The Diamond King and I

I believe this is the second trade that I have made with the great Diamond King.  He runs a very cool blog and is currently going through his favorite players based on position.  The Diamond King is also one of the better names in the blog world.  I hope people call him that around his neighborhood.

These two cards are what sparked the trade between us.  These are promo cards that probably came out just before the sets were released and given out to dealers to create a buzz in the collecting world.  The 1995 Donruss Promo is a rookie card of Hideo Nomo.  I have the regular base card but, now I have the promo card to set beside it in my Nomo binder.  The second card is a 1998 Topps Tek Rauuuul Mondesi card.  The back of the card where the number is, says "pre-production" on it.  This Tek set is awesome.  It feels like a credit card.  I love cardboard but, I also like cards made out of metal or plastic.

The Diamond King also threw in some Jackie Robinson cards.  The 2001 Upper Deck Jackie has Dodgers written in what feels like felt.  Upper Deck was striving for a look of stitching on the card.  Very nice touch.  I love cards from the "Baseball's All Time Greats" sets.  I am not sure how many different releases that they have.  I know there are different colored borders.

The Diamond King hooked me up with a few 1981 Topps cards!  My chase continues to get a chunk of cards from this set.  The 1981 Topps sets is one of my favorites.  I have been searching for the Kirk Gibson from this set for awhile and now it's mine.  I still have a bunch more that I am looking for from this set.  Please click on my set needs up top and let me know if you have any for trade.

Ichiro with some shine!  Upper Deck used the Topps Refractor look to commemorate Ichiro's 1,000th hit.  The 2009 Allen and Ginter National Pride set looks really cool.  The rising sun behind Ichiro looks good on cardboard.  The Diamond King also included several other Ichiro cards which is much appreciated.

Thanks for the trade!  We will trade more in the future.  Please check out his blog and maybe send him some diamond kings.