Trading with Julie part deux

It's now time to have a look at the Blue Jays portion of the fantastic box Julie sent me last week.
Maybe this will help them win tonight, who knows.

A couple of nice autos ! I have more sticker autos from Lind than any other Blue Jay. Ever. The man signed a loooot of those.

I try to chase those, as I find them really beautiful (yep, absolutely, beautiful). Julie collects Tigers cards, so this is probably her way of extending her friendship, as Gose now plays for them (and plays very well so far). Glad to add that one to my collection !

As much as I hate Panini Donruss base, I do like that relic a lot. And the second one is low numbered (14/25), but Donruss proves that they didn't wait for Panini before going for bad designs and curious ideas.

The Junior Junkie just made a compelling and heartwarming case for Donruss. But nope, there's no going around it : those are really ugly. I'd like to say they're a bit less horrible than last year's, but I can't really tell the difference.

Shiny Paninis ! Brrrrr

 My first taste of 2015 Heritage, and it's a big slurp, as this knocks down most of my Blue Jays needs ! That Jose Reyes is actually one of those bubble gum stains variations. It's a fun idea, but I can't help but shrug.

More modern shinyness !

I'm still missing a couple of 2014 Stadium Club (Bautista, notably), and THAT is what a baseball card should look like.

You can't really tell from the scan, but those are really shiny also. Nice group of prospects.

More random goodness

Julie didn't know this, but that Carter card has been very, very high on my wantlist for a while now. There's everything I love about a baseball card on there. Some foil, some gold, a simple design, Joe Carter on it, and it's embossed and numbered (/5 000). Which, in 1995, was a huge deal. Leaf was on fire at that point, inserts-wise.

More 90s greatness. That Carter one is the gold parallel, and I didn't have it. I'm also a fan of 1st day production, though I shouldn't as they are really tough to find and are just another annoying parallel to chase for us team collectors (Select certified Gold, anyone ?)

Love them all. Even the Orlando Merced in that Pirates uniform, but only because I really like what they did with Fractal Matrix, as confusing as it was at the time (and still is, but I'm not very bright)

And finally, some older ones and oddballs !

Thanks again for all the great cards, Julie ! I'm a polite guy and I always appreciate any cards sent my way, but your package really , truly hit home in many ways and made me very, very happy.
Let's do this again soon !

Talkin' bout a revolution (and it sounds like a cracked whisper)

I love trading with Julie. And I know we all do. She always puts a lot of thought and attention in her selection of cards, and she'll never just quickly put together some cards with a Blue Jays logo on them, slam them in an envelope and call it a day. I don't know if it stems from her Post Office background (Bukowski comes to mind), but she delivered yet again (haha yeah, I'm hilarious). She sent me a 400 count box filled with awesome cards, with some private jokes, a box that has friendship and care written all over it.

I'll divide it into 2 posts. The first one will focus on non Blue Jays items and the second one...well, you do the math.

The box was filled (and I mean, crammed) with cards, along with some 94 O pee chee packs and a team bag with all those Kellogg's 3D cards. Those are amazing !

Just when you think it couldn't get any better Kellogg's wise, here's a fridge magnet commemorating the Champions du monde. Bravo les blue jays, as Tony says !

Great looking '52 Bowman !

Some more great vintage ! I don't know about baseball history as much as most of you guys, but is Andy Pafko known for something else than his condition sensitive '52 Topps card ?

Julie also always sends the best random cards :

I specifically asked her if she had that Biz First Pitch card, so thanks for remembering I needed it ! She managed to dug out another one alos, so yay

Julie knows I sell books for a living and that, well, I read a lot. So those two are appropriate. Though I'm not too sure about that Diary of a wimpy kid parody

The French Revolution ! I hope that people who are interested in history on't actually read the backs of A&G cards, as Topps doesn't exactly get their facts straight (or they misread the wikipedia page). It wasn't the working class who overthrew the Monarchy and the revolution ended in 1799, not with the execution of King Louis (that happened in January of 1793), but with the arrival of a certain Napoleon Bonaparte.

Completely random. And of course, perfect.

She knows I collect basketball cards sporadically. So she knows I'll always welcome a Jordan card. Especially in a baseball uniform. And to think of how he destroyed the competition from 96 to 98, good thing he stopped swinging at air. (ooooh, Air....another pun !)

The Michael Jordan of Baseball from 94 to 97

Gold Glovers project !

More gold glovers, this time, catchers. I had never seen those white bordered Gypsy Queen cards. They look ten thousand times better than the regular cards, they should stick to that design. And even that Prizm card looks nice. God knows I hate Prizm, but good job, it looks like a typical 90's insert (Leaf, anybody ?)

Three cards from Triple Play gold glovers

Maddux...hmm...what is the plural of Maddux ? Madduxs ? Madduxes ? I'll go with Madux cards, it's simpler. 90'sssssss !

 Big Hurt !

Two-sports stars with not always stellar numbers but I mean, come on !

And finally, also included was a pack of 87 Sportsflics, with 3 cards + a couple of team cards. And well done, my friend, the two team cards are actually my two favorite teams.

I'll be back soon with the rest of a very, very fun trade !

Joys of watching baseball

You know what I'm doing right now ? Well, I'm watching the Blue Jays play the Orioles. Live. On my Tv. Via Mlbtv.

This probably seems mundane to you, but it would have been unthinkable to me 20 years ago, when I was actively collecting cards. I've already written about this, but forget about watching baseball on French tv, it simply does not exist, and never has. No boxscores either in newspapers, even in those that focus solely on sports. You'll find NBA, sometimes NFL (never NHL), but no MLB. Not even a picture in a magazine. You'll never see a baseball jersey worn by someone on the streets. A cap from time to time, mainly with the Yankees logo, and sported by someone who couldn't spot Jeter if he was just in front of him.

The only baseball I'd get at home would be once a month, because I subscribed to Beckett. My dream back then (yeah, I had stupid dreams) was to subscribe to Sports Illustrated. It was a distant dream, as it'd cost $180 for a one year international subscription. Digital magazines now make things easier, but it's really not my thing (I'm old fashioned, I like the feel of paper), plus they aren't always open to international customers (SI isn't, for example). I did treat myself to a one year subscription a few years ago, so I can finally scratch it off my bucket list !

Right now, it's 10 pm here. That's the great thing about baseball : day games. When you're pestering because you're at work and can't watch the game, I'm all happy because it means I can spend a nice evening watching baseball. 1 pm games start at 7pm here, which means your 7pm is my 1 am. I usually go to bed around 2 am, so that means I can never watch a 10pm west coast ball game live.

I don't have any cards to show today (though I did receive an amazing box filled with cards sent by Julie from A cracked bat), but I just wanted to share my joy of being able to watch live baseball. The Blue Jays are leading 4-1, and I never have to worry about local or national black out restrictions. Bautista just hit a stand up double. Things are looking good.

Junkie by Nature

All the good titles with Junkie in it have already been taken. The man has, after all, sent out 60 envelopes throughout the blogosphere and even one across the ocean. That's where I come in.

Plus, Naughty by Nature did sport baseball bats on their logo, so I'm not completely off-topic. Yay

Because TJ knows it's a lot more hassle to get cards in France, he always makes sure to hook me up with a ton of them whenever he sends out a package. This time he sent yet another 300 card-box my way. You crazy kid (no wonder it came out to $180 to send everything out. Mine alone was $22. Not that it should keep you guys from trading with me, it's not always like this !). Here's a sample of what was in there :

A very nice card of a very nice guy from a set I don't know much about (Megacards)

TJ knows all about my love for holograms !

A couple of days after I received that card, the Blue Jays announced that Osuna would make the main roster. He's the youngest in BLue Jays history to ever achieve that. Well done, mr Junkie, you did your homework !

The set that started the auto craze. Still one of my favorites.

Unlicensed cards ! Dalton Pompey also made it to the opening day roster, but that came as less than a surprise. They're expecting a lot of great things from him. We'll see if it helps me not miss Gose too much in centerfield.

Minor league cards of future greats !

That Snider is a "glossy 1 of 1" (says so on the sticker). I'm really not sure what it means, but yay, a 1 of 1 !

Now, that set had no 1 of 1 to speak of (more like several millions of each). Was it really necessary to make even more cards from that set ? huh ?

Love those stickers.

This card is very, very die-cut. To the extreme. I do not understand the concept of it.

  Shiny cards ! the Topps Chrome ones are SN to 199

Neon Deion PC ! The black gold Leaf parallel is one of the best ever executed.

Bo !

TJ also sent a bunch of Maddux cards my way.

 How could I possibly be missing that 93 UD, considering its my favorite set ever ?

I added Mattingly to my PC only a few weeks ago, and TJ was paying attention. Of course, since I only have something like 40 cards of Mattingly, it's pretty easy to find some I need. And he sent a lot. Look, a Topps timeline !

And I mean, A LOT.

Seriously. A ton of Dons.

So many it's almost ridiculous.

You know what ? I like that pin. Not my favorite logo, but it has a nice overall look.

When you prepare 60 packages, sometimes you get mixed up. Olerud is not in a Blue Jays uniform, and they share the same name and uniform, but Reggie isn't Deion.

And the thing that cracked me up the most is that TJ sent out the box to Kevin Papoy.
Because he was in a hurry and didn't have time to go and find my real name in his elaborate spreadsheet. A good thing I live in a small village where the postman knows me well ! He's probably still scratching his head.

Thanks a lot TJ, I owe you a ton of cheese.