All the Way to a Great Haul

Mustard and Brown. What does that have to do with the Home of the Toddfather? Well, it means my 2013 Series One is almost complete!

Marcus from All the Way to the Backstop send me a huge stack of the flagship to cut my needs to 23. A little note, I've never completed a base set in less than 6 months. So close!

Of course, the inserts are a different story. If you have some to spare, check out my want list. I'd love the help.

Now back to the reason for the post...my treasures from Marcus...

Starting of course with the notables. I know everyone is watching Dylan Bundy in this years rookie class, but I'm anxious to see what Tyler Skaggs can bring to the D'Backs. I've seen him sparingly since I'm obviously not in that market. I am impressed with what I have seen, though.

Got the usual suspects as well. Reyes, Kimbrel, King Felix, Zimmerman, and my man Dan!

I really like these throwback uni cards. I have never been a big fan, but the card design draws me in to the goodness that is old-school duds.

The great, and awkward, shots from the group. Love the Kipnis mid-air turning two. Kearns holds the record for biggest dip in the set thus far. I have never liked Casey McGehee. I honestly think he is garbage. This shot doesn't help his case with me. My caption for this picture: "I hope coach doesn't put me in the field after this. I'm going to be indisposed for awhile."

So what. I'm childish. Wanna fight about it?

Then we have the inserts. Big fan of the Calling Cards. I always try to work on the "young guys" sets. Minis are always cool. The Chasing History is a bit perplexing to me. As I have stated prior to this post, I don't like the parallels in an insert set. I doubt I'll try for all three. Leaning toward the Holographic Foil. I'm curious as to everyone else thinks about these.

I'd be remiss if I didn't show a couple of the Rox Marcus sent. Pacheco trucking, and Tulo pondering. Love them both. Awesome additions to the Blake Street Bombers binder.

Thanks, Marcus. Every card is great and appreciated. Like what you see? Maybe you should go talk to Marcus, too.

Spiegel Strikes Again

This is Day Two of what should be a full slate of packaged goodies here at the Home of the Toddfather. Today, the bubble-wrapped glory comes all the way from Cali, Cali. (Small tangent: Favorite B.I.G. song is most definitely "Big Poppa". See Hardball starting Keanu Reeves.)

Anyway, I got a gift today that I was supposed to be expecting, but totally from Spiegel over at Nomo's Sushi Platter. This trade has been in the works for quite awhile, but we agreed to hold off on exchanging cardboard until we gathered more for each other.

I got my half today. (Spiegel, yours will be in the mail tomorrow.) Let's take a look-see, shall we?

In my deal trades with Spiegel, he always sends me some Rocky Mountain Purple. No shortage here. They are all great, but the Pomeranz and Giambi are awesome. The Gold Giambi can now come out of my COMC cart. I honestly forgot about ole Tyler Colvin. I may have to make a spot for him in the Blake Street Bombers binder before long. (Check my alliteration!)

A couple of Rox GUs. Yes, please! This is my first solo Larry Walker GU. I have at least one dual of him and Mr. Helton, but none on his own.

For only the second time I can recall, I have been sent a 2011 Bowman Platinum in a trade. Man, this set is hard to complete! No shocker really that Spiegel had an Ichiro to give up. If he's anything like me and I'm sure most of you, he has a whole box full of just double for his biggest PC.

On my search to complete the 2012 Topps Chrome Purple Refractor set, I realized, "Hey, maybe I should try to finish the base set, too, since I'm buying a crap-ton of blasters to try to get the purple." Great idea, Tim. Great idea.

The puzzle portion of my 2012 Triple Play set is nearing the finish line. I'm now down to just needing 15 out of 144. Taking a look at the leader board show us that Upton, Castro, Reyes, Hudson, Holliday, and Longoria have all tapped out, while the 15 remaining cards are spread out over 10 players.

J.Up - 0

Castro - 0

El Caballo - 1

Prince Albert - 1

Reyes - 0

A-Roid - 1

Cespedes - 1

Doc - 2

Cutch - 1

O-Dogg - 0

Posey - 2

Ichiro - 2

Holliday - 0

Longo - 0

Hamilton - 2

Joey Bats - 2

Thanks be to Spiegel and his awesome trade package for me. Great stuff, my friend.

A Package from the Clubhouse

Over the course of about seven months, I have developed a great friendship with Mark over at This Way to the Cluhouse. Mark and I have had some epic trades. We've been able to help each other build sets, player collections, and team collections.

A few days ago, Mark emailed me concerning the help I had requested on this very blog with 2013 Topps. He had a slew of doubles, and he was sending them my way. And send them he did! A nice stack of glorious 2013 flagship. I won't bore you with every card...just the ones I think you should see even though you've probably seen them hundreds of times already.

Take a look at these beautiful action shots. Didi looks like he could just float there forever. Oh, and I'm digging Mr. Weeks in the old school powder blues!

Miggy, Trout, and Beltre...talk about a Murder's Row. Better hope there is an Eric Byrnes batting behind Beltre in that lineup. You could at least pitch around one of them that way.

Is it just me or does Colby Rasmus look like he belongs in a boy band or on a skateboard in this shot for his '72 Mini? C'mon, man!!!

It's not often I get excited about a Yankee, but Tex was a pleasant addition to my Calling Card set. About half done with that one if I'm recalling correctly.

Mark was even gracious enough to toss in this Mauer GU for Ms. Ashley's PC. She was so excited when I told her something was coming for her in Mark's package. This is her first GU for Joe.

Thanks for the generosity, Mr. K. If you don't know Mark by know, you should. He'll hook you up, ladies and gentleman! And tell him Tim send you!

Sportlots, I Think I Love You

For months now, I've heard some of you talk about some website called Sportlots. One day, I had had enough of not knowing what it was about. I read about Adam's haul over on ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession one afternoon and thought, "I've got to get in on this!"

That is exactly what I did. As a result, I was able to knock out a huge portion of my want list. I bought from two sellers and have only received one package so far.

Good news: I am now only missing five from 2012 Topps Update! 

Bad news: Two of them are Harper and Trout. YIKES!!!

I've been trying really hard to complete this set with the help of my friend at the flea market I attend regularly. No such luck. Sportlots, though, helped me nail it. I am currently only missing ONE 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Hometown Heroes.

I even delved into the 2006 Ultra market picking up three from my want list. Unfortunately, the bulk of what I'm missing from this set is the "Lucky 13" cards.

Ok, I probably should have hit the 2012 Triple Play a little harder, but c'mon, who could pass up 2006 Ultra? This guy, that's who.

Two sets are completely D-O-N-E!!! 2012 Bowman and 2006 Topps SI for Kids, welcome to the Home of the Finished Sets.

Why is it so hard to complete the Topps Sticker sets? I think I'm done with these except for my PCs...that is unless I don't get sucked in by the $1.99 book and $.99 packs. Darn you, Target!

Slowly, but surely seems to be the theme of this blog. As long as it gets done right, there is no reason to rush. This Chrome Purple Refractors are getting scarce, though. I had to pick up what I could.

The only Toddfather from this seller come from the 2005 Topps Cracker Jack Sticker set. I'm 95% sure I don't already have it, but I could be mistaken. Regardless, it was just $.18. A dime, nickel and three pennies well spend.

This is just the start of what should shape up to be up to two weeks of awesome packages! I can't what to show you my latest eBay purchase. So latest that I haven't even paid for it at this moment!

2004 Studio

Who knew that Donruss would be foreshadowing what would eventually happen to Panini cards of today? Well, the 2004 Studio set does just that. No action shots!

All the cards from 2004 Studio are shot portrait-style with the backdrop of the city they play in behind. Sound familiar?

In 2004, Donruss still had its agreement with Major League Baseball to use team logos on the jerseys, hats and the cardboard itself. So these are completely terrible like the major leaguers in the 2011 Elite Extra Edition series.

Before you call me a hypocrite, let me just say I am collecting the 2011 Elite Extra Edition set because it is very small, relatively inexpensive and just plain weird without the logos.

Anyway, with only five of the 270 cards to call it a complete set, I'm offering what I do have from the '04 Studio for trade.

Here's what I've got:

3 Tim Salmon
28 Javy Lopez
80 Juan Pierre
157 Akinori Otsuka
199 Roy Halladay

A Valentine's Day Rack Pack

As we all know, it is Valentine's Day. The time of year that men (and some women) go out and spend extremely too much on flowers, balloons, dinner, jewelry and Lord knows what else because someone was genius enough to come up with a "romantic" holiday like this.

This year, I took a different approach and made dinner for Ashley. I am proud to announce that my house is still in tact, and everything is safe at the Byrd household. I did spring for a single rose and a small teddy bear to go with dinner, though. (Don't fret for her. Our anniversary is in eight days. Shoot me now.)

Anyway, being the awesome girlfriend she is, Ashley stopped by Wally World and picked up a 2013 rack pack for my Valentine's gift. Can't get much better than that!!!

Wanna see what I got? Of course you do.

These are the highlights of those I got to mark of the base set want list. I thankfully have arguably three of the priciest cards from the set via retail goodness (Harper, Trout, Rizzo). Bundy and Profar...You're next. (My best Goldberg impression.)

A silver foil Konerko and a Holographic foil Big Hurt and Carew from Chasing History. Not bad at all. Not sure how I feel about having the four different versions of an insert card, though. Kinda reminds me of Topps Stars, except better quality. 

Next, the other inserts. Altuve Chasing the Dream, Lincecum Calling Card and Votto '72 Mini. I'm a huge fan of these inserts! Especially, the Calling Cards. Can't wait to finish those.

Last, but not least...the cards that are up for trade. As I've stated before, the only blue and emerald I need are those from my PCs. Unless I think the picture is pretty sweet or unusual, they are on the block. The Nieuwenhuis and Jones are great photos, but not great enough to stay with me. Don't forget the Emerald League Leaders.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Or as my professor once said, "Happy VD!!!"

It's About Time

Ladies and gentleman, I have finally uploaded all the cards I've scanned to the Trade Bait page. I don't have the Game-Used or Autos up by team, not do I have the miscellaneous cards link up yet. So I'm not completely done. I'm getting there, though. Slowly, but surely.

"Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming."

If you see anything you are interested in, feel free to shoot me an email, and it will be set aside for you.

Any questions about the cards up or anything else I may have, same rules apply. Just an email.

Anything on those pages are free game, and I'm ready to wheel and deal.

Thanks for reading. Hope to hear from you soon!