Mail Day!

Last week I made a trade on Twitter with a really good guy. His handle is @cpujesse. He is a Dodger fan and I was able to flip my Jose De Leon to him for a couple of cool cards that I would like to add to my collection. I actually got theses cards in the mail on Saturday and just now getting around to posting them.

Both these guys where involved in the blockbuster trade for the Tigers and the Rangers before the 2013 season. Prince Fielder had one really good year for the Tigers before having a down 2012 season, but still a cool card to have in my collection. I was really happy to add the Ian Kinsler orange parallel. I love having Kinsler on the Tigers with his great defense and solid bat.

Thanks again @cpujesse for the great trade!

Player Spotlight: Ian Kinsler

Back in 2013 when I first started collecting baseball cards I didn't know anyone outside of my brother-in-law who collected cards. I knew he knew a bunch of other collectors from collecting for so many years. When making trades online I am somewhat skeptical of being ripped off. One of the first trades I made was for an Ian Kinsler quad relic card.

I don't remember what I traded for this card or who I even traded with. The deal was smooth and easy. I have been lucky and not have had any problems with the short period I have collected cards.

Now this Ian Kinsler card I traded for was before he was with the Detroit Tigers. I always like Kinsler as a player good glove, bat, and decent speed. When the Tigers traded for him it was a move that looked really good for the Tigers. They were getting a second basemen who could stop the rotating door at second for them, plus trading Prince Fielder and cash would allow Miggy to move back to first and the Tigers could bring up young third base top prospect Nick Castellanos.

Kinsler had a really nice first year in Detroit. He was an All-Star and a Gold Glove runner up. He hit .275/.307/.420 with 17 home runs, 92 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. He is off to another good start in his second season with the Tigers as well. The one thing that really impressed me with Kinsler this year is he has taken on more leadership in the clubhouse. He saw last year that Torii Hunter was the guy that would speak to the media after games no matter if it was a winner or a lose. He felt that someone needed to let the media and the fans know how the team was feeling. After the Tigers decided to part ways to Hunter, Kinsler decided to step up and take on that role for the team. He has been a great player on the field and now it is showing in the clubhouse as well.

Here is a nice double play with Kinsler and his double play partner, Jose Iglesias from yesterday's game.

2015 Topps Series 1 Hits

I have busted open my box of 2015 Topps Series 1 and thought I would share some of my hits from the set. I was excited about getting my first box this year. I think it was more the fact that it is the start of the baseball card collecting year then the actual series. I do really like the series though and tend to have some good luck with what I have pulled.

First off I will use this card to show off the new look of their base set. I am glad that they got away from just their sold white borders. With this series in the base sets there are two things to look for in the cards, baseball sparkles or short prints. The easiest ways to tell is the base set cards end in 861 for their serial numbers, sparkle 903 and short print 901. Well my pull from this box is a short print of former rival who just retired, Paul Konerko. Respect the player hate the team.

At first I overlooked the foil parallel cards that I pulled. Didn't realize it until I was ripping open my second pack from the box. I decided to just post the coolest card out of the foil and it was between Zack Greinke or Hunter Pence of the Giants. Neither players I am huge on, but Pence has hurt the Tigers more of late then Greinke.

Topps stuck with the gold parallels. Again I just picked the coolest player out of the ones I pulled and how could I not go with World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner. Sorry for the crooked picture also.

Another cooler insert for this year is the Gallery of Greats. The cards have a throwback look to them and it's a nice set to collect for some great older players like Frank Thomas and Steve Calton.

My first insert card I pulled was jersey piece of Johnny Cueto. Another cool design that goes with the base set. If it wasn't for a guy named Kershaw this card would be even better considering he was Cy Young runner up this past season.

My second favorite card I pulled was a manu card. The player pin is pretty sweet idea to me. I am kinda defensive minded in sports so to pull a young defense first, third baseman Manny Machado I was happy to add this card to my collection.

Hands down my favorite pull from this box, Ian Kinsler autograph. It might be him with the Rangers, but he is the Tigers second basemen. If you pull an autograph of a player on your team it is always a good box that you have bought.

I almost forgot that even with the scratch off cards for the "Call your Shot" game I did pretty well. I did get an autographic relic. I don't know who the card is of just yet, but the list they gave me was a bunch of sweet players. Cards ship out March 2!

My Trip to Big D's

Being from Northern Michigan I do not have a local card shop that I can go to. There is one in East Tawas from what I found online, but that is still over an hour drive for me. I consider North Carolina my second home due to the fact I have two sisters, a brother-in-law, a nephew, and an aunt and uncle that live there. My brother-in-law Eric or better known as The Snorting Bull is the one person who reintroduced me into collecting cards. This past August I was down there for a wedding and Eric and I took a trip to his favorite card shop, Big D's before the wedding. Eric had let Jimmy the owner know that I am a pretty big Detroit Tigers fan and he had pulled aside some cool cards for me.

The first couple cards I looked at were some short print Miguel Cabrera cards. I tend to be pretty bad at collecting or paying attention to short print cards so I figured this would be a good start to looking for short prints.

The next card Jimmy sold me was newly acquired second basemen Ian Kinsler autograph. I had already collected a quad piece relic of Kinsler, but had not had a chance to add a Kinsler autograph yet.

My favorite Tiger's card that I picked up from Jimmy was this cool 2014 Topps Series 1 of Victor Martinez. I really like the parallels in theses sets. He also had the black one, but I had pulled that out of a pack that I had bought earlier in the year. I think I am going to try to collect all of the different color parallels of V-Mart for last year. Two coolest ones I can check off my list.

 My last card I bought kinda caught Jimmy off guard. Growing up in the 90's I was a huge Ken Griffey Jr. fan. I spot this card actually right away when I walked into the shop and started looking around. I would look at it then go on and look at some other cards, but always found myself going right back to this card. I finally asked Jimmy want he wanted for it and he gave me what I thought was a great price and it was mine!

With not having a local shop of my own I had considered Big D's as my own shop. After going there in August Jimmy would message me on Twitter about buying boxes he was selling and I found his prices were just as competitive as where I was buying boxes online. It was unfortunate news to hear that Jimmy had shut his doors to Big D's last week. It is always sad to see a local shop close. If you have a local card shop to buy from do your best and try to support them. The owners are fans of collecting cards just like us.