The joy of a PWE

A plain white envelope (PWE) was sitting in the mailbox when I came home the other day.  I thought it to be curious, as I didn't recall any recent wins from Listia or eBay, and I don't currently have any open trades with members of the blogosphere.

I knew it was cards, just by a quick feel of the envelope.  Perhaps seeing what the PWE held would quickly jog my memory?  Maybe there was something I was forgetting?

Let's see what was inside!  Hmmmm...  Two penny sleeves packed with Cubs cards!  Alright, let's get to it:

1993 Topps Stadium Club - Luis Salazar; a 1992 Topps Gold - Les Lancaster; and a 1994 Score Gold Rush - Mike Harkey

I followed all three of the above players closely when I was first into collecting.  Salazar and Lancaster were on the '89 Eastern Division Championship team.  Harkey was the early '90s hot pitching prospect that didn't quite pan out.

1999 Upper Deck SP Home Run Chronicles - Sammy Sosa.  This card highlights Sammy's last homer of the magical 1998 season.  Sammy, now a distributor for a needle free injection system, still isn't back in the Cubs good graces.  Even after a change in ownership and an overhaul in the front office he wasn't invited to the Cub Convention that is taking place this weekend.

 

I attended the last game of the 2004 season at Wrigley when Sosa walked out on the team.  I haven't quite forgiven him either.  Petty?  Maybe.  But, my Cubs loyalties run very deep.

How about something more positive?

Ryno!  I'm in the process of taking inventory of my Ryne Sandberg collection.  Last time I checked, sometime back before I discover the fairer sex, I had over 500 different Sandberg cards.  This Proctor and Gamble card produced by Score in 1992 is already in my collection.  Nonetheless, it's still pretty sweet!

Ahh, a new one for my "unofficial" Kerry Wood collection.  Someday soon I'll have to retire the "unofficial" label.  This one is a 1999 Fleer Tradition card that highlights Kerry's spectacular rookie season in '98.

Here's the last and my favorite card from the mysterious PWE:  A 1975 Topps Don Kessinger card.  Kessinger played shortstop and was a steady influence up the middle on the great '69 Cubs that narrowly missed the playoffs.

This card is older than me, a little dinged on the edges/corners, and ugly as sin. Orange and brown and it features a Kessinger who's being engulfed by shadows.  Seriously?  But, man, I love vintage cardboard, and it isn't often that vintage Cubs cards wind up unannounced in my mailbox.  This card rocks.

The PWE overall?  My impressions, you ask?  Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Fast forward 'til next morning...

I was eating breakfast and flipping through my blogroll as I tend to do before going off to work.  I found a blog post entitled, "PWE Bombs are exploding all over."  Wes, from Jaybarkerfan's Junk, was sending out "PWE Bombs"!

I was the recipient of a PWE Bomb!  In a corny way, receiving the PWE kind of feels like a rite of passage; almost as though, I now belong.    The card collecting blogosphere is so cool.  Thanks, Wes!