Tweets, freebies, zappings, etc.

It's easy for me to get lost in all my new pickups in the weeks following a card show.

Even so, I don't want to give off the impression that I've forgotten about the great packages so many of you have sent me lately. Between the card show and my semi-sporatic posting as of late, I've kind of slacked on the trade posts.

I plan on changing that in the coming weeks. I have a folder full of trades waiting to be posted, and I intend to get started on that right now with the variety of spectacular PWEs and smaller packages I've received as of late.

Some of you might know that I recently became a member on Twitter. I don't use it as much as I did a month or two ago, but I still check in every now and then to keep up with the general goings-on in the hobby.

I forget exactly how, but Twitterer (is that the right term?) @jmkoenig found out that I was down to needing only Eddie Harris to complete my 2014 Archives "Major League" set.

He had a spare and was gracious enough to send it my way.

There's the quartet in all their glory.

It's funny that Harris was the last one I needed, considering he's easily the most obscure out of the four. I'm not even sure why he was included over someone like Cerrano or Lou Brown, to be honest.

Then again, maybe Topps is saving the others for a 2015 Archives "Major League" insert set.

Here's hoping so.

I'm proud to report that my frankenset is getting very close to completion.

I mentioned that I was down to a handful of numbers not too long ago. A short while after that, I got an email from Bo of the great blog "Baseball Cards Come To Life!" asking what slots I still needed to fill.

I gave him my list, and he went off and specifically hunted for fun and/or goofy cards that he thought I might like. Each of these (and quite a few more Bo sent) proved to be very frankenset-worthy and helped bring me even closer to having every number filled. 

Thanks to Bo, I think I'm down to only about a dozen open slots now.

There are few better words in the English language than FREE CARDS!!!!

That's exactly what John of the fantastic blog "Johnny's Trading Spot" was offering up a while ago. He had a stack of spare '81 Topps Scratch-Offs lying around, and made them available to the blogosphere for anyone who wanted them.

He set a limit of six per customer, which was probably a good thing. I, like many others, have a hard time controlling myself when I'm around oddballs. I could've picked out quite a few more, but I settled on these six beauties.

I've found that any kind of scratch-off cards make for awesome oddballs. I think it's time to bring these back.

Hear that, Topps?

John surprised me with another PWE not long after that.

The fun kicked off with a great new horizontal double dip.

This envelope also continued what is starting to become a trend here in Dime Boxedonia.

Baseball is obviously my focus, but people have strayed a bit outside the lines and hunted down mini-collections from other sports to send my way.

These aren't candidates for my "official" frankenset, but I've been setting these aside in another little box because, while baseball is far and away my favorite sport, cards like these are still cool.

I can't say I'm a huge Whitney Houston fan, but I can't say I've seen any baseball cards quite like that one. And, even though I've actually shown the Tisdale before, it deserves another mention on the blog.

We need more cards of guys playing bass.

John closed things out with one of the earliest "anthemic" cards I've seen.

Considering how much '86 Topps I've sifted through over the years, I couldn't believe I'd never seen this one before.

Guess there's always new gems to be found.

I thought I felt a shock come from my mailbox one ordinary afternoon.

And then, before I knew it...

ZAP!

I'd been Zippy Zapped by Kenny, who you probably know as the mind behind the awesome blog "Cervin' Up Cards".

He started out with a nice new '90s double dip for the frankenset.

Kenny then managed to come up with my first cards of Javier Baez, one of the many young up-and-coming Cubs prospects.

I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful combo to start the collection.

But the real jolt from this Zippy Zapping came in the form of what, to some, might look like a pair of obscure minor leaguers.

While neither ever got above Single-A, I doubt many professional ballplayers can say they had a movie made about them. Singh and Patel were, in fact, the pair of international prospects from India that made headlines after signing with the Pirates back in 2008.

Although I haven't seen it yet, the movie Million Dollar Arm was based upon their journey to American baseball. (It looks a little too "Hollywood" for me, frankly.)

I knew Singh and Patel had cards out there, but I could never find any. 

Thanks to this Zippy Zapping, however, this great story is now represented in my collection.

The last batch of cards I'll be showing tonight comes from one of the first buddies I ever made in the blogosphere.

William from the superb blog "Foul Bunt" has shown insane amounts of generosity to me and quite a few other bloggers over the years. I say this every time I feature cards from him, but William was really one of the first people to show me how great the blogosphere could be.

Better yet, I still find packages from him on my doorstep all the time. I know I'm always in for fun whenever William oils up the card machine.

The first thing that fell out of his latest group was this neat quad-stamp insert from 2014 Panini Golden Age, a great new addition to my non-sports collection.

I've been making a concerted effort to pick up some of Frank Thomas's later issues, and William came through on that front.

"The Big Hurt" looks so strange in anything other than a White Sox uniform.

William is one of the best with recognizing my goofy tastes in cardboard.

The McGwire is a prime new addition to my "throwback" theme. The Henderson, on the other hand, is just a wacky card that makes me laugh.

I didn't think it could get any better than that.

Until I caught a glimpse of this one, that is.

Even with the amount of time and effort I've put into investigating the brand, Stadium Club still manages to sneak gems past me on a regular basis.

I had somehow never seen this fantastic Larry Walker hockey-baseball mesh before William came along.

Stadium Club, you never cease to surprise me.

We may be in the drudges of the offseason right now. No baseball on the field, and not many new brands to get excited about.

Still, as long as I have the great people of the blogosphere around, I think I'll be just fine.