I have the Jays to cheer on, now that the Leafs are gone

Here on the final night of the Leafs season at home (they have one more game Saturday night on the road), I am thankful.  Thankful that the last two months are almost over, and one of the most miserable slides a team can endure is almost over. 

I'm also thankful because I now have another team to cheer on...

Love these stickers

Yes indeed, the boys of summer have arrived!!  What a great start to the season it was as well, coming back from an early 4-0 deficit to defeat the Indians in 16 innings 7-4.

1st place, at least for a day.  I really am hoping that the great pre-season that the Jays had carries with it some confidence going into the regular season. 

To celebrate a win on opening day, in an oddball sort of way, I have a few non-traditional cards that I've received to share.

To preface these, I will tell you that I know very little about these "oddball" cards, so forgive me for the lack of information that I provide.

One of the Jays first sluggers is featured on this 1981 Drake's "Big Hitters" card, which was produced by Topps in 1981.  John Mayberry was actually purchased by the Jays from the Royals before the 1978 season, and went on to hit 92 HR's during his 5 seasons with the Jays, including becoming the first Jay to have a 30 HR season in 1980. 

Another slugging 1st baseman, Fred McGriff is featured on this 1990 K Mart superstars card.  Fred had just finished his 2nd consecutive 30+ HR season with the Jays in 1989, in which he finished 6th in MVP voting.
This card was also produced by Topps, the front of which was very glossy and the back had brighter colors than most normal Topps card backs.

Next up we have Joe Carter, featured on a card from the Metz Baking Company, which I had never heard of until I saw a post that dayf over at the cardboard junkie blog recently that featured a Howard Johnson card from this same set.  An interesting thing that I've never seen on a baseball card back is that the number of strikeouts that the player had is in the column right after the number of hits.  Oddball for sure.

Finally, we have the guy who hit the winning homer in the 16th inning today, JP Arencibia.  1 for 7 on the day?  Who cares, we're 1-0 now because of him.  This card is a 2010 Multi Ad sports from his time in the PCL with the Las Vegas 51s.  I'm hoping that there's no sophomore slump for JP this year, because even though his average was only .219 last year, the 23 HR and 76 RBI's were an important part of the Jays offense last season.  Here's hoping he can improve on all those numbers this year!

1-0.   1st place.   At least I get to savor that for a couple of days.

Thanks for reading, Robert