Better seats today!

Hoping the boys can make it seven in a row

At Miller Park

And loving it. Hope they can make it six in a row. Cb out

At the friendly confines

And it's a little chilly

Be Right Back

Off to the land of beer and cheese and Brewers baseball.  I'll be gone till the end of April, carry on.

cb out.

TTM Success - Ray Searage

Well it's snowing like it's winter again up here.  Luckily I only have 2 days till I head south.  But the weather forcast for Chicago the day we fly in is for thunderstorms and Northern Wisconsin ain't much better.  Anywho, I was pleasently surprised to find one of my TTM return envelopes in my mailbox this afternoon.  With a return address from Pittsburgh.  I wasn't quite sure who it was from, as I hadn't sent anything to Pittsburgh this year.  And well that's because I got a return from one I sent last year.

Ray Searage played with the Brewers from 1984 to 1986 when we was traded to the White Sox.  Rays only Topps card in a Brewers uniform is his 1986.  He has a couple other cards from Fleer and Donruss, but I didn't have any of those lying around so I sent him his 1982 "rookie" card. Ray is currently the pitching coach for the Pirates.  Ray also holds the distinction of being the only Met with a 1.000 batting average and 100% winning percentage.  Look it up.

 Ray's got a great sig, I just wish he had had a fresher Sharpe.  This also took about a year to get back, not my longest turn around, but close.  Needless to say I had kinda written off Mr. Searage, but I'm glad to be able add his signature  to my autograph collection.  I also already have a couple autos on 1986 Topps cards, but it's good to have some back ups.

Thanks again Ray

TTM Stats
Date Sent 5/10/12
Date Recieved 4/6/13

Address used
c/o Pittsburgh Pirates

• PNC Park
• 115 Federal Street
• Pittsburgh, PA 15212

A big thank you.

You'll notice I put up a counter for this years trades.  I did one last year too.  Right now I'm sitting at 13 with a few more probably coming up soon.  Most of those came from trading stuff out of my Series 1 Jumbo box with a bunch of you.  Most of the trades were pretty simple, not that they weren't great. Just some stuff I needed or wanted for stuff they needed or wanted.  I did snag a few great cards out of the deal though.  I've since put all the cards in their respective spots in the collection and I've quickly forgot to do a trade post or even a thank you, although most of the time I do email to say that I got the cards and thank you.  So I just want to say thanks to all 13 of you who traded with me in the last couple of months and I look forward to more trades.

Next week I'm headed down to the lower 48 to see some family.  The wife and I will be taking in a Cubs game and a couple Brewers games.  It just worked out that the Cubs play the Brewers when we are going to Wrigley and that the Brewers are playing the Cubs at Miller Park.  It should be fun.  My wife is a terrible Cubs fan, but swears that they are her team, she has hats to prove it, but I doubt she could name a single person currently on the team.  I've never been to Miller Park, so I'm excited about that.  I'd been to plenty of games at County Stadium, but have yet to make it down to a Brewers game in their new home.  This will be the first time in a long time I'm down in Wisconsin during baseball season.

So I'll be hanging up the Be Back Soon sign for a couple of weeks, but hopefully should have some good stories to tell from the trip.

Thanks again everybody and thanks for reading.

cb

Breaking News!!!!!! Upper Deck and Panini to get MLB License.

I can't believe I just heard this over the interwebs.  In an unexpected and unpredicted move Major League Baseball has decided to grant both Upper Deck and Panini  full MLB licensing rights.  In a move I largely attribute to my masterfully crafted letter to the Commissioner of Baseball, both long time competitors of Topps will now be able to use logos and team names on all their products.

When asked for a quote Mark Sapir from Topps said that it was, "Not cool."

Representatives from Panini and Upper Deck both released almost identical press releases that amounted to a giant raspberry and na-nanny boo-boo while sticking their tongues out at Topps.

Both companies plan to release new sets as soon as the ink dries on the contracts.....





























































April Fool's you're still stuck with just Topps!!!