Contest Winnings from the Common (Card) Man!

The Common (Card) Man is a blog run and maintained by Tony, aka Milwaukee Southpaw, who at the beginning of the season started a year-long contest. It involved predicting things, much like an 8-ball predicts the future. In short, my 8-ball won out, and I received some Braves goodies! The sweet Kelly Johnson Auto above is from 2007 Upper Deck S2.

I have a theory, which is that cards with such intriguing, new things as manu-leather-nameplates take about a year to find their way out of retail and hobby boxes into various trade and contest winnings packages. The card above is from 2011 Topps S2.

There was a nice assortment of late 90s-early 2000s Chippers too. The Finest Gamers (upper right) does a nice job of summarizing: "Chipper inspires his teammates with a 'go-get-'em' attitude." 'Nuff said.

1999 Topps Stadium Club and 1999 Pacific Prism...

And a 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Black Border!

Finally, rounding it out were two massive Dale Murphy cards from 1983 Donruss and 1984 Donruss. Cool stuff-I especially appreciated the equally oversized toploader! Thanks so much, Tony!!!

Not to squeeze another unrelated card into this post, but I want to show off a nice refractor from Topher, over at blog Crackin' Wax! Topher's been a great guy in the blogging community with his "Take My Cards" program, so magna laus to him for that. (That's great praise for the non-Latinists :-) Thanks Topher!

Chunter, out!

The Best Things in the World are Free

Live on blog, I will be opening/examining the contents of this mysterious package received in today's mail:

 A hint to what's inside (note the French and Toronto Postmark):




And a...cross between a cigarette pack and a playing card deck? Hm...(Note miniscule Toronto Blue Jay logo on front)



Gotta love the fun kiddie mascots!



Well shut my mouth and paint me red! Canadian Baseball cards!



This card was on top of the stack. Had no idea the Blue Jays even had a mascot!



Lest you think that Canadians sending me Safety sets is just some random happenstance that occurs frequently throughout my week, I regret that you are sorely mistaken. You see, I had done some prior research into the Toronto Fire Station after finding out they had given away a safety set to area children. Being of age within the program offered, despite living in the Southeast, I took a chance and pounced. From the time I contacted the station ("Please send me baseball cards if you have any left,") to now, with cards in hand, took three weeks. Hey, it's free baseball cards, ya'll!

Let's see if it was worth it.

1st card: Jose Bautista

Sharp design. I like it. The back:

You've got your measurements, your logos, your stats, and your token safety tip. I still like it. Here's several more:



Some former Braves and an ex-Cardinal. These are all posed shots used for both these cards and the rest, but they are all with the 2012 Jays logos.

All in all, you've got a team set, really. List:

Ace, Bautista, Rajai Davis, Ben Fransisco, Rasmus, Eric Thames, Encarnacion, Escobar, Johnson, Lawrie, Lind, Vizquel, Arencibia, Jeff Mathis, Henderson Alvarez, Francisco Cordero, Drabek, Jason Frasor, Casey Janssen, Drew Hutchison, Brandon Morrow, Darren Oliver (42 years old, just sayin'), Luis Perez, Ricky Romero, Sergio Santos, Villanueva, John Farrell Manager, Pete Walker Bullpen Coach, Bruce Walton Pitching Coach, Brian Butterfield 3B Coach, Torey Lovullo 1B Coach, Dwayne Murphy Hitting Coach, and Don Wakamatsu Bench Coach. 4 other non-player safety cards promoting fire safety, Jr. Jays Club, etc. Shoo, long list!

Good stuff. Most of the card back safety tips are good, serious stuff. Some strike me as slightly amusing, though:

Somehow I picture some little kid trying to light a fire on the floor of his tent on a camp-out so he can read or something...I guess they're talkin' to him!

And the person cooking on the stove trying to close his eyes and work at the same time...yeah, that's a little bit of a stretch.

Any design resembelences? I can't think of any...the feel of the cards is sort of 1990 Fleer-ish: Low on the gloss, but still shiny on both the front and the back.

Lastly, if any rabid Blue  Jays fans are interested in a set of these cards, let me know! I had two packs, and I opened just the one. Definitely pretty cool cards in my opinion!