Out of the blue--stateside

In the middle of a heavy rainfall late yesterday afternoon I popped out to the mailbox to ensure that any potential card packages inside didn't get wet.   I have just under a handful of trades on the go, and was hoping that I might get one or 2 of those in yesterday.

I actually got 3 PWE's from 2 fellow bloggers, neither of which I had any idea that they were coming.  Gotta love the surprises!!

The first one was from everyone's favorite Night Owl, Greg.  He had sent me an envelope not too long ago, so getting this was a very nice surprise.

A couple of mid 90's Leafs to add to the collection.  I do have the collection and a want list posted on the TCDB, but probably don't do a good enough job of advertising it to the masses.  The collection I have is just over 800 cards total, with a good mix of older cards along with the 90's and newer stuff.  Always looking for Leafs, so these are a welcome sight.

Moving on to the vintage portion, 1 each from the 70 and 71 sets came my way.  The Bobby Wine card taught me that I need to check my want lists that I have on the blog soon, as I have him marked as in hand on the TCDB, but had his card on the want list on the blog.  Need to fix that.

Joe Moeller's '71 Topps card is no doubt a duplicate in the vast sea of Dodgers cards there in Upstate New York, but is most certainly welcome here in the deep south.  I'm thinking that '71 may be the last of the 68-72 Topps run that I will complete, as I only have just over a third of the set in hand, and am in no hurry to work on it.  That desire may grow a bit next year, we'll see.

Now these '72s are beauties, not just because they are in nice shape, there's also

•  Joe Ferguson's card is his rookie card, and a great catchers shot even if it is posed
•  They are both in the high numbered card range (Ferguson is 616, Team Card is 522)

I have very little in the way of cards above the 400's in hand, so seeing these was extra special.  I'm a little farther along with the '72 set, but at just under 54% done, there's a long hill to climb.  No worries though...

Within a week's time, I went from needing 2 Nolan Ryan cards for the '78 set to needing none.  Immediately upon looking at the K leaders card I was struck that Niekro was the NL league leader.  I looked at the back and had to see the names he left in the dust:

1.  Niekro 262
2.  J.R. Richard 214
3.  Rogers 206
4.  Carlton 198
5.  Seaver 196

Now I know the knuckleball can be a tough pitch to hit, but Phil left those other strikeout artists in the dust during the '77 season!!

The Tommy Lasorda card is one that I know I saw on the Owl's blog a couple months back and had asked Greg if he had an extra copy lying around.   Voila!!

The '78 set want list is rapidly dropping, now down to just 48 cards to go.  When I started the year, I needed 79 cards, so I'd say progress is going rather well.  Maybe my ebay shopping in the next couple of weeks will net me the Molitor/Trammell RC, and then it'll be all down hill from there.

Greg, thank you for the PWE, the cards are really appreciated!!

Enjoy the hobby and stay safe!

Robert