The blue tape special

Dozens of times before I've gushed about the envelopes that other bloggers send me.   This card was great, that card fit my collection perfectly, etc. etc. etc.

I received an envelope today from many time trading partner Brian at the great PATP blog, and it was just a great as all the others.  It also provided me with a good laugh.

I don't know how this got started, but in one of the previous envelopes that Brian sent me, he lamented the fact that he didn't have any blue tape to secure the cards inside.  I don't ever recall having said one way or the other my preference on the blue tape debate, but I'm pretty sure that I've never bitched about how other bloggers have packed cards.

Beggars can't be choosers, right?

The note inside the envelope did give me a good chuckle though....

There certainly was blue tape!!  As always, the cards were both well protected, and fantastic additions to my collection. 

How about some blue Blue Jays to start?

One of these days I'm going to have to start getting the blue/red/green parallels together from this year's Topps set.  The want lists for each color are on my baseball want list page if you may have any that you're looking to unload...

I know very little about the UD A Piece of History set from 2009, other than that the base set was small (200 cards).  What I didn't know is that there were multiple colors of parallels.  This red Vernon Wells is the first parallel that I own for the Jays from that set..

The multiple parallels are probably overkill, but for me, this red for some reason works.

Brian has a nice healthy "obsession" with the SNI set, and as always a few serial numbered cards came my way.   You will see them as part of the next SNI post.

The piece de resistance, were two more autographs to add to the Jays auto/jersey collection.

let's start with a former first round pick, Kevin Witt

This 1999 SP Signature Edition auto is now the 2nd oldest "hit" I own of a Jays player.  Witt never had a real chance to prove himself with the Jays, and the only decent amount of time he ever saw in the majors was with the Tigers in 2003.  10 homers in 273 ABs with a .263 was not bad, but not enough to earn him a permanent job.

The other auto was of another player who never had a chance in Toronto, Randy Wells.

Just goes to show you that all you need to get on a card is appear in 1 game for a club.  That's all that Wells ever played in Toronto, a 12 pitch 9th inning against the Red Sox on April 5, 2008.  Wells was actually a rule 5 draftee by the Jays, and 11 days after his only appearance in a Jays uniform, he was returned to the Cubs.  Wells retired from the Rangers organization last April.

I know I'm kind of showing my age by playing off the "blue plate special" in this post's title, but receiving great cards for my collection never gets old.

Thank you Brian!!  Much appreciated...

Thanks for reading, Robert