Trade: Waiting 'Til Next Year

P-Town Tom was nice enough to send me some cards to congratulate me on #500 posts and continue our long standing blind swap. It was definitely a fun stack to go through as many of the cards represented players that didn't have much in the way of Pirate releases.

This is a great shot of Kendall avoiding a tag. I was a frequent buyer of Ultra cards back in the early to mid 2000's as the price point was affordable and I loved the pictures.

Brad Lincoln was the 4th overall  pick by the Pirates in 2006. Arm issues and ineffectiveness derailed his career. He did reinvent himself for a short time with the Pirates as a reliever and in turn the Pirated flipped him to the Blue Jays for Travis Snider. Currently he is back in the Pirates AAA system.

 Bowman auto of Justin Reid. Reid flew through the Pirates system in the early 2000's until AA hitters challenged him. He would get a taste of AAA, but would flame out.

 Ridner never made it out of rookie ball, but at least he got a baseball card!

Brian Giles was always one of my favorites in the early 2000's. From every account the guy was a total asshole, but he could hit with the best. Probably one of the more underrated players during his peak years.

Pokey was a wizard with the glove. Known more as a Red, but he was fun to watch as a Pirate.

 Here is a group that only the most hardcore Pirate fans will remember. Shawn Chacon is probably remembered most for attacking GM Ed Wade during his time with the Astros. If you happen to run into Shawn Chacon I suggest not bringing up his time being demoted to the bullpen.

Legends of the early 90's. It was too bad this core didn't get a World Series appearance. Freaking Sid Bream.

Kiner is always the forgotten legend of the Pirates as he played during an era in which the Pirates were historically bad. The guy lived a fascinating life. He dated movie stars!

 Minis!

 I miss Upper Deck baseball.

Torres pretty much disappeared from baseball after the 97 season. After a 5 year hiatus he was signed by the Pirates and had a very nice long run of success.

I've actually met Matt Capps a few times during Pirate spring training. He might be the nicest player I've ever come across.

I love manager cards and seeing this card conjures up a lot of memories. Poor John Russell was in over his head during his tenure as Pirate manager. He was a poor tactician and made some interesting decisions with lineups. Like clockwork on every Sunday game he would play his entire bench, and our bench sucked. Guys like Ryan Church and Matt Diaz were our best options. It got to be so bad that my friends and I would not go on Sundays because we knew all the backups would be playing.

After being fired by the Pirates, Russell caught on with the staff of the Orioles. At least now he can learn from arguably one of the best in game managers in Buck Showalter.

Thanks a ton for all the great cards Tom. I'll be hitting you up again real soon to keep up our momentum.

Thanks for reading!