Lost and Found

The cards featured in this post all come from Adam (Arpsmith's Sportscards Obsession) that arrived right before Christmas.  Usually I'm much better at posting trade packages in a timely manner, but I really messed this bunch up.  

Adam sent some cards my way as a thank you for being the middleman on his secret santa gift to Kevin from The Card Papoy.  I placed my stack with Kevin's away from all my normal mail and forgot about them until last week.  My bad Adam.

I will talk about Jason Kendall cards until I'm blue in the face.  He just has so many great ones.  You would be hard pressed to find someone to match his cardboard credentials.  Obviously being a catcher gives you an advantage, but even his non catching cards are awesome.

 I'm always excited to see Bazooka cards because for whatever reason they don't seem to be traded a ton in our community.  My guess is most people were out of the hobby in the 2003-2005 time frame.

Kris Benson's career was a pretty big disappointment considering the hype after he was drafted.  His first two seasons were great, but injury and inconsistency derailed his career.

The year of the sideways nameplate! Nice Sosa cameo on the Womack card.

Don't stare at the Morris card too long or else you will be transported into an alternate universe. Sets like Donruss Elite helped keep me busy in a time where new release Pirate cards were few and far between.  The set had about 435,303,312,333 parallels in in.

Some strong mustache game in the Madlock/Boggs batting leaders card.  I'm a big fan of the hefty bag undershirt Madlock is wearing too.

Looks like Tom Prince is still wearing his uniform on a Caribbean getaway.

Archives was once a set that I would open a box of every year.  Once they started adding the likes of Will Ferrell, Major League and Bull Durham autos the price got to be out of my comfort zone.  So I'm always extra appreciative of people sending the base cards my way.

Speaking of Archives....This man needs a Fan Favorites auto.  I would take a second mortgage on my house to accumulate all of them.

I hope a new knuckle baller establishes himself soon in the MLB.  With the likelihood of RA Dickey retiring we are heading into Opening Day with only Steven Wright throwing the pitch.

Thanks for all the cards Adam.  Your package to Kevin is in transit to France.  Sorry about the delay!

Thanks for reading.

Cardboard Ancestry

A recent package from Tom (The Angels, in Order) included one of my favorite cards of all time. After a little investigative work I have brought together two long lost relatives based on this card.  I know this based solely on hat choice..  

This is some random photo of a dude from England taken in the 1890's. 

The resemblance is uncanny! Leyland might as well be wearing a top hat.

Enough playing around....Lets get to other great cards Tom sent my way.

Jose "Chico" Lind has some underrated cards out there.  The other day I featured the studio card of him holding a samurai sword.  While this card is a little more traditional, the funny grin sets it over the top.

I forgot about Upper Deck "First Edition." I was an active collector as this time and sets still sneak up that I don't remember.

Jack Wilson sporting the shades.

In my mind I'm always creating cards that I think should exist.  I always thought "battery" cards would be cool.  Have a unique pitcher/catcher card.  Maybe even an autograph subset.  Hire me Topps.

Freaking Lastings Milledge.... He came and went pretty fast with the Pirates.  I know he had some success in Japan and parlayed that into a multi year deal over there so he's still active playing high end baseball.

Jim Morrison kind of looks like Cal Ripken upon a quick first glance.

Candy Man!

The Pens of my youth.  Bob Errey went into announcing after his playing days and currently works for the Pens local affiliate doing games.

Thanks so much for the cards Tom.  I have plenty of Angels to hit you back with.....That sounds sinister.

Thanks for reading!

What's in the Box Part 2

One constant in my dealings with Wes is that you have to expect the unexpected.  Multiple priority mail boxes is nothing new from the Alabama madman, but the contents were more unique (non card oriented) than usual.  Yesterday I showed off the cards....Now for the randomness. 

I was actually surprised this bag wasn't full of Gary Redus cards. 

 A very unique social media Pirates shirt. 

 I was excited for the WV Power hat.  They play in Charleston WV which is over 2 hours away from me, so I don't get to see them play very often in person. I'm only a little over an hour away from Pittsburgh. 

 How about an autographed baseball of former first round pick of the Pirates Will Craig.

 Wes took it upon himself to upgrade my wardrobe. 

 This was by far the most unique item in the package.  I've seen a lot of unique WVU hats in my day, but the tropical version takes the prize.  If WVU decides to a tropical theme for a game I'm ore than ready.

 I was a huge wrestling fan during the Attitude era of the WWF.  These will be a fun trip down memory lane. On a side note, Chris Jericho's band Fozzy recently played in Morgantown.  I didn't go, but heard they were really good.

 I keep a good bit of random packs by my scanner in case boredom strikes and I need some inspiration. Thanks to Wes I'm stocked back up again.

 A non Pirates shirt, but still cool nonetheless. I want to go hangout in the Fan Cave in NYC sometime.

 The Pirates use the #raiseit hashtag after each win.  Don't think I've ever seen it on a shirt.  Where did you find this stuff Wes?  I love it.

 I've sent Wes some Willingham Oyo's in the past.  He returns the favor with WVU Geno Smith and the Pirate Parrot. 

Speaking of the Parrot it looks like I have a new soap dispenser. 

Holy smokes was this the most random assortment of items ever. For the life of me I'll never figure out how you are able to accumulate this stuff.  All I know is I got a good laugh from it, and won't have to buy any new Pirate shirts for a while!

Thanks for reading!
PS: The return fire should have landed today.....

What's in the Box Part 1

I figured I would break up the contents of the massive mailing courtesy of Wes into two parts.  Today I'll showoff the card portion which was awesome, but definitely not the main event.  Tomorrow will feature some of the more unique gifts that I've received since I started my blog.  

Wes has a flair for the dramatic....

While I'm sure it is frustrating for those who chase big name rookies, I appreciate that Panini has a few sets that have deep checklists.

I've been accumulating a ton of Tucker cards lately.   This is exciting since he has been getting a ton of good prospect love lately.

Derrek Lee only play a couple of months for the Pirates.  He decided to retire even though the Buccos supposedly offered him a deal to come back.  That is too bad as he could have been the starting first baseman on the Pirates team that finally broke that record losing streak.

Leaf Certified is one of the harder sets to track and accumulate.  The amount of parallels is enough to make your head spin.  On the positive note most of them look fantastic.  

Barret Barnes came into the Pirates organization as an accomplished college hitter, but injuries have totally derailed his career to this point.  He made it to AAA last year, but is 26 and doesn't seem part of the Pirates future.

While these Sterling autos don't scan very well they are among my favorite prospect sets.

Blake Taylor got dealt to the Mets when the Pirates took a gamble on Ike Davis.

Almost looks like a camo card....

Pour one out for Cole.  I hope he has a nice year in Houston.

Jim Rooker auto! 

I actually didn't break this open yet.  It was sealed up like Fort Knox.  The contents look to be very eclectic.  It looks to be a winner if that first card is any indication.

You cease to amaze me Wes.  Your madness knows no bounds.  While our 15 round battle looks one sided I hope that my soon to be arriving package can even the score a little.  I know my attempt will likely be in vain, but I'll go down fighting.

Thanks for reading!