The Last of the Trades… For Now

The Last of the Trades… For Now
September 11th, 2009 by slangon

And probably my favorite.

This one comes from everybody’s favorite Orioles fan, Beardy.

I disremember exactly what I sent him, but I seem to recall a Prospect set from the National that I won from The Anti-Becket, an 09 Ginter Adam Jones mini, an 09 Ginter Sphinx card, and a hand full of random these and those. In return he was sending me a particular card, along with “some random Mets cards”.

Now, I like to know what I’m getting in a trade just as much as the next guy, but having ready Beardy’s excellent blog, I knew he was going to give me some good stuff, so I wasn’t worried. In fact, it almost made the trade a bit more fun not knowing what I would be getting. Almost like ripping a pack, but you know you’re going to like all the cards.

Anyway, here’s what he sent me.

2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #27 Nolan Ryan
I know that Ryan’s time with the Mets wasn’t exactly his heyday, but it don’t mean I can’t love looking at the dude in a Mets uniform. I really dig the simplicity of the design of this card. The bold colors, and boxes, boxes, boxes. I’m slightly confused about one thing, though. All the other ’05 All-Time Fan Favorites that I have straight up recycle an old Topps design. I guess this one is supposed to be a ’67 Rookie Stars, except it only has one player. Ryan didn’t play for the Mets in 1967. He pitched 3 innings for them in 1966, where he gave up 5 hits, 5 earned runs, 4 walks and wild pitch.

2005 Donruss Diamond Kings Studio Portraits #SP-47 Tom Glavine 23/60
This one certainly took me aback. It’s absolutely beautiful, and I actually had no idea that this set even existed, which is weird because I’m really very obsessed with old-timey retro sets. I think somewhere my parents have a photograph of my grandpa as a kid on a pony in an alleyway in Jersey City that looks just like this.

2007 Bowman Best #25 Tom Glavine
Another nice Glavine. I liked Tom while he was in New York. I know a lot of Mets fans were cheesed off about that last game of 2007, and Glavine saying he wasn’t “devastated”. I understand where he was coming from. I ain’t mad at ya, Tom.

2007 Bowman Best #57 Carlos Gomez #57 RC 530/799
Nice Carlos Gomez rookie. I was a little bummed that we had to get rid of this guy. I liked him. But then I remembered that he helped get us Santana. Then I got over it.

2009 Topps Commemorative Patch #LPR-39 Tom Seaver 1973 All-Star Game
I really like these Commemorative Patches. I believe this is my 4th one, but my first of a Met. It’s funny. I was just running through the ones that I have and realized that of the 4 patch cards I have from this set, all 4 are of New York or former New York Teams.

2009 Topps Finest Autographed Letter Patch #162 Jonathon Niese 254/285
This was the center piece of the deal for me. I’m fairly certain that the patch on this card isn’t from an actual game-used jersey, but somehow I’m okay with that. I was really bummed out when Niese went down with that tendon tear. I’ve got high hopes for this kid, and since the Mets were going nowhere this year, I was hoping that that would at least mean that guys like Niese would get to log some innings. Now, there’s going to be so much pressure on the Mets next year to do something, I fear guys like Niese are going to suffer the consequences. I could see him either spending all of next year in the minors, or worse, getting traded for some one-year, win-now type of guy.