Cards Make Painful Trades... Less Painful

The MLB non-waiver trade deadline has officially come and gone.  Both of my favorite teams were involved in some trades to help booster playoff bound teams' rosters.  There was a time in my life when it would have been devastating to see a guy like Josh Reddick being shipped off to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

However years and years of heartbreak have hardened my heart and forced me to swallow my tears, because both of my teams seem to stuck in the perpetual rebuilding phase.  They're constantly shipping out their fan favorites in exchange for young prospects that will eventually be shipped out for more prospects.

Over the years... I've gotten used to seeing favorite players being traded and most of the time, I don't let it bother me.  But like breakups... some are more memorable than others and some are more painful.

Hands down the most painful trade in MLB history for me was when Oakland shipped off Rickey Henderson, my favorite player at the time, to the New York Yankees for five young up and comers.  One of those guys was Jose Rijo:

I don't remember much about Rijo's days in Oakland, but he did spend three seasons with the team and had plenty of cards featuring him in an Athletics jersey.  I own a bunch of them, but I've never seen the card pictured above, which was sent to me by Jim over at FrankenDodger.

Now this card will go into my A's oddball and inserts binder.  Hopefully it'll be remembered as a gift from Jim and not the guy who the A's received in exchange for The Man of Steal.

In addition to the Rijo, he sent me this cool bat card of Jermaine Dye:

Athletics fans were excited to get Jermaine Dye from the Colorado Rockies, who acquired him earlier in the day for Neifi Perez.  He ended up playing in Oakland for four seasons and connecting for sixty-four home runs.

Jim also sent me these two guys who also happened to be acquired by the Athletics in trades:

Both of these guys made the American League All-Star team as members of the Athletics and overall had some very productive years in Oakland.

Finally... Jim sent me this awesome card:

I've found that one of the best ways to help you take your mind off of sad events is to focus on good memories.  This card commemorates one of the greatest moments in recent team history and thanks to GCRL I now can look at it whenever the A's decide to ship off their next fan favorite.

Thanks GCRL for the nice care package.  I'm on my summer break, so I'll put together a package of Dodgers for you.  Heck maybe one of them will make a guest appearance in your Frankenset.

Happy Monday and sayonara!