Christmas Gift From Sam

My friend, Sam, sent me a surprise package for Christmas. I hadn't heard from him since he hooked me up with a couple cases of ROMLBs a few months ago. He's been busy working.  Sam sent me a ton of autos to clean out his collection. There were some great guys in the stack that he sent me, like the above 2014 Bowman Josh Hader.

I'm going to try and name all of the players that Sam sent, so everything is searchable.  That helps me with future graphing and posts, which is something should have been doing all along.  In this scan are cards of Ryon Healy, Jake Skole, Logan Shore and Braden Bishop, It has been a while since i added a 2015 Panini Contenders, which was one of the Braden Bishop cards (top left).

The top left dual of Braden Bishop and Austin Rei is one i could finish.  I've seen that Rei has been signing.  The rest of the cards in this scan are of Marvin Gorgas, Bryson Brigman, Nick Wells, Raul Mondesi and Logan Allen.

Johendi Jiminian (bottom center and right) is a guy that I've never heard of.  I'd have tried to send to him TTM if i had some of his cards, with that unique name.  The other guys in this scan are Delino DeShields Jr, Lance McCullers, Hunter Dozier, Cameron Rupp, Vernon Wells and Luke Jackson.  Jackson used to be Sam's guy for a while. 

The next batch of guys was Mike Nikorak, CJ Edwards, Jacob Nix, Scott Blewett, Foster Griffin and DJ Peters.  I had gotten Blewett myself a while back, but never on the 2016 Bowman.  I don't know how I missed that back then.

The next guys are Ariel Jurado, Mitchell White, Jose DeLeon, Grant Holmes, Mike White, Mike Leake, Travis Kuhn and Justin Nicolino.  I jad hoped to catch Nicolino last season in High Point.  I believe he was on one of the teams I saw there.  I e gotten Grant Holmes before.  He's been around for quite a while.

Finally, here is Max Muncy on a 2013 Panini Prizm and a 2014 Midland RockHounds teak set card.  I was also happy to see this Daniel Vogelbach 2013 Bowman Chrome.  Danny Effin Burgers.

Sam also sent me a stack of certified autos and several signed baseballs.  I don't know what I did for Sam to send me all of this stuff, but I am so appreciative. Sam has taken care of me as of late.  I hate that we don't get the chance to talk like we used to around 10 years ago, but he's still a good friend.  Thank you so much, Sam!

A Long Awaited Trade With Sam

What can I say about Sam?  I've known him for a long time.  A very long time, really.  I finally got to meet him in person back in 2018 when Chris and I went to Texas, and that was a really nice time.  We used to talk every day, now I may hear from him once a year.  Maybe.  It's a common thing, really.  You become friends with someone, get pretty close, then start drifting apart, until you finally realize that you hardly talk at all.  Or you get a text message from them, and realize their number isn't even in your phone anymore.

I liked Sam so much, I took all of the photos he had sent me over time that had him with baseball players, and I made him a shutterfly book that he could share, and maybe get signed by said players.  It took a lot of work, but I felt like it would be a nice thing to do.  I hope he liked it.

I got a message out of the blue from Sam a few months ago, asking me if I would trade him an extra DL Hall autograph that I had gotten IP for some cards that Sam had gotten himself over the years.  I wasn't sure what all he would send, but it made for a nice "blind trade".  Those can be fun, really.

I thought I would maybe get one auto back, but Sam, in fact, sent 4.  None of which I had, which was even better!  The above Mike Nikorak 2015 Bowman refractor is especially nice, since I missed out on him when I saw Asheville a couple years ago (it's ok, I got Riley Pint on EVERYTHING I had).

Sam also included these three cards.  I had sent to DJ Peters TTM, but it got returned to sender, so that helps.  I also was glad to get a Sean Murphy auto back, since I tried to 50/50 on him, but the person missed him.  I sent TTM to Logan Allen, and those cards are out somewhere, hopefully coming back sometime.

So, it was nice to hear from Sam, finally.  I don't hold out any expectation that more trades are in our future, but I do wish him the best.  I hope his knee heals, and he can continue to pitch in college and realize his dream.  He has all of these players he met who he holds in high regard, and I know he aspires to achieve success like they have.

Thanks for the deal, Sam.  Hope to hear from you soon.