The Longest Trade Post Ever In The History Of Trade Posts (Maybe)

These cards came courtesy of Pop Startled who runs a great blog where he shamelessly panders for Hanley Ramirez cards called Trade Me Your Hanleys. Pop contacted me a little while back and said he had some cards to send me. I then saw some trade bait posted on his blog, and decided that this card belonged in my collection: 2009 Upper Deck A Piece Of History #POH-SA "A Piece Of Hollywood" Adam Sandler shirt from Spanglish
Not his best movie by any stretch, but I will always love Sandler for making one of my all-time favorite comedies, Billy Madison. At one point I could quote the entire movie verbatim, but not anymore. I've... uh... "grown up" (sort of).

That's not all Pop Startled sent my way. Check these out:

2006 Topps Triple Threads #88 Cal Ripken Jr. My first Triple Threads base card from any year. Not a bad one to have, as I believe this guy is a Hall of Famer or something, whatever that means. I've heard of Bill Ripken, but Cal is new to me. If you believed that, you're an idiot.

2006 Fleer Greats of the Game "Decade Greats" #DEC-CR Cal Ripken Jr. That was a mouthful. Lovin the old cartoon bird logo, and two-tone color scheme on Cal's batting helmet. Reminds me of better days, when the Orioles were a storied franchise. You know, before Peter Angelos totally ruined them.

2006 Allen & Ginter #290 Cal Ripken Jr. mini. Blogger hates mini cards. No matter what size you make them, they always appear larger than they actually are compared to regular sized cards. This is my first 2006 A&G card period, but as you will soon see, it is not my last.

1999 Topps Gold Label #67 Cal Ripken Jr. This Cal Ripken fellow sure has a lot of cards.

2006 Allen & Ginter #267 Frank Robinson mini. What a beautiful card! Regardless of the poll results up top, Frank is my favorite Robinson. No disrespect intended to Jackie, Brooks, Smokey or Holly. This card is mis-cut, which makes it a 1/1. I will only trade it for a 1957 Frank Robinson rookie, PSA 8 or higher.

2006 Allen & Ginter #227 Corey Patterson mini Ginter ad back. Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but Patterson is the first example that I can recall of the Orioles taking out the trash for the Chicago Cubs. It's happened at least twice since, most recently with Felix Pie. I really wanted to like Patterson, and gave it my best shot. He wasn't as bad in Baltimore as he was for the Reds last season, but he wasn't great either.

2006 Topps Co-signers #DUO-C Javy Lopez/Melvin Mora. I guess this is technically a Javy Lopez card, since his stats are the only ones on the back. Javy was clearly in the twilight of his career by the time he arrived in Baltimore. I'm not really sure why we signed him, but at the time there wasn't really another option at catcher. He put up some good numbers with Atlanta, but his best seasons co-incided with the height of unchecked steroid use in the Major Leagues. I am NOT insinuating anything, just stating the facts. This is my first Co-Signers card ever. I always thought they were sort of ugly, and never understood why the second player, who was never really the focus of the card, was even there to begin with.

2006 Topps Co-Signers #DUO-B 58 Brian Roberts/Javy Lopez. Much like the last card, this one is really just a Brian Roberts card. I've blogged about Roberts before, and over the past few years have really grown to appreciate his game. It's a shame that he was once mentioned in the whole steroid conversation, but pretty much anyone on the Orioles '04-'07 was mentioned, and for good reason (Palmeiro, Tejada, Bigbie, Segui, Gibbons). I believe Roberts has always been clean, but I am also naive.

2008 Stadium Club #34 Brian Roberts. Awesome action shot here. This guy plays the game with a lot of heart, and isn't afraid to deck a catcher who just might be twice his size. Sometimes card photography is brilliant, and this example is on that level.

2008 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Swatches #SSNM. You knew there was going to be a Markakis card in here somewhere, didn't you? Pretty sure I don't have this one already, so it's a new one for the player collection. Thanks Pop! Not the greatest photo of Nick on this card, but what can you do?

2008 Upper Deck Heroes #168 Luke Scott Gold Parallel. At least I think that's gold. There are so many stinking parallels in this set that it's hard to really tell. Luuuuuuuuuuuke has worked out pretty well in Baltimore, and has proven to be quite the power hitter when he's on a hot streak. My favorite thing about Luke is that he logs the result every at-bat in his hitting journal. If you want to call it a diary, that's fine too, but it's a man diary dammit!

2008 Upper Deck Heroes #195 Mike Schmidt, Ernie Banks & Frank Robinson. I got nothing to say about this one. You all know all 3 players, and all 3 are awesome. This post is getting long, and I am running short on wit.

2009 Topps Finest #71 Adam Jones. Star in the making. I've already got the blue refractor version of this card, and now I've got the base card to go with it. We practically stole Mr. Jones from Seattle, and along with Markakis, he will be a part of the best outfield in baseball for along time to come. How has Eric Bedard worked out for you so far Mariners fans? Do you enjoy his whining and constant trips to the DL?

2009 Topps Series 2 #455 Adam Jones Gold Parallel. Any day I can add a new Jones card to my collection is a good day. Today was a good day.

We're getting close to wrapping this thing up, I swear. If you're still reading, Matt Wieters bless you!

2007 Upper Deck Artifacts Autofacts #AU-JK John Knott autograph. If you play 6 seasons in franchise mode on MLB2k6 for PS2, this guy becomes the franchise. Trust me.

2008 Topps 2007 Highlights Autographs #HA-SM Scott Moore autograph. If you play 6 seasons in franchise mode on MLB2k6 for PS2, this guys doesn't pan out. Trust me. Moore was actually considered a top Oriole prospect for the past couple of seasons, but for some reason he has never managed to stick with the big league club. This is another one of those guys we've gotten from the Cubs who hasn't really made anything of himself. Moore is currently holding down the fort at 3B for the Norfolk Tides.

Whew! That was a long one. I know Pop Startled was looking forward to the trade write-up so I wanted to make sure it was done right. Thanks a lot for the cards Pop, and be on the lookout for some Hanleys headed your way in the next week.