Picking pockets

If you've been reading blogs lately, you've probably noticed the trend of card giveaways around the cardsphere as of late.

It's heartwarming to see people being so magnanimous in these strange times, and I do plan on offering free cards myself soon because, at the very least, I feel I owe a debt to everyone who's been letting me claim free stuff from them. Generosity is a trend that should always be reciprocated. But I have to admit that I'm still a bit wary of doing a Free Card post -- not because I don't have extra cards that could definitely use better homes than mine, because I do.

No, mine is a common worry: I'm worried that people who don't even read my blog or any others (aka prize hounds) will start claiming stuff, and I don't really have a way to control that. I'm on Twitter enough to know that this will happen -- and the couple giveaways I've run on this blog brought out readers that I've never seen comment on my blog before or since. I understand people can't read/comment on every post, but it's pretty obvious who's actually a reader and who's just doing it for the prizes.

When I say the blogs are a community, I don't use that term loosely -- I feel a bond with the people like me who choose to read and write about baseball cards, and if I'm going to give cards away I want them to go to someone who's actually one of us, someone in the community.

But I guess in some ways I shouldn't talk, since I've already taken quite a bit without yet giving -- I mean, I've got a whole post full of stuff I've claimed from Julie's generous Pick Pockets program over at the excellent "A Cracked Bat" blog.

Julie's been a longtime friend of the blog, and her "Pick Pocket" free cards are pretty darn close to virtual dime boxing. They certainly have the unquestioned quality of a good dime box. I didn't actually claim the Doug Harvey insert at the top of the post, Julie just threw it in -- and I love it because how often do you see umpire cards?

These four, however, were all specifically claimed by yours truly -- I'm especially fond of the McCutchen since it's one of the few cards that depicted his already-forgotten stint as a Yankee.

Bless Julie's heart, giving away HOFer food oddballs for free.

Sweet minis! Although I don't know if those "Fortune Teller" inserts officially qualify as minis since they're just as tall as a normal card, just narrower.

More of your standard mini fare.

I think by now you can see why I feel so indebted to people like Julie for offering up such great cardboard.

I'm usually a bit shy about claiming free stuff, but then again it's not every day I see inserts and parallels and oddballs of big names like these (Boggs! Campy!) up for grabs.

A few more modern dudes here -- the Rizzo was one of the last base cards I needed from 2020 Topps, and wouldn't you know it, there it was on Julie's page, waiting to be picked!

Also I got so excited over seeing a free Japanese card that I instantly claimed that Tanaka...only to realize that I actually already had it, part of a past Zippy Zapping, no doubt. As is the insanity that sometimes comes over me when it comes to free baseball cards.

So that's the first time in my recorded history that I've had doubles of a Japanese card -- though I'm happy to say I've already passed it on to another collector who I hope will enjoy the Pick Pockets by proxy.

Russell Martin is a lower-tier player collection of mine, but no matter -- if I see one of these breathtaking diamond parallels of anyone I collect, wherever they are on the totem pole, I want it.

So, once again, I extend a hearty thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to Julie and all the other awesome bloggers who've let people like me scoop up the misfit toys of their collection. And yes, look for a free card post from me at some point soon. Like I said, it's the least I can do to contribute to the community.

But if you're a prize hound, just do me and all these other bloggers a favor and stay away -- we know what you're doing, and we're not idiots.