Where have you gone, Jimmy Dean?

Lately, I've been doing most of my trading on The Bench. I know, you think I'm a snob now, too good to talk to my friends. The truth is that I've been sucked into the world of high-end trading. As you can see from a few of my recent (sporadic) posts, I've been dabbling with Sweet Spot, SPx, and assorted "mid-range" cards in order to get some high-value trade bait so that I can (1) fund my Thome, Vizquel and Sizemore collections and (2) fund my autograph collections, including the 1999 Fleer Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game Autographs set.

I've picked up quite a few Thome cards from 1999 and 2001 on eBay, a few patch cards here and there, and almost half of the SI GotG set. That is a pretty amazing set, and although some of the autographs are questionable as to whether that signer is actually a "Great of the Game," the checklist is impressive and the signatures are on-card. The best ones are the actual reprints of the SI covers, and my favorites include the Eddie Matthews, the Al Kaline (which is the first one I got) and the Luis Aparicio.

As any card afficionado can appreciate, the photography on this set is spectacular! The photography can be quite silly, too, judging from shots like this one of Ed Kranepool from those Amazin' Mets:

There are still quite a few for me to go, including one of the three Reggie Jackson variations, a Nolan Ryan, a Willie Mays and a Carl Yastrzemski. Wish me luck!

If anyone has any of these lying around, just begging to be sent to a good home, please contact me and I will make a trade worth your while.