Dealings from Dallas

Dallas is my old stomping grounds. Well, not really "stomping," but more like shopping and working. My wife and I moved there after her residency, before kids, and stayed there for four years. We are Northerners at heart, though, or "Yanks" as they would say there, and we missed our families, so we moved back up North in 1999.

But I would never doubt the generosity of people from Dallas. It rubs off, whether you are really from there or are a transplant, like many of the people in Dallas these days. (If you want to find real Texans, go to Ft. Worth.) So I was not surprised at all when reader Brian sent me two big packages in short succession. They were jammed full of Indians cards that I needed. In fact, there were so many that I've forgotten which ones some of them are. I'm sorry, Brian. However, I did manage to label a few of the scans I got from him with his name, so I know those for sure, and a few others I'll guess at.

At the beginning of August, Brian sent me a bunch of Thomes, Vizquels, Sizemores and a few 07 Goudey mini redbacks, plus a few other assorted cards. The Thome Power Corps cards are interesting, though I don't understand the numbering on them, with a Technology, Set and Subset numbers. For instance, the gold card below has Technology RB54 Set 234 Subset PC84 on the back. What does all that mean? I guess I could look it up somewhere.

Have I mentioned ever how much I love Masterpieces? The Sandberg is a GREAT card! And the Finest Vizquel is a refractor numbered to 499!

Then at the end of August, when I came back from vacation, there was another package from Brian with a plethora of Goudey mini redbacks from 2007, plus a surprise Indians card:

A nice collection of Goudeys. I'm still trying to finish off this set!

The Topps Tek is a really interesting card, too. I love the design. It has a strange "7-9" embossed on the back. And the Vizquel Team Checklist card is a Press Proof numbered to 10! The 1998 Donruss Thome is a Silver Press Proof die-cut print-numbered as "1 of 1500." The 1996 Pacific is all predominately in Spanish, and is a special "Momentos del mes de Octobre" insert.

This was the surprise. A Kenny Lofton relic. I haven't had any Lofton relics or autos until this one, and my heart is still in the 90's with those powerful Indians team. I can still remember when my friend told me about some center fielder that the Indians traded for from the Astros who was going to be their CF for a long time. Some guy named Lofton who used to be the point guard at Arizona State. He was right.

Thanks for all the great cards, Brian.