Johnny on the Spot

John Miller (Johnny's Trading Spot) is about as prolific of a trader you will find in card blogging community.  He recently sent a bunch of Priority Mail boxes in which I was a lucky recipient.  One of my favorite things about receiving cards from John is that they often lean heavy in the 1995-2005 time frame.  

What's better than Fleer....How about Fleer Premium.  It's even more Fleer(y).  I love how the baseball got cropped in on the top left.

This card actually hits my collection on multiple levels.  JR House is one of the most accomplished WV High School athletes of all time.  He owns just about every quarterback record you can think of. His Dad owned car dealerships in WV and FL so during baseball season he would transfer to FL and play there.

For a while it looked like he was going to be the catcher of the future for the Pirates, but he could never get his foot in the door at the MLB level.  He got a couple cups of coffee and then he retired.

Jim Tracy's tenure as manager was pretty rough.  Lots of reporting of in fighting and players bitching publicly about how he managed the roster.  All I know is I love manager cards!

McLouth was always a cool story.  Never much of a prospect (drafted in the 25th round!) he would hit his way to the MLB level.  The Pirates also timed his trade from Pittsburgh perfect as he never could regain the magic after breaking out to All Star level in 2008.  His trade also opened the door for Cutch.

I've been putting a lot of focus in finding all the Ramirez Pirate cards.

One of the best legend sets ever created.

Love this one! 

One of those weird cards where the card says Pirates, but features a different uniform.

Lots of great cards can be found in Ultra.

Not easy to find Pirate cards of Lofton.  This is just fantastic and might be my favorite card of the whole bunch.

I'm talked about that Kevin Young card a few times in the past. It prominently features the Homestead Grays uniform.

This is an eclectic bunch right here.  Love the Nunez.

Been really hoping for some new Cervelli cards this year.  Fingers crossed that he gets a Pirate auto release.

Could you imagine a collaboration between Skybox and Pacific.  You would probably have to wear special glasses just to look at the cards.

Matt Capps was probably the nicest player I've met in person.  Super funny and personable.

Pacific could even make Warren Morris look classy and cool.

Some great names here.

Quite a haul of Big and Little Poison.

The sliding Honus is my favorite of this bunch.

I'm always a sucker for the random reliever card.  Wade LeBlanc for the win!

RIP Toys R US.

Kris Benson not developing into an ace really killed the Pirates.

This was a cool Bay card and a perfect way to end what was a crazy fun bunch of cards to look through. You cease to amaze me John.  Hopefully I can find something cool to repay the generosity.

Thanks for reading!

I Got a Drake's...Some Coke...Some Burger King

John Miller has long been one of my favorite trade partners.  His trade packages feature great variety often times with an emphasis on cards from time periods that are rarely traded. This most recent installment from John was an absolute blast to look through.   I scanned a ton of the contents just to add extra emphasis on the fantastic variety. 

The parrot has evolved a decent amount over the years.

Anytime I see Drake's my mind goes here.....

Before I started blogging my biggest holes in my collection were vintage and oddballs.  Thanks to generous traders like John those collections have become much more well rounded.

What a collection of players in the Coke set. Nice sampling of the uniform combos of the era.

I think I've been to a Burger King once in the last 10 years.  I think we can all agree the cards are better than the food.

Slurpee

That is it for the oddballs.  Now for some crazy variety spanning 20 + years.

I liked Fleer Tradition minus the crazy big nameplate.

I like that the "M" is in a shield.  Flair exudes classiness.

Seems like I've been mentioning Topps Total a lot lately.  Bring it back Topps!

I scout once described Chad Hermansen as being able to walk on water......Still a really cool card though.

Give me ALL the manager cards.

Mike LaValliere for the win.

Fleer Excel is pretty much the 90's version of Topps Pro Debut.  Complete with graffiti effect.

Being a fan of the minor league game I absolutely love seeing all the different uniforms.

I'm pretty sure I have to complete team set of the "Snow Topps" now.  That one was built completely by blind trade!

UD Forty Man sighting!

Masumi Kuwata!  He only pitched in 19 games for the Pirates, but it generated a lot of press from the Japanese media.  It was short lived as he was DFA'd a couple months after making his debut.

Classic Clippings was kind of a weird set, but I always liked the base cards.  They seemed like an insert card.

One of the more unique and funny sets ever made.

/pours one out for Cole

Luplow has a chance to make the team out of Spring Training this year if the Pirates don't sign a late free agent.  He doesn't have many cards out there so this was a cool addition.

Need proof that some of the UD sets had big/cool checklists look no further than this Tyler Yates card. A fringe middle reliever getting the cardboard treatment! Love it.

Now these bring me back.  I remember getting so excited for SI Kids cards when I was a kid.  

That was a ton of great cards John.  Really appreciate you hitting me a surprise envelope.  Now I need to find something cool to hit you back with.  

Thanks for reading!