What a triple relic will get ya

You may remember I pulled this card from a pack of Upper Deck SPx from the hobby shop a couple weeks ago. I immediately put it on the blogging block because I knew someone would be interested in it and give me something nifty in exchange.

That someone turned out to be Ben of Cardboard Icons, who is a noted Red Sox fan and a familiar trade partner. I dropped his card in the mail on Saturday, but I have already received the cards he sent me. And we're going to have a look.

Now, keep in mind not all of these cards were sent in exchange for the relic. A bunch were Dodgers that Ben had set aside already. And I sent him some other Red Sox besides the relic (I actually need to send him a few more). The two cards that sold me on the trade are featured first, then others will follow.

Ben sent an autographed card of Brett Butler. I can't think of a more appropriate card of Butler to get autographed than this '92 Topps. He was a bunting machine.

And here is an autographed Bowman rookie card of Andre Ethier. Andre must have gotten finger cramps autographing it because that first name in blue doesn't much resemble the facsimile auto in black. I don't know if it's his actual first card. I'm going to say no. But I'm not telling my brain that.

Ben didn't stop there, though, sending this nice card of, uh, Zach Kindred. ...

... What? That's not Zach Kindred? It's Tim Hamulack? Well, look at his signature, it looks like it could be Zach Kindred to me. You'd think a guy like Hamulack, who is an on-the-fringe major leaguer, would want people to know who he was when he signed his name. But he also probably had to sign 742 stickers. So there's that.

OK, onto the random Dodgers that I received.

A Legends of the Game insert from Series I, I believe. Most of my '09 Topps collecting has been at Target, so I missed out on many of the Wal-Mart LOG cards. I'm having a hard time keeping up with which LOG cards are at which store. Not enough hours in the day.

I received a healthy bushel of 1998 Score Dodgers. I stand by an earlier statement in which I implied '98 Score features the thinnest card stock of all-time. If someone would put one in their mouth, I'm pretty sure it would melt (Disclaimer: do not do this, unless you really, really like the taste of 1998 Score cards).

Next up are a bunch of vintage Dodgers. I will refrain from commenting until the end:

OK, here are the comments:

• 1. Almost all of these cards are for my team binders, as I either have the entire set or most of the set.
• 2. The Ron Cey card is one of my favorites. He looks like he's either going to mortally wound the pitcher or that he really hates his bat and is trying to choke it. Also, the bat is so yellow that it looks like a wiffle bat. And, this is one of the very few Cey cards in which he's not wearing a hat.
• 3. The 1970 Fred Norman card is the first 1970 Topps card I ever owned. Guess which one was the second one I owned? Yup, Ted Sizemore. I don't know how you bloggers do things like this. It's like you bugged my bedroom when I was 11 years old. And that's downright creepy.
• 4. I have received this 1967 Phil Regan cards in trades twice. In fact, I just traded one of them away. If I hadn't, I'd have three cards of Regan. Having "triples" of a 1967 card blows my mind.

After all of that vintage, you're probably ready for a more modern card.

Here it is. One of the few Topps dark variation Dodgers I still needed from Series I (only Blake, Ramirez and Park left). Very happy to have Mr. Billingsley's variation card. Chad needs a nickname, by the way. And don't tell me they call him "Bills." That's not a nickname.

Many thanks for the cards, Ben. Enjoy the triple-swatch-fest card.