The Owl delivers

On Monday I got four deliveries in the mail. Four! One was an run-of-the-mill eBay purchase but the other three brought cards for bloggers that I've enjoyed corresponding and/or trading with for a while now. I'll post one today and the others later in the week in the order I opened them.

I only saw one of the Harry Potter movies but I seem to remember that there was an owl that delivered the mail or some such thing. I thought of that yesterday when I pulled an envelope out of the box from Night Owl.

Here's what he sent:

Four A&G Orioles including a Brooks mini. I've open about ten packs of my Gint-A-Cuffs box and I think I have found maybe one Oriole total. I'll keep these off to the side and resist the urge to slide them into the contest packs for the 'Favorite Team' bonus points. The What's in a Name Brooks mentions people in Baltimore naming their kids after Brooks. I did, and name his twin for Jim Palmer.

The Brooks mini has a design that goes all the way to the edge, the Ripken has a border. Don't know what that means, if anything.

Nick Markakis has hit very well since coming back from his 6 week injury layoff. The O's will need that to continue if they have a chance in the AL.

Manny Machado is one of the top O's prospects. He's hitting in the .265 range for Bowie but he's got a lot of talent.

 Three 90's Oriole icons. One turned his back on the O's to jump to the Yanks (horrors), one looked like a donkey in front of the Mitchell Committee, and one, well, I'll keep my Brady Anderson theory to myself. I found out the other day that he works for the Orioles now.

And finally a very cool non-Oriole card. My much coveted 2009 Heritage Ozzie Guillen. Night Owl had it up on his blog a while back and I mentioned how much I liked it. He was nice enough to send it along. Cool, right? I really loved the 1960 manager cards that this one emulates. I love the 'flying sock' logo, I love the gold color Topps used on the back of the 1960 set, and I love managers that break the mold. Earl Weaver, Paul Richards, Ozzie, Casey Stengel.... even Billy Martin to some extent. Add it all up and this card is a winner.

The 1960 manager subset would be a fun one to pursue. Not too expensive I'd bet. 

Thanks again, Night Owl, and thanks for the fun reading you provide.