Some trades are like a box of chocolates

In that you never know what you're going to get.  I was fortunate enough to get an email from Zach, one of the newest bloggers who writes over at The Underdog Card Collector. 

I don't know how Zach figured it out, but he knew right away that I liked teams that wear the Blue & White (yes, that is sarcasm)... once he had that information in hand, he fired off a package that arrived on my doorstep late last week.

First off, let's start with the requisite Blue Jays cards that came my way.  Some newer stuff that I don't think I have seen until now, 2009 UD signature stars.

100 card base set, so 3 per team seems to be par for the course.  If you're going to put the best 3 Jays into a set in 2009, Lind, Halladay and Wells certainly fit the bill. 

I don't think I ever collected Topps in 2002, and I certainly didn't remember that the set was gold bordered.

There were about a dozen unique cards from the set in the package, which I'm sure gets me fairly close to the entire team set for that year...

Not to be outdone, and just to make me do some research, Zach threw in some Maple Leafs cards that I'd never seen previously.

Now, if that was an actual Darryl Sittler RC on the left, I'd be a very happy camper right now.  Nevertheless, after doing a little digging, these are 3 cards from the 2001-02 Topps Archives set.  I was big into the "heritage" type sets in the early 2000's, but I sure as hell don't remember this one.  An 81 card set?  Yes, great for the simple fact that they would fit in 9 nine pocket pages, but it still seems weird to me. 

What would have made these even better??

These are 64-65 Topps reprints, so if they were actually the tall boy size, that would have been great!!!

Beggars can't be choosers though.  I know that all too well.  Zach, welcome to the blogosphere, and thank you very much for the trade!! 

I have one piece of advice for you brother......

Have fun!!

thanks for reading, Robert