Cards found on the side of the road...

...well not really. Today I got three packages, er..down the road. The one which I will showcase tonight is a solid package from Duane at Democratic Roadkill. I want to thank you, Duane, quickly, before I get to the loot. Duane came to me saying he had a good amount of cards from my '07 Fleer Ultra want list, and some '06 Fleer Traditions. Without giving him a rundown of a return package, he sent these awesome cards my way. Don't worry Duance, I'll cook something good up for you, though it may take a while.

First up, one of the greatest players of all time from one of the greatest sets of all time:
What a great card. He sent a bunch of these, all Jays save for the Junior Griffey, including the flowing golden locks of a one Kelly Gruber:
Awesome. Gruber is letting everyone in Major League Baseball know right then and there, who finished first in 1992. And will again in 1993. And 2014.
Currently the oldest Jays card in my collection. Boomer's 6'5"/218 frame dominates his panel. He might be average by today's standards.

I juxtaposed these on purpose. Why? A couple reasons. One, The pose is very similar. I'm assuming Topps did not do this on purpose, because they hate the Blue Jays, but also because these cards are 200 apart in the set.

The real reason they are juxtaposed for me is that this way, we can symbolize the passing of the torch. My favorite Blue Jays traded away for some baby birdies, the ringing in of the new ace and my favorite player, as well as my #1 Personal Collection player. Dusty, it's time to be a man.

Now for some more '08 Allen & Ginter's (I need to get a want list up for these) of Mr. Joe Baseball himself:
Love the state cards, pissed that my state is represented by a complete shithead.
'08 Ultimate Collection Joe Baseball. Didn't think much of these from randoms I have seen on eBay, but these are pretty solid for high-end (limited to /350) base cards.
As I mentioned above, got some '07 Ultras in this package. This was the one that stood out most, only because of that hat. I really dislike the Padres, but that hate is awesome. WANT.
Weee. Another Soria, for my paltry Soria collection. I haven't heard of anyone else who collects him, but someone mentioned it on their blog recently. I dig this card. Someone else sent me a Seth Smith of the same variety. I really like how UD did this set.

Well, thanks for the awesome cards, Duane. I will get a package out to you soon. I hope you'll be as pleased with it as I am with my half. Awesome.

Go check out the trader's blog, Democratic Roadkill.

2010 Upper Deck First Looks

Awesome, really. From the limited number of inserts (almost no base cards) listed on eBay, this is a pretty solid release. Here's some highlights:
Decent. Ramon Vazquez is one of the only base cards I could find...the rest had "Star Rookie" logos on them. I think due to the lawsuit, UD also cannot use the RC logo on their cards, so they designed their, own, and it's kind of obnoxious, but whatever. This Vazquez is actually a gold parallel /99.
Holy Fleer Ultra circa late '09's. These are siiiick. Die cuts are back with a vengeance...and Joe Mauer dons this one. Absolutely awesome insert, saw some others with Pujols and other stars, looks like a legit checklist for a sweet die-cut set. Very cool, will be collecting all of these.
So after seeing the Mauer and promptly jumping up and down (both for the return of die cuts and, let's face it, FLAMES!) this set stunned me equally. Perhaps it didnt need to be die-cut, but it's still really badass and features one of my favorite parts of the game, it's World-Wide reach (I'm a WBC homer, too, want to fight about it?!) This insert is a great cool-coloured answer to the too-hot-to-handle Pure Heat inserts.
And lastly, the relics. I am yet to see a patch or a multi-colour patch, but they're okay. The big portrait on the right is great, but instead of the small action photo on the left, I think they should have transferred the patch to inside the diamond and rid the card of a busy, second photograph. I'm so tired of circular patches, it's a waste of a swatch seeing as ~20% of the swatch ends up between cardboard.

I dig 'em. What do you guys think?