Delivery Time! Cards from Thorzul (Back in December 2011)!

Back in December of last year, Thorzul hosted one of his "big box of random cards" breaks where he acquires a giant box of cards and mails out teams to everyone who buys in.  It was a long time ago, but I think the gist of this break was buy one team, get one free (randomized).  It must have been because I somehow ended up with the Reds (obviously) and the Twins.  Anyhow, I ended up with a nice sized box of goodies - way too many to show off in a single post but I thought it'd be fun to take a look at the top 9 cards that I ended up with!

#9:
2001 Upper Deck - Steve Kelly (TTM Auto):

I certainly didn't expect to land any autographs in the break - so even though this is a through the mail (TTM) auto (or so it appears), it was still a fun surprise!  I'm not sure if I were Steve that I'd want to sign this goofy photo though...

#8:
1970 Topps - Tony Perez

Oh sure, the card is in terrible condition, but that's ok - I still love it!  Anytime you can nab vintage cards of great players, well, you can't complain much about condition!

#7:
2002 Upper Deck - World Series Heroes:  Jose Rijo

Ok, this card is butt ugly - but it celebrates the Reds' last World Series win so I love it anyhow.  Rijo was a beast in the 1990 World Series - he went 2-0 with a 0.59 ERA pitching 15.1 innings in the Reds four game sweep of the heavily favored Athletics.

#6:
2009 Topps 206:  Piedmont mini:  Joe Mauer

As I mentioned, I ended up with both the Reds and Twins in the break...luckily for me, the Reds pile was about four times the size of the Twins (not a lot of Twins in the box I guess) but that's ok as I don't have much use for random Twin cards!  There were a few Minnesotian gems though, this mini Mauer being one of them.

#5:
1971 Topps - Frank Duffy & Milt Wilcox

There's not a lot special about this card (though Wilcox's hat looks all sorts of wrong).  It is, however, a 1971 Topps card that I didn't own before now so I'm happy!

#4 (tie):
1991 Post & 1991 Pepsi:  Chris Sabo

I couldn't decide which one of these two oddball cards I liked better, so combined they take slot #4 in my Top 9 countdown.  Once again, the cards are from a prime year for Reds fans (one year removed from the World Series) so that makes 'em a bit more special.  Throw in the fact that Chris Sabo was one of my favorite Reds of the era and you have a pair of sure winners!

#3:
1993 Upper Deck SP - Bip Roberts

Bip has earned quite the reputation amongst bloggers, but he also should have a reputation for some of the strangest (and sometimes coolest) photos in various baseball card sets.  This particular card is a perfect example - here's Bip in a jacket that's 4 sizes too large for him...standing in front of a lake.  I dare you to try and find other baseball cards that feature the main player standing in front of a lake!

#2:
2007 Topps - Josh Hamilton

A Hamilton rookie card is a good find - and despite the black border, it's still in pretty good shape.  I think I already had one of these in my collection but I'm not positive.  Regardless, a second Hamilton rookie isn't anything to complain about!

And the #1 card in the break?  A surprise - it's not even a Red!

#1:
1971 Topps - Bert Blyleven

It might be a bit rough around the edges and a bit (ok, a lot) off centered, but it's still a great card!  Of all the cards, this one was probably the most exciting to me - and it's certainly worthy of the number spot!

In case you were wondering, there were two different Barry Larkin cards - but since I already had both of them, they didn't crack the Top 9 for the break!  Thanks for hosting the group break Thorzul - even if it did take me about 5 months to get the cards posted!