This be th' weirdest trade package ye be havin' ereseen

Why all the pirate speak you say? Arrrrrr! Unless ye want t' end up in Davy Jones' locker, I suggest ye be patient.

This is definitely the oddest trade package I have ever received, but I should have expected no less from the mad scientist himself, PunkRockPaint. A month or so ago, Travis posted his want list for 2008 Allen & Ginter minis. This happened to be right around the time I was looking to unload a bunch of 2008 Ginter to make room for 2009 (which has shipped, and should be in my hands soon). Well, I wasn't collecting the mini set, and sent Mr. PRP a treasure chest full of cards from his want list.

This craziness is what I got in return. Once I had ripped open the bubble mailer, this is what I found inside:
I'm sure Steve Jobs is happy that someone is recycling AppleCare packaging. What else would one do with a box that essentially holds just a piece of paper? You gotta love the creative graffiti on the Apple logo, and the slight verbiage changes, both of which are sheer brilliance. On the back you can see right off the bat that "thar be no Jones' in here." At first I was a little discouraged, but what was inside more than made up for it.

Let's move on a bit and see what's inside the box:
More awesome piratatiousness (totally just made that word up, all rights reserved bitches) on the inside! All three of these packages were quite tempting, and one's natural curiosity (this one's), was begging to know what Oriole goodies were inside. The only question was which one do I open first?

Well... I went with Davy Jones' locker, but only because it felt like it was in a toploader, and was also quite thick. I felt like I had just found One-Eyed Willie's rich stuff when I saw this inside:

2006 Flair Showcase Brian Roberts Letterman patch 4/7!!! I'm not sure, but I think this may actually be a REAL patch, and not manu-crap. If you've ever seen any of the custom cards featured over at PunkRockPaint, you'd wonder if this was one of them. According to the product information, these patch cards are only numbered up to the number of letters in that players last name. That makes WAY too much sense to actually be true. That thing on the card that looks like tape, is in fact tape. Thankfully, it's on the toploader only.

The rest of this post is probably going to be a let down after that, and I'm not going to post all of the cards that were sent (there were too many!). If you wish to stop reading, I suggest you do it now.

Ok, moving right along then. After the shock and awe that awaited me in Davy Jones' locker, I decided it was time to Walk The Plank! Let's see how that turned out shall we?

2001 Pacific Royal Rookies Signature Series Edward Rogers autograph. Who? Ok, if that last card wasn't a PRP original, this one HAS to be. According to wikipedia, he played in parts of 3 seasons for the Orioles, including 2 that I followed pretty closely. I still don't remember him. I don't even remember the thing that he is supposed to be memorable for, at least according to wikipedia:
"Rogers will always be remembered for a rather unique play he was involved in during a 2006 game against the New York Mets. As he came in to pick up a bloop single into left field, the ball took an odd hop and went up his sleeve and he had to reach into the back of his shirt to get it out."

Nice hat Ed!

1994 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Cal Ripken Jr. "Hello, Lucy? Yeah, it's Cal. Yes, this is a cellphone. What? Oh, yeah, I do think I've got a pretty good shot at breaking Lou's record. What? NO! Stay away from Billy's bat. That stuff is NOT for the children."

1994 Pinnacle "The Naturals" Cal Ripken Jr. Some bloggers out there are always raving about how wonderful 90's inserts were. Looking at this card, it's hard to argue with them.

1997 Topps Finest "Competitors" Cal Ripken Jr. As my pal Brotherhugger would say, "it's still got the protective coating on it, so you know the book value is intact." Couldn't have said it better myself. This is another 90's insert that is really, really, really good looking.


After walking the plank, there's nothing left too loot except the Keel Haul. I'm going to assume that's the stash they keep in the ship's keel..... right? This particular section was loaded with some good ol' fashioned Orioles, that happen to share a last name. Speaking of sharing (damn that was a smooth segue), here they are:

2002 Fleer Greats Brooks Robinson. I'm not sure if this is a parallel version or not. It has a metallic matte type of finish, almost like brushed aluminum or something. Me likey!

2002 Topps Archives Brooks Robinson. Obviously this is a reprint of Brooks' '64 Topps card. Notice the bird on his cap? This might be my favorite of the Oriole birds that isn't a cartoon.

2007 Topps Heritage "Flashbacks" Brooks Robinson. This is the same photo used on Brooks' '57 Topps rookie card. I REALLY want that card! It was the topic of my second "Wish List Cards" post. See? Yeah, I want that card. Why Topps decided to put this card using this photo in '07 Heritage instead of '06, the world may never know. It seems to not make sense, which is probably reason enough right there.

2002 Topps "Through The Years" Frank Robinson. Another reprint, this time of '69 Topps, and a different Robinson. As I have stated before, Frank is my favorite of the Robinsons. He's in the 500 home run club, and that's all you need to know.

See, I told you it was going to be a let down after the Roberts patch. Why'd you keep reading? Don't blame me, this is your fault!

Thanks to PunkRockPaint for all the great Orioles cards, especially the Roberts patch. I look forward to crushing your soul in Gint-A-Cuffs!


OH WAIT! NOW I GET IT! PIRATES.... PATCHES... EYES...