A Gem of a Trade With Emerald City

I think it’s about time for another trade post, don’t you?  This one comes courtesy of Emerald City Diamond Gems, your one stop shop for all things Mariners.  All I had to do was ship off some cards from my 1997 Fleer Series 2 box break and I got these babies to add to my collections.

Marmol

Past and Future All-Star

Carlos Marmol’s inclusion on the 2008 All-Star roster gave the Cubs a record-tying 8 players on the team.  This was one of the best all-star games I’ve ever seen with a few plays at the plate, crazy errors, amazing rallies and amazing ways to kill them, extra innings, and pure excitement.  El Nino K came in the 13th inning, and all I could think was that he was going to lose the game for us.  Immediately going into the all-star break he had seemingly lost his touch and was giving up hits and runs left and right, so there was plenty reason to worry that would continue.  But in future closer fashion, he pitched a perfect inning and struck out 2.

Maddux

No Relic attached this time, but that's okay

This is now the oldest Greg Maddux card in my collection, which is something I didn’t think I’d get to say for quite some time.  I actually only have one other opportunity to say it if I ever get the 1986 minor league card.  Next stop for 1987:  Tiffany – that may be a while.  I know a lot of people hate the 1987 design, but it was extremely original to a 6 year-old kid, especially compared to 1986.  And let’s be honest, a wood border is better than a plain white border any day.    I’m glad he eventually decided to lose the facial hair.  That stuff was like the steroids of the 80s – everyone was doing it.

20 Years later...

The back of this card calls him “doggie.”  I don’t think that’s a real nickname.  They made that up just as I made up “El Nino K” for Marmol.  I know very little about Bowman heritage, and until this card arrived had no clue that minis were a part of the product.  Luckily, they didn’t go overboard with parallels and this is the only mini I have to worry about.  That’s a nice feeling.  I will still need other Bowman Heritage cards as well as the Chrome versions, but minis are complete!

Not actual signatures

This was a big surprise in the trade package.  We hadn’t discussed this card ahead of time and the #/100 on the back grabbed my collar and shook me around a little bit – in a good way.  Again, I don’t know much about Co-Signers, but I do know that Maddux has 7 different cards, all with a boat load of variations to eventually grab.  All told, I’m looking at 63 more 2006 Co-Signers numbered 50 or higher that will have to be mine.  Having one of the Red parallels out of the way early is very much appreciated.  Technically, this is a Derrek Lee card according to the back, but I think we both know the truth.  I mean, look at Derrek’s fake signature at the top.  I thought that was a hidden message at first.

Cubs history in 9 cards

He also threw in a smattering of Cubs cards from all sorts of years.  Ramirez needs time out after killing a Cincinnati Red.  Obviously Glendon Rusch doesn’t belong in the same company as the rest from the scan, but it is one of 2 additional gold Cubs cards he sent.  A Mark Prior card #/99?  Reflecting back, I don’t think I’ve heard of Upper Deck Reflections, but it sure does look purdy.  The Sosa and Wood cards are see-through and they scan very nicely as such.  I love the shadow effect on the name and the team logo.  Then you have the whole farm with Goose, Hawk and a couple Rynos.  He can juggle, too?  What can’t he do, besides manage the Cubs major league team?

Thank you very much for the trade!  If you have any spare Mariners cards, please consider sending them over to Emerald City.  You won’t be disappointed.