I think this is the last of the completed trades that resulted from what can only be considered an EPIC 2005 Leaf Baseball box break. 11 comments (I think a blog record, aside from the Dawson watch contest) and something like 5 trades came out of that thing. Pretty cool stuff, if you ask me. I have another box worth of material to post as trade bait soon, so be on the lookout for that.
But this post isn’t about me. It’s about Lonestarr over at Behind These Hazel Eyes. It took about a month of lost emails for it to get finalized, but here we are with a very cool trade package.
Carlos Marmol
All-Aboard the Stardom Train!
The back of the card talks about one of his back-up saves, where he came on in the 8th with two men on, and got five straight outs to close the game (three by strikeout). These days, we call a 60% strikeout rate a failure for Marmol.
Greg Maddux
No Gold/Winner Parallels to collect!
If you’ve been waiting for a card with all the appeal of the Topps design, but with a different name in the corner, then brother do I have a set for you. I’ve always like O-Pee-Chee cards for a couple reasons. One, you have the foreign language stuff on the back, which makes you feel like your card was imported from a far away land just for you. Two, it was an “oddball” set that rewarded the detail oriented. It’s so easy to pass by the OPC thinking it’s just another Topps, but if you’re eyes are keen, you’ll be rewarded with a unique card for your collection.
Pitching in a vortex, Maddux still wins.
There are several variations of this card left to get, but this version is nice enough to stand alone for quite some time. The back (where it shows off the serial #/250) talks about his 300th victory and offers this quote from J.T Snow, “He’s probably one of the best pitchers of our generation.” Probably? Probably? I’m fine with not calling him the best, but one of the best was a definite at that point. Am I overreacting?
A&G A&G
This was a nice surprise addition. I have the 2008 main set card, but none of the minis. So, to start out with the A&G back makes me feel like the rest will be pretty easy. But that’s not the only A&G back I got.
Ryan Dempster
Has Old Planter aged well 1 year later?
I think collecting minis in general will be more difficult than other aspects of player collecting. I personally hate minis if they aren’t of people I collect, but I know a lot of you out there love them and build sets or franken sets or random groupings, etc and will be prone to keeping them for yourselves. Ebay prices also tend to be higher on minis, and I don’t recall seeing them on the show floors the couple times I’ve gone. This is much appreciated.
Yep, his face is still dark
This is the second Unique Dempster card I’ve acquired in trade now. I think I’m only missing the Bronze version? I like the look of them, although I think the boxes are way overpriced for what you get. I’m surprised at the thickness of the red version. It’s very sturdy (although this card does have a couple nicked corners) and is about half the thickness of your standard decoy. Good stuff.
Look at that intense fake throw
The 2009 Turkey Reds look a little bland in comparison to the 2010 inserts, but they still look good. I believe this card would have been found in the Updates & Highlights portion. Oddly enough, despite the good year he had in 2009, Dempster wasn’t included in the 2010 Turkey Red set. Damn you, Castro, you wave of the future you!
From Red to Turkey Red to Red
The second serial numbered card in the bunch, and it’s a doozy! Look at that sucker. That is some red-ass foil. Those are some creepy-ass eyes above Ryan’s hand. These Special F/X cards look fantastic. I don’t know if I’ve seen what a normal one looks like, but I’m digging the color parallels. And to have it numbered Marmol/50 is pretty sweet, too.
something old, something new, someth--HOLY CRAP LOOK AT THOSE EYES
He also threw in some random Cub goodness. First, I have to talk about that Samardzija card. Who the hell drew that? Those are like anime eyes. His left eye kind of looks like it’s missing pigment – all pupil. It’s scary, yet mesmerizing.
Anyway, back to the rest of them. It’s always fun to get old cards from before I started collecting. I think this is really the Mike Tyson the Fresh Prince claimed he could beat.
Did you know Mike Vail collects coins and stamps? Maybe he also collects cards now. He also breed Persian cats. Card back cartoons don’t lie!
I (Mike) Proly should have saved that Tom Filer picture for another day, it’s just too good.
I think that just about wraps it up. We’ve already had talks for a second trade, and with what I got this time I already know I have to boost his next mailing big time. Be sure to check out his blog for card talk, some awesome sketches, and more! Thanks again!
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