I'm Done with Cards . . . for 2017

Last Friday was the first full day of Christmas Break for me.  I used it to finish getting the last of my loose cards put away.  For the sake of my marriage, I have resolved not to be involved with my cards again until through Christmas Break.    Instead, I'm playing board games and building Lego sets with the kids and building some storage benches to finish the reading nook in our loft.  I knew there was no way I was getting any cardboard for Christmas anyway, as all my family thinks I'm a crazy person with a bad habit and they refuse to support it.

We moved into this home last September, and I claimed an unfinished closet upstairs for my cards.  I've been working to get organized since the move, and I'm there (for now).  Here is over a year's work of organizing:

Here is every card I own, minus one binder that's in our master bedroom closet, just for the sake of space.  No loose cards lie anywhere.  No stacks of cards are placed randomly in boxes.  Each card is in its place.  The only exception you see is the stack of cards on the left, but those are pulled as part of an ebay lot and are ready to ship.  All my PCs are in binders, along with select sets and frankensets.  Other sets and all my trading fodder are in shoeboxes.  I'm proud of my work, and as I type, I'm about four days in to my self-imposed embargo without handling a card.  Now my supplies need to be stowed away.  I have penny sleeves, team bags, and top loaders shoved all over the place just below the picture.

Since I'm done with my cards for the year, now is as good a time as any to recap my collecting for 2017.  First, I didn't set any collecting goals, but I did declare that my focus would be to add to my BYU collection.  As the calendar turned to 2017, my BYU football collection was a paltry 105 cards.  I have to admit; I lost focus a little bit.  I did make a couple of BYU only purchases, but I didn't add as much as I would have liked.  My collection now stands at 185, so that's a total of 80 new BYU cards added.

Instead of BYU, I found myself focusing on set-building.  Again.  Even though last year I swore it off.  I've decided that sets have a place in my collection, and a fairly large place at that.  So let's take a look back at the sets I've completed in 2017.  Some of them I started this year, but most of these sets have been years in the making.  I'll run through these in reverse chronological order, and share the final card I acquired to complete the set.

2017 Topps: This is first time I have ever completed a flagship set.  I'm working on Update to polish it up, but as far as the cards that have continuous numbering, this set is complete.

Final Card:  I'm not exactly sure.  I didn't keep track.
 
2017 Topps Heritage: I've never completed Heritage either, and I really wanted to get it this year.  One of my main reasons was the fact that I knew it would have a World Series subset, and it would feature the Cubs, of course.  I like the burlap, too.  Once again, this is only the base set.  I didn't even attempt the SPs.  As far as I'm concerned, they're just gravy and not necessary to complete the set.  I don't have the budget to chase them down just to say I've completed the set.  That may be sacrilege, but I'm at peace with it.

Final Card: I bought this set off ebay.  They are all the first and last card.

2016 Topps Perspectives: This 25-card insert set took me two seasons to build.  The significance of this set is that it was built entirely through trades.  I didn't crack a single pack of 2016 Flagship; I just saw the set on the blogs, fell in love with it, and went to work.

Final Card: #P-1 Andrew McCutchen

2015 Topps Update Pride and Perseverance: Here is another insert set I completed.  I love reading the stories on the back of these cards.

Final Card: #2 Curtis Pride--I thought it ironic that the last card missing from my Pride set was Curtis Pride.

2015 Topps Update Whatever Works: This is another great subject for a set.  I love baseball's quirky superstitions, so it makes sense that I would be drawn to an entire baseball card set devoted to its quirky superstitions.  This set was tricky.  Somehow my wantlist got messed up, and I ended up acquiring duplicates of some cards instead of the cards I actually needed.  It's all fixed now, and the set is complete.

Final Card: #12 Justin Verlander
 
2014 Panini Contenders: **Disclaimer** This is not the complete set with all of the rookie autos.  This is only the base veteran set.  I bought three retail boxes of this back in 2014 and pulled so many dupes that I still didn't have the 100-card base set.  I do know.

Final Card:  #100 Adrian Peterson


2013 Panini Prizm: This one should have been done last year.  I thought I had it.  Then I realized that I had two copies of Saints running back Mark Ingram and none of Saints running back Darren Sproles.  Oops.  I rectified it early this year.

Final Card: #143 Darren Sproles

2013 Topps Strata: I bought a hobby box of this in 2013 and ended up with a good starter set.  It wasn't my favorite design, but I had enough that I decided to just go ahead and complete it anyway.  Note: the football version of Strata is not a high-end product, like baseball Strata became.  This is a middle-range product with an "just okay" look to it.

Final Card: #45 Michael Vick

1995 Collector's Choice: This set was 20 years in the making.  I started it when I was 13.  Then I went on hiatus for almost two decades.  When I came back, I decided to finish it off at last.  Some of the cards I had to chase down were really familiar because I had lost some through the years.  I've got them all back and then some, and this set from my childhood is done.

Final Card: #246 Bryant Young


1988 Topps: This is my crowning achievement for the year.  Earlier in 2017, I decided to chase this set for sentimental reasons.  It was the first set I ever had in my collection, the one that started it all.  I'd never really considered putting the set together until this year.  It turned out to be easier than I expected.  So many 1988 cards came my way in trades.  I found out one of my LCS's had a monster box full of them and the owner was willing to sell them to me for a nickel apiece.  The one card I was worried about was the iconic card of the set, Bo Jackson's rookie.  I found it on ebay in November for just $4 and snagged it.

This wasn't the last card I needed, though.  I thought this one would take me longer than it did.

Final Card: #285 Lawrence Taylor

For those of you keeping track at home, I finished off 10 sets in 2017, seven base sets and three insert sets.  I added 80 cards to my BYU binder, and had a whole lot of other cards join my collection.  All of those cards are safely stored in binders or BCW shoeboxes.  I'm ready to begin the new year.  And I'll ring it in without my cards.  But when Christmas break ends next week, I already have some boxes I bought off ebay to bust.  Since it pleases my wife, I can wait until then.

Favorite Card of 2017

For whatever reason, deciding on my favorite card of 2017 was difficult.  I think it boils down to the fact that I didn't get any cards produced in 2017 that made me say, "Wow!"  I got plenty of awesome cards, but the ones that I got and couldn't take my eyes off came from other years.  As unpopular as Flagship was this year, I think there was some outstanding photography that made it a pretty good set.  Most of the cards I considered came from this set.

I don't have a countdown this year, but I will share some of the cards that crossed my mind when P-Town Tom announced his contest.

Earlier this month, I tried some Topps Gallery.  I pulled this Masterpiece insert.  It's beautiful in-hand.  In fact, this insert set is probably my favorite set of 2017.  But the subject matter of Brian Dozier just isn't enough to be my favorite card.

 

Another card I considered was chosen by the web's most well-known Angels blogger, Tom from Angels in Order.  This card is so cool, and Andrelton Simmons's defensive prowess is certainly worthy of a fiery celebration, but it just wasn't enough to be my favorite.

 

 

I think this card, already shown off by Night Owl, is probably my favorite.  But, alas, I don't own it.  I just have seen it enough on the blogs for it to pop into my mind immediately when I thought of best card of 2017.

  

P-Town Tom himself already showed this card on his blog.  It's great, with Bryant celebrating the World Series on the front and Schwarbs on the back.  This would probably be my runner-up.

Even though I didn't choose the card above, from the beginning, I thought that there were enough cards celebrating the Cubs World Series to choose one from them.  A Heritage TV design?  Possibly?  The Cubs flying the W?  Also in the mix.  But no one single card stood out to me.  Then last week I bought another pack of Update, and it solved my problem.  There, in probably my last pack of 2017, was my favorite card of the year.

And here it is.  The Cubbies celebration parade, with Heyward, Bryant, Fowler, and Rizzo.  The only negative to this card is the fact that the player front and center in the card was one of the first to leave following the championship.  But that is such a minor drawback that I don't feel like I could choose another card.  2017 was the year of Cubs celebration cards, and I don't think I could tire of it.  This is my favorite of those 2017 cards.

Cubs Box Post-Script, Basketball Style

I mentioned earlier that Kerry had thrown some Jazz cards in the Cubs box for me.  I'll just show off a few here, since I forgot that part in my last post.  Here are some of my favorite.  Shiny legend John Stockton is always fun.  The Optic Hall Kings insert is especially cool.  Rookie Donovan Mitchell has been one of the NBA's best stories this year, and has stepped into the role of superstar for a team that desperately needed it.  The fanbase was optimistic when D-Mitch was drafted, but how quickly he has become The Man for the team exceeds anybody's wildest dreams.  These are the first cards I have of him.

Last year I took my oldest son to his first Jazz game. George Hill was lights out as the Jazz routed the Nuggets, so my son became a George Hill fan.  This year, I took my second oldest to his first Jazz game.  The Jazz played about the worst I've ever seen an NBA team play, but Joe Ingles was the best performer on the team that night.  Naturally, my younger boy gravitated to "Slow-Mo" Joe.  These cards belong to my boys now.  Thanks, Kerry!

The Cubs Part (Part Deux)

Last week I started recapping the massive amount of Cubs cards that I received from Kerry, proprietor of Cards Cards. 

As I flipped through the cards, there were some that looked so familiar that I was shocked to learn that I did not, in fact, own the card already.  In the case of the above cards, I owned the Opening Day version and two parallels of the the Barney, the Topps Mini Soto, and the Chrome Baez.  I'm actually still trying to figure out how I didn't have the regular flagship Baez rookie already, as I busted so much Topps in 2015.  Then again, I also opened enough of that set to (almost) collate Series 2 multiple times over, but I still haven't pulled (or owned) the Kris Bryant rookie of that set.  Maybe Javy fits in the same category there.

One of the best things about obtaining large lots of Cubs is digging out the players that are new to my Cubs binder.  No, I don't have a CATRC binder, a la Burbs, nor am I crazy enough to attempt such a feat, but it is fun to find representation for as many Cubbies as possible.  The highlights for me are the first Jose Quintana (Chrome Style) and Davy Lopes, looking as menacing as ever.  Some players, such as Dave Sappelt, don't even ring a bell of recognition with me.

Aaron Heilman is new to my Cubs collection, too.  Oddly, Topps doesn't seem to want him to be in it all.  While he is clearly pictured as a Cub and labeled as such on the front, the back lists him with the Mariners.  Not only is the Mariner logo and name on the back, Topps doubled down on its mistake by writing about Heilman leaving the Mets for the Mariners.  So how did this happen?  In December 2008, Heilman was sent to Seattle as part of a three-team deal involving the Mets, Mariners, and Indians.  Luis Valbuena, J.J. Putz, and Joe Smith were some of the bigger names involved in this deal.  Then Seattle shipped Heilman to the Cubs just about a month later in exchange for Ronny Cedeno and Garrett Olson.  It looks as if Topps held off on Heilman's card until Series 2 to feature him with Seattle, but had to get a new picture when he was dealt again.  Somebody (or everybody) apparently overlooked fixing the back that had, presumably, already been created.  Marks for trying, though, Topps.  Heilman was traded to Arizona in November following the 2009 season, marking his third trade in an 11-month span.

 Here is a look at some of the Cubs' great can't miss prospects over the years.

• Lance Dickson got his Cup of Coffee in 1990, appearing in 3 games and posting a 7.24 ERA.  It was his only time spent in the Majors.
• Ty Griffin was a #1 draft pick, but he never played in The Show.  He spent 1989-1997 in the minors before hanging them up.
• Mike Harkey made his debut in 1988, started 5 games and posting a solid 2.60 ERA in 3 losses.  Injuries hampered his progress, and he next appeared for the Cubs in 1990.  He spent 5 seasons in Chicago as a starter (3.92 ERA) and kicked around the league with 4 teams in the 4 following years to end his career.
• Gary Scott saw MLB action in 1991-1992.  He batted .160 with a .198 OBP.  Fifty points under the Mendoza Line!  His WAR in 67 total games was -1.8.
•   Earl Cunningham rose to the level of the #44 prospect in baseball.  He never rose to the level of a Major Leaguer.  He gets points for a Cubs gold chain that places squarely in the late 80s/early 90s.
• Derrick May spent five seasons with the Cubs, having a pretty good season in 1993 when he hit .295 with 10 homers.  May spent exactly the decade of the 90s in the Majors, from 1990-1999 with the Cubs, Brewers, Astros, Phillies, Expos, and Orioles.  He was a serviceable outfielder.
• Greg Smith appeared in 27 games over three seasons with the Cubs and Dodgers.  His career average of .212 puts him right around the Mendoza line.
• Finally, Brett Jackson was another first rounder that didn't pan out.  He played one season for the Cubs, batting only .169.  He drew a fair number of walks, however, that boosted his on-base percentage to .299.  He was traded to the Diamondbacks in 2014 and played a few games for that club until he was out of the league.

This is the entire Cubs team set from 1997 Pinnacle Xpress.  Honestly, I was completely unfamiliar with this set until I received these cards.  It's typical late-90s Pinnacle fare: clear photography, unique--maybe even busy--design, and gold foil.  They're pretty nice cards and I do like the different photographs being used.

 These are cards I just liked for various reasons.  Shawon Dunston sure was involved in a lot of flying dust, if these cards tell the story.  Luis Salazar appears to be in the midst of a huge swing-and-a-miss.  I've always found those cards interesting.  A Chrome rookie of Starlin, who was just recently part of the Giancarlo Stanton swap.  The Kevin Gregg card is interesting to me because where is his glove?  Honestly, he looks more like a coach here.  The last card is the most interesting to me, though.  That is Doug Dascenzo, outfielder, on the mound in a real-life Major League game.  I know that it's not all that rare for position players to pitch, but I haven't seen too many base cards depicting that event.  It's pretty cool.  Dascenzo actually pitched four innings in his career, giving up three hits and striking out two of the 18 batters he faced.

Finally, we'll end with some views of the beautiful ivy at Wrigley.  Thanks again for the cards, Kerry.  Any Cubs collectors out there who have holes in your 1988-1991 or 2012-2013 team collections, there's a chance I could have some dupes from this box to help you out.  Let me know what you need, and I'll check it.

Sneaky Secret Santa Strikes Swiftly, Soundlessly

Just as December was beginning, I went to the mailbox and found a padded envelope.  As I expected, it was addressed to me.  Nobody else in my family receives bubble mailers.  However, I didn't recognize the return address at all.  I wondered, Could this be my Secret Santa?  It seemed a bit early for my Secret Santa package to arrive; after all, I hadn't even begun putting my package together yet.  (I have now.  It's in the mail, so the recipient should be getting it in a day or two.)  I opened it up, and saw some wrapping paper and a card.  It was Secret Santa, and he was early!

My first thought was to keep it and unwrap it later, more toward Christmas Day.  However, knowing how slow I am at posting things on my blog, and wanting to give a shout out and public thanks to the sender ASAP, I decided that I had better open it.  So here I am, two weeks later, finally posting its contents.  It's probably best I didn't wait, or I might not have written this post before Christmas.

The question remained: Who was my Secret Santa?  The answer lay in one of the cards.  This card to be exact:

Jon, from A Penny Sleeve for Your Thoughts, was my Secret Santa.  Jon and I have never traded before, so it was no wonder that I hadn't recognized the address.  He made a great first impression.

A couple of vintage Cubs is a nice start.  The '59 Glen Hobbie is almost my oldest card now, if not for my Glen Hobbie rookie, which is a '58.  I thought it a strange coincidence that it is the same player in back to back years vying for the oldest in my collection.  Neither one of these pitchers had great careers, but Hobbie was serviceable for a few years in Chicago.  Schaffernoth played for the Cubs for 2 seasons, posting a 4.58 ERA and a 3-8 record before leaving the Big Leagues for good.

Now here we have two players who had significantly more successful careers at Wrigley.  These are both oddballs, and sets that I never even knew existed, to boot.  The Andre Dawson is a 1993 Duracell issued set called "Power Players," and it was apparently available in 6-card packs with a proof of purchase mail-in order.  I don't know how I didn't know about this as a kid.  I was certainly old enough to understand this concept at the time, and I would guess that I used batteries then.  The Ryno is from a 1993 set released by photographer Barry Colla and it featured the All-Stars of that year.  I have no idea how it was released other than it appeared to have been only available as a boxed set.  I'm happy to include both of these cards in collection.

My only other card from this red-bordered set is a star, Giancarlo Stanton, but I'll take a Rizzo any day over Stanton.  The blue hat and red border look fantastic together on this parallel.

After seeing those great Cubs, I ran into some basketball.  Jon included a trio of Grant Hill cards.  Hill just happens to be my favorite basketball player of all-time, and one of the few basketball players that I collect.  What I can't figure out is how Jon knew to include Grant Hill.  I have no basketball listed anywhere on my wantlists, and I don't think I've ever done a post that focused on Hill.  Jon must have done some deep digging in my blog to pick up that clue, and I appreciate that.  All three of these cards are pretty sweet, too.  The Classic Four Sport is a Promo, which is cool.

The cards kept rolling, as Jon sent some Steve Youngs for my BYU collection.  That Pacific Revolution set is really cool in hand, but it is pretty busy.

This is the back of the Action Packed Armed Forces card.  As you can see, it is clearly marked as a Promo, as well.  I don't know where this one came from, but the oddballs keep rolling in from Jon.

If I'm going to be completely honest, the package made my heart sink at the very first.  You see, I opened up the 1st little package and immediately saw the back of the Raymont Harris card.  It was like opening up that present from your grandma on Christmas Day, all full of anticipation and excitement, and discovering that she had given you underwear.  Except this was worse than underwear, it was a Bear.  I wondered if Jon had gotten me mixed up with someone else, or had assumed that since I was a Cubs collector I also liked the Bears, and sent me a package chock full of Bears.  Then I noticed one single word in the bottom corner of the card: "Refractor."  It hit me that Jon had seen the newest addition to my wantlist and had sent me a card for my Refractors Frankenset. He was redeemed!  It's a shame that refractors don't scan well because these cards look great in a binder full of refractors.

That was it for the package labeled "Open 1st."  Now for the one instructing me to "Open 2nd."

We're back to the Cubs, but this package is obviously the one full of hits!  A Brett Jackson auto from A&G.  I don't collect A&G, but I have to say that they always look great and I'm happy to take this former Cubs Prospect Supreme into my collection.

The second hit of the package--a Johnathan Franklin auto from 2013 Prizm.  Johnathan Franklin logged only 19 carries in his brief pro career with the Packers, but he is one of the Packers that I focus on.  In 2013, he and Eddie Lacy were both drafted by the Pack, and it was my excitement over both of the picks that helped catapult me back into collecting.  Franklin was an entirely different skillset than Lacy, and I thought they complemented each other well.  Unfortunately, a neck injury in his rookie season ended his career.  I suppose it's the career-ending injury that gives me a soft spot for Franklin in my collection.

The final card in the package was an auto-patch numbered to 725 of Brandon Jackson.  Jackson came into the league in 2007 and had higher expectations than Franklin, due to his status as a second round draft pick.  Unfortunately, it didn't pan out for Jackson, as he spent only four years in Green Bay, starting only 16 games and averaging about 3.8 yards per carry in that span.  He spent one year in Cleveland after leaving the Pack before he was out of the league.  That doesn't matter to me, though.  I'll take an on-card auto and two-color patch (especially when it is obvious part of a number or letter) of anybody who suited up for my Pack.

In his card, Jon wrote that he "attempted to add some new additions to multiple parts of [my] collection."  I'd say he was successful.  Thanks a million, Jon!  I loved the package.  And thanks to Matt at Bob Walk the Plank for facilitating this little Secret Santa exchange.  It has been fun.

Cubs Box (Part 1)

Last month, Kerry from Cards on Cards offered up a bunch of Cubs cards that he no longer wanted in his house.  I had a stack of cards set aside for him already, so I figured now is as good a time as any to send them his way, in return for his unwanted debris.  The resulting package was two  400-count Loot Locker boxes filled with Cubs.  Well, almost filled with Cubs.  Kerry had also stowed some Jazz and Packers.  How serendipitous is that?  I mean, Kerry puts a few random basketball and football cards in the Cubs box and it turns out that the person claiming the box actually needed/wanted those cards, too!

All facetiousness aside, it was a great haul and I'm grateful for the offer.  Kerry warned that the contents were mostly junk wax, but the truth is that my collection has plenty of junk wax holes.  It took a while to sort through everything and check it against my collection.  In the end, this is the amount of cards that ended up in my collection:

Let's start the Show and Tell with the individual great Cubs that I tend to focus on.

With this page of Rynos, he has passed Mark Grace in terms of largest individual Cub collection.  Grace may still be my favorite, but Sandberg is more prolific on the cardboard.

Speaking of Grace, here is with two other infielders who receive special attention in my collection.  I love the Topps Glossy Rookie insert here.  Vance Law is a BYU guy and Nomar is a ROY, but I would have collected him anyway.  I always liked Nomah.

Jerome Walton is one of my favorite Cubs ever.  I'm always surprised when I learn that one of his major releases from 1990-1991 isn't in one of my collections already.  Maybe that's why I don't have them all; when I see them I assume I already have them and pass them up.  These three were still needed somehow.

Sutcliffe is another one of my favorites.  I will collect any all Sutcliffe cards because was a ROY, and not with the Cubs.  Here is some more junk wax that I'm fairly certain I'm the last collector on the planet to obtain.

Another ROY, this one a Hall of Famer, Andre Dawson spent some great years with the North Siders.  Here we have a helping of Donruss, Fleer, and Score.  I miss Fleer.  I usually enjoyed their designs.  (I never minded the yellow.  I never thought it was great, but I don't despise it, either.)  Score may the epitome of cheap junk cards, but I really liked a lot of their designs, as well.

A couple more Hall of Famers who called Wrigley home.  I have so few of those Studio cards from the early 90s.  I don't know how I feel about them.  Part of me says, "That's pretty cool," and another part of me finds them a bit off-putting.  Of these cards, the Studio Maddux is my favorite, though.

Since I have showcased both Grace and Dawson here, it's time to present a little something I call, "Great Baseball Players Running Awkwardly."  Seriously, both of these cards look so unathletic.  Grace looks like he's just tromping off to beat the snot out of somebody and Dawson looks like a lumbering giant who hasn't figured out how to move his arms while running. 

Kerry's Cubs box contained a lot of late 80s and early 90s cards.  That wasn't the case with all the cards, though.  Some of the cards were new and even shiny, too!  I'll show off the rest some other time.  Big thanks to Cards on Cards for being a Cardinals fan and wanting to dump his Cubs cards. They found a welcoming home.

I Have a New Favorite Card

. . . and, no, this is not for P-Town Tom's best card of 2017 contest.  I'm still working on that.  This is simply a new addition to my collection that is my absolute favorite among the thousands I own.  This favorite card is not from 2017.  But it did come in a 2017 TCDB trade with rodine.  This was my second trade with rodine this year and it required a little bit of haggling to get it done.  However, when this card was part of the original proposal, I knew I couldn't let the deal die.

First, three cards from a fun insert set: Opening Day's Opening Day.  This is why I like Opening Day--it celebrates one of my favorite days of the year.  In the case of this insert, it's a literal celebration of Opening Day.  It's a small set, but I only pulled one out of packs this year and I've been building the rest through trades.

Next, I received a single card from another insert set that I am building.  Perspectives caught my eye last year and I wanted the set from the beginning.  This is one of the better shots in a set full of great photography.

Rodine also sent me a few Gracies I needed.  I think I love every card here.  Early Upper Deck SP, a great shot of Grace coming down the third base line, an outstanding flip to the pitcher covering first (presumably), and two designs I've always loved in 1997 Fleer and Ultra.  Not to mention a Pinnacle Inside, which I never even heard of back in the day.

Two of my heroes when I was growing up, Emmitt Smith and Brett Favre.  I soured on Smith when the Cowboys went on a run of knocking the Packers out of the playoffs three years in a row, but I'm happy to have these two cards.

As great as these cards are, none of them have become my favorite card.  No, I have saved the best for last.  What, you ask, is my new favorite card in my collection?  What could be so rare as to knock my pack-pulled Kyle Schwarber 1/1 rookie off the top?  What could could be so valuable as to push my LaDainian Tomlinson autographed patch aside?  What could be so . . . oh, nevermind.  You get it.  It's not extremely valuable, old, or rare.  But I coveted it and now I own it.  Here it is:

A 1986 Topps Reggie White rookie!  The all-knowing Beckett only values this card at $15, but this card is iconic to me and one that I have wanted since I was a kid.  And now I have it.  Big thanks to TCBD user rodine for a great trade.  It's definitely one I will remember.

Collect-a-Set (and Some PCs)--A TCDB Trade

In October (yes, I really am that far behind in my posts) I completed a massive trade with TCDB user Collect-a-Set that included 100 cards on both sides.  True to his name, Mr. Collect-a-Set seemed to be looking to build some sets, including 2015 Topps flagship baseball and football.  I, on the other hand, mostly hit my PCs from his tradelist.

First, the Packers.  Looking at the James Jones card, I wondered if this was from one of his good seasons or bad.  Jones seemed to alternate between dropping everything that came his way and scoring touchdowns like it was going out of style.  It would appear that this particular photo was from Week 1 in 2012, when Jones scored the first of his 14 TDs that season.  I'd say this was a good season.  I also love the Randall Cobb.  I'm a sucker for Lambeau Leap cards.

I scored a quintet of rookie cards of All-1990s defenders in this trade.  I have never really agreed with Levon Kirkland's inclusion on this team.  I think his teammate, Greg Lloyd, would have made a better selection.  Perhaps my bias is due to the fact that  cardboard seems to be in short supply, but I think it's more football related than that.  Consider:

• Lloyd had 707 tackles to Kirkland's 771.
• Lloyd had 54.5 sacks to Kirkland's 19.5
• Both finished with 11 interceptions.
• Lloyd made 5 Pro Bowls and 3 1st Team All-Pro; Kirkland made 2 Pro Bowls and 1 1st-Team All-Pro.

I don't know how Greg Lloyd was snubbed.  It could possibly be that Kirkland was an inside backer and Lloyd was outside, but that argument doesn't make sense, since the all-decade team doesn't seem to differentiate.  Plus, the 2nd-Team All-1990s team has one outside backer and two inside backers (Kirkland and Hardy Nickerson).  It just doesn't make sense to me.

Moving on, here are some more 1990s greats.  These cards scream nineties to me.  Gold foil, the brand new Patriots logo, outlandish Score designs, and Collector's Edge.  I have to admit, though: that Carnell Lake is a sweet card.

I have a feeling that the pictures from these cards came from the same play.  After all, how often does a defensive tackle have the ball in the end zone?  However, I can't find anything that says Millard scored during this game.  Rams cornerback Jerry Gray was named MVP of the Pro Bowl, so I find it hard to believe that Millard scored a touchdown and another defensive player took home the MVP.  Does anybody know where I can find a boxscore for the 1990 Pro Bowl?  Either way, I like the look of these two cards side-by-side in my binder.

All of these player are on the All-1980s team.  This set, however, came from 1993.  It's got quite the 90s feel to it, despite the fact that all of these players had their heyday in the 80s.

On to the baseball.  Jeff Conine may have been crowned "Mr. Marlin," but here he is seen as an Oriole.  These are my only cards of Conine as an Oriole.  I prefer to collect his Marlin cards because that's when he won the All-Star Game MVP award.

Here are some former Rookies of the Year.  None of them did too much to follow up their freshman campaign.

Finally, I received my first two Scott Williamson cards.  He fits in my collection as a ROY, but his career is made up entirely of black hole years in my collection.  Needless to say, his binder page needs some work.

As I said before, 100 cards exchanged hands on both sides during this trade.  This just represents the highlights.  Thanks for reading, and happy collecting.