Care Packages to Blind Trades

When it comes to care packages, I'll try my best to return the favor and at the end of the day... a blind trade has been made.

I actually prefer blind trades these days, because I send out stuff that fits the other collector's PC's and hopefully they'll be able to use at least some of the stuff.  If not, they're free to pass it on to their friends or other collectors who share their interests.

Daniel Wilson over at It's like having my own Card Shop recently requested my address and told me he wanted to send over some stuff for my collection.  So we exchanged addresses and within a few days I received a package from him.  If he was an eBay seller, I'd give him a five star rating for shipping.

Unfortunately I've been under the weather the past two weeks and didn't get around to opening it until today.  I wanted to kick things off with this rookie card of Manny Trillo:

I remember Manny being an all-star for the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs, but I had no idea that he played for my beloved Athletics.  In fact, he was part of the trade that brought Billy Williams to Oakland from Chicago in 1974.

You gotta love cards that motivate you to research and learn new things.  Stay tuned... there's more to come later in this post.

However... let's get to some nice memorabilia cards for my Oakland A's PC:

I know that memorabilia cards have taken a beating in terms of authenticity and value the past few years.  But I still enjoy collecting them and I still consider them a "hit".  Daniel went four for four on these, because I didn't have any of these.

He also sent a ton of cool inserts... but this 1999 Topps Gallery Gallery of Heroes insert of Ben Grieve takes the cake:

If you've never owned one of these inserts, I encourage you to look into them.  These die-cut pieces of acetate are nothing short of beautiful.

And the last two cards I'll share with you are these 2008 Stadium Club rookie cards of Daric Barton:

Daniel actually sent a handful of inserts and parallels I didn't have, but these two cards stood out.  First they reminded me that Topps actually produced Stadium Club back in 2008.  For some reason, whenever I think of this product line... I think of the early 90's and the past two years.  It also brought back fond memories of their First Day Issue parallels.  Throw in that they're borderless and show off crisp photography and we have another pair of winners.

However one thing left me scratching my head.  Why are there two cards of Daric Barton?  And why are they both numbered 102?

According to Beckett, players on cards numbered 101 to 150 were each given two cards: a regular and a photo variation.  The Barton on the left is the regular version, while the one on the right is the variation.

Thank you Daniel for the great cards and inspiring me to get off of my butt and do a little cardboard investigating.  I'll try to ship your package sometime this week... if not next weekend at the latest.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!