Nationals, Marlins and Celtics, Oh My!!!

Well, if you have been living in a cave, under a rock or on an isolated island the last week or so, I am glad to inform you that Stephen Strasburg, the most hyped rookie of all time, will be making his major league debut today, against the AAAA Pittsburgh Pirates.

Not to be forgotten, wunderkid Michael Stanton will now be patrolling the Florida outfield, starting with tonight's game. is promotion comes at the expense of yet-to-prove himself, young "phenom" (I use that term loosely) Cameron Maybin.

Of course, the biggest game of the night, is Celtics-Lakers, Game 3 NBA Finals. The only thing that pisses me off about this series, is the absurdly awkward days off. Why have two days off between Games 1 and 2, if no travel is involved and then only one day off when you travel THREE THOUSAND miles across the country for game 3? Can anyone rationally explain this? I mean, did the Celtics players need an extra day for shopping on Rodeo Drive?

Needless to say, I will watch both Strasburgs debut and the Celtics-Lakers game, albeit only part of the former and all of the latter. Though my heart lies in baseball, my hate lies in Kobe Bryant.

I was going to live blog during the game, but I would much rather follow along Bill Simmons' live blog, from court side in Boston, and chirp along via my Twitter stream (@BalkFour).

Feel free to follow me there (just click on the link or at the top left there) or hop on ESPN.com and follow along with the Sports Guys' live blog.

Purging the Collection and New Blogs to the Blog Roll

Well, as recently as yesterday I did something completely major with my collection.

I sold every autographed, patched or game used card not containing the names Richard Hidalgo or Javier Vazquez.

Now I am pretty torn about the sale, but at the same time, I am thankful for the $250 I got (and the $235 I netted after fees and shipping). There is some stuff on eBay I am eyeballing and need the funds for, since I have no extra funds right now, thanks to the wreck.

But, but, but, what will you trade now? you say. Well, I still have all of my inserts, parallels and base cards. And since I still need a ton of Hidalgo's and Vazquez's base and insert cards, I figure those will do for awhile.

This may seem crazy, but at the same time, I may be able to lock up some large lots of game used and autos for a decent portion of the $250 to restock and still have money left over for the PC, so I am not going to be upset if that does come to fruition.

So, if you have anything of these two guys, that is not game used, drop a comment, send me an email, drop me a line on Twitter, find me on Facebook...you get the drift.

Now, onto the new blogs on the blog roll:

Emerald City Diamond Gems -- Seattle Baseball. Pretty easy to guess, right? Plus, he has an affinity for collecting retired players (4 to be exact) and a player with a hyphenated last name. Give it a read, make a trade, finally unload all of those Mariners you've been talking about giving away.

The Sandlot -- Not only is it named after the greatest baseball movie EVER (ok, I was like 12 when I made that call, but still, it holds up pretty good to today's standards), but it is also a blog about the Mets. And his dog is named Shea, you know, like the old stadium ;)

Lipgloss and Baseball: A Minnesota Twins Blog -- Uh, yeah, do I need to say much more? Lipgloss, baseball, Twins. Too easy, right?

And the last blog, but definitely not the least:


The Infinite Baseball Card Set  -- This is a place where I will post the baseball cards I designed and illustrated. There is no complete set, it will go on forever, each card representing a unique and interesting baseball player, from Negro Leaguers and obscure semi-pro players to cards of hall of famers when they were in the minor leagues. I am going to create all the cards I wanted when I was kid, and share some knowledge and stories from baseballs forgotten corners. (Ok, that is directly from his blog...but he said it better than I could have. Check out mojo and beardy's fantastic card blog to see a sample card he made and for info on buying a set of your own ;) ).

Oh yeah, if you aren't already, feel free to click on the Twitter link and follow me over there. I try to tweet everyday, if I get a chance. It's not always baseball or cards, but it's worth the price you pay.

It's free, get it? Eh. Oh well.

Twitter, Blog Bat Around & the Topps Blog

You know, sitting down in front of your laptop and watching a baseball game (Twins vs Red Sox at the new Target Field and now White Sox at Blue Jays), makes it really easy to tweet a lot of nonsense and get involved in a few things around the hobby.

Like scanning a lot of cards and posting new trade bait.

Or, getting the chance to participate in a "state of the hobby" round table with 12 other bloggers that will be featured on the Topps Blog. Thanks to following the @toppscards account on Twitter, I have that opportunity. The Topps guy who runs the Twitter account (Mike Mader) has emailed all 13 of the bloggers who will be participating and wants to see what WE want to discuss, before letting us know the topic at hand.

I have already emailed him a few topics I have in mind, but what about the rest of us? Anyone have anything they would like discussed by various members of our hobby community? If so, just email me (anicolausk@yahoo.com) or post a comment and when I wake up in the morning I will send another email out to Mike.

As for the Blog Bat Around, Gellman over at SportsCardsUncensored is hosting the first of what will hopefully be many BBA's of the young season here. Check it out and participate. Not only is it great to see what everyone else has to say, it can also help out with some readership as well ;)

Anyways, I look forward to the emails or comments (if I get any) and hope to see as many of my followers (all 35 of you) participate in the BBA.