The BIG Announcement and Garfoose Giveaway

I've hinted at it in emails but here it goes: the compa is 12 weeks pregnant! We refer to the little guy/gal as "Blueberry" in homage to Vida Blue (OK, maybe not really), and Blue's expected date of arrival is mid-September.

So, if I owe you a trade package that I haven't sent PLEASE check in. I'm increasingly excited/forgetful owing to the news, so it's nothing personal.

Anyway, I grabbed this to celebrate:

Being a literary sort, I thought a customized, signed, and Garfoosed copy of Out of My League would be an appropriate way to bring Blue into the world. If you aren't familiar with Dirk Hayhurst or his literary endeavors, I suggest you check them out. The above, The Bullpen Gospels, and the "cut chapters" from these, Wild Pitches, are well worth the read. His website and blog are also pretty cool. Seriously, literature and baseball together, what more could Blue want?

Well, as part of the auction I won I received these:

On left we have a signed A&G with Hayhurst dressed as the Garfoose, on the left a signed promo card for the book. I'll be giving these (and other cool things) away to celebrate! 

So, I'll have to get a judge but: to enter the first "Here Comes Blue Contest," leave a comment in the comments section and tell me your best advice for new fathers/mothers. It can be serious, it can be funny, whatever you like. Promote it on Twitter/your blogs, whatever you are cool with. Contest closes in one week.

The winner (whomever the judge selects!) gets his/her pick of the cards above. The other is then a prize in the next "Here Comes Blue Contest"!

Have a good one everybody and goodnight Pumpsie Green, wherever you are! 

(Sadly, "Pumpsie Green" has already been eliminated from the pool of potential names)

Ebay Shenanigans: Ladies and Gents, It's a Draw

First, keep your eyes peeled for the BIG announcement tomorrow. There will be contests and prizes, and much coolness.

As for the ebay saga: I heard nothing from the buyer for three days. Not the promised pictures, not another message, nothing. But then when I woke up this morning there was a "buyer protection claim" filed against me. So I said, "F#$@ that," escalated the thing to customer service and went to work. The advertised response time was 72 hours, but this thing was solved in 4, specifically via an email that stated 1) ebay granted the buyer a FULL refund 2) ebay said NO ONE was at fault and 3) ebay said I did not have to reimburse the ebay or the buyer.

Of course, the buyer left negative feedback the moment I escalated it, but whatever. I'm glad I'll get no more messages like this:

hi i messaged you last week and i know ypu said i paid on the 7th and that this was shipped but now its the 21st and i still havent recieved the item ,?? its been two solid weeks ,you have to be kidding me.That is just ridiculous .

Again, I feel the frustration, but you've got to be kidding ME. The package was shipped the 11th, at that point it was the final day of the ebay-estimated delivery window, and the tracking number says it was misrouted. Wtf can I do once I've shipped it?!

Anyway, the resolution isn't terribly intellectually satisfying, but there it is none the less. I'm grateful it was resolved (and fairly with regard to yours truly, that's a win!), but on the other side of the coin this is rewarding bad behavior. I mean, what is that?

Ebay shenanigans at their finest.

Topps Rookie AS Project: 1970-73

Somehow I seem to have skipped 65-69, but I'll fix that soon. In the meantime, enjoy the early-70s!

1970 Mike Nagy

 1971 Bernie Carbo (post here)

 1972 Bill Buckner

 1973 Jack Brohamer (post here)

Have a good one everybody and goodnight Pumpsie Green, wherever you are!

Need a 2012 Topps Hellickson...

the one from the flagship with the Topps AS Rookie cup. I'll also take any cards of Rays prospects you have around. I'm going to spring training as a last hurrah before a big change.

Anyway, drop me a line if you have a spare Hellboy!

He's my brother and all: TTM from the O'Briens

While I was researching 1953 Pirates to send ttms to I came across Eddie and Johnny O'Brien. Other than being the first twins to play in an MLB game for the same team in the same game, the two also managed to lead their university basketball squad to a victory over the Harlem Globetrotters in 1952.  That's a pretty awesome feat in itself.

I remember the 2003 Heritage set had a Joe/Jake Mauer card, and I'm guessing it was based on this one. In addition to the '53, I sent this fellow to tag along. There's a lot that's cool here: twins, a double-play combo, the old-school Pirate, the double sigs, the long, looping "E" in "Ed."

It was my first "double auto," and thanks to Mssrs. O'Brien it turned out really well. Thank you, sirs!

Hava a good one everybody and goodnight Pumpsie Green, wherever you are!

When ebay goes wrong part x

I really get the basic premise of ebay: it's a national garage sale. You send people money, they send you stuff (or vice versa), it's pretty straight forward. And truth be told, for the most part it works.

Until, obviously, when it doesn't. I'm currently in ebay seller hell. Something was sold, it was shipped, that should have been that. But oh, no, no it wasn't. Three days after it shipped I got an email saying, "where the hell is my item?"

Wait, what?

So I replied, said it was shipped, and said I hoped it'd be there soon. As these things go, the postal service then routed the package via Timbuktu, which delayed the package by a week. Sure enough, another message: "where the hell is my item?"

Now, I get the frustration, but I'm already tempered by the previous communication. This is just someone looking to start something even on the best of days. I sent the tracking number, things should be simmering down now that the package has arrived.

But no, they're not. Now I'm being told the item "is not as described," but cannot have pictures of said item's defects. At this point I'm being threatened with "buyer protection options," because apparently I'm a complete pain in the ass to deal with. Despite my measured tone. Despite not yelling back. Ugh.

How does something so simple go so wrong?

Sid Bream Slides by: TTM from a Brave Great

When researching Sid Bream's career, I was surprised to find out he stole 50 bases over his 12 years in the bigs. The 40 CS by comparison was no surprise at all, save for the fact that the slow-footed Bream attempted a grand total of 90 stolen bases. In sum, I'm not at all sure what to make of that.

Any way you look at it, though, it is kind of odd that Bream will always be best remembered for scoring the winning run in the Braves 1992 NLCS victory over the Pirates. If you were a Braves fan in the late-80s, those NL titles in the early-90s were a glory to behold. And they did it with guys like Bream and another CCC favorite, the man who drove Bream in, Francisco Cabrera. Since I already have a Cabrera auto from 1990, before all of this, I decided it was time to give Bream a shot. He didn't disappoint.

Here's Mr. Bream on his first Braves card. Man, if we all knew then what the next few years had in store. 

For some reason I think of Bream as being a Dodger more so than a Pirate, but he was a Pirate nonetheless. You wonder if those fans have any regrets?

And here's another look at the Cabrera hit and the Bream slide. You can never get enough of that. 

Have a good one everybody and goodnight Pumpsie Green, wherever you are!