Trade with Tom of The Angels, in Order

We're mixing it up a little bit today with a trade package from Tom of The Angels, in Order blog.  Tom has been a great blogger for a long time and has always been a good trade partner of mine.  I was happy to have him reach out on one of my recent posts saying that he had some cards for me.  A trade was agreed upon and here are the highlights of my end of the bargain: 

The lone Orioles card of the package was this 2023 Topps Update of James McCann.  I think Mike Elias is a bit of genius because he was able to get the Mets to basically pay McCann to play for the Orioles this and next year.  He's a very good backup catcher that was sometimes miscast as a DH early in the season.  He'll likely move on after his contract is up next fall and give way to Maverick Handley, Silas Ardoin, or Samuel Basallo.

I can't imagine why Tom had these Nolan Ryan cards laying around. I love this Coke set for a variety of reasons.  Nolan is one of my favorite all time players.  The gold border does wonders to help with the divisive 1992 Donruss Design. Probably most of all, I remember when I was a little boy getting some of these out of packs of Coke with my Grandma and Grandpa.  My Grandma passed away last fall after a battle with dementia.  My Grandpa is still alive and well and just turned 90 on October 25th.  I love that he hangs out at the Walmart near his house on Friday mornings and helps the old folks shop for groceries.  You just can't hold an old farmer down.  He just gave up farming about 4 years ago to help care for my Grandma.  He still gets on the old John Deere and mows the ditches around the family farm.

Here's some of the highlights of the highlights of Nolan's career set from Pacific. I know there is a hub bub about Randy Johnson's 1989 Fleer having a Marlboro sign in the background.  I've never seen anything about this card.  I've also never felt more of an urge to smoke than I do now that I've seen this card.  

Its that time of year again.... Time to bring out the menorahs.... Is that OJ Simpson? Hall of Famer Rod Carew?  All Three Stooges?

Thanks Tom for your generosity and I look forward to our next trade!