Ben from Cardboard Icons and I engineered a trade a few weeks ago that ended up with him sending some SP Authentic, some A&G, a beautiful UD Masterpiece of Dave Winfield, a few UD Heroes and Classic, and this beauty:
OK, so it's Casey Blake. But it's a blue refractor of one of my sleeper favorite Indians over the past few years. He was the ultimate team player. He never, never, ever complained, and even though he was shoved from position to position with the hopes that someone better would step up, he proved to be an above average fielder, a quiet team leader, and a good hitter. In 2008, he even became the team's best clutch hitter, which is quite a feat on a team of Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore and Victor Martinez.
I'm sorry that he was traded mid-year, but he was too valuable to some team who needed a 3B/1B/RF and a decent batsman. There is talk in Cleveland that he may sign with the Indians again, which is OK by me. And the Indians got one of the Dodgers' best prospects in the trade, too, so it would be a nice rental for the Indians. You can read about the trade here and how it has left many Dodger fans angry.
I'm still looking for an autograph of Casey, so if anyone has one that is willing to trade it, please let me know. I will try to match it with an auto, also.
