RAYS Vs. Rangers August 16,17,18 - LONGO, JOSH, Hellickson

Time for my 4th annual Tropicana Field Trip. Great Games. Seeing price vs. lee was pretty awsome. I always do good for auto's when i go to the trop. This year was probably the best.

*I mainly wanted to get done two specific 16x20's.

*I also went equiped with many OMLB's which i stay away from. I usually prefer cards and pictures but
i switched it up for this trip.

*I tried to stear away from players who don't sweet spot. For some guys that i got on cards
i chose cards over balls because they are known to side panel. I also prefer Ginter's over anything else.

TB Rays

Joaquim Benoit - card
JP Howell - SS OMLB - (mistook him for Wade Davis)
Jeff Neiman - SS OMLB
Jeremy Hellickson- SS OMLB, Card
David Price - 16x20
Matt Garza - 2010 Ginter
Carl Crawford - 2010 Ginter
Evan Longoria - 2010 Ginter

Texas Rangers

Ron Washington - Card
Matt Harrison - Card
Derek Holland - SS OMLB
Cliff Lee - SP w/CY 08 Insc. (Didn't know he side paneled.)
Michael Young - SS OMLB
Josh Hamilton - SS OMLB w/ 1 peter 2:24 Inscr. , 16x20 SI COVER Main item I have wanted for years. #1 Goal for the trip. Luckily the day he signed i was standing next to a guy who he fished with. The guy talked to him on the other side of the field and josh said he would come over. Side note, not on the same scale but i quit smokin ***** about 3.5 years ago, it was hell when i stopped. Withdrawl, everything you name it. Everything changed afterwards though, more money, better memory, went from C student to A student, better physical shape. So I really got a soft spot for Hamilton. Addiction is a bitch so i 100% relate to his story. And i always loved the SI cover.

Probably the best trip i had since i have started graphing the Trop. Not bad for a once a year thing.
Quality over quanity was the theme. Im going home with about 50 rangers and rays cards unsigned but the main items i got done.

PICS

Top Row - Holland, Lee, Hamilton, Young

Bottom Row - Howell,Hellickson, Neimann

Nice haul! I collect autos too. After reading your story, I had to share mine because of the teams involved. I had my best haul ever when the Rays visited the Rangers! I brought 6 baseballs and 1 ESPN magazine. I ended up with Niemann, Price, Crawford, Andruw Jones, Nelson Cruz, and Hamilton on the baseballs and Longoria on my ESPN Magazine.

Jheywardfan said:

Nice haul! I collect autos too. After reading your story, I had to share mine because of the teams involved. I had my best haul ever when the Rays visited the Rangers! I brought 6 baseballs and 1 ESPN magazine. I ended up with Niemann, Price, Crawford, Andruw Jones, Nelson Cruz, and Hamilton on the baseballs and Longoria on my ESPN Magazine.

Click to expand...

thats awsome. post a pic of the longoria espn cover

OK, i will tomorrow.

Awesome haul!

Canocollector#1 said:

Awesome haul!

Click to expand...

One of the best trips i ever had!