I Before E Except After P. Whaaa!?

Months ago, I asked if anyone could explain the card below, and ...

... crickets. 

Maybe it had something to do with the fact I had one follower at the time, myself.

So I ask once more, please. Does anyone know? I'm sure this has likely been discussed in the Wide World of Sports Blogs countless times, but I've missed it. For real, Google searches have revealed nothing.

Oh, and in case you have no idea what I'm talking about, Prince's last name is spelled wrong. Did Topps do this on purpose for some odd reason? Is this card worth $11,000!!!? Ebay says "no" but what the H does it know. I could be holding onto my child's college education - and I have more than one!

(OK, so I'm delusional. Insomnia does this to me.)

And while I'm here posting, if you happen to have GQ for trade, or Heritage ... well, I wrote all about my hopes and best-laid plans here.

A&G and Me: Next Steps

Editor's Note: A version of this post appeared Friday. Blogger hiccuped and it was lost to the ether.

I love baseball cards. That was probably obvious - this being a baseball card blog.

I tend to get caught up in the hullabaloo of the latest and greatest product release. I've enjoyed the various Topps releases this year. I think it was a good year to come back to the hobby after a 27-year hiatus.

Heritage grew on me to the point that I'm crazy about it and will make myself bats chasing the short prints. Gypsy Queen keeps calling my name, especially the lovely bronze- and green-framed papers.

On a related note, looking to deal this gem for the Al Kaline on-card version. Ha ha..but seriously. No? Oh well.

A&G was all fresh and new to me. I bought plenty and my collecting this year took yet another turn.

But now I've decided to wean myself off A&G. I mostly love the set, sure - minus the atrocious verticals - but I need to channel my collecting energies.

I'm not entirely off the product. I really, really want to complete Uninvited Guests, Minds That Made The Future and maybe Mysterious Figures. But beyond those inserts, my 2011 set focus boils down to:

1. Heritage.
2. Gypsy Queen. (Particularly bronze- and green-papers.)

Click here for Heritage needs/availables and here for Gypsy Queen needs/availables and here for the latest on the Kardashians, if that's your thing. And don't forget I have Lineage to barter, too.

Braun very well may be my favorite big-name non-Red, non-Tiger.

Some of the Lineage I have to deal.

My full list of A&Gs for trade appears below. You'll also find a few base set needs from teams I collect and a couple of players I like. I'll create a separate page in the next day or so for my A&Gs.

Enjoy the pursuit. 

Available

A&G Base
2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 17, 18, 26, 31, 35, 51, 54, 58, 58, 61, 63, 73, 75, 77, 84, 91, 94, 94, 99, 102, 114, 116, 118, 131, 142, 143, 144, 146, 146, 150, 153, 157, 159, 162, 174, 182, 182, 184, 192, 199, 199, 202, 203, 212, 213, 222, 222, 224, 225, 229, 230, 237, 239, 241, 243, 246, 249, 249, 254, 258, 259, 260, 269, 269, 271, 273, 284, 285, 289, 291, 297, 298, 300, 312(SP), 312(SP), 317(SP), 322(SP), 331(SP), 341(SP), 342(SP)

A&G Minis Available
58 (black parallel), 94, 99, 279 (black parallel), 284 (black parallel), 310, 316, 321, 331

Hometown Heroes
3, 8, 19, 22, 36, 41, 46, 58, 74, 78, 89, 94, 97, 99

Floating Fortresses
2, 9, 17, 17

Step Right Up
6, 10

Portraits Penultimacy
5, 9, 9 


A&G Needs   

Uninvited Guests
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10   

Minds That Made The Future
1, 2, 4-9, 11, 13-16, 18-22, 24, 25, 28-33, 35, 36, 38, 39

Base Set
46, 68, 81, 82, 100, 140, 147, 164, 170, 194, 198, 223, 275, 293, 299, 308(SP), 324(SP), 325(SP), 343(SP)

World's Most Mysterious Figures
1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10

Hometown Heroes
8, 10, 25, 27, 29, 30, 53, 77, 93, 94

Lineage Trade Bait

I wrote about my lineage experience the other day but now, after a second small purchase, I wanted to post what's available for trade. I know I've read that a couple of bloggers are planning to chase the set.

I'd love to pick up legends in the set or any Reds or Tigers '75 minis. I'm also very eager to acquire more 2011 Heritage - and my needs are updated. 

Below are pictured a few of the cards I have available. The list is here too. Please comment or e-mail me (dw.reds@gmail.com) if you need these and have some trade thoughts. 

20 - Justin Morneau
35 - Hanley Ramirez
41 - Vladimir Guerrero
51 - Hunter Pence

56 - Shane Victorino

56 - Shane Victorino
65 - Josh Johnson
67 - Nelson Cruz

67 - Nelson Cruz

92 - Clay Buchholz

101 - Madison Bumgarner
115 - Chipper Jones

116 - Pedro Alvarez

118 - Todd Helton

124 - Franklin Gutierrez

126 - Shin-Soo Choo
132 - Nick Markakis

142 - Dan Haren

145 - Adrian Gonzalez
149 - Kevin Youkilis

152 - David DeJesus

152 - David DeJesus
153 - B.J. Upton

169 - Cliff Lee

172 - Jose Bautista

180 - Marlon Byrd

199 - CC Sabathia

Checklist 1 of 4

More image examples. Thanks.

Contest at My Sports Obsession

Jeff at this fine blog is running his first contest to celebrate his pending 100th post. Please take a look and follow him. His blog is an asset and he's a great trader too! Want more? He lives in the great state of Indiana!

Premature Auto-Erotica

So I wrote the post below earlier today, thought I saved it as I had another dozen things to add, but apparently in my haste hit "publish". I think I'm all high on life, it being my birthday and what not.

If you saw the post earlier and thought there were a few gaps, well take another look please. I've added a bit more prose and another dozen autograph pics! Thanks.

Auto-Erotica

First off, apologies in advance to all of the weirdos who found this post via Google.

So, a few days ago, I teased my foray into the world of autograph seeking. Hunting these a'grafs (to parlay what I'm pretty sure is the street lingo) wasn't too hard as they came free with the SUPER VIP ticket to The National that I received as an early birthday present.

(Side note: Tomorrow, the 16th, is my actual birthday. Hooray for me for being born!)

While at The National, I couldn't resist meeting a couple of favorites from my childhood. I even stood in the shorter lines to snag a few other signatures. I'm considering holding on to a couple of the extras for a future contest and some may be headed to family members and blogger friends.

Bill Madlock was one of three guests at VIP night. Madlock signed several cards for me. For some reason, he used a pen I wasn't thrilled with on a couple of them, but no huge whoop.

Uh, yeah, that didn't work so well. Actually, looks much better live than scan, thankfully.

Madlock was favorite of mine in the late '70s. He was a four-time batting title champ and won a World Series ring with the Pittsburgh "We Are Family" Pirates. I recall that World Series very well and was rooting hard for Willie Stargell, Dave Parker, Madlock and Kent Tekulve. The Pirates have ranked in my top echelon of teams ever since.

Madlock loved it when he saw this card.

I wrote about the Hostess cards a few months ago and how much those cards still mean to me. This was my first opportunity to get one signed so I went for it. I considered leaving it at home but thought it might be fun to get a signature and unite my past and present a bit. The best/worst part for me is this was by far my worst cut. Lovely.

The other baseballer in the Very Important People room was Don Kessinger. As a kid, I knew his name but basically nothing about him. He seemed like a good guy as he chatted everyone up with his Arkansas twang. Here are the cards he signed.

Great signature. I particularly love how the '76 looks. No, silly me didn't grab a Cubs Kessinger in time.

Next up, Dick Fosbury - he of the Flop variety. Fosbury was the third VIP in the room. I had nothing for him to sign and pulled out a note card. I didn't scan it but he signed it: "Dick Fosbury, '68 Gold". Nice guy.

During the regular show days I met several other former semi-stars: Jack "The Ripper" Clark, The Brothers Reuschel, Leon "Bull" Durham, Buddy Bell, Lee Smith and Stan Bahnsen. Bahnsen was Rookie of the Year for the Yankees in '68. Who knew. I wasn't planning on getting his signature and didn't have a card. When a pal from the previous day's line saw me, he said I should walk over there and use my Bahnsen ticket. Basically no line at all. Bought the first Bahnsen I could find, for 20 cents, at the table next to where I was standing and headed on over.

Here are some of their signatures put to cardboard. First up are my four favorites from the show.

Bell's rookie card. I grabbed this at the show.

This looks tremendous in hand.

Signature in black pops nicely with the border.

I gave away a couple of cards to seekers in line, including a Rick Reuschel Cubs, but I hung on to this one and took advantage of the rare chance to get two big league brothers signing the same card. Why Topps put Paul's name where Rick is picture and Rick's name where Paul is pictured is anybody's guess. Alphabetical? Silly though.

Along with Madlock, I was most excited about Buddy Bell. I always followed his career and was thrilled when he landed on the Reds later in his career. Of course, in my haste the night before the show, I forgot to pull a card of him on the Reds.

Here are some more from the big show:

Nice.

The other Lee card. Also love this. Arguably nicer than the first but I'm so partial to the '83s.

Love, love the '83; wrote on his eye with the one immediately above. Ick.

Such a classic shot for me. Great signature.

Believe it or not, I have one more Bell around here that I forgot to scan.

In one word, here's my final and authoritative word on the signers based on my two seconds with them. Well, it's also based on my time spent staring at them while in line.

Jack Clark: Swarthy  (By the way, realized I didn't scan the Clark. I'll probably add it here later or in another post.)

Bill "Mad Dog" Madlock: Happy
Don Kessinger: Folksy
Paul Reuschel: Awshucks
Rick Reuschel: Meh
Buddy Bell: Sophisticated
Lee Smith: Awesome
Leon Durham: Disappointing
Stan Bahnsen: Bored

I brought along three old baseballs I had purchased a decade ago for a White Sox charity night meet and greet and I bought one more at the show. The balls were signed by Madlock, Kessinger, Smith and Bell.

My First Lineage Experience

Because I can't stand to be left on the sidelines, I picked up some Lineage last night at the local Wal-Mart while buying coloring supplies for my daughter. Or is it that I picked up coloring supplies for my daughter while at the local Wal-Mart buying baseball cards? I can never remember.

I have mixed feelings about these cards.

I love the mini-75s and managed to snag a whopping one in two rack packs.

As for the rest, well by nature I tend to love looking at any new card set. It's in my blood. The thrill isn't gone yet. I imagine everyone has seen the backs posted on other blogs by now. I don't understand why so many of these sets can't just stick with the stats.

For now, I'm thinking I'll just pick up some Reds and Tigers, other players I collect, various cards of the legends and then call it a day. Hope to eventually land Andre Dawson, Joey Votto, Frank Thomas - probably some other PCs I'm missing.

As for last night's purchases, no Tigers in the two rack packs but a few Reds!

Here are some of my favorites:

Jay Bruce
Johnny Bench
A Shiny Guy That I Collect

I must lean old school because these legends on cards just look better to me than the whippersnappers. I was pleased to pull:

Cal Ripken Jr. (The trophy does it for me.)

Sandy Koufax (this one too, cannot argue with snagging any Koufax)

Whitey Ford (nice action shot - take my word for it)
Walter Johnson (Big Train! Still love that nick.)
Jackie Robinson (always nice, although I'm about to send him away in a deal for the beloved Al Kaline)
and
Mickey Mantle (yeah, overkill, but I truly love this card!)

Meanwhile, here are some more Lineage cards for your viewing pleasure. All are up for trade. I'm setting aside Dunn for Jeff and Helton for Johnny until I hear otherwise. Enjoy!