Johnny Strikes Up the Band

I've been on a Warren Zevon kick recently. Not sure why. Maybe it's me going back and rediscovering old favorites I've forgotten? Not going to complain though! As I was listening to one of his albums on Spotify, the song "Johnny Strikes up the Band" came on. That song made me remember I had some cards I'd gotten in the mail from the near daily giveaways from Johnny's Trading Spot that I'd yet to show off.

TJ Friedl is the top card even though it's hard for you to see the name. The other two are Nick Lodolo cards. Both are members of the Reds youth movement this year. While the season is still young, the Reds are playing much better than they did at this point last year and are a really fun team to watch.

A few more random Reds cards. The Graham Ashcraft card is some sort of parallel from Series 1 this year. I have no idea what type of parallel though.

Oooh! Shiny cards and black border cards! Apologies for the glare on these. I'm not familiar with the Guardians prospects. I probably should look them up.

My first taste of 2023 Big League. It's alright I guess. Whenever Card Barrel does a sale, I'll probably nab some singles.

More shiny cards including another Nick Lodolo. Really dig the Jesse Winker card too.

And I saved the best for last! A really cool 1984 Reds pocket schedule! 

Thanks for the cool stuff John!

 

A PWE That Hits the Spot

Apparently, I entered a contest I didn't know about. I was just casually reading and commenting on some blogs the other day, one of which just happened to be Johnny's Trading Spot. The next day I'm doing the same thing and lo and behold, I won a contest of some sort. I had to dig through my old contacts to find Johnny's email address but I sent him my address so I could claim my winnings. On a windy and rainy Saturday, a PWE showed up in the mail.

I couldn't tell you the last time I got cards in the mail but it's been over a year at least. That's one of the parts of blogging and writing about cards I missed, getting little packages or PWEs in the the mai here and there. Gave me a reason to actually care about the mail coming, instead of it just being junk mail and the occasional bill.

Anyway, enough rambling, here's a quick peek at what John sent over.

The Topps Gallery stuff is new to me. I heard about it coming out but that was during my hiatus and I was barely thinking about cards at the time. I really like the pictures on both of these cards, the Votto especially. 

Two Hall of Famers here in Joe Morgan and Early Wynn and a really shiny card of the Guardians top pitcher, Shane Bieber.

And some really cool horizontals to finish off this PWE for some good additions to my Reds and Indians/Guardians collections.

Thanks to Johnny for sending these cards over and for running the contest.