Mail Call from Heartbreaking Cards

As you may notice, yesterday was a big day for getting cards in the mail. Three nice holiday treats for me and for Joshua. Matt from Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius (long name! couldn't we shorten it to Hard Stags, or something like that?) sent over a bunch of cards needed for sets, including fifteen for that hard-to-finish set that was my re-introduction to high-end set collecting, 2008 Finest. Maybe I picked the wrong set to start with, but I liked the metallic look and the interesting design of the Finest set. Little did I know that it would be a sizable flop for Topps, and that very few people (including myself and Dave from Fielder's Choice) would try to finish it off. I think I have more of the inserts and parallels than I do of the base cards!

  

One superstar, and two may-be-better-than-just-your-average-players. The jury is still out on Carmona, as he had a sub-par year after a fantastic year as the sidekick to CC Sabathia in 2007. Teixeira may or may not be worth all that money that Scott "Pay Up Now" Boras is asking - OK, nobody is worth that - but he certainly did perk up the Angels last year, and will bring a great bat to whomever signs him. But he better get signed soon, as Spring Training is only 6 weeks away. 

And Oswalt? Well, I believe that he is a bonafide candidate for the Hall of Fame. Just check out his numbers:

Career record: 112-54 (through 2007)

ERA: 3.07 

K/BB: 1170/323

WHIP: 1.198 (through 2008)

And, I believe, he did nothing to hurt that last year: 17-10, 3.54 ERA, 1.17 WHIP. He has been consistently one of the three or four best pitchers, year-in and year-out, in the Majors during his career. 

Matt also threw in a some Heritage, some A&G minis, some '07 Goudey and a Topps Walmart Dick Perez of Joba:

  

    

What does Ramirez think he's doing! He looks like a guy from that Mr. Microphone commercial saying "Hey, baby! We'll be right back to pick you up!" Giles is, of course, an ex-Indian, so his inclusion here is necessary. Sorry we ever gave him up. And for what? Not much - Ricardo Rincon. And Joba? I just like the Dick Perez cards, although I still HATE the idea of different card subsets in different stores.

Matt also included a  FANTASTIC '08 UD Masterpiece base card, which is especially relevant given my entry into the Blog Bat-around. 

Yes, that is Joe Dimaggio, from his great 56-game hitting streak in 1941, which I wrote about. Matt, that is GREAT timing on your part. Thanks!

Looking for 08 Finest

I admit that my guilty pleasure this year is the 08 Finest. I really liked them when they came out, and I still like them, even though I can now see all the centering errors in the cards. They are pretty cool-looking cards, though, and they have some of the year's most sought-after autos, like the Chin-Lung Hu and Ryan Howard auto-parallels.

I really would like to finish the set, since I am a set-builder at heart. So, if you have some extra Finest lying around that are doing nothing but taking up space in your traded box (like mine, since no one seems to collect them!), then give me a shout and let's do some trading. Check out my Want List and Up For Grabs list.