Trading with Chris from VA

Reader [Edit: Blogger] Chris and I agreed on a Nats-for-Cards exchange awhile back and I got a very nice stack of Redbirds to add to my other stacks of unsorted cards that need to find their way to the binders soon. As with previous posts of awesome stuff I've received, I'll try and whittle this down to 10 or so images. First up, we have a classic 1981 Keith Hernandez. Before the Just For Men commercials, the Seinfeld appearances and the '86 World Series, Keith was just a stellar first basemen wearing the powder blue Birds on the Bat. Unfortunately, he was part of the Mets trilogy of 80's superstars (see also: Gooden, Dwight and Strawberry, Darryl) who had their run-ins with the fashionable party drug of the era. Still, a nice card from a set I have fond memories of.

2006 Fleer Tradition Adam Wainwright RC - On December 13, 2003, Wainwright was traded along with Ray King and Jason Marquis for one season of J.D. Drew and Eli Marrero. Granted, it was Drew's best season and the only one where he even came close to living up to his potential (and only one where he reached 500 ABs.) Granted, Jason Marquis inflicted nearly as much harm on the Cardinals in his final season with the Cards in 2006 as he did good in 2004-05. I still love the trade immensely, though, and with Chris Carpenter's health still very suspect at this point Wainwright could be the ace of the staff for some time to come. (Side note: I am finally starting to feel bad for Marquis. In his 9th season in the majors, he has made the playoffs each year, but only made the playoff roster 3 times. And it's up in the air as to whether he will make it this year.)

2008 UD Baseball Heroes "A Quartet of Clutch Hitters" - This card is just silly. I am really not a fan of tiny pictures on cards. It looks like it's saving lots of room for jersey swatches or something, but this is just a base card. I also got a Pujols and Troy Glaus from this set, which is nice.

1992 O-Pee-Chee Joe Magrane - Magrane was a great pitcher for a spell. This is also, I believe, my first ever 1992 O-Pee-Chee card. I need lots of O-Pee-Chee cards for my Cardinals collection, so if anyone out there has any to spare, let me know. (And I don't mean O-Pee-Chee Premiere - those aren't so special to me.)

1995 Fleer Gregg Jefferies - This is a very busy card. I guess this is the base set for Fleer? I have no idea. Jefferies was like Joba Chamberlain and Jay Bruce all wrapped up into one mega-prospect back when I was in middle school. By the time he wound up on the Cardinals, he was as popular as Kevin Seitzer. Still, he put together some extremely good numbers for some lousy Joe Torre-led Cardinals teams.

1978 Topps Hector Cruz - Aw, Hector, what happened to your face? Oh, that's a printing defect? Yeesh. Better have that checked out...

1993 Bowman Ozzie Canseco - I'm speechless.

2005 Topps !!! - Lots of cards here... too many to even list. I may have received the whole team set. There's a great Edmonds picture of him diving for the ball, a classic Pujols "props to the higher-ups" moment, Yadi still a newbie wearing #41, Taguchi wearing the high socks, and the 2004 NL Champs photo. Plus, many nice cards not even pictured here...

2007 Upper Deck First Edition Momentum Swing Albert Pujols - Get it?

2005 Topps Chrome Jason Motte - Motte is a good reason to feel positive about 2009 after narrowly missing the playoffs in 2008. Motte hit .188 as a catcher before converting to pitcher in 2006. Since then, all he's done is strike out 110 batters in 66 2/3 innings at AAA Memphis this year and sport a 0.00 ERA in 8 appearances with the Cards. Sure, he only has one pitch, but it's really fast and scary!

2008 Topps Chrome Albert Pujols - This card is much nicer than his blurry 2008 Topps base card, and the facsimile autograph on the front is even nicer as it looks more Sharpie and less Papermate.

Thanks again to Chris, who hopefully will see some more Nats cards in his hands before the week is out.