A trade with Plaschke (in-person)

Greg of Plaschke and I traded some cards while we waited in line at Mike Piazza's Long Shot book signing in Pasadena last week.  I posted about the event here.  Here is what I received from Mr. Zakwin:

Per usual with my trade posts, here is a selection of some of my favorite cards from the trade.  The Anze Kopitar parallel (top row, second from left) is numbered to 25.  The Dee Gordon blue parallel on the bottom right is #'d to 500.  My Hideo Nomo collection has been quite neglected of late, so it is nice to refresh the ol' binder with some new "Tornado" cardboard.  Charles Nagy is on the back of the Nomo card in the bottom row, second from left.  He was pretty good.

On the left is a 2010 Upper Deck Series 1 Baseball (hell, there was only one series before UD was shut out), Hong-Chih Kuo gold parallel, #'d 75/99.  Some of you may know that Hong-Chih Kuo is one of my favorite players.  I have an impressive collection of his cards that I plan to post at some indeterminate time.  This gold parallel was one that I insanely desired.  Now I have it!  Cue maniacal laughter.  My Nomo rookie card collection has also been disregarded recently.  But, the rookie card above was definitely one I needed.

2009 UD Signature Stars, James McDonald rookie autograph.  McDonald is not on the Dodgers, having been traded with Andrew Lambo to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Octavio Dotel in 2010.  The trade seems ultimately pointless in retrospect - because Dotel kind of sucked and Lambo tested positive for substance abuse - but at least McDonald got the opportunity start in Pittsburgh.  McDonald had himself a half-awesome, half-shite season last year, and I am rooting for him to have an all-awesome season this year.

Such an odd card.  I like it!  Card collectors and bloggers have all probably seen these 2003 UD Game Face Gear cards before.  This is the first one that has come into my possession.  I wouldn't call it a "good" design per se, but I enjoy it.

2008 Red Hot Rookie Redempion #11 of Clayton Kershaw.  It is a gorgeous card.  This was actually a contest prize from Greg, not part of the actual trade.  Nevertheless, it is awesome!  Kershaw's nickname is "Kid K," though I prefer to call him "Kid Kilowatt."  If you know who or what Kid Kilowatt is, then you are a pretty cool cat.  (Hell, I'll just tell you... to me, "Kid Kilowatt" alludes to two great things - baseball and a certain supergroup composed of Massachusetts hardcore and metal stalwarts.)

2007 Tristar Elegance Showtime game used patch #CK, Clayton Kershaw.  It's a three-color patch.  Might be hard to tell from the photograph.  Elegant, indeed.  Looks fabulous.

Thanks for a fantastic trade, Greg!  It has been a while, but we got it done.

Three Kings Autographs

The Los Angeles Kings are doing better recently!  I guess that's something.  I should really make it out to some games.  Here are some of my recently obtained Kings signature cards:

2007-08 Upper Deck ICE, Glacial Graphs of #11, Anze Kopitar.  This card is one of those clear acrylic deals, thus the white dummy card behind it to make the autograph easier to see.

 2012-13 Panini Certified, gold parallel Jordan Nolan auto, #'d 18/25.  Kid's a bruiser.  Nolan is one of several NHL players with Native American blood.  That makes me wonder how well represented Native Americans are in other popular professional sports like soccer, football, basketball, or baseball.

Anze again, from 2006-07 UD Ultimate Collection.  This card is my favorite of the three.  The signature is bright, sharp, and on card.  The team colors and design work well together.  The other two cards have clean designs, but are a bit rigid in comparison.

I enjoy hockey cards!  One could easily imagine that the smaller market for them - in comparison to baseball, for example - would make card manufacturers more prone to releasing products with inferior quality and lazy design.  That, luckily, does not seem to be the case.  Hockey cards (especially the hits) usually look amazing and do not lack for innovation.  Maybe companies can spend more time and energy on making higher quality, awesome-looking hockey products since they're not just churning out a bunch of shite like they do sometimes with baseball.