The Holy Grail of McGriffs, plus more random kindness, this time from Hey, That's Mine

Around Christmas, I added the 1985 Syracuse Chiefs TCMA #2 Fred McGriff to my Amazon Wishlist. Never figured that I'd get it, as there was only one listed on Beckett, and it was for a cool $45. I knew that it was McGriff's first solo card, and that it was pseudo rare, but I wasn't about to drop that kind of money on it. I made it first on the wish list in my side bar and thought that would be that.

Sometimes, however, the ridiculous happens. Some ebay seller was recently selling many complete sets of the 1985 Syracuse Chiefs! It was too good to be true, and I couldn't specifically see Fred's single in the picture, so I kept messaging the guy. "Is Fred in there? Are you sure? Are you sure you're sure?"

Well, I had faith, and made the purchase: $17 and change after shipping for all 31 1985 Syracuse Chiefs cards, instead of $45 for just the one McGriff. I worried at first when I opened the cards, because they weren't in numerical order and so it was probably 15-20 (felt like 30) cards before I finally laid my eyes on it:

My very own 1985 Syracuse Chiefs #2 Fred McGriff!

I know, it's not super fancy, but it's the oldest solo McGriff card I know of, and so it's pretty damn awesome to me. It also completes my 1985 McGriff set (two whole cards!). On a side note, McGriff is 22 in the picture on this card, which threw me back for a second. I'm older than the McGriff on this card - one of the few times I could ever really say that. Though for the record, McGriff looks a lot older.

Now I get to resell 29 of the other 30 cards on ebay as an almost complete set (missing two cards), unless anyone wants them. 1 of the 30 is going to someone else I know - keeping it a secret, but they'll like it I think.



There was another package in my mailbox today, but unlike the ebay stuff it was not expected. It was some goodies from Hey, That's Mine. He's a great trader and it seems like he's settled into the card blogging world quite well over the past few months. Here are some of my favorites among the cards he sent me:

Tyronn Lue cards for my PC collection. Someday this guy will take on a McGriff esque focus from me (in terms of getting all of his cards online), because his cards are just too amazing. He's being blocked by Paul Pierce in one, shares one card with David Robinson, and shares the card to the lower right with Stephon "Starbury" Marbury. Lue's cards are never boring or dull, which I don't understand because everyone gets a crappy card now and then, especially lesser knowns. But I guess Tyronn is just that awesome.

And oh yeah, the card on the left is a Topps Finest version of his rookie card. Sooooo good.

Then we've got some Dick Trickles. I actually have quite a few auto racing cards, so I expected to find hundreds of Tricky Dicks when I was home over Christmas, but I somehow only had one. Well now I have 6, and they all show just how awesome Dick is.

His backs are almost more fun than the front. This 1994 card states that Dick drove "for five different Winston Cup teams in 1993." Nascar isn't really a sport for journeymen, but Dick made the title his own during his tenure in the sport.

Then there's this other 1994 card that shows Dick's first half stats. It's a little hard to read for you guys probably, but his top finish is a 14 while he also had 7 finishes outside of 30th. Yet the dude carried on and continued racing, despite little real success. It's cool to see someone who just loves the sport so much. I wish watching Yuniesky Betancourt was that much fun.

Anyways, thanks for the cards Hey, That's Mine, they were awesome as always!