Traders without Borders

Quintessential Robby Alomar.

In the never-ending competition we bloggers have, I am stooping to a new low with this title. So if you've come here to see my convoluted mentioning of a one Pat Borders, you'll have to wait.

But, I guess, it makes some sense. I received a package today from Jeroen, the man behind the Ace and Yankee-centric Dutch Card Guy blog.

This is our second cross-Atlantic trade, the first netting me a forking JP Arencibia 1-of-1 Printing Plate (no big deal). While JP wasn't involved in this particular trade, I did receive some soon-to-be well-loved Blue Jays, along with some 2012 Allen and Ginter's help:

I know you guys have Allen and Ginter base cards laying around. Check out my want list, and I will make it worth your while. I'd love to get this set banged out by the release of Gypsy Queen and forgotten on my shelf of completed set binders.

The Dutchman also contributed to my Blue Jays rainbow attempts for 2013:

 

The Hutchison is just a common, but at this point I had only pulled his red parallel. I believe le Dimwit may have contributed the Drew to my base set, and now this one will go on the rainbow page - hopefully to be replaced before 2014 by the Silver Slate parallel.

There was also a Jos-eh Reyes sighting:

The emerald is from Jeroen, but the black is from ebay. Coincidentally, the pink and black parallels of Jose both came from sellers based in New York, one being in the town that I still play baseball in during the summer.

If you send me a Bowman Blue Jay in a trade package, there is a strong chance that I will mention it. Daniel Norris loves him some crosses, as does Jose Reyes. Damn, the Blue Jays are a handsome bunch.

Well, except Colby Rasmus.

And now, what you've all been waiting for, a full-bleed, fully-geared, chaw-choked Blue Jays fan favourite and all-around ruggedly handsome gentleman - NAY, Legend, Pat Borders:

Oh sweet hell yes.

Trades and Upkeep

Many of you recently participated in Ryan over at Another Orioles Blog's trade bait closeout. It was a pretty fun experience, as a lot of great cards were snatched up by many a great bloggers - and I am certain that Ryan was able to haul in a massive amount of sweet Orioles cards in the process.

I myself sent him a not-huge but a rather heavy-hitting assortment of O's, and in return I efficiently flushed his collection of lovely cards to add into my own collection. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose, and as of right now I am holding on to these beauties.

This Aaron Hill from 2005 Bowman was the one I made sure I had to have. I enjoyed Aaron Hill's time in Toronto marginally more than most - as I likened myself as a similar role-player to Hill in my own playing days. I also love the Futures Game (not to mention autographs and game-used bases), and Hill was the MVP of the one in 2004 (U-S-A! U-S-A!) Annoyingly, the card does not divulge what exactly Hill did to enjoy such honours. So it goes.

I enjoy a well-designed autograph card, and this is a good example. Churchy was a casualty of the Nationals-Pirates-Mets mediocrity of the mid-to-late 2000's, where all teams seemingly exchanged very similar role players who neither hurt nor helped there teams - they just all seemed to play for those three.

A nice Carlos Delgado relic is always appreciated. This one is a nice, simple blue swatch from the early-2000s Blue Jays uniforms that I, seemingly, was the only one to enjoy. That's right. I was the one guy who liked the muscle-bound Jay. Looking closely, this jersey swatch has a nice seam going through it. I like that.

As the trade with Ryan progressed, I demanded Griffey refractors. I, the awful collector that I am, had not yet possessed one. This is my first, and I quite enjoy it. Black cards work well with Reds uniforms from the mid 2000s and any refractor with a black background will certainly be well-loved by this bloggar. Ryan also sent a reprint refractor of Jr. Griffey's 1989 Bowman, but logistics of scanning the heavily-warped (no fault of Ryan's) card was not worth the effort. So just to let you know, I have it, and enjoy it. I may scan it another time in a top-loader for better results.

I also selected these future-cornerstones of my player collections of Mikie Mahtook and Daniel Norris. It feels a bit dirty, collecting a Rays player, but Mikie was an LSU guy and was raved about on the now-deceased Baseball Prospectus Up and In Podcast (I do miss it so...). Plus its a dang purple refractor - second only to blacks in the rainbow hierarchy of refractors.

Also included is a rather limited (245/250) Orange parallel out of 2012 Bowman of future Blue Jays ace (that's right, I said it) Daniel Norris. One of two remaining of the Lansing Three after Justin Nicolino's departure to South Beach. Normally I am  not big on the range parallels, but this one will do - even wth the horrifically photoshopped Jays jersey.

Thanks for the cards, Ryan. Now on to other things, or rather, fragmented thoughts.

I've started selling on ebay again to offset my looming "seasonal unemployment." You can check my stuff out at the seller name "rolewiii13".

I'm contemplating adding another blog (or two) to my agenda. It will be entitled Rust Belt Cards and will contain longer, more thought-out posts about not just cards, but the importance of sports in my homeland, America's Rust Belt. It'll also feature my own photography.

I have a lot of other stuff to catch up on. I've sent out a few trades recently. Let me know when you get them.

I am expecting card-purchasing to die down for a while, at least until spring, as I wait until the contract that employed me starts up again "during the middle of the first quarter of 2013." Whatever that means.

I'm trying to organize my collections a bit better - but I could use your help. I would like to display cards on the wall - but am looking to learn of/invent a new, affordable solution to do so. Let me know what you know.

The Blue Jays claimed Eli Whiteside days after non-tendering whoeverthefuck Bobby Wilson is. It appears my main man - John-Paul Arencibia's days in Toronto may be numbered. So it goes.

This post now shares something in common with my coffee mug - it has dried up. My cue to click "post."

Peace, love, baseball.