More for my collection.

Well I checked my mail over the weekend only to find the usual junk mail, insurance stuff, coupons and the ever present bill, but there under all that was a bubble mailer from Chris over at Budget Baseball Cardboarding. Awhile back, I sent him a bunch of Rays cards, along with some Ichiro and some other players to add to his collection. I was not expecting a package, but I was very surprised and happy to have received it.

Chris sent me some cards for my collection of Pudge, Vlad, Biggio and Bagwell. Along with those he sent a Mike Scott and Dickie Thon to add to my Astros collection in tribute to my late father.

Thanks for the cards Chris, I hope that we can trade again some time soon.

Pictured here from left to right are the following:

Mike Scott 1983 Topps #100T

Dickie Thon 1987 Topps Tiffany #386

Ivan Rodriguez 2007 Topps Heritage #370

Vladimir Guerrero 2006 Topps 2K All-Stars #7, 2007 Bowman #136, 2007 Upper Deck TP-VG

Craig Biggio 1990 Topps #157, 1990 Score #237

Jeff Bagwell 2001 Topps #407

80's Astros

Hey, I hope that everyone is well out there in the baseball blogging universe. Yesterday I received a package from blog reader Tim in Ohio. He sent me some Bagwell's, Biggio's, Ryno and Pudge cards to add to my collection of those players, but I wanted to focus on the cards I have pictured here.

They are all of Houston Astros, my late father's favorite team. I am putting together a binder of cards of the players on the 1976-1987 time frame Astros. These are the players that I remember on those teams and that I remember watching on TV with my father.

A lot of these guys are not big name players, a few are, but for the most part they are just forgotten names, but to me they are reminders of those times when my father was still alive and cheering on his Astros. In a way this is just a small tribute to him and to those players that made up the team that he so loved very much.

Pictured here are Jose Cruz, Enos Cabell, Joe Niekro, Terry Puhl, Bob Knepper, Alan Ashby, Ray Knight, Mike Scott and Dickie Thon.

Another trade

I recently completed a trade with blog reader Tim from Ohio. He does not have a blog himself, but he does manage to read trading blogs and work out some trades. I sent him a package not long ago filled with some Expos, Nationals and Indians to add to his collection. In return he sent some Ryno, Pudge, Biggio and Bagwell cards. Along with those he included some 70's and 80's Houston Astros cards. They were my late father's favorite team, so I am working on putting together some cards of the players that were on the team when he would watch them on television. Here is sample of the cards he sent my way. Thanks for the cards Tim, hope to trade with you again.

1981 Topps giant photo cards

Here is an oldie but a goody from 1981 Topps. As you can see, these cards are big, roughly about four times the size of your standard issue baseball card. I have three of them including this Nolan Ryan card, it is one of six Houston Astros cards, the other Astros in this set are Cesar Cedeno, Jose Cruz, Art Howe, Terry Puhl and Don Sutton.

I also have the Texas Rangers' Al Oliver and Buddy Bell cards, the others in that set are Jon Matlack, Mickey Rivers, Jim Sundberg and Bump Wills.

Back then you could order these cards in 18 card team sets for $5, available for these teams, Yankees/Mets, Dodgers/Angels, Rangers/Astros(12 cards), Cubs/White Sox. The Reds, Phillies and Red Sox were in 12 card sets each. I don't know what players were in those sets, but it would have been nice to be able to have them all. Just a quick trip down memory lane in 1981.