A special surprise when I got to the post office today. Not one, not two, but three packages. When looking at the postmarks, I see that one was mailed on January 31, one on January 27, and one on January 26. So that means that at least one of these packages was mailed the day after Julie at Things are Funner Here mailed her package, but I got it a week later. I have officially stopped trying to figure out Australia Post.


I firmly believe that each trade deserves its own post, because the time and effort people put into making trade packages should be recognised and celebrated. So the package I’m highlighting today is the first one mailed (the January 26 one) from Joe at The Sandlot.

I sent Joe a package including a Heritage Box Topper with three Mets, some David Wright specials, and a Henry Blanco 2010 Topps Update card. Why Henry Blanco? Because that was the card Joe needed to finish off his Mets team set. I love being able to send someone the last card they need to complete a set. It’s a great feeling.

In return, Joe sent me a bunch of Griffeys, Ichiros, and cards to knock off my wantlists, too:

Here are the Ichiro cards, and they’re both shiny. And that leads into an announcement I would like to make. From this point forward, shiny cards of Ichiro Suzuki will be known as Ichichromes. Tell your friends.

And I am happy to accept any and all Ichichromes.


Joe sent some shiny Griffeys, too. The two 2010 Topps Chrome cards are the first ones I’ve gotten from that set – I was going to buy some until everyone starting talking about how warped they are. And guess what – everybody’s right! The Griffey card, in particular, is quite bendy – it seems to be bending in four directions at once. Just part of the “charm” of 2010 Topps Chrome.


There were three horizontal Griffeys in the package, including a die-cut Fleer Ultra. I love the card in the middle, and I think I’m going to have to try and find out more about this “1995 Mariners Memories” set – is it an insert, a locally-produced situation, or what? The back of the card features a mock-up of the front page of the Seattle Times, which makes me think it was produced in conjunction with the newspaper.


Some Griffey firsts – his first Diamond Kings card, his first Reds card (Topps 2000) and his first Turkey Red card.

Joe included eleven Reds cards from 2006 Fleer, which was of course made by Upper Deck by this point. This is the first I’ve seen of ’06 Fleer in person, and I quite like the look of it. I’m not sure if I’ll try to collect the whole set, but I definitely want to finish off this Reds set and look to get the Mariners, Orioles, White Sox and Athletics, too.


Finally, a card that has absolutely nothing to do with Ken Griffey or the Reds, but one that I was glad to see. The Hank Greenberg/Ike Davis Legendary Lineage card teams the greatest Jewish hitter of all time and the latest Great Jewish Hope. I’ve already got the Greenberg/Ryan Braun card from Series 2 in my Legendary Lineage binder. But I’m not holding my breath that Topps is going to release a Sandy Koufax/Scott Schoenweis Diamond Duos card this year.

Joe, thanks a bunch for the cards. Any day that I can get a padded envelope full of cards in the mail is a great day. To get three, well, it was worth the wait. To find out what else arrived in the mail, check back later...