Senators Saturday - Don Lock, 1964.

Don Lock, pictured here on card number 114 of the 1964 Topps set, continued his mashing ways in 1964. As in 1963, he was the Senators' big power threat.

As head smasher Don led the team in home runs with 28, ten more than his closest teammate. That was good enough for 10th in the AL. He also led the team in plate appearances (598), games (152), runs scored (73), RBI (80), walks (79) - 8th in the AL, on base percentage (.346), and slugging percentage (.461). He was second in at bats with 512.

As becomes a typical power hitter, Don also struck out a lot in 1964. He led the team with 137 whiffs. That placed him second in the AL.

On the other side of the ball, Don played 1281.1 innings in the field. That was the most on the team. During that time he had 372 chances. He made 354 putouts and had 19 assists. He did make five errors but still managed to post a .987 fielding percentage. That was seven points better than the year before.

Don's performance coupled with Washington's dismal record probably accounts for something that had not happened up to this point for Don and never would again in his career. He actually showed up in the MVP voting. He ranked last in the voting but at least his name came up.

Getting his name in the papers.

Got this picture in today. It is about 8x10 and is a glossy black and white. I picked it up on Ebay. Why, you might ask. Well, in addition to it being a picture of Jon Matlack there are a couple of other interesting points.

The picture has no description on the front but if you turn it over the situation changes. It came from the archives of the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper and is stamped as such. According to the label glued to the back, the photographer was Chuck Kirman. Mr. Kirman took the picture in the 1st inning of the June 2, 1980 game at "Sox Park" as the label puts it. Under the label is a strip of newspaper that contains the caption used in the paper the next day. "Rangers' Jon Matlack fires away. He retired the first ten Sox before Alan Bannister singled in the fourth. (Sun-Times Photo by Chuck Kirman)" On June 3, 1980 the picture was stamped again as it was placed in the Sun-Times library.

Since I had a specific date for the game that Jon is shown throwing in I decided to see how he did. According to Retrosheet the Rangers got one run across before Jon ever threw a pitch. He is working with a 1-0 lead here. Matlack then held the ChiSox scoreless until the bottom of the fifth when they pushed across a run. In the bottom of the sixth Jon came on with a 1-1 tie and got Harry Chappas to foul out to third baseman Buddy Bell. Then is started to rain. At 9:10 p.m. a rain delay was called. At 9:40 the umpires called the game.

Kind of bummed out that this picture wasn't from a win. I guess it wasn't from a loss either though so that works out I suppose. I like it because I have found way more pictures of Jon with the Mets than with the Rangers. Nice to see him with the "T" on his hat.

Damon's dilemma.

So, it's looking like Johnny Damon is having a hard time coming up with a team to play for in 2010. MLB.com has a great article on the situation. Hal Bodley brings up a great point about agents, players, and teams.

I have long been conflicted on Curt Flood's impact on the game. It is obvious with any little study that players were often taken advantage of by the owners before free agency. From that perspective I think that the idea was a good one.

The problem is that I can now see some players being taken advantage of by the agents. Scott Boras is obviously the worst offender in this regard but I think it happens more than is spoken of. After all, an agent is paid at least in part on commission. That gives him the incentive to get the most dollars, regardless of the player's best interest or wishes. As Bodley says in his article, it doesn't always have to be that way.

I remember in 1997 when the Rangers were shopping Ivan Rodriguez. Pudge, shown here on card #SS-IR3 in the 2002 Upper Deck Honor Roll set, was coming up on free agency. The team had a made an offer and Ivan's agent declined it. The problem was that he wanted to stay in Texas. My grandfather told me that Ivan talked to his mom and she told him to talk the the Rangers' GM on his own. He did so and came out with a contract. Sports Illustrated substantiates that story. One has to wonder why that didn't happen this past off-season, especially with Rodriguez's age and his stated desire to retire a Ranger.

My Grandfather also used to say that one of the reasons he was so impressed with Rusty Greer was that he didn't use an agent but negotiated his own contracts. I wasn't able to confirm that but it seems to fit Greer's personality.

So, why can't the players and teams talk without the agents? Most players are at least decently educated and could understand the negotiations. Independent parties could be hired to evaluate the contracts to make sure they were not unethical. Teams would have an incentive to be fair in order to get the player to talk to them the next time he came up for free agency. Players would garner more fan support if they stayed with the team and could use that the next time around as a bargaining chip. If they felt too intimidated why not hire a consultant for a set fee to provide advice during the talks? A set fee rather than a commission and success being determined by the player's satisfaction rather than dollars would change the consultant's motivations.

I would have loved to see Pudge stay with Texas for the upcoming season. Johnny Damon appears to have wanted to stay in New York. Could both situations have been avoided?

Wantlist - 1997 Score.

So we come to the end of my Score wantlists with 1997 Score. I have the whole team from 1998 so there is no list to post for that set.

To demonstrate the 1997 Score set we have Warren Newson on card number 252. For the wantlist there is just one card:

1997 Score
451 Mike Devereaux

If you have this card or any from previous wantlists and are willing to part with them just drop me an email. I would really like to be able to put the Score base sets to bed. My tradelist is here and I can do team lot trades as well. Thanks!

Considering catching.

The Rangers are holding a mini-camp this week in Arlington. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, shown here on card number 399 of the 2008 Topps set, is one of the players in attendance. So far things seem to be going well. The team is saying that Salty will be ready for Spring Training and the 2010 season.

Having Jarrod well and over his thoracic outlet syndrome would be nice. I hope it happens and isn't a lingering issue. With the departure of Ivan Rodriguez to Washington, Salty is now the front-line catcher going into the season. After him and Taylor Teagarden the options thin considerably. Both need to be healthy for the team to do well coming out of the gate.

Sold to the man in the big hat!

The sale of the Texas Rangers is finalized according to a story on the Rangers site. Nolan Ryan is one of the big players in the purchasing group and will stay on. According to T.R. Sullivan, Nolan will be in charge of baseball while Chuck Greenberg will be the managing partner. That means Nolan will do what he knows and Greenberg will concentrate on what he knows, promoting the club and running the business side. Tom Hicks will stay on as a minority owner and will have no say in the day-to-day operations of the club.

Looking at this early 1990's card of Nolan Ryan we can at least figure where he got a large part of the money that he is now putting into the Rangers. If I were Nolan you would have to pay me quite a chunk of change to appear in that outfit. Looks like the photo shoot took place on one of John Wayne's old sets. I have no idea why the picture is tinted orange.

As you might figure, the back of the card gives no clue as to the identity of the distributor. It is titled "Texas Ranger" and states that on July 31, 1990 Nolan became only the 20th pitcher in MLB history to win 300 games.

No post post.

Sorry about this folks but I am having some computer problems. Managed to get on the laptop and post this but have no access to the scanner. Hope to have the problem resolved and be back to posting on Monday.

A little remodeling.

So, Night Owl asked if there were any players that were (or are) difficult to root for even if they were (or are) on your favorite team. The first name that popped into my head was Ruben Sierra. Mark Teixeira was a close second.

I decided to feature Mark's 2005 Donruss Craftsmen card, number C-17, since I had been meaning to do a little work on the blog. The card is numbered 929/2000 and features a cool looking background of what appears to be a blueprint. Unfortunately it is shiny and so doesn't scan well so those details can't be seen. Still, the set name of craftsmen goes with working on something.

In this case the something being worked on is this blog. Today I overhauled the links section. First I broke it down into four sections instead of just one. I also added and subtracted a few links. Here is a quick overview of each section:

Handy Card Links - A mix of Rangers related links and blogs or sites that have no particular team affiliation or where the team loyalty is in the background. No new links in this one.

A.L. Team links - Blogs that follow American League teams. Nothing new here either. These guys are a long time bunch and have simply been moved and labeled with their team names.

N.L. Team links - Several long time guys here but the Phillies and Giants are also now represented. Again, the blogs are labeled with their team loyalties.

Set Tours - All new links. I have been keeping up with these guys for awhile and greatly enjoy reading them. Even though I am not a set collector I do find walking through a set to be very interesting. The blog names are not listed, instead I opted to go with the name of the set the writers are chronicling.

Based on the lone feedback I received on the issue I have also added a followers list. If you have a chance, take a minute and check out some of the links. Let me know what you think of the new section layout.

Latest autograph success.

Got this 2005 Topps Buck Showalter card back in the mail today. I had sent it and a 2004 Topps card to Mr. Showalter on January 14th and asked him to sign them. Unlike Richie Zisk, Buck signed the cards. He then got them back to me in a very speedy manner.

Mr. Showalter used a blue sharpie to sign both cards. Due to the dark background the signature on this card doesn't show well when scanned. It looks a great deal better in person though.

Thanks to Buck Showalter for the autographs!

Wantlist - 1996 Score.

On card number 158 of the 1996 Score set Benji Gil doesn't look very thrilled. Kind of like a man wondering why the photographer always picks the day you forgot to shave as the day to take the close-up pictures. He's probably rolling his eyes behind those shades.

Last week was the wantlist from 1994 Score. Since I have the complete team set from 1995 we'll just skip that year and head on into 1996. Here's what I need:

1996 Score
371 Will Clark
388 Mickey Tettleton
405 Jeff Frye

If you have any of these cards or any from previous wantlists and are willing to part with them just drop me an email. My tradelist is here and I can do team lot trades as well. Thanks!

Zapped by Zisk.

On January 11th of this year I sent Richie Zisk an extra copy of card number 110 in the 1978 Topps set. I also sent a 1979 Topps card. Included were a self-addressed stamped envelope and a short note asking Mr. Zisk to sign the cards. I got the cards back today.

The the card pictured isn't the one I sent to Mr. Zisk. It's in about the same shape though, unsigned. Richie (or someone assisting him) didn't even take the cards out of the letter they were wrapped in. Just put them in the return envelope and sent them back.

Why? I have no clue. No reason was given as to why Mr. Zisk declined to sign. In the past I have gotten notes back stating that the address was wrong, the player no longer signed for various reasons, that the player was out of town for a few months. Not this time though. This time my request was zapped with no explanation. Maybe it was the terrible airbrushing job on Richie's cap on this card.

We have a winner!

Yes, after going into extra innings on the contest we have a winner!

Scott Fletcher appeared on card number 13 of the 1987 Fleer Award Winners set as the result of winning the Player of the Month award for July of 1986. Reader Rod appears on this blog as the result of his guess of the total number of different Rangers cards in my collection being within 48 cards of the actual total.

Rod entered his guess as 9,135 different cards at the time the contest started. The actual number was 9,183. Way to go Rod! Thanks for the entry. Thanks to all who entered the contest at either stage. I really appreciated the participation.

Rod, please drop me an email with your collecting interests so I can determine your prize.

Senators Saturday - Steve Ridzik, 1964.

Steve Ridzik was in his second year with Washington in 1964. It was quite possibly the best season the middle reliever managed to put together in his 12 year career. Today we see him on card number 92 of the 1964 Topps set.

Steve's 2.89 ERA was not the lowest he ever posted. It was the lowest he ever posted while pitching over 15 innings in a season though. 1964 would see Steve take the hill for 112 innings, the second highest season total in his career. The 49 games he appeared in was also the second highest number of games in a season in his career.

While tying for the second most appearances out of the bullpen for Washington, Ridzik also showed in several other categories. His ERA was the second lowest out of the pen behind closer Ron Kline. The 31 walks he allowed were also second to Kline. He was also second in the pen in strikeouts with 60.

Interestingly, Steve was also fairly successful at the plate as well. At least he was for a pitcher. In 30 plate appearances he posted a .222 average with a .250 on base percentage. He had three RBI and even managed a double and a walk.

All in all 1964 wasn't too bad of a season for Steve. Too bad it had to come with a Senators team that went 62-100 on the year and ended up in ninth place in the American League.

1986 ProCards - Dave Geisel.

Dave Geisel played for the Oklahoma City Eighty-Niners in 1986. It was his last year in pro ball. By the time he donned OKC threads he had seven Big League seasons under his belt.

Dave made his pro ball debut in 1974 in the Cubs system. He showed up in the Big Show in 1978. After the 1978, '79, and '81 seasons with the Cubs he was traded to the Blue Jays as a player to be named later.

Geisel spent 1982 and '83 with Toronto. He was then drafted by Seattle in the Rule 5 draft.

1984 and '85 were spent with the Mariners. He was granted free agency in December of 1985. After the 1986 season with the Eighty-Niners it was the end of the road for Dave. He had seen the Bigs though. Much further than many of his minor league compatriots had managed to get.

Recently I was contacted by Steve over at The Greatest 21 Days. Steve is writing about the 1990 CMC minor league set, card by card. It is a great blog and a very interesting read. I highly recommend that you give it a try and see what happened to the players pictured on the cards in the set.

Random Ranger auto - Mark Clark.

Mark Clark's 2000 Topps card is part of my latest through the mail autograph success. With the background on the card Mark's autograph is hard to make out in the scan but you can see part of it crossing his legs just below his belt.

I sent this card and one other one off to Mr. Clark on December 1, 2009. He was good enough to sign both of them and return them. They arrived in my mailbox on January 11th. Thanks to Mr. Clark.

A reminder to not forget to drop your guess in on the contest. Just a few more days until the deadline. Remember, there's a prize riding on this one.

When I got on this morning to write this post I noticed that I am now up to 20 followers on this blog. Thanks to each and every one of ya'll. I currently don't display my followers publicly but was considering doing so. Any thoughts as to the matter? Let me know if you like or dislike the idea. I am interested in hearing any opinions but input from followers of the blog is especially sought.

Wantlist - 1994 Score.

Incoming! At least that's what Mario Diaz seems to be thinking on card number 169 of the 1994 Score set. He's right too. Got home from work today to find a bubble mailer from the fine folks at Dinged Corners. Within the undeserved mailer was a small batch of Rangers cards, about half of which I needed. There was also an autographed John Rheinecker from the 2007 Bowman set. Can't miss with a Rangers autograph. Special thanks to the Dinged Corners personnel for this great gift.

Mario wasn't in the mailer but I am posting his card today as a sample of what the 1994 Score set looks like. I would like to complete this set so if you have any of the cards listed below let me know.

1994 Score
495 Rafael Palmeiro
523 David Hulse
1994 Score Rookie/Traded
1 Will Clark
45 Jack Armstrong
113 Darren Oliver
132 Hector Fajardo

Hopefully one of these days somebody will have some of the cards I am posting wantlists for. If you have any of the above cards or any from previous wantlists and are interested in parting with them just drop me an email. My tradelist is here and I can do team lot trades as well. Thanks!

1972 Topps - Ken Suarez.

Time to take another look back at an original Ranger. Today we have Ken Suarez on card number 483 in the 1972 Topps set.

Ken was traded to the Rangers in December of 1971 along with Roy Foster, Rich Hand, and Mike Paul. Texas gave up Gary Jones, Terry Ley, Danny Riddleberger, and Del Unser in return.

Ken was the fourth catcher on the Rangers roster in 1972 and he played in the fewest games of any of the catchers. First string catcher Dick Billings appeared in 133 games compared to just 25 for Suarez.

In those 25 games Ken had 36 plate appearances. He posted a meager .152 batting average. He did catch three of the four runners who tried to steal on him but committed two errors in 57 chances. Ken would see more action with the Rangers but that would be the next season.

Extra innings!

Time to check the contest scoreboard. Decided to use Kenny Roger's 1995 Score card, number 425, for the post. The card actually highlights Kenny's perfect game but it works just as well for this purpose since it features a scoreboard.

There were six entries in the contest. The answers ranged from a low of 1,848 cards to a high of 5,714 different cards in my Rangers collection.

As you may recall, the correct answer needed to be within 150 cards of the correct total. It could be either high or low but needed to be within that range. ( I suppose that strictly speaking that gives a 301 card range.) Sadly, none of the answers were that close. All were significantly low.

Because of this state of affairs the contest will go into extra innings! The deadline is now extended until my post on January 18th. That's right, a whole week longer. The same rules apply as the first time around and you can guess in this round without having guessed in the original round. I will give those who entered in the first round a bonus though, they can enter two numbers. So, if you entered in the first round, guess twice. If you haven't tried yet go ahead and give it a shot. Post your entries in the comments section of this post.

Good luck!

Senators Saturday - Barry Shetrone, 1963.

Following up Bob Schmidt's no impact season in 1963 from last Saturday we have Barry Shetrone on card number 276 of the 1963 Topps set. Barry had an even briefer 1963 season with the Senators than Schmidt had.

The back of Barry's card says, "After several shots with the Orioles, Barry was dealt to the Senators last winter." That's true. Barry came to Washington on December 5, 1962 along with Marv Breeding and Art Quirk in exchange for Pete Burnside and Bob Johnson.

Prior to the trade Shetrone had appeared in 58 games in four years with the O's. That would be his "several shots." After a career high 33 games in 1959 he appeared in 1 game in 1960, 3 in 1961, and 21 in 1962. Not a good track record. Baltimore apparently didn't like what they were seeing. One has to wonder if he was a throw-in player in the trade.

The 1963 season wouldn't be any better for Barry. He appeared in two games, both times as a pinch hitter. He never reached base but managed to put the ball in play both times. He never appeared in the field.

Though Shetrone would hang around in the minors until 1967 he would never again get back to Bigs. Barry passed away in July of 2001 at the age of 63.

1986 ProCards - Bobby Jones.

For today's trip down to the farm we see Bobby Jones on his 1986 ProCards Oklahoma City Eighty Niners card.

The ironic thing about this card is that Bobby didn't play for OKC in 1985, the year of the stats on the back of the card. That's why he also appeared on a 1986 Topps card. He played for the Rangers that year. In 1986 Jones would spend most of the year in the minors but would bounce back to Arlington for 13 games.

Bobby's 1986 stint with the Rangers would be the end of his Major League career. His playing days would end one year later after a season at Double A Tulsa.

In 1988, the year after his playing career ended, Jones started managing in the minors. Since then he has managed 19 seasons, all with the Rangers organization. He started out at A ball and spent three seasons there before moving up. Double A followed for two years and then Triple A for two. Back to Double A after that for six seasons. A year off in 2001 and then four seasons at Triple A. Since 2005 Bobby has managed at Triple A in odd-numbered years. It will be interesting to see if he breaks the trend and returns in 2010.

Questions and answers.

Recently reader James sent me an email asking how I manage to obtain autographs from Rangers players. In particular he wanted to know how I get addresses for some less well-known retired players.

I don't know if Gerald Alexander is an example of the kind of player James is asking about but I tend to think he is. After all, he appeared in just 36 games for the Rangers over three years. I sent this 1991 Fleer card to him on January 9, 2009 and received it back with the autograph on February 9, 2009. Not a bad turn around time.

So, how did I get Gerald's address? Well, I really don't remember. I have two main sources so I'll just give everyone a quick tour of them both.

First has to be The Bench. I have mentioned this site before as a great trading site. It is. It is also a great site to pick up collecting tips, card news, through the mail (TTM) tips, and players addresses. In the forums section there is an area for TTM collectors. In that area collectors often show off their latest snag and will share addresses. There is even a guy who has a Harvey's book who is kind enough to supply addresses to those who ask. In addition, there is a separate directory of players' addresses with the latest success dates. Great resource. If you aren't a member of The Bench you should be. It's easy, free, and very helpful. Let them know Spiff sent ya.

While The Bench is my primary source I have also used Star Collector. This is a free site that has addresses for all major sports as well as other celebrities. It also has a starters guide to help get you going.

Those are my two main sources for addresses though I have picked up one or two elsewhere. I have also picked up lots of TTM autos off of Ebay. There is some risk of forgeries in this approach but that can be minimized by avoiding lots with large numbers of well-known players. There is a lot of motivation to forge Gaylord Perry's signature. Not so much to fake Gary Green's.

So, that's where the addresses come from. Once you have those the big part is done. Now to write the player and get his autograph. I do have a few rules that I follow to enhance the chances of success.

1. Always hand write the letter and address. (I do use return address labels.)
2. Always be polite. The title "Mr." and the use of "please" and "thank you" will get you far.
3. Be honest. Don't try to portray yourself as a huge fan of the player if you aren't.
4. Don't be greedy. I limit myself to two cards per attempt. If I want more autographs I send a second letter after the first cards are returned.
5. Keep records. I have a spiral notebook with three columns; players' name, date sent, date received. I also keep track of which addresses I have tried and which ones are "good" or have resulted in returns.
6. Never send cards you can't live without. They could get lost or damaged, a player may keep one or both, the address may be bad.
7. Never send cards in sleeves or toploaders. These guys are not making a mint on signing so don't make their end of things harder.
8. Always use a self-addressed stamped envelope. If you don't you just sent the player a free gift.
9. Never send to an active player at home, use the team address. These guys don't like to take work home any more than the rest of us do.

Well, I hope that answers some of your questions James and helps out anyone looking to write to players for autos. Best of luck in your attempts and I would love to hear of successes. Please feel free to hit me with any more questions.

Wantlist - 1993 Score.

First off, congratulations to Andre Dawson on his election the the Hall of Fame. I know there are a lot of happy people out there who have long thought he deserved the honor.

Still only six entries in the contest. Just a reminder that there is no penalty for a wrong answer so get your guess in.

Spent some time today trying to decide what to write about. As I sat there Mrs. Spiff mentioned that today is Wednesday and thus the day to post a wantlist. Problem solved!

Today I am putting up a list of the cards I need to complete the 1993 Score team set. Obviously, Monty Fariss on card number 432 is not on the list. There are several others though:

1993 Score
13 Jose Canseco
59 Nolan Ryan
74 Rafael Palmeiro
274 Jeff Frye
293 David Hulse

If you have any of these cards and are interested in parting with them just drop me an email. My tradelist is here and I can do team lot trades as well. Thanks!

Bringing Bobby home.

Sorry about the lack of a post yesterday. I was out of town all last week and had scheduled posts for every day except for yesterday. That was the travel home day and I had hoped to be more up to posting. The late night visits with family and the drive home wore me out though.

While I was gone I did keep up on things. So far nobody has a correct answer in the contest to guess how many Rangers cards I have. Only six entries though and plenty of time to get your number in.

Decided to post card number 729 from the 1990 Topps set today. This card features then Rangers manager Bobby Valentine and is a common enough card. It does mean a little more to me now than it did a week ago.

I have mentioned before that I get my love of baseball from my father and his father. My Dad is a Cardinals fan though. The Rangers were a bug that skipped a generation and came straight from Pop. Bobby Valentine was the Rangers skipper when my fascination with the team really took off. I can remember visiting my grandparents in Texas and listening to Pop talk about the Rangers and Bobby. Pop wasn't shy either about verbally stating while listening to a game that he thought Bobby ought to give this or that pitcher "the hook."

Within a couple of years of aligning under the Rangers colors I took up card collecting. Pop never collected cards himself but would look through whatever I had with me and wasn't above taking me to the local card shop. He was also willing to give cards as a gift and did so several times. Most were Rangers but occasionally there was an old time Cardinal in the mix (Pop was originally a Cardinal fan).

At one time I gave Pop a gift from my collection. I don't remember the occasion but I do remember picking out the cards and putting them in a wall-hanger. The hanger was about the size of a poster and I had cards in every other space, had to allow for additional cards in the future you know. The cards were all Rangers. In the middle was a Fleer logo sticker and a 1990 Topps Bobby Valentine.

Pop took the gift with a thank you and a hug, like he took all gifts. He then hung it on the wall in his study. I think I gave him additional cards once or twice before my collecting hiatus. I know he never purchased any himself.

Pop died in the summer of 2007. For the past two years my grandmother has been saying that my brother (the only other card collector in the family) and I should take Pop's cards. I didn't want to but we finally did this past week. My brother let me have the Rangers and he took just one Stan Musial card for himself.

It seemed so final. Taking the bent and slightly yellowed cards down and out of the hanger. I'm going to keep them separate from my collection, maybe put them back in the hanger and on Spiff Jr.'s wall. I wanted to ask Pop about the Rangers' chances for next year. He was always saying that next year would be the year. Maybe it will and maybe not. Even if it isn't at least we always have the years past.

Senators Saturday - Bob Schmidt, 1963.

Today's card, number 94 in the 1963 Topps set, features backup catcher Bob Schmidt.

1963 was Schmidt's second and final season with Washington. In fact, he didn't even last half of the season with the Senators. On May 8, 1963 he was sold to the New York Yankees. He had appeared in just nine games for Washington.

In those nine games Bob played in the field only eight and logged 32 innings behind the plate. He had only 18 plate appearances.

Practically no impact on the team.

New year, new feature.

Happy New Year everyone! Hoping that this new year does well by you and that the old one was good to you.

Sometime back a wise soul mentioned that they thought this blog could use contests. Contests with prizes. At the time I had no prizes and so I staged no contests. That has changed and there is now a prize at stake!

To kick off this contest I have chosen John Wetteland's 1998 Sports Illustrated MVP Collection card, number nine in the set. Not only is John holding a prize but the contest involves a collection. Ok, ready to go? Here is the contest.

I have a decent Rangers collection, bigger than some, not so big as others. On occasion I have referred to its size. To win this contest you must guess how many different Rangers cards are in my collection at this time. Just Rangers, not Senators.

Rulesy stuff:
1. All guesses must be posted in the comments section, no emails, letters, or singing telegrams allowed.
2. Limit of one guess per person.
3. I will leave this contest open for ten days and will announce either the winner or an extension to the contest on January 11, 2010.
4. Closest guess wins if that guess is within 150 cards of the correct total. Should that not occur I reserve the right to extend the contest and give everyone a second guess.
5. If I can rustle up your email address I will inform you that you have won, if I can't find an addy for you please contact me after I post the winner on the 11th.

Whew! I think that's it for the nasty rules and regulations. On to the prize. I currently have a stash of game used and autographed cards that are set aside as prizes. All of these are baseball cards. None are listed on my trade list. Should you win, I will try to pick a card out that matches your collecting interests. I also reserve the right to increase the prize for an exact match or for any other reason that I can come up with.

So there you have it. Let the guessing begin!