I Walked the Plank

I recently completed my first trade with Matt of the fabulous Bob Walk the Plank.  Matt emailed me a few weeks ago and we quickly put together a deal. My haul was much greater than what I sent his way, so I will be sure to pay it back with our next trade. 

I'll go ahead and start with my favorite card from the deal. Coming from 2009 Topps Unique Baseball, this sweet Chad Billingsley auto is an awesome addition to my CBills PC. Billingsley has long been a favorite of mine, so I try to pick up his cards on the cheap whenever possible. I have had a post about Bills in the works for quite some time now, but maybe this will encourage me to get a move on it. 

While we are on the topic of autos, let's take a look at the one of the most recently released cards. Nolasco was featured on this odd looking card back in 2014 Topps Series One. Nolasco is no longer pitching for the Dodgers, making the move to Minnesota over the winter. He has not had much success up there, but he was a pivotal piece during the Dodgers postseason run last year. 

We'll move on to a pair of contrasting Kaz Ishii relics. The top one is pretty standard for mid-2000's relic cards; it features a basic design and a plain grey swatch. However, the bottom relic is a little bit off to me. This card was released in 2002, the same year Ishii came over from Japan. Perhaps the American flag in the back is only weird to me, but it probably wasn't the most thought out design by Fleer that year. 

Matt was also kind enough to send along this shiny #'d card of Dodgers broadcaster, Nomar Garciaparra. I do like me some shiny, but I also have a bit of a problem with this card. The insert set is called "Future Stars", yet Upper Deck decided to include a 34 year old Nomar. It's not a big deal to me, honestly, but I do wonder about these things from time to time. 

Matt also sent over a fantastic Eric Gagne relic, but it appears I either deleted the scan, or forgot to scan it completely. Either way, it was much appreciated. 

Thanks again for the trade Matt. I hope to do it again sometime soon.