Diamond Giveaway - my first five codes

Over the past month I've managed to pull 11 of the diamond giveaway code cards. I've been putting off redeeming them, but now is a great time to take my first stroll through the digital card universe.

After registering (I never bought any cards with the 2010 codes), I set to enter five of my 11 codes. (Well, I entered them all at once, but I'm splitting this into two posts.)

So, without any more delay, here's what I got:

Not a bad start. Not a great start. At least it's not from 1987. Don Robinson played from '78 to '92, including the San Francisco Giants back when I first started collecting cards here in the bay area. He had a 109-106 record with a 3.79 ERA.

Next up,

Another 1980 Topps card? Playing from '71 to '88, George Hendrick had a respectable career batting average of .278, and hit 267 home runs.

And then:

Jackpot! Or, bust! In four years, plus two games, Justin Thompson had a 36-43 record and 4.02 ERA. He was named to the all-star team in 1997, a year he had a 3.02 ERA and his only winning season (15-10). Playing for Detroit didn't help with that.

After that greatness, we unlock:

A 10 year old card! Hey, that's an HTA logo on the card. Does that mean if I have this card delivered I get an HTA card too? Jeff Cirillo played from 1994-2007, was named to two all-star teams, had a career batting average of .296, and took home a division ring in his last year with Arizona.

My last card from this group of five was

Now we're talking! Something from the '60s. Sure, late '60s, but the '60s. Now that's a boring card design. Deron Johnson played from 1960 to 1976, taking off the 1963 season. He batted .244 lifetime. Nice hair.

I dug for rings, and came up with, well, rings. And after entering five codes I get one free, which was:

Back to more recent stuff. Wilbur Wood was a three-time all-star, playing from 1961-1978. Yeah, this is his last card. Or should be. I didn't actually research this to find out. He had a career ERA of 3.24, with a record of 164-156. He won 20 or more games four times (in a row), when he became a starter. You see, he was a reliever until 1971 (his first 20-win season). In fact, that year, he had an ERA of 1.91, second only to his relief-filled 1968 season ERA of 1.87. There were a few better pitchers in '71 - he finished third in Cy Young voting to Vida Blue and Mickey Lolich. And then, in '72, second to Gaylord Perry. 

As for rings, does it really matter? I have six different rings. That's all that matters. I'll enter my other six codes tomorrow!