Want a Ton of Cubs Cards?

I received this message in my inbox about a month ago from Andy at Ain't Nobody Got Time for Cardboard.  Wrigley Roster Jenga had done a post about getting "Graced" by Andy, and I left a comment for Tony that I was interested in one of those cards.  Andy must have seen my interest, and he reached out to me, from one rookie blogger to another, about a trade.  Not too long after, this arrived for me.

He wasn't kidding around about a TON of Cubs cards.  Let's run some of them down, starting with some cool minis.

Mark Grace was my hero growing up.  Got a couple of new ones here.  This Diamond Kings, though.  This has to be one of the most distorted faces I've seen on a DK card.  It's almost frightening.  I think it's the straight line on the cheek.  It's Picasso-esque, but not in a good way.

Included were some great and fan-favorite hurlers.

Are these guys considered hurlers now, too?  Full disclosure: I'm a Cubs fan, not a Chicagoan.  I had no idea who Graham Elliot was until I saw this card.

Jake Arrieta, because he is The Man right now.  He's so much The Man that I almost want to do it all caps.  I'll refrain, though.

Rick Sutcliffe and Kerry Wood fit in two PCs for me, as Cubs and ROY.  So do Kris Bryant and Jerome Walton.

Geovany Soto was a ROY as well. Though his time at the top was short-lived, I still root for him.

Derrek Lee was my favorite Cub during the mid-2000's, but I wasn't collecting then.  Hence, these are just my 3rd and 4th Lee cards.

There were some more all-time great Cubs: Ryno, the Hawk, and Ernie.

 And some current stars and young hotshots.

There were some more former Cub fan-favorites, including Starlin Castro, who has apparently remembered how to play ball at an All-Star level again this year, but while wearing the wrong pinstripes.

I like these throwbacks.

And these are some beautiful ivy cards.  That Reed Johnson has vaulted into contention for my favorite card.  Nothing is more baseball than tracking a fly ball, ivy on the wall, and seagulls.  Wait, seagulls?  Yes, there are seagulls.

These two cards are a head scratcher.  They feature the same photo, same stats, and come from the same set.  But they are numbered differently.  They both appear to be on the 2007 Topps Checklist.  What's going on here?  Can anybody help me out with this?

Andy also threw in some prospects here.

And some vintage.

There were even managers and future managers, coaches, and broadcasters.

All in all, there were 310 cards here.  I'll bet Andy didn't even know that.  I don't know how I'll ever match this quantity in a return trade, but I'll try my best.  Thanks a million Andy!  Most of those cards were brand new to me and fit nicely in my collection.  A little bit of everything Cubs, and I can always go for that.