i maeda trade

the first person to reach out and let me know that they could help me with my 2024 topps series 2 set completion was ryan from "o" no another orioles blog. he sent a nice stack of needs, including old friend kenta maeda

and i tell you what - i really like how the tigers' home uniforms work with the 2024 topps design!

that wasn't the only maeda card in the package - ryan also sent this 2016 topps update walmart exclusive rookie card

and, ryan included some other 2024 topps goodies such as chris taylor's rainbow foil parallel

beyond that, there were a host of dodger needs, such as a 2021 topps corey seager green foil parallel

and a 2022 topps allen & ginter jackie robinson mini a&g back parallel

those two guys represent the dodgers' most recent and first rookies of the year. i think it's a good bet that seager remains the dodgers' most recent roy for another year as paul skenes seems like a lock for the award this year.

finally, perhaps my favorite card of the bunch was this one

it's a 2005 upper deck espn insert of eric gagne. similar to the fleer sports illustrated cover inserts from earlier in the decade, this one is from an issue of espn the magazine. i didn't buy too many issues of that periodical, although i think i did have a subscription one year. i hadn't seen this issue before, but it looks good on cardboard!

thanks ryan!