An Award Winning Trade with the Wicked One

In honor of him winning the Trader of the Year award, I thought I would go ahead and post the latest trade from Wicked Ortega of My Past Time...I Love It. Al and I have had so many trades at this point, I don't know if this package is one he sent for one I already sent or need to send. At any rate, I do have another package ready for him, but won't be going to the post office until Monday. I've worked 3 double shifts this week and I just want to sleep when I get home. Sweet, precious sleep...

Sorry, back to the trade. I've said it before and it bears repeating, that Al is an amazing trade partner. If you haven't already worked out a trade with him, it would benefit you and your collection to do so. The cards you see here just represent about 1/3 of what he sent.

This 1992 Donruss Rafael Palmeiro is interesting. A review of Raffy's stats on the back reveal that during his first 3 seasons he hit 30 homeruns in 392 games. That is 30 homers in 1,360 at bats. During his next two seasons he hit 40 homeruns in 313 games, 1229 at bats. Those numbers show his progression as a professional hitter. Between the years 1995-2003, he never hit less than 38 homeruns. We all know the story with Palmeiro. If Palmeiro had gone before Congress after this photo was taken in 1991 and said he had never taken steroids/HGH, he would have been telling the truth.

This 2008 Bowman Chris Davis gold talks about the power potential Davis has, but doesn't mention his knack for striking out. I hope Davis doesn't turn out to be another feast or famine hitter for the Rangers. That hasn't gotten them far in the postseason in the rare times they've made the playoffs. Also, that mysterious orb is from the camera not the card. Does it look like he's rubbing up the ball like a pitcher would to you?

This 1994 Leaf Triple Play Dean Palmer was kind enough to mention the Rangers had never won a division title (as of 1993). Way to bring the Rangers fans down Leaf! Palmer was one of my favorite Rangers of the 1990's.

I see other bloggers post from time to time about 1993 Donruss cards and now I know why. I don't usually post pictures of card backs because it is tedious to take/edit more pictures than necessary. Now that I'll be using a scanner, I hope to use more card backs in posts. I made an exception for this Billy Ripken card because it is a great shot and is the action is continued on the FRONT of the card.

I'm not a big Billy Ripken fan, but I love this card. This is what ALL cards could be...great photography makes great cards. Simple, non-intrusive design. This may be one of my favorite all-time non-vintage cards.

I bought a couple of blasters of SP this year. I think this is the first time I've seen the Elvis Andrus card.

Here is another one of those Topps Gold Cards, circa 2009. I still like them no matter what others might say. This one is Neftali Feliz #206/2009. I hope Feliz isn't a flash in the pan. And if he is, I hope it's like an iron skillet, that seasons and gets better the more you use it. I'm just sayin'.

What we have here is a bit o' shininess in the form of a 2008 Bowman Chrome Brandon Boggs. If that doesn't do much for you then how about this...

...a 2009 Topps Chrome Greg Olson refractor. Sure it's just Greg Olson, but it is refractory goodness.

I like the close-up on Pudge on this 2003 UD First Pitch card. I'm ok with it being in a Marlins uni. It takes me back to meeting Pudge at a card show and getting his autograph on a ball. That was back in '94 I think. Boy do I feel old. I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that I'll turn 40 later this year.

The only thing about this 2009 Topps UH WM black Kris Benson that gives it a home in my team collection is that little Rangers logo in the bottom right corner. This guy was an absolute waste of money, time and cardboard for the Rangers. Nothing personal Kris, but wow, you were bad even by Rangers retread standards. Kris was out of baseball due to injuries in 2007 and 2008 and only made it into 8 games for the Ranges in 2009. He managed to go 1-1, post a nice 8.46 ERA in 22.1 innings and strikout 11 hitters. Those poor guys must really be embarrassed.

It's cards like this that turn team collectors into player collectors. Having said all that...it does fill a spot in a binder, so it has that going for it.

Here is a 2008 UD Baseball Heroes card featuring one of the guys from my player list, Joe Mauer. I'm sure these would great with on-card autos, but the player pic should never be the same size as the logo. I'm guessing Al had a duplicate of this since it features one from his team, the Florida Marlins.

Here are some very colorful 2009 Spectrum Rangers. I think I like the blue best, but they sure are nice and shiny. Not to mention they feature two of my favorite players. Oops, I mentioned it.

It's cards like this one that make Al a great trader. It isn't a fabulous card of a sure-fire Hall of Famer. However, it is proof that Al reads my blog. He knows that my son likes the relic cards of the Team USA players. My son is pro-USA, pro-2010 Camaro, and pro-Madden 10. He makes a connection between these guys representing the U.S. in baseball and likes the thought of having a little piece of that. Isn't that the reason relic cards were/are so appealing in the first place? Al, thanks from the little man.

This is an absolutely horrible picture of a 2008 UDX Luis Mendoza autographed card. It's my first Mendoza auto and is another reason I like dealing with Wickedness. He didn't shoot me an email saying he pulled this or post it up and wait for me to say I wanted it. He busted some wax, posted some pics and even said right there in the post that he was sending an auto my way. It true, you can see his original post right here. That is true greatness on his part if you ask me. Wicked, thanks so much for another great trade and congratulations on a well deserved award as Blog Trader of the Year!