At the Trade Deadline 20: I got Zippy-Zapped

I really shouldn't call this a trade package, as I didn't send anything the other way. I just got Zippy-Zapped with a mailer full of cards, and it made me do the Zip Zap Rap. Okay, I don't think anything could actually make me do the Zip Zap Rap, but an unannounced package full of cards comes pretty close. You can view Zippy Zappy's blog, Cervin' Up Cards, right here.

I'm going to blow all the suspense and lead off with my absolute favorite card from the package right up front. This picture just kills me. I can't stop looking at it. The first thing I did after looking at these cards was go onto Zistle, find this card, and add it to my collection so that the billions of people who look at my Zistle collection every day would know that I possess a copy of this card, which I didn't even know existed until I opened up the package. Valenzuela looks a lot like one of my coworkers in this picture, which makes this card even more funny to me.

There is a little bit of late vintage there with the 1979 Topps Mariners prospects in the corner and some player and team collection additions from the 2013 and 2014 Topps sets. I thought that the Mariners prospects looked like a pretty goofy bunch, but then I looked at the 1979 prospect cards for the other teams and the Mariners guys started to look pretty normal.

There were plenty of Astros in the package, with a focus on the prospects and younger players. I've heard a little bit of buzz around George Springer, but it sounds like business reasons will keep him in the minors for a while longer.

Zunino has got off to a good start this year, and has quite a bit of potential. Lance McCullers has a good baseball name. Carlos Correa is another highly-rated Astros prospect, and Brandon Backe reminded me of why I have one lone binder full of 2008 Topps and no other cards from that era.

My eldest son was born in 2008, and I got to thinking that it would be cool if I had a set from the birth year of any children I might have, as kind of an heirloom or something. I must have collated a set or something, so I had a box of extra cards in my bedroom.

One day I was at work and my wife called me, saying she had something horrible to tell me and not to be mad. Of course that is never a good sign. My Basset Hound, who was a horrible dog throughout his life, had somehow knocked over the box of extra cards, kicked the pile around, and then peed right in the middle of the pile. So I had to throw them all away, aside from the set which I had already placed in binder pages. At least that is how I remember the story.

This group of 1987 Topps cards also ties into that story, as during that time we lived in a trailer park in a 1970s-era single-wide trailer, and the walls all had faux-wood paneling on them. Classy!

Here are a few more cards of prospects and young players. I talked about Zunino above. I can't for the life of me place Peterson or Miller, and Walker seemed to be a popular late-round pick in fantasy drafts this year. I don't think he wound up on any of my teams.

Fun Fact: Jarred Cosart has only ever been captured on film once. Unfortunately, he was making a Popeye face at the time. And Starling Marte is a pretty decent young player, too. He went too early in drafts this year for me to get him, as I was chasing power over speed in the early rounds, but I hope he does well regardless.

Bryan Harvey has the right jersey number and some decent facial hair. Apparently Taijuan Walker has also only ever been photographed once. I just realized that his picture is the same on both cards in this lot. In any package outside of one containing the Fernando Valenzuela card featured at the start of this post, these last two cards from the 2012 SEGA Card-Gen set would get top billing. They still get high marks for excellent photography, nice design, and being from the coolest arcade game I've ever heard of. Even greater than Boong-Ga Boong-Ga, where the objective is to poke the game in the butt with a big plastic finger.

Thank you for the trade, Zippy Zappy! It was a lot of fun to open and sort through.