bases.

I can't really explain the impact of Hamilton's base stealing feats, so perhaps this article from the Hardball Times - may put things into some context as far as the value of stolen bases and what Hamilton has accomplished so far.

My autograph day - three distinguished, but random baseball guys

I decided to see what was going on with the in-person graphing scene since [as a baseball autograph collector] it's been a dry spell for me the last couple of weeks - I went to Angel Stadium and was able to get three guys before Sunday's day game, until leaving early to go to my sister's house for Father's Day lunch.

Mike Scioscia (1) - I got him to sign a 1991 Score card I probably should have gotten inked up two weeks ago; missed out on the Arizona Diamondbacks players [and some of their notable coaches like Matt Williams and Alan Trammell] while waiting for Angels to drive in.

Eric Young 1/2 - they were the same 2000 Topps card, so he maybe 'no dupes' or his limit is one.

Don Baylor (1) - I like how his autograph looked on the 1982 K-Mart card, though I wish I had an original Topps card for him to sign, even though I've gotten him at least several times in the past 10 years.

Featured autograph - C.J. Wilson

I hadn't gotten Angels starting pitcher C.J. Wilson's autograph at all in the 2012 MLB season but was finally able to catch him as he signed before a game during the Angels last homestand - Wilson was on the phone, apparently talking to a local high school pitcher named Kyle Twomey while signing autographs.

As Wilson took items to be signed - he told the fans waiting to congratulate Twomey for being drafted [by the Oakland Athletics].

Featured autograph - Torii Hunter

Hopefully Torii Hunter's monster series [9-for-15 with three home runs and nine RBI] in Colorado will be a sign of things to come - after dealing with personal issues and some rustiness when he finally came back to the Angels, it's nice to have him come through big for the team this past weekend.

Autograph request through the mail received: Jeff Torborg

Jeff Torborg c/o home - the former MLB player and manager personalized and signed two cards in black ink and kept a 2003 Topps I sent; this request was mailed 12/7/11 and received on 6/4/12.

Featured autograph - Mike Trout

Mike Trout 1/2 - I was able to get his autograph in-person recently and even though he was on the phone talking with someone, he saw my 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen and said, "that's a nice card, I haven't seen that one before."

Random thoughts - Tim Lincecum

While I can't ever feel like he does stepping onto the mound as a Major League starting pitcher, I guess I can emphathize with Tim Lincecum's struggles in 2012 - I keep thinking no matter how hard he wants to blow the ball past hitters and grind starts out, the pitches he is throwing are misfiring and he's getting smacked around.

Is this the beginning of the end for the two time Cy Young Award winner [?] - as much as Lincecum has been built up as a superstar over the last two or three years, it goes without saying that the reason we remember the name is because of all the work he's done to as a 'freakish' athlete who worked against the odds to be a master of his craft.

2012 Bowman hobby three pack recap

2012 Bowman three pack break [$3.25 each from a card shop] - I was fortunate to pull a Blue parallel of Albert Pujols since he is one of 'my guys.'

Pack one
#160 R.A. Dickey
#175 Starlin Castro
#5 Brennan Boesch
#BCP 68 Jeff Malm - Chrome
#BCP 12 Rafael Ortega - Chrome
#9 Cole Hamels - Gold parallel
#BP 63 Todd McInnis
#BP 1 Justin Nicolino
#164 Max Scherzer
#81 Eric Hosmer

Pack two
#207 Adron Chambers
#102 Clay Buchholz
#BCP 62 Kes Carter - Chrome
#BCP 41 Zach Walters - Chrome
#167 Asdrubal Cabrera - Gold parallel
#49 Albert Pujols - Blue parallel serial #'d 251/500
#BP 81 Taylor Whitenton
#BP 55 Jose Vinicio
#202 Tyler Pastornicky
#3 Jered Weaver

Pack three
#138 Heath Bell
#197 Michael Fiers
#BCP 37 Michael Crouse - Chrome
#35 Aroldis Chapman - Gold parallel
#BB 23 Josh Hamilton - Bowman's Best insert
#BP 98 Greg Bird
#BP 84 Bryan Brickhouse
#BP 50 Jose Valverde
#41 B.J. Upton
#169 Stephen Strasburg

2012 Topps Archives blaster recap

2012 Topps Archives blaster recap [$19.99 each from a Target]

Pack one
#55 Jesus Montero
#106 Alex Gordon
#39 Jackie Robinson
#157 Carlos Gonzalez
#NNO Mickey Mantle - 1968 Topps 3D insert
#188 Vance Worley
#32 Adam Jones
#82 Jose Reyes

Pack two
#89 Lou Gehrig
#142 Ozzie Smith
#189 Babe Ruth

#35 Zack Greinke - Archives Base Gold Rainbow Foilboard parallel; looks peculiarly green when scanned.
#237 Robin Ventura
#134 Chris Carpenter
#183 Dan Uggla
#24 Lance Berkman

Pack three
#45 Carlos Ruiz
#96 Phil Rizzuto
#15 Madison Bumgarner
#193 Lonnie Chisenhall

#77C-GB George Brett - 1977 Topps Cloth insert
#90 Joe Mauer
#126 Rickie Weeks
#176 Eric Hosmer

Pack four
#146 Jarrod Parker
#73 Shaun Marcum
#132 Ben Zobrist
#181 Matt Cain

#337 Joe Morgan - 1967 Topps reprint insert
#9 Brett Gardner
#60 Mariano Rivera
#109 Catfish Hunter

Pack five

#25 Dan Haren
#75 Reggie Jackson
#127 Evan Longoria
#20 Robinson Cano

#77C-EH Eric Hosmer - 1977 Topps Cloth insert
#160 Prince Fielder
#3 Jered Weaver
#91 Ted Lilly

Pack six
#64 Derek Holland
#115 Gio Gonzalez
#166 C.C. Sabathia
#6 Paul Goldschmidt

#28 Brooks Robinson - 1960 Topps reprint insert
#38 Billy Butler
#88 Mike Schmidt
#138 Joe DiMaggio

Pack seven
#40 Nelson Cruz
#57 Josh Beckett
#108 Cliff Lee
#159 David Price

#67S-DJ Derek Jeter - 1967 Topps Stickers insert
#99 Brandon Belt
#149 Dustin Ackley
#196 Andrew Bailey

Pack eight
#177 Shane Victorino
#66 Andrew McCutchen
#117 George Brett
#168 Carlos Santana

#229 Roger McDowell - 1987 Topps reprint card back insert
#103 Ricky Romero
#153 Felix Hernandez
#48 Grady Sizemore
Cal Ripken Jr. 2131 Orioles Topps Pennant info card

Google account disabled due to suspicious activity ...

I tried logging onto Blogger on Monday but couldn't because my Google account was apparently disabled - I balked at giving Google my phone number to send a verification code; but felt like I was being scammed when they wanted credit card information in an e-mail sent to me after I'd already answered some questions like when I first started using Google and some of their services [Docs, Blogger, Picasa, et al].

I started to panic when I realized there might not be a 'quick fix,' I might not ever get my Google account back and my blogging on Card Buzz maybe lost forever - I caved in to send my phone number and within a few minutes, an automated call was made to my phone with a verification code...there was my quick fix...

After entering the verification code with my user name / password, it looks like my account intact - though I don't know what caused the 'suspicious activity,' so I went ahead and changed my password.

Featured autograph - Mark Trumbo

I would have never guessed Mark Trumbo would have better numbers than teammate Albert Pujols at this point of the season - Angels fans love this guy and in just his second full MLB season, he's producing just right at his prime.

2012 Bowman retail three pack blister recap

2012 Bowman three pack blister [$9.49 each at a Target] - the white borders in this year's Bowman base set make the set look a little less claustrophobic.

The metronomic black borders that was a trademark of Bowman had gotten stale and it's nice to change things up this year - even it's just the borders of the base cards.

Purple border pack
#BP 73 Will Swanner
#BP 107 Joe Ross
#BP 1 Justin Nicolino

Pack one
#8 Paul goldschmidt
#113 Yovani Gallardo
#160 R.A. Dickey
#BCP 31 Nick Maronde - Chrome
#BCP 89 Austin Hedges - Chrome
#145 Brandon Phillips - Gold parallel
#BP 79 Josh Bell
#BP 36 Michael Brady
#33 Chris Young
#176 Ichiro

Pack two
#175 Starlin Castro
#5 Brennan Boesch
#BCP 94 Charlie Tilson - Chrome
#BCP 104 Joc Pederson - Chrome
#172 Bud Norris - Gold parallel
#98 Nyjer Morgan - International parallel
#BP 78 Nick Castellanos
#BP 43 Rookie Davis
#23 Colby Rasmus
#28 Mat Latos

Pack three - first pack I actually opened and looking at the last card to start off the pack, it looked like I got a base Yu Darvish.

#106 Pedro Alvarez
#167 Asdrubal Cabrera
#BCP 17 Tyler Austin - Chrome
#BCP 9 Eddie Rosario - Chrome
#71 Hanley Ramirez - Gold parallel
#BP 24 J.R. Graham
#BP 89 Austin Hedges
#121 Neftali Feliz
#133 Gio Gonzalez
#209 Yu Darvish

Ticket stub from Albert Pujols' first home run as an Angel

I wish I could say I was there to watch Albert Pujols' first home run, but I'd tagged along with my buddy to a card show instead of staying to watch the game on Sunday - so I had to go see the moment on TV instead of in-person.

At least I was able to save the ticket stub from the game - unlike 10-12 years ago, game tickets are left intact since it's all about scanning the barcode.

Pujols still is hitting about .200 on the year - but here is hoping he can start to snap out of his season long funk.

Featured autograph - Donn Roach

My friend had a couple more cards [he always has a 'couple more cards' of minor league guys he needs to get signed] from the stash he gets from his card pimp overseas - so when we went to a minor league game in the California League last weekend, I got Roach to sign my friend's cards.

I would have never known this recently traded Angel farmhand [probably going from Inland Empire to Lake Elsinore] played junior college baseball with some guy named Harper in Nevada a couple of years ago - even though it says on the write-up on the back of the card I got signed.

Featured autograph - Ernesto Frieri

I don't know if I could pronounce or spell this guy's last name to save my life - but the Angels traded a couple of prospects [Alexi Amarista and Donn Roach] to get him from the San Diego Padres.

Frieri might only throw in the low 90s but looks like he's done a pretty good job - as he's gotten an extended role in the Padres' bullpen the last couple of years.

Hopefully what it means is he gives the Angels bullpen some depth and breathing room - I can think of only Scott Downs and perhaps LaTroy Hawkins as the Angels' relievers worth handling the ball over.

With respect to the other guys - they are either old, unproven or ineffective.

Jered Weaver - no-no

I was hoping to make out to Angel Stadium for Wednesday night's game, hoping if Jered Weaver pitched well, maybe he'd sign autographs after the game - I think tickets were less than a buck on StubHub through early Wednesday.

I guess I picked the wrong day not to go to an Angels game - with Weaver throwing a no-hitter against the hapless Minnesota Twins and really just reaffirming himself as the Halos ace.

Featured autograph - Wei-Yin Chen

Baltimore Orioles rookie Wei-Yin Chen signed this baseball a couple of weeks ago - I didn't really know much about him, except he's a Taiwanese import who played in Japan to start his professional baseball career.

Who knows how he'll hold up but he's been impressive for the upstart Orioles so far in 2012 - I wanted his autograph on the sweet spot but he signed it on a panel and I realized that maybe the way he has signed baseballs in his life as a ballplayer.

If he decides or is taught to sign with a more traditional Western style autograph - maybe he'll be able to sign on the sweet spot like how collectors of single-signed baseballs likes them.