Trade With Ryan From O No Another Oriole Blog

When we went to Orioles Fan Fest last weekend, Ryan was gracious enough to let us stay at his place so I wouldn't have to get a hotel.  I'm really glad he did.  I am always curious to see how others maintain their collections and set up their 'man caves', etc.  Ryan has a very nice house and a dog who is almost a carbon copy of the one we used to have.  After putting my son Christopher to bed Friday night, we both went through each others' Orioles boxes for trades.  Man, he has a lot of awesome stuff that I wish I could get.  A lot of newer inserts of Orioles, etc.  We both picked out the cards that we wanted and pulled off the deal.  Here are but a few of the highlights of the huge stack of cards he let me go home with:

A 1996 Pinnacle Aficionado Roberto Alomar.  Ok, out of the overproduction era, this has to be the most awesome looking set there is.  I really love it.  Sadly, I can't find a box of this ANYWHERE to bust.  If anyone knows where I can get a box of this stuff, please shoot me an email.  I would love to complete this set.

I picked this 1992 Classic Minor League card of Jason Alstead because he was the first ever player I remember meeting in person.  My mom would take us to Ernie Shore Field in Winston-Salem to see the Spirits play the Frederick Keys since she knew the Keys were an Orioles farm team.  I remember Alstead talking to us a couple times before each game.  He was a really nice guy.  I wonder what became of him?  According to Baseball-Reference.com, he made it all the way to AAA Rochester for the Orioles in 1993 at the age of 24.  After that, who knows.  He had career minor league numbers of 218 hits, 8 home runs and a .249 batting average.  I wonder if he got injured or something like that because he only played 4 seasons in the minors.  If anyone has any information, please let me know.

I picked up a LOT of Nick Markakis cards that I didn't have in my collection.  The first is the above Upper Deck X - Xponential.  It looks pretty sweet in person.  I remember being really underwhelmed by Upper Deck X, but this card looks really sharp.

 Here is a 2007 Topps Finest Markakis.  Finest always looks great and this one is no exception.

I picked up this sweet Upper Deck USA Baseball Manny Machado.  I've met Machado several times now, and he has always been nice to us.  He is the Orioles' top prospect now.  I hope he lives up to the hype and gets to the majors really soon.

 I had been watching this Bowman's Best Zach Britton for a long time and finally was able to pick it up.  I like the retro look to these cards.  I'm hoping for a big year from Zach.  The Oriole sure need it.

 Finally, I got this really cool acetate card of Brian Roberts.  Topps Hot Button Baseball.  It looks like a precursor to Topps Attax.  I hope Brian makes it back this year, but concussions are tricky things.  I hope he is doing well.

Thanks again Ryan for the trade and your hospitality.  I definitely want to get together again!