CHICKEN SCRATCH: Who in the world signed my card?

Welcome to another edition of "Chicken Scratch". This is where we take a look at an athlete's signature and give it a sharpie rating based on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being a lazy signature (a horse could sign better with a pen in it's mouth) and then a 5 being a signature of a nice crisp clean legible signature. On very rare occasions we also have a special reserved 6 sharpie salute for perfect signatures.

Today's star athlete signature is brought to you courtesy of Gabriel Arias who's the shortstop of the Cleveland Guardians. This card below I pulled from a blaster of Absolute baseball (from gamestop of all places - it was in the bargain bin) and I was rather most surprised to pull an actual autograph 3 piece jersey card and not just a single piece jersey card as my luck with blasters is not that great.

Let's take a look at some of his signature across other cards (not mine) since the Absolute autograph was on a sticker.

 

So it would seem that he really has to cram his signature style together when he's signing on small areas as opposed to larger signing areas. Some folks do that and some do not while others just make a straight line at times. Look at those loops in his signature when he has the space to write.

His "G" is very consistent and his "A" is as well across the signatures.

It would appear the "G" and "A" in his signature is consistent on a baseball as well.

The ball player appears to take a little time to make his signature appear legible with at least 2 letters. I could see the "G" but I would never guess that his name was Gabriel or his last name was Arias from the "A". Some athletes will take the time to make a nice crisp signature and others will just write out their signature in letters. IMO......Gabriel makes an effort in his signatures with emphasis in the first letters of his first and last name and then scribbles out the rest of his name For this reason....the Big Kahuna and the tribe feel that he will be the receiver of 2 sharpies for his efforts.

ALL HAIL THE GOAT!!!

The Big Kahuna has come down from the mountain to spread the word across the land and to share thoughts on the upcoming 2016 MLB World Series and will now finish up sacrificing virgins to address the masses:

 The Big Kahuna Speaks now.......(silence you fools):

"For I have had a dream....and in this dream there was a vision.....a vision of Babe Ruth. He stood there (while eating a hot dog with one hand and holding a 40oz in the other) and spoke so firmly at me these following words (while chunks of hot dog buns were being spewed upon me from him speaking)":

"Here in the afterlife Big Kahuna we know how things will turn out. Ty Cobb was going to tell you these words but unfortunately he's still stuck in hell reliving every day that he beat up the one arm fan in the bleachers by being beaten up by a pack of one arm horned demons with barb-wired baseball bats so they sent me instead to share these words of wisdom with you.":

Babe pulls a paper out of his pants pocket and the paper has scribble on it. Babe puts his hand into his other pocket and pulls out 2 hot dogs and begins to chow down.

"Sorry but these hot dogs are so good and I was hungry."

"Wait a minute Big Kahuna. Before I share these words with you I need another hot dog and a rub down."

(Big Kahuna waiting patiently)

 "Just a minute Big Kahuna.....Oh this is soooooooogood. I gotta have dessert too you know."

TMZ BREAKING NEWS STORY: The Big Kahuna grows impatient and decides to shave the top portion of his head while he's waiting on Babe Ruth's spirit to finish eating!

"For crying out loud RUTH....your balls are foul so get on with it!"

"Ok Big Kahuna. I've got my milk and a "cookie" for later (gotta feed the crabs too you know). Ok where was I....oh yeah....the message. This is what I am to share with you:

Babe shows me a picture that is on the paper:

"The great and powerful Chicago Cubs goat will sit back in silence and watch as the world series unfolds. He had been tasked with the job of keeping the Chicago Cubs baseball team unbalanced and sad for many years and was ultimately created to deprive the Cubs of ever winning another World Series championship. But the goat is puzzled. He is bothered by how well the team is playing this year. He wonders if he should let them get so far and then pop up like a big surprise in one of the many forms he likes to present himself in.......in a form of a...... say oh I dunno..... like when he popped up in the form of Steve Bartman perhaps. The goat was pondering and pondering and thinking and the goat thought perhaps this year he will take a vacation instead and allow the team to share in the joy of winning a championship because he knows that the people of Chicago deserve a champion team. But then the goat looks at how Cleveland is playing this year and is impressed with how they are on fire right now and knows that they are worthy of a World Championship as well. The goat takes a deeper look into his feelings and has sympathy for the people of Cleveland because he knows that the Cleveland Browns will NEVER EVER win a championship and bring glory to the masses. The goat then realizes that the Cleveland Cavaliers won a championship this year and it has already brought some happiness to the people of Cleveland. Then the goat realizes that the people of Chicago are still suffering from the White Sox failing to bring a championship to the windy city and the Blackhawks failing to win the Stanley Cup and this makes the goat think, "perhaps this year will finally be the year that the Chicago Cubs shall be allowed to win a world series."

The question at hand Big Kahuna is will the goat be turned into a sandwich specialty at Slyman's restuarant by the Indians so that they can end their amazing season on a feast of World Championship champagne and BBQ goat or will the Cubs finally be freed from this everlasting curse of World Series Championship denial and proudly drink from their highly hoisted bottles of championship champagne and serve the Indians up like a specialty sandwich from Au Cheval and end the years of misery and finally put the "goat" in the pasture for good."

The Babe folds up his piece of paper and puts it back into his pocket and then snaps his fingers and in the blink of an eye, the Babe and myself are staring at a kitchen table with cereal on it. The Babe sits down and begins........AGAIN..........EATING!

It is at this moment I awaken from my dream and I come to realize that in my hand was a spoon and the paper from which the Babe had spoken from.

SO, it is now on this very day in the year of YOUR LORD (that's me), I will decree to you......the people (my peeps), the followers of mine (my worshipers), to the masses among us..............IT IS ON THIS VERY DAY THAT I WILL DECLARE the winner of the 2016 MLB World Championship series (In 5 games) is going to be ............................................................................................................................................................

 "OH MY GOD......he did not say that"

 

"Yep.....the Chicago Cubs hope and dreams of a world series title for this year .............. and it's gone"

Because here's your winner folks

RICKY "Wild Thing" Vaughn and the Tribe will be the winners.

The "TRIBE" has spoken and the word is decreed (funny we just noticed that we're the tribe too-see it's predestined to happen!).

Big Kahuna

Topps redemption blues

I believe that we in some way or another feel a little this way when it comes to Topps and their redemptions so here is a short poem about Topps and their redemptions:

Pulled a redemption card today did we, aren't you excited to see who it will be? Load the numbers up on to the redemption site, then press enter quickly with all of your might. Why is it suddenly saying the code is not valid, you quickly entered the numbers again fully undoubted. The code has expired as the years have come to pass, good luck buddy on pulling any decent cards from our ass. Quick call the BBB, the FBI, the POLICE or my lawyer, Topps customer service has gone out of order. How can they do this to me how can this be, I gave them all my money surely can't you see? "Call us back when we have the power, we have to go as our flight leaves in an hour. We have your money we have your pride, why even bother with us just take it in stride." Damn you Topps and your filthy dirty cheating ways, You're just like that Obama Guy and will bend us over anyways. Now all I can do is grab my ankles and hope for the best, oh look they just sent me an auto of a ballplayer who's under arrest.

T. Hertzog

My heart bleeds blue..........

Well......it appears that the world series for 2015 is set. The #%@^!&* Kansas City Royals against the New York Mets. While I have no doubt that this is going to be a very interesting world series, honestly I was hoping for a Toronto Blue Jays vs NY Mets world series as those are both of my favorite baseball teams. I've always been a die hard Blue Jays and a die hard Mets fan since I was 9 years old and I grew up in the middle of Pennsylvania and with the area I lived in, you're either a Pirates fan or a Phillies fan. I didn't really like either of those teams. It was the players that got my attention of both of the teams that I liked and one of those ball players that stood out to me was a Mets player named, "Mookie Wilson."

The reason I liked "Mookie" so much was because I really liked his style of batting (he was a switch hitter) and honestly in 1983 who else ever really heard of a guy with the first name of "Mookie." I thought at the time maybe he didn't like to be called, "Bill" or "William" as that was his first name. But truly though, another reason I liked Mookie was because like most other kids at that age, Mookie played center field just like I did on my little league ball team and I used to think I could be like Mookie. It was then at that point and time in my life, in the very beginning of the summer time of 1983 that I decided I was going to follow Mookie Wilson and the NY Mets and I have never looked backed.

I can remember when the time came I had decided I was going to tell my mother who my favorite baseball team was and when I did finally tell her she didn't try to persuade me to switch to another team or even have me like her own favorite team (New York Yankees). She just simply said to me, "follow your favorite player and the team that you like and stay dedicated to the team whether they win or lose. Especially if that favorite player goes to another team. Well that was painless and simple coming from Mom I thought to myself. Surely Dad is going to probably say the same thing I thought at the time. Then it came time for me to tell the Old Man who I liked and I remember it exactly how it happened as he was sitting on the end of the couch reading the newspaper (The Daily Item). I remember telling him that I remembered when we both talked about liking baseball and what teams there were and that I decided on a team I was going to follow. I told him that I liked the NY Mets. He slowly lowered the newspaper onto his lap and he just gave me that weird vibey far off stare (the same kind of stare that cats have after they get done licking their butt). You have to understand that my Dad was a Phillies fan......all the way to the bone! So, after a long two minute far off stare (which seemed like eternity), he asks me who it was that I liked from the team and I told him, "Mookie." Now at this point I can remember him looking at me with one of those really head piercing brown eyed stares and then he raised his hand and then pulled his pack of Viceroy cigarettes from out of his rolled up shirt sleeve (he always kept his cigarette packs in his left sleeve rolled up) and took out a cigarette and lit one up in front of me. He still didn't say anything at this point and what seemed like forever he finally broke the silence and said spoke after the first long drag on his cigarette. He looks at me and tells me, "Mike Schmidt is a better ballplayer than Mookie will ever be and that I should be a Phillies fan and try to support the local fans and not the fan folks that live in another state. If that's who you're going to pick (he does a long drag on the cigarette at this point-(they say kids never notice what their parents do-hogwash!) then you have to realize that people will pick on you for that so just remember to ignore them the same way that I ignore who your mom likes.....those damn Yankees (he says in a yelling voice loud enough for mom to hear)." My Father took a long drag again and then just gave me that crazy eyed stare again and picked up the newspaper and resumed reading it. As I started to walk away into the dinning room on the way to the kitchen I heard him say to me from behind the newspaper, "You know the Mets are not that good of a ball team son!" I simply replied as I was walking into the kitchen, "Love you Dad!" Needless to say his so called "advice" that he was giving to me was advice that I didn't quite care about or understand all that much but it seemed to have made him bothered and for that last very strange reason I liked it. I knew my Father didn't like who I picked and thus began the latter stage of a child's life that every parent dreads..........the rebellious years (que star wars music)!

The funny thing is that's the only time that I can recall my Father ever saying anything at all to me about my selection of sports teams. Perhaps at that time maybe I had broken the old man's heart and crushed the hopes and dreams he may have had of me being a Phillies fan like him and that I was robbing him of that tradition of passing down the father's "like of teams" to the son so to speak. I often wondered if Dad ever knew that even though I was liking the Mets, I was silently rooting along with him for the Phillies the very few times we would sit together and watch the Phillies play on tv. I remember the last game we had watched together was shortly before my parents divorce on my tenth birthday and during the game Mike Schmidt had just crushed a home-run ball into the upper deck of veterans stadium and I turned toward Dad and all I said to him was, "I bet Mike Schmidt is probably the best 3rd base baseball player in baseball." He looked at me with that infamous "far off stare" for about five to ten seconds and then he just simply smiled. He didn't question me or make any movements. He didn't say anything else during the game we were watching together. He was just sitting there on his chair, smiling. 

My Father has never said anything else ever about my selection of my favorite sports teams in the last 32 years since that day I expressed to him who I liked in terms of a baseball team. Of course he's never really discussed it with me since then and I have never really asked him about it. My Father and I have never really spoken all that much after the divorce. Oh we've talked a time or two every 10 years and I've always left the door open in hopes of a reconciliation. It's a relationship that is broken and to this very day is still unfortunately broken. Perhaps though one day my Father and I can make it to a Phillies/Mets ball game and just simply enjoy a seventh inning stretch together. And it doesn't really matter who wins or who loses but know this.......my heart bleeds blue for the Mets, but silently I would be rooting for the Phillies. 

ON DECK: How I became a Blue Jays fan 

I gave into the peer pressure........welcome topps 2013

Just like a scene from the after school tv specials in the 80's I felt like I was getting peer pressured into buying Topps 2013 Baseball at my LCS. There was an old fat guy sitting on a tiny stool from across the room who was saying to me, "you might want to try a box of them big packers. You might get something special in them because I did." He then proceeds to show me an autographed card of Dee Gordan. He then tells me that Dee is a hot item in a Dodgers uniform. I politely declined his offer and then I asked for a box of jumbo baseball and then I headed out the door quickly because I could not contain my laughter much more.

When I got home I opened up my box of jumbo 2013 Topps Baseball with much anticipation as I was very curious to see if I could pull one of the Cy Young relic cards. For some odd reason I have found myself to be liking these cards very much.

Here are the damages:

Chasing History Andre Ethier Game Used Jersey Card.

JACKPOT

 

 Roy Halladay Cy Young Relic card. 

Some die cut cards of Matt Cain, Dustin Pedroia, and Carlos Gonzalez. I might send these to the players to see if I can get them autographed.

Jarrod Parker Chasing the Dream autographed card. THOSE BLOODY WANKERS WITH THEIR BLOODY STICKERS! Okay I'm done complaining. If that's Jarrod's signature that is.......really......bad!

DING DING DING we have a winner!

Dylan Bundy Camouflage Edition. It's limited to 99 copies and I will let you guess what the serial number is out of 99.

Bryce Harper's Attitude wins again!

BAT - 1

Bryce Harper - 0

Per ESPN:
"The only downside was an ill-advised swing by their frustrated 19-year-old outfielder. Bryce Harper had a rough night, going 0 for 5 with three strikeouts. After one of the outs, he returned to the dugout and took a frustrated whack at one of the walls in the tunnel to the clubhouse.

Johnson said the barrel of the bat bounced off the wall and hit Harper next to the left eye, causing a gash that, according to the Washington Times, required 10 stitches to close and a welt. He stayed in the game with it bandaged, but was sent for treatment afterward because it was bleeding."

E.A.'s 2012 MLB PREDICITIONS and other fine notes.

Ahhhhhh yes.........the smell of hot dogs and hamburgers roasting on an open grill. The sounds of the vendors yelling, "HOT SALTED NUTS". The second mortgage you just took out to get tickets to see Albert Pujols and Cliff Lee battle it out. The spicy aroma of chili and sauerkraut roasting in a kettle along with the aroma of cooked onions and peppers that go oh so well with cheese steaks and Italian sausage sandwiches. The whizzing sound of batteries being thrown at the left and right fielders by obnoxious drunken Philly Fans. You can also hear the sound of a metal tab striking a metal lid with an explosive "popping open" sound to reveal a cold refreshing beverage inside. Let us also not forget the popping sound of the old lady's left eye socket bones breaking sitting next to you as she takes a foul ball to the head and failed to pay attention to the game as she was looking on in puzzlement at the guy wearing the home team jersey with the custom name of "hewhodealtitsmellsit". Oh the ever so sweet and countless screams of a child having to go to the bathroom after they were just there 5 minutes ago. And finally let's not forget about the obnoxious drunken couple making out up on the upper deck as the camera man can't seem to keep the camera focused on which set of balls being pitched................ IT'S MLB TIME FOLKS!!!

Here we go:

Milton Bradley: Will Not be playing!

oops......wrong item


AL: Eastern
1. Boston Red Sox
2. Tampa Bay

AL: Central
1. Detroit
2. Minnesota

AL: Western
1. Texas Rangers
2. Seattle Mariners

AL: MVP- Miguel "I'll Kill You" Cabrera
       CY Young: Justin Verlander

NL: Eastern
1. Philadelphia Phillies
2. Miami Marlins

NL: Central
1. Cincinnati Reds
2. St. Louis Cardinals

NL: Western
1. Arizona Diamondbacks
2. San Francisco Giants

NL: MVP: Joey "I swing a sticky bat" Votto
       Cy Young: Ian Kennedy

WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS: ARIZONA

Call me crazy but I got a funny feeling about those kids in ARIZONA!

Change is good!

Attn: Men, Women, Athletes, Dogs, Boys, Girls, Cats, Amish Mafia, Bruno the Hitman, Lucy, Topps, Canada, Germany, Japan, Mel Brooks, Your Mom, My Ex-girlfriends, My fish, and anybody else who sucks in air off of the planet known as EARTH.

It has been a twisted pleasure writing on here and making fun of things about life events and sharing in the craziness of the hobby world and the sharing of my personal life and thoughts. We (me and my alter egos) enjoy reading the comments, the emails, and occasional fun filled notes and it does not matter to us if  they are rude or nice because every one has a right to voice their thoughts or opinions. The services that I bring forth to you we enjoy doing immensely and even though sometimes life's events keep us away from our creativity process on here, we try to post something when we have a free moment to let you know that we're still alive and kicking. So with that thought in mind we will be changing the way we present things on here. Change is good. Change is what we need. Change allows us to believe that YES WE CAN. CHANGE ALLOWS US TO BUY SODA FROM A MACHINE IF WE ARE THIRSTY. CHANGE WILL ALLOW US TO BUY CONDOMS FROM VENDING MACHINES TO PROTECT OUR PAYCHECKS AND PROTECT US FROM THE POTENTIALLY UNDISCOVERED HERPES THAT SHE/HE/IT/THAT/ALIEN/SHEEP/ OR WHATEVER GENDER IT IS MAY HAVE. CHANGE IS GOOD FOR MORALE. CHANGE IS GOOD FOR WHEN OUR UNDERWEAR ARE DIRTY. AND BY GOD CHANGE IS NEEDED FOR WHEN OUR WIVES ATTEMPT TO SMOTHER US IN OUR SLEEP.

Basically folks.........We have moved up to the techno age and obtained a laptop with .........a camera......ooooooooooooooo! LET THE PEEP SHOW BEGIN!

Random thoughts of pointless jibberish....and some beach girls perhaps!

This is the "Mini Mind" of the Big Kahuna greeting you once again for another round of "Pointless Jibberish". The Big Kahuna has had a rough couple of weeks and decided to take a day off and get some well deserved rest and do nothing but sleep. Whenever he lets that happen I'm allowed to come out and play while he snores away!!! Ok ok.....you know the drill. Here's some random thoughts that I pulled out of the Big Lug's head:

1. Why would you advertise a card contest to your customers and not have the site ready to go when your product goes live? SEE TOPPSLEGENDS.com for details. Once again......Topps fails.

2. Tim Tebow = funny article on usatoday. One should not bring religion into sports and say it's GOD'S will for me to be the Team Starting Quarterback/Starting Forward/Starting Pitcher/Starting Jockey/Starting Goalie/Starting Fluffer.

3. Topps needs to let go of the monopoly! SERIOUSLY!!!

4. Big Kahuna loves the NY Giants and hopes that the QB Eli Manning will come off of the drugs that made him say, "I'm in the same class as Tom Brady" on ESPN.com. Meanwhile, mild mannered Rex Grossman had milk come flying out of his nose from the bowl of Wheaties from which he was eating. The painful traumatic episode occurred while reading the article about what Manning had said. Meanwhile back at the Halls of NFL Justice, Tim Tebow said it was God's will for him to prepare a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because he was hungry.

5. Why does it seem like Penn State can never have a successful NFL career player? 2009 First round pick Aaron "Hasbin" Maybin was cut from the Buffalo Bills after mounting an astonishing 24 tackles and no sacks in a total of 22 games in 2 years. He had signed a 5 year contract with the team when he was drafted.
(P.S.-don't even say Kerry Collins was good. yes he may have had the numbers but his off field antics were despicable)

6. Anybody wanna bet that Chad Johnson does not make the opening day roster?

7. The smartest move in the history of the Chicago Cubs would be is to let Carlos Zambrano go away for good.

8. Guys who move to a new team for bigger money turnaround and end up playing like crap: see Vernon Wells, Jayson Werth, Adam Dunn, Andrian Beltre, JD Drew, Andrew Jones, or Jason Bay.

On to bigger and better things now! 

oh....oh my......this is good
 

I know the Big Kahuna is going to the beach next month but I didn't know he was thinking of Natalya Neidhart. What I do know is that the Big Kahuna doesn't like "wishbone ladies" and prefers muscular ladies. Natalya makes his id, ego, and himself very happy!

Aaaahhhh yes.......here is another lovely lady that the Big Kahuna really likes: TARA

Oh my...this next thought that I pulled out was of a hot girl before she drove herself deeper into the bar/drugs/lesbian scene. She actually has some meat on her bones in this pic. Too bad she doesn't now.  Regardless this is one redhead he's always liked: Lindsay Lohan

Let me see what else I can pull out of his mind. I know he really wants to get to the beach to just chill out and fish.....

or ride a jet ski.....

or relax in a hot tub.......

OH NO......I pulled Caroline Wozniacki out of his mind again......I'm gonna be making a mess if I don't put this thought away immediately.

I guess after all of the mess and hoopla in his mind all I could find was this: For some odd reason he calls her "nickles"

So much for Fishing!

my favorite all time baseball "screw ups" list.

Nothing says fun in baseball like scandals and stupidity. Here is my list of players that I felt have earned a position on the Big Kahuna's "Screw ups, Lame Ducks, and other Little Liars of the Baseball Diamond."

CATCHER: Eddie "The Model" Taubensee
Part of the Kenny Lofton trade with the Astro's in the 1990's. I wonder who got the better end of that deal?

PITCHER: Roger Clemens
"It is what it is." Claims to never have used HGH or steroids. Funny......what is a 6-count indictment against "The Rocket" for then? Two of them which include perjury as well. It's not like there is any overwhelming evidence or DNA linked evidence.

RELIEF PITCHER: John "7-Train" Rocker
Between his mouth, racial slurs, HGH use, and whiny little bitch ass....this guy deserves "Hell's Humanitarian of the Year Award."

FIRST BASE: Mark McGwire
"I'm not here to talk about the past."

DESIGNATED HITTER: Rafael Palmeiro
Said he never used steroids at a congressional hearing. 10 days later he failed a pee test by taking stanozolol! OOPS!

SECOND BASE: Pete Rose
The all time "Hit King" had a little problem with tax evasion. I bet he forgot to pay his taxes again. I bet he will never make it to the hall of fame as well. I bet that he will also lose that "Playboy Mistress" of his very soon. Did I happen to mention that he placed bets on baseball games? Did I mention he made bets on his own team? That's just wrong!

SHORT STOP: Miguel Tejada
On February 10, 2009, Tejada was charged with lying to Congress about performance enhancing drug usage in Major League Baseball. On February 11, Tejada pleaded guilty to charges that he lied to Congress in 2005. Also can't seem to get his age right as well.

THIRD BASE: Alex Rodriguez
In a 2007 interview with Katie Couric, Alex Rodriguez flatly denied ever having used performance-enhancing drugs. Some 2-3 years later Mr. Rodriguez made this statement when BALCO was busted: "Back then, baseball was a different culture, as it was very loose. I was young, I was stupid, I was naïve. And I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time. I did take a banned substance. And for that, I am very sorry and deeply regretful."

LEFT FIELD: Manny Ramirez
Let's see......"Prima Donna", HCG user, steroid abuser, con artist.....need I say more? Perhaps Bi-polar even?

CENTER FIELD: Carlos Gomez
Cocky ball player who only enjoys cheering for.........HIMSELF. Acts like he's Gods gift to baseball.

RIGHT FIELD: Gary Sheffield
Very vocal about how much money "he wants" in order to play. Has no respect for other players or fans. Has no respect for himself as he was a steroid user as well.

MANAGER: Bobby Valentine
What manager gets ejected from a game and then returns to the dugout wear a disguise? 

SCUM AGENT: $cott Bora$
"Show me the money!"

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Barry Bonds (ROIDS)
Milton Bradley (what's next....MMA? Here's the middle finger to you too)
1994 season (strikes suck: Million dollar cry babies)
Michael Jordan (what the heck.....stay in basketball. Besides....your name is not Dion Sanders)
Logan Morrison (self absorbing and arrogant on twitter at times)
Joba Chamberlin (where did the phenom go?)
Carlos Zambrano (I'm gonna punch some gatorade containers and call my coach a cunt)
Hanley Ramirez (takes the time to smell the roses before running to the next base: cocky with a big ego)
Miguel Cabrera (he's going to kill you!)
Bryce Harper (King of Cocky in the making)
Jose Canseco (My God.....he told the truth in his book)

BEHOLD THE POWER OF MY DAUGHTER..... and her mighty pull hand!

My beautiful daughter and I decided to take a trip on Saturday to the "dreaded" local card shop as I needed some supplies for the card sets that I am working on and I had run out of penny sleeves and jersey card holders and the last time I was at Wal Mart they were out of those things. Off we go! We get inside the local hobby shop dungeon and all you see is stuff on the counters from 2010, 2009, and 2008: all TOPPS products. As I gaze upon the boxes of hobby products and I see some of the prices he has written on them with black sharpie I suddenly have the urge to lay on the floor in a fetal position and cry out to "make it stop" as he is not one to really bargain on anything and swears a loyal oath and a blue streak by the most "unholiest of foul wretched price guides"....BECKETT (high column mainly). However not all hope is lost in this hobby dungeon of lost cards souls as one of a few bright spots is that he does have good supplies such as sleeves, containers, dividers, etc at really good bargain basement prices. So as I am gathering the much needed supplies to take back to my village, the little kahuna has been looking over the TOPPS seeds and had spotted 4 boxes of Topps Chrome 2010 baseball. She grabs me by my arm and asks if she could get a box since she has not had any cards in a while and that she got a very good report card and because Daddy loves her. Well....I do love her but I really did not want to pay 65.00 a box for Chrome but she has earned it and when I went to pay for it I only ended up being charged 50.00 for it. I felt as if I had slayed the dragon and ran away with the golden egg! This man never hardly budges on his prices. Perhaps it was my daughter's charm or the fact that this guy really needs the business. I didn't ask and he didn't say.

So we came back home and Caty rushed into the house and immediately opened up her new-found box of joy and let me tell you something.....when your daughter comes to you with what she had in her hand....well I'll just let the picture do the talking:

There was a 4th autograph as well: Cole Gillespie regular rookie auto version. This was all from one box mind you! The Gonzalez 1/1, the Castro refractor rookie auto, and the Stubbs, English, and Gillespie autos were all in one box. She brings me these cards and asks if she pulled anything good. Needless to say I pooped my pants at what she pulled. This brings me to another issue: Topps quality control. Was it a hot box? Did some think of themselves as of an air traffic controller and feel asleep at the insert/press machine? The box does say, "2 auto's per box". I guess Christmas came a little early this year from Topps.

I would also have to say that the "little kahuna" has a hot hand in the "big pulls department" as of lately.

In the immortal words of Charlie Sheen:  WINNING!