A Quick Thanks

I've received quite a few generous packages from bloggers over the past month. I've had cards scanned for a while, but I just never got around to doing any trade posts. I figured I would take this time to catch up on a couple of trades I made before Christmas. 

But before we do that, I'd like to thank William of Foul Bunt for the terrific Christmas card he sent my way. It's been a while since we last chatted, but it's nice to know that William is still doing good. Hopefully, I'll be sending some Orioles your way soon. 

The first trade package, and second last of the year, came courtesy of Nick over at Dimeboxes. It was our third trade, so we are pretty familiar with each other's collecting habits. He sends me Dodgers, and I send him a random hand full of cards and let him decide which mini collection they fit into. Just joking, Nick. 

In all seriousness, Nick is a fantastic trade partner. If my word isn't enough, just check out the gem you see above should. I don't stumble upon a ton of Koufax cards, so anything I receive in trades is well appreciated, especially a masterpiece like that.

Nick also hit up one of my bigger PC's with these awesome new Shawn Green cards. The Generation E-X card on the left is your standard shiny/crazy piece of awesomeness produced way back at the turn of the century. The Cracker Jack card on your other left is actually a set I used to buy in my first card collecting binge back in '05. The odd Mars-like background is definitely an weird, but weird is good. 

Nick also sent a few new Beltre's my way. I am a big fan of Topps t-206, so that card is most welcome in my PC. But I'm not so sure about the other one. I'm joking of course, but check out the back of the card. 

I find it a bit funny that the card actually uses the word 'PHAT' when referring to Adrian's glove, and even more funny that Nick had the same reaction with a similar card in a blog post a few days ago. 

Card companies be crazy, dawg. 

My love of Beltre's phat glove must be well known, because Gavin over at Baseball Card Breakdown sent me a couple of new cards in our latest trade. It will actually go down as the last trade of 2014, and he made it count. 

I'm really not sure what to say about this card. It is fantastic all the way around, and I can assure you that it looks much better in person (as do most cards). 

Here are some things I like about this card (in no particular order):

- Shiny black border

- Old-school Topps logo

- Complete stats on the back

But, as much as I love this card, I got something even sweeter from Gavin.

A Clayton Kershaw 1/1 Glow-in-the-Dark Sketch Card. I couldn't get a picture of it glowing in the dark to save my life (though it glows just fine), so thank goodness for the GIF Gavin posted to his blog a while back. 

Here is the back of the card, which includes a signature from the artist himself. The artwork is phenomenal, and the fact that it glows in the dark just tops it all off. I'll probably be hitting up Gavin for some more awesome sketches in the near future. 

With that, 2014 is finally over. It was my first full year blogging, and I truly enjoyed it. After only completing five trades in 3 months in 2013, I completed 65 in 2014. Along the way I met some awesome people and made some cool new friends. I'd like to thank all of those with whom I traded this year, as well as all of the people that took time out of their day to check out this silly blog of mine. I'm looking forward to another great year.