From P-Town to "P-Town"

Some cards for your perusement on a Saturday.

After some recent unpleasantness, Cubs cards are officially banned from the blog indefinitely. That doesn't mean I won't make room for some cards from a Cubs fan, however. P-Town Tom was kind enough to send along a mailbox stuffer, containing all sorts of goodies from various years and sets. Portland (where I reside), incidentally, is sometimes called "P-Town" by people who clearly aren't locals. It's second on the list only to "PDX" in those terms.

Anthony Garcia was lower round draft pick in 2009, but he has steadily ascended the ranks of the minor leagues, finally reaching AAA last season. He's on the 40-man roster, which protected him from this week's Rule V Draft, so it would appear that the organization has some sort of plan for him.

I was just thinking the other day that Broxton's appearance on a baseball card in a Cardinals uniform would be somewhat of a forgettable surprise in retrospect, but the Cards went ahead and gave him a two-year contract. It looks like Broxton will be staying awhile after all. I guess this is a Camo parallel (numbered 08/99!) but this year's style makes it look a bit more marbled than camouflage. I suppose it could blend in sneakily with other card designs, but I doubt that's what they were going for.

Rob Kaminsky was the price the Cardinals paid for their midseason acquisition of Brandon Moss. It may be awhile yet before we see Kaminsky at the big league level (he's only 20), and Moss will be back with the Cards next season for what it's worth.

There's just something... off... about this card. It's cropped weirdly, and Panini's need to remove all evidence of team logos pushes them towards using some pretty underwhelming shots.

Tom sent over 3 of the rarer cards from the 2012 Triple Play set that Erin is still working on. For a product that came with such a cheap price point, some of the higher numbered cards are getting to be really hard to find!

There's also something off about this Gooch card. He needs another player on the right to keep him company or something.

I was also the proud recipient of a Lou Brock Front Row set from 1993 that I'd never seen before. I'm not sure if it's how Tom acquired this, but one of my favorite things about going to card shows is finding stuff like this. It's great.

I miiiiiight have to break that factory seal, though.