A swell Babe from Brad

Literally! I like these Swell cards a lot, and this one is, well, swell. It came in an unexpected package from Brad of Brad's Blog.

There was a bunch of goodies in the package, but here a couple highlights.

I gotta say, I love getting old inserts of Alfonso Soriano. Collecting in the late '90s/early '00s, it was a big deal to pull a Soriano, let alone an insert. There were a lot of the too, because, well, the 1990s. This would have been a good one to pull from Skybox Metal.

I like this card. It's just very simple and plain, but obviously perfectly fitting for Mariano.

And finally, a nice sparkly card of Phil Hughes, who I can't hate on too much. He had a fine career in NY. I actually really liked Lineage. I just wish the card backs had stats instead of just a short write-up.

Brad, thanks again my friend!

Rad Chrome from Brad

A while back, Brad from Brad's Blog broke a case of 2014 Topps Chrome. I claimed a few Yankee autos (three to be exact), and Brad sent though a large chunk of other Chrome cards and inserts, as well as a second team bag full of Yanks.

It was the first bit of Chrome base cards I've received this year, and I know have the full team set thanks to Brad.

These Sepia Refractors are so nice. I'm really impressed with them.

 

Here are the aforementioned autos. Sadly, only Murphy is still with the Yanks. I'm happy to have this certified auto, as the TTM auto I have of him is a bit light and hard to read. Anna and Solarte both made the Yanks Opening Day roster, but were not with the team by the end of the season.

Tanaka time! Up to this point, I only had one Tanaka. Brad doubled that for me.

I hope I keep receiving Jeters in future trade packages. I'll never have enough.

Lastly, I just thought this card looked really nice with the red border. It fits.

Brad, thank you sir!

Brad is rad...to trade with

I recently completed my first-ever trade with Brad of the rad blog Brad's Blog. I won't lie, love the simplicity of the name. All one has to say is "Brad" and everyone knows it's Brad of Brad's Blog. He's kind of like Pele or Madonna. They don't need two names.

Anyhow, I reached out because I had this ginormous Ryan Howard bat barrel card. It was one of the Topps manufactured barrels. It was the size of like 12 cards all together. Brad is an avid Howard collector, so I figured it'd fit better in his collection than in mine.

In turn, I selected a few cards from Brad's trade bait page. The first was this sweet Lou Piniella relic. It's my first jersey card of Sweet Lou.

Next, I picked two numbered cards for my Michael Pineda PC. Maybe Big Mike will actually throw a pitch for the Yanks this year.

Brad rounded out the trade with a nice stack of Yanks. Here are a few highlights, including two sweet Pineda die cuts and my first 2013 Chrome Refractor (ARod):