Package from Comatoad

A few weeks back I received an email from Duff (AKA Comatoad) from over at Bleedin' Brown and Gold offering up some Cubs goodies. The Brown and Gold of course refers to the San Diego Padres, who coincidentally the Cubs are playing in a four game series this weekend. I didn't realize there were so many Padres fans out there as I think Duff is the third in my fairly small trading circle (which I'm always looking to expand by the way).

Fast forward to last week and an unexpected package came in the mail. The timing may be a little off because one of my helpful kids brought in the mail one day and set it on my desk but didn't tell me about it. I unearthed it this week while paying some bills so it was a most welcome site. There were a couple of team bags and I've got a bunch of my favorites today.

Much like this displaced Cubs fan lives in Virginia, Duff doesn't live anywhere near San Diego though. Luckily for me, he lives in Iowa, near the Cubs Triple A affiliate, the Iowa Cubs.

The Cubbie Bear mascot card is unnumbered on the back so I don't think it is part of the 2013 I-Cubs team set. The pocket schedule is a nice oddball for the collection too.

But there were a slew of big league Cubs, too.

I don't know if Starlin Castro will ever replace the shortstop of my childhood, Shawon Dunston but his stats probably will. Remember though that those 1994 stats on the card above are from a strike shortened season.

Sometimes these comparison cards are a bit of a stretch. Unfortunately for Andre Dawson, he'll forever be linked to Alex Rodriguez as the only two players to win an MVP award while playing for a last place team.

I'm not real familiar with the Donruss Elite Extra Edition product but these are some great additions to the Cubs Chicago (NL) collection despite the lack of Cubs colors and logos.

The design on the Fleer Platinum Bobby Hill card looked real familiar but I couldn't place it until a few cards later when I came across the oddball Rick Sutcliffe. Looks like a pretty good match.

Sutcliffe wasn't the only Cubs Cy Young winner though as this 2014 Topps insert of the newest Hall of Famer, Greg Maddux made its way into the package too.

And it may have been in "just" Triple A, but Chris Rusin just threw a no-hitter for the I-Cubs the other day. Nice!

This Brendan Ryan card probably wins the package for oddest oddball though. The Just brand isn't really an oddball, especially in the minor league genre but the design itself sure is. I don't know that I have words for it.

Seriously, I have to be running out of options for adding new Kevin Orie cards to my collection but this one was definitely new.

Thanks a ton Duff. I'll get some Padres cards out to you ASAP.