Manny Ramirez Carries a Big Stick

I've had this in my scans folder for a long, long time. Actually, it has been in my scan folder since around the time I started the blog. I'm not sure why I decided to wait so long to post it, but here we are. 

I actually pulled this card from a pack of Topps, and it was quite obvious at the time that something would be in the pack. If you have handled one of these cards before, you know it is THICK. It also has a pretty decent weight to it, considering the metal bat Topps used to commemorate Manny's many Silver Slugger awards. 

It takes up a ton of space, but it is a great card to add to my Manny Ramirez PC. 

PC Madness

Another day, another trade post. I recently completed my first trade with reader Scott. I got a ton of cards for my various PC's, but I will just show off a couple.

My favorite card of the bunch was a sweet card featuring both Adrian Beltre and Ichiro. I've long known Ichiro with Suzuki attached to the back of his name, but it seems like he simply goes by Ichiro. I don't think fans need a last name to recognize one of the greatest hitters of the 21st century, however. One thing I like about this card is the expression Beltre has. It is fairly common with him, but he looks like he is about to bust up laughing. The card comes from 2006 Topps Changing Faces, a set I am unfamiliar with, and is #'d 48/75.

Scott sent 28 new Manny cards my way, but I decided I would only scan one. I'm not quite sure what draws me to this card, but I'm digging it.

Also included in this sweet deal were three cards of Manny's former mashing partner, David Ortiz. This card would be perfect for my now absolved Pimping Dingers collection, but fits nicely into my Big Papi binder.

I wasn't kidding when I said Scott sent a ton of PC cards my way. He included four new Green cards for my binder, while simultaneously pushing my Green collection over the century mark. Clayton Kershaw also reached that impressive point earlier this week, and my Beltre PC is only 8 cards away. I certainly didn't see my collection growing quite as fast as it has over the past 9 months during my time in the blogging world. 

I've always had a soft spot for Beltre, which helped propel the card featured at the top of this post to my favorite of the package. Otherwise, the sweet Martin card on the left may have taken the crown. It features Martin is his original number 70 jersey, which was later changed to 55. I decided to take a look at Martin's Baseball Reference page for some jersey number history, only to find it doesn't list the number 70. Greg is my go to guy when it comes to Martin, so maybe he'll be able to clear up the confusion. 

I'll finish this post up with a threesome of Hanley Ramirez cardboard. Blogger has been taking so long to upload pictures recently, that Hanley probably pulled a hammy while I was waiting. Scott sent over 15 Hanley cards if my counting is correct, and they are all new additions. The cognac parallels from 2011 are personal favorites of mine, and the "vintage" Hanley on the far right is most dope. 

I decided to pen this post before updating my player pages, and considering it is already 2 am, I am unsure if I will finish those up tonight. 

Thanks again for the trade Scott! Hope we can do it again sometime soon. 

What Makes This Hobby So Fun

I was recently thinking about what makes this hobby so fun. Perhaps it's coming across a wonderful card like the one below. How can I not fall in love with a bat barrel shot of one of greatest first baseman in Dodgers history? 

Easy answer. I can't.

Now I know there are numerous collector's out there, all with different tastes and collecting habits, but for me the best thing about this hobby may be the element of surprise.

This awesome card of the former Dodgers pitcher is not surprising in itself, but it would be surprising to see Topps put out a shot like this in a new product.

But I digress. Whether it's ripping open a fresh pack of cards, digging through dime boxes, or simply getting a package of cards in your mailbox, the surprise factor makes this hobby great. 

Nick of the infamous Dime Boxes blog hit the latter of the two surprising features in this hobby. Not only is he a dime box extraordinaire, he is an awesome dude willing to share some of his loot with me. 

In fact we just completed a trade which means I get to share that loot with you. 

I'm sure your face is as lit up as Eric Davis' in this fantastic piece of cardboard Nick sent my way. 

I was expecting a few cards like this from Nick, and he came through. But he also hit a ton of different collecting interests of mine. 

Let's start out with some of my player collections. 

Nick must know I love Matt Kemp because he sent me 4 new awesome cards for my PC. I cannot pick a favorite when it comes to Matt Kemp, but that 2012 Heritage red parallel is freaking beautiful.

However, it gets even better. Take a look at this sweet card featuring Clayton Kershaw at the plate. Well, he could be in the batter's box or something, but it doesn't really matter. I am a big fan of these UD Spectrum cards, but even more so after laying my eyes on this beauty. 

Of course, Nick is a great trader and managed to hit quite a few more of my player collections.

As if new Kemp's and a new Kershaw wasn't enough, Nick went ahead and found 4 Shawn Green cards that I had yet to get my hands on. 

Manny Ramirez sighting!

Nick must have got bored with sending me standard cards of my PC's, because he sent 2 awesome minis of Dodgers shortstop, Hanley Ramirez. When I first got into this hobby I despised minis. They were hard to store and even harder to keep track of. However, my opinion on them has done a 180 in the past few months. This change of heart would have been surprising to me late last year.

Hey! Here's another mini from Nick. Considering I have only seen two of these mini's from the flagship design, this was a big surprise. I guess I will have to talk about these fantastic minis from Topps in the near future. *Hint: I LOVE them.*

I could go on with the barrage of cards Nick sent me toward my PC's, but let us take a break to look at some vintage goodiness. 

I'll start with the Sutton on the left. I was never able to see Sutton pitch, but from what I hear he was a fantastic pitcher. If baseball cards could speak for a players performance, Sutton is a Hall of Famer. 

Of course, the same thing can be said for Ron Cey aka The Penguin. Topps delivered a beautiful set in 1980, so hopefully this is not the last Cey I grab from this set.

Moving on to one of the worst miscut cards in my possession. I guess that goes to show you that I don't have a ton of miscuts laying around. Hailing from 1966, this Tommy Davis is not only a great vintage pickup, it is a valuable addition to my Topps Team Set Project. (Scroll down a bit on that link).

Speaking of my Topps Team Set Project, here are 6 more cards that Nick sent my way. 

Now these cards may have surprised me the most. Specifically the Kaz Ishii on the left. Even as a Dodger collector, I don't run across too many of his cards. So when I ripped open the bubble mailer to find this, I was more than excited. What is so special about Ishii you ask? 

Well, he started the first Dodger game I ever attended (or at least remember). 

My dad took me to Dodger Stadium close to ten years ago for one of many Dodger games we have attended over the years. Ishii started the game against the crosstown Angels, a game in which the Dodgers kicked some butt. Here is a recap from that game for anybody interested. I completely forgot that Beltre homered twice in that game, not to mention Bartolo Colon was pitching for the Angels. Ahhhh, nostalgia.

I guess these two cards meant a lot more to me than Nick intended them too. 

So yea. I guess surprises are what make this hobby so damn fun. At least that is what I tell myself.

Mannywood

Last week I introduced my new PC of Manny Ramirez. Not long after, I had completed a trade with Adam, who runs/ran, Thoughts and Sox. He doesn't really update the blog anymore, but he does have up-to-date wantlists on there. 

Anyways, let me highlight some of my favorites from the trade.

I received a large array of Manny's from Adam, but this is definitely my favorite. I guess you can call this Manny's true rookie card, and it is a dandy. It isn't often you see Youth Service League jersey's on cards, so this a pretty cool. I had not seen this one before it arrived in my mailbox, so that is a plus.

Continuing on with the rookie cards, this comes from 1993 Upper Deck. It is sort of hard for me to fathom that Manny was mashing as a rookie the year I was born. Unlike many other sports, great baseball players generally have very long careers. 

Another Manny rookie, and a somewhat interesting addition to the PC. I have seen similar Bowman cards as this one, but never knew Manny had a card in "street clothes". The scan came out pretty crappy, although it happened with all of the Manny cards in this post for some reason. Although this appears to be a rookie, it is actually a Bowman Chrome reprint. 

Take a look at this sweet dual relic. The amount of Manny hits I have increased dramatically after this trade, but this relic may take the cake. I love me some jersey/bat relic combos, so this is a great addition.

Although I just said that the previous relic may be my favorite, I am allowed to change my mind. This sweet card is my favorite relic Adam sent my way. The scan showed up a little blue, but this is just a standard refractor. The card is clean all around, and the design is absolutely beautiful. It has a retro-ish feel to it, something I definitely enjoy. A large chunk of wood makes the card all the better.

It was really tough picking a favorite card when I was sent so many great ones. This one is also great looking, too bad Upper Deck doesn't make baseball products anymore.

The final relic sent my way comes from 2004 Fleer Ultra. At first glance, I thought this was a Carlos Lee Astros card, but it does in fact feature Manny. Probably not my favorite design out there, especially considering all the free space, but a cool piece to add to the PC. 

I really need to stop picking favorites because this card is right up there. I have never laid eyes on an UD XPonential card, but apparently I have been missing out. Hopefully there are some Dodgers out there that I can pick up in the future. 

Because of my demanding schedule of school and work lately, I have been unable to put a ton of time into the blog. I feel like I rushed this post, but I guess I can attribute it to the schedule change. Thankfully, I am only taking the four week Calculus class, so I only have three more weeks of non-stop math. I will be light ont he posts over the next few weeks, but I have been trying to update the blog's many pages etc.. in the meantime. I also have some contest ideas, but you will have to wait until I am out of class for those. 

Thanks again Adam! I definitely owe you some serious Red Sox cardboard. 

Manny Being Manny

I have had a pretty decent sized stack of Manny Ramirez cards next to my desk for quite sometime. I have been putting off this post for quite some time, but I have not had the time (or money) to buy any cards recently and I haven't done much trading as of late. So I guess it's time to clear out a small space next to my desk and get down to business. 

I rarely start out my posts with my favorite card, but I am bucking the trend today. This is by far the best Manny card I have in my possession. I don't know if this would unanimously be the best Manny rookie out there, but it is the best in my collection. I love it when players are smiling like this for some reason, especially a player like Manny. 

As I was looking through these cards yesterday, I realized that I never saw Manny in an Indians uniform. By the time I got interested in baseball (2001) Manny was already a member of the Boston Red Sox. Thanks to Evan (Uncle Charlie and the Public Enemy No. 1), I was able to add this sweet card of Manny in Indians garb. 

Manny may have started his illustrious career in Cleveland, but his most memorable seasons were spent in Boston as a member of the Red Sox. You can see one the earliest Manny cards I pulled back in 2005 above. I have mentioned this before, but I bought baseball cards off and on in 2004-2005, but most of my cards from those days are either gone or damaged due to how I stored them. This sweet Cracker Jack card isn't in the best shape, but was definitely worth a scan. 

Manny is most memorable to me as the Dodgers left fielder, but his most noteworthy cards come from his time in Boston. Take this awesome card designed like a magazine cover for example. I wish there were more cards like this produced today.

I know some people out there aren't very big fans of sketch cards, but I love them. The players don't always look spot on, but at least we won't see the same picture in every Topps release the rest of the year. 

The best years of Manny's career came with the Red Sox, but the best half season came with the Dodgers in 2008. In 53 games with the Dodgers, Manny hit .396/.489/.743 with 17 homers. It actually got him into the MVP discussion if I recall, but my memory is not all that great. 

However, Manny was suspended in the 2009 season for PEDs, but I don't need remind you of that. PEDs in baseball can create quite a stir, so I try my best to avoid the conversation. I personally don't have a big deal with PED users from the past, but now that it is outlawed I don't like seeing players get caught. I actually just wrote a 7 page paper on PEDs and the Hall of Fame for my English class, and not to brag, but I got a 100%. :)

Manny's career quickly went downhill after the whole PED fiasco, and he last appeared in a major league game with the Rays in 2011. I am not an expert, but this may be Manny's "sunset" card. But I will have to refer to Nick (Dime Boxes) to know for sure. He seems to be quite the card expert around these parts.

When it is all said and done, I have 33 different Manny cards in my collection. My next step is to inventory them and stick them in a binder along with my other tertiary guys. I have 2 more tertiary guys to highlight, but my I have so few cards from both that it may be awhile before I get around to it. 

If you have any extra Manny cards laying around, let me know. If you happen to have any Manny autos/relics laying around, all the better.