Birthday Gifts from William! (Part 1)

A few months back, I received a big square box from William of Foul Bunt. This box was full of packing peanuts, cards, and an unexpected surprise (which I'll show in an upcoming post). The occasion was my birthday, just a few days after I got the box. Will had generously (as usual) said he would throw something extra in with his package. And he did! For this first post, the cards:

I think approximately seven people bought 2012 Panini Golden Age last year. Fortunately, Will was one of the seven. Could you say that Warren Spahn is being framed on this card? He doesn't seem too concerned about it.

Which one of you is the real John Smoltz?

Not all the cards I'm showing came from the same package. I've sort of accumulated stuff to do one mega-post on it all. No one else does that, do they? Oh, this is both the Error and Corrected version of John's 1990 Donruss MVP card.

Will sent several 1996 Topps Braves, including some that had the 1995 WS logo in corners. Was that the first time Topps played with those logo variations? only time? Any 1990s collectors care to enlighten me there? I like the logo, either way.

A Rays-uniformed BJ Upton. This card is numbered 247/999, and looks pretty sharp, but BJ still seems glum. Probably brooding over his .141 batting average. Ah well.

Question: I believe back in the late 90s and early 2000s, Chipper and Andruw Jones had their intials on the back of their jerseys, along with their last names. So, why this? I should probably know why the Upton brothers have no initials, but I don't. Anyone care to enlighten me?

Some 2012 Bowman. Remind me the difference between a "First-year Bowman card" and an RC-logo card, again? Oh, what the heck. Just enjoy the pictures, I guess.



Reynoso, who according to Wikipedia, was the last player on the Atlanta Braves to wear number 42 before it was retired, looks like the Mexican version of Greg Maddux. I think it's the mustache.

This was the last card I needed to finish my 2013 Topps Braves Series One set. Sorry it scanned poorly. Wait, actually...

This was the last card I needed to finish the set! Bazinga! This card scanned frightfully too, so I "borrowed" this image from Play at the Plate (maybe if I link to him seven times he'll forgive me):

The super-obvious guy in the red shirt is awesome/hilarious. Especially since the other guys you can see are just chilling. "Hey, let's watch Freeman make a sweet catch. We can stand up a minute and lean against this rail to do so." Meanwhile, red-shirt guy:



Awesome.

Thanks to William for the cards! Second post coming soon!