This trade comes in from Steve in Ringwood, New Jersey.

Giving: Bartolo Colon, #14 (red back)
Getting: Ken Griffey, Jr., 1998 Topps League Leader


This card of Colon is one of my favorite from the set. Why am I such a sucker for cards where the pitcher has the ball thrust at the camera? Is it because it makes him look like a little kid with a 'Look what I've got' pose? Or is it because nobody could ever look tough in a fake pitch pose? I hope I randomly pick the Carlos Zambrano card to trade, because that guy looks like he's got a score to settle. But Bartolo Colon? Eh, he's just proud that he can still grip a baseball. Look, he'll even show you...


Get something for nothing ... Trade with me!

This trade comes in from Frederick in Lansing, Michigan.

Giving: Ivan Rodriguez, #7
Getting: 2004 National League RBI Leaders, 2005 Topps

Topps has issued a League Leaders subset at least 25 times since 1961. In 1963, cards had upwards of five guys on a card, while during the Seventies it was down to just two, and later in the Nineties they split up the leaders by league and had just one player per card.

Frederick writes: "What is better than having three stars on a single card?" He's right. There's nothing better. Well, let me rephrase that. There's nothing better when your three stars are Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron (1968 NL RBI Leaders), or your leaders card features four Hall of Fame pitchers: Gaylord Perry, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal and Sandy Koufax (1967 NL Pitching Leaders).

But what about when you get a leaders card with six guys on it and you can only recognize one of them (1970 AL Pitching Leaders), or when you can recognize all of the players, but you don't necessarily want to?

League Leaders cards are perhaps my favorite subset Topps has ever done (the MVPs from 1975 being my second favorite). This card of 2004 NL RBI Leaders will be a great addition to my collection (even if it does feature Vinny Castilla).


Trade with me! It will be fun, dammitt!