Just a quickie today. Spending some time in beautiful Stone Harbor, NJ with my wife's family. I guess if our region is going to get scorched by triple-digit temps, might as well tough it out at the beach.
Anyhow, I was checking out the local Atlantic City paper this morning, whose sports section apparently features a "Mike Trout Tracker", since the young Angels superstar is from right down the road in Millville. Hard to believe he was a star player at Millville HS just a few short years ago, and now he's leading the American League in batting. Obviously, he is delighting fans in Los Angeles, as well as those of us around the map who are fortunate enough to have him on their fantasy baseball teams (me!).
Speaking of lucky, I played my cards right (literally) in the Topps Golden Giveaway online doohickey. A code that opened a Mariano Rivera die cut card became an Eric Hosmer die cut card via trade which, after much trying, became a card I really lusted after -- the Stephen Strasburg die cut! I love the picture Topps used for this card, peering over the mitt a la Andy Pettitte. Plus, he's wearing the Star Spangled holiday uniform that teams break out over the summertime holidays.
I already had the amazing Jose Bautista (I card I flipped Al Kaline for) in queue and was going to give the command for Topps to ship 'em out to me ASAP. But, wouldn't you know that most of the world is hot to trot for Strasburg, too? Trade offers galore. And wouldn't you know someone offered me the beautiful Trout card you see above in exchange for Sir Stephen?
After an evening of deliberation, I had to pull the trigger. I mean, it's Mike Trout, one of the biggest young stars this side of Bryce Harper. Star Spangled jersey or not, Stras had to be sacrificed.
I might hold off on getting these shipped for a while more, just in case I get any future code cards. After my semi-rant at Topps and their insert mania yesterday, I think it's only fair to tell the old boys that they did OK by me with this insert/promotion. In Series One, I wound up with David Wright and Johan Santana (after trading, mind you), which I have in my possession now. And Joey Bats (a player who I am developing a card crush on) and Trout make my Golden Giveaway haul a mighty good one thus far.
I'd love to hear any Golden Giveaway success stories (or otherwise) from you guys/gals.
Enjoy the weekend, and stay cool!
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