Wax Stain and a Smile

The first time I traded cards was back in 1981.  I'm not one of those guys who can remember the details, but I'm guessing it was either on my porch or one of my friend's porches.  I'd continue to make trades here and there over the next thirty-plus years.

Between the card shop trades in the late 80's and early 90's, AOL Message Board trades in the mid to late 90's, and SCF/CCW forum trades in the late 2000's... I've probably pulled off more than 500 trades with fellow collectors.

But then a few years ago... it just got to be too much.  My trade bait was outdated and I couldn't keep track of where certain cards were.  Plus I'm not the biggest fan of standing in post office lines.

That's when I made the decision to no longer make trades involving specific cards.

Then two weeks ago, I saw three Tony Gwynn rookie cards available for trade over at over at Dion's IP Autos only.  After going back and forth in my head, I left him a comment and offered to create a list of autographs I had laying around.

I'm not going to lie... sitting down and listing out autographs was not fun.  But after going back and forth, he picked out 17 autographs from my list and sent me these three cards:

1983 Donruss #598

1983 Fleer #360

1983 Topps #482

The cards weren't in the best condition, but I wasn't planning on sending them into PSA to get graded.  I specifically wanted them for my Tony Gwynn binder.

As I was scanning the cards, I was pleasantly surprised to see a wax stain on the back of the Topps rookie card:

Some of you may have read a post I wrote three weeks ago where I mentioned wanting to own a 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn rookie card with a big fat wax stain.  This one isn't exactly big and fat, but it's a start.

Thanks for the trade Dion!  It's my first trade in years... and probably my last for now.  I'm much more into sending and receiving care packages like these PWE's I received last week from a pair of bloggers:

These nine Oakland A's cards are from Marc over at Remember the Astrodome, who I recently discovered has been writing posts.  Unfortunately, they haven't been showing up on my Blogger reading list.  But I promise to make the effort to check in every now and then.

The other PWE came from Chris over at The Collector:

Chris was the author of an amazing series that featured MLB's All-Time Teams.  The posts were very well researched and highly anticipated by his readers.  He rewarded a bunch of us with some free cards.  I chose the four you see above.

Thank you Dion for my first trade in years... and thanks Marc and Chris for these very generous care packages.  I should be sending out some PWE's after I finish sorting the collection of cards from my mystery bags and I'll make sure you guys are included.

Oh... and if you stopped by hoping to see something Star Wars related, I actually celebrated May the 4th a couple of days early.  If you're interested, click here.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Easter Giddiness

The Oakland A's and San Diego Padres have each dropped three in a row.  And the San Jose Sharks lost on Friday night.

Despite the recent struggles of three of my favorite sports teams, this weekend has been pretty rock solid.  Yesterday, I went to the flea market, found some vendors with cards, and added a few things to my collection which I'll post later in the week.

And this morning, before heading out to Easter brunch, I spent over an hour opening up two care packages and sorting cards.  It made me feel as giddy as a little kid hunting for Easter eggs.

Here's what I discovered...

Package #1: ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession

Adam sent me a small flat rate box stuffed with goodies.  There were nine cards I needed for my 1986 Donruss set:

I'm down to needing only 34 more cards... and the Jerry Koosman was the final Diamond King I needed.

There was also a partial 1988 Mother's Cookies A's set, which featured a ton of star power:

Seeing the likes of the Bash Brothers, Stew, Eck, and the Cobra reminded me just how loaded those late 80's Athletics rosters were.

Speaking of the Bash Brothers, Adam loaded me up with inserts and oddballs of both guys:

Plus he included a bunch of other A's base cards, inserts, parallels, rookie cards, and oddballs for the collection.

I'll start building a nice San Francisco Giants care package for you... plus I should be able to return the favor and help you with some of those Hometown Heroes insert sets you're building.  Stay tuned Adam.

Package #2:  Nomo's Sushi Platter

A few weeks ago, Michael hit me up on Twitter (@SpiegelMichael) about the possibility of working out a trade.  I explained that I'd be down for a blind trade if he was willing to wait a few weeks until my Spring Break.

He was... and last week I received his trade package that included a little bit of everything... starting with two new Hideo Nomos for my binder:

He also sent me a bunch of "hits" for my Japanese baseball player collection:

In addition to the "hits", he also brightened up my day with some refractor "shine":

Next up are some Oakland Athletics' "hits":

And a pair of IP or TTM autographs:

And rounding things out were a handful of Steve Carlton and Tony Gwynn inserts:

Thank you Michael and Adam for these generous packages.  I had a blast sifting through the cards, putting them into my binders, and scanning them for my website.  My goal is to have your packages in the mail by the end of the week.

Happy Easter and sayonara!

Never Say Never

The art of trading sports cards is one of the biggest components of our hobby.  It's one of the reasons I started collecting back in the early 80's.  My memory sucks these days... but one thing that vividly stands out about my childhood is sitting on the front porch trading cards with my friends.  This trend continued throughout my childhood and into my college years.  And when I returned to the hobby in 2008, it was one of my favorite things to do.  I'd spend at least a few hours each week sitting on Sports Card Forum and Card Collectors World browsing peoples' trade bait, sending personal messages, responding to personal messages, and exchanging cardboard.

Sadly... those days are in the past for reasons I listed here a few weeks ago.  But out of the blue... less than two weeks after I removed myself from the Super Trader's Group... a fellow blogger and I hashed out an actual trade.  I'm not talking about a blind trade either.  I'll still do these from time to time.  I'm talking about the kind of trade where he we exchanged specific cards.  That's something I haven't done in probably two... maybe three years.

Right before Christmas, I wrote a post about Topps and their buybacks.  That's where Jim over at Cards as I See Them noticed my 1969 Topps Willie Davis buyback.  He asked if I was planning on keeping it and I explained that I'm handpicking a single vintage buyback from every year and that if he had another 1969 card to replace it... the Davis was his.  He emailed me a list of four solid names and I chose this one:

A week later... Mr. Monday is now the 1969 Topps representative in my buyback project.  Thank you Jim for this simple and smooth transaction.  I hope Willie arrived safely.

I'd love to say that this trade made me rethink the whole idea of trading... but it really hasn't.  Like I mentioned earlier in the month and earlier in the post... I'm just not into it anymore.  But thanks to Jim... I would never say never.

On a side note...

The same day I received the Monday... I also received the present from my Secret Santa.  It's this 1984 Fleer Update Pete Rose:

I absolutely love this card for a bunch of reasons:

#1:  It features Rose on the Montreal Expos.

#2:  It's from one of the most iconic sets from the 80's.

#3:  The card's design and colors go perfectly with the Montreal Expos' colors.

#4:  It features the MLB Hit King bunting.

Thank you Secret Santa... whoever you are!  I'm super excited to finally be able to cross this one off of my list.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

A Pair of Trades

Back in the mid to late 80's, I was a huge fan of professional wrestling.  But like my love of Michael Jackson and Madonna, my fanfare faded into the 90's.

Then when I started teaching in 1998, I discovered that a lot of my students watched it.  And in an effort to connect with their interests... I started watching it again.  Guys like The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Mankind... along with entertaining story lines held my interest for a few years until I eventually stopped watching altogether.

These days... I'll pick up cards here and there, but to be honest it's not one of my main collections.  However... thanks to Kerwin over CCW... I recently added the 2001 Fleer WWE Championship Clash set to my collection:

Back in January, I wrote about a Stacy Keibler autograph redemption card I pulled out of a wax box I busted.  Kerwin inquired about it and asked about some of the other cards I pulled in the box break.  To make a long story short, he needed one of the inserts, so I sent it to him.

A week or two later he sent me the set above and a bunch of singles:

Thanks Kerwin for the very lopsided trade.  You really didn't have to send me anything... but I'm really glad you did.  You inspired me to hunt down an autograph of Chae.  Have no idea who she is... but she's hot!

Next up is a trade package I received from JayP, who runs the blog:  Cards My Mother Didn't Throw Out.  He also contacted me back in January about making a trade and sent me a PWE packed with some A's and Tony Gwynn cards:

The trade package is highlighted by a Kurt Suzuki card I needed for my binder and a sweet 2013 Topps '72 Mini of Josh Reddick.  Thanks for the trade JayP!   I'm off this week, so I promise to get some Arizona Diamondbacks out to you in the next few days.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Catching Up w/ Care Packages

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about all of the sets I'm currently building.  Within a few days, I received a package from Josh over at Royals and Randoms with a 1990 Gregg Olson coin:

The day after... I received a package from Señor JBF... who also hooked me up with some coins.  Wes took it to the next level and shipped me four Olson coins:

Plus a pair of Tony Gwynn coins:

And a 2013 Topps Mini Gold card of Andrew Cashner:

Thanks guys!

One set down... thirty-eight more to go.

I also received a package from Jeff over at 2 by 3 Heroes: that included a bunch of memorabilia cards for my PC's:

He also included a handful of inserts, oddballs, and base cards for my Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, Montreal Expos, and Japanese ball players PC:

Thanks Jeff!  I guess we're calling this a trade package.  Today I spent a few hours building a bunch of packages... one of which is for you.  Josh and Wes... you'll be receiving some stuff too.

Plus a few other packages for people I owed.  If you don't see a package for you above and I owe you something... email me or leave a comment below and I'll add you to the list.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!