I'm extremely happy to have completed my first trade with Ryan of the sleek-looking "O" No!!! Another Orioles Blog. I'm not really sure why it had taken so long for such an occurrence; after all he's basically a mid-Atlantic neighbor. More than that, he's a real cool customer and made exchanging a few pieces of cardboard a breeze.
Ryan recently posted some Series 2 Topps tradebait on his site, and the above Target parallel of Marlins All-Star Jose Fernandez piqued my interested.
Okay, I'm man enough to admit it: I have a little bit of a cardboard man-crush on this Fernandez guy. I've only seen him pitch a handful of times, but I've seen enough to know a good thing when I see it. So I've been on something of a mini-binge to get as many of his cards as possible. You better believe I'm looking forward to seeing him pitch in tonight's Mid-Summer Classic.
And if his electric on-field performance isn't enough, how can you not love a guy who shows this sort of emotion during a teammate's big moment?
Man-crush cards aside, Ryan was also able to drum up some additions to a pair of my ongoing Topps collection goals, namely 2011 Cognacs and 2013 Wal-Mart parallels.
I'm still uncertain whether or not I'll pursue the Series 2 portion of the Wal-Mart checklist, but I just can't stop myself from gathering these regardless.
How about Mets cards? Did you get any Mets cards, Mark?
Why yes I did!
And there were some of my all-time favorite names in the mix. Many of the usual suspects that make any trade a truly great one in my books
Like Darryl...
...and Doc...
...Hundley...
...and HoJo...
...Ordonez...
...Piazza...
...and of course the current captain, David Wright.
But maybe the coolest card of the lot isn't exactly a name that would elicit images of greatness.
Bobby Jones pitched eight years in Flushing and racked up a 74-56 record. He even twirled a one-hit shutout to punch New York's ticket to the 2000 NLCS. Clearly, only a Mets fan (or a jaded Giants fan) would even recall Bobby Jones' accomplishments, but that takes nothing away from the beauty of this 1999 Chrome refractor. It's so good, in fact, that I think this is a 'must' inclusion into the All-Time Mets Project binder. I have other Jones cards, but none to top this one.
Many thanks for these ultra-pleasing additions to the Clubhouse collection, Ryan. Resident Orioles fan Mrs. K and I wish the Birds great fortune for the duration of the season!
MK
I'm glad you liked the cards. I got randomed the Mets as my second team in one of my group breaks and was thrilled to get the Bobby Jones refractor. Back in '99 was when getting a refractor was a big deal (1 or 2 per box). Thanks for the lesson about him, I never knew he pitched such a big game for the Metropolitans!
ReplyDeleteridiculous Cognac there...I bet the Wal-Mart Black of that one would look real good too.
ReplyDeletetoo bad Fernandez pitched his first All-Star inning on a Fox broadcast