Buy a Card and Help Houston

There's been a lot of news coverage about the flooding in Houston, as well as reports from a couple of fellow card bloggers who hail from that area of the world. Many folks are looking for a way to help out the victims of this natural disaster. Topps has found a way to combine baseball cardboard with the relief effort through their Topps Now program. 

This card was just listed on the Topps Now site, with proceeds from sales of the card going to the American Red Cross. Although it doesn't specify that the funds will be used specifically for Houston, it's a good bet that a large percentage of the Red Cross' focus right now is on the events in Texas. There are plenty of other ways to help out with the flood relief effort, but this one will get you a free piece of baseball cardboard alongside your donation.

When Topps released their Spring Training sets, one of the bonuses was the promise that if you bought the set of a team that was in first place at the All-Star break, you would get a free card in the mail honoring the achievement. The Astros were in first place at the time, so I got this card in the mail.

Plenty of enthusiastic Astros on this card. I hope the Astros players can overcome all of the craziness associated with the flood and give their city something to cheer about as they close out the season.