Bob Walked the Plank and Broke the Ice

I've been reading the great blog Bob Walk the Plank for quite some time. In fact, I'm not sure why I hadn't tried to contact Matthew sooner about setting up a first trade to 'break the ice'. A few weeks back, we exchanged messages and before I knew it, a padded envelope had arrived in my mailbox. When I opened it I was blown away! I've seen that the typical trade package from Matthew is comprised of a few high quality cards, and this one certainly fit that description. It was four cards in total, all of which were awesome new additions to my collection.

First, a really nice jersey card of the guy that mans the hot corner for the Nats!

Then came this incredibly attractive framed Desmond jersey from A&G. That's a great start, but the hits just kept coming...literally!

I think I stared at this auto for five minutes before moving on to check out the final card in the package. Though I list a lot of Nats and Rays on my 'players I collect' list, I don't have many relics or autos for most of them. This was a first on a few levels for me. It's my first Museum Collection auto and my first Jordan Zimmermann auto. I really like the design of this one. The colors of the photo and the blue signature really pop against the parchment-like background.

For me, the highlight of the package was this Alex Cobb Tier One autograph! Again, I am sad to say that this is my first Tier One auto and my first Cobb signature. It's a drag that he was poised to provide quite the 1-2 punch with Chris Archer at the front of the Rays rotation, but was cut down by TJ surgery. Still, I think he'll return next season to pick up where he left off. I guess if there's a silver lining to his injury(at least for this collector) I hope to pick up an in person auto once he makes it back to Durham during his rehab assignment.

That was an incredible way to break the ice Matthew, thanks! I'm sorry that I'm still working on your return package. Life has gotten in the way and I've not only gotten behind in posting about trade packages, but I've got several trade packages that are at least halfway complete and just awaiting the right finishing touches. I'm hoping to hit the card show in Raleigh this weekend and pick up a few cards to finish off a bunch of these, yours included. I want to be sure that there's some high quality when you flip through what I send back. Thanks again for a great trade package! I hope you'll enjoy the return as much as I'm digging what you sent my way.