Trading with The "Enemy": All Cardinals All The Time

In 1991, Julia Roberts starred in a psychological thriller called Sleeping with the Enemy (see, even Wikipedia calls it that, and I wrote my line before looking there!). That movie dramatized the terrors felt by a battered wife who went to the extreme of faking her own death just to get out of her abusive marriage.  It's been at least 20 years since I've watched that movie, but I will always associate that movie with Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique and, in particular, the fifth movement of that symphony, called "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath."

In fact, it's even more specific than that.  Within that movement, Berlioz used a several different songs as "motifs" for the action being represented by the music. One of them, embedded in this Fifth Movement, is based of an old Latin hymn called Dies Irae.  Okay, enough talking about it -- take 9-1/2 minutes and listen to this masterpiece of world symphonic music:

The Dies Irae is introduced at about 3:15 into the piece and repeats at various points.

All of that is a whole lot of buildup for a trade I completed recently with a fairly new blogger who is a major Cardinals fan -- see his blog: 

All Cardinals All The Time

Yes, I put that in big letters, because the Cardinal fan behind the blog is worthy of those big letters.  He's only posted a few times so far, but he was kind enough to reach out to me and offer up a pretty good sized bunch of cards from my want lists.  I sent him some cards recently in return -- they were among the packages that went out Monday -- so it's more than time for me to highlight the trade.

Let's start with The Kid -- the non-Robin Yount version

It's truly frightening how many junk wax cards from the late 1980s I still need.  The number dwindles regularly, but I needed all three of these cards...including the Yellow Screamer known and 1991 Fleer.

Were those yellow cards a leftover from the late 1980s, when we were all wearing way too much fluorescent clothing?

The Kid, Milwaukee Version

Another junk-wax-era card that I needed.  As I got later in high school -- and in particular, the summer of 1989 before my senior year of high school -- life got incredibly busy for me.  I spent the equivalent of one solid month (four full weeks) at three different summer camps -- including a two-week camp that I drove back and forth in rush hour traffic in Milwaukee at the age of 17 for thirty miles each way.  Pretty crazy stuff. 

But being that busy and that into all my activities meant that baseball cards like this 1989 Topps Mini Leader snuck right by me without me even knowing it was issued.  In fact, I'd say I probably didn't know about the card above for 25 years after it was issued.  

And a few people would probably consider me lucky for saying that.

The Network Talking Head

It almost seems weird not to hear him talking when I see these cards.  He's a funny guy, but I have to take him in small doses sometimes.

Reborn in Christ

The third Google hit for Bill Wegman -- right behind Wikipedia and Baseball Reference -- is a site called TheGoal.com.  On that site, Wegman shares his story of how he became a Christian and how he was honorable mention in all-state voting in Ohio for third base and shortstop behind Barry Larkin.  

To get six Wegman cards in one package that I needed, well, I had to highlight him!

The Rest of the PCs

All of these great cards are much appreciated. And, while the blog is still in its nascent stages, the man behind the blog -- the Ray Lankford Supercollector -- is a great person to trade with.

Thanks again.