Added Intrigue

When you make a trade with a fellow blogger, I usually know what type of cards will be sent my way.  Even when a blind trade is agreed upon, the cards that the bubble mailer will be stuffed with, will fit into my team collections or player collections.  The only element of surprise is usually the quality of Dodgers that are sent to me.

One of my favorite bloggers, Napkin Doon, sent me a rare item in our latest trade.  He sent me a few random packs of baseball cards.  Getting packs of baseball cards in a trade does not happen often.  The included packs added an element of surprise because Napkin or I had no idea cards will stumble out of the wax sealed packs.

The '89 Topps and '89 Donruss are packs reminiscent of my childhood.  I remember opening tons of those packs, especially the '89 Topps.  That was and still is one of my favorite sets.  Napkin Doon must have used his special powers to figure that out or maybe I just mentioned my love of '89 Topps before at the Platter.  Either way, I am pumped to rip open some actual wax encased cardboard.

I don't remember opening up any '90 Topps Big as a child.  Opening this pack was fresh to me despite this set being over 20 years old.  The over sized gimmick must have intimidated a younger version of me.  Minis are cool, the big cards are too scary and tough to store.  Even the youthfulness of my collecting habits knew this.

I have decided to pick out my favorite cards from each pack.  This Mike LaValliere beat out the rest of the bunch.  LaValliere has a chubby face, a bad mustache, and a whirl coming out from under his Pirates cap.  Yup, that wins him the honor of best of pack.

Diamond Kings have a certain nostalgia feel for me.  These were the cool, flashy cards to pull for a young collector in the late 80s to early 90s.  I enjoy the artwork by Dick Perez and these stood out so much when pulled from a pack.  They added some contrasting colors and were able to have a slightly different card design from the regular base cards that added some flair to '89 Donruss.

I have no recollection of ever seeing Ed Whitson play baseball.  He may not even be a real person.  Whitson could just be a mythical ballplayer character created by Dick Perez.  The background of this card has a 70s style trippyness which may explain why Perez created a mythical baseball player.

 
The '89 Topps pack was the funnest one to break open.  I may have to find a cheap box of this set and try to complete it.  I wonder if one '89 Topps box actually contains one whole set?

Carlton Fisk just looks like a ballplayer in this photo.  Fisk is not doing anything athletic or gritty on this card.  In fact, he is just standing trying to decipher some had signals from his third base coach.  It is hard to describe into words, what "looks like a ballplayer" truly means.  It seems to be just an expression baseball fans use to describe some players.  Baseball fans just have that sense and Fisk just looks like a ballplayer.

Napkin Doon sent me some other really nice cards.  I think that I will do him the honor and make this trade post a two parter.  That doesn't happen often at the Platter but, the trade package Napkin Doon sent to me deserves a sequel.