Trade with Tom of Angels in Order

I was contacted by Tom of the Angels in Order blog about a stack of Orioles cards that he wanted to send me.  Of course I can't resist making a trade so I sent him my address and a few days later, a bubble mailer appeared in my mailbox.  Here's a few of the highlight cards and some random thoughts about them:

I can and can believe that I still need 1995 Fleer Orioles to complete my team set.  Hammonds was the best college player in the land when he was drafted by the O's.  Injuries derailed his Baltimore tenure leaving many O's fans to wonder what could have been.

This Palmeiro card from 1995 Bowman was the last I needed for the team set.  It's "diamond cut" so I'm probably going to be looking for an upgrade at some point.  I would have thought that Topps would have eliminated this issue by then.

Mike Mussina is/was my favorite Orioles pitcher.  Yes I like him more than Jim Palmer.  Sue me.  I've been thinking of sending a TTM to him for some time now but it looks like he hasn't been signing much lately from the looks of it.

Thanks Tom for nice stack of O's cards and the thoughts that were brought up because of them!

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!

Trade with Mark of Stats on the Back

I'm going to start back with a nice and easy trade.  Mark from the "mostly defunct"  Stats on the Back blog sent me an email a while back wanting my address so he could send me some cards.  I obliged and here is what ended up in my mailbox:

This Cal Ripken is actually a mini card from the 80s. It's functionally equivalent to the regular 87 Fleer release but only smaller and with a different picture on the front.  Another great addition to my quickly growing oddball Cal collection!

With these 2 '89 Upper Deck cards, I have successfully completed the Orioles team set from "the set that changed modern baseball cards."  It took me longer than I thought but perseverance pays!

Here is a card of new HOFer Roberto Alomar.  I'm just now realizing that the card has the Puerto Rican flag on it.  Puerto Rico is where my wife and I just visited on our honeymoon cruise.  I didn't see Robby anywhere but I did get to tour Old San Juan and the fort that guarded the city in colonial times.  I wish I had gotten to see Hiram Bithorn Stadium but we were only on the island for about 8 hours.

Thanks Mark for the cards!