seawolf17

Rice, Sutter, Morris, Murphy, Dawson, and Goose.

Sounds like the players are already fully bored. So is everyone else.

A-Rod says no again.

Well, crap. You could have sent one to me and saved me six bucks.

Coulda bought eight of 'em for three bucks. The Clemens rookie from that year was one of the ones I was missing; it killed me to have to buy one, but I got one on eBay for six bucks, including shipping. I thought that was a pretty sweet deal. Anyone who has any of the cards on my need list, please feel free to drop me a line.

KC wrote: The cards I'm talking, like I said, are fifty and forty years old. I swear to ya'll I ain't building no fort with them or closed-pinning 'em to my bikes' front tire to make varooom sound. Most of them were bought on the cheap and most are worth like four times what I paid for them not all that long ago. I haven't done it a awhile, but if you pick a HOF player you want a nice card for on eBay and know the card values and bid with some luck you can pick up some quality cards cheap. Then I'd grade 'em.

="KC"]Nah, your response was funny. When I was ten I was flippin' baseball cards at day camp - though I can't remember the rules today - it was a colors thing. Definitely a colors thing, at least when I was a kid. The best cards were the 85 Topps. You'd each have a set of ten or twenty or whatever cards, face down, and you had to match the color called by the card in front of you. For instance, let's say I flipped my first card: My choices are red and grey. I'd call "red." You'd then flip: Which would not match. You'd call "blue." (Well, you'd call "orange," because there was very little orange in that year's set, but let's say you called blue.) I would then flip my second card: That's a match, and I'd get that stack of cards. Then you would flip your next card, and the game would continue. That's the way we played. Methead: I know... that's where I've been filling most of my needs.

Edgy DC wrote: Soler succeeding at the big league level should not reflect poorly on the Seo deal. The Seo deal should sink or swim based on the performance of the players involved in the trade. I agree with Bret. Isn't that part of the basic concept behind VORP? Isn't that also why guys like Overbay and Thome get dealt? If you have what you perceive as a stronger replacement already, then that counts, at least a little bit.

I'd say if you're looking to preserve cards for posterity, then your best bet might just be to buy a bunch of screw-down holders online (BCW Supplies is very reasonable) and store 'em. If you want to display them, BCW has display cases also. I'd only spend the money on grading if your plan is to use them as some sort of financial investment. I know there are online places you can search to see how many of a particular card have been graded (at least by whatever company's site you're on), and you can get a feel if your cards are worth grading. If you have what you think are a bunch of 8s & 9s, and your search doesn't bring up that many, then I'd say go for it. If there are hundreds of well-graded cards out there, it might or might not be worth the cost of grading. Check eBay for searches with the year, brand, player, and "BGS" or "PSA" and see what the going rate is. Beckett removed their free online card price guide a few weeks ago, unfortunately. My updated card site is in my CPF profile. I sold off the bulk of my collection five years ago to pay bills, and with infinite regret, I'm going back now and piecemealing it back together -- at least the pieces I want. Mostly I'm looking to finish the sets I collected when I was a kid: 1980-1991 Topps. 80: need about 200 83: need 5 84: done 85: need 1 (George Brett) 86: need 2 (commons) 87: done 88: done 81, 82, 89, 90, 91: haven't started reassembling yet Plus I'm looking to complete the Kevin McReynolds, Keith Hernandez, and Jim Rice collections. (My favorite players as a kid.) I'll pop into the occasional card show around here -- when Ms. Wolf lets me go -- and spend a few bucks picking up odds and ends. But very few dealers sell what I'm looking for these days, unless I go to bigger shows, which for one reason or another, I never do. Most of the industry is higher-end now; game-used cards, autographs, other relics. There is really some neat stuff out there now, but it's just way out of my price range. If I was living anywhere else in the world and didn't have the expenses I have, I'd have a bigger card budget, because I love doing it. But as it is, I'll buy little lots on eBay and current packs now and then. At least soon I'll get to use the kid as an excuse to buy cards. We bought one of those 20-card display cases at Michael's last weekend, and I put cards in there to hang in the baby's room: Row 1 - Mookie, Mex, Kid, El Sid, McReynolds Row 2 - Reyes, Wright, Pedro, Beltran, Floyd Row 3 - Kranepool, Buddy, Seaver, Ryan, Mazzilli (don't have any Koosmans, or he'd replace Maz) Row 4 - Leiter, Piazza, Dykstra, Alfonzo, McEwing (John Franco will replace Super Joe eventually) I'll probably swap guys in like Wagner and Delgado once Met cards of them exist.

Bret Sabermetric wrote: Speaking of which the Mets are not half-assed. They are fully assed. They have a quality assagement team, they are run by a fully qualified assanger, and ass oh ass do they know how to find players to ass their ballclub. LOL

It was me, but I can't find it either. Regardless... I haven't had anything graded. I'm a relatively small-time collector; I'm more interested in building a personal collection than preserving anything of real value. That's why I collect guys like Keith Hernandez and Kevin McReynolds; guys who have value to me, but maybe not to dealers down the road. That said, there are a lot of grading services out there. PSA is the biggest, I think, but there's a membership fee to get cards graded. You could also find a local card shop or dealer who has a membership and ask them to send them in for you -- you'd probably just pay the grading costs. From what I've read, BGS (Beckett Grading Services) tends to sell well; they're pretty well-regarded. There are a half-dozen others, some of whom have various specialtes (autograph authentification, pre-war vintage, etc.). If you're looking at regular vintage cards just to preserve them, I think you can probably go with any of the services and you'll be fine. And you can send any leftover 1980s cards you have my way.

McGwire was my honest guess too. I left it out for humor value.

Rey Ordonez.

Carlos Says Yes ]Beltran would love to have Ramirez on Mets NEW YORK -- Carlos Beltran has heard the rumors, that the New York Mets inquired about a possible trade for Manny Ramirez. While trade talk between the Boston Red Sox and Mets appears to have cooled, Beltran would love to have Ramirez alongside him in the Mets outfield this year. "If it happens, that would be great," Beltran said Thursday during a telephone conference call. "Who doesn't want to have Manny on the ballclub? Who doesn't want to have that bat on the ballclub?" Beltran spoke several times during the offseason with Carlos Delgado, the hard-hitting first baseman the Mets acquired from the Florida Marlins to boost their offense and said that he spoke with Delgado just as reports of the trade were breaking. Beltran acknowledged that a deal for Ramirez likely was a long shot. "I think for the Mets to be able to get that done, it has to be a perfect deal," he said. "If it doesn't happen, I think right now with what we've got, we can accomplish what we need to do." Beltran struggled during his first season with the Mets, who signed him to a $119 million, seven-year contract last December. He was bothered by a leg injury, then had a head-to-head collision with right fielder Mike Cameron during an August game at San Diego, which left Beltran with occasional dizziness for a month. Beltran batted .266 with 16 homers, 78 RBI and 17 steals. In 2004, he played for Kansas City and Houston, combining to hit .267 with 38 homers, 104 RBI and 42 steals. In the 12 playoff games with the Astros, he had eight homers, 14 RBI and six steals, a performance he acknowledge "was something special." "2005 was for me a year of adjustment. I was playing all my career in a small market. Being able to sign with a big-market team in New York and playing over there was a little bit different," he said. "I know that if I stay healthy, I know I'm capable of doing a lot of good things on the baseball field, and I know I can help the team win ballgames and win the division." Notes The Mets will open spring training Feb. 16, with pitchers and catchers starting workouts on Feb. 18. Position players report Feb. 21 and start workouts two days later.

Agents are more recent. It's mentioned in Crasnick's [u:7c9d032d9d]License To Deal[/u:7c9d032d9d] book about Matt Sosnick.

It's an "i", people! An "i"!

I think "heep" is really Duaner Sanchez, and "hillbilly" is really Steve Schmoll.

Yancy Street Gang wrote: I think we have to start getting used to dramatic turnovers. I prefer apple myself.

At least he's not doing a prequel. (Although I guess they tried on that on TV with "Young Indiana Jones," didn't they?) Hell, we'll go see it either way.

metsmarathon wrote: is bret boone hispanic? Yep. It's pronounced Bo-OWN-eh.

Well, I guess at least they got two young, live arms. We'll see how this goes.

Edgy DC wrote: It's that narrowmindedness of yours, Seawolf (typical of the Pool), that makes us a weak fan site. Two more years of that and I'm considering looking elsewhere. That's why Bean Stringfellow is currently looking for a three-year deal for me elsewhere.

Also, I hate to be a noodge, but David Wright may be the only Met "worth a crap," but considering Steve hasn't been associated with the Mets since Wright was in Little League, why would we ask him about Wright?

First of all, Everybody Loves Cooby. Second of all, I blame Edgy, since he's the one who compiled the questions into one neat post, purposely leaving out cleon's question so that he would be shunned.

That's why I said "almost."