Cards from Stats-on-the-Back

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Mark over at Stats-on-the-Back posted what he called Lame Hits. Actually, I think it was August 16th. Well, I quickly claimed three cards I wanted and less than a week later, they were in hand. I really liked how he would show the cards were claimed by putting your blog name across the images. Only one of the cards I claimed had a Ranger connection, but that didn't prevent him from stacking the deck with over 80 cards, including some awesome vintage Rangers. The cards I asked for were:

I have completed about .005% of the 2008 A&G set because I wasn't collecting last year. I have picked up a few of the Rangers, but I just wanted this one because I wanted it. "WE ARE SPARTA!"

I asked for this 2003 UD National Pride Michael Aubrey pants card for my son. It will go along nicely with the Conor Jackson card I picked up from the Troll.

The last of the cards I requested is this 2005 Topps Gold AL Batting Average Leaders #0721/2005. I put the number on there because I know you're all jealous...I'm one of "only" 2005 people in the WHOLE WIDE WOLRD that can own this card. Take that fellow collectors! Well, it does have Michael Young on it. Now for some of the extras Mark threw in to make this a great trade.

We'll start it of with these 1990 Donruss Rated Rookies of the world famous switch-hitting Juan Gonzalez! I thought these cards were hilarious back when they first arrived on the scene, but I did not have the reverse negative as a result of my big card dump at the garage sale a couple of years ago. Thanks Mark.

2005 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Ivan Rodriguez. What's better than a play at the plate card? How about a play at the plate card that features a Texas Ranger. You probaby can't see it in the pic, but his eyes are really intense.

Nice cards of a Hall Of Famer. Between 1967 and 1974, Ferguson Jenkins won 20 games 6 seasons in a row and 7 seasons out of 8. Fergie looks happy on the 1981 Fleer Card. By the time the 1982 Topss card was issued, it looks as though Fergie was tired of being in Texas. That seems to happen to a lot pitchers in Texas.

Here we have another 1975 Topps card I didn't have. Leo Cardenas has serious issues with centering, but we can't blame that on him. I'm sure Topps had something to do with it. Leo only played two seasons with the Rangers and they were his last two. He had a 16 year career which is longer than most.

Now we're going back in Rangers history. Four of the 1974 vintage Rangers will fill a big hole in my collection. The only other 1974 I have is the Ferguson Jenkins card. Jim Shellenback only pitched 2 innings for the 1973 Rangers, but Steve Foucalt managed to get into 32 games and won 2 games. Ken Suarez and Dick Billings split the catcher duties. This was an age were men were men...Suarez was a deputy sheriff in the off-season.

Ahh...the octuplets. They don't look alike, but that doesn't make me any less happy to have them. These 8 1973 Topps Rangers bring my total number of 1973 Rangers cards to....8. I won't list all their names. I'm saving that recognition for the last two cards.

"Hey, I'm not Bittner! Why should I be Bittner just because this may be the most off-centered card of the year!" Here we have the final two of the 1973 Rangers Mark sent, which brings my 1973 collection up to 10. You'd know that if had been paying attention. I threw the Bill Gogolewski in with Larry because I thought he might qualify for the Great Sportsname Hall of Fame.

Mark, thanks so much for the cards. That was one great trade and I hope we can do a few more.