Trade With Pirates Treasure Room: My Johnny Bench Wolfpack Grows To One....and I Traded For A Giants Autograph.

I completed my third trade with Brian from Pirates Treasure Room. You can check out the first here and second here. Brian and I made our largest trade to date, and you can see what I sent his way here. First up from amongst the plethora of great cards I received is the sweeeeet triple relic below of Hall of Famer Johnny Bench.

Numbered 21/36, it features a bat piece and two different colored swatches, including an old piece of wool and what appears to be a small seam in the lower portion of the middle white-ish swatches. The moment I saw this card on Brian's blog, I knew I wanted to add it to my collection. It's the only hit of Bench's I have, and with my childhood favorite being Mike Piazza and some of my current favorite players being Russell Martin, Carlos Santana, and Matt Wieters, I thought it only appropriate to add a piece from one of the greatest, if not the greatest, catchers in baseball history. The scan doesn't do it near enough justice, as it's a really spectacular card, aesthetically-speaking, in-hand.

Next up, a card Dodgers' fans will hate to see. Brian had posted asking for help in purchasing a Jason Bay hit off of eBay, and I obliged. He allowed me to pick a card from his bait as my reward, and I went with the above auto of Giants' lefty Madison Bumgarner. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Why would a Dodgers' fan be interested in a Giants' auto? He better be flipping it in another deal, or we'll have to beat some sense into him." Well, all I can say is, not in the face please, that's how I makes my money. I'm keeping it. Bumgarner is one of the best young hurlers in the game, and he's on my fantasy team. So it intrigued me.

Let me quickly redeem myself with a cool vintage card of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale and some other dude. I dig these league leaders cards, and have a handful of Koufax ones from the 60s.

Three sweet new relic additions to various PCs is up next. I don't have much in the way of Jonas Hiller or Philip Rivers, so I was happy to add a pair of swatches. The Rivers is #'d, 169/190. The Tulo makes for a sweet add to my Dirtbags Collection, and I very much enjoy the design of Goodwin Champions. Kudos, Upper Deck.

Moving on to the Kemp, Kershaw, and Martin additions, Brian sent along some great new cards for those three all-important PCs. The Kemp 2012 Heritage Image Swap is pretty sweet, anchored by a great color scheme. The 2012 Gypsy Queen mini is simply awesome, and it has a regular back.

I already had the base version of the lone Martin, but failed to list it in my collection, so that mistake has been corrected. The shiny golden Kemp League Leaders card is awesome; Ginter anything is fantastic; the Kershaw/Koufax Then and Now is a phenomenal card; the Opening Day Fantasy Squad has a color scheme that just works for me; and the Dynamic Duos card with James Loney from '06 is a welcome addition (though the irony of Loney being attached to "dynamic" certainly isn't lost on this Jerry Sands fan - not to mention I approach baseball from an analytical perspective, so Loney's pitiful existence is something I've been well aware of for years....but I'm just ranting now).

Thanks for yet another spectacular trade Brian! I'll be sure to set aside Pirates and any Jason Bays for you as I come across them.