Blog trade post: Hopefully the first of many

Well, I am extremely happy to say that I have received the first of what I hope is many trade packages through my blog.

Blog reader Paul from New Jersey sent me some of my 2002 Leaf Rookies and Stars needs in exchange for some assorted Yankees cards from past years.

If you've got anything from my set needs link (located in the "My Set Needs" tab at the top of the blog), please feel free to shoot me an email and I'd be happy to try and work something out.

We'll start out with the lone rookie card I received.

This one brings the Matt Thornton rookie card count to 11. I seem to find his rookie cards all over the place. Trade lists, dime boxes, everywhere. Who knew Thornton even had eleven different rookie cards?

A guy with a weird-but-cool name and a guy with a weird-but-cool batting stance.

I think Craig Counsell had the oddest batting stance of all-time. Hands way above the head with the bat outstretched, his back facing the pitcher during the windup. Odd.

A lot of my set needs are really just player/team needs in disguise. It's just a whole lot easier listing them as set needs than having to list each player and set and such.

That might not be the last thing you hear from Kenny Lofton on this blog today...

I actually have these two cards already. A good example of me forgetting to update my set needs after a trade.

I find it funny that Randall Simon is listed as a DH on that card. He's clearly playing first base in that shot. Why not just list him as a first baseman?

We'll close out this post with a couple guys closing out their careers in 2002.

Mark Grace would retire after his 2003 season in Arizona.

I bet most people didn't even know that Tim Raines was still an active major-leaguer in 2002. He played on five different teams in his final four ML years, beginning with the Yankees in '98 and the A's in '99. He must have retired for most of the 2000 season, as he didn't play in the bigs and played just seven games in the minors. He'd close out his career with the Expos and Orioles in '01 (he played four games for the O's that year) and the Marlins in 2002, posting a lowly .191 batting average in 89 at-bats.

Thanks for the trade, Paul!