Happy Belated Blog-Aversary to Me

In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and trying to get some posts actually published around these parts, I completely overlooked that exactly one week ago was my two-year blog-aversary. Despite the second half of the year bringing me unexpected reasons to not be able to post, I am thrilled to be a part of this community. I had planned to do a end of he year wrap up/recap after we make our way into the new year so not much to do in this one besides show off a few additions to the collection that have come my way from sources outside of the blogging community.

I won this in a razz a few weeks back. I rolled the dice on one spot for $6 and was fortunate to come up the winner! I was especially excited to receive this since it is my first auto of the former Wolfpack standout. Being an NC State guy, I think I'll focus on adding to my Turner collection in blog year three.

I snagged this in a auto/relic lot for less than $10. As I may have mentioned here before, I really enjoyed watching Shaffer play in Durham over the past few seasons. He was recently traded to Seatlle and then shortly thereafter he was designated for assignment. I suppose there is an outside chance he ends up back in the Rays system, but I just hope he catches on somewhere and gets a shot at the big league level. I'll continue to collect his cardboard wherever he lands.

Lastly, I won this Topps Vault 1/1 on eBay for the minimum bid. I was happy to add this since Motter is probably my favorite Durham Bulls player over the past few seasons. His cardboard appearances on non-minor league issues are rare so I am trying to find whatever parallels I can afford to add. Sadly, he too was traded to Seattle. I hope that he is able to find some regular playing time in the Pacific Northwest and I am anxiously awaiting his first card sporting a Mariners jersey.

What would a blog-aversary post be without announcing a contest/giveaway? If you're interested, simply leave a comment on this post. I'll leave it open until Christmas Day at midnight. I will run all of the names through the randomizer 9 times. Depending on the number of entries, I may award two prizes. Oh, the prizes? What are they, you ask? I'll be sure to customize it to the winner(s) collecting preferences.

Hey, if you can't get enough of contests, want to enter one more, and are a fan of UFC, you should visit Sport Card Collectors blog here: http://sportcardcollectors.blogspot.com/2016/12/review2016-topps-museum-collection.html The deadline for entry is tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone who has read any of the content here over the past two years. It means a great deal.

Double Dose of Supertrading and a Contest Plug

Happy Saturday! Before I get to the first in a series of slightly overdue trade posts, I want to take a second to plug a contest currently going on over at Sport Card Collectors. Do yourself a favor and check out this really great review of the recently released Topps Museum Collection. It's really a beautiful product.

Alright, as previously mentioned, I've been accumulating a small backlog of trade packages due to a limited amount of time available to scan said packages. This past week, I was able to get the scanning started. Today, I hit you with the contents of two separate packages from fellow #supertraders. First up to the plate, Play at the Plate. This was my first trade(my side is pending) with Brian and it was a PWE that packed a nice punch.

I dig those older Tek cards and I loved Canseco! I think the Floro will end up getting signed before we get too deep into the Durham Bulls season. There were a handful of other Rays that definitely found a home in my collection, but I'll move on to the most underrepresented portion of my collection, both physically and on the blog.

New Jersey Devils! It's always great to receive a new Martin Brodeur, but I needed both of these so it was even better. The Claude Lemieux brought back memories as he was one of the big offensive threats on the team when I first started watching. Good stuff all the way around. Thanks Brian!

The next package arrived from Brett, he of the relatively new blog Cooperstown Exit 3:16. If you haven't checked it out yet, I highly recommend you do. This bubble mailer was packed full of Tamp goodness. Here are the highlights.

I'll start off with some shiny cardboard. Everyone loves that, right? I have fond memories of James Shields in a Rays jersey. He toed the rubber in the only game I've been able to make it to see at the new Yankee Stadium. He faced off against Andy Pettitte and it was a heck of a performance. I'm not even bitter that the Yankees lost that afternoon. The background on the Crawford kinda reminds me of Pinnacle Museum Collection parallels, definitely not a bad thing!

Here, we've got more shiny, a gold parallel, an RC, an IP auto and a card that will hopefully end up with some ink of its own later this season. I am especially fond of the Matt Moore RC and the Roberto Hernandez auto. I have written about my time spent 'graphing at the ballpark before. This card just reminds me of those fun times. I don't get much of a chance to do that anymore, but I have my heart set on getting that Cobb signed later this season when he rolls through Durham on his rehab assignment. Thanks so much Brett. I've got your return package mostly crafted. I'm aiming to get it sent out in the near future.

Thanks for reading!