I was sitting at my desk last night and heard a delivery truck pull away. Julie, of the blog A Cracked Bat: Baseball Cards and a Hot Dog, had alerted me that she was sending a package my way so I quickly went out to retrieve it.
Even though I knew Julie was sending me some Beckett magazines, the box was larger than expected. It's the biggest package I've ever gotten from a fellow blogger.
Inside the giant box were two other boxes; a shoe box filled with magazines; mostly Beckett's like this one from 2001 featuring Ichiro. I can't wait to go through each and every one!
There was also a Sport's Illustrated and Newsweek from the Summer of 1998 featuring McGwire and McGwire and Sosa respectively.
At the very bottom of the pile was this Texas Rangers program from 2006. Pretty cool. I like the Rangers. I used to go to a lot of their Spring Training games and practices way back when. But then I notice a sticky note sticking out of the program. I turned to it and there was a ticket stub from a game on June 18, 2006 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Now that's cool!
A search reveals that the Rangers beat the D-Backs that day, 10-7. Eric Byrnes, Orlando Hudson, and Shawn Green all hit home runs for the D-Backs in the loss. Michael Young hit one for the Rangers.
The second box contained an envelope with three numbered team bags and a note from Julie asking me to humor her by opening them in order.
So let's start with bag #1.
I believe this is my first Mitch Haniger card. I remember this guy last season. He hit a triple in his first MLB at bat and had 3 RBI in his first game. I don't think he has a Topps card as a Diamondback. He was traded during the last off-season to Seattle as part of the deal that netted us Taijuan Walker and Ketel Marte.
A few current and a few former D-Backs.
Goldy! Disappointing that they gave Goldschmidt a "sacrifice bunt".
2017 Gypsy Queen near complete team set. Looks like it's just missing Jake Lamb.
Let's check out bag #2.
Gold parallels of Tomas and Lamb.
These 2002 Donruss Studio Stars cards look like credit cards and are awesome!
A great assortment of old and new with numbered, refractors, and die cuts sprinkled in.
I love it when I can connect a card to a specific moment and as a D-Backs fan there is no better moment than this one.
This little guy was stuck behind another card and I missed it the first time I flipped through the pile. It's a Topps mini parallel numbered to 10!
Bag #3
The Steve Finley that features him and his son, that was on the top of the bag, that I forgot to get a picture of, was hiding 10 more Goldschmidt cards!
Three cards of the Big Unit including a sweet jersey card!
Love the shine on the 2017 Topps Chrome Brandon Drury refractor.
Cool Stadium Club auto of Peter O'Brien. Such a sad story. O'Brien was a 2nd round draft pick in 2012 by the New York Yankees. The Yankees traded O'Brien to the D-Backs in July 2014. He started as a catcher, but converted to an outfielder against the wishes of the Diamondbacks. He made his debut on September 11, 2015. He hit 6 home runs in 34 games for the D-Backs in 2015 and 2016 before being traded to the Royals and spending time in their minor league system. Next up were stints with the Reds, Rangers, and Dodgers minor leagues. The Dodgers designated him for assignment on July 31st of this year.
Finally, another Topps mini. This time it's a rookie card of Archie Bradley. It's the pink parallel numbered to 5! Bradley has grown a beard and has become a huge part of the D-Backs bullpen this season. I was at the Dodgers game earlier this month where the D-Backs were down when Jake Lamb hit a grand slam to take the lead and then Bradley came in to record three quick outs and as he stormed off the mound he shouted "Let's go! This is our house! Let's go!" in reference to all the Dodgers fans at Chase Field. Probably my favorite game of the season so far!
Wow great stuff. I pulled 2 o'Brien autos. Wondered what had happened to him. Guess his career is over most likely
ReplyDeleteSifting through old Becketts is a blast. Love the Reader's Write and the Top 20 lists. Have fun.
ReplyDeleteAwesome stuff! I love it when relief pitchers get fired up and show their emotions. Jason Grilli was always getting pumped and screaming when he was in Pittsburgh
ReplyDeleteI opened the package from you last night! Please know that I enjoyed the cards very much! I hated to toss (recycle) the Becketts. I was elated to send them along to someone who would enjoy them! As you can see, I'm still purging. :)
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see if Goldy ever layed down a sacrifice bunt in his professional career. I can't imagine why he would have.
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