Super Traders #1: Highly Subjective + Completely Arbitrary

The Super Traders packages have already arriving and are starting to pile up.  The first one to arrive in the mail was sent by Brian over at Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary.  He's the Minnesota Twins guy in the group and has been blogging since 2015.  To be honest I just recently discovered his blog, but that's the beauty of Jaybarkerfan's amazing experiment, which opened the doors for team traders to meet other bloggers and exchange cards with each other.

I'm a fan of both the San Diego Padres and Oakland Athletics, but since we're unable to monopolize multiple teams... Wes asked me if I'd represent the A's in the Super Trader's group and I obviously said "yes".

Here's an arbitrary sampling of what Brian sent my way:

1979 Topps #378

When I was a kid... my oldest brother took me to a lot of Oakland A's games.  Mr. Picciolo was one of those guys whose name was always in the lineup, but never really stood out statistically.  That doesn't mean I don't appreciate this fine piece of cardboard.  70's cardboard rules!

2015 Topps Update Tape Measure Blasts #1 and #11

While Picciolo was the furthest thing from being a household name... The Bash Brothers were two of the most popular players in baseball and have never had any problem with publicity.  I'm not exactly a fan of Topps and their recent flooding of inserts into the hobby.  However... there are two reasons I was happy that Brian sent me these two cards.

#1 - I didn't have them.
#2 - I remember seeing Canseco smack that ball during the 1989 ALCS.  Good times.

2007 UD Future Stars Rookie Dated Debuts #JM

I must have completely blocked out the 2007 MLB season... because Jay Marshall appeared in 51 games... and I've never heard of the guy (until now).

2004 Topps Total #778 and

1986 O-Pee-Chee #31

I would have to be living on the moon to not know who Eric Karros and Dusty Baker are.  Karros was the 1992 National League Rookie of the Year and Baker has found success as both a player and a manager.  But did you know that both of these guys ended their MLB careers with the Athletics? 

As for the cards themselves... I'm a huge fan of both Topps Total and 70's/80's O-Pee-Chee baseball.

2007 Fleer Soaring Stars #BZ

And rounding out this package is another guy who finished his career with the A's.  The difference is... Zito's best years were spent in the East Bay.  It's always nice to add another Zito insert to the collection... but since I'm being subjective, I've got to admit... it's bothers me that Fleer used a photo of Zito with the Athletics for this card.  He was with the Giants in 2007 and the card clearly states San Francisco on it.  Couldn't they find a Spring Training photo of him with the Giants?

On the other hand... if he was pictured in a Giants' uniform... this card would have been shipped to Adam instead of me, so I guess I should be thanking Fleer instead of complaining about them.

Nah.  I'd rather dedicate this entire "thank you" post to Brian for this "not exactly" arbitrary Super Traders package.

Brian... I'll start putting together some Twins for you and get them shipped out sometime this week.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!