Mo' Trades, Mo' O's

Sometime last week (or the week before that, my memory is stil all Turked-up), Ryans's Memorabilia posted a want list for 2009 Finest. I just happened to have 24 base cards off of their want list, and sent them off sometime last week.

In return, I got a boatload of Orioles, and a few Finest refractors. I've scanned a few, but this is just a sampling of the Orioles goodness the Ryans sent my way.

I got this Brian Roberts regular refractor:

and this Justin Upton Gold one. Justin is clearly the Upton I should have drafted in my fantasy league. Instead, I am stuck with his bro.

As well as this sweet 2006 Turkey Red Brian Roberts jersey relic:

And finally, this 2007 Fleer Ultra Nick Markakis, which is a new one for the player collection.

Thanks Ryan's Memorabilia, and good luck with your Finest set!

Finally, we have the last card purchased during my celebratory eBay shopping spree. Celebrating finding a job by blowing tons of cash on eBay is NOT advisable, but I got some awesome cards out of it. Check out my 2008 Topps Heritage refractor of Adam Jones:


All in all, some awesome Orioles cards. I really like trading now even more than when I was a kid! If you've got some Orioles cards you want to unload, don't hesitate to drop me an email.

No One is Listening to Billy Zane

This is sooo happening, and should be quite the duel. Motherscratcher of the Achiever Card Blog and I are going head to head, mano e mano, collector vs. collector, in a 2007 Turkey Red battle. Both of our boxes should be arriving today or tomorrow, and it is on like donkey kong!

We have developed a rudimentary scoring system to keep things fair, and here's how the battle royale will be tallied:

0 base card
+1 Indian or Oriole
-1 Yankee
+7 Cabinet
+20 Cabinet Dick Perez Auto
+3 Chrome
+5 Chrome Refractor
+10 Chrome Black Refractor
+15 Chromograph
+10 Relic
+5 President
+20 Silk
+8 for a SP

x2 If any of those pulls are Indians or Orioles
x3 If any are major stars like Pujols (we're still working on the "major stars" list)
x0.5 If it's a Yankee
x7 If it's Markakis or Sizemore
-3 points if we pull Kenji Johjima (for no apparent reason)

This will be a skins style scoring system, where the score resets after each pack, and we only get 1 master point for each pack.

We're still working on stakes for the winner, but it'll either be an auto, or a cheap box of wax. I'm thinking '92 Leaf Studio or Stadium Club if I can pull this one out.

The battle will begin in the next day or 2, and each pack will be scanned and posted, along with it's score, on our respective blogs. Final tallies will be determined after all 24 packs have been ripped, and at that point, a winner will be declared.

Does anyone have any more arbitrary rules or scoring suggestions to make this even more fun? Who's your money on? Side betting is encouraged.

A Box Has Been Ordered

Unfortunately, it was not 2006 Turkey Red. Instead, I ordered a hobby box of 2007 Turkey Red from DA, and along with it got 3 hobby packs of 2006 Turkey Red as well. I shopped around, and could not justify spending more money than DA was charging for the '06 product, when they did have it in stock. I was able to get the '07 box, and the 3 packs, for almost $20 less than an '06 box would have cost me, especially since no one else offers free shipping like DA does.

I know 2007 Turkey Red is inferior to the two previous year's releases. The autos aren't on-card, and the hits are craptastic, but I've already started building this set, and may as well attempt to finish it up.

I hope you'll still come back and check out the break. Me and Motherscratcher may still be able to work out some criteria for a "Turk-Off", since he already has a box of '06 in hand. It could be even more interesting to see the different years go head to head. Hopefully, I don't end up with a Daryle Ward bat card as my "hit" like dayf, or Motherscratcher will clearly defeat me. Only time will tell, and I expect the box to arrive early next week.