Please Mr. Postman (A trade post) -- Above and beyond

It gives me great pleasure to say that I no longer need any base cards from 2012 Topps Heritage.

One of the best people I've met so far in the blogosphere has been Ryan, author of the fantastic blog "Ryan's Pitch".

Ryan and I agreed on a trade a while ago for some of my Heritage needs, our second-ever swap. As you'll soon find out, he went way beyond just some simple Heritage base cards (which I would've been more than happy with).

One of the last Heritage cards I needed was the above Josh Collmenter. I had the good fortune to see Collmenter in person when I caught a Brewers-D'Backs game in Milwaukee last year. His quirky motion is ten times as odd as I could've ever imagined.

Which reminds me, I'll be going up to Milwaukee again next Saturday, this time to catch the Brew Crew face my beloved hometown Cubs.

I can't wait.

In a way, I'm glad I didn't have an emotional attachment to either World Series team last year.

I got to enjoy it for what it was, the greatest World Series of my lifetime thus far. Without a doubt. I don't know if I'll ever experience a better one.

I can only imagine how crazy the blogosphere gets during playoff time. I wasn't blogging yet and was limited in my blog readership.

It must be something to see.

One of my favorite things about Heritage is that it provides the collector with some of the first looks at guys in their new uniforms, as is the case with both Marquis and Beltran in 2012.

I hope that never changes.

As I mentioned before, Ryan sent more than just the Heritage cards.

While that shot is overused, I'll never turn down a new card of Tris Speaker for my collection. Especially one from the Ted Williams set.

I don't get stumped very often, but I'm at a loss for what set that Vlad card comes from. I'm pretty sure it's an insert of some sort, but I can't find anything on it. If anyone knows where that card comes from, let me know!

I don't think I'll ever be able to turn down vintage.

The fact that I haven't heard of Bob Porterfield is beside the point. It's vintage! And it was free too, courtesy of Ryan. Free vintage is the greatest.

Plus, I've always had a bit of an emotional tie to the 1957 Topps set.

Ryan outdid himself with this one.

While I haven't bought a memorabilia card in a long, long time, I still love the concept of them, even if it's gotten way out of control in recent years.

This marks the seventh Vlad game used card in my collection. A great and totally unexpected addition, to say the least.

Thanks for another great trade, Ryan!