Zigging and zagging

I like it when things come full circle.

When I write blog posts, I try to tie everything together. I do my best to make the end go along with the beginning. It's just something to satisfy the needs of the little, inexperienced writer within me.

That's even harder to do with trade posts. Especially with the type of packages I seem to get on a regular basis. People send me cards that have almost nothing in common. And those seem to be my favorite packages to receive.

Any hopes of writing a nice, orderly trade post goes out the window when one of those hits my doorstep.

That's most definitely the case with this afternoon's topic, courtesy of a package I received from Douglas of the terrific blog "Sportscards From the Dollar Store".

Douglas is one of those people that sends cardboard to me on a shockingly regular basis. It's almost like clockwork. He's definitely a pro at hunting down the randomness I so desire, as you'll see here.

I'll warn you now. This trade post is going to zig and zag in a countless number of directions, so hold on to your hats.

It all started with a rather shiny find for my Kenny Lofton player collection.

The mid '90s at its finest.

The center of attention soon shifted onto my many mini-collections.

While these cards were printed twenty years apart, both are fantastic new adds to my "play at the plate" and "double dip" themes.

A couple friends and I have recently taken up a bit of a new hobby.

Thrift shopping.

I haven't exactly bought anything during any of our trips yet, but I came close to pulling the trigger on one of those gigantic old cell phones, purely for kicks. It looked almost exactly like the one Mr. Alomar is holding in that shot.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, thrift shops don't seem to have a whole lot in the card department. Not unless I wanted a whole box of 1990 Donruss for four dollars.

Cards as awesome as that Daal aren't likely to pop up in the aisles of a thrift stores, unfortunately.

As has been the case with his past packages, Douglas sent along a few hockey variations of my mini-collections.

The note he included with this package included a nice little tidbit about goalie Michael Leighton here. Apparently, he never actually played for the Columbus Blue Jackets, which makes it a "zero-year" hockey card. He's now playing in Ukraine, as a matter of fact.

When I think of Ukraine, though, one thing instantly comes to mind.

Where was I again?

Thrift shops.

Goalies.

Ukraine.

Seinfeld.

Oh, right. I was in the middle of recapping a trade package. My apologies for getting a bit off track.

Douglas noted that he'd be including a few "Dime Box Dozen" needs with this batch.

The O'Neill is one of the more attention-grabbing night cards you'll ever find. And the Varitek is a long-awaited member of my "Award Show" mini-collection.

Awards don't get any better than the Commissioner's Trophy, after all.

Amazingly, Douglas hit a third "Dime Box Dozen" need with the shredding John Wetteland.

I've mentioned my little project of putting together a full band of baseball players before. It looks like they just got a new lead guitarist.

Along with the O'Neill and Varitek, I'm not sure I've ever received a package that knocked out a solid quarter of my "Dime Box Dozen" list.

Normally, I'd try to tie everything together at the end here. But, with this terrific array of cardboard from Douglas, I'm having a tough time with that.

Sometimes, it just can't be done.

That's part of the makings of a great trade package, people.