A Very Long Overdue Thank You Post

During the course of the past couple years, I've been setting aside any Corey Seager cardboard I pull. I carefully sleeve each one and then place them in a top loader. After a small stack builds, I send them off to Greg of Plaschke, They Sweater is Argyle. 

In return, Greg goes way overboard. Whereas I send mostly commons his way, he returns the favor with cards like this:

A massive patch auto ( and on-card, at that) featuring former Rangers first-round pick, Luis Ortiz Jr. from 2014 Leaf Trinity. This card is an absolute beauty.  

I was sad to see Ortiz traded. He was part of the group of prospects sent to the Brewers to acquire Jonathan Lucroy. I was certain he would be a solid number-three starter for us. Instead, he made his major league debut with the Orioles last season. He was rouged up pretty badly in that start and accompanying appearance. 

However, I owe a long-overdue "Thank You" to Greg for sending this my way. You always go above and beyond to send me some incredible cardboard. I am very grateful to consider you a friend, good sir!

An Unexpected Christmas Gift

When I got back to my apartment in Lubbock, I found a bubble mailer from Greg, the beautiful mind behind Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle. We all have "guys" for certain players or cards. Greg is my Corey Seager guy, so whenever I pull a Seager, I drop it in a PWE and send it his way. I do this so the card finds a home and doesn't sit in a box for eternity.

I open up the mailer and the first thing I see is this:

A note attached to a secured "brick" of toploaders, clearly protecting something special. Dammit Greg....usually, I would open this first. But I trust Greg and this must mean something precious is inside.

Behind that was a teambag full of goodies. For the sake of brevity, I will only post a few here.

A Nolan from 1990 Score. I loved this set as a kid. I know that puts me in a small minority, but I don't care. Still love it.

Juan Gone from Pinnacle Inside. This card cracks me up. I love the statline on the front of the card, but perhaps the designers over at Pinnacle could have included a different stat than stolen bases, which Juan had ZERO of. Just odd.

I haven't researched Allen & Ginter sets much prior to 2012. This card is the non-numbered variety. Today, we accept Topps word that these are limited to 50 copies. In 2009, however, every copy was hand-numbered to 50. 

Okay, I can't take it anymore. I have to share what was in the toploaders. First up:

This is the 2008 TriStar PROjections yellow parallel of Matt Harrison, numbered to 25! 

Next up, the 2008 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Turn of the Century auto, again of Matt Harrison! Awesome cards!

But the best was still lurking...

The 2008 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Status Gold Diecut, numbered 13 of 25!!!! This was a HUGE card for me to acquire! I've been looking for one for a while. I saw one pop up on eBay and began to watch the BIN auction. It came up for auction at a time when funds were tight, so I kept putting it off, waiting until my next paycheck to grab it.

When that next paycheck came, I jumped on eBay to grab it, only to learn that someone else had snuck in and grabbed it before I could. 

Thankfully, it was Greg! I've never been so excited to see a card in a mailer as I was for this one!

Greg, I can't thank you enough! I'll be sending some cardboard your way really soon!

What's the best surprise card you've received from another blogger? Hope to hear from you all soon!