An unexpected mail day

A couple of weeks ago while I was busting some 2019 Donruss I hit a Mother's Day parallel of Mitch Haniger of the Mariners. I knew as soon as the card was pulled who I needed to send it to so off it went the next day to Steve of Tridents and Trading Cards.

The great thing about the blogging community (and Twitter too!) is how fellow collectors take care of one another. When I sent off the card to Steve I wasn't expecting anything, but I knew he'd appreciate the low numbered parallel more than myself. However this weekend I received a piece of mail from Steve with careful instructions on how to open it. I thought why the special instruction...then once I carefully cut the tape of the large piece of cardboard halves I knew why...

One of the things inside the two cardboard halves taped together was this oversized card of Tom Glavine from 1993. I'll be honest, I've never heard of Topps Full Shot before, but I've got to say these are pretty cool. I'll have to find a way to protect the card before I add it to my Glavine collection, however I'm happy to have this "oddball".

On that same token, Steve also sent over these Lykes food issue cards of John Smoltz from 1992 and 1993. Granted I don't know much about the Lykes brand or these cards, but I don't have them and now I do!

The Braves have had a lot of great pitchers come through in my lifetime, but Smoltz (and Tim Hudson) are my two favorites. Smoltz accomplished so much...both as a starting pitcher and coming out of the bullpen later in his career. He's great on the mic and an awesome guy away from the sport as well.

I really wasn't expecting anything in return when I sent off the card to Steve, but this is one of the reasons that makes collecting in this day and age so much fun. Thank you for the cards Steve!