Apparently a certain White Sox enthusiast forgot about the players movin on up to Chicago and sees the Braves/Sox trade as a heist. WE GAVE YOU LILLIBRIDGE, WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?!? Ok, I'll play along, we stoled em. Now Javy is crying out for help in his masking tape prison. Ayuda! ¡Socorro! Raptar! See back for further instructions... Wait, who kidnapped who?!? Am I going to have to leave a 1915 Cracker Jack Joe Jackson inserted into a pack of 2008 Upper Deck Documentary at the base of the Picasso statue at Daley Plaza at 3:15 on Tuesday in order for the Braves to get their only offseason pickup so far??
Oh, open carefully. No ransom. Whew! Of course opening something wrapped with three rolls of masking tape is easier said than done. Steve wasn't fooling around on this one. Of course some of them have fragile arms sticking out. I'm assuming the Italian thing is a reference to A Christmas Story. Ya know, I completely missed the marathon this year? First I miss the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and now this. Jeez, I'm slack. I opened it as carefully as I could by hacking at it with an Xacto knife.
Yay! Our new arms! The only ones that want to sign with us! It's nice to have a couple more cards of these guys to start off the season with. You just know that Topps won't airbrush a Braves uni on Javy because they'll have their artists working overtime painting pinstripes. If a card is released by anyone with Boone Logan in a Braves uniform before June 2011, I'll be shocked.
I love articially low numbered Chipper Jones cards on classy looking cards with a black & white design. I sure won't miss Moments & Milestones next year though. I wish they would take Opening Day, UDX and Spectrum to the grave with them.
Ah, there's the fra-GEEL- ee card. A 1994 Fleer Extra Bases Tom Glavine insert card with part of the card hanging out of a toploader that also holds a Bee-You-Tee-Fool 1995 SP Greg Maddux. Kind of ironic that the'fragile arm belongs to a guy who never hit the DL until he was well into his 40s.
These two cards from Topps Magazine were so butt-ugly I had to share. Quick quiz: one of these designs was submitted to a "Design-A-Card" contest and came in second place. The other was apparently created by a professional. Can you guess which is which?
Another completely random card out of left field. This is an Exclusive Premium Trading Card of The Crow from Kitchen Sink Press. I'm a fan of their comics (and other stuff), so this is pretty cool. Wait... this couldn't be a subtle hint for me to quit being so emo about Furcal jilting the Braves, could it? Naaaaah. I've mostly got that out of my system anywa-THE DIRTY FINK USED US DAMMIT. Well, mostly.
The package also included my winnings from Steve's "take my extra White Sox cards" trivia contest. The funny thing about that was that due to Steve's random postings of the questions I always came in late on the first 15 questions. I got to the point where I almost posted "Since I can't manage to answer the questions fast enough, the answer to the next question is '1983'." I decided not to be obnoxious though and then the next question I got there first and the answer actually was 1983. Spooky... I won the 1983 and 1994 cards. Here they are, all listed out Steve Style.
1983 Donruss395 - Greg Luzinski
1983 Fleer
246 - Ron LeFlore
1991 Fleer
118 - Carlton Fisk
1991 Leaf
271 - Robin Ventura
1991 Conlon Collection
113 Bill Dietrich
1994 Collector's Choice36 - Wilson Alvarez
50 - Jason Bere
99 - Alex Fernandez
134 - Roberto Hernandez
150 - Lance Johnson
157 - Ron Karkovice
235 - Scott Radinsky
147 - Scott Ruffcorn
282 - Robin Ventura
306 - Wins Leaders (2)
309 - AL Cy Young (3)
327 - Frank Thomas Checklist
354 - Frank Thomas Checklist
370 - Darin Jackson
385 - Tim Raines (2)
415 - Julio Franco (2)
435 - Ozzie Guillen
445 - Jack McDowell
500 - Frank Thomas
617 - Dan Pasqua
640 - Frank Thomas Close & Personal
652 - James Baldwin
1994 Donruss
20 - Jack McDowell
145 - Ellis Burks
220 Checklist
1994 Pinnacle
29 - Robin Ventura
164 -Roberto Hernandez
192 - Ivan Calderon
462 - Tim Raines
There were a also a few off my want list and a mess 'o Braves too including a Goudey short print of Al Kaline and a Chipper Jones Pro Sigs card I've never seen before. Nice stuff Steve, Thanks again!
