Delivery Time! Top 9 Ways to Get Your 26 Cents Worth.

Once again, it's time for a trade post!  This particular envelope (chosen at random from a pile of 10 or so that are waiting for me to write up) is from Matt over at 26 Cent Summer.  I sent Matt a bunch of 2011 Topps base cards, plus quite a few inserts from this year's edition of the flagship brand.  In return, Matt sent me a bunch of cards from which I picked my favorite nine!

#9:
2011 Topps:
Topps Town:
TT2-35.  Ian Kinsler

You would think I'd have the full Topps Town set by now.  I am not aware of anyone else collecting the darn thing, and yet, I still need a bunch of the cards.  It's kind of weird, I guess Topps made the cards rarer than I thought!  (Or else more people like the set than I thought.)

#8:
2011 Topps:
Topps 60:
T60-69.  David Price

My Topps 60 set is now complete (which is awesome)!  I still need one more card from the Series 2 edition of Diamond Duos though (card #10).  If anyone has that one, let me know!

#7:
2011 Topps:
Diamond Parallel:
441.  Rafael Fucal

I actually dislike Furcal as a player quite a bit.  I do, however, like his baseball card with all the shiny shades of blue everywhere.  I do wonder why Topps didn't make the number 21 on the opponent's jersey sparkly like the rest of the picture?

#6:
2011 Topps Allen & Ginter:
Black border mini:
134.  Matt Cain

I've been trading for a bunch of the black bordered minis with the idea that I might end up chasing the set.  However, given how little time I expect to have over the next year (not to mention how little money I'll have), I think I've given up on trying to collect any of the mini parallel sets from this year's edition of Ginter.  As such, I have a whole bunch of regular back, ad backs, and black bordered minis that are available for trade!

#5:
2011 Topps:
Diamond parallel:
347.  Darwin Barney

This is a great card (and probably ought to be in Night Owl's night card binder - it is a night card right?).  I don't have much else to say except that the card made me stop and take a second look - good enough for #5 on my countdown!

#4:
2011 Topps:
Kimball Champions:
79.  Barry Larkin

I already had one copy of this card (hence why the non-number one ranking on the list).  However, I needed a second copy so that I could have one card in my Topps binder and the other in my Barry Larkin Collection binder.  Now I don't have to choose where the card goes - one for each!

#3:
2011 Topps:
Diamond parallel - Retired players:
516.  Tom Seaver 

A sparkly card of Tom Seaver as a Red?  Oh yes please!  I didn't have very good luck pulling the legend cards from Topps (and I got exactly zero diamond parallel legends on my own).  Thus, this is a really nice card for me to acquire - and add to my binder!

#2:
2010 Topps Allen & Ginter:
Relic:
AGR-HR.  Hanley Ramirez 

Like the Matt Cain mini card above, the Hanley Ramirez relic was part of the trade because I'm hopeful that I can turn it into a relic from either the 2010 or 2011 Ginter set that I don't already own.  I know there are a few different Hanley collectors out there (not to mention Hanley is one of the better baseball names in the '10 relic set).  We shall see if my gamble pays off.

#1:
2009 Topps:
Target Old School parallel:
182.  Daniel Murphy

What?  A 2009 Topps card (of a Met no less) earns the number one spot on my countdown?!  Yep, and here's why:  I am now one measly 2009 Target Old School variation card away from having the regular, Wal*Mart, and Target Series 1 sets from 2009 complete!   That, in itself, is reason enough for this card to end up #1 on my list!

Thanks for the great trade Matt!  And, as always, if anyone else would like to trade - check out my want list and make an offer!