Birthday Cards

So I turned the big 30 this week, and as with most "milestones" I have turned slightly introspective. I am lucky enough to have an older brother who I share a love of baseball, and cards with, making it easier on our parents to shop as kids. I could always count on a box of Topps, Donruss or Fleer to be wrapped up, waiting for me to tear it open. Presents from my brother were also baseball cards, or at least baseball related.

When my brother and I were old enough to earn real paychecks and not just deliver newspapers, naturally we got jobs at a baseball card store. We would exchange baseball cards on birthdays, just over a month apart, during the heart of baseball season. Sometimes it would be packs or singles but more often than not, boxes exchanged hands.

As we grew older and became "adults", our parents slowed down buying baseball cards for birthdays because the huge price increase from when we were kids. Todd and I had one recourse, we made a pact to always buy the other baseball cards for birthdays and Christmas, no matter what. We had to ensure that the tradition we loved so much continued.

Our family has more than tripled over the years so Christmas has turned to being more about the kids than adults. We started to draw names for adult presents, so neither of us were guaranteed baseball cards. And just this past Christmas our adult gifts were "from the heart", which meant we had to make them, ruling out baseball cards altogether. I still got a kick-ass cutting board and made some great vodka for my step-brother, so everything worked out fine.

Birthdays are now the only times we can guarantee that baseball cards will be added to our collections. Yesterday was no different.

Todd had to leave the party early to go to work, as the official scorer for the Washington Nationals, so I opened the present from his family before he left. I got a 2010 Topps II box which he encouraged me to open to see what they looked like.

Topps has some of the strangest box toppers I have ever seen:


Frank Robinson 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game Autograph
My sneaky brother knew I needed Frank for my collection and sliced open the packaging to slide the autograph into the box. Very nice move.

I like the 2010 Topps product, especially the Topps Millions giveaway. As expected I got six of these redemption's and a Topps Rookie Redemption for #10 (whoever that may be).

Gary Alexander 1979 Topps #332


Marlon Byrd 2009 Topps #106


Don Carrithers 1978 Topps #113


Clay Dalrymple 1967 Topps #53


Mike Hershberger 1965 Topps #89


Bob Tolan 1974 Topps #535


I am very happy that I didn't get a bunch of new buybacks or the overproduced cards of the late 80's and early 90's. Gotta love the vintage cards for a vintage birthday.

Anyone get anything cool form the Topps Millions or have family deals in place to ensure baseball cards are exchanged?