Holiday trade package #5: My Cardboard Mistress

My last trade package of 2012 (not chronologically, necessarily--I kind of did these randomly) came from Spankee, a.k.a. Adam, of My Cardboard Mistress.  Adam's an outstanding blogger and a guy I've traded with many times already, mainly due to the fact that we both collect cards of our fellow alumni, as well as Justin Verlander.

Adam actually didn't claim anything from my fall cleaning lots like just about everyone else in these posts, but that's because I had already sent him pretty much all I had of his guys...at least at that time.  Adam--I have a nice stack of stuff for you that'll be heading your way as soon as I have some nicer hits to throw in as well, but for now, rest assured it's stuffed with a bunch of 2012 Topps football you need!

Here's what Adam sent my way this time, in what was easily the largest package of the five Holiday trade packages (and these are only the highlights--there was lots more to enjoy!):

Five many Verlanders!  I think at least a couple of these are new to me, and I'll have a better idea once I get on scanning my JV PC.  New Tiger Prince Fielder also joined in the fun this time.

Shop smart:  Shop V-Mart.  I think all four of this Martinezes are new, and better yet, all feature him as a member of the Tigers.  I sure hope he actually gets to, you know, PLAY for the Tigers this year.  Joining him are five minor league cards of Tigers prospects, including playoff star Avisail Garcia.  Both Topps minors sets look pretty cool, and if they included more of the guys I collected I'd probably chase at least one of them.

A bit of Tigers randomness.  Avila, of course, is the current Tigers catcher and a guy I hope sticks around for years.  The UD Cobb is definitely new to my PC and serial numbered, which is even better.  And the Kaline mini is awesome--I've been fortunate to pick up a few new Kalines thanks to these trade packages.

SWEET!  TWO many Grandersons!  I'm pretty sure there were multiples of each of those cards, as well as the other guy in this scan, Cabrera, which makes me assume Adam nabbed some of these in group breaks.  The Cabreras are all nice adds to my PC of him for sure.

For some reason I simply have a ton of Magglios, but I don't think I had more than one or two of these, and he's a fun guy to collect either way.  Though he played a good chunk of his career with the White Sox, I think I'll always associate him more with Detroit.  I believe the trio of Jacksons are all new as well, and I might not have had the Morris either.  A trio of excellent Tigers for sure.

And now, the outstanding hit portion of the package:

Chris Shelton 2006 Artifacts Auto-Facts Signatures auto (#726/750)

I laughed as soon as I saw this one because I also got one from Screaming Line Drive.  This is obviously a ploy to get me to rename my blog "Too Many Chris Shelton Auto-Facts Signatures" so more people will send Adam their Verlanders, but it's not gonna work, o illegitimate son of Jefferson Burdick.  Nice try, but this is heading over to the baseball trade bait album posthaste. 

Cameron Maybin 2007 Bowman Draft Future's Game Prospects jersey

And why shouldn't I have a hit of one of the Tigers' better first-rounders of the last decade, even if he's no longer with the team?  Maybin's largest contribution to the Tigers was being a part of the package that brought Miguel Cabrera to Detroit, but all the same, he's been a solid Major League contributor, especially due to his speed.  I also happen to like the Future's Game jersey cards, so this was easily a win-win.

Curtis Granderson 2009 Upper Deck X Memorabilia jersey

People still remember that I collect Granderson?!  Seriously, this jumps to the top of the heap (a small heap, I suppose) of Grandy relics I own thanks to the pinstriped swatch and spiffy design that incorporates the team's colors.  All told, it's my fourth relic of the former face of the Tigers.

 Magglio Ordonez 2009 Upper Deck Spectrum Spectrum Swatches Blue jersey

This purdy jersey becomes my surprising sixth relic of the former Tigers OF and batting champ.  Magglio is a guy I don't necessarily seek out, but I'm always happy to add new stuff of him to my PC, and as I mentioned, I somehow have a ton of his stuff.  Well, if you guys wanna send me more, then bring 'em on and I'll take them!

Miguel Cabrera 2012 Topps Update Blockbusters Commemorative Hat Logo manupatch

Well now, HERE's something I didn't expect, especially with all the other nice stuff this package included.  I never had any intent to purchase any of the Tigers from this set, but I did think it was actually a fairly cool concept among Topps' many hits and misses on the manurelic front.  It's simply cool to get a normal looking team logo that looks like it belongs on a hat in a manufactured relic card, not to mention one that focuses on star players changing teams.  So this was definitely way more than I expected when I was flipping through everything in the package.  Then again, raise your hand if you're traded with Adam before and he HASN'T gone above and beyond.  Anybody?  Didn't think so.

Thanks once again to Adam for a ridiculous trade package to close out another great year of collecting!  I promise you'll have some stuff you like in your mailbox before too much longer.  And as I mentioned yesterday, congrats again to your Hokies on their bowl win the other day--it was easier to pull for them when they weren't playing my favorite team ever.

To everyone else reading, you're probably already following My Cardboard Mistress, so consider this post a reminder to head over there again soon.  Otherwise, crawl out from under your rock and start following today.  COLLECT.

A superb Super Bowl trade post featuring My Cardboard Mistress

I have to quickly get through writing up two posts today because it won't be long until kickoff for the Giants-Pats Super Bowl!

Today's post features the baseball half of a ridiculous trade package Adam of My Cardboard Mistress sent me last week, and which I'm finally getting around to showing off.  We made a friendly bet on the result of the Sugar Bowl, then before he was able to send me my winnings, I threw a bunch of stuff his way preemptively.  His response was my winnings from the bet plus some great stuff in trade.  Let's just get down to it, then:

TWO envelopes, and one of them is HUGE.  What the?...

Adam splurged and threw down a dollar for me on the book.  For more on that, plus the other Michigan-related items, make sure to check out my post on TMM.  I'll also spoil the fun and tell you I pulled nothing of remote interest from the Canadian Football pack, but it was very cool of Adam to toss that in.

So here's what came in from the baseball portion:

Some excellent Tigers, including one of Adam's favorites in Verlander, which was very cool.  Then a couple other guys from my star PCs in Griffey and three awesome Ripkens.  I love the mini, plus its own mini top loader, but my favorite of everything out of the baseball stuff was definitely the Masterpieces black border card, because those just look amazing.  Speaking of star baseball players for my PC, he also included

this very nice Tony Gwynn 2005 Upper Deck Classics Classic Materials jersey.  Somehow it's only my third relic of Gwynn, one of which is a dual with Ripken, so this is my first solo jersey of Gwynn, which goes along nicely with my bat relic of him.

Overall this was a great trade package in its own right, but it pales in comparison to the riches he threw my way for my Michigan PCs.  Please make sure to check that out over on TMM if only to see how generous Adam is.  I tip my hat to one outstanding Hokie fan.  Thanks, Adam!

Trade with MCM and World Series thoughts

Trade with MCM:

Adam from My Cardboard Mistress shot me a note last week mentioning that he had this card for me,

an Austin Jackson 2011 Topps Lineage 1975 mini relic jersey, and that he'd rather send it to me than have to put it back.  That's as good a reason for a trade as any, and the result is a pretty cool Jackson hit, my first of him.  AJax really, really needs to learn to cut down the strikeouts and get on base, because he definitely has the talent to be the leadoff hitter Granderson, the man he replaced, never was.  Granderson, of course, only morphed into the power hitter he is after joining the Yankees, but I hope Detroit's staff can work on him and get him right--the Tigers offense would be ridiculous with a consistent leadoff hitter and stolen base artist.

Anyway, I definitely owe Adam something nice in return, and hopefully I can square us up soon.  Thanks, Adam!

World Series thoughts:

Well, Friday night ended the 2011 baseball season, and I'm happy to say that the amazing Cardinals capped off one of the most unlikely title runs ever for their 11th championship.  I don't mean to imply that I was specifically rooting against Texas, because I would have been thrilled especially for Nolan Ryan after all his hard work trying to revitalize the team.  Still, there's the George W. Bush factor, even if he no longer actually has a hand in the team after it went to shit along with every other one of his ventures. (but that's not a discussion for a sports card blog)  Besides, there's plenty to like about the incredible Cardinals run anyway.  All that said, here are some of my thoughts about the Series, some of which I hope prompt discussion in the comments:

• Is there a more entertaining manager to watch than Ron Washington?  I don't think I could ever root against a skipper who wears his heart on his sleeve.  He does make some goofy decisions but really, what manager doesn't?  He's the type of animated manager that's good for the game, not some moronic asshole like Ozzie Guillen, whom I hope loses 100+ games with the Marlins for all the shit he's pulled in his managerial career.
• I don't care for Josh Hamilton at all, for reasons I won't go into as they're also not relevant to this blog.  Still, I give the guy huge props not only for gutting though an obviously debilitating and painful injury, but for overcoming it with an outstanding performance instead of dogging it and blaming the injury.
• Nobody deserves more props than the Cardinals, though, for squeezing in to the playoffs on the season's final day, then beating the two best NL teams in the playoffs, not to mention a favored Rangers team.  I know they're already getting a lot of credit for this, but seriously, they earned it.  And what's cool is, it's nice to see that the wild card still makes sense--I wasn't always a fan of it, but we've seen some fun teams eke out a playoff spot like this and go on to win a title.  Nothing was handed to the Cardinals, but their resilience was definitely their biggest asset this year.
• Adrian Beltre was the real deal this year in the regular season and playoffs, and I was shocked because it wasn't a contract season, so I was wrong about him, at least this year.  I still think the Rangers massively overpaid him, but for now the results speak for themselves, to be fair.
• The Mighty Pujols had a bit of an impact in the other games, but besides his record-setting game three, he wasn't the deciding factor.  Instead, guys like Allen Craig and David Freese were the heroes who will forever be legends in St. Louis, and that's the fun of the championship being decided by a seven-game series.
• Speaking of Cardinals heroes, besides the two guys above, how about Lance Berkman?  He rightfully caught some flak for comments he made before the season when he called the Rangers an average team without Cliff Lee, although based on their pitching performance in the playoffs, he was somewhat vindicated.  Still, having not signed with them and then being traded to St. Louis, it looks like Fat Elvis had the last laugh.  Protecting Pujols because Matt Holliday was ineffective/injured, he punished the Rangers time and again with clutch hits after Texas was forced to intentionally walk El Hombre.  Hell, Berkman pretty much set up camp on second base throughout the series.
• Can you remember a more exciting World Series in the last decade?  The somewhat similarly crazy Yankees/DBacks matchup back in 2001 is the best I could do.  In my mind, nothing could compare to game six in which David Freese made a crucial error, (one of several between both teams) brought the team back from within one strike of losing, (which the Cards also did in the 10th) then smacked one of the most dramatic walk-offs in the history of the game.  I literally sat on my couch at 12:39 a.m. EST saying "I can't believe it!" after the hometown here Freese punched St. Louis' ticket for game seven.  I hope the Series' ratings improved this year.
• I definitely enjoy the games more when the pitchers bat, because sometimes they have an unexpected offensive impact, and even when they don't, the strategy of the game becomes so much more interesting.  All you DH apologists can have your 300-pound .260 hitter who contributes 20 HR and nothing else to the game, I'll still with exciting matchups like this one.
• I'll admit I like to see teams win championships at home, which has happened quite a bit recently in the World Series, apparently.  Because of that, I might have pulled a bit more for the Rangers had the AL won the All-Star Game this year.  It just has to be 100 times sweeter for the home fans to get the instant gratification of celebrating in the stadium instead of having to wait for the team to arrive at the airport.  The postgame festivities just work better that way.  I understand that the Super Bowl just couldn't work that way, but football really misses out on that experience, unless a team really beats the odds and gets a home game.

And now, in celebration of the Cards, and because this post is seriously lacking in images,

I give you Fat Elvis, sans awesome facial hair and mullet, plus

two-time champion and current best player in the League, Albert Pujols.

Now begins a long offseason, though fortunately for me, one that's devoid of the NBA, which means Christmas came early.  Time to focus on college and pro football, plus college hockey, as the weather turns cold and depressing.  For now, may your teams find success in free agency, trades, the Rule V draft, and the excitement that is baseball's winter meetings, not to mention the upcoming awards announcements.  What a season!

We're gonna need more internets: a tribute to MCM

So a day after the sweet trade package from Adam of My Cardboard Mistress arrived I received another small envelope from him.  He had mentioned that he forgot to include my mandatory COLLECT sticker, and true to his word, that was included this time:

If you haven't received yours yet, trade with the guy--seriously, you will not be disappointed.  Why?  Stuff like this:

Adam, you beautiful bastard,

To collect your prizes, please proceed to the following:

IT Crowd - The Internet
Uploaded by combine. - Click for more funny videos.