Small But Mighty

It's not everyday that I get cards via UPS but that's exactly what happened when I received some cards from Julie of A Cracked Bat. I'd gotten a email for a UPS delivery notification. "That's odd," I thought. "I don't remember ordering anything." Then I thought maybe it was something to do with my 401K until I received an email from Julie in the wee hours of the morning stating there was a package on the way via UPS. "Yay cards!"

I had called off work the day it arrived as my son's school was cancelled due to the freezer-like temperatures. I stepped out to get a quick drive-thru lunch for the family and when I got back, there was the UPS driver just leaving. I had lunch then I ... well ... cracked it open and found all kinds of super cool stuff!

I'll start with these super cool and super shiny Topps Archives Reserve cards. Topps seems to love reprints these days but if they're going to do reprints and re-issues, why not go all out like these? They took two cards from the 1954 set, chromed them up, and issued them as part of the Archives line. I'd totally be down if they did cards like this as inserts in either Chrome or Archives. Anyway, I really dig these cards.

The box had loads of Reds and Indians cards so I'll tackle them team by team. As usual, first the Reds. There were there nice Barry Larkin cards. I particularly like the Topps Tribute one as it shows Larkin in the forgotten red and black jersey and has the old school Reds logo instead of the current one.

Some cool and shiny Joey Votto cards. With the additions to the Reds lineup in the form of Matt Kemp and Yasiel Puig this offseason, I'm hoping Votto can return to the form that he had in 2017 when he finished one vote shy of NL MVP.

Two Eugenio Suarez cards that look very similar but they're not. The one on the left is the base version while the one on the right is the "negative refractor". I had to look that up because I can't keep track of variation names. 

Some Topps Fire cards. The Reds dropped Billy Hamilton like a bad habit this offseason when they non-tendered him a contract. The Royals promptly scooped him up. Tucker Barnhart has been mentioned in trade rumors in exchange for J.T. Realmuto. I'm not sure why the Reds would trade Barnhart for a guy (Realmuto) who would be a free agent after the 2019 season when he (Barnhart) is under club control through 2021.

New cards weren't the only thing Julie included, there were these cards from the 90s.

And this random Ken Griffey Jr. card. Has it really been 10 years since Griffey was last a member of the Reds? Wow.

There were also cards from the early 2000s, which I really enjoy. I remember these Fleer Futures cards when they came out and I think I had a handful of them in my original collection. I remember having the Sean Casey card for sure. The weird thing about these cards is the white part feels kind of gritty but every else on the card is smooth.

Here's another Fleer product from the early 2000s, Authentix. I remember really liking these when they came out as they have the look and feel of a ticket stub, especially with the section, row, and seat numbers (which is the players uniform number). These are definitely cards I need to find more of.

I'll open the Indians section with these "slim" cards. I think the Lindor might be a duplicate, I'm not sure. I'd have to check my Indians binder.

Two cards I know that are not duplicates are these super cool mid-80s Joe Carter cards. 

Oh ... my ... gosh! These are awesome! I love cards with players wearing throwback jerseys but these just are above and beyond any of the other throwback jersey cards I have. The Tribe went all out with these, all red and the old school Indians script. These jerseys are just perfect.

Hey look ... an oddball! This is part of a 12-card set issued by Sunoco and Coca-Cola in 2001 that featured legendary greats from each team. I'm not sure how one would've gotten the cards from this set though. If anyone knows, leave a comment below.

More cool 90s cards.

Some more super shiny cards as well. The "Bowman Birthdays" Francisco Lindor is really cool!

Seeing retired players on modern cards is always a treat. The top two card of Lou Boudreau and Satchel Paige are from Topps Fire. The Paige looks to be a refractor or parallel of some kind. The bottom three are from last years Archives. I know they're not dupes either because I would've remembered pulling them from packs.

Here we have two Corey Kluber cards and much like the Eugenio Suarez cards earlier, there is a base and a parallel. 

I'd ordered some Museum Collection singles in my last COMC order. While they were mostly of retired players, it's nice to add some active players in with those now. 

In addition to Reds and Indians cards, Julie knows I have a soft spot for horror-related items so she threw in these cards as a bonus. There was a nice batch (probably about 15 or so) of the Tales From the Crypt cards so I picked out a few of my favorites. I had no knowledge about the "Uninvited Guests" minis from A&G but they're great! I'm definitely going to work on getting some more of those in advance of Halloween (yes, I'm already planning for that).

Thanks to Julie for sending me this small but mighty box of cards. I've got some cards stashed away for you somewhere that I need to get out to you soon.