Be Kind to Your Local Troll

I'm finally... finally(!)... making some headway on my 2008 Topps Heritage set. A huge thanks goes out to The Collective Troll, who was more than willing to unload his extras on me. I had no idea what I was in for when he first contacted me. Not only did he make a huge dent in the base set and (silly) black back parallels, but I also got a ton of inserts that I needed. Of all of the packages I've received from fellow bloggers in the past year that I've been doing this, this was one of the most pleasantly surprising lots of cards that I've taken in. It was difficult to narrow it down to just a handful of images to scan, but I managed to do it.

One of the first things I decided to collect, separate of the base 2008 Topps Heritage set was the Target minis. I couldn't get enough of these from the first pack that I bought, and now I am finished with these as I was sent the remaining five that I needed.

I'm not a Wal-Mart guy, so it's been really difficult for me to collect any Wal-Mart exclusive inserts that I look for. It's not just that I despise the place, but the only stores that exist in my area are pretty lousy about their sports cards selection. It was nice to get a couple of the Wal-Mart inserts, but I still have a ways to go on these.

Infidels!

This is obviously the best of the Baseball Flashback inserts.

Included was a huge stack of base cards and the aforementioned black back parallels. Ankiel's card is one of those said parallels. Ankiel's bat has finally caught fire as he seems to now be fully recovered from that head-on center field wall collision awhile back. This week is really the first time he's looked like himself all season.

There was also a stack of assorted Cardinals cards thrown in for good measure. This is always appeciated, of course.

There were two shiny rainbow foil cards from 2007 Bowman Heritage. These are one-per-pack inserts, but I am fairly confident that I did not have either Carp or Pujols. I'd have to say that I'm a pretty big fan of both players.

I actually miss Topps Opening Day sets this year. I wasn't really thrilled by any of the older Opening Day sets, but I liked the white (instead of black) look of the 2007 set and the red (instead of white) colored 2008 cards. Thanks to the Troll, I am finished with the Cardinals base team set.

2006 Bowman Heritage was based on the 1949 Bowman design. Everything about this set looks really murky. I think they did a pretty good job with the photos to make the new cards look somewhat authentic. Anthony Reyes is not only done for the year, but may be heading for Tommy John surgery which would likely cause him to miss a healthy chunk of the 2010 season as well. I've always rooted for the guy and I know that Erin has always adored him, so it comes as sad news to me no matter what uniform the guy puts on now.

This Pujols cards looks a lot like 1949 Bowman, but where is the Bowman Heritage logo? It turns out that this is a Wal-Mart insert from the 2007 Topps set. I guess these are similar to the Trading Card History insert cards that came with the 2008 Topps hobby packs. I have a few copies of the Jim Edmonds card from this set, but this is the first other card I've seen from it.

And finally... buttons! I remember seeing these back in the day, but I didn't remember a thing about them. They're almost as cool as the Topps coins that used to be sold in my neighborhood. I wish I still had the coins, actually, but I think all of them developed some kind of rust on them. I'm impressed that these buttons, from 1984, look to be in pristine condition.

Thanks again to The Collective Troll. He's got a Tampa Bay Rays package heading his way soon.