It's Truck Day - Boston Red Sox

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What day do pitchers and catchers report?

Spring is in the air and pitchers/catchers are coming out of hibernation. CC Sabathia is gingerly stepping onto a scale, and Josh Beckett is inspecting his hand for blisters. It's time for some baseball. So let's do a quick recap of when pitchers and catchers report for some of the most important teams in baseball:

When do pitchers and catchers report?

Boston Red Sox - Feb 14
Milwaukee Brewers - Feb 16
San Francisco Giants - Feb 14
St Louis Cardinals - Feb 13
NY Yankees - Feb 14
Philadelphia Phillies - Feb 13

If you're wondering which team has pitchers and catchers report the latest it's the Florida Marlins they won't be driving across town until Feb 18.

March 31st (Opening Day 2011)

Yikes - it's been three months since our last post. The SF Giants are the champions of the world and Joe and I have been catching our breath. Excuses aside, please accept an apology from the both of us. It's been three months of silence from Opening Day Cards and that's unacceptable. A few thank you's are in order.

1. Thanks for season #1 - we had a blast building a vivid community, talking baseball and baseball cards, spitting seeds and watching our hometown teams fail.

2. Thank you number 2 is presumptuous... Thanks for coming back for 2011. Joe and I are working on a game plan for 2011 - more free baseball cards, baseball talk, maybe a spring training trip with video interviews? There's a lot to come and we're excited.

For now a quote from the great Rogers Hornsby - "I stare out the window and wait for spring."

We'll be back! Thank you for the community. Chris & Joe (ODC)

TTM - How to get Autographs Through the Mail

This is a guest post by Troy Kozlowski. This guy knows how to pull in autographs and it's been great getting to know him through Opening Day Cards. Thanks Troy!

How to Acquire a TTM Success:

TTM stands for through-the-mail autographs. This is any easy way to, hopefully, to get your favorite player to sign your favorite trading cards. You can also take it further than just sending a trading card. If you would like, you can send a photo, baseball, football, jersey, etc. The easiest thing to send is a trading card. First what you would have to do is write a letter to the player of your choice explaining that you think that they are a great player and that you would like to get them to autograph your card. The best place to mail your card to is the stadium address for the team of that player. Let’s say that you are sending a request to Jason Motte, pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, you would send it to Busch Stadium address. This is a sample letter of something that you could send to your favorite player:

Mr. Motte,
I am a huge fan of both you and the Cardinals. I think you are an amazing pitcher and so glad that you are on the Cardinals. (You could personalize it with an experience that you had or some accomplishment that the person you are writing to has accomplished.) I was hoping that you could autograph my card for me. I have included a self-addressed, stamped envelope so that you could send it back to me. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy day to read my letter and hopefully you’ll get back to me soon.

Your #1 FAN,
And if this player takes the time to autograph your card, you could end up with the great autograph you see at the top of this post!

The most important thing to include is an envelope with your name and address so it can come back to you; but, for a chance to get a success you will have to add a stamp on the envelope coming back to you. If you are sending anything other than a trading card you must go to your local post office to check how much postage you need to put on your package so that it will come back to you. This is a great link to use to get team addresses to send your cards to: http://www.sportmapworld.com/map/baseball/north-america/mlb/.

Collecting autographs is a great hobby to get into. It is great for people that cannot get to the ballpark to get autographs from the players in person. An average wait for the return of your autographed card can be anywhere from 5 days to 3 years; but, a normal wait is usually about 3 months. Some bad things that can happen are: if you send your card to the wrong address you may get everything back with a yellow slip from the post office, which is called a RTS (Return To Sender). Also, if the player is in a hurry they could put the signed card right in the envelope after signing and it can get smudged.

If you really want to get into the hobby of collecting autographs, Harvey Meiselman creates a comprehensive book for every sport, every year, with the players’ home addresses. It is so great to use and you get the address for almost every current and retired player. The link to see how you could purchase it for yourself is here: http://www.sportsaddresslists.com/ . This is the best product to obtain retired players’ addresses and, during the offseason, current players. The Baseball Hall of Fame, in Cooperstown, NY, has recently added his Baseball Address List to the permanent collection in their library. Harvey gives updates three times a year for addresses that he found out didn’t work and gives a new current address. It is a great resource to have.


A great website to use is Nolan’s TTM, He updates his website whenever he gets a success. His website is: http://www.nolansttmgraphs.webs.com/. Another great website that is always updating their user’s success is: http://www.fanmail.biz/ and click on the tabs for any of the sports and you get to see who signs autographs. I also use this website to see what he has gotten back lately: http://www.sportsautosttm.com/.

Even though I used the above example with a baseball player, you can send to NBA, NFL, and NHL players; but, MLB has the highest success rate if sending to players. I have been collecting since last Spring Training and I have just over 100 autogtaphs and still collecting. On one website that I have come across, someone did a test to see if he will have a higher rate of return if hand-writing the letter opposed to typing it. His study showed that he had a higher rate of return if he had hand-written the letter to the player. It is a really fun hobby and it blends right in with the hobby of collecting. The most important thing to keep in mind is to not send something of value, because you may NOT get it back. The players are not forced to sign items; they just do it for their fans!

Troy Kozlowski

The Red Sox Did Not Make The Playoffs

Well folks. The season is over. The Brewers & Red Sox are headed home early, but there's still some great baseball left. Congratulations to the NY Yankees, Twins, Rangers, Rays, Braves, Giants, Reds & Phillies.

Is the evil empire about to begin a new reign? Is the Big Red Machine back in town? October baseball, while not "Soxtober" baseball, will still be fun. Here at Opening Day Cards, it's been an honor to get to know you this year. We have some fun ideas to get us through the post-season and some excitement for the off-season as well.

Keep an eye out for some incredible guest posts, great card giveaways and yes, we've got a handful of video episodes in the works.

Enjoy the Playoffs!

Chris & Joe

The Red Sox Will Make The Playoffs

It’s mid-September the bumbling Red Sox are 6.5 games out of the AL East and 6 games out of the wild-card. All hope is lost right? It’s been a bummer of a year – Pedroia, Youkilis, Varitek, Ellsbury, Beckett, Dice-K, etc etc they’ve spent more time nursing wounds than playing ball. But four days ago I made a prediction as you may see in the post below – I believe the Boston Red Sox will make the playoffs and the evil empire will sit this one out. Three reasons why the Red Sox will make the playoffs:

1. End of Season Schedule – Whoever laid out the schedule this year really wanted the last few weeks to count. In our final few weeks, the Yankees and the Rays play 3 more times and the Red Sox and the Yankees play 6 times. With the Rays just taking 2 out of 3 from the Yankees and the Red Sox sweeping their West Coast series with the Mariners the Sox are closing in. The Rays are dominant – they will win the AL East and while doing so, set the Yankees back a few more games and Boston will be on fire for it’s end of season series with the hated NY rivals. That final weekend series in October will be playoff level baseball and the Sox will rise to the challenge.

2. Young Studs – So you wanna play in the big leagues? The Red Sox lineup has been stocked with minor league wannabees all year and it’s starting to look like the Sox turned on their stud-finder at the right time. We’ll be seeing a lot of these guys in the next few years but they are about to leave their mark on New England with an end of season run like nobody would believe – Ryan Kalish, Lars Anderson, & Daniel Nava.

3. Pitching – These guys have stayed healthy, there’s been some Cy Young rumors all year and Lester, Bucholz, Lackey, Beckett, Wakefield, Dice-K & Paps are going to come through when we need them. There are some seasoned hurlers in that crew and the next few weeks are plenty of time to string a few wins together.

So you heard it here – an outlandish belief in the home team squd, but it's going to happen. Also keep an eye out for the unlikely hero JD Drew. The injury prone, moody outfielder is going to come through big. Enjoy the rest of the season and see you in late October! Let me know what you think - am I off my rocker, how do you feel about the Sox chances?

Episode 37 - Relics relics relics!

Hey folks - big packs here. BIG packs. Check out some of the gorgeous cards we pulled in these packs. As always all the cards you see on the show are free - request the ONE card you'd like in the comments below - first comments gets the card!

You heard it here first. I'm calling the Red Sox making the playoffs. Yankees will falter. Rays and Sox will be in. We'll see what happens, but it's time for an end of year prediction.

Speaking of brawls...

I am assuming this video will get lifted off YouTube soon, so get it while you can!

Nyger Morgan, the feistiest little man in baseball is at it again. Throwing baseballs at fans, and now throwing punches at pitchers. Check out the second punch thrown as Nyger finally gets his.

Super Fan Episode!

Welcome to a special Super Fan edition of Opening Day Cards!

As Chris and I were roadtripping across the States, one of my stops was back in the Northwoods of Wisconsin where I met up with a HUGE fan of baseball, cards, and Opening Day Cards...Bennett. This year Bennett's baseball team went an astonishing 14-0! Congratulations!

Join us as we open a few packs of Topps 2010 Series 2. As always, all the cards on this episode are up for grabs. Just leave a comment below and we will ship it out your way.

Red Sox Need a Bench Clearing Brawl

The Red Sox are in need of a bench clearer. With James Shields on the mound this evening it's a shame they let the opportunity slip by. The sox are flat. Like a coke left out over night this squad has no pop. Their outfield has struggled to bat .240 and the pitching hasn't been consistent. With 3 more major AL East series left in the season can the squad pull it together.

I would have loved to see Pedroia pinch-hit, lean into a pitch and take off after Shields to rile up a team that has dreams of October and couches.

Here at Opening Day Cards we're getting riled up as well. We've got a slew of new videos and some new sponsored goods to be giving away. It's going to be an exciting week. How's your team wrapping up the year? Is September going to be an exciting month?

Episode 35 - Vintage Baseball Cards for Free!

Episode 35 is now live with some teeny tiny, vintage baseball cards up for grabs. Big thanks to TJ Parker a big fan of ours in Cambridge, MA who hunted down these gems at a small antique store. We're working on some exciting things hear at Opening Day Cards - some new things will be popping up shortly. Playoffs are around the corner and we hope your team is closing up the season right. Trips to the mound come with a little more meaning these days.

Play Ball! We hope you enjoy the episode.

Crazy Dance by Oakland A's Vendor

Joe and I have been hitting the road lately catching baseball games in Oakland and Denver. Beyond the baseball highlights we captured this dance on camera as well - it may be worth sharing with your friends. What's the craziest thing you've seen at a baseball game?

Again - Joe and I are road tripping around the states for a few weeks this summer so the mailing of free baseball cards is briefly delayed until mid-august. We'll be releasing details about the "all-star" card competition and publishing new videos soon! Enjoy the summer weather - playoffs are around the corner.

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.

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 :)

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!

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

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!

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!

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?

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 -->