A Cavalcade of Comity

Whether it's Free Stuff Friday, Picking Pockets, or BFGs, a number of bloggers have sent me some great things in the past couple of months. I've picked up something for just about every aspect of my collection from these generous bloggers and I've been saving it all for one post. The contributors to this post deserve applause and thanks: Chris the Collector, Johnny's Trading Spot, Padrographs Rod, Julie and her Cracked Bat, and the Highly Subjective (or is it Completely Arbitrary?) Brian.

Let's start with those All-Star MVPs. The Cals came from Rod. I picked two Ripkens from his free stuff giveaways, and he threw in a few more. In the second pic, Maury Wills is an ASG MVP whose page is not yet complete in my binder, so this Hygrade was much needed. To the right is an awesome Deckle Edge of Tommy Helms, who is a former Rookie of the Year. This a sweet card from John's Big Fun Game and a perfect fit for my collection.

We'll stick with our Rookie of the Year cards for a minute. I didn't realize before I got this Ben Grieve card that 1998 Topps Gallery was shiny. It's a really good-looking card.

Ben Grieve makes another appearance here with his Rookie Cup. Fellow ROY Kazuhiro Sasaki has one, as well as former Cub phenom Starlin Castro (who did not win Rookie of the Year). Jackie Robinson did, though. The pitcher on the bottom left is Lamarr Hoyt, who won the All-Star Game MVP in 1985. Joe Mauer was neither, but what a great card!

Here we have a mix of all the above: All-Star MVPs (Raines and Young), Rookie of the Year (Verlander), Cubs, and a guy who was none of the above but the card is just amazing.

Moving away from baseball, how about a couple of Packer receivers sent by fellow Packer fan Chris? Also, a Heisman winner in his college uni (sort of) is another mini-collection of mine.

We'll end this with a couple more college unis. Steve Young and Shawn Bradley are representing the Y here, and Bradley is doing it in serial-numbered fashion.

One thing I have loved about this giveaway trend is that it has given me addresses for bloggers I had never interacted with before, like Rod and Julie. So those two each have a PWE going out to them today. John, I have one for you, too. Chris and Brian, I'll keep setting aside those Sox, Packers dupes, and Twins to get something back to you, too. Thanks a bunch to all of you.

Now, I have some unfinished business on this blog. I tried to start a BBA to get people to share their unique collections. To enter, you just need to write a post and comment with the link here. I was going to random off 3 Brazilian phone cards to those entrants over a week ago. I only got one official entry. But, I'm counting Bo's post that sparked this idea. Also, Billy mentioned in a comment that he had already done similar posts. I would like to write a follow-up post with links to the bloggers' posts. So Billy, if you would like, choose a favorite other collection post and copy the URL in the comments. I'll count your entry and include a link to your post. So, that's three entrants. I've decided to give this one more week, so I will random them off a week from today, on Friday, May 15. If you have unique, let's see it.