A Playoff Swap with the Pride of Texas (PATP)

Since joining the blogosphere I've completed more trades with Brian from Play at the Plate than anyone else. We cheer for division rivals (Seattle and Texas) so swapping cards is cinch. Here's the lastest batch he sent my way:

2002 Pacific Joey Harrington RC: I'm not sure whether Brian sent this as a joke or not but I was always a fan of Joey Harrington during his college days at Oregon. Harrington was considered a bust by most, but given his surroundings (the Detroit Lions) he performed admirably. According to Wikipedia is a now a commentator for Oregon Ducks football games but is open to a return to the NFL. I'm not holding my breath.

2002 Topps Reserve Ken Griffey Jr: I never bought more than a few packs of Topps Reserve so I still needed this card to add to the Griffey collection. I'm not sure of the exact number of cards but I think it's nearing 600. Thousand.

2001 Upper Deck Ichiro RC: I don't know if Brian intended to send me an Ichiro rookie because it was in the middle of a bunch of other 2001 UD Mariners, but I certainly won't complain. I admire Ichiro more every season--a beautiful flower in a crappy pot.

2010 Topps Cliff Lee Orange Refractor: Brian was kind enough to throw in a card of the player who might help his team win the World Series. Cliff Lee is so, he doesn't even seem real. The orange refractors look great and were a nice addition to retail.

Thanks Brian! Go Rangers!

Gint-a-Cuffs II: Packs 7-9 (Short Print Madness)

No hits to be found in these three packs, but they sure were loaded with shortprints. Will it be enough to launch me back into contention. No. But read on anyway:

Pack 7 (+5):
Tom Knapp (shotgun champ)
Ervin Santana
Manny Ramirez
Robinson Cano (-1)
Chipper Jones (who doesn't love Chippa?!)
Carlos Gomez SP (+2)
Jonathan Broxton SP Mini (+3)
Justin Upton TDIH (+1)

Pack 8 (+12):
Area 51 (+1)
Kevin Millwood (take that Beardy!)
Jason Bay
Yadier Molina
Everth Cabrera (why's he in the set?)
Brad Penny SP (+2)
Adrian Beltre Black Border Mini SP (+8)
Carlos Gonzalez TDIH (+1)

Pack 9 (+4):

Luis Durango RC
Alex Gordon

Clay Buchholz

Barry Zito

Cliff Lee (+1--too painful to look at)

Brett Myer-- SP (+2)

John Lackey Mini (what a waste)

Torii Hunter TDIH (+1)

Packs 7-9: (21) Again not a bad showing for a trio of packs without a hit, but I'll need some magic in the last 2/3rds of the box to finish with a respectable total.

Total: 74 points

Cardboard Oddity: 2002 Donruss Cliff Lee & 2005 Donruss Cliff Lee

Although the Phillies may have lost the World Series two of their marquee players, Cliff Lee and Chase Utley, grabbed the national spotlight with their brilliant performances on baseball's biggest stage. Utley was simply superb with his record-tying 5 World Series homeruns (and greased hair) as was Lee in his Game 1 and 5 starts. Both players will probably see a substantial boost in sales on eBay, which of course got me digging through my cards of both players.

While sorting through my Cliff Lee's, I noticed something quite strange. His photo from 2002 Donruss and 2005 Donruss looked strikingly similar, and under closer inspection, it turns out that they were the same picture. Now, I know it's not kosher to pick on Donruss because they went out of business, but c'mon! The same photo of a player used in two different sets three years apart! Maybe that's why they went bankrupt, because this is an example of utter laziness, and if that wasn't bad enough, this same photo was used on 2005 Donruss Team Heroes (and 2002 Donruss Originals, but at least that's the same year). Was Cliff Lee really that hard to track down? Does his image not show up in pictures like vampires? Or is this simply just the best picture of Cliff Lee ever taken and Donruss wanted to showcase it by featuring the photo on four different cards? One thing is for sure, Donruss will never have the pleasure of my business ever again...