Freebie Fridays featured forthwith!

It must be that time of year. Jan and I have been talking about moving again, downsizing from out three-bedroom house into a one- to two-bedroom condo or apartment in the downtown area.

We've been living in our current residence in Des Moines since 1998, which marks the longest we've ever lived in one place since we've been married. Life in the military has certainly kept us on our toes, with moves to San Diego, Denver, Olympia, Wash., and back to Iowa.

During one of our moves, our moving company told us the average American family accumulates about 500 pounds of junk a year. I can believe it. I think I amass that much weight just in sports cards each year.

For whatever reason, I always seem to pick up massive quantities of sports cards I have no need for.
When I won that $1 bid board box o' cards a while back, it included  basketball and wrestling cards I found at the bottom of the box.

Basketball? Meh, it leaves me cold.  A player gets a hangnail and he's on the DL for two weeks. He gets a cramp and he has to be carted off the court.

Pro Wrestling? Give me a break! If I want histrionics, I'll go visit my two younger sisters. I'll take good old fashioned "folk-style" NCAA wrestling any day. This is Iowa, after all.

According to my wife, she feels I'm too much of a pack rat to just throw these cards away. More than likely, its the fact that I always believe someone may want or need these cards and can't justify tossing them out, even though they may be basketball, wrestling, or even racing cards.

My loss, however, may be your gain.

I'm going to attempt to post a Freebie Friday offer each week. It will feature cards I have no desire to keep, but am more than willing to pass along to a good home. I don't expect anything back in return (unless you truly feel the need to reciprocate), it's just that I can't toss these cards out with a good and clear conscience. If it's a huge set of cards, perhaps you can help with postage, if needed.

One thing I know for sure, getting rid of those cards I have sitting around will definitely make my wife happy.

In any case, here's my first Freebie Friday offers. They are being offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Whoever responds first, gets the cards. All I ask is that one person doesn't become a card hog and claim everything I post. Let's spread the wealth and let everyone share in the goodies.

 

Offer #1 - (BOOK) Classic Sports Card Sets: Best Sports Card sets from the 1950s and '60s.

 

Offer #2 - 1993-94 Jam Session and 1993 Classic Futures

1993-94 Jam Session - Jon Koncak (#7), Rodney Rogers RC (#57), Stanley Roberts (#99), Anfernee Hardaway RC (#159), A.C. Greer (#176), Jerome Kersey (#187), Bobby Hurley RC (#195), Lloyd Daniels (#204), Shawn Kemp (#214), Tyrone Corbin (#223), Pervis Ellison (#233), Tim Hardaway Gamebreakers (#6).

 

1993 Classic Futures - Bill Edwards (#2), Malcolm Mackey (#42), William Davis (#43), Charles "Bo" Outlaw (#55), Mike Peplowski (#59), Thomas Hill (#72), Ed Stokes (#77), Ray Thompson (#87), Gary Troit (#94), Byron Wilson (#94), Rex Walters (#95)

 

Offer #3 - 10 Assorted Topps Allen and Ginter Minis

2008 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini A and G Back #167 Marie Curie

2010 Topps Allen and Ginter #10 Gary Stewart

2010 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini Monsters of the Mesozoic #MM24 Carnotaurus

2010 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini National Animals #NA40 King Cobra/Republic of India

2010 Topps Allen and 206 Mini Historical Events #HE15 May 18, 1910/Earth Pases through tail of Comet Halley

2010 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini Lords of Olympus #LO10 Gaea

2011 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini Step Right Up #SRU9 Knife Throwing

2011 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini World's Most Mysterious Figures #WMF3 Kasper Hauser

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter #140 Tommy Lee

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini Codes, Cyphers and Crypotgraphs #SHE Shugborough Hall Inscription

 

Offer #4  - 19 Assorted Topps Allen and Ginter

2010 Topps Allen and Ginter #9 Kelly Kulick

2010 Topps Allen and Ginter #110 Sherlock Holmes

2010 Topps Allen and Ginter #185 X-Rays

2011 Topps Allen and Ginter #119 Nancy Lopez

2010 Topps Allen and Ginter  Minds that Made the Future #MMF40 Benjamin Franklin

2011 Topps Allen and Ginter Ascent of Man #AOM3 Choanoflagellates

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter #211 Keegan Bradley

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter #51 Don Denkinger

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter #237 Al Unser Sr.

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter World's Tallest Buildings #WTB6 Empire State Building

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter One Little Corner #AB Asteroid Belt

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter #62 McKayla Maroney

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter #35 Kevin Harvick

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter #11 Robin van Persie

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter Civilizations of Ages Past #IRV Indus River Valley

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter Palaces and Strongholds #HP Hohenschangau Castle

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter Palaces and Strongholds #SP Summer Palace

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter Martial Mastery #GD Gladiators

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter Martial Mastery #RM Romans

May COMC Package

I know I said I was running behind on my posts and all, but it seems as if I barely posted my April COMC rewards, when my May COMC package arrived in the mail. Again, for every challenge you complete you get 100 points, for every 1,000 worth of points, yadah, yadah, yadah.

 

 

For this month's selection of Tony Gwynn cards, I opted for a 1995 Topps Stadium Club Ring Leaders (#RL7), 1998 Pacific Invincible Photoengravings (#12), 1992 Upper Deck FanFest Gold (#25), 1999 Ultra the Book On (#13), 2013 Topps Archives 1983 All-Stars (#TG), 2014 Finest Vintage Refractors (VFTG), 2014 Topps Hi Tek Spiral Bricks (#HTTGW), and a 2001 SP Game Bat Milestone (#77).

 

 

I was really excited when I found this next card, especially since I love the San Diego Chicken and it's rather hard finding unique cards with him.  In this 1985 Mexico City Tigers TCMA #29, he's posing with the Mexican mascot, Chacho. I also picked up a 1993 Leaf Signature Autographs Joey Hamilton (#90), 2003 Leaf Certified Materials Mirror Red Dennis Tankersley (#159) S/N 9/100, 1980 Burger King Pitch/Hit/Run Dave Winfield (#22), 1974 Padres McDonald's Disc Bobby Tolan (#12), and a 1998 Stars 'N Steel Ken Caminiti (#7). Those McDonald discs are rather hard to find, especially as a set, which originally came in a plastic baseball.

 

A pair of 2014 Andrew Cashner Bowmans - one a Bowman Chrome Blue Refractor (#66) S/N 216/250,  the other a Bowman Green (#182) S/N 94/150, a 2011 Bowman Topps of the Class Anthony Rizzo (#TC20), 2008 Stadium Club First Day Issue Unnumbered VAR/Delivering a Pitch Josh Banks (#125b), a pair of Jedd Gyorko Bowman cards - one a 2014 Bowman Green (#190) S/N 116/150 the other a 2013 Bowman Draft Blue (#31) S/N 196/500, 2014 Bowman Prospects Purple Jordan Paroubeck (#BP58), and a 2013 Bowman Prospects Hometown Dan Phillips (#BP18).

For those of you who are hockey geeks like myself, and are just dying to find out what I picked up, here's a mess of autographed rookie cards. First up is a 2012-13 Certified Autograph RC Matt Donovan (#170) S/N 846/999, 2012-13 Certified Autograph RC Brenden Dillon (#160) S/N 51/999, 2013-14 SP Authentic Autograph RC Anton Belov (#317) S/N 631/999, 2009-10 SP Authentic Autograph RC Kris Chucko (#254), S/N 670/999, 2013-14 Panini Contenders Autograph RC Shawn Lalonde (#175), and a 2011-12 Panini Contenders Autograph RC Brett Bulmer (#224) S/N 361/800.



And finally, here's another autograph, 2012-13 SP Authentic Autograph RC Scott Glennie (#219) S/N 239/999, as well as a 2013-14 Score Jonathan Huberdeau RC (#648), 2013-14 OPC Valeri Nichushkin RC (#634), and a 2010-11 Justin Mercier RC (#122) S/N 184/499.

April COMC pick-ups

To show you how behind I am on everything, here's the package I received last month from COMC. As I've stated (almost ad nauseum), if you complete their inventory COMC Challenges, usually 100 points for 50 cards, 1,000 points will give you $1 in COMC bucks, you can earn enough COMC dollars to pick up a nice little stack of free cards

 

I'm now up to 303,95 points, good for about $300 worth of free sports cards (and yes, I've spent almost every penny of that on COMC cards).

 

I can't go a month without picking up some more Tony Gwynn cards, so I'll begin with my Gwynn dirty dozen pick-up. It includes these 1999 Skybox Premium Soul of the Game #5SG, 1998 Paramount Team Checklists #29, 2000 Finest Moments Refractors #FM3, 1998 Upper Deck All-Star Credentials #AS19, 2014 Upper Deck National Convention #15 and a 2011 60 Years of Topps #105.

My other Gwynn cards feature these 2000 Pacific Ornaments #17, 2002 Diamond Kings T204 #RC22 (S/N 821/1000), 1995 Classic $10 Phone Cards #46, 2002 Donruss Originals Champions #C6 (S/N 183/800), 1999 Upper Deck Retro Tme Capsule #TC9, and a 1993 Leaf Gold All-Stars #R9 (with Jose Canseco).

As I'm a fervent fan of the old Padres mustard uniforms, I couldn't pass up these three cards. I also picked up an autograph, Luke Carlin's RC 2008 SP Authentic Autograph #145 (S/N 255/699), and Sean Burroughs' 2005 Diamond Kings Materials Bronze Bat-Jersey RC #185 (S/N 143/200). And of course, the three San Diego yellow uni cards - a 2002 Studio Classic Dave Winfield #CS16 (S/N 433/1000), 2006 Topps Rookie of the Week Ozzie Smith #20, and a 2002 Topps 206 Polar Bear Ozzie Smith #433.



Of course, being a hockey geek, I also had to pick up some hockey cardboard. Here's my 2013-14 Panini Contenders Justin Fontaine RC #130 (S/N 2/600) and Anton Belov RC #127 (S/N 384/600), 2011-12 Panini Contenders Marc-Andre Bourdon RC #191 (S/N 11/999), 2013-14 Panini Contenders Norris Contenders Slava Voynov #NC-7 (S/N 294/499), 2013-14 Panini Prizm Jonathan Huberdeau RC #243 and a 2014-15 Ultra Vladislav Namestnikov RC #171.

A Storm is brewing....

I almost hate to admit it, but I do spend a fair amount of time on Facebook.

 

As a sports fan, I use it to keep up with the San Diego Padres and its minor league system - El Paso Chihuahuas, San Antonio Missions, Ft. Wayne Tincaps and Lake Elsinore Storm. I also follow a couple Green Bay Packers groups, as well as the page for the Iowa Wild Hockey Club.

 

As a former San Diego resident who's hoping to possibly move back to "America's Finest City" upon retirement, there's a few groups there I stay in touch with. The way I look at it, if we do move back there, I want to be aware of what's going on in that particular neighborhood.

 

As a sprint car fan, there are racing groups. As a writer, there are groups I belong to in order to find possible story ideas. And of course, there are a few friends that I keep in touch this way. 

 

Recently, the Lake Elsinore Storm, San Diego's Class A California League affiliate, ran a Facebook contest entitled Back in the Day Card Giveaway. Each day, for 10 days, they gave away autographed cards of former Storm players -- Dirk Hayhurst (10 cards), Jose Lobaton (9 cards), Logan Forsythe (8), Evan Meek (7), Cody Decker (6), Zach Britton (5), Rick Renteria (4), Josh Collmenter (3) Mike Moustakas (2), and Corey Kluber and Buster Posey (1).

 

After numerous entries, I was finally drawn in the Evan Meek giveaway. It wasn't long before I received a rather cool envelope from the Storm, which included this notecard.

 

Inside was my autographed Evan Meeks card.

Meek didn't actually spend that much time with the Padres, or the Storm, for that matter. Originally drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 11th round of the 2002 draft, he was released in June 2005 and then signed as a free agent by San Diego in September 2005.   In August 2006, his Padres career ended, as he was traded to Tampa Bay, along with Dale Thayer, for Russell Branyan.

 

He then bounced back and forth between the Rays and the Pirates. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates from the Rays in the 2007 Rule 5 draft, returned in May 2008, and then purchased by Pittsburgh in May 2008. He was then signed as free agent by the Texas Rangers (Dec. 2012), Baltimore Orioles (Feb. 2014) and the Washington Nationals (Jan. 2015).

 

His main claim to fame, however, was being named to the 2010 All-Star game as a Pirate.

 

They also enclosed a team decal, which is definitely going to find a home on my red Toyota Rav 4. you have to admit, that's a totally way cool logo.