Back in Business!

Hey everybody! Back from a few days at the beach with the family. It was definitely much cooler, but it would be a bit of an overstatement to say that it was relaxing. Nevertheless, here I am back at the steering wheel of JD's Wild Cardz, refreshed, and ready to...collate..apparently!

First things first. Its always nice to come home and see some mail in the ol mailbox. Good mail though, like the brown envelope kind! While I am not going to scan every card received, I would love to hit on some of the highlights and spread some thanks around!

The first two envelopes are easy. My two Johnny Cueto cards arrived! I now have three Johnny autos and the sit side-by-side-by-side so you can compare the different signature styles. His rookie chrome model is obviously his first attempt at signing cards, and his next two cards clearly follow a much nicer (consistent) signature, and his most recent includes his jersey number. Maybe next year he will add a little happy face to his signature. Stay tuned.

The third package comes from no other than my partner in Ginter crime, Nick Jacoby. Nick is kickin' it at his blog over at Cardboard Overload, but I have noticed no posts in the last several days, so I hope he has not been taken ransom for his half of Ginter booty. Nick has dived deep into the Ginter cards, and has been busily assembling his set. Nick sent me a few cards towards my base, but the main draw of this package was several Ginter highlights sketch cards. This is the one subset of this series that I am really drawn to, and thanks to Nick, I am now several cards closer. Here is the one that really made me pause...

Any Red Sox fan will sadly recognize the scene depicted in this card as the moment where Aaron Boone put the finishing touches on the Yankee comeback against the Red Sox in game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. I can still see that Wakefield beachball flying off of Boone's bat into deep left. I have no idea if Aaron Boone even has a job today, but at the very least the damage was repaired the next season.

Nick also sent me a nice little surprise card: This is a nice little addition for my Blazer fandom. I have never seen a card quite like this and it has the big man...well, doing the last thing I expect to see him do...dribble. All reports are that Greg is working hard this summer and going to come back mean in the fall. Here is hoping to a fantastic Miller to Oden connection!

One more quick mention to Nick. I highly recommend you check out his site and check into some of his projects. He has a great idea with the code cards, and is seeking to collect all 100 and send out TTM to each of the athletes. This is a fantastic idea, and very ambitious, and I wish him luck!

My next package came from Tunguska, somewhere in Canada (sorry man, been awhile since we made the initial trade so I cannot remember your blog). The coolest highlight from Tunguska was this: This Lou Gehrig beauty represents the last of the 15 cards needed to complete my Career Best Legends set. he now sits proudly next to the 14 other legends and I can close a book on that collection. Thank you Topps for not extending this set into the Highlights and Updates edition coming out in a few months.

Tunguska also kicked down several gold parallel Sox cards, my favorite of which is the Jon Lester Landscape shot. There were also a few A&G base cards and an unopened N43 boxloader of Dice-K. Thanks man, and I am also happy to help you out with your extra request, but we will get to that...

Another reader by the name of Frederick was kind enough to tackle several of my Allen and Ginter base cards, and at this point my base needs are really starting to slim out. Thanks Frederick!

Now on to the weekly administrative duties...

• Before I left on vacation, I set up a poll regarding what I should do with the 99% of the cards of which have no value to me or anybody else in the world. Not surpisingly, by landslide the people have spoken and have decided that I need to collate all of my randoms and report back to you all what I have (sigh). This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it will help keep me busy while I wait for the Topps Chrome to ship out next week. I will choose a product and search through my piles and report back to you. I just hope that there are those of you that are able to suck these up for me, or else they will become collated garbage!
• My search continues for SP Legendary Cuts short prints. If you look over on the right bar, you will see the cards which I am still looking for. These are a bit tricky to find, so if you have any of these or know of anybody that has any, can you please help me achieve this set? This is a top-priority for me at the moment. Thanks!!
• A couple of people have sent me their Ginter Code cards and have asked for my signature. While I feel pretty awkward about this, I think it is cool if you are excited to get a signed card and I am more than happy to do so for you if you would like. I just have to go buy a blue sharpie and practice first because these cards are slippery! If you might be willing to include a self-addressed stamped or a trade idea as well, that would be cool! Also, don't forget to hit up Nick as well for these requests...after all it was a team effort!

I think that is about it for now. I look forward to getting back into the swing of things!