What to Do with Your Padres

I took up  Rod  from Padrographs a while back on his trade pile of Tigers. I had Padres, he had Tigers, so we got to trading.

He sent over a ton of fantastic Tigers cards from this year's Topps. The '87 mini of Verlander is my favorite from this batch. Verlander showing off his floating baseball magic trick in his throwback uniform. And doesn't Verlander look different when the lower half of his face is obstructed?

He got me dangerously close to a team set, too. He actually sent me two of the Cabreras, and I couldn't figure out why he sent me a double, until I looked a little closer. One of them, the one pictured here, is a Gold Rush variation. I didn't expect to be picking up one of these, and it's much-appreciated. Like the Diamond Sparkle cards, these can be easy to miss. Sneaky, sneaky Topps.

Rounding out the trade, here are a few more random Tigers he sent along. The Gehringer Obak looks awesome. I might have to go chasing after some of these parallels.

I also recently traded with another Padres collector who writes the relatively new blog All the Way to the Backstop. Marcus and I have been having some good conversations, waxing nostalgia about The Clash and our punk rock days. The Clash, you know: the only band that matters. Always great to meet another retired punk rocker turned baseball card collector. I think there's a few of us out there. Honk/comment if you love Strummer!

Here's a little bit of what he sent along:

 

 

Some nice Tigers prospects and some Archives Tigers. I'm too cheap to buy this product, but thanks to the wonderful blogging community, I've been getting to enjoy this set. I love the '71 style Cobb.

 

Another product I'm too cheap to buy new is Heritage, but Marcus sent me some really awesome key Tigers, including Fister and Martinez parallels, and a sweet Fielder short print. The Best Verlander is a super shiny bonus.

 

Finishing up this trade, we have a gigantor Prince. What's Prince doing way up there? Signing a ball? Cleaning his gloves? Constructing a cloud? This is a great rookie card from one of my favorite Upper Deck flagship designs.

 

So, two great trades for a bunch of my Padres that were feeling neglected. Be sure to send your neglected Padres to All the Way to the Backstop and Padrographs. Both are fantastic traders. Thanks, guys.