Trading with First Day Issue

Bud from First Day Issue recently sent me a nice variety pack of Cardinals in exchange for some of his faves. This particular stack of cards definitely boasted one of the best quality-to-quantity ratios of any trade I've made through this blog. Among the treasure was my first 2009 Upper Deck X card, a die-cut Colby Rasmus card. Colby has been going through the usually rookie torture this year that most seem to go through with Tony La Russa's Cardinals as he seems to have established himself as the starting center fielder yet is frequently out of the lineup. I'm not sure what I think about the "tilted X" look. At least they're trying new things... sort of. If this set comes back in the new Unlicensed Upper Deck World, I will be laughing my head off.

Shiny Edmonds... the best kind of Edmonds(es).

Nice card from the 2001 Topps Archives set. I like the idea of Topps Archives, but I can see why this and Fan Favorites couldn't go on for long. At some point you run out of past to rehash.

Ignoring the SPx logo for a minute, I just assumed this was some sort of base or parallel version of this year's Upper Deck X. Glaus finally got in a few at-bats this season but wasn't able to contribute much before he found another unfortunate way to be injured. An '08 version of Glaus would have given the Cardinals an offensive lineup that is only matched by the Yankees this year. It's doubtful you would have seen some of the deals that St. Louis made before the trading deadline this year, however, with a healthy Troy Glaus.

I wholeheartedly welcome any and all Allen & Ginter cards, especially from 2006-07, into my collection - even non-Cardinals cards.

I've been rather O-Pee-Chee obsessed lately (the old stuff, not the Upper Deck junk) so this is right up my alley. This David Green card is to Donruss what O-Pee-Chee was to Topps in the mid-'80s, although technically Leaf was a company that owned the Donruss name if I'm not mistaken. I can never remember what O-Pee-Chee's role in the Topps company was at the time. I think they may have just had some arrangement where they could use their designs. This card also tells me that I need to clean my scanner.

Many Cardinals fans cannot speak this man's name without dying a little more inside, or at the very least shuddering and shivering violently.

Wow, this is impressive. I don't think I have four of anything on any card I own. I barely have any bat cards, to be honest. While most would say that pieces of fabric from a uniform worn by a player "gets you closer to the game", I'd much rather have a piece of a game-used bat for some reason. I don't usually like tiny player pictures on cards, but I liked how this card is arranged.

Thanks again to Bud and First Day Issue.