2018 trade package #4: Bob Walk the Plank

As is always the case when I receive a bubble mailer from Matt at Bob Walk the Plank I was excited to bust it open and see what goodies were hidden within.  He and I have hit a pretty nice groove of sending some higher-end stuff back-and-forth, plus we both primarily collect an MLB team and college program.

This time three cards popped out of the envelope plus a note reminding me that I'd been drawn as one of the winners of his anniversary contest (happy four years!).  Considering what those three cards were, you'd be excused for thinking they were my prize, but that's apparently still to come.  Instead, the note ended with a word that summarizes the quality of the items we pass back and forth:

BOOM.

Take a look at the two cards below (plus one more over on TMM this evening) to see if that just about covers it:

This Panini Immaculate Collection patch of three-time Cy Young-winner Max Scherzer brought me back to a post from September of 2015, about two and a half years ago, where I showed off the same card sent to me by Matt (in a package that also included two autographs of Al Kaline!).  That one looked great with a large black swatch with stitching and a corner's worth of orange.  I'm happy to call this one an upgrade as the amount of orange is bumped up (still with plenty of stitching) and even a hint of another color (maybe white) at the very left edge.  What a stunner!

Oh, and if any of you are curious, I do still hold onto Scherzer stuff (including all the great hits I've received over the years) because he was a key piece on some good Detroit teams and blew up into a star while in Motown.  That means I have no motivation to sell anything of him I have even if his stuff is worth more now.  That said, I do now have a double of this patch that I'd be willing to trade if anyone is interested.

That was a great start but what was so great about this package that I was hyping it up so much?  How about

George

Kenneth

Griffey

Jr.?

Um, yeah, so this is a first--I've never received a Griffey autograph in a trade package before.  I mean, the only other Griffey auto I own is in my collection because I pulled it out of a pack in a major stroke of luck.  So, yeah, BOOM indeed!

Fangirling over this aside, it's a very cool card made for Panini's 2016 Black Friday promotion, and Beckett tells me that 25 were made (just not numbered).  It actually arrived this way,

in a one-touch sealed with a Leaf sticker, but there was no way I was going to let such a great card go without a nice scan.  And a great card it is, starring Griffey's trademark excellent signature and a very cool photo of Junior in his earlier days with the Mariners.  Panini has often done a good job in hiding the lack of MLB logos (an overblown issue anyway) and certainly got the job done here.

I'm over the moon at adding a second autograph of one of my all-time favorites, and without spending a dime!  It'll definitely have an honored place in my Griffey collection, which is 600+ cards strong and growing.

Matt, thanks again for this crazy good ("100% awesome" tag in full effect!) trio of cards.  I don't even know how I'm going to hit you back, but be prepared for something awesome in response!