The Junkman Delivers
January 30th, 2011 by slangon
A while back, sometime before Christmas, everyone’s favorite Braves fan, dayf over at Cardboard Junkie, had posted about a bunch of cards he rescued from the quarter box at his local card shop. I took a shine to one of those cards and inquired as to the availability of it. He was game, so I sent off a bunch of cards he needed, some he probably didn’t need and some customs he didn’t know that he needed. After a while, a yellow envelope showed up in my mailbox that was filled with the quarter bin rescue card along with a bunch of Metsy goodness that helped put a dent in several Mets team sets from the oughts.
Here be some highlights.
First up are a couple of 07’s. I’ve read grumblings about people not liking the 2007 Topps set, but I’ve got to say, it’s one of my more favorite sets from the 2000’s. I also really like the 1971 set, regardless of how bad the edges get dinged up. I guess I just like black cards.
Dayf sent along Julio “The Oldest Man in the History of Time” Franco and Chan Ho “Am I Throwing Up Gang Signs or Just Pretending to Be a Vampire” Park.
He also sent this multi-player card of Jose Reyes and Kaz Matsui. I was happy to see them listing Reyes as shortstop and Matsui as second baseman. I kind of forget that when the Mets first signed Kaz, they tried to move Reyes to 2nd. Dummies.
He also kindly included a trio of Mike Piazza cards. I particularly like that 2003 All-Star card just because I like that it’s The Sporting News All-Stars. Part of me wishes they would start doing that again, but I don’t know why. By the way, do you believe that Piazza’a “bacne” is still in the news? Piss off, Murray Chass.
I was also hooked up with a couple of Mets team cards, which I love. The 2004 one is awesome with the team posing in front of the Shea Stadium scoreboard. The 2002 version is a little weird. I don’t get what the deal is with that semi-transparent blue screen. Also, I don’t know why, but I can accept a player’s card having a picture from spring training, but for some reason, a team photo from spring training, not so much.
And lastly, the meat of the trade…
A (slightly chewed up) 1951 Topps Red Back of the late Gus “Ozark Ike” Zernial. I was super psyched when Dayf agreed to trade this to me, but it was a little bittersweet by the time I got the card in hand only because Mr. Zernial had passed away in the interim. Still and all, it’s a awesome looking card and I’d wanted one of these for quite a while. To get one of a player that I really like is icing on the cake.
That’s what I, a Mets fan, got from an Atlanta Braves fan. You see people. Even Mets fans and Braves fans can work together to make my collection a better place. I hope that Dayf can say the same thing about his collection.
Update your Mets Wantlists and there will be way more where that came from. I had held onto Zernial long enough and just had to get the package out of the house at that point.
All them wantlists is about as updated as they’re gonna get.