Topps Diamond Giveaway - Order #3

Another day, another bubble envelope from Topps in the mail.

With only about 6 or 7 weeks left in the promotion, I'll be curious to see if I can score some more goodies.

This package contained more Hall of Fame players, more personal favourites, and a few more Toronto Blue Jays.

Not only did I add another 1952 card to my collection (Harry Simpson), I was able to acquire some big names like Al Kaline, Roy Face, Rickey Henderson, Jim Kaat, Sandy Alomar, and a League Leaders card containing Juan Marichal and Sandy Koufax!

Some other trades allowed me to get some 'late in the career' cards of Tom Seaver, Felipe Alou, and Pete Rose. In addition, Birdie Tebbetts, Walt Alston, and Gene Mauch will be added to my Manager collection.

Last but not least, some of my favourite Blue Jays from the ealry 1980's, Damaso Garcia and Willie Upshaw.

Time to place another order.

Topps Diamond Giveaway - Order #2

My second order from the Topps Diamond Giveaway focused more on memories than value.

Growing up in Canada, the Blue Jays were my team. A distant second were the Montreal Expos.

My favourite player was Dave Stieb and he ended up being one of the best pitchers of the 1980's

Although none of these cards are high value cards, they're great additions to my collection. Players who had some great years with the Blue Jays such as Buck Martinez, Lloyd Moseby, Rance Mulliniks, and Cliff Johnson. Some other great Expos like Warren Cromartie and Tim Wallach.

It's fun to see their stats. When you cheer for them so long ago, sometimes you can forget how good (or bad) they actually were until you check out the stats on the back of the cards.

A great trip down memory lane.

Topps Diamond Giveaway - Order #1

I received my first order from the Topps Diamond Giveaway today.

The Topps Diamond Giveaway is a great Topps promotion which allows collectors to find codes within packs, enter the codes online, trade the virtual cards with other collectors, and then, when you're finished, get the actual cards shipped directly to you.

It's a great way for Topps to introduce collectors to sets from previous years, all the way back to 1952. It educates collectors, promotes interaction and trading, and creates awareness of sets and the Topps brand name.

In general, my cards came in very good shape. A few hard soft corners and/or a few creases... and a few were somewhat off-centre. But that's okay. After all, some of these cards are over 50 years old.

Lots of goodies added to my baseball collection, as you can see.

I picked up some of the 2011 die-cut cards of past and current Blue Jays, those being Roy Halladay and Colby Rasmus.

I traded to acquire various Leader Leader cards, Highlights, and combo/trio cards from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. While I learned that many Hall of Famers cards were difficult to acquire in trades, it seemed that people were a little more willing to trade cards which featured them with other players or cards which weren't their regular issue from the season. It allowed me to get cards featuring George Brett, Warren Spahn, Casey Stengel, Jim Lemon, Roy Sievers, Gil Hodges, Rocky Colavito, Bert Campaneris, Mike Schmidt, and Nolan Ryan.

I also picked up some rookie cards of players I grew up watching. Steve Rogers of the Montreal Expos, Doyle Alexander who became a great Toronto Blue Jay, Jeff Reardon who played with the Expos too, and Dave Righetti who pitched against my beloved Jays. In addition, I grabbed a Rick 'Big Daddy' Reuschel rookie card too.

And most impressively, my first order included a 1952 Topps Ken Raffensberger. While he might not be a big name, the 1952 set is... being mostly famous for the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle. Raffensberger might not be famous but it's great to have a card from the set.

Now I'm looking forward to Order #2