Frank Robinson, 2012 Topps Retired Rings #RR-FR

Recently I participated in my first card draft over at Thorzul Will Rule. Essentially, Thorzul had a big mess o'big-ticketish cards: autographs, relics, serial-numbered parallels, rookie cards, a little vintage, you name it. So for $25, you could claim a spot in the draft and be guaranteed 20 cards. Once Mr. T posted the master list of cards available, each participant sent a priority list of the 20 cards they wanted most. He established a draft order at random, and proceeded with the draft in a snake order (i.e. 1-12, then 12 back to 1) until one of the participants ran out of potential picks. There were 11 folks entered in the draft, and Thorzul made it through eight rounds before we needed to send updated draft lists. At that point, everyone submitted a new list with their top 25 to 30 choices from among the remaining cards. My pack of 20 arrived in the mail yesterday, and I was quite pleased with the results.

I drafted third overall, and got each of my first five preferred cards, all of which were Orioles. First was this incredibly thick Frank Robinson card, complete with manufactured ring relic embedded in the front. The ring, of course, features his #20, which was retired by the Orioles when they traded him to the Dodgers in 1972. The rest of the top five were a 2008 Nick Markakis Upper Deck A Piece of History Red Parallel (serial numbered 79 of 149), a 2001 Cal Ripken Fleer Tradition Diamond Tributes insert, a 2010 Matt Tucker Bowman Chrome Refractor, and a 2009 David Hernandez Topps Update Chrome Rookie Refractor. The other 15 cards were non-Orioles, but each was a welcome addition to my collection at large:

-1970 Topps Don Kessinger
-1973 Topps Harmon Killebrew
-1979 Topps Jesus Alou
-1979 Topps Rod Carew (Killebrew, Alou, and Carew...I'm a poet and I didn't even know it)
-1981 Donruss Ozzie Smith
-1981 Kellogg's J. R. Richard
-1981 Kellogg's Ben Oglivie
-1981 Kellogg's Joe Charboneau
-1981 Topps Johnny Bench Record Breaker
-1981 Topps Nolan Ryan
-1981 Topps George Brett
-1982 Kellogg's Chet Lemon
-1983 Donruss Carl Yastrzemski
-2002 Topps Opening Day Rickey Henderson Season Highlight
-2012 Topps Tribute Lance Berkman

All told, I had a blast doing this. I'll definitely be on the lookout for more card drafts in the future!