Hey, it's my half-birthday today. That means we're just 6 months away from Christmas Eve.
Here are a few recent 12/25 additions to my collection.
I remember Jeff Bagwell rookie cards being a big deal back in late 1991 and early '92 when I was a young collector. I pulled his 1991 Leaf Gold Leaf Rookies insert and it was among my most treasured cards. A while later I got a minor league All-Star set featuring him back in his Red Sox prospect days, and I thought that card was as cool as hell. Bags just kept on hitting and ended up in the Hall. He hasn't been a top tier PC guy for me since I returned to the hobby, but I have put together a respectable sampling of his cards. Figured I should finally pick up an autograph of his, and if I was gonna do that, might as well find one numbered 12/25. Despite the card featuring kind of a blurry photo, I like this one with the metallic ink on black.
While I own a crap-ton of Christmas Cards, I'm sure I'm not even close to owning 0.1% of them because there're just so many. But Christmas Cards of guys who went to my high school? Now there I might have a shot at collecting 1% of them.. hell, maybe even 2%! (The Giles Brothers are responsible for the majority of them, no doubt.)
I'd been keeping an eye out for the blue border 12/25 Shane Spencer Fan Favorites auto since 2020 Topps Archives came out last year, and it just popped up earlier this month. Now all I need is the gold foil 1/1, wherever that may be.
This one is unnumbered. I had wanted to score a Whit Merrifield auto for a while, and they were plentiful in 2020 Topps Chrome Black, a set that I was curious enough about to go after a card or two from, so I ended up with this one. It's nice enough, but everybody said the parallels blow the base out of the water, so I figured I'd target a Christmas Card of another guy I collect but didn't yet own an auto of. Queue Joey Gallo...
This orange parallel looks pretty cool with the shiny triangles in the background. Funny how Joey seems to be eyeing the serial number, visions of sugarplums dancing in his head. He's a guy I've had a passive PC of for a few years now and wanted to kick up the collection by adding an autograph to it. Done and done.
I'm still living in a giant smoke cloud, stuck inside with record-breaking bad air quality. It's supposed to ease up around Thursday or Friday. At least the wildfires haven't been moving closer to me, but they're still uncontained.
While I wait for the sky to clear and that metaphorical rainbow to stretch over the city, I've acquired a baseball card rainbow. 🌈
Base, Purple (/150), Silver (/99), and Blue (/25). All that's left is the Gold 1/1, but I haven't seen that surface yet. No printing plates are included in the auto set this year, which on one hand is kind of a bummer, but at least there's less for me to worry about. I think my favorite of these is the grey one, with the border matching the Yankees uniform.
According to the back, he still lives in El Cajon, so that's cool. I just did a Shane Spencer PC post last month when I first learned about this 2020 Topps Archives autograph, so I won't rehash too much, but he's a guy who graduated from Granite Hills High School a couple years before I started going there. Neat to think I walked down the same halls and pissed in the same locker room urinals as a future World Series champ. lol. Probably had some of the same teachers, too.
Shane Spencer is the second Topps Archives autograph rainbow I've gone after. The first was back in 2014 when Bip Roberts unexpectedly got a card. What the heck, let's revisit that one real quick.....
Base, Gold (/50), Silver (/25), Purple (/10), Blue (/5), and a couple printing plates. Apparently there's also a 1/1 Red parallel out there, plus the remaining two plates, of course. I still have a saved search for them, so maybe someday I'll add to this group. These parallels are pretty underwhelming thanks to Topps' baffling refusal to modify the 1990 Topps border at all, instead just putting a tint on the background of the photo. The silver looks the same as the base, and the purple looks pretty similar to the "sapphire" (blue). So that's lame. But still a lot of fun piecing together a Bip rainbow.
2020 Topps Archives is out today (the regular "set" product, not the "Signature Series" buyback autograph product[s]).
The Fan Favorite autographs are good for an occasionally lesser-celebrated player who doesn't have many/any pack-certified autographs on the market. A few years ago I got really excited when Bip Roberts was included and I rainbowed that card pretty hard.
I scanned the checklist for 2020 Archives today and found another name that rung a bell in my collection: Shane Spencer. The only player with a World Series ring who went to my high school. Surprisingly, he has no prior certified auto cards on the market other than the dumb cut-signature type.
(not mine; pic from ebay)
So I may end up trying to rainbow this card. Other than Yankees collectors who focus on the turn-of-the-millenium dynasty, I doubt there are a whole lot of folks out there as excited about Shane's inclusion as I am. So hopefully this project doesn't get too expensive.
I originally did a post on my Shane Spencer PC back in 2015, but I've added several cards to it over the past 5+ years, so I figured an update wouldn't hurt. This next part of the post is from when I did my Guys From Granite countdown of players who went to my high school.
This next guy was actually born in Key West, FL and seems to have lived in Florida during his playing days, but he found himself on the opposite end of the country in sunny East County San Diego when he was a teen. He was drafted out of high school in the 28th round, and after leaving Granite Hills, went on play on the biggest stage in baseball and become the first and so far only GHHS Eagle to ever be part of a team that won the World Series.
Shane Spencer put together a decent 7-year major league career as a "4th outfielder" type of player. His best year was his first in the league, 1998. Despite only playing in 27 regular-season games, he was a powerful secret weapon for the Yankees down the stretch, putting up an incredible slash line of .373/.411/.910 with 10 home runs, endearing himself to the Bronx faithful and earning the nickname Shane Spencer, the Home Run Dispenser. He was especially on fire in September, dispensing 3 grand slams in 42 plate appearances. He kept it going in the ALDS, hitting 2 key home runs for New York. In the World Series against San Diego, he played in 1 game, getting a hit in 3 at-bats as the Yankees swept the Padres.
He stuck around New York as a part-time player for a few more years, though he couldn't replicate that rookie magic, averaging .263 over his 5 years in pinstripes, picking up a couple more rings along the way. Toward the end of his career, he played a few games with the Indians, Rangers, and Mets, ending his MLB career after the 2004 season. After a couple years in Japan with the Hanshin Tigers (coincidentally the same team fellow Granite Hills alum Mike Reinbach played for in the late 70s), he hung up his cleats after 2006 and these days he's coaching in the minors.
In summation, the '98 baseball season may have ended in heartbreak for me (being a Padres fan), but in a silver lining, at least Granite Hills had a presence on a World Series Champion. So that's something for me and other Eagles to be proud of. You done good, Shane! Though I missed going to school with him by a couple years, it's cool that someone from my high school won the World Series, even if it was sadly at the expense of our hometown Padres.
Here's what I got of his cards.
Minor league cards.
Rookies. (including a signed one with a COA behind it)
Later Yankees cards.
Indians.
Rangers and Mets to close out his playing days.
Minor league coaching.
Finally, a couple neat items including a locker nameplate and one of those dumb cut-signatures I was talking about. Glad that I'll be able to add some better autographed cards to the PC soon.
There are still plenty of Shane Spencer cards out there I need, so give me a shout if you have any and want to trade. Thanks!
Today marks 10 years since I moved up to Portland. So it's been a full decade since I packed up my things and left behind my hometown of El Cajon in East County San Diego. Let's see.. in that time, I've had 3 different jobs, a couple awesome dogs, gotten married, and most importantly as far as this blog is concerned: returned to the hobby of card collecting.
One way I like to "remember my roots" is by collecting cards of pro athletes who went to my high school-- "Guys From Granite", as I call that part of my collection.
One sidequest I had since the beginning was to acquire an autograph of every Guy From Granite who made the major leagues (currently totalling 8 players), and I'm pleased to announce I've just recently met that goal, finally. To celebrate, let's run down the list chronologically.
#1 Mike Reinbach
MLB debut: 1974
The original Guy From Granite, Mike got a cup of coffee with the Orioles in '74, then had greater success playing in Japan. A few years after his playing days, he was tragically killed in a car wreck. Maybe someday I'll find an autographed card, but for now I've got to make due with a pair of signed index cards. See also: The Harrowing Tale of Mike Reinbach, Setting the Mike Reinbach story straight, and Mike Reinbach apocalypse.
#2 Chris Jones
MLB debut: 1985
Chris D. Jones briefly appeared with the Astros in '85 and the Giants in '86. He was the last guy I needed an autograph from. His common name makes it hard to search for his cards/autographs (there are a lot of people named Chris Jones in the world), but thanks to Padrographs Rod and an autograph dealer buddy of his, I was finally able to track down a signed minor league card. I've also got his mailing address now and I plan to try a TTM attempt with a custom or two soon. See also: Chris Jones, but not that Chris Jones
#3 Brian Giles
MLB debut: 1995
Brian Giles had the longest, most successful baseball career of the guys to come out of Granite Hills High, and so it's no surprise he easily had the most cards produced of the players on this list. He was still active after the next 4 guys on this list had come and gone. See also: Brian Giles was a narc at my school and My Brian Giles PC
#4 Tom Fordham
MLB debut: 1997
Tom is currently the only pitcher to ever make it to the bigs out of Granite Hills. He got into 36 games (6 of them starts) with the White Sox in '97 and '98. He got some cardboard love back in the day, mainly from Bowman and Best. See also: Tom Fordham went to my high school
#5 Shane Spencer
MLB debut: 1998
Brian Giles may have had the longest career of the guys on this list, but Shane had the good fortune of being a part of the turn-of-the-millenium Yankees dynasty and picked up 3 rings in his relatively short career, highlighted by some clutch home runs in the fall of 1998. See also: Yankee hero Shane Spencer went to my high school
#6 John Barnes
MLB debut: 2000
Now we're entering my time at Granite. John was a big man on campus when I was a freshman/sophomore while he was a junior/senior. He came up through the Red Sox organization before being traded to the Twins where he got a few dozen MLB at-bats in 2000-2001. Later attempted a comeback as a pitcher, though didn't make it past AAA. See also: I went to school with John Barnes and he played in the majors
#7 Marcus Giles
MLB debut: 2001
As I've mentioned several times in the past on this blog, I was in the same grade as Marcus, going to school with him from elementary school all the way up through community college. Sure was a thrill to watch him rise through the minors and become an NL All-Star in 2003. See also: My classmate the All-Star
#8 Travis Taijeron
MLB debut: 2017
After an extended dry spell, it was great to see another Guy From Granite finally crack the majors near the end of the 2017 season. It looks like Travis recently signed a minor league deal with the Mets, returning to his original organization after a year on the Dodgers' Triple A squad. Wishing him the best of luck in the upcoming 2019 season. See also: Better Call Up Taijeron! and Superfractor auto pickup!
That wraps it up. Here's to another 10 great years up here in the Pacific Northwest, though I'll always keep my hometown in my heart and in my collection.
Padres fans such as myself are still basking in the afterglow from the recent announcement that Trevor Hoffman will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. I don't need to tell you that it's a nice feeling to have one of your city's sports stars make the Hall of Fame.
It'll probably be a long time till the Padres have another one. Maybe if Adrian Gonzalez recaptures his form with the Mets and has a few more good seasons, he might have a shot, but I wouldn't bet on it. And while not thought of as a Padre, there's Anthony Rizzo who briefly played for San Diego before being traded to the Cubs. If he keeps it up for another decade, he'll have built a good case for himself. And I'm still holding out hope that Garvey and McGriff claw their way in someday. Gary Sheffield might eventually get in if/when voters lighten up about PED-tainted numbers.
I was thinking about my Kevin Baconesque degrees of separation from the Hall of Fame thanks to going to school with Marcus Giles. (I'm sure longtime readers of my blog are sick of me bringing this up, so please forgive me. Hey, my spellcheck is telling me Baconesque is a real word.. wow.)
I'm the kid whose pumpkin is wearing a cowboy hat and big, bushy mustache. Marcus is the kid in vertical stripes. You probably can't tell, but I'm wearing a Padres shirt. Surprisingly, I still remember most of these kids' names. My best bud in the photo was Dave Paxton, the kid with the double-decker pumpkin. I've got great memories of slumber parties at his house.. playing NES, watching cheesy action movies, and getting into mischeif outside at night.
But yeah, Marcus played on the 2007 San Diego team that not only included Trevor Hoffman, but also Greg Maddux.
I recently won an eBay auction from the Topps Vault for this baseball card contract. I get a kick out of Marcus including a jersey number inscription ("22") even on a legal document like this. I guess it probably becomes a reflex after signing so many autographs.
Marcus also got to play with many great players during his years with the Braves. Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine in the rotation. Chipper Jones at 3rd. Andruw Jones in center. Gary Sheffield in right. Julio Franco on the bench. Fun to think I'm just "one degree of separation" from those guys, whatever that really means.
I picked up some new John Barnes cards in my recent Burbank Sportscards order. Gotta figure I'm not too far from completing this PC, as he doesn't have a ton of cardboard out there, but can't believe I didn't own any of his 1998 Topps rookie card. Here I've not only grabbed the flagship base, but also the Chrome and the inaugural season variations for the Devil Rays and Diamondbacks.
John Barnes played on the 2000/2001 Twins alongside presumptive future HOFer David Ortiz. Barnes was a senior at Granite Hills when I was a freshman, so that means (by meaningless guidelines) I've got one degree of separation from Big Papi.. cool!
Found a couple Shane Spencer needs from Burbank as well. Shane played for the turn-of-the-millennium dynasty Yankees, so there are a lot of great players to link him to. I think Tim Raines is the only current Hall of Famer, but you've also got Jeter, Mussina, Mariano, Clemens, plus guys like Strawberry, Canseco, Giambi, Posada, Pettitte, Bernie, Tino, etc. Lots of household names there. Spencer, who graduated a couple years before I started high school, finished his MLB career on the 2004 Mets alongside Mike Piazza and Tom Glavine.
Casey Craig, who attended Granite a few years after me, never made the majors, but in the minors he was on the same teams as Adam Jones and Jeff Cirillo, each multiple-time MLB All-Stars. I was surprised I didn't already own this Bowman Chrome base card, as I've got some parallels of it.
Tom Fordham graduated from Granite Hills a year or two before I started going there, so there's an added degree of separation there, but he played on the 1997/1998 White Sox teams that featured HOFer Frank Thomas, not to mention other notable names such as Ozzie Guillen, Albert Belle, and Harold Baines.
Added some Tommy Vardell cards to the PC recently, too. Touchdown Tommy played on the 49ers with HOFers Jerry Rice and Steve Young, as well as on the Lions alongside Barry Sanders. Some big names there! He was a few years before my time at Granite, but not too many degrees of separation from me.
I was just about to say Vardell is the only Guy From Granite to ever play in the NFL, but then I just now discovered a guy named Joe Cardona currently with the Patriots and has been since 2015. Oh man, my mind is blown. Does this mean I have to root for New England now?! As a long snapper, he doesn't have many cards out there, but looks like he has a "Salute to Service" insert in 2017 Donruss (he played for Navy after high school). Anybody happen to have that card for trade? I'll need to track one down. Cardona went to Granite long after me, so I'm sure it's a long list of degrees of separation, but pretty cool that a guy from my high school played on the Brady/Belichick dynasty Patriots.
While I don't have any more new cardboard additions to feature, to continue in the theme of this post regarding legendary players that guys from my high school shared a locker room with:
Chris Jones (white guy from the 80s) played on the '85 Astros with Nolan Ryan. He was also briefly with the '86 Giants, but I'm not sure he was on the roster at the same time Steve Carlton was making a short-term stop there near the end of his career (I think they just missed crossing paths by a couple weeks).
Brian Giles played with Jim Thome, Eddie Murray, and Dave Winfield on the Indians in the mid 90s. With the Padres, he suited up with Piazza, Maddux, and Hoffman.
And Mike Reinbach played on the 1974 Orioles with Jim Palmer.
I think that wraps it up.
Following up on yesterday's post, Jafronius got into the contest thanks to correctly guessing that Travis Taijeron would be the next guy from my high school to make the majors, and then he was randomized as the winner thanks to the Mets and Nats combining for 13 runs in Taijeron's debut. Big Trav went 0-4, but at least he put the ball in play each time up. He was out of the lineup for today's game and struck out in a pinch-hitting appearance. Better luck next time, Travis!
Anyways, congrats, Jafronius. Please email me your address and an idea of what you collect and I'll do my best to get a nice prize package your way shortly.
So in yesterday's post I showed off a 2017 minor league Taijeron card I just picked up, and now here's the rest of that order. Go Sports Cards is pretty much the go-to seller for modern minor league cards. You can usually save a few bucks if you order direct from their website instead of eBay. I like to place an order or two per year with them for some of my obscure PC guys.
The highlight of the order for me was the Scott Shoemaker autograph(s). They had 2 in stock and were just a buck each, so I went ahead and grabbed 'em both. Scott, another guy from my high school, rose through the Red Sox system last decade, later spending time in the Rangers and Mariners organizations, but topped out at AAA. He was one of the few modern "Guys From Granite" I didn't have an autograph from, so I was very happy to find these on the site.
John Barnes is another Guy From Granite, one of the 8 to have made the majors, which he did in 00-01 as an outfielder with the Twins. I think this is my first card of his from after he reinvented himself as a knuckleball pitcher. He made it back all the way to AAA, but never pitched in the Bigs. I already had an autograph from him, but I like this one. They come with a tamper-proof "hologram" (not really a hologram, just a silver sticker) sealing the top-loader and a business card COA. So not exactly a "certified auto" but probably as close as I'll ever find for these guys who never had pack-inserted autos.
I didn't notice it at the time I ordered them, but these cards are both from the 2006 Wilmington Blue Rocks, likely all signed the same day. Kind of a crazy coincidence for 2 guys from the same high school to be playing on the same minor league team. If my math is right, John Barnes graduated a year or two before Scott Shoemaker entered high school, so the two narrowly missed being on the same squad at Granite.
If I had to put money on who will end up the 9th Guy From Granite to make The Show, well, Andrew Brown would be a good sleeper pick. He's pitched well low in the Phillies' chain so far, and if he keeps it up he could find himself in Philadelphia in 2 or 3 years. Still just 19. This is my first real card of his. I also made a custom which I've been trying to get signed via TTM, but haven't had much luck yet.
This might be the first time in my life that I've bought 5 cards of a hitting coach at once. LOL. Shane Spencer is the only Guy From Granite to have won a World Series, thanks to getting in on the Yankees dynasty of the turn of the century. I've got several cards from his playing days, but was happy to add some more recent cards from his coaching career. I believe he's currently managing the Hwaseong Heroes in the KBO League.
As far as collecting minor league guys, they pretty much fall into 2 categories: guys who went to my high school and guys named Gavin (...and occasionally Padres top prospects).
Here's my first standard-sized card of Grant Gavin. (I also have an autographed oversized card that I showed off earlier this year). He's been outstanding in A ball with the Royals. Even though he might not be a "true" Gavin, I'm rooting for him and was glad to score a real card of his.
And finally, a couple 2017 cards of Gavin LaValley. He had a nice first half with the A+ Daytona Tortungas.
That's him getting a Gatorade shower after becoming Florida State League All-Star Game MVP thanks to a couple dingers. He's struggled a bit since getting promoted to AA Pensacola (.240, 3 HR in 59 games), but hopefully he finishes strong and can make it up to AAA next season.
So there's my latest order of minor league cards. Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a great week. And all the best to those of you in Texas dealing with the crazy flooding going on there.
This post is to show off some recent additions to my PCs of guys who went to the same schools I did. Most of these were included in my most recent COMC order, and a few were in eBay bulk purchases for free combined shipping.
Regular readers of this blog are familiar with my Guys From Granite minicollection, made up of guys who went to the same highschool as me and went on to become professional athletes. I admit it's a bit weird that I'm so gung-ho about this avenue of my collection, yet am pretty indifferent to collecting guys from the university I went to, SDSU. I also feel nothing for the Oregon Ducks, making me stick out among most other sports fans in my current home state. I just don't really care about college sports very much. Still, though, I like to show some school spirit from time to time and add cards of former Aztecs and other notable hometown guys.
I think this is my first Tony Gwynn Aztec card. I doubt it'll be the last-- I'll definitely try hunting down a few more different ones. Upper Deck has been putting out a few such cards in recent years, including some featuring Tony from his days starring on the basketball team, including autos. (That set came out right after he died, so they went fast and expensive.)
Pete Coscarart was the first San Diego State University alum to play major league baseball. He also played minor league ball in my current home of Portland, Oregon for a few years. Then after a decent MLB career with Brooklyn and Pittsburgh, he rounded out his playing days on the PCL Padres (1946-1949). I've now got 4 of his (according to Beckett) 15 cards in existence.
My Aztec Alumni minicollection isn't really a thing. Just attending SDSU isn't enough to make me want to collect a guy. Notable names there are Mark Grace, Harold Reynolds, Al Newman, Aaron Harang, Dave Smith, Addison Reed, Travis Lee, Tony Clark, Bud Black. Yeah, they don't do anything for me. Maybe someday. An exception to this is Stephen Strasburg who I've kinda started a passive PC for earlier this year. There's also Graig Nettles, who I sort of collect but mainly because of his time on the Padres. Gwynn family members Tony Jr and Chris Gwynn are also former Aztecs; maybe I'll collect them at some point.
Now let's turn to Guys From Granite...
My ol' classmate Marcus Giles; The guy who allows me to brag I've shared a locker room with an all-star. I don't typically go out of my way for Giles cards anymore (pretty sure he's already in my Hundred Card Club), but these 2 autos were like $3 combined via COMC, so I couldn't pass them up.
Another notable GHHS Eagle, Shane Spencer. Here we've got an early minor league card from '94, plus a numbered gold parallel from 2003 Topps.
And here are Bowman cards of a couple Guys From Granite who weren't able to crack the big leagues. The Scott Shoemaker gold refractor is #'d /50. Casey Craig is represented with a blue refractor (I think #'d /150) and a gold (brown) parallel.
Travis Taijeron is the active Guy From Granite I only found out about recently. This 2012 Topps Pro Debut was the last mainstream base card I needed of his (ok, his only other card is 2012 Heritage Minors). He had a very nice 2015 season for the Mets' AAA team, batting .274 with 25 home runs. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to get a September call-up, but hopefully he's able to progress next year and gets a chance to prove himself on the big league level.
Now here's a tricky one: Mike Jacobs is neither a Guy From Granite nor an Aztec Alum. But he's a Guy From Grossmont. I spent more years than I care to admit at Grossmont College before transferring to San Diego State. Not only did Jacobs attend the same community college as me, but during the same timeframe. I shared an anecdote a while back about how I think I may have even had a class with him. So I was happy to add my first couple of certified autos of his (each ran me a buck-something). I probably won't work too hard expanding my Guys From Grossmont collection, but who knows. Other notable names from the junior college include Quintin Berry, Mike Hartley, Sean O'Sullivan, Jesse Orosco Jr (cool, I didn't realize he had a son playing professionally), and Carlos Torres. There's also overlap with several Guys From Granite.
But back to Mike Jacobs, he had some solid seasons with the Marlins a few years back, with a career home run total of an even 100, but hasn't seen major league action since 2012. He's been playing in Mexico with decent success, spending 2015 in Oaxaca (pronounced wa-hah-kah) batting .276 with 14 home runs in 111 games.
OK, that wraps up this post updating recent pick-ups of local guys. Thanks for reading!
I recently completed my first trade with Tony V. from Tony's Sports Pub. He really blew me away with a whole bunch of great stuff I needed.
Well-organized lots, and a bonus '80s G.I. Joe action figure! I'm pretty sure I owed Major Bludd here long ago when I was a kid, and it's great to be reunited.
Some Red Sox Royalty.. love em. The Ortiz bat relic is great because I think that was like the only major type of hit I was missing from him and I was wanting to get one since I'm on the cusp of knocking him off my wantlist when I reach 100 cards. That's a well-rounded PC now.
The only card I knew to expect, this Shane Spencer bat relic was the card that inspired Tony to propose a trade after reading my post about Spencer going to my high school from a couple weeks ago. Great addition to my Guys From Granite minicollection.
A couple Mantles, always nice.
Changing of the guard.
A couple neat Heritage Griffies. That silver bordered one is pretty thick.
Mr. Rod Carew.
Boomer Wells. Funny story in the news recently where Jay-Z met him at a party asked him about his legendary bloody sock game. Um, wrong guy, Jay!
Julio Franco. Did you hear he recently signed to be a player-manager for an independent Japanese team? He's a hero to old guys everywhere. Never stop, Julio!
A great trio of '83 Fleer. Bud Black also has a "Black & Decker" card out there. Obviously doesn't take himself too seriously, which is nice. Now if only he can lead the Padres to a dynasty...
Some old greats from the late 80s.
McGriff. Looks bizarre in a Dodgers uniform!
Rickey. Looks bizarre in a Dodgers uniform!
Piazza. Looks bizarre in a Dodgers uniform! Oh wait, nevermind.
Peavy, including a disturbingly close headshot.
A couple early Frank Thomas cards.
A couple HOF Padres closers.
Tony sent football cards, too.. including some 49er greats.
Elway and Aikman.
A nice lot of Chargers. Did you hear that they might be moving out of San Diego? That would bum me out. Sharing a new stadium with the Raiders, no less?! Hopefully it's just a bluff to secure a new stadium in San Diego.
Finally, some sweet basketball cards. Major Bludd thinks he can defend Jordan?! Fool!
Anyways, thanks again, Tony! Love the cards and the GI Joe guy. That really was a terrific trade package.
