Trade with William of foul bunt

I received some cards from my buddy William at the foul bunt blog over the weekend for some "cards to be named later".  He had some miscellaneous Orioles cards that he thought I'd be able to use for my collections.  He knows me too well!

He knows I'm a fan of Mark Reynolds because of his 136th homerun ball that I have (autographed too!) of his and that I'm trying to get all of the 2012 Golds of the Orioles.  It all comes together to form this perfect storm of a card.  (BTW, let me know if anybody has any of the Golds, I only have this one and Guthrie! Thanks!)

He also knows that I have a weird obsession with Matt Riley cards.  I guess he was the big time Orioles hot prospect when I started paying attention to the minor leagues.

I guess he also knows that I enjoyed watching Charles Johnson catch for the Orioles too.  I always thought it was awesome how he would catch the pitch, drop his mitt into the ground between his legs, grab the ball from behind his back and then throw it back to the pitcher.  Oh yeah, he hit pretty well during his time at Camden Yards too.

I like this card because of the groovy colors.  I flipped it over and looked at the stats too.  He really had quite an interesting trek around the league for a few years.  He spent the first 8 years as a Dodger and thats when he started to rack up the frequent flyer miles.  He played for the Mets in '67, the White Sox in '68, Pilots and Astros in '69, Astros, A's and Cubs in '70, back to A's for '71, then back to the Cubs in '72 before finally landing in Baltimore for about 3 and a half seasons.  He was finally able to unpack his bags for a few years before he hit the road again in '76, he signed with the Yankees but never played for them getting released after spring training. He then signed with the Angels and was then purchased by the Royals late in the season.  WOW, what a traveling history!

Thanks William for the cards!

Trade with Dustin of Coot Veal and the Vealtones

Dustin, from the awesomely named Coot Veal and the Vealtones blog sent me an email a little while back about a Miguel Cabrera GU that he was interested in and offered to send me some cards in return. We have traded in the past so I was happy to make the trade.  Lets look at some of the cards:

The Montanez and Ponson card finished up their respective team sets.  I'm surprised that it took me so long to get my hands on he Bowman Ponson card.  I'm still way far away from finishing up the Documentary Orioles though.  If anybody has any let me know!

This is the Refractor version of Josh's Bowman Platinum from last year.  I now have the trifecta (base, refractor, and gold refractor).  Josh's stock seems to be dropping in the Orioles system because he can't seem to make the best of his opportunities when he gets them in the majors.  Maybe he'll get his strikeouts under control and can reestablish himself as a prospect.

I'm real happy to have this black bordered Koji in my collection now.  The cool part is that if you turn the card over, it is the blank back parallel.  While it's not exceedingly rare, it's still cool in my book!

Here's the Zach Britton portion of the trade.  Both cards are new to me so I'm happy to have them.

From one promising young lefty to a (once) promising young lefty.  When I returned to the hobby in 1998 Matt Riley was the #1 Orioles prospect in the O's farm system.  He had a great fastball and a good curveball and was destined for stardom.  Sure he had attitude problems and a maybe was a bit lazy but he had potential.  Then he got hurt. Pretty much after that, he was done in Baltimore after that.  I guess I jumped on this autograph card because he was the first real prospect that I paid close attention to and fiended after his cards (as much as a 15 year-old kid could!).  I guess this card just brings me back and that is why most of us collect card in the first place: nostalgia.

Thanks Dustin for taking me down memory lane and sending such an awesome package!