Secret Santa Surprise

Secret Santa gift exchanges can be tricky.  In my experience, they are forced upon you.  So what do you get for the co-worker/family member/random person that you don't know?  If it's a co-worker, there's the added pressure that even though you see this person on a daily basis, you have no idea what they like or dislike.  Plus, if they don't like your gift, you still have to work with them.

The Secret Santa exchange set up by Matt over at Bob Walk the Plank had none of the perils that can plague a gift exchange.  We all opted into this voluntarily and we're all trading card bloggers so we can easily see what the other person collects.  Plus, receiving random cards in the mail is always a fun surprise.

I received my Secret Santa gift a few days after Christmas, which is fine by me because that just extends the Holiday fun.

My Secret Santa is truly secret because my package had no name! There was no name inside or outside but postage indicated that it came from North Carolina.  So thank you North Carolina!

I did enjoy!

Whoever this person is, they clearly understood that I am a Mariners fan as I received a nice selection of cards.

First there is a cool looking sepia parallel from this year's Topps Chrome.  I am 98% certain that this is my first sepia parallel.

I love this picture of Lee

The second card is the pink parallel version from Chrome of the "Large Human" himself, Dae-Ho Lee. Lee signed a one year contract with the Mariners last year to try and prove himself in the United States. He showed the power that made him such a success in Korea and Japan but unfortunately he struck out a lot. Dae-Ho was not happy in a platoon role with the Mariners so we likely won't see him back with the team.  

The base design of 2016 Donruss Baseball didn't appeal to me very much, yet the Diamond Kings subsets look great.  This particular card is from the Optic set and is the orange parallel and even better yet is that this card is numbered 12 out of 199.  12 isn't his jersey number but is still a special number for Seahawks fans, for the 12th Man.  

2009 Upper Deck Spectrum

Whoever picked this card did an excellent job.  During the dark years of the Mariners, mid to late 2000s, there were not many bright stars.  Adrian Beltre lived up to his contract unlike a lot of other high paid players during this time.  Although he left for greener pastures, Beltre still remains a fan favorite.  I don't think many can blame him from moving to better team.

2001 SPx Winning Materials

A triple jersey! An Expo relic! (more on that in a minute).  Although Kazuhiro Sasaki had a brief four year stint with the Mariners, he was a dominant closer.  He won Rookie of the Year in his first season and was an All-Star the following two years.  I'm excited to have acquired of relic of Sasaki.

I associate Hideo Nomo was a Dodger so it's a little weird to see him in a Red Sox uniform.  He only played one season with the Red Sox, which probably has something to do with it.  

Rounding out the trio of Japanese players is Masato Yoshii.  I had not heard of Yoshii but it appears he came over to the US after a long career in Japan.  He had an unremarkable career in the majors, playing for a few different teams.  

I was excited to acquire my first Expos relic as the front of the card shows him in an Expos uniform and the team name above the jersey swatch reads Expos.  However, flipping to the back of the card it says that this is an authentic piece of jersey worn by Yoshii in a Mets game.  *sad trombone* 

On the one hand I'm disappointed that the front of the card said Expos.  On the other, I appreciate the fact that the card actually bothered to state where the jerseys came from.  Since this is a black piece of jersey, I'm more inclined to believe that it is a Mets jersey and not an Expos piece.  Oh well.

My Secret Santa did an excellent job of picking out meaningful cards.  Thank you, whoever you are!!