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)

Stephen Strasburg - Circle Changeup

Stephen Strasburg and the magical circle change. The kid known as "the most hyped pick in MLB history" is coming through big time. Strasburg has opened the season 2-0 with 32K's in 3 appearances. Does he deserve a coach's selection for the All Star game? Check out our video discussing his first few starts this year.

Fan Mail! Episode 26

Fan mail! We're pretty jazzed about the stuff jamming our mail boxes these last few weeks. A HUGE thank you to everyone who sent us stuff these past few weeks. Sorry this took so long to post, we've been busy!

Big SHOUTOUT to Randy (check out Randy's blog here), Bennett, Anthony (check out Anthony's blog here), Jason, Jesse, Nick and Coach Cantu! You guys are amazing and sent us some awesome stuff fit nicely in our Brewers/Red Sox collection! We received autograph cards, jersey cards, unopened packs, commemorative baseballs, a Brewers pennant, and even our own cards!

So, we tried to fit this video into 10 minutes so we could throw it on YouTube, but we failed. In or time saving effort we crammed in a few packs of Bowman 2009's to send to y'all.

Leave us a comment below to request your FREE* card!

*limit one card per person

Free Baseball Cards! Opening Day Cards #22

Four free packs today and a Baseball Term of the Day to boot. Speaking of boot, did you see the Sox blow that lead today? Dream Cards are back in action, will Chris pull a Tim Wakefield? Will Joe be blessed with a Joe Mauer?

Big week of live baseball for us! Joe is at Miller Park today back in the dairy capital of the world - Wisconsin. He’ll be waking up at 4AM to milk the cows in his suburban back yard and Chris is hitting up two Giants games in San Fran this week.

What games have you been to so far this week? As always, all these cards are up for grabs including the Derek Jeter, ya better watch the episode to discover the rest.

Fantasy Baseball Power Week: Episode 18 Opening Day Cards

We are mixing it up this week. Still FREE cards, but if you want to win these cards, you need to pick the best 3 player team in our first ever Power Fantasy Week. Here's how it works:

1. Pick one infielder, one outfielder, and one pitcher from the cards we opened (see below for lists)
   
2. You get 1 point for each win, save, home run, and RBI that your players record from Wednesday, April 14 through end of day Wednesday, April 21
   
3. Post your picks in our comments
4. The viewer who's 3 player team has the most points wins 2 of the 3 packs we opened (Joe's pack and the extra pack)
   
5. The 2nd place viewer gets Chris' pack of cards
6. We will find an awesome way of settling any ties, don't worry
   

Here are the players (note they may have changed teams in the offseason, you are selecting the player on whichever team they are on now):

Infielders

• Russell Martin, C, LA Dodgers
• Brian Buscher, 3B, Minnesota Twins
• Micah Hoffpauir, 1B, Chicago Scrubs
• Greg Dobbs, 3B, Philadelphia Phillies
• JJ Hardy, SS, Minnesota Twins
  
• German Duran, 3B, Texas Rangers
• Adrian Beltre, 3B, Seattle Mariners
• Jerry Hairston Jr., SS, Cincinnati Reds
• Todd Helton, 1B, Colorado rockies
• Albert Pujols, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals
• Rafael Furcal, SS, LA Dodgers

Outfielders

• Rick Ankiel, OF, St. Louis Cardinals
• Nick Markakis, OF, Baltimore Orioles
• Cody Ross, OF, Florida Marlins

Pitchers

• Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals
• Jared Burton, Cincinnati Reds
• Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants
• Kevin Gregg, Chicago Cubs
• Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays
• Jonathan Sanchez, San Francisco Giants
• Bobby Jenks, Chicago White Sox
• Justin Hampton, San Diego Padres
• Ramon Ramirez, Boston Red Sox

Good luck!

Free Baseball Cards: Opening Day Cards Episode 17

Welcome back baseball fans to Opening Day Cards. In today's episode we bust open some Topps 2009 baseball cards. The best part, all these baseball cards are FREE* baseball cards.

The first series of the MLB season is behind us. The Milwaukee Brewers won their first series taking two of three games at home from the visiting Colorado Rockies. Joe is pleased.

The Boston Red Sox dropped two of three at Fenway to the visiting rivals, the New York Yankees. Chris is bummed.

Back this episode is the Dream Card and Baseball Term of the Day. Does Chris get his Dustin Pedroia Dream Card or Joe his Tim Lincecum? And as always, FREE* baseball cards! Be the first to comment and the card of your choice will be mailed to your door.

Due to the incredible response to FREE* baseball cards (and why wouldn't there be an incredible response to free baseball cards) we have changed our policy to limit it to one card per person per episode, so choose wisely.

Thanks for tuning in!

*limit ONE card per person per episode, while supplies last

Free Baseball Cards: Episode 15

There's less than 2 days to go. The excitement is pretty ridiculous. Opening Day is upon us.

What's a good way to keep things rolling...how about giving away some free cards*? Yeah, that sounds goooooooood. Watch us open a couple packs of Upper Deck, but check us out on Facebook to see the FOUR FREE PACKS* we opened on today's show. They are all there at www.facebook.com/openingdaycards and they are all FREE*. While you are there, friend request us. We are always looking for more friends to share the MLB excitement with!

And if you like Opening Day Cards, give us a vote for the Upper Deck Social Media Awards for Best Blog. With your awesome support we have been able to compete in this thing, but we need you now more than ever. Tell your friends, tell your mom, tell your grandpa, tell your gym teacher, tell your parole officer, we NEED YOUR HELP!



And just to remind you, if we win, all the cards (like usual) are going to be given away FREE on this blog. That's just how we do things.


*limit 2 cards per person, while supplies last

Brewers Pitching Rotation Preview - Episode 13

Joe walks you through the Starting Pitchers for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2010.

Even this close to the season there are a few question marks for Ken Macha and the club. Who's going to be the number 5 starter? Good new is we don't need one until April 14/15, and Jeff Suppan may be on the 15 day DL.

Here's how its looking:
1. Yovani Gallardo
2. Randy Wolf
3. Doug Davis
4. Dave Bush
5. Chris Narveson OR Manny Parra OR Jeff Suppan (boo)

For more info, check out this article from MLB.com.

For an extensive breakdown on that last number 5 spot, check this out.

Upper Deck Awards

So there's been a decent amount of buzz about these Upper Deck Social Media Awards.

Chris and I are honored to have been nominated for Best Blog.

When we first started this thing we weren't out to win any awards, just the hearts and time of passionate baseball fans like yourself.

We thought we were on to something when we first received a piece of mail: two baseball cards sent to us from a fan.

It's always fun to get mail, especially when its not a bill. But opening up that mail box and seeing a yellow padded envelope or a stamped letter is even better. And when we opened it up and there were baseball cards inside...we flipped!

We love baseball, and we love baseball cards. For us, its not always about finding the most expensive card or collecting the whole set. We don't even know which cards are the most expensive. We geek out over opening a pack and making your day by mailing you the cards you love. We know what it feels like, don't act like it's no big deal. Chris almost wet himself the first time we got a card in the mail.

Since we started we have given away almost all the cards we have opened, and that won't change. If you think that makes us a pretty cool blog, we'd love your vote:

VOTE HERE

If we win, all the cards are going to you. The autographed football is going to get auctioned to charity.

Even if you don't vote for us, thanks for tuning in. Check out a video. Request a card. We'd love for you to open your mailbox next week and see an envelope with a stamp and some handwriting on it, and a small piece of cardboard heaven inside. That's assuming you aren't at the ballpark, because next week is Baseball Season!

Red Sox Rotation Preview - Episode 12

Chris weighs in on the Red Sox starting five. Some exciting changes for the Red Sox this season, including the addition of John Lackey.

Here's how it looks right now:

1. Josh Beckett

2. Jon Lester

3. John Lackey

4. Tim Wakefield

5. Clay Buchholz

If you're dying for more (like we are so close to Opening Day!), check out the MLB.com write-up on the rotation here.

Baseball Cards for Free: Episode 11

This episode is a challenge to you.

We are sick and tired of offering FREE* baseball cards, and having only some of them requested. We DARE you to request them all. There are only 12 cards in a pack of Topps 2010, that means we need 24 cards requested.

It's getting so close to Opening Day, that we are losing our minds. We get some pretty sweet cards in here, but they are all up for grabs. Absolutely FREE*.

Thanks for tuning in!

*For a limited time only, limit 2 cards per person, while supplies last

Episode 9: Get to Facebook for over 100 FREE cards!

Baseball - Opening Day Cards vs "The Cube" #9 from chris andrew on Vimeo.

Today's episode is a sprint. We have one of those mysterious Cube-O-Cards to demystify. What is really inside those things? They say over 200 cards and 10 unopened packs. We threw down the $10 at Target and crack into it to show you what's inside.

But there's a catch:

Every card we can't open/show you in 5 minutes is FREE.

Check out all the FREE cards on www.facebook.com/openingdaycards

See how many cards we can open in 5 minutes. Spoiler Alert: we left over 100 cards undisclosed and up for grabs on Facebook. Check it out!

Episode 8: Free Baseball Cards and 23 Year Old Gum

Baseball - Opening Day Cards #8 from chris andrew on Vimeo.

We are officially less than two weeks from Opening Day. Excitement is building. Pitching rotations are shaping up. Lineups are filling out. And we are still opening cards and handing them out.

Check out our 8th installment to see us open 4 packs, 2 of which we are giving away for FREE*

First we crack into some Upper Deck 2009 Series 2 from a Blaster Box (Chris was really hoping for an Autograph or Jersey card, so he is unwilling to part with these packs).

Next we open up some Topps 1987. A classic set of cards with the wood paneling background, and more mustaches than a Harley Davidson rally. Check out Joe's review of these cards on Amazon.com.

Oh, and did I mention that Chris nearly vomits after eating 23 year old bubble gum that comes in the packs of 1987 Topps? You have to see this.

* for a limited time, while supplies last, limit 1 card per person

Episode 7: Still FREE cards

Baseball - Opening Day Cards #7 from chris andrew on Vimeo.

Chris is pretty excited about episode 7. He thinks it may be the best episode yet.

What makes an episode so amazing?

1. The best pack of Topps 2010 we have yet to open
2. Two mouthfuls of Jalapeno Hot Salsa David sunflower seeds
3. An amazing Prince Fielder walkoff Home Run (check out the video on MLB.com)
   
4. The most difficult Home Run card decision of the year
5. Only two weeks until Opening Day!
6. Oh yeah, we are still giving these cards away for FREE!*

You want a card? Leave us a comment and it's yours. It's honestly that easy.

Thanks for tuning in!

* for a limited time only, while supplies last, limit 2 cards per person.

Free Baseball Cards: Opening Day Cards Episode 6

Baseball - Opening Day Cards #6 from chris andrew on Vimeo.

Chris apologizes that this was so late. He has been going through a lot personally, and you have paid the price, which isn't right. He's sorry.

This time we are back in action opening packs of Upper Deck 2010 baseball cards, and again, we are giving them all away for free. Nothing better than FREE BASEBALL CARDS*.

Straight outta Take Me Out to the Ballgame, we dabble in some Cracker Jack in this episode. A delicious caramel corn treat with a prize to open at the end. Mmmm.


*This is a limited time offer. Llimit 2 cards per person, while supplies last

Coming Soon: Opening Day Cards, where every day is Opening Day

Is there a better feeling than opening a new fresh pack of baseball cards? Ever feel the rush of excitement that comes with discovering each new player mixed with the gentle reverence and care to not degrade the quality of the cards in any way?

Then Opening Day Cards is the place for you. Tune in each week to catch a new episode of Opening Day Cards, where everyday is Opening Day.

So what is Opening Day Cards all about? Each week Joe and Chris each open a new pack of baseball cards and we share ALL of the excitement with you. Join us as we discuss the players, teams, news and cards. And best of all, each card is up for grabs. That's right, for a limited time, we are giving away cards. All you have to do is leave us a comment with the card you want and we will ship it directly to you. If there is an easier way to get free cards, let us know, we want them.

Thanks for tuning in. Opening Day for MLB action is April 4th, but at Opening Day Cards Opening Day is February 28, 2010. Then let the free cards begin!