Érik Bédard Swatch Card

Nearly five years ago, I traded a football jersey card (some quarterback, I don't remember which one) to someone who'd read my blog for this card of baseball pitcher Érik Bédard:

It's card #CC-EB from Upper Deck's 2007 Masterpieces collection (and Captured On Canvas sub-set), showing him with the Baltimore Orioles, with whom he had his best seasons; as a mater of fact, he even finished fifth in Cy Young voting in 2007 on the strength of a 13-5 record with 221 strikeouts and a 3.16 ERA.

It was one of only three seasons in which his ERA was below 3.50; injuries were a big part of his career - he'd even had ''Tommy John'' surgery on his pitching arm (left) as far back as 2003, when he was barely out of college. He retired earlier this summer after attempting a comeback with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who hired him as a pitching coach instead.