I warned you--first real trade post

Well, here we go...my attempt at catching up on some trade posts. If I post 2 every day, I should be caught up around the time the Yankees trade for Roy Halladay at next year's trade deadline. The first trade I'm posting is one I completed with Ryan's Memorabilia. You should check out his blog and ship him some Ripken cards (not Billy) if you have some. He'll make it worth your while.

This is the "largest" trade package I've received so far.

I couldn't wait to tear into this package. I was shocked by what I saw inside!

An authentic Hobby Box of 09 Allen and Ginter. Unsearched, unopened and even sealed! The box was actually none of those three. It was unsealed, opened and packed with goodness.

The anticipation was killing me. Or it might have been that burrito from lunch. I carefully removed the packing peanuts and this is what I found.

We had miscellaneous Rangers, a 2009 Goodwin Johnny Bench material card, which was the starting point of the trade, and piles and piles of minis. Mike sent a heaping pile of 2008 A&G minis including 12 Black Bordered minis and 72 other minis for a total of 84 from 2008. The stack of 2009 A&G minis included 113 regular and 16 black borders. Sitting on the front right edge of the box is a Matt Clement no number mini 27/50. I got all this for a pile of Ripkens that he needed for his Ripken collection.

Mike, thanks so much for the generous trade. I'm looking forward to more trades together.