I have not ripped a single pack of ’09 SP Authentic, but I finished off the Rays team set a while back which was my main concern. It’s a good looking design. If I had a few bucks to spend and I saw a pack, I probably would have gone for it, I just NEVER SAW A PACK. NOW, I don’t even want to rip a pack. I have the best of a box right here. This would have been a 3 from 3 post, but it’s actually 3 from 2. The first card is part of my winning from the contest on Cobb and Halladay and the other two were part of the monster deal that I worked out with Wax Pack Relapse. I actually have a 4th card on its way to me from this subset. It has Nolan Ryan and Scott Kazmir on it. For now, this is what I have in my greedy little hands. The subset is called Generations Memorabilia and each card is a duel relic featuring a current player and one from a decade prior. Up first is card #GM-GP of Bob Gibson (representing the 1960’s) and Jake Peavy (representing the 2000s). 
I can’t think of a better pitcher to represent an entire decade than Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cards. During the sixties Gibby struck out 200 or more batters 7 times and he topped 20 victories four times. He was an All Star 6 times in the decade and he won 2 Gold Gloves, a Cy Young Award and 2 World Series rings. He owned the decade. It’s hard for anyone to compare to Gibson and Jake Peavy is the other dude on the card with Gibby. Peavy is representing the 2000s. Let’s see how he stacks up. JP struck out 200 or more guys 3 times. He didn’t top 20 wins, didn’t win any rings or Gold Gloves. He was an All Star twice and he did win a Cy Young Award in 2007. We will still just call him the other dude. The back of the card says the memorabilia was certified to be used in a MLB game. It doesn’t say by whom though. I am sure that Hoot has never been anywhere near that little gray swatch, but it does look old and that is enough to make me love it. Thanks Joe for a great contest and a great card!The next two came from Wax Pack Relapse. The first one is number GM-SL and features a pair of third basemen, Mike Schmidt and Evan Longoria.
Schmidt represents the 1980s and once again they picked the number one third baseman in the National League to represent that decade. In the 80’s Schmidt was an All Star 8 times, he won 7 Gold Gloves and 6 Silver Slugger Awards. He led the league in long balls 5 times and took home 3 MVP trophies. He also won a pair of National League Pennants and a World Championship in 1980. Paired with him on the other side, representing the 2000’s is Evan Longoria. Longo is off to a great start, he has a ton of potential, but he is a long way from Mike Schmidt. That’s okay though. Having a card of the greatest third baseman of the 80’s (the decade I grew up watching baseball) and the current star third baseman from my favorite team is pretty awesome. I don’t know if it gets better, but the next card is pretty close. 
This one is number (letter) GM-BL and features Wade Boggs (90’s) and Evan Longoria once again for the 2000s. If I had to choose I would pick Schmidt over Boggs, but there is something awesome about the pairing of Boggs and Longo. The card shows both of them in (Devil) Rays gear, hell the swatches are probably cut from the same rag. Boggs doesn’t rep his decade as well as Gibby or MJS, but he does okay. In the 1990’s Boggs was an All Star 7 times, a Silver Slugger 3 times and twice a Gold Glove. He also added a World Series victory and a ride on a horse in ’96 and he was an original Tampa Bay Devil Ray, PLUS he is the only one of the 6 guys shown here who can say he got 3000 hits. I like the pairing of the current star with the legend, but I think it works MUCH better when they are from the same team. I mentioned at the top that I am waiting on the Nolan Ryan and Scott Kazmir pairing from this set. I don’t mind that pairing because Kazmir IS the Rays original ACE. I would like a card of JP Howell and Esteban Yan, but I would probably be the only one. I should probably just look up the checklist, but I would rather just make up some more pairings that I think would be awesome. Ben Grieve and Carl Crawford, Fred McGriff and Carlos Pena, Quinton McCracken and BJ Upton, Wilson Alvarez and David Price, Rolando Arrojo and Matt Garza, Larry Doby and Grady Sizemore, Roberto Clemente and Andrew McCutchen, Danny Tartabull and Billy Butler, Tony Oliva and Delmon Young, Bobby Grich and Brian Roberts and the last one-Bert Blyleven and Pat Neshek, BRING IT!!! A huge thank you to both Cobb and Halladay and Wax Pack Relapse for the AMAZING cards!!! These are not only my first relics of Schmidt and Gibson; they are my first of Longo and Boggs, too. Thanks guys! Go Rays! troll out.
#69 Wade Boggs New York Yankees (1996 was the year that Boggs finally got his ring, went for a ride on a horse and hit .311 for the World Champs… In just a couple of years he would find himself on the Devil Rays)
#137 Hideki Irabu New York Yankees
#116 Andrew Jones Atlanta Braves (In the ’96 Series Jones tied a record by homering in his first 2 at-bats and set a record becoming the youngest player (19) to homer in the Series)
#121 Wilton Guerrero Los Angeles Dodgers (Vlad’s “big” brother used a corked bat and his 140 pound frame to knock 4 homers in 1997)
#69 Wade Boggs New York Yankees (Hall of Famer in the pack!!! One thing I don’t like about this brand is that it doesn’t show career totals for stats on the back. It does break them down month by month, which is cool, but I wanted to know where Boggs was at in terms of hits and I don’t feel like looking it up. He did bat .311 for the Yanks in ’96)
#24 Rey Ordonez New York Mets MEN OF SUMMER Insert (this is the first insert we’ve pulled out of this one. This is a 150 card insert set and the odds are 1:7. I bet this was a bear to finish back in the day. Theoretically you would have to rip 1,050 packs and not get a double. Remember there were no card blogs back in ’97!)
#137 Hideki Irabu 1997 Rookie New York Yankees (I’m not sure if the Yanks paid him by the win or by the pound, but he made a lot of US dollars during his short big league career-over parts of 6 seasons he posted a 34-35 record with a 5.15 ERA)
#36 Jay Buhner Seattle Mariners (I wasn’t sure if I had shown what the back of the card looks like. This one shows Jay’s signature pants stain and shows that he hit 12 homers in May and 44 for the season in ’96. His final line in ’96 was .271 BA/44 HR/ 138 RBI. Damn.)
#16 Mike Piazza LA Dodgers (Speaking of rings… Piazza never won his. He never won the MVP award either. He was in the top-10 in voting 8 times and finished second in ’96 and ’97, but he never took it home. His stats in ’96 were awesome for anyone, especially a catcher-.336/36/105. Nice. He brought things to another level in 1997 when he hit .362 with 40 homers and 124 RBI, but he finished behind Larry Walker in every offensive category and also in the MVP voting.)
One was Carlos Pena, who is still the American League homerun leader. I am really glad to have this card back in the binder. I am not really holding my breath on getting the TTM back, but I had to try. Pena is one of the current Rays All Stars that I do not have an autographed card of, the other being Evan Longoria. Anyway, he sent a few others, but none as cool as the Pena.
This 3-panel card of Miguel Cairo, Dan Carlson and Rolando Arrojo is an instant favorite.
The D-Rays took Robinson in the expansion draft from the Cards organization and at the end of 1998 he got the call up. He played left field in 2 games and was hitless in 3 at bats. That appearance means that he has to be included in my auto quest-anybody holding any Kerry Robinson autos? Anyway, after the D-Rays cut him loose, he found his way back to the Cards and was part of their playoff teams in 2001 and 2002. He never panned out as the Willie McGee type player he was supposed to be, but he did play in the Bigs for 7 seasons with 196 hits and 36 steals.
The card is number X15 and this set included 1st, 2nd and 3rd places for each position based on the ten years that Upper Deck had been in business. 
For third base, the 3rd team spot was taken by Matt Williams, Wade Boggs made 2nd and their first team All-Anniversary third baseman was a guy who had only been playing for 3 years, it was Chipper Jones.
Here is a 3 card lot of some more of my new D-Rays including Felix Martinez and two guys that I just got autographed cards of-Brent Abernathy and Jason Tyner.
I do actually know how to pronounce his name and I even know a tiny bit about hockey. In the early aughts I worked for a short-time on a call-in sports radio show. Here is an example of my hockey talk-“next up we have Steve in New Port Richey. He wants to talk Lightning hockey, what’s on your mind Steve?”
Seth McClung’s shirt does actually say Tampa Bay Devil Rays and there is a Ray on his cap. Seeing these cards make me angry for a couple of reasons. 1. I never got paid what they owed me. 2. They picked the worst pictures ever. 3. I never knew that they didn’t have MLB licensing. Still, the laughs I get out of seeing those outweigh the bad, it always a shocker for me to see one of these. It amazes me also how many guys from this set actually made it to the big leagues; McClung is still playing with the Brewers in their bullpen. Seriously though, I do want to get my hands on more of these ugly cards. If anyone has any, especially the Orioles or White Sox from this awful set, please send them my way!
Juan spent nearly 10 years in the Rays system; he played in the All Star Futures Game in 2006 and spent parts of the 2006-2008 seasons with the (Devil) Rays. He was busted on using performance enhancing drugs at one point, I recall, but they must not have been the good ones. In parts of 3 seasons he pitched in 47 games, all in relief, striking out 42 batters with a 4.44 ERA. He was traded to Cleveland and later released. I really have no idea where Salas is right now. I am thrilled with this card, though. I have had great luck increasing the Rays autograph collection thanks to my fellow bloggers. Thanks for another awesome trade Brian. Congrats on your first post and your new blog. Brian will graciously accept any and all Rangers cards and he will probably send you something good in return. It seemed for a while that the Rays and the Rangers had a little rivalry starting with both teams chasing the Red Sox for the wild card, but both teams imploded and will be paying for their tickets to the playoffs. Bring on spring training 2010 where we are all undefeated! Thanks again for the trade! Una cosa mas... I wanted to dedicate a full post to it, but lack of time and all... Be sure to check out Sarah/McCann Can Triple's blog A Rookie (baseball) Card Collector. She is starting a Secret Santa project for all of us card bloggers. I think this is a great idea and I am looking forward to it already. Please read her post! Go Rays! Troll out.
