Some of Jaybarkerfan's Junk

Back in August, jaybarkerfan of Jaybarkerfan's Junk held a contest, but it wasn't so simple to enter. The 22 contestants were chosen one by one, randomized from those who commented on a post. So when I didn't win slot #1 get picked by commenting on post 1, I had to do it again for a chance at slot #2, etc. I wound up getting in, and drawing the 18th pick in a draft of 25 lots of cards.

I wanted to be ready to make my pick, so I ranked all 25 prizes on a scrap of paper at my desk, though I made an assumption that something baseball would be left, and didn't really worry about the football, hockey, basketball, or wrestling cards. Many of my top choices went before it was time for my pick, of course, but there was one that everyone shied away from, which was still somewhat high on my original list.

I give you the prize entitled: Juiced Up

2013 Topps - Manufactured Commemorative Patch #CP-17 Ryan Braun

2006 Topps Bazooka - Blasts Bat Relics #BBL-SS Sammy Sosa

I've always liked that Milwaukee Brewers logo. It's an M, a B, a glove, and a ball. What more do you really need? And Sammy Sosa was a big part of the home run chase in 1998 with Mark McGwire, which had this whole town even more baseball-crazy for a few months.

Clearly, the prize was titled Juiced Up due to the connection of both of these players to performance enhancing drugs. Braun has served his suspension, while Sosa and McGwire were never caught - or at least never punished - during their playing careers. We're probably not completely out of the PED era yet, but hopefully with the new testing policies and apparent willingness of MLB to come down hard on even star players, we'll see a stark reductions in PED abuse and fewer suspensions in 2014 and beyond.

Aside from that dark side of baseball, these are 2 pretty cool cards, especially as a prize, and Sosa's a player of whom I didn't yet own a relic.

Thanks for the cards, jaybarkerfan!