Today, I'm happy

A couple of weeks ago, when the Topps Million Card Giveaway was in full "Must Have Tickle-Me-Elmo" mode, I would pingpong between blogs that were featuring their million card "winnings" and salivate.

The cards I redeemed sucked, but the ones others redeemed most definitely did not.

I particularly remember this 1972 Rennie Stennett card popping up on someone's blog. As a periodic collector of the '72 set, I knew I didn't have that card yet. And it bothered me that someone else had redeemed it.

Well, now, I have the Rennie Stennett card. And it's not because I traded with that blogger (I don't even remember which blog it was), or bought it online. It's because of a fine card collector named Randall, who has sent me many great cards over the months.

Randall sent a number cool items that I'll show in a minute. But the cards came at a time when I could particularly use them. With the Giveaway smiling down on just about everyone else, I really appreciated the pick-me-up from Randall.

Since that time, the Giveaway has been nicer to me. I have redeemed a card from 1968 and 1972. Today, I happened across two more codes. Here is what I landed:

Terrific. A 1962 card. My oldest redeemed card yet. Siebern was an All-Star for the Kansas City A's in the early 1960s. He was one of the players traded by the Yankees to the A's in the Roger Maris deal. I like the background in this photo quite a bit.

The next card wasn't as exciting:

Granted, it's a lot better than a 1987 Kevin Bass, but it's a dupe. Fortunately, my original '78 Braves team card is rather beat up, so I'm hoping this is in better condition. Or maybe someone will actually trade me for it on the site. I have had no success with that feature so far.

The redemption game seems to go in cycles in terms of the cards you get. Much like the trading game goes. Not only did I gain those two code cards today, but I also received FIVE card packages in the mail, all from trade partners who did a fine job of tearing apart my want lists. It was a great day.

So, amid that joyous news, here are just a very few of the uplifting cards Randall sent:

Mr. Badass himself. This is George Foster's first card as a Cincinnati Red. He's actually smiling in this photo, which is a rare thing.

Tom Grieve, looking up at all of the teams above him in the standings. The Rangers team set from this year is not attractive because Topps had to paint all of them out of their Senators uniforms. Most of the photos are "see my nostrils?" shots. Not good.

I do not know who this guy is. And I'm not going to do any research to find out. Because I want Mr. Roland to always be known as the Happiest Guy To Ever Be Photographed For a Baseball Card. Sure, it's almost "crazed happiness." But I like loony. (I have a '71 card of him wearing a white windbreaker under his uniform. I'm liking Roland more and more).

Randall sent many more 1972 cards, and I really need to start thinking about getting a separate binder for my '72 set. It's time. Where will I store that binder? That is a question for which there is zero answer right now.

Randall also knows I'm collecting the 1971 set and he sent several unexpected '71 cards off my want list. I'm down to needing just 81 more cards to complete the set, and have 89.2 percent of it finished!!!!

One more '71 card. Phoebus looks more like an umpire than a player.

Also, I received a few Dodgers from the Retired Signatures sets that I didn't even know existed until a couple of months ago. The black Podres card is excellent.

Another set that needs a binder. These are from the '06 A&G. Some of them are short-prints, which is great.

Ooooh, lots of black-and-white TVs! The 1955 Bowman set was one of my favorites as a kid, although I never saw any in person. These, of course, are parallels from '04 Bowman Heritage.

Many thanks Randall for getting me out of my card-collecting doldrums.

Oh, and one other thing:

I completed 2010 Topps, Series 1 today.

Yes, I'm happy.

More on that later.