A Pirate's Swap For Me!

I recently completed a trade with Brian from over at "Pirates Treasure Room".   This is a GREAT blog, folks!   It's very easy on the eyes and he will typically have some beautiful scans of some very vibrant Pirate hobby pieces.   He seems to specialize in relics, autographs and patches from players in Pittsburgh and is always very focused on some incredible collecting goals.   I admire that.   I need some collecting focus, quite frankly. 

SO, it's fitting that Brian provided the spark for this trade with a relic from one of my favorite Braves, Craig Kimbrel.   Kimbrel had me captivated, along with the rest of the baseball world, as he set the new season mark for saves by a rookie last season.   Thanks to my geographical location, I can usually find the Braves game on TV and it seemed that every chance I had to tune in last season (amongst the nightly circus that is a house with two kids), Craig was notching another game on his belt.

Plus, he hangs his throwing arm in front of his body as he receives the signs from McCann in a really interesting way....and that earns him another +5 in cool points.

Anyways, I dropped Brian a note to say I was interested in the Kimbrel and figured he may be interested in a McLouth Letterman that I had picked up last year in a card draft at some point.   I think it may have been part of my winnings from a Cardboard Don (formerly known as Wicked Ortega) draft?   I love how some of these cards can be traced from origins to good homes where they belong.

Brian said the trade sounded great and slipped in a little, "Hey, are you a Braves fan?" towards the end.

He was up to something.

And that something was a wonderfully generous helping of bonus Braves cards!   OH, and THEN he went and knocked a few off of my '12 Heritage Inserts NEEDS list along with my '12 Topps Inserts NEEDS list.   He also knew I'm a Yankees fan and threw in a sweet Opening Day Mickey.

That sneaky Pirate!

Here are the cards:

My FIRST Kimbrel relic!

You can't go wrong...

Without a doubt: 2 Hall of Famers!

YES!  Mark 'em off!

CHIPPAH!   CHIPPAH ROOKIE!

Cool Shot

Incredible....if you squint, you can be amazed, too. 

Some of my first Opening Day pick-ups.   Nice!

Threads and Lumber from Braves of yore.

Just had to slip some pinstripes in here, didn't I?

Brian - THANK YOU for the very generous trade.   I hope the McLouth patch provided a letter that you still needed for one of your on-going quests.

Thanks for reading!