I've always been one to put stock in conspiracy theories, no matter how vast and improbable. All I need is a little outside encouragement to one of my hare-brained schemes and I'm off. That's why writing this post was the next logical step after receiving the following email this afternoon from Anthony in Houston, Texas:

"I currently live in Houston but am originally from San Diego, therefore a Padres fan. My son's newfound interest in baseball cards has us buying a pack or two (Topps or Upper Deck) every few weeks. I don't know how many packs it has been by now, maybe 20, but I cannot get a Peavy or Hoffman or any other Padre of relevance for the life of me! We have at least 3 team cards and recently got 1 Marcus Giles and Josh Bard. In the meanwhile we must have collected 4 Griffey Jr's! Of the last 30, only 3 were from teams west of the Mississippi.

This has me wondering: are cards sold in a regionalized fashion or not? I am thinking of having someone ship me some cards from California just to see if there is a difference."

My response? Funny you should ask... I'm in the boat (whether it's a raft or a cruise ship, I'm not sure) that believes card companies heavy up distribution of the local teams when they know where the boxes are going to be sold. You know, now that I see those words in print, it doesn't really make sense that Topps or Upper Deck would go to such lengths...does it?

I mean, there has to be another reason why I've opened more than my fair share of this year's Topps (Series 1 & 2) and have pulled two Jeter stunt cards but no Daisuke Matsuzaka rookies, right? It can't possibly be because I live in New York, surrounded by Mets and Yankees fans who don't want to be reminded of the Red Sox, can it?