Picking A Cracked Bat's Pockets

 Julie, from the wonderful A Cracked Bat blog, has an ongoing feature that she calls Pickpockets.  The basic idea is that she puts some cards up and you can "pick" what you want.  A few days later, an envelope shows up in your mailbox.  Easy, peasy.

Recently, I did exactly that and picked Julie's pockets.  She had a Barry Larkin listed which immediately grabbed my attention.

I was pretty sure that I had this card already until I realized that it was the Gold Medallion parallel (see that big ol' stamp on it)?  As such, this is actually a Larkin card that I did need for my collection!  (Thanks Julie!)

After that, I found a couple of assorted Reds cards that fit into some of my more minor player collections.  

Joey Votto was a force in the batting lineup for the Reds for a long, long time.  It was unfortunate for all parties that he continued to bat third this year though when it was clear to everyone (especially the opposition) that Votto simply doesn't have it anymore.  It's a real bummer watching a favorite player fade so drastically but at least I'll always think of Votto as being one of the Reds' few shining lights over the last decade or so of mediocrity.

The third and final card that I picked was of a player that I had high hopes for heading into the next decade of Reds' baseball.

Unfortunately, while Senzel has shown bits and pieces of brilliance for short spurts, he's also shown that he can't stay healthy (and when he is healthy, most of the time he's simply an "average" player).  Still, this is a cool looking card and I haven't given up all hope for Senzel quite yet.  After all, if you are a Reds fan you can't give up easily...in fact, I'd go so far as to say you have to be quite stubborn to still be a Reds fan after the last thirty years or so.

Many thanks for the cards, Julie!  And the answer to your note in the envelope is that all three cards showed up fine and dandy, no damage to report!  As for anyone else, if you have something that I might like I'd love to work out a trade.  Let me know!