A sliding Carl Crawford from 2004 Upper Deck, card #454… This seems like a pretty basic card, but I managed to amass 220+ CC cards before this one came my way.
I wish they went with a wider angle on this shot because it looks like a play at the plate-you can sort of see a shin guard in the corner. Next up is a Team Leaders card from 2006 Topps Updates, #UH311. 
I have had back luck knocking off any traded cards or updates and highlights from my team set want lists, so EVERY one of these is appreciated. He sent two more shiny new CC cards-from the 2008 Topps Co-Signers set (also starring Rocco Baldelli) we have CC in his fancy 
Sunday best home uniform exploding off a crimson and chrome background, this card is #ed to 400… The final CC is from 2002 UD SPx, card #217. 
My collection is really weak at the beginning of this decade-the CC collection is no different. Here is a Chad Gaudin card from 2004 Fleer Authentix, the inspiration for Topps Ticket to Stardom. 
In 2003 Gaudin didn’t have roadkill stapled to his chin and he was 2-0 for the Devil Rays with his first win coming against his future team, the NY Yankees. I think he was the youngest D-Ray ever at that point, too. The last card of the trade was the true feature of our deal; it comes from the 2003 Fleer MLB Hot Prospects series and features a “Certified Cuts” auto of then D-Rays hot prospect Pete LaForest. 
Since the auto is on a plain piece of paper or an index card and not a sliced up baseball card this being a “cut auto” doesn’t bother me one bit. Pierre-Luc LaForest, aka Pete, played for the Devil Rays for parts of the 2003 and 2005 seasons. He had shown a ton of promise in AAA, but never conquered the Mendoza line in the Majors with the Rays, but he is still an important piece of my Rays autograph quest. He has a lot of success playing for Team Canada or the Canadian National Team or whatever it’s called-he even earned himself a fancy nickname-“Le Bombardier du Stade Municipal" which means the Municipal Stadium bomber. That reminds me, the other day I met an Olympic hopeful in curling (SP?) from London, Ontario Canada. He came to Florida to visit his grandmother (why else would you?) and was going to do some training on one of our many lawn bowling courts. When I realized where he was from I said “You must know my buddy Brian, AKA Captain Canuck”. This was met with a blank stare and he explained that Calgary was VERY FAR away from London and then called me a stoopid American. Oh well. I thought you guys all knew each other. Anyway, I lost focus for a minute, but I do want to thank Dan from the ever super awesome Its Like Having My Own Cardshop blog. Hit him up and hook him up with all D-Backs cards, he’ll take them! Troll out.
I will admit I did the happy dance when I opened the package because not only did Dan send everything that we agreed on, the bonus stuff he included was even better than the initial trade. Without any further rambling I will get right into it. He sent no less than 4 Carl Crawford cards that I needed. This bumped my PC total to a whopping 195 cards. You can view my 
to see if you can help me in my goal of reaching 200 different cards by the year’s end which is 23 days away. The final Crawford he sent is a jersey relic from the 2007 Upper Deck Series 1 set. It is a Game Materials card, #UD-CC with a U shaped swatch of white material that was certified to have been used in a MLB game. 
This one was pretty neat because I already had the Scott Kazmir, Jonny Gomes and BJ Upton cards from this set. It is relief to now own the Crawford as well. Dan didn’t stop with the 4 new additions to my Carl Crawford collection. 
He went on to include 3 different foil cards of Hall of Fame Negro Leaguers from the 2001 Topps 50th Anniversary Edition. Included in the group are Martin Dihigo, Judy Johnson and Buck Leonard.
This scanner doesn’t do any better with foil cards than mine did, but I assure you that they look far better in person.
I had this book many years ago-I had bought a copy of it when it first came out, but that copy is long gone. I started re-reading this copy as soon as it arrived and two days later was done with a renewed level of respect and admiration for the late, great Buck Leonard. Mr. Leonard wrote this book while he was in his 80’s so not all of his recollections were razor sharp and he losses his focus a little throughout, but it still an amazing read and it gives the reader a great window into the day to day life of a traveling Negro League player. 
Buck was without a doubt one of the greatest players to ever play the game and certainly one of the best first baseman ever. He spent the bulk of his career with one team, the Homestead Grays and with them he won 9 straight pennants and went to 12 All Star games. He was selected for the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 and there is a full copy of his acceptance speech and also a funny story of how Monte Irvin (then special assistant to the Commissioner) tricked him into going to Cooperstown without telling him he was going to the Hall himself. I am pretty thrilled to have a copy of this in my library again. With all of the trading I have done in the past 6 months, this is the first book I have received. I really hope this starts a trend! A huge and overdue thank you goes out to Dan from 
