Andy Oliver Cards and an Announcement

When I was a kid, my Dad took me and my brother to his cousins house to check out his baseball card collection. Down in his basement, cousin Don had boxes and boxes of cards. He also had many binders. One of the binders was full of Barry Bonds rookie cards.  I think he said he had something like 500 Bonds rookies. I had never seen or heard of such a thing. The guy hadn't done anything yet. Why was cousin Don hoarding cards of Bonds? Turns out, cousin Don knew what he was doing.
Before the dawn of jersey cards, auto's, and serial numbered cards, rookie cards were the shiznit. My Alan Trammell rookie card was the pride and joy of my collection. I showed it off so much that now when I look at it all I see are the edge dings, creases, and corner wear.
Now that I know a bit about card collecting, I know that cousin Don was prospecting Bonds rookie cards. I have only ever prospected one guy, Detroit Tiger farmhand Wilkin Ramirez. Who? Right, most people have not heard of him either. He had a cup of Gatorade with the Tigers a couple of seasons ago, and actually hit a home run off Roger Clemens. Last I heard, Wilkin was still trying to hit a curve ball somewhere in the Braves system. If... he ever "makes" it, I have a big stack of his cards to flip and retire on.

This week, I snagged a couple of cards of Tiger's hot pitching prospect Andy Oliver. Oliver is oh-so-close to joining the big club. Phil Coke is not exactly panning out in his new role in the starting rotation after being a reliever the past few seasons. Also, the Tigers bullpen, aside from closer Valverde, has been somewhat shaky, so Coke could be moved back there to shore it up. That means Oliver could be called up to join the rotation as the token lefty. Oliver is 4-2 at Toledo with a low era and whip. 43 k's and only 17 walks in 43 innings. I am not exactly prospecting Oliver, but if he comes north to the big club, and tears it up, I won't be getting cards of him as cheap as I got these two ($9 bucks shipped).

2010 Bowman Sterling (#185/199) ~ 2010 Bowman DP&P (#394/399)

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Sometime this week, I will write my 500th blog post. I started this blog in December of 2009. This blog has been one of the funnest things I have ever done. My collection sat in my basement for decades. This has been a way for me to share my collection, meet other collectors, and learn about the hobby. It's hard to put this into words, but it has been more. There are days when it's been tough at work, or tough family issues have arisen, and I turn to my "these keep me in stitches" blogroll and read something funny by the Core Contrarian, or see a mustache drawn onto an '87 at Burn Card Burn, or see an inspirational verse at Cardboard Collections, and everything seems to be put back into perspective. 

As a way to say thanks to my fellow bloggers and readers, I am going to have a 500th post give-away. No contest, no crazy rules, no work... just a give-away. Check back later this week for the details.