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Delivery Time! A Box full of 2011 Topps and Assorted Reds - Plus Shinys!

Scott (from Smed's Baseball Cards) and I recently agreed to a trade.  I sent him a bunch of 2008 Heritage (green and black backs) and a few 2009 Heritage cards, in return he promised to send me some Reds.  That sounded good to me, so I mailed off the package to Scott and basically forgot about the trade.  A few days later, Scott sends me a second email saying he was "throwing in some 2011 Topps duplicates" into my box.  Sweet!  I'm still looking for a bunch of base cards (at the time I didn't have my want list updated) so I was hopeful I'd end up with some that I needed.  Rest assured, I did - and I received a bunch of other cool cards too, let's take a look!

*I apologize in advance for the "stream of consciousness" of the above paragraph.  I'm writing this on Valentine's Day...and I think I'm still experiencing a Prime Rib high after my delectable dinner!

First, I got a bunch of 2011 Topps.  I already put the cards I needed in my binder (without scanning them) so I figured I'd show off a few of my favorite duplicates.  All of the following are available for trade, along with plenty of other 2011 Topps base and insert cards!

38.  Ryan Dempster - Cubs

The 2011 Topps set has a lot of great photos - most of which seem to be horizontal shots.  I think the horizontal card looks better given this year's base set design.  The Dempster card is a great example of the beauty of the horizontal card since the blue curved stripe holding Dempster's name almost acts as a secondary pitching mound in terms of the card design.  The blue background matches nicely with Dempsters blue hat.  As nice as the card is, I still can't help but call Dempster "Dumpster" thanks to league leading 64 earned runs in 2002 while with the Reds (and the next year, his last year with the Reds, he managed to rack up 89 earned runs and not lead the league...lots of lousy pitching that year). 


87.  Daniel Descalso - Cardinals

What the heck, the first two cards I like end up being NL Central rivals of the Reds...I must still be drunk on Prime Rib.  On a more serious note, if I were every a ball player, I would definitely want my rookie card to be as sweet as Descalsos.  A picture of me sliding into home, dirt flying, and clearly safe - yes please!


91.  Lucas May - Royals

Ok, so this would be a lousy rookie card - nothing like being immortalized on your first baseball card getting your hands sawed off by some pitcher.  That said, for everyone else except May, this is a pretty sweet shot of something that happens a lot in baseball...but rarely gets photographed from this angle.


132.  Brian Duensing - Twins

"They can't see what we are saying if we cover our mouths.  We are so sneaky sly."


205.  Ty Wigginton - Orioles

It's a great action shot (notice the ball in mid-air).  However, what struck me as even more interesting was the mysterious white blob in the outfield.  It looks like a Mastercard ad to the left and a Budwieser (or maybe Coca-Cola) ad to the right...but what the heck is the giant white bulbous thing?  Some sort of crappy ad censoring by Topps?


303.  Emilio Bonifacio - Marlins

What can I say?  I'm obviously a sucker for photos that show dirt flying.


As I mentioned, all of the above cards are available for trade - see my 2011 Topps Have List for a full list of what I have available.  There were more goodies in the box that Scott sent though - including a pair of diamond parallel cards (which nets Scott two entries into my full set giveaway contest).

63.  Edinson Volquez

98.  Bronson Arroyo

A great pair of cards to add to my diamond set - a pair of Reds (and horizontal shots no less)!  The set is slowly starting to take shape - between a couple of eBay purchases like this one and a bunch of trades, I ought to be approaching 1/3 or maybe even 1/2 of the set by the end of the week!

You may be thinking that there is no way there could be more good stuff in the box - but you'd be oh so wrong!  Next up, a few assorted minis - I don't know exactly why Scott threw these in there - but the sheer randomness of the five minis cracked me up.

I decided to scan all five at once so you can see the ever-so-slight size differences of the different sets.  The very bottom of the cards appears to be cut off from my scan (I pushed the cards right to the bottom of the scanner bed to make sure the tops would be accurate for height comparisons.  The McLouth card is probably my favorite - the old school Pirates logo, the black border, and the back (Gypsy Queen) make this card unique in my collection - I only bought a couple of Goodwin packs before giving up on the set!

There was another 2011 Topps insert that Scott included - one that at the time of the trade I needed for my set (I've since pulled this card in a blaster), but I still like it a lot!

This is a Diamond Duo card of Tom Seaver and Aroldis Chapman - and while it's a goofy pairing, it does make for a nice excuse to put Chapman in an insert set for Topps.


Next up, an autograph of failed Reds prospect Ryan Wagner (serially numbered on the back 083/100).  I'm not a huge autograph collector (except for 2010 Allen & Ginter) but I won't usually turn down the opportunity to acquire any Reds autos or relics - this Wagner is no exception.

In addition to the Wagner auto, Scott included a second Reds hit - a 2005 Upper Deck SP Collection card of Ryan Freel.

I'm assuming the fabric was worn by Farney though (see this link if you don't get the reference).

There were plenty of other cool Reds in the box - but I think I've scanned enough cards for this post...it'll already take a bit too long to load for some people's tastes!  Thanks a lot Scott for the great cards - and as always, if anyone else would like to trade, check out my want list and make an offer!

Comments

  1. Descalso and Dempster for me, please! I have a Billy Wagner diamond parallel. If we delay this trade by a few days, I may have a few more cards from your wantlist.

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