Javy Lopez, 2004 Upper Deck Etchings Bat Relic #BE-JL

As a collector, sometimes I don't know that a certain something is missing from my collection until it's in my hands. Just yesterday, card enthusiast and blogger par excellence Max sent along a small packet with a half-dozen O's cards that he'd recently picked up at a hobby show. Included was this Javy Lopez card, and I feel safe in declaring that it's the first bat relic in my collection to feature the team logo stamped on the lumber shaving. It's kind of nifty looking, the card isn't freakishly thick to the point of distraction, and I'm not even that broken up about the wanton destruction and defacement of a tangible piece of baseball history - it's at least even-odds that Upper Deck didn't use an authentic Javy bat to decorate this card, no matter what the boilerplate on the card back claims. Also included in the padded envelope were a couple of shiny new Adam Jones cards, a 2012 Topps Frank Robinson insert, a 1983 O-Pee-Chee Eddie Murray, and a 1993 Stadium Club Sherman Obando (presumably added to the stack for giggles). Thanks, Max!