She's Baaaaaack!

The author of A Cracked Bat, Julie, re-emerged from her hiatus the other day and immediately invoked a No-Trade Clause with all bloggers. Sometimes life gets in the way of this great hobby of ours. I totally get it, because my baseball coaching season kicks off in just about a month. It can be a very overwhelming feeling when packages start piling up on your desk. Organizing and collating cards into your collection is one thing, but trying to blog about them all can be especially time consuming and somewhat stressful.

Julie, I hope you enjoy the cards I've sent you in 2016... don't feel the need to write up a trade post or anything. Hakuna Matata and all that jazz. Just enjoy the cards when you have the time!

Meanwhile, I have some loyal readers who want to see little cardboard rectangles with pictures of grown men dressed uniformly on them. So, here's the best of what Julie sent me earlier this week!

I'm all in on Carl Edwards. His stuff is filthy.  I really like the painted portrait look and the raised frame of the Diamond Kings cards.

 I almost added the Bowman Platinum Willson Contreras card to my Ebay cart yesterday to take advantage of the seller's combined shipping, but thankfully I opened up Julie's package before completing the purchase.

Shiny! Sometimes I'm surprised there aren't more cards of players taking batting practice. 

Jason Heyward has been retooling his swing this winter in an attempt to get back to more productive version of himself. I still don't like signing players to long and expensive contracts. This one right now looks like it will handcuff the Cubs' financial flexibility for quite some time.

 I Jason hope he turns things around, not just at the plate, but in the minds of all his doubters, like myself.  He works hard, plays excellent defense and is an excellent teammate, but that's not worth $184 million.

National Baseball Card Day!  I hope Topps continue going forward with this promotion.

That Rizzo photo is wonderful!  Look at those stirrups!

Dick Drott?  I had never heard of him, but luckily there was an excellent biography on the back of the card.  This card is from the 1960 Leaf set, and I believe it is my first card from this set. Cool!

 Here's another set which is brand new to me: 2006 Fleer Tradition.

 I like the design and all of the color.  Very nice cards of some very good Cubs players.

Vintage and high end cards in the same package? Wow!

 I don't have many Topps Museum or Topps Tribute cards in my collection.

 I think I prefer the design of the Topps Tribute card (Arrieta), because you know... shiny. I'm easy to please.

Minis!  Score!  I miss Dexter Fowler already. Hmph.

Hopefully Addison Russell takes another step forward in his development this year. 

I'm glad to see Jorge Soler finally get a shot at a full time starting job in Kansas City. I hope he takes it runs with it, because I am flush with Soler rookie cards!

Is it me, or does this Future Stars design take you back to the crazy designs of 90s?  

 Lastly, we come to a 2005 mini from the Helmar Brewing Company featuring Johnny Evers.

 This card is about as thick as they come, which is very different for a mini. I briefly thought about scratching the back side for my prize, and then remembered it's 2017.  Pretty neat card though!

Julie, thank you kindly for all of the wonderful Cubs cardboard you sent my way!  It was a great surprise!