Thursday, July 29, 2010

Episode 34 - ODC on the road! (Big contest!)



Episode 34 is a big one! We've got www.thedugoutcards.com back as a sponsor and this is an extra special episode. Check out our "commemorative patch card" and there's a contest to win it. You need to tell us the best baseball card trade you've ever made.

Yo we are living blogging on our cross-country road trip. I just left Rockies stadium where I saw Mr. Ubaldo ignoring the altitude, the hitter's park, and laying down Pirates one after another - the guy is Cy Young Quality for sure. Unfortunately Joe couldn't make it to the game, they don't like dog's in the stadium.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Cute Puppy and Free Baseball Card! #33



It's been a little while since we've given away some cards and we are storming back with Topps 2010 Series 2. Our boy Mr. Pedroia is on the box! Also fan mail from Nick! Tune in for a great episode and ya, that furry little creature is our new mascot - meet Rigby Joe's dog :)

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Winning Idea for Opening Day Cards


After an excessive deliberation, Chris and I have chosen the winner of our latest contest where you were asked to submit your ideas for what we should do next at Opening Day Cards.

Without any more delay, the winner is Josh Hudgens! Even though Josh is a St. Louis Cardinals fan, we wish him a hearty congratulations!

In a nutshell, here is Josh's idea:

Viewers comb through their collection and form an All-Star team from their cards, including a player at each position. Then you take a picture and submit it to us. We will post all submissions and YOU the viewers will vote on our site to decide the winning submission for the best All-Star team of baseball cards.

Why we LOVE this idea:

  1. It gives us all an excuse to rummage through our collection again, and that is always a good time.
  2. We love it when viewers submit pictures of their cards.
  3. We REALLY love it when viewers get to vote so we don't have the hard job of deciding who wins
  4. This idea is really cool because the winning submission will include both the best all-time greats, including a mix of retired and current MLB stars, and the quality of the cards, for example, rookie cards, relics, autos, etc.
  5. It's a contest, and we obviously love contests because they allow us to give away free awesome cards to you all!
We will be using Josh's awesome idea in an upcoming episode, so start combing through your cards now. More contest details, including the announcement of the sweet prize is coming soon!

Thanks to all of you who submitted ideas, we received a TON of great ideas. Don't be surprised if we use your idea even if you didn't win. We are in the business of giving you what you want. You want free baseball cards? You got 'em!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Are the Brewers Leaning Into Pitches?

The Brewers finally got in the headlines today when manager Ken Macha made an official complaint to MLB officials about his team being thrown at. That's right, the Brewers are targets. They've been hit a whopping 47 times this year. 47 beaners, that's more wins than the Brewers have.

Leading the charge is Prince Fielder who is pictured above attempting to elbow a pitch. Elbowing should be reserved for the UFC. Prince will struggle to hit 47 homers this year but he's helping he's certainly helping his team lead the league in one category.

What do you guys think? Do the Brewers lean in or are these friendly boys from Milwaukee targets? Let me know in the comments below

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Winner of the Best Card from 2010!



Hey Folks - Great work on the contest happening over on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/openingdaycards. There are some incredible cards posted and this has not been an easy decision. We are announcing a first place winner as well as a runner up winner which will receive a prize as well.

FIRST PRIZE: Nick Shaw! You put Babe Ruth and Ryan Howard on the same card and there's not much we can do about that!

SECOND PRIZE: Todd Fee! Todd's Mike Leake 2009 Donruss Elite MIke Leake Collegiate Patch Auto RC. Even though this card is a 2009 it sounds like it was pulled this year and it is a BEAUTY!

Thank you for all the submissions and remember - there's another great contest running now with an even better prize. Do you have an idea for what we can do with this show? What we can do with this blog? Leave your best idea as a comment on the post below and you could be receiving 5 new packs in the mail for free!

Congratulations again to the two winners and thanks for all the submissions!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Opening Day Cards - Episode #32 (an even bigger contest)



Some people say we're crazy for giving away so many free baseball cards. Actually that's all we do. We mail you baseball cards for free. Word on the street is you like it? As always all the cards shown in this episode are yours for free if you're the first to comment with the card you'd like.

Even bigger news is the newest contest we are running - we're looking for new ideas for Opening Day Cards. Have an idea for an episode? Have an idea for a new direction? Have a guest that you can get on the show? Whoever comes up with the best idea wins 5 PACKS OF UNOPENED CARDS. Your choice. Pick them from our collection. If you win, we'll mail you the 5 unopened packs AND we'll actually do what you've suggested. We think this is going to be a lot of fun. So get those creative juices flowing and leave a comment below with your best idea!

PS - big props to the BIG Papi for running away with the Home Run Comp!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Big contest! Big Giveaway - Episode #31



That's right folks, in this episode you'll learn more about a big giveaway that we are doing over on our Facebook profile - http://www.facebook.com/openingdaycards. It's pretty simple. Become our friend over on Facebook & post a picture of the best baseball card you've opened in 2010. We'll let the contest go for a few days and announce the winner. The winner will have a number of unopened packs mailed free of charge to their house & we might toss something extra special in there. No we are not going to send Joe in a box to your house.

On top of the big giveaway all the cards in this episode are FREE as usual. Leave a comment with what you're interested in. Who's excited for the All Star Game?

Saturday, July 3, 2010

2010 NL Cy Young Preview


This weekend we'll find out who we all selected as the 2010 MLB All-Stars, and our future award winners will surely be in attendance in Anaheim this year.

The Cy Young Award is given out annually to recognize each league's premier pitcher, and the 2010 season has featured some amazing pitching performances. Let's take a look at a couple of candidates for the NL Cy Young Award this season.

Ubaldo Jimenez
The Rockies ace is having a record setting season. He leads all NL hurlers with 14 wins (14-1). Jimenez is just a sneeze away from leading the NL in ERA with a 1.83 ERA. He trails Florida ace Josh Johnson by 0.01 (they both have yielded 23 earned runs, but Johnson has thrown one more inning). He tossed the first no-hitter in Rockies history on April 17th on the road, against the NL best Atlanta Braves. Ubaldo has notched scoreless streaks of 25 1/3 and 33 innings. His one loss: 2-0 loss to Los Angeles Dodgers on the road where he went 7 innings and gave up just one earned run on two hits. Right now it seems pointless to even debate any other player ousting Ubaldo Jimenez for the NL Cy Young Award this season.

Josh Johnson
The Florida Marlins ace is the bright spot in an otherwise disappointing season. Johnson sports an NL leading 1.82 ERA and an 8-3 record. With 115 Ks and only 27 BBs in 114 innings this season, Josh hasn't had too many blemishes. Unfortunately the Fish can't find enough offense to thrust him into the spotlight. After giving up 7 runs in his first two starts, Johnson has gone on to give up just 6 runs in the month of May and 5 runs in all of June. If Jimenez falters, Johnson will be waiting in the wings.

Adam Wainwright
St. Louis is a tough place to win a Cy Young in my opinion. There are just always too many pitchers to compete with on one team, and that makes it hard to stand out. If the Cy Young Award was a team award, the Cardinals would have won it most years in the last decade. Wainwright is the declared ace of the staff, and he boasts great numbers. 2.34 ERA (4th), 11 wins (2nd) and 114 K's (tied 4th). Also hurling for the Cards: Jaime Garcia (who just smoked my Brewers) with a 2.10 ERA and Chris Carpenter who is 9-1 with a 2.70 ERA. Now that's a staff.

Yovani Gallardo
This is my homer pick, I'm a Brewers fan, I admit it. But Yovani has stacked up some great evidence why he should be in this conversation. 8-3, 2.56 ERA, and 120 K's (2nd). After Yo started 0-2 in his first three starts, he rebounded to go 8-1 and only yielded 20 earned runs in his last 14 starts. Definitely not putting up Jimenez numbers, but that won't keep me from talking about him.

Other Notables
Tim Lincecum: the 2008 AND 2009 NL Cy Young winner is leading all hurlers with 121 K's, but has been scuffling lately losing his last two games to fall to 8-4. Timmy better pick it up.
Tim Hudson: the Atlanta ace is having a come back season. I have seen him pitch in person twice this season (vs. the Brewers and vs. the Giants). He is a crafty vet who keeps the ball down and gets a lot of ground ball outs and double plays. He is a big reason why ATL is leading the NL right now with a 8-3 record and 2.37 ERA
Mike Pelfrey: 10-2 for the NY Mets with a 2.93 ERA, one of 3 NL pitchers with 10 or more wins.
San Diego: Mat Latos, Clayton Richard, Jon Garland, Wade LeBlanc all boast ERAs under 3.25. It's up for grabs for the NL West leading Padres.

Be sure to vote for your favorite NL pitching phenom on the right -->