As promised, here is my latest trade with everyone's favorite Twins fan, Rhubarb Runner... The Runner has a super awesome local card shop and he is always shopping for just about everyone in the blog-o-sphere. His goal is to turn good deals into Twins cards he needs. This worked out great for me because I had just found a 2007 Glen Perkins autograph the same day he wrote me. He found 4 Rays cards at his shop and I needed 2 of them, so we agreed on the deal. Thing is, the stuff we agreed on was already pretty great, but the extras he threw in were AWESOME!We will start with this Team Quad card from Playoff Absolute. Not to sound ungrateful, but I despise the design of Playoff cards. The blatant waste of space, the lack of information and stats and the tiny pictures and the serial numbering of cards that just don't seem that special. That said, I still chase them when they feature certain players and this quad includes Brandon Backe, Chad Gaudin, Toby Hall and Dewon Brazelton.
I collect Brazelton and therefore had to have this one. I swapped player collections with the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame not too long ago and snagged his rad Brazelton collection. I haven't posted it yet because I am not sure anyone would appreciate aside from myself and GSNHoF, but I will!
Next up is a card I sort of posted already, but wanted to put up again because it is really a neat card. It is Crowning Moment card #402 from 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings showing current Giant and former Devil Ray's first baseman Aubrey Huff. 
The reason I wanted to show this card again is that the rendition is truly amazing and I wanted to give the artist, Dave Kramer, a little love for it... Huff, by the way, is hitting .429 in the Series so far. I would say I am rooting for Huff to do well, but for his team to lose... By the way, I do NOT collect Huff. He had some success for the D-Rays, but I just wasn't a huge fan. Like all former D-Rays though, I have a page in the binder showing his 9 best cards. I upgrade whenever I can and this card made the cut.
Next up is the first surprise. From 2008 Upper Deck Documentary UPDATE. 
I didn't even realize there was an update, but I guess there is. All 8 cards are from the postseason. If you read the backs the Rays were. 500 over these 8 games. Ultimately they beat the White Sox and the Red Sox, but lost to the Phillies. Memories. When Documentary was on the shelves I thought it was a horrible, horrible set. Now, I desperately want to complete the 163 card set, PLUS the update version. 2008 was a magical year for the Rays and I would love to fill a binder with this. 
Its funny, but this year with Topps monopoly I find myself appreciating things that I never gave a second thought about before. I probably have at least 50 of these cards, so many trade packs have included 1 or 2, someday I will get them all together and into a proper binder.
Incidentally, a case of Ultra Pro pages is tops on my Christmas list!
Okay, back to the trade and the 2nd HUGE BONUS the Runner included... Another set I need to get all together and make a list of is 2009 Topps Update GOLD. 
I am trying to build the gold parallel version of EVERY D-Rays Topps team set. I need many, so I haven't made a list. Cards trickle in here and there, but Rhubarb sent me 4! This was a total surprise and a HUGE bonus. I don't get to scratch 4 cards off of my imaginary list very often! They are #UH55 Ben Zobrist All Star, UH103 of Evan Longoria All Star, #UH272 of All Star Carlos Pena in the home run derby and #UH287 of Matt Joyce. Awesome!!! The final card I am going to show off was actually the cornerstone of the deal.
It turned out great that the throw in cards totally overshadowed it, but this one is still pretty rad...It is from 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces, another set that I appreciate more and more as time goes on. This set was actually really cool then, but now that Masterpieces only lives on Beardy's blog, they are that much cooler!
This is a Captured on Canvas insert of Rays outfielder Rocco Baldelli. 
Opposite of Playoff, the design of this card is awesome! Great color, great use of space and a cool name. I don't really have too many Rocco Baldelli jersey cards. I decided that I need more. Rocco isn't my favorite, but I hold him in high enough regard that he gets multiple pages in the binder. This card is going right in.
Thanks so much for trading Rhubarb!!! I know we will deal again really soon! Thanks for reading and if you insist on sending me cards, I will def appreciate it, if those cards are gold, there will be even more appreciation...
Thank you Rhubarb Runner!!! Go Ra(y)ngers! troll out.
He hit nearly 300 homers, drove in more than 1200 runs and is a career .303 hitter. He played at the height of the steroid era, but his name never came up in allegations. He played hard, got dirty, wore black under his eyes and could flat out hit. Ten years after his retirement he is still one of the most collected players in the blog-o-sphere. Maybe that is why I was thinking about him and how someone with such a common name became such a huge star. 
Maybe it is because during my group break I pulled about 15 different cards of him. Maybe it is because I know that so many people collect him he is one of the few players (Carl Crawford, Larry Doby and Danny Tartabull being the others) that I will buy any card that comes for sale through the card shop. Honestly not that many do. I think The Thrill still has a ton of fans even in sunny Florida. One card did make its way to the card shop this past week though, ironically it came in with a Dewon Brazelton card-Dewon is another guy that I will buy anything that comes up for sale. I basically get on the hook for any Rays that come through the door, but Dewon and Jared Sandberg and Jonny Gomes are my favorite Ex-Rays to buy, but anyway… When my buddy Frank called to let me know I had some cards waiting I was excited, but nervous because I was low on cash. He assured me it would be under 20 bucks, so I told him I would be right over. I have to say I was a little surprised when I saw the cards of Clark and Brazelton both. Surprised and disappointed actually. 
Bummed because I had both cards already, but more bummed because they were both graded. I really don’t like graded cards. I have bought a few graded 1965s and it just amounts to extra work pulling them out of their cases. Upon closer inspection I nearly hit the ground laughing and I thanked Frank very much for grabbing these for me. He picked up a few other slabbed and graded cards for me too. 
One for the PC (and I love Dewon but would never have one of his cards graded, especially one that isn't mint!), one just for this story and one just for laughs. No offense to Jim Slaton, who had a very nice career, but who grades this stuff? Moreso, who gets a card like this graded? I should mention that the seller originally want $10 each for the graded cards. He didn't get it. 
I know this started off as a Will Clark story, but it was all just a set-up for a card from 1986 that was sold in a box, opened, sent off to Beckett to be graded and came back a 4.5. It is a very sharp card corners wise, but only gets a 3 on centering resulting in the laughable 4.5 grading. 
I see folks list 10s on eBay and mention that they are 1 of only 4 cards to get that grading, I wonder how many 1986 Topps Traded Will Clark cards there are out there with a 4.5 grade? I bet there are more players named Will Clark who played big league ball than there are 4.5 versions of this very card. Seriously, I think this could be one of one. It’s a keeper either way! Go Rays! Troll out.
I didn’t like this set when I first saw pictures pop up and the first Rays cards I got I didn’t really care for, but its one of those sets that has REALLY grown on me. I do admit that I am a neo-vintage obsessed collector so this does fall right into my tastes I guess. 
This Carlos Pena is one of my favorite cards of him. I haven’t purchased any myself yet, but I am strongly considering it. I wouldn’t mind starting with 2003 first. My introduction to this set was a card of Justin Schuda (who?) but since then cards have trickled in of all my favorites-Gomes, Brazleton, Grieve and a young and toothpick looking BJ Upton. 
Since I don’t have either year full on the team set I have a page mixed up of both and they all look pretty good together. I know that some people put together Allen and Ginter mini sets of mixed years showing the best card for each number they have. I think I am going to buy a box of 2003 and of 2009 and put together a mixed set. Oh, there are minis too, awesome! I love this hobby! Go Rays! Troll out.
