September Roster Expansion

When it comes to baseball, the month of September may be the stretch drive in the race for the playoffs, but it's also significant in it's special roster rules.  As you probably know, MLB clubs are allowed to expand their active roster to include as much of their 40-man as they would like to include, as a way of reinforcing a tired club, an opportunity to look at prospects, or acquiring complimentary pieces, et al.  As such, the benches and bullpens quickly become bloated during the first month of fall, as teams  would be foolish not to take advantage of this quirk. 

However, the rosters of Major League Baseball aren't the only rosters being reinforced this September; st least. not on Chris Sutherland's (from The Collector) watch! 

"The Pedestrian Writer" contacted me about a week ago to let me know that he could help me out with my various roster collections and, just days later, a thick, bubble mailer showed up in my mail.  Seriously, the thing barely fit in my apartment complex's mailbox - the mass may have done some damage to the mail-carrier's shoulder.  No matter what, it definitely did some damage on my want-lists, though... and in various sports, too!

Since it's football season, let's start with the gridiron:

The Bears might be unbearable (see what I did there?) to watch again this season, but these former Bears were quite the happy sight for me; they may not be in the proper blue and orange uniform, but all needed representation in my Bears All-Time Roster Collection.  Jonathan Quinn and Danny Wuerffel illustrate just how historically "wonderful" the "Monsters of the Midway" have been at the quarterback position and Marion Barber is most remembered in Bears history for two critical miscues in a game against Denver in 2011 that essentially cost the team a playoff berth.  On the other hand, Blake Brockermeyer had a decent, unheralded, three-year stint as an offensive tackle for the team...

...so, it's not all bad!

Although, this pun is gloriously bad. The worse the pun, the better it is!

Vinny Sutherland played in exactly one game for the Bears and it came during the 2002 season.  Against the Lions, he returned 3 kickoffs for an average of 16.3 yards a return - he was released a few days later.  However, at least he stuck around the Bears long enough for Chris to be able to send me his card and make that joke!

Lastly, while he wasn't totally new to my binder, a jersey upgrade of Glyn Milburn was also included in the stash.  As nice as those old school Broncos uniforms are, I prefer my orange and blue every time. 

That about did it for the Bears roster portion of Chris' exceptionally generous trade package; but, we're far from through with this yellow, padded mailer.  It's time to turn the thermostat way down and take a shift over on the ice rink.  Hockey season is just around the corner and Mr. Sutherland decided to commemorate the occasion by assaulting my Blackhawks want-list, as well.

I'm not being hyperbolic when I use the term "assault" either:

 

For those keeping score at home, that's nine new additions to my Blackhawks All-Time Roster Collection binder, including one of the few players from the current dynastic period which have eluded my grasp (Jeremy Morin), some beautiful, vintage O-Pee-Chee (Wayne Van Dorp), and a sweet, gold-bordered parallel (James Wisniewski).  See - this assault is coming on stronger than a Daniel Carcillo check into the boards!

...and yet, it's not quite done:

Another pair of jersey upgrades close out the hockey portion of the trade package. 

Gerald Diduck might technically be listed as a Hartford Whaler on the 95-96 Leaf single that Chris forwarded my way, but, with all that's 90's holofoil and tiny text, the photograph dominates that pasteboard.  And what uniform is Gerald wearing in the photo?  Thus, it's a Blackhawks card, to me.  Meanwhile, I can't help but get a kick out of the fact that Phil Russell is depicted in almost the exact same position at the exact same angle, in photographs that were taken about a decade apart.  Plus, that 02-03 Fleer Throwbacks single is gloriously simple and slick.

That pretty much covers the hockey portion of the mailer.  As you can see, Chris' trade offering is already hard to top and speaking of hard... there was still a hardwood section yet to be seen.

For good measure, Chris tossed in some basketball cards, of which Charles Oakley was needed for my Bulls All-Time Roster Collection.  He may be a New York Knickerbocker here, but 90-91 Skybox is such a fun and iconic set that I'm not at all bothered by that fact.

Now if all that you've seen in the post above wasn't enough, Chris further continued his assault on my trading card stocks by graciously including a hefty stack of Cubs cards which had gone unclaimed in his 50/50 giveaway a few weeks ago.  Is this guy not a gem or what?

In that stack, there were...

...90's gems...

...recent needs...

... a significant pre-rookie...

...a couple more pre-rooks, featuring Jonathan's brother and a potential future addition to my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection...

...and minis!  Normally, I honestly don't care much for mini-cards, as they play too many games with my near-obsessive compulsive storage and organization of my card collection.  However, as a counterbalance, I absolutely adore oddballs and this shiny Panini sticker is an eye-catching one.  Furthermore, the Starlin Castro on the left is the first time I've seen one of these 2011 Topps Kimball Champion minis in real life and they are gorgeous.  If a tobacco card and a piece of fine art could have a baby, it would look like these Kimballs.

With that, we've finally reached the end of Chris' seemingly bottomless bubble mailer of goodies.  All told, his exquisite trade package netted me 5 new Bears (plus a jersey upgrade), 9 new Blackhawks (plus two jersey upgrades), and 1 new Bull for my various roster collections, not to mention a bunch of fun, new Cubs cards.  How's that for September roster expansion?!

Thank you Chris - this package was easily the highlight of my week and I'll make sure to get an equally generous return package in the mail, ASAP, stuffed with Red Sox and Devils (my Packers stocks have been completely depleted, though).  Also, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for anything featuring former Bears OL Todd Burger.

September roster expansion - it ain't just for the Big Leagues!