A Relapsed Roundup

Ashamed to admit it, but I've had a relapse.

The nail-biting. I was a chronic nail-biter for my entire life up to 2 or 3 years ago when I finally kicked the habit. ...For the most part. I'd still sometimes cheat and nibble on a nail or two once in a while, but the vast majority of my nails were full and glorious just as the good lord intended.

But yeah, in the past month or two I've fallen off the waggon, with only one or maybe two of my nails currently in respectable condition. But I'm calling myself out on it here and am going to give my damnedest to be strong from here on out. I could probably point to covid/America-related stress as a main factor in driving me back to riding the white rhino but I'm not making excuses and take full responsibility for my actions.

But on with the post.. One thing that sucks about essentially having no nails is it makes it harder to open packages! And there's been a good amount of that going on here lately as we're about to see in this trade roundup post. It's gonna be a big one. Lots of solid cardboard coming my way since I last did one of these posts.

Kerry had just sent me a great package that I think I featured last time, but then I hit him up on his group break of 2019 Topps of the Class (a kooky, less familiar relative of Topps Big League). From the teams remaining when I picked, I went with the Washington Nationals.. mainly looking for mah boi Juan Soto, but I also PC the other two guys in the team set: Macks Scierzor (sic) and Trea Turner. Funny enough, I got shutout with that pair, but ended up with (3) Sotos. In his case, I don't mind adding doubles or triples (I'm such a prospector/investor!).

When Kerry opened folks up to pick another team if they wanted, I first decided to go with the Mariners. But while I was typing my comment, somebody else swooped in and grabbed 'em! So I spoke up for the White Sox instead. Abreu is a PC guy, Kopech is a decent RC, and Moncada is another of those "young stud" types that I don't mind squeezing into my collection.

Kerry was nice enough to also include one of the Mookie Betts ad-type cards that came in every pack of the stuff, plus he kindly shared one of the few Goldschmidts he pulled for himself.. Plus he surprised me with a needed puzzle piece! Down to just one more to finish off the Yaz puzzle from 1990 Donruss. Check my wantlist if you can help.

Big thanks again for the awesome break, Kerry!

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Next is..

..Nate from The Bucs Stop Here surprising me with a trio of Kellogg's needs. These are beauties, with Manny's big smile and a pair of young "stoner" Candymen.

Thanks, Nate! I'll try to hit you back with something nice soon.

 - - - ---o

Here's my second trade with reader David G. serving me up another helping of '88 Fleer needs. Love checking them numbers off'a the ol' wantlist.

Thanks, David! Unfortunately my well is running dry for the 2005-2011 era Cardinals you like in exchange, and with my trader bud Kerry being the recipient of the majority of decent Cardinals cards that blow across my trade box, I may have to scramble to send you back something you can use, but I'll see what I can do!

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Next up is an exciting one! Who would have thunk that during a crazy pandemic like this that I'd have another in-person encounter with a fellow cardblogger I hadn't met before, but sure enough it happened the other weekend. The Diamond King was a popular blog back before I was on the scene and he was slowing down as I was ramping up. And now after a few years off, he's back with frequent posts. Turns out he lives just outside the Portland metro area up in Washington, not a bad drive away from me. He saw on my wantlist that I had a few overproduction era sets that I'd kinda like to have in my collection but they're arguably not even worth the cost of shipping them. And well, he happened to have a couple such sets he didn't need, and so he graciously decided to drive them over to me for free!

The '91 Score and '91 Upper Deck were expected, but the '87 Topps was a wonderful surprise. These are sets I've wanted in my collection if just for sentimentality if nothing else. I sure ripped a ton of Score and UD in 1991 but never did I get close to completing a set. Very cool to have them all now-- and sealed factory sets, at that! I may have to leave them that way and instead scroll through the set on TCDB someday instead. And I've got a strong appreciation of 1987 Topps as any other typical collector, but attempting a "setbuild" for that junk legend is daunting just thinking about all the postage it would cost rustling up all 792 cards in that wooden framed behemoth. But now... as Fuji would say.. "Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!" Got it all! One of these days I need to thumb through these to admire the set and just double check that every card is in there (as I do with any non-sealed complete set I receive because I'm OCD like that I guess).

And surprise.. there was a bonus little case of '84 Donruss needs at the bottom of the bag. Noice! I'd really love to knock out this set soon finally. Trades are of course very appreciated, though I might cave and do a Sportlots order to scoop up the final couple dozen I'm missing one of these days.

And... in our brief doorstep chat, he mentioned he's been itching to dig through a heap of cards again as soon as card shops reopen and card shows start back up again. Ah yes, it's a feeling many of us collectors are feeling these days!

Then the next day I saw a comment from him on another blog again mentioning the hankerin' feelin'. Then I had the idea to offer him the big stash of cards I was putting together to sell. Over time I accumulate a lot of "non-keepers" from various sources and I like to thin them out from time to time. In the past, I've dumped a couple big boxes on Billy Kingsley because even though he doesn't really collect baseball, he doesn't mind adding some Cardboard History to his collection and/or getting more tradable cards added to his TCDB account. But Billy has asked not to be sent cards for the moment due to his added health sensitivities. And since we're looking to buy a house hopefully sometime in the not too distant future, I wanted to clear out the cards sooner rather than later. So anyways, I emailed the DK about the boxes I had available and gave him a price much lower than I would have shot for on eBay or elsewhere, but was happy to pass them along to another cardblogger while also saving myself the chore of selling/shipping. I figured they'd make a good fix for the "dimebox dig" thrill, the likes of which I'm lucky to get whenever Rod or Zippy dumps their unwanted bulk cards on me.

So anyways, yes, he was v. down for it, and ended up swinging by that afternoon to grab the box. (He decided to just stick to the "all baseball" box, so I've still got some hockey, football, basketball, WWE, and other various/non-sport that I'd like to shed before I have to pack up and move my collection to a new house. So maybe give me a shout if you'd like to maybe discuss a transaction for a bulk lot of non-baseball cards.)

But back to the cards, DK was gracious enough to find this trio of big names I needed for my big run of Kellogg's sets I recently kicked off. Wow, damn nice of the guy! And these cards are in great shape, as are the others Nate sent me from earlier in the post. Ha, when I announced that I was collecting vintage Kellogg's sets and *gasp* I was up for any conditioned card I'm needing.. well, I figured I'd become a receptive dumping ground for your guys' cracked-to-hell Kellogg's beaters that you couldn't in good conscious trade or attempt to sell or anything, you were just kinda stuck with forever. But NOPE, people have been graciously sending me "gradable" condition specimens such as these. I'm surprised and grateful!

Thanks a lot, DK! Awesome to have a new-to-me local collecting bud. We all should do another meetup one of these days when things are back to normal. I was hoping to lure Fuji into a big meetup sometime in summer when he's up in Portland visiting his friend, but now with the current situation, that might have to wait a while.

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The post is still chuggging along! Next up is a surprise padded mailer from Jeremy at Topps Cards That Never Were Dreamt Up Before Now. (Personally, I think that name is too long and he should shorten it down a little. lol) What secrets will be revealed in Jeremy's batch of cards?

We've struck early 90s Black Gold! Queue the song!

Nice lot here highlighted by some big Winners and everybody's hero Gary Carter. (See, you can enjoy the hobby in ways besides spending $20 per every Trout/Griffey base card you buy or hunting for Jasson Dominguez 1st Bowman cards like they're Golden Tickets! lol)

Not only that but also this healthy bunch of 2011 Topps parallels! This frankenset project of mine seems to have slowed to a crawl in recent years, as the year 2011 gets father and farther in the rearview, but this lot breathes some life into that zany setbuild. Cards to specifically shout-out here include 2 appearances of the star of recent ESPN special, troubled pitching great Roy Halladay, plus another HOF hurler in the glorious Tom Seaver legend variation.

So cool! Thanks so much, Jeremey! Made my day. I'll work on getting a return out to you soon.

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Last one for today is a package from the incredible Julie.

Ha, I hadn't opened the mailing until drafting the first part of this post, and wouldn't you know it-- More Kellogg's.. and in excellent condition, at that! (that's just a glare on ol' Scrap Iron there) LOL. Perhaps instead of "A Relapsed Roundup" I should have titled this post "Kellogg's Krazed" or somesuch, haha.

I think she just sent these to be nice, but maybe I asked for them in a "pocket pickers" event she did? I'm not sure. Regardless, very appreciated! At this rate, those Kellogg's setbuilds of mine are gonna be completed sooner than I could have dreamt a month ago (and in better condition than I ever anticipated!).

You're a champ, Julie! Thanks for hooking me up with the cards (and promises of more to come!). I'll try to find something to return the favor if I can find something that'd be a big hit with you since I know you discourage folks from filling up your home with cardboard, which I totally respect while also wanting to return the favor with the gift of cards back to you!

Ok, that's going to wrap up this post. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend! Be safe and keep cool.