Big Trade with Reader John

Posting want lists is a beautiful thing.

Not too long after I finalized my player collection spreadsheets and linked the google docs on our trade page, Reader John contacted me about taking care of some of those un-highlighted areas.

I sent him some Longorias, Lincecums, Greinkes and a few others and in return I got a stack of my three guys.  Let’s show off the goods, shall we?

There were only three Ryan Dempsters in the package, but that’s okay, because any new Demp is a good Demp.

That's one crazy bingo arm flap he's got going on.

The back talks about the “renewed confidence” Dempster has by closing games, yet his record in 2006 was 1-9 (24 saves).  ‘o6 was an off-year for him, mostly due to off-field issues as was later revealed.

And if you liked that card, you’ll love this one.

Can you spot the die cut?

Here’s the mini die-cut version of the same card.  It almost fits exactly into the regular version, but the mini is just a tad smaller than if you were to cut off the border.  Oh, and the mini has silver ink under the name to make sure no one is just cutting the border off.

Only because there's no shot of them being NL leaders

RD also lead the team in strikeouts (187) and ERA (2.96) in 2008.  Ah, the good ol’ days, when our team was good and less ol’.

Demp is in good shape to lead the team in wins this year, too (now that Lilly’s gone).  In fact, it’s possible all three of those will stay the same (just with lower numbers all around).

Right now Soriano leads the team with 21 HR (A. Ramirez w/20 and Tyler Colvin with 19)
Aramis Ramirez, despite the limited playing time and his dreadful season is sitting at 65 RBI, just one back from Soriano’s 66.  Pretty pathetic.
Dempster leads the team with 12 Wins, but would have to win virtually every start to reach 17 again.  Silva is next with 10, but he won’t likely get too many starts after coming back from his injury.

Blue foil on a Cub's card - always looks nice, except in my scanner

On to the team’s Special Assistant to the GM.  This is just a sampling of what he sent.

I like Opening Day cards, actually.  I thought that 2010’s version sans foil looked better.  They’re also occasionally tougher to find, since most people write them off as junk.  I swear this card looks good in person, and the blue foil looks so much better than the plain silver.

another bad scan of a good card

This is essentially Upper Deck Chrome from what I can tell.  This card is at a point in Mad Dog’s career where there’s no room for ancillary text.  All stats, baby.

Q: Can you spot the jersey number on this card?

A: It’s on the bottom right, right above his sock.  As you can kind of see (maybe sorta), he’s wearing #30 because #31 was retired in honor of Dave Winfield.  I can’t say I’m a fan of this design.  Maddux is pitching in the blandest matrix I’ve ever seen in my life.  It’s like if Panini and white rice had a kid, then they put a necklace around it to pass it off as special.  Maybe the gold parallel will look better.

Finally! A good scan!

This sucker is a refractor type deal and my scanner decided to pick up the blue in the spectrum.  Wise choice, my friend.  After those other botched jobs, you have redeemed yourself.

I don’t know much about where this card would have come from, but it looks like it would just be a regular insert in that year’s flagship product.  The only thing that could make this better would be a little X-Wing in the background or something.

And now in to close it out, the closer (duh).

That's a lot of white...and Dempster's jersey number

This would be the oldest Marmol card I have, and really, the oldest possible that isn’t from a minor league team set.  Like the Maddux SP Authentic, I’m not too keen on the design.  I don’t understand why the left and right corners of the diamond are off frame, but the top and bottom can’t extend a little farther to get rid of the dead space.  If you’re going for baseball dimensions (and I sense that you are), then make the whole damn thing bigger.  You have the room for everything, obviously.

Also, the Daytona logo is like the Poochie of team logos, isn’t it?

First Edition never gets any love

I got both the First Edition and the “normal” version of this card.  I can’t say I like the firsties as much as the opening days.  The only difference is the lack of foil, which does not work to the same effect on these cards.  I decided to show it here, however, because these hardly ever get showcased.  The card mentions his first, and to that point, only save against the Rockies in June 2007.  He struck out 2 that night, which we would learn is not unusual.

Mickey Mantle doesn't look the same

Sort of like the Justifiable card above, I’ve seen this one all over ebay.  I can’t tell you how glad I am that I was able to get them both through a trade instead of waiting for some sucker to post a cheap auction with free shipping.  Unlike the Justifiable, this card looks really nice.  Who doesn’t like ’52 Topps?

Of note is the fact that Marmol started his career with the Cubs as a starter.  He made 13 starts in 19 games and ended with a 6.08 ERA and a 5-7 record.  But, he struck out 59 in 77 innings, so he was moved (for the better)

and for comparison…

Oooo, shiny not-Mantle

Yes, he threw in the Chrome version as well.  Not too shabby, right?

Aside from the shiny, one thing that I noticed right off the bat about these two was the signature.  Either this was an early form of his, or it’s a name they ran through their default signature font, because, here’s the real thing.

Not from the trade, just wanted to show it off again

Slightly different.

John also sent over a few other Marmol cards I didn’t show off this time, but overall he made my need list look a lot more yellow.  The 9 Marmol cards he sent accounts for 1/9 of the cards I’m seeking.  You can’t say that about too many trades.

Thanks a lot, John!  Hopefully we’ll be able to do it again sometime.

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