John over at The Pursuit of 80's(ness) was kind enough to send me a stack of cool Giants cards, many of which I need for my team sets that I'm trying to work on.
John and I have been swapping cards for over a year now. There's nothing really regular about it and hardly any correspondence. The only time either of us know that we're getting cards from each other is when they arrive at our door.
I always enjoy getting cards from John because of the surprise of what will be in the package. Normally when a trade is arranged both parties are aware of what they are getting, but like I said we have no idea when cards are being sent.
This time I received more than cards!
Included with the Giants was this small book. The MLB 2011 Collectors Guide.
It features a small write up about Topps, a few adverts for various products and the full Topps 60 anniversary cards from 1952 up to 2011. Now I was under the impression these would be iconic cards and it starts off strong. From 1952 (Mantle) all the way to 1980 (Henderson) the cards make sense. The players featured so far have been the must have cards from the respective set that they represent but from 1981 onwards there are a few debatable entries. For instance when you think of 1985 Topps, what iconic card do you think of? For me there can be only one card from that set and that's the Mark McGwire Olympic RC. I'm guessing due to the controversy surrounding McGwire he wasn't used. Instead we have Dwight Gooden. Sure, he was a great player but the card does not deserve its place in the list.
Then you have 1993 featuring Ryne Sandberg, another great player in his day. Again though there is another card I think of and that is the Derek Jeter RC. Jeter is not a favourite player of mine but much like the McGwire from 85 this Jeter was the card to own from the 93 set.
This of course is a matter of opinion and I'm sure those of you have seen the full Topps 60 lineup would make changes to it if they could.
Also in the little book is a full schedule list of every team. I love this! I prefer looking at schedules on paper as opposed to online, not sure why I like it better I just do.
Right back to cards. Not only was I sent the really cool Posey Topps 2020 at the top of this post, I was also sent the following:
Three nice Buster Poseys and a few Giants heroes from the World Series.
So many thanks to John for all the cards, as soon as I build up another stack of Red Sox for you I'll make sure they get to you.
