Trade with Chronicles of Fuji, Contest Winnings from For Card's Sake

Ah, what a week it's been for mail! First all those cards from Bo (which will continue tomorrow), and now some goodies from other fellow bloggers! To save time I'm putting these two together, but it also works out well since all of the cards look so great in one post!

First up is my stuff from The Chronicles of Fuji in our first true trade. He sent me contest winnings a while back, and ever since then I've been trying to pry a really awesome Duce Staley Auto from him that is worth a lot more than what I have to offer for it (lol). So when I had a few cards he needed, I first checked on the Staley, and then moved on to more reasonable cards, ending up very happy with what I got!

For example, this Ryan Moats Swatch Supremacy card:
The green is from the NFL Rookie Premiere, and it's really, really bright compared to the green in the jersey he's wearing, which is cool/weird. Moats is a guy who has seemingly produced any time he's been given the rock, as he had a 100 yard game in his rookie year and a 3 touchdown game in 2009 with the Texans. Problem is, no one stays with him long enough to see more, so until then his career is just glimpses of awesome. And he's currently a free agent - I'm surprised a team like Green Bay hasn't spun the wheels on this guy given all the injuries they've seen!


Another guy I was glad to pick up in this trade is former NFL QB/Current Kansas City Royal minor leaguer Pat White:
As Fuji noted a while back, I keep track of all time NFL left-handed quarterbacks on this site, of which Pat White is one. He asked if I ever intended to collect them all, and I don't think I will. But some of them I would like to collect, including Pat here, so I'm glad to have picked up this card (which also happens to be #'d 087/199!).


The apex of this trade came right here though, in the form of a Topps 52 Scott Mathieson Auto RC:
Mathieson was a hot prospect for the Phillies since they drafted him in 2002, due mainly to his really good fastball (he was rated their 4th best prospect after 2005). He saw 9 games of action with the big league club in 2006, but then went down with an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. It's been a long road back, but Mathieson actually saw 2 games of relief action with the Phillies this past year, which must have been rewarding for him. Unfortunately he had a 10.80 ERA in 1.2 IP, but hopefully he's healthy and can improve on those numbers next year with the big league squad once again!


Finally, Fuji threw in some great rookie cards of Patriots for me, featuring the 2001 Patriots backfield in an alternate universe - Michael Bishop and Robert Edwards:
I've been trying to pick up that Edwards Bowman card for a while, so thanks Fuji! I just love the look of him diving for a fake touchdown!


As for the stuff from For Card's Sake, I recently won a contest of his and he's been trying to track down some goodies for me on the interwebs. Apparently there's more to come after this little package, but the first one was definitely nice, featuring two very nice McGriff cards, including this sexy Topps Chrome Fashionably Great Relic:
Soooo shiny!!! I don't have a lot of Dodgers McGriff relics either, so it's good to pick one up whenever I can.


The other card he sent was a 1993 Topps Finest Fred McGriff, which I actually forgot to scan! But here's the CheckOutMyCards version:
I actually own this card, but didn't realize I did - In other words, this card gave me an education in refractors! I long thought I owned 2 refractors of this card, which have a book value of $80 (NICE!). But I had to know after getting this card - what was the difference? So I pulled out my Seneca Wallace refractors, shone them around in the light for 10-20 minutes, and discovered what made a refractor a refractor once and for all. And guess what? All 3 of my McGriffs are of the base variety, which does not book for $80. But it's all good, because they still look really nice, especially my newest one, which seems to have a lot less wear and tear than the other ones I have. So thanks a ton For Card's Sake, as I love both of these cards!

And thanks again Chronicles of Fuji - someday I'll get that Staley (lol)!