Don't mind if you do

Another of John's wonderful card packages from the U.K. arrived this week with an accompanying note that began:

"Hope you don't mind, but I have built another pile of Dodgers cards, so I decided to send them out."

Mind? Do I mind? Hardly. To illustrate, here are some of the things that I DO mind:

1. The fact that it's going to get down to 20 degrees below zero here before this night is over.
2. The phrase "all-new." As in: an "ALL-NEW episode" of whatever television show it is that I'm not going to watch. It's either new or it's a rerun. There is no "partially new."
3. Local television sports broadcasters who try to impersonate Chris Berman. News flash! Chris Berman is nobody you want to be.
4. Four-way stop signs.
5. Grape-flavored anything. I was forced to take grape-flavored medicine for any cold I had as a kid. It's ruined me on grape forever.
6. Short-prints. I think I might have mentioned that one before.
7. Drivers who are unable to park without leaving nine feet between them and the adjacent car just because snow is covering up the lines on the parking lot, thereby turning the usually mundane ritual of picking your kid up after school into a gruesome futuristic game show called, "How may children are going to get run over at the elementary school this afternoon?"
8. Cashiers who say, "Have a good one." A good what? Heart attack? Bowel movement? Joyride on the manure spreader? The word is DAY.
9. That I can't watch a baseball game without having to hear about "erectile disfunction," or "having a 'going' problem."
10. People using the phrase "what-not."

However, receiving Dodger cards direct to my door is not on the list. No, John, my friend, I certainly do not mind.

I do know what he means though. I had not gotten around to sending some Red Sox in return from the last package John sent in December. Fortunately, my package -- combined with a few more extra cards to compensate for John's latest package -- finally went out this afternoon, taking any guilt feelings with it on a trip across the Atlantic (or at least I think that's the direction it's going. One never knows).

I'm going to start with the best first. John sent four Dodgers from 1970 Topps:

These are great. I already have each card, but receiving duplicates from 1970 is way cooler than getting a card I don't have from 2008.

At least that was the thought process until I looked at the cartoon on the back of the card of one Maurice Wesley Parker:

Holy smokey!! Wes is a joueur de bridge!!!! It's O-Pee-Chee! ALL of them are O-Pee-Chee! These are now the oldest O-Pee-Chee cards I own. Great, great stuff.

John also sent a 1992 O-Pee-Chee of Chris Gwynn, who is still sweating, but this time he's sweating in Canadian. And there's an extra bonus, as the card lets you know that Gwynn has moved on to the Royals.

John found a couple of 1993 Score off my want list, Orel Hershiser and Eric Karros. Except I didn't have a want list up for 1993 Score until yesterday. Freaky. How did John do that?

Here's a 2003 Bowman. At the very least, Bowman cards are good for finding out players' middle names. O'neal is a lot cooler than my middle name (no, I'm not telling you).

Lastly, I leave you with a very nice 2004 Bowman Heritage black & white card of Hideo Nomo. I've mentioned before, Nomo may have the finest cards of any player ever (that's a blog post in the making). What a great card.

Many, many thanks, John. You always find some good ones. Cards, that is.