So, I love the concept of the trifecta, which, as I'm sure you all know, consists of a player's rookie card, an auto, and a GU. I've completed a few trifectas of players I love, like Sweet Lou:
And his partner, Alan Trammell:
I'm only an auto shy of completing trifectas of my player collections of Fisk, I-Rod, Cabrera, and Verlander, and I'm hard at work tracking down those.
But then there's the trifecta that you just kind of stumble upon. I have a few of those, and I don't really know what to do with them. Since I completed the trifectas, albeit accidentally, I feel like they have a place in my collection. But then I have no real affinity for the player, so I also consider trading them. But then to think the trifecta would be broken would be like imagining breaking up an orphan family into separate homes. So, if anyone wants to adopt an accidental trifecta and trade me, I don't know, just a little Pudge auto or a Cabrera auto, I suppose I'd be okay with that.
Anyway, here is my first of what I call the Accidental Trifecta:
Chris Coghlan is the subject of my first accidental trifecta. The first part of this set that I acquired was the auto. I've always liked the design of these Tristar autos. And then the rest of the cards just kind of fell into my lap.
Coghlan had an amazing rookie year in 2009, as you likely remember. But since, he's been a bit of a mess, which is really too bad. When he's playing well, he's a lot of fun to watch. So, he might end up being a ROY flop, an Angel Berroa-type, but it's still kind of neat to have a ROY trifecta. Oh wait, I already had one. Sweet Lou, who was certainly no Angel Berroa.
My next accidental trifecta:
It's the Greinke-killer himself, Carlos Quentin. I always liked Quentin, though his claiming to have a legitimate beef with Greinke made me lose a little respect for him. Dude, you got beaned a couple times. It happens. I was always waiting for a breakout season from this guy, and I kind of think he might still have one in him, but maybe he's past his prime.
My trifecta consists of 2004 true rookie cards. I love the Topps Chrome auto, and this was a great year for Heritage. It makes this year's '64 design look like garbage.
So, another nice little accidental trifecta here. And it could be up for trade if you could help me complete one of my player collection trifectas.
Do you have some accidental trifectas? Does it make you care more about a player's cards you usually wouldn't collect? Or who gives a crap?
Many of you are well aware of great blog aptly titled Brad's Blog: it's a blog and his name is Brad! Make your way over there for some great posts about Phillies and a pretty damn slick collection of Mantle vintage.
Brad and I got a trade going a couple months ago. I had a bunch of Phillies hits and vintage and inserts I needed to find a good home for, and Brad became that home. What I didn't expect was the awesome generosity he'd show me.
He sent me this glorious Al Kaline auto. I have a couple of his autos, but this one is now my new favorite. It's a great picture and a design completely made for autos. This card is totally my jam. This trade is my jam. Brad is the bomb for sending this. OK, my '90s exclamations of joy are not doing this amazing trade justice. Let's get back to the cards.
Here are some extras for my player collections. Love the Chrome Heritage, and Pudges in gear are always cool.
He also sent along some sweet Fielder senior cards.
Speaking of '90s Tigers, it's Sweet Lou Whitaker, encased in gold. I love finding Whitaker cards I don't have, and this one is a lot of fun.
Here's the back of this card. It's a Sweet Lou smorgasbord collage: batting, fielding, and looking confused in the background--the many faces of Lou.
Just to show you what an awesome trader Brad is, these were some of the extras he never mentioned. I mean, the guy just tossed in a Bryce Harper kind-of-rookie for fun. I love it, as well as the International parallel of some Tiger I'd never heard of.
To wrap this trade up...
Here's a beauty of a card. Blue refractors are always nice, but when they feature Mr. Verlander, well, hell, that's a near-perfect card.
Thanks, Brad, for the amazing trade. I'll be looking for Phillies cards for you. For the rest of you, be sure to head over to Brad's Blog for some great reading and maybe a some great trading.
I've been running into some sweet Trammells lately. I dig Alan, but I've always been a bit more of a Lou fan, as far as legendary '80s/'90s Tigers go. All the same, I'm never disappointed to snag a cool Trammell, and you don't get much cooler than this:
The pictures on these Panini cards are quite goofy, but I enjoy the overall design that reminds me a bit of a basketball court. And how can you not love the relic/auto duo? This card came in a trade from Daily Dimwit.
Here's the back, and as you can see it's numbered 1 out of 10. Hey, it's one of those eBay 1 of 1s! There is something neat about the first card in the series.
The ever-wise and generous Dimwit also sent this auto of Bryan Holaday. Bryan's on the AAA team for the Tigers now, and I don't see much more than a backup catcher position in his future, but a catcher card always has a place in my collection.
What I like best about this card is the write-up on the back: "Bryan was in charge of 'disciplining' teammates who showed up late or didn't hustle. He led the crafting of the 'Ten Commandments of TCU Baseball' and sentenced violators. Among the punishments Holaday levied: cleaning the locker rooms and reading books on road trips." I kind of love how much of a douche bag he sounds like.
But what the hell is Bryan doing in this post? This post is about Mr. Trammell on cardboard.
This SP Legendary Cuts set, despite is dreary grayness, is fantastic for including tons of less represented fan favorite players. I have the Lou card from this set. While I'm not a huge fan of this design--though absolutely a fan of the player selection--they did the bat chunk well. It's big, well-featured, and this one has some cool black stains in the upper right corner. Probably burns from the saw that hacked it up, but it's still neat.
This card and the last one came from eBay, and I paid a bit under $3 shipped per card. This one has a bit snazzier of a design than the last. Donruss had a better idea of how to do drab colors in a classy way.
This Trammell rookie is not new at all. It came from Night Owl in a trade over a year ago, but I had to show it, as its inclusion earns me super-cool-happy-awesome-fun-time trifecta bonus points.
So, some cool Trammells, but all these Trammells I've been finding leads me to a quandary: Where are all the cool Lou Whitaker cards? As I said, Lou was more my guy from this duo, but there seem to be 5 cards produced of Tram for every 1 of Lou. Lou outranks Tramm in almost every batting category besides stolen bases and batting average, but really all of their stats are so damn close. They were such an amazing pair to watch growing up as a kid. So where are my Lou Whitaker cards? Any guesses on why Tramm gets all the love?
Trading is one of the best parts of being a blogger, and I'm way behind (as always) in showing off my trade goodies. If you trade with me, man, I will put my all into sending you great stuff, but know that I'll take twenty-two and a half years to post about it.
So, speaking of a trader who deserves thanks, I traded with Roy at Plain Gray Swatch, back when he was still getting his blogging legs. Hell, now he's a veteran. I sent Roy some stuff off my trade bait, and here's what I got in return:
A very shiny, very smiley Miggy Cabby Icons jersey. This one's a plain white swatch. What gives? I expected plain gray.
Even plainer white is this Pudge Masterpieces GU. I'm such a sucker for framed cards, and I love this one, despite the humdrum headshot. This card is classy, as is everything Masterpieces did. Now, I owe Roy extra thanks for parting with this beauty, as he's a Pudge fan himself. That's blogger generosity for you.
Here come the extras, and what fine extras. I especially love the Archives Ripken. I'm getting closer to finishing that Ultra Iron Man insert set. Sweet trades are made at Plain Gray Swatch, as well as some great writing. Be sure to check them out. And, Roy, I have a stack of cool Jays I've been holding for you when you're ready to trade again.
Next up, Fantastic Catch answered my plea for an Inge GU. I still need an Inge auto, if anyone has one.
But now I have some Inge jersey goodness. This is a great looking card.
Here are some of the sweet extras sent to finish off this trade with Fantastic Catch. Love the Kaline.
To finish off this trade trifecta, I have cards to show from everyone's favortie Napkin: Mr. Doon. We've had a few trades before, and he always sends great stuff. He's also one of my favorite blog writers--a well-yielded sense of humor goes a long ways.
Nap posted this card on his blog, and I had to have it. I love all Cabrera cards, whether in Marlins gear or the correct uniform.
Nap tossed in some shiny Cabrera extras. I wondered if I'd ever snag one of those Spring Fever cards, and I hardly even had to wait, thanks to everyone's favorite Doon, Mr. Napkin. With this grouping of shiny Cabreras, this post has reached its cyclical end.
Thanks to all these great bloggers for their trading generosity. And if any of you out there want to get a trade going, just send me a message.
The Tigers won their opening day game, and Justin Verlander had a first. Of all his accomplishments, he had never won an opening day start. Well, yesterday changed that when he pitched a beauty. Only 5 innings, but no earned runs and 7 Ks. He's already earning his new ridiculous contract, and if anyone deserves such an absurd amount of money, it's my guy.
Hey, cheer up, JV. Things are going great for you.
This is one of my most recent acquisitions for the Verlander player collection, scored off of eBay for under $3. I love the design of this card, the background sky, JV's stoic, contemplative countenance, all the fancy junk swarming the blah-gray jersey swatch. Great card.
Justin had a first yesterday, and so did we. Evy Jo and I watched our first real baseball game together, took a nap through a few of those middle innings. Babies should come with a warning: when held to chest, may cause drowsiness.
