I had a feeling, once the Diamond Giveaway site started to make trading available, that trading for rings would be pretty easy. And I was right. For example, remember these rings in my collection?

Great for a slot machine, but in the Diamond Giveaway, where you need unique rings, they're not so good. Well, they're now these three rings:



And do you remember these rings?



Say hello to these rings instead:



Much better.

After about half an hour, I've got fourteen unique rings in my collection, and pretty only rings that I actually have a care about. I know they're all virtual, but I still like the idea of trading rings I don't want for rings I do, even if I'll never actually hold any of them.

I have a couple of more trades in the works, but I won't bore you with the details. Let's just say that with the Reds, Orioles and White Sox in my portfolio, you can probably figure out what other two teams I'm looking to add.

In the Diamond Giveaway, I had a good run of "luck", with none of my cards (except for the two diamond die-cuts) being less than 30 years old. That, of course, will come to a screeching halt.

Let's clear some of the surplus Yankee cards. First is a Mickey Mantle. He unlocks:


A '79 Larry Cox and a Boston Red Sox ring. Kind of funny that the Mick led me to a Sawx virtual bauble, but as it's not in my collection I'm not too fussed.


Next is a Jeter die-cut. I just love how two of the ten Diamond Parallel code cards feature Jeter. I much prefer last year's cards that had old cards on them. Speaking of old cards...


...this is definitely not one of them. A '92 Gary Sheffield - blech. I knew the streak had to end some time, but '92 Topps wasn't the way I wanted it to go. Not much to say about the Diamondbacks ring, other than I needed it on my drive to 15.


So what do you think? Should I give Jeter another shot?


Why, oh why did I listen to you? Or trust Jeter? A 2009 Dave Roberts is even worse than a '92 Sheffield! I have this card in my house! I don't think I have the Sheffield, at least, but that's because I don't want it. The Tigers ring, by the way, gives me nine rings. One more to the gift certificate that I will probably never use. Maybe I'll by a blaster and get another code card. That's what Topps probably wants me to do.


Okay...NO MORE YANKEES! Pujols - I'm turning back to you. Do you have some more late-'70s cards for me?


No you do not. The junkiest of the junk wax - 1987 Topps. This is one card that I wish I could just donate out of my account. Maybe, when the trading opens up, I'll trade to turn it, one year at a time, into a 1950s vintage card. Or at least a late-70s card.

The Milwaukee Braves ring is the nicest of the bunch. Just as well - my virtual baseball diamond has so many holes now, it's starting to resemble Bushwood Country Club, the golf course from Caddyshack.

Oh yeah, I got my gift certificate.

It's time to redeem some more Diamond Giveaway codes, in the attempt to get more virtual cards and virtual rings and, eventually, an actual cell phone cover. Tonight, I hope to redeem two codes, yet get three cards. How so? Read on to find out.

You've probably figured it out already, but even if you have, keep on reading...

First up is Albert Pujols, but not the Pujols card that got me the Ike Davis die-cut. This is a different Pujols, it's a diamond-embedded Pujols. The other one had a picture of a die-cut Pujols, and I unlocked a die-cut card. So you do the math...


...because it comes out to a 1978 Rudy May and a Texas Rangers ring. I already have the Washington Senators ring. Just not the same Washington Senators that became the Rangers.

And besides, I don't think that ring has enough bling on it to represent a team based in Dallas, the home of conspicuous consumption.


The next code to be redeemed is...Albert Pujols, again. I got two of these cards from A Cardboard Problem as a part of the Jumbo Case break. Six boxes per case, ten code cards per box, 30 teams in the break, you do the math again...


Because it comes out to two code cards per team and two late-'70s Topps cards. For the record, Gene is the fourth card I've gotten from 1977-1979 (out of seven codes redeemed so far). I know there are more than a few bloggers out there who collect from that era. I am not one of them. Once trading on cards starts, I'll be more than happy to trade if you need these cards for your sets.

Oh yeah - the ring. Well, as you can see, that's a Ted Williams ring. As you might remember from my previous post, I had the worst luck when it came to unearthing rings. Three out of five the same?!? So when it came to this dig, there was a fly that had landed on my monitor. I took it as a sign, and Buzzy led me to the Splendid Splinter. And that ring led me to my bonus code, which led to this card:


We're working our way backwards! A 1976 Charlie Moore. I don't collect the 1976 set, either. Had it been 1975, I would have considered it, because I always said to myself that I would collect the '75 set someday. But I guess that's for the next code I redeem.

Okay, so it appears I may have looked like a giant schmuck complaining about unlocking two Diamond die-cut cards in my account. I had two more cards to be redeemed. No, I didn't get any more die-cuts. Luckily, I didn't get any cards made in the 21st century, either.

Code number for belonged to Roy Halladay. Here's what Roy had in store:


A 1979 Mark Littell card. I'll be honest with you, I've never heard of Mark Littell. But at least his card his more than 30 years old. So I was happy with that. Onward and upward...


Hello, Ryan Howard. You've been popping up a lot in this box:


And Howard unlocks one of the oldest cards I've seen so far in the giveaway, a 1966 John Stephenson card. The classic catcher pose - I think pretty much every catcher from 1956 to 1969 had to pose like that for his card.

So that gives me five digs. After I collect these five rings, I'll get a bonus card and dig, so that's good. First up, I dig at first base. That's my natural position, so it makes sense to start there. I uncovered:


A Babe Ruth ring. That's a good start. Next, I'll dig at the pitcher's mound. Here's what I got:


Hey, this is good! An Orioles ring - nice. Let's continue around the diamond by digging at home plate:


Oh, this is not a mistake. And it's not good. To get the bonus, you need five different rings. And trading isn't enabled. So I won't be able to get a free ring now. :(

Oh well, on to third base:


A trip down the B-W Expressway (and back in time) to the legacy Washington Senators. Judging by the logo, this is the team that became the Twins, rather than the one that became the Rangers. Final dig - let's finish it off by going to second base:


Are. You. Freaking. Kidding. Me?!?

Look, I love the Orioles, but I don't want three virtual rings. Now I'm two codes behind where I need to be, and it looks like I need to wait at least a month before I can trade these (essentially worthless) extra rings. I simply don't understand, if the site is live, why we have to wait until April until we're able to trade. What's the rationale behind that? I'm afraid that if I wait, then they're going to run out of certain teams' cell-phone covers. That's the prize I really want (although the 60th anniversary set might be fun). I hope I'm wrong, but this has really soured the whole digging thing, which I thought was going to be pretty fun.

At the halfway point of my jumbo box, I'm taking a brief intermission to redeem some Diamond Giveaway codes. With the "Recently Unlocked" cards showing cards from the '60s and '70s, now's the time!

First up is Derek Jeter. He unlocks:


Are you kidding me? Am I the first person to unlock a card that is currently available in stores?!? I sure as hell hope people offer me up some trades. Maybe I'm going to wait on redeeming more codes.

Aw, heck, let's try again.


Next is Reggie Jackson. I never liked Jeter, anyway. But Mr. October won't steer me wrong. He was an Oriole, after all:


Well, at least this card is from the '70s. Barely. But let's keep going.


I've used Yankees past and present. Now's time for a future Yankee, Phat Albert. Whatcha got, Poo-holes?:


Sunovabitch. I'm going to bed.