those blue jays of spring

before i moved to minnesota, the blue jays were my american league team (except in 1979 when i rooted for the angels). now, i still have a soft spot for them and would like to see a twinkies/jays alcs. i was happy to see a blue jays centric blog (blue jays cards) appear a few weeks ago, and even happier when charles offered to send me some dodgers in exchange for some blue jays.

here's a sampling of what he sent:

2009 upper deck first edition starquest manny ramirez this card kind of reminds me of the donruss threads release from last year because the logo on the helmet is obscured. here, it's because of pine tar, not photoshop.

here's a bunch of the base cards from 2009 upper deck first edition, including a former dodger, takashi saito.

if cory wade can stay healthy the rest of the year, i don't think i will miss sammy.

greg maddux - a final tribute!

still, it's kind of weird to see a maddux card now. i figured the later releases wouldn't bother.

james loney.

i'm waiting patiently for some of those doubles to turn into home runs.

andre ethier.

i like these cards better than the flagship upper deck because of the use of the logo. however, i don't like the 'first edition' bar, and i find it hilarious that the holograms are missing on the back. now, i don't think anyone is going to go out and counterfeit these cards, but the hologram was one of the impetuses behind the creation of upper deck! it's like their hallmark. crazy.

charles also sent some 2006 goodies, including:

2006 upper deck greg maddux.

this is from his first dodger go-round. he went 6-3 for the dodgers down the stretch, but had a forgettable start against the mets in the nlds.

2006 upper deck kenny lofton.

this was when kenny was going 'one and done' for several teams. he played for 9 different teams in the 6 seasons after leaving cleveland for the second time. his year with the dodgers was pretty good, too, but ned replaced him with juan pierre. nothing against pierre, but i would have rather kept lofton for one more year before handing things off to kemp and ethier. hindsight, i guess.

finally, ol' mr. grumpy gills, jeff kent on a 2006 bowman heritage card.

i actually like the red background here. it would look even better if you could see more of the red uniform number.

thanks charles! here's hoping the jays stay atop the al east wire to wire. and be on the lookout for your cards - they should be there soon!