A Javy From Justin's World

Justin came across this Javy Lopez jersey card #/95 and being the kind guy he is, thought I would like it. He was right! He agreed to trade it for an Xavier Nady auto I found.

Thanks for thinking about me, Justin!

Catching Up on My TTMs

I've received a few cards back over the last few months and wanted to share them with ya'll.

49 days - address on his website

I'm sure most of you know about Pat Neshek, his baseball card collection, and how great of a signer he is. I sent him this card, but he will also trade you an autographed card of himself for an autographed card of any player from any sport. He has a list and pictures up on his website of all the autographed cards he has received from fans.

6 days c/o Kansas City Royals Spring Training

Ned Yost was the Braves' bullpen coach for 8 years and the third base coach for 4 years. He then left to manage the Brewers in 2002 taking them to their first winning season in 14 years in 2007. He was fired in September of 2008 after the Brewers lost 11 of their last 14 games in the midst of a Wild Card race with the Phillies. Yost became manager of the Royals in 2010.

91 days c/o San Diego Padres

In 2010, Ausmus was hired as Special Assistant to Baseball Operations for the San Diego Padres, the team in which he began his major league career with. I don't know what the Special Assistant to Baseball Operations does, but it sounds like a pretty sweet job.

36 days c/o Washington National Spring Training

I really like DeRosa. This guy is a prime example of what a ballplayer should be. He can play anywhere you put him and plays hard every time he's put in the lineup. With Chipper retiring, I would love to see DeRosa at third base for the Braves.

I want your opinion, which TTM do you like the best and why?

I Got Served

...by Atlanta Braves alumni! That's right, the Braves alumni were on hand to serve Waffle House breakfast at the Braves Open House a few weeks ago. Participants included Ryan Klesko, Johnny Estrada, Otis Nixon, Marquis Grissom, Terry Harper, Rick Camp, and Jim Nash. Of course, I was most excited to see Klesko. The mid-90's Braves will always hold a spot in my heart because that is when I first began following baseball.

The food was divided into two lines. The line my dad and I went through had Klesko, Grissom, and Nash serving. When we got to Klesko he greeted us with a smile and spoke to us. He joked saying that we had to get a waffle because Marquis made them. Later on, he came out from behind the table and signed autographs and took pictures with lots of people. Luckily, I was one of them!

I also asked Estrada for a picture. I think I caught him off-guard because he looked surprised since know one had approached him yet. I hope I didn't bother him. From the huge smile on his face, it looks like he got over it.

After breakfast, their was a Q&A with the players. A lot of kids asked questions like, "Who was the best?" and "What was your favorite game?" It was interesting hearing everyone's responses. Marquis spoke about catching the last out of the '95 World Series and Klesko mentioned how he was drafted as a pitcher (I had no idea) and how cocky he was as a young player. All the players gave great advise to the kids about working hard in both sports and school because it is extremely difficult to get drafted and only 90% of those drafted make it to the Majors.

After the Q&A, most of the players jetted, but Rick Camp hung around and signed autographs. He was so cool. He seemed genuinely happy and incredibly humbled by the fact that people of all ages were waiting to meet him and get his autograph.

What an awesome start to the season! I have loved taking advantage of all these opportunities to meet players and attend events since moving to Atlanta.

I Went eBay Crazy: Uggla/Hampton Edition

I found some awesome cards on eBay for my player collections. Free shipping and flat rate shipping charges for an unlimited amount of cards always pulls me in. If a seller has a card I want, I always search his store to see if he/she has any additional cards to add to my PCs. This is the result of my latest spree.

2007 Topps Moments & Milestones Black #/29

This is one of the most ridiculous sets I have ever seen. The base set has three cards dedicated to three of Uggla's notable statistics: 26 doubles, 27 home runs, and 172 hits. There are also individual cards for each double, home run, and hit. That makes 225 different Uggla base cards. All base cards are serial numbered out of 150. Then, there are these black parallels of each base card numbered to 29. Holy crap.

2006 Topps Turkey Red Red

2009 UD A Piece of History Franchise History #/999

2012 Topps Gold Rush Wrapper Redemption

I don't buy hobby packs enough to send in for the wrapper redemption, so I've obtained my player collection needs from eBay.

2010 A&G Minis

2007 Topps Opening Day Gold #/2007

2010 Topps Triple Threads Sepia #/525

This looks great in my binder next to the base and emerald parallels I have. Still need the gold, sapphire, and platinum parallels to complete the rainbow. With platinum being 1/1 I think I'll call it a success if I can just get the gold and sapphire ones.

2003 Topps 205 Mini Polar Bear

A Mike Hampton mini?! I didn't even know one existed! I wonder if there's more?

Stay tuned for I Went eBay Crazy: Javy Lopez Edition.

Winning at the Card Shop

Thanks to all who voted for my story. Unfortunately, I came up short and will be purchasing the book instead. However, I did score big at my LCS today. I took a stack of basketball and football cards, mostly relics and autos, there today in hopes of trading them for baseball. I wasn't sure if they did that type of thing, but it never hurts to ask. One of the guys that works there told me that baseball sells better, but he said he would trade them one for one out of a box of relics/autos that he had. Not much interested me, but I did find this J.D. Drew jersey. I liked the guy when he was a Brave so I figured why not?

I had checked out their Beckett store before leaving home today and found some Javy Lopez and Mike Hampton relics I wanted. Of those, he came back with these three that he said he would trade me two of mine for each one since they were Javy, we're in the Atlanta area, etc. Suits me!

The last is an authentic game-worn patch. In person it looks a lot more red than orange. Is it possible that it could've came off a Braves uniform? It is a 2004 Fleer, the first year he played for the Orioles.

And that's not all, for just two more of mine I got these four to add to my player collections.

Now I have the base, Radiance, and Spectrum parallels of the 1998 SPx Finite set for both Hampton and Lopez.

Overall a pretty successful day today and I didn't spend a dime. If anyone is interested in trading for my other basketball and football cards (including autos, relics, serial numbered), I've posted some scans under the links to the right. Make me an offer. I'm particularly looking for a Hampton relic at the time, but am open to any offers!

An Uggla Surprise in My Mailbox

I'm a little late in thanking Justin from Justin's World for these Uggla's that showed up in my mailbox. It was an awesome surprise to find these and add them to my player collection!

Justin, was I supposed to be sending you something for these and forgot?

Vote for My Story!

Lauren T. over at Love My Bravos is holding a contest where you write about why you like Javy Lopez, a time you've met him, etc. The top seven made it to the final round where readers can vote on who's story they like the best. The top two win a copy of Javy's new book- Behind the Plate: A Catcher's View of the Braves Dynasty. If you liked the story I shared in my previous post, please go vote for me (Morgan B.). Voting is unlimited so vote as many times as you'd like! The poll closes Friday, March 23 at noon EST. Thanks y'all!