Cards from the Papoy

Last week, a package arrived from France. 

Packages also arrived from Italy and Idaho, in case those fine gentlemen were wondering (and yes, I'm bad about telling folks that stuff has arrived...I need to get better at that).

Back to this one, though. If you are talking about packages arriving from France and the package contains baseball cards and one, single Justin Bieber card, then you are talking about a package from Kevin -- The Card Papoy.

Let's get Bieber out of the way first:

I don't like Justin Bieber's music. I've never like teen pop music, to be fair -- when everyone else was listening to "Thriller," I was listening to The Clash. In fifth grade. 

Still, the best thing that Justin Bieber ever gave to us was the Justin Bieber Roast on Comedy Central.  For some not-safe-for-work language being used, put on your headphones.

If you haven't watched Martha Stewart make a reference to shanking a woman in prison, you should watch it. But don't watch it if strong language offends you, because you'll be offended.

None of that, though, has anything to do with the Brewers cards that came my way.  Here are a few of the highlights:

This is the first Fleer Tiffany from 1996 that I have ever seen or added to my collection. The Fleer 1996 set is actually one I sort of like for NOT being a glossy set.  But, to be fair, with glossy stock and foil on the front, this card looks pretty sharp.  I am a sucker for the full-bleed cards.

It's refractor mania! That's a Finest Refractor and a Chrome Refractor from last year and two X-Fractors from 2013. 

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Sorry, all the shininess mesmerized me there for a minute. Refractors are parallels made for Chrome-y cards, so how about regular parallels?

Gotta whole lotta Lohse.  This year, that is a horrible thing. For the low, low price of just $11 million, Kyle has dredged up the ghosts of Navarros past, currently in the lead in the National League in losses with 9 and earned runs allowed with 60, and he's second in home runs allowed with 17. And the great thing is that the Brewers keep sending him out there -- he's tied for first in games started too.

He has fallen off the table so badly that even with no further contractual obligations being required, no one will trade for him.  I wonder if, perhaps, the Brewers could send him to a team with cash for "future considerations" and mean that the future considerations are that we'll never have to see Kyle Lohse in a Brewers uniform again.

That would be nice.

Okay, now we're into the "Holy crap that is a great card" portion of the box.  That's especially true of that Robin Yount Relic from the SP Legendary Cuts set from 2006.  It's not serial numbered, but who cares? It's a great addition to the Yount collection -- which now numbers 712 strong.

And finally, last but not least, some shiny serial numbered goodness:

That's a Finest "blue" Refractor, serial numbered to 125.  It doesn't look any bluer than the regular Finest card, though it is a bit shinier, but hey -- throw a serial number on it and I'm a happy man! 

Kevin, thanks for the great cards and the opportunity to reference Martha Stewart shanking a woman in prison!