Trading Post: Epic Part 1: Crime Dogs Thanks to Play at the Plate

This will be a two parter full of intrigue. When I first put up that I was interested in McGriffs things picked up a bit trading wise, and Play at the Plate was quick to respond. I sent over a stack of Rangers, and he sent me a bunch of McGriffs, some neo-vintage Pops, and a couple of Rays. Here are some of the awesome highlights.

I'm also something of a Pedro collector, so this card is doubly awesome. It's a card commemorating the Crime Dog's posterizing of Pedro back in the day to a tune of a 462 foot HR. I hope at some point they also did a "Big K" series, of dudes like Pedro owning hitters back in the mid-1990's...but I get a feeling there is no such series. At any rate, it'd be awesome to see.

Now, there will be a trend here among the Freds I pulled. Along with Darryl Strawberry, he's got one of the most majestic swings I've ever see. It's also made for some consistently beautiful cardboards that show him having just raked another massive HR. This one's got Fred following through on a monster HR for the Rays, with what looks to be a Yankees catcher (Posada?) and by the looks of his barrel chest José Canseco lurking in the background. A couple of nice, scene setting details that really add to a great baseball pic. That said, what with the blurring and the letters and the logo, the design infringes a bit on the shot for my taste.

I'm thinking this ball went upwards of 500 feet. It's obviously a no-doubter. The catcher (looks to be a Cub) is standing up, his glove slightly betraying a sense of "WTF" was that pitch disgust. I like the bats in the dugout in the background, but again the design is intruding on a great shot. We have a mugshot of Fred top left, and massive lettering blocking the catcher. Man I wish I could see the look on his face as that 0-2 fastball he called for heads for the fringes of Fulton Co.

This is actually the back of a card (front to come). It's pretty awesome, but wait....follow his eyes...looks like this is a shot of Fred popping up to shallow left. Not quite as heroic, but still a shot of heroic failure, which has its own charm. And then the front:

Now, I know Mickey Tettleton played several positions in the OF, calling a guy who made his mark as a hard hitting catcher an "IF" is a bit much. It's like listing Fred as an "IF," when in fact the ONLY IF position he ever played was 1B. Why not just list him as that? There's no sin in being one-dimensional defensively, especially when some guys (I'm not listing names, you know who you are) don't even have that dimension.

And finally, the Goodwin Champions Upton.

This card says nightmares. This man isn't Bossman, Jr., he's THE Bossman. The stare, the gathering red storm behind him...this dude is just plain scary. Awesome, awesome card...almost so much that I came close to caving on the no-wax policy and buying a box at Target this afternoon.

Thanks again for the trade, Play at the Plate!

Have a great one, everybody and goodnight Pumpsie Green, wherever you are!