No cracked bats on these pictures

I came home today to another brown bubble mailer on my dining room table, courtesy of Julie from the A Cracked Bat blog.  Julie was able to knock a few more cards off of the massive Blue Jays want list, from a couple of different sets.

A sextet of Score Select from '95 made their way here, including the gold foil rookie of Shawn Green.  I've had so many of Green's cards come into my collection recently that I'm beginning to wonder if I should start a new PC (nope, not going to happen...).  I did a double take on the Roberto Alomar photo; I saw the red helmet and had to look closer.   It appears that Robbie is tagging out a Phillie in that photo, meaning that they snapped that pic during a preseason tilt, since interleague play hadn't started yet.

A trio of the 2002 Donruss Studio cards that I needed were also in the envelope.  Ironic that these show up a day after discussing how I've grown to appreciate the cards more over the years, huh?

I hadn't seen a Spirit of the Game insert from that season in the past, so the Shannon Stewart card was an especially nice inclusion.  The Reed Johnson is a serial numbered card, 1037/1500.  2002 was one of only 2 big league seasons that Corey Thurman enjoyed, both of them as a Blue Jay.  3 more off of the want list.

Now this final card, which is another "hit" for the Jays collection, is one that sent me digging.

Hmmmm....Chris Baker.....let's take a quick look at the back.

#'d out of 250...not bad.     Bio is nice, a 15 game winner in AA during the '01 season.  Still looking.

Then I realize why I don't chase after prospect sets that feature autographs of minor league players.

Chris Baker never threw a pitch in the major leagues.  Several seasons were spent during the 00's between AAA and AA.  No luck getting a call to the show.  I am definitely not trying to knock Chris Baker down here.   He did something that I never was able to accomplish, be drafted by a major league team, and put an effort in towards earning a shot in MLB.

Please don't misunderstand me here.   I really do appreciate this card.  There are a lot of collectors out there that really enjoy prospect autos.  More power to those people!!

But for me, it is diminished a bit because he never made it to the majors.  Not trying to run anyone down here, it's just how I feel.

But in the end, it's still a cool card to have, because there's somebody out there that saw this card and thought of me, and was generous enough to send it my way.

In the end, that's what this is all about right?  Doing your best to get cards into the hands of people that will really cherish them.

Julie, thank you for the envelope.   It is greatly appreciated!!  (Keep on writing!)

thanks for reading, Robert