At this point, I can only hope the rest of 2011 is as much fun (in a baseball card sense anyhow), as the first two months have been. Sure, January actually started off really slowly for me - but with the release of Series 1, it seems baseball is back in full force!
Speaking of full force, the latest trade I've completed is full of great cards. I sent Ryan (from "O" No, Another Orioles Blog) a 2011 Topps Target Throwback Nick Markakis card - and about 60 2009 UD Goudey cards. In return, Ryan sent me a whole lotta inserts (plus a few base cards) from Series 1. Here are a few of the highlights:
2011 Topps:
Base:
23. Jaime Garcia
26. Neftali Feliz
89. Placido Polanco
124. AL Wins Leaders
139. Eric Young Jr.
162. Ronny Cedeno
202. AL HR Leaders
204. Oakland Athletics
242. Brad Lidge
318. NL HR Leaders
The Pujols, Dunn, Votto card is (obviously) my favorite of the base cards - but all of them are appreciated - and they all help me inch closer to a complete base set!
Topps Town:
TT-17. Aroldis Chapman
Ryan actually sent me 15 different Topps Town cards, but let's be honest - they are so boring no one needs to see a list of them. However, being the completionist that I am, I'm still trying to chase the entire set...so again, another man's trash is my treasure!
Diamond Duos:
DD-VG. Joey Votto & Adrian Gonzalez
I received 5 different Diamond Duos, including the one (see scan above) I wanted the second most (the Larkin card is obviously the one I want the most). Of all the insert sets, I think the Diamond Duos set is the one that is growing on me the most - I'm beginning to really like the set, or at least parts of it. I think I like the cards that feature two players from the same team more than when two different teams are featured. For example, Ryan also sent me the card below which looks really sharp thanks to both players playing for the same team!
DD-HF. Jason Heyward & Freddie Freeman
History of Topps:
I recieved two more of these that I needed - but since I am (apparently) the only person who likes the History of Topps insert set, I won't bother wasting your precious time by scanning and posting the images. Instead, you just wasted the same amount of time (or maybe even more) by reading my drivel. Jokes on you now.
Vintage Reproductions:
CMGR-3. Hank Greenberg
CMGR-9. George Sisler
CMGR-22. Mel Ott
I find the cards celebrating the Goudey set in '11 Topps to be a bit disconcerting since I basically only know Goudey as an Upper Deck set. Oh sure, I knew Upper Deck's set was based on an old design, but I never knew anything about the original set. I think that's part of what makes this set so interesting, I actually get to learn a bit about old sets that I otherwise know very little (or nothing) about!
60 Years of Topps - The Lost Cards:
60YOTLC-4. Roy Campanella
I like the 1954 set design a lot, so this "lost card" looks good in my eyes. If I were to ever decide to chase a true vintage set, my choice might be the '54 set...too bad there are way to many cards out of my budget to even dream of doing such a crazy thing!
60 Years of Topps:
5. Phil Rizzuto
12. Frank Robinson
23. Mike Schmidt
42. Jim Edmonds
57. Johnny Cueto
58. Joe Mauer
Basically nothing more than a "Cards Your Mother Threw Out, Version 2.0", the 60 Years of Topps set seems terribly redundant at first glance. However, I believe Topps finally got the set right with this set - last year's CYMTO was lacking in information while most of the 60 Years of Topps cards have at least a small snippet of interesting facts. For example, the back of Robinson's card talks about the Pete Rose rookie card...without actually saying Rose's name. It's an amusing read for sure!
Topps 60:
6. Robinson Cano
24. Josh Johnson
32. Adam Dunn
41. Shin-Soo Choo
50. Miguel Cabrera
Did you know that Adam Dunn had the second most extra-inning home runs in the last decade (second only to Pujols)? Did you know that of the top nine players in that category, only Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard played the entire decade with one team? For completion, the other players on the list include David Ortiz, Jim Thome, Carlos Pena, Alex Rodriguez, Alex Gonzalez (surprise to me too), and Pat Burrell. That's the kind of kooky stuff you can learn with the Topps 60 insert set!
Diamond parallels:
23. Jaime Garcia
97. Carlos Gomez
228. Scott Rolen
Ryan earns himself three entries into my complete set (and other goodies) giveaway contest that I'm holding later on in the year thanks to the three diamond cards he sent my way.
And finally, Ryan also sent a pair of 2010 Reds parallel cards - one from the Opening Day set (which I didn't buy a single pack of) and the other from 2010 Topps Chrome (which I also didn't buy a single pack of).
Thanks for all the great cards Ryan - and as always, if anyone else would like to trade, check out my want list and make an offer!
Speaking of full force, the latest trade I've completed is full of great cards. I sent Ryan (from "O" No, Another Orioles Blog) a 2011 Topps Target Throwback Nick Markakis card - and about 60 2009 UD Goudey cards. In return, Ryan sent me a whole lotta inserts (plus a few base cards) from Series 1. Here are a few of the highlights:
2011 Topps:
Base:
23. Jaime Garcia
26. Neftali Feliz
89. Placido Polanco
124. AL Wins Leaders
139. Eric Young Jr.
162. Ronny Cedeno
202. AL HR Leaders
204. Oakland Athletics
242. Brad Lidge
318. NL HR Leaders
The Pujols, Dunn, Votto card is (obviously) my favorite of the base cards - but all of them are appreciated - and they all help me inch closer to a complete base set!
Topps Town:
TT-17. Aroldis Chapman
Ryan actually sent me 15 different Topps Town cards, but let's be honest - they are so boring no one needs to see a list of them. However, being the completionist that I am, I'm still trying to chase the entire set...so again, another man's trash is my treasure!
Diamond Duos:
DD-VG. Joey Votto & Adrian Gonzalez
I received 5 different Diamond Duos, including the one (see scan above) I wanted the second most (the Larkin card is obviously the one I want the most). Of all the insert sets, I think the Diamond Duos set is the one that is growing on me the most - I'm beginning to really like the set, or at least parts of it. I think I like the cards that feature two players from the same team more than when two different teams are featured. For example, Ryan also sent me the card below which looks really sharp thanks to both players playing for the same team!
DD-HF. Jason Heyward & Freddie Freeman
History of Topps:
I recieved two more of these that I needed - but since I am (apparently) the only person who likes the History of Topps insert set, I won't bother wasting your precious time by scanning and posting the images. Instead, you just wasted the same amount of time (or maybe even more) by reading my drivel. Jokes on you now.
Vintage Reproductions:
CMGR-3. Hank Greenberg
CMGR-9. George Sisler
CMGR-22. Mel Ott
I find the cards celebrating the Goudey set in '11 Topps to be a bit disconcerting since I basically only know Goudey as an Upper Deck set. Oh sure, I knew Upper Deck's set was based on an old design, but I never knew anything about the original set. I think that's part of what makes this set so interesting, I actually get to learn a bit about old sets that I otherwise know very little (or nothing) about!
60 Years of Topps - The Lost Cards:
60YOTLC-4. Roy Campanella
I like the 1954 set design a lot, so this "lost card" looks good in my eyes. If I were to ever decide to chase a true vintage set, my choice might be the '54 set...too bad there are way to many cards out of my budget to even dream of doing such a crazy thing!
60 Years of Topps:
5. Phil Rizzuto
12. Frank Robinson
23. Mike Schmidt
42. Jim Edmonds
57. Johnny Cueto
58. Joe Mauer
Basically nothing more than a "Cards Your Mother Threw Out, Version 2.0", the 60 Years of Topps set seems terribly redundant at first glance. However, I believe Topps finally got the set right with this set - last year's CYMTO was lacking in information while most of the 60 Years of Topps cards have at least a small snippet of interesting facts. For example, the back of Robinson's card talks about the Pete Rose rookie card...without actually saying Rose's name. It's an amusing read for sure!
Topps 60:
6. Robinson Cano
24. Josh Johnson
32. Adam Dunn
41. Shin-Soo Choo
50. Miguel Cabrera
Did you know that Adam Dunn had the second most extra-inning home runs in the last decade (second only to Pujols)? Did you know that of the top nine players in that category, only Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard played the entire decade with one team? For completion, the other players on the list include David Ortiz, Jim Thome, Carlos Pena, Alex Rodriguez, Alex Gonzalez (surprise to me too), and Pat Burrell. That's the kind of kooky stuff you can learn with the Topps 60 insert set!
Diamond parallels:
23. Jaime Garcia
97. Carlos Gomez
228. Scott Rolen
Ryan earns himself three entries into my complete set (and other goodies) giveaway contest that I'm holding later on in the year thanks to the three diamond cards he sent my way.
And finally, Ryan also sent a pair of 2010 Reds parallel cards - one from the Opening Day set (which I didn't buy a single pack of) and the other from 2010 Topps Chrome (which I also didn't buy a single pack of).
Thanks for all the great cards Ryan - and as always, if anyone else would like to trade, check out my want list and make an offer!
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