Not your average trade

Special trade to cover today. Dan, a guy I've dealt with over email a few times over the years-- originally sold him a Willie Mays auto for an offer too generous for me to decline-- recently reached out to chat and turns out he recently moved up to my neck of the woods. We hammered out a pretty big trade by my standards-- heck, I'd go as far as to classify it as a "supertrade"-- and conveniently were able to meet up for an in-person exchange the other weekend.

I've done a handful of real-world swaps in the past, but those were mostly brief interactions. Dan and I and our respective wives meet up at a brewpub around the midway point between our houses (just a 10 minute drive or so) and had lunch and a couple beers together. It was an enjoyable time all around and I loved chatting about card collecting topics, especially our similar niche focus that gives us a special cardboard kinship 

Negotiations took time, but when Dan tempted me with a 1972 Nolan Ryan, I knew we'd have a deal finalized pretty quick. Turns out he was dipping into his own PC (He's impressively got a career run of Ryans in PSA 7 or higher) and then would just go find himself another '72 Ryan to replace the one going to me. Now that's a trader who means business!

As a standard headshot, it's not one of Nolan's better looking cards (dig that short-lived Angels logo, though), but as an early card of his, and a semi-high number, it's a tough one. While I've still got a long way to go in my journey to collect all the psychedelic tombstones, feels like this acquisition has lightened my load considerably. My '72 setbuild generally isn't in great condition and so this NM slab might not exactly fit right in, but hey, now I can say I've got a PSA 7 Nolan Ryan in my 1972 Topps setbuild. Nuff said!

I had to give up a dandy of a 2003 Retired refractor auto (Marichal), but got back Paul Molitor in addition to the slabbed Ryan. I can live with that!

This marvelous Maz wasn't technically part of the trade, but rather a separate purchase from Dan. See, he's a big-time 2003 Topps Retired refractor collector, a kindred spirit to me, though my focus is 2004 of the same cards (also now dabbling in '03 and '05 since my '04 chase has stalled waiting for a Trammell to surface). As fellow Topps Retired aficionados, we had lots to chat about, such as the fabled 2003 Retired Kirby Puckett autograph that Dan and I are in agreement has never hit the market despite being listed on most checklists online.

But yeah, Dan is a big 2003 Retired collector, down to the last dozen or so needs (Note that the '03 auto set is 119 cards-- much larger than 2004's meger 76-- making his progress even more impressive.) He had a couple different Mazerfractors available, one that was graded Beckett 9.5 and another just 9 but was the "jersey number ebay 1/1". Since I generally don't worry much about grades, I eventually decided on the 9/25. There's a lot of number nine synergy going on, not just the serial numbering, but it's also graded 9 and the jersey 9 is visible in the front photo. So that's kinda cool. Nice to knock another HOFer Retired Refractor off my list (I don't expect to ever complete the '03 refractor set like Dan is working on, but I can't help snagging them if the price is right. I could possibly complete the auto set in my lifetime, but as a combination of base and refractors, currently 82/119 there).

Last card from the big lunchtime meetup with Dan was actually a separate one-for-one Tony Gwynn trade where I exchanged my 2004 Retired base auto for Dan's 2003 Retired base auto. It was a fitting swap because he had both 2003 base and refractor (but no 2004), and I had both 2004 base and refractor (but no 2003).

While Dan and I are collecting buds, we're also rivals when Retired refractors we both need pop up on eBay. Case in point, a few years back a seller listed the '03 Retired Gwynn 12/25 refractor, and also a similar Jim Bunning. The cards were each listed at a silly high buy-it-now asking price but with Best Offer option. I put in strong offers on both... my offer was accepted on the Bunning but I missed out on the Gwynn. I was kicking myself over this and in hindsight would have went higher on the Gwynn Christmas Card. Turns out it was Dan who bested my offer, that son of a gun! Oh well, all's fair in love and cardboard. At least he's cool and said we could work something out if he should ever end up with another Gwynn refractor (The 12/25 only graded out to an 8.5, so he wouldn't mind upgrading there anyways. Me, I vastly prefer my Retired autos in the original Topps "uncirculated" cases. In the past I've jailbroken slabbed Retired autos just to return to the regular casing, though am less gung-ho about that stuff these days.) But yeah, seeing as Tony is my top PC, very happy to score his 2003 Retired auto. Funny enough, the base version is just as scare as the refractor, both having a print run of just 25 copies (though the base isn't serial numbered).

Anyways, thanks a lot, Dan! Had a great time and came home with some great cards. Hope we get the chance to hang out again before too long. Best of luck in your quest to hunt down the last few cards you need. 

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That's probably plenty for one post, but I gotta clear out some backlog-- just received a COMC order!-- so here are a couple more quick trades for the post.

Traded with a reader named Sigler who helped me make solid progress with my 1977 Topps setbuild. We've already got a second swap in the works. Thanks, man!

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Last one is another new trading partner, Crocodile from a blog I just recently started following called Crocodile Sports Cards. He had posted about some glow-in-the-dark cards he wound up with that he didn't particularly care about. A thing about me is that I want all glowing cards, even if I already have them, but I needed most of these.

I never watched the 90s cartoon Skeleton Warriors, but now I've got the complete 5-card glow-in-the-dark insert set. I only had one of them before. Now I've got a set and several dupes (As I say, when it comes to glowing cards, I want dupes too.) These cards glow on the back, and I'm not convinced that wasn't the result of a printing mistake at the factory.

He asked if I wanted the acetate inserts too. Sure, why not. Neat stuff.

While I was excited to get the glowing cards, it's hard to beat a clean stack of needs and upgrades for my 1978 Topps setbuild. In the next couple years I should have a run of 70s Topps flagship filling out nicely.

On top of that, Crocodile was kind enough to hook me up with a stack of 1987 Topps for another of my hairbrained plans that might not ever really go anywhere. Even got an OPC Yount out of the deal!

But what's embarrassing for me is I had sent him a PWE with nothing all that impressive and he sent back a heavy box. Not a good first impression on my part with a new trading partner. In my defense I didn't realize those Skeleton Warriors cards were all in heavy plastic cases. I'll be sure to put some effort into balancing the scales once we get around to our second trade (assuming I haven't scared him off).

Thanks again, Croc!

Ok, that'll do it for today. Hope you're having a Happy Labor Day, everybody. My COMC order showing up today was a pleasant surprise, being a federal holiday and all. Some good stuff in there I'll plan to show off on the blog over the next few posts. Stay tuned.

super 70s influx

Time for another trade roundup. Lots of quality Topps cards from the 70s to show off in this post. Our exhausting new puppy has cut into my spare time for carding activities, so I'm trying to limit my trading commitments.. but cards keep arriving and I try to keep afloat! (Apologies to the few guys I've been slow to send cards or reply to regarding trade propositions.. will try to catch up when I can.)

This first mailing up is a doozy! I believe it's my first exchange with Scott Crawford, who has been blogging a long time but we just hadn't crossed paths much before. But some of my music-related customs caught his eye and so we hammered out a deal sending him a short stack of Baseball Card Breakdown originals in exchange for some vintage Topps, heavy on '74.

Look at all these Hank Aaron cards within cards! These are pretty neat. I'm lucky enough to own a few of those older Aaron cards. I was excited thinking I had completed all the Hank Aaron cards in 1974 Topps with these, already having the "New Home Run King" card #1, but looks like I'm still short the All-Star card he shares with Dick Allen. I've got that card in my Dick Allen PC, but since I consider Mr. Allen one of the top dudes I collect, I'm reluctant to pluck out a PC card for a set (something I'm otherwise not all that opposed to). But maybe if I get down to a couple cards left and it's one of them, maybe then I'll cave and worry about replacing the PC card later. ("PC" in this context is for "Player Collection", for any newbs reading.)

And a bunch more '74s from Scott! Thanks to these, I'm down to just 45 more cards on my wantlist for the set (a decent percentage of which are Washington Nat'l variations).

And some big-name '79s. The Reggie on the end isn't a dupe, but rather a Burger King card. Note the difference in space above his helmet.

Thanks, Scott! Just mailed out your customs. Pleasure dealing with you!

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I know I said I'm trying to cool it a little on trading for the time being, but I made an offer on Twitter last week for anybody to send me vintage needs in exchange for a Joan Jett custom I made a little while back-- trying to swing a few quick and easy trades-- and got a handful of guys to take me up on it, with two swaps going through so far.

Night Owl sent me a PWE heavy on '77 Dodgers I needed for my in-progress set. Looking good!

And there were a bunch of Kellogg's in there, too! Always love to see those funky 3D beauties slip out among the cards I receive.. Even when cracked to hell! (Pops is shaping up to be the star of the post, and we'll see more of him in a moment.)

Thank you, Greg! A return is on the way to you currently.

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Here's another bounty thanks to Joan Jett.

John @phitter72 on Twitter is a guy I was familiar with due to his amusing "Literals Series" customs he shares (such as a card depicting Ernie Banks doing his banking). This was my first swap with him, netting me 4 solid names to check off my 70s vintage Topps wantlists, highlighted by Billy Williams' final card as an active player. Thanks, John!

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Reader David G. returned with a 3rd recent PWE of '88 Fleer needs for me, plus a Madlock and another wonderful Kellogg's need. Thanks, David.. I'll scrounge up another envelope of Cardinals for you soon.

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Wes, a.k.a. The Pancake King, dropped a shortstack of 3 PWEs on me in short order, each containing one Gavin card plus an autographed business card. Bonkers! Thanks for thinking of me, Wes!

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Last one for today is a great bubble mailer from ARPSmith, hitting me back for a package of cards I sent him recently.

Nice bunch of current cards featuring guys I collect. Man, this 2020 "season" is wild. I'll be surprised if we actually make it all the way to a World Series this year, but here's hoping for the best.

Complete Willie Stargell puzzle from 1991 Donruss! This'll be nice to bolster my Pops PC. If/when I get a second set, I'll bust out the pieces and piece it together.

The real punch of the package was the vintage. Been a while since I've added to my '57 Topps setbuild.. not since 2019, in fact. The pair are both from the toughest series, making them even more of a big deal. Same can be said for the '72: first time all year I get to update my needs spreadsheet, and it's a tough high number, to boot. Nice!

As far as the 74 and 79s, they might look familiar, as this same trio was among the cards I showed from Scott Crawford earlier in this post. Adam's copies are in better condition, so they'll go into the setbuilds.. But don't worry, Scott's cards can still find a home for now in the respective PCs since I collect these guys too.

Thanks for another great trade, Adam!

That's gonna wrap up the post. Thanks for reading, everybody. Stay safe out there.

trades n' fades

Here's some stuff.

John Miller sent me a nice surprise bubble mailer to thank me for the cards n' customs I sent him recently. Nice lot of '77 Topps here to bump me past the ⅓ complete mark with this set. Funny thing is these are all "high numbers". To clarify, the set is all one series together, but the cards John set are all from the tail end of the set (like 640-660). Sure, why not!

Super Giles World!

I tell John I'm good on Gavin Floyd base cards and that he can stop putting them aside for me, but he just shouts "NEVER!" and keeps 'em coming. Hey, better to have too many than not enough, right? The "Trev" is cool too. As for Dorssys Paulino, he made it as high as AAA for 4 games in 2018 but now appears to be out of the game. Still though, it's a lovely orange refractor and has a cool surprise on the back...

Christmas Card!

Thank you for another great bunch of cards, John!

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Now here's one from Bru. For the past few years, we've been exchanging little blind trades.. He ships me a few Padres and I ship him a few Astros.

Always happy to add a new Gwynn to my #1 PC. The Josh Greer autos is neat.. though I can't find him on baseball-reference nor thebaseballcube.com.. my go-to sites for looking up players. I even tried Joshua Greer.. still nothing. Oh well, I'll assume he flamed out in the minors since this is an old enough Bowman design to where if I haven't heard of the guy by now, he didn't make it. But still cool. UPDATE: ok, looks like his name is really Josh Geer! Poor guy had to sign a big stack of cards containing a blatant typo in his name right there on the front.. ouch. I'd have told Topps to suck it, personally. Well, the good news is at least he got to pitch in 129.2 MLB innings (2008-2009) before he hung them up, so that's something.

A few more Padres along for the ride.

Thank you, Bru!

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Hey, you hear about Kobe Bryant? Such a tragedy. My Sunday morning started out great when I secured a sweet deal with someone for some special cards I was VERY interested in, and I was literally dancing around the house with joy. Then a little while later, the news of the helicopter crash got to me. Could hardly believe it was real. Really cast a dark shadow over the day that still lingers. Just an incredibly sad event all around.

Here are the Kobe cards in my collection arranged in an "8".. my tiny tribute to a huge legend.

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I've never been to a basketball game in my life (maybe someday), though after last Thursday I can at least say I've seen an NBA player in person.

We had our annual work conference thing at a hotel near the office and it so happens the Mavericks were staying in the same hotel, in town to play the Blazers. As I was leaving for the day, I noticed some dudes hollering at a tall guy for an autograph who seemed to be courteously trying to oblige as many of them as he could. Turns out it was one of the biggest names in the game right now, Luka Dončić! I immediately went to join the small group of dudes, pulling out the black sharpie I always have in my pants pocket and trying to think what I could have him sign. I guess a dollar bill if nothing else. But it was moot, as before I had the chance, a team handler guy quickly pulled Luka away and pointed him onto the bus waiting in front of the hotel.

I snapped a photo just in time to catch his back on the bus. In hindsight, I should have maybe just settled for trying to get a high-five rather than hang with the autograph hounds (Afterwards I heard a couple of them complaining how crappy their autos turned out, the pens adversely affected by the wet weather, no doubt), but it was still cool to get an in-person look at a rising superstar.

cardboard from mr haverkamp and beyond

I was graced with a surprise package of cards from friendly cardsphere reader mr haverkamp the other day. Let's take a look!

Tim Flannery 1987 Bohemian Hearth Bread! Sweet! My needs for this regional oddball set are now down to just one: Dave Dravecky. And Flan here is in incredible shape, especially considering these cards originally came thrown in with a loaf of bread. Creases, dinged corners, and staining are par for the course, but amazingly this one looks suitable for grading.

And I figured this was a good card to feature on Mother's Day since one of the first baseball cards I ever got was a Steve Garvey from this set thanks to being included in a loaf of bread my mom bought, back before I was collecting cards at all. She was never super supportive of my hobby, but she never threw out my cards or forbid me from spending my allowance on them or anything. She was reluctantly onboard with me collecting cards if it made me happy.

But yeah, this is a neat set with strong sentimental attachment for me, so I'm looking forward to finally completing it one of these days. I still have that original Garvey from back in the day, so this is my longest-running setbuild by far-- 32 years and counting.

Also in the package were 3 needs from '75 Topps, serendipitously all in my favorite color combination: "green grass" on the bottom and "blue sky" on top. Beautiful.

And a half dozen '77 Topps needs, funny enough all Expos.

Some 1980 Topps for upgrades for my set, plus dupes for PCs of Sparky Anderson and Dick Williams.

And here's an '88 Topps George Brett that was on my Desperate Double Dozen. I consider '88 Topps among my least favorite Topps flagship sets*, and so despite billions of them out there in circulation, I don't have many in my collection. So I need to fill in some PC holes like this one.

*I mean, the design is fine. There are some nice looking cards like Brett here. The backs are drab. Could have been a pretty cool set if it wasn't so crazy over-produced.. and maybe throw a Griffey "1st Draft Pick" card to give it a special boost.. Then that would have been a pretty solid set.

Big thanks, mr haverkamp! Much appreciated. I'll try to hit you back soon.

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And here are some bonus vintage additions for this post.

I found a couple PC dupes to put towards my '76 setbuild. Great to be able to check off this pair of fan favorites.

A couple '57 eBay pickups. The Colavito rookie has a dirty back, which kept the price down, but I'll likely upgrade it someday. The Bob Rush was snagged for next to nothing thanks to another recent $3-off coupon code. Now at an even 300 cards acquired.. the set is coming along, slowly but surely.

Thanks a lot for stopping by!

That 70s Trade Post

After posting about my intentions of working on a run of 70s Topps flagship a few weeks ago, I got a few friendly folks getting in touch with me about helping out.

I recently completed a trade with generous reader Gmixo Greg, who helped make strides in my efforts with mid/late 70s Topps.

1975 Topps needs! Reggie sighting!

1976 Topps needs! What a great smile on that Griffey!

Many 1977 Topps needs!

Nice starter lot of 1979 Topps! Probably about time for me to sort out what I've got and make a wantlist soon.

Some bonus hockey PC guys, too! Gretzky and Messier.

Big thanks for the trade, Greg! Much appreciated!

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Here's a quick PWE trade, just my second-ever trade done thru TCDB.. but funny enough, I didn't give up any cards on my For Trade/Sale list there, as user BucCollector was interested in a few of the surplus customs I posted about a little while back. I was happy to swap them for a few '77 needs highlighted by a pair of HOFers. (Looks like I've got an extra Niekro for the PC, as I got that card from Greg too.)

Thanks, David!

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Last for today is my second Twitter trade with Heavy J. I found some set needs for him in exchange for a lot of '78s.

Solid bunch of cards here!

Contest win! I also happened to win a little Twitter giveaway he ran around the same time, and the prize was several off-condition vintage star cards. Between PCs and setbuilds in the works, I'll be able to put the vast majority of these to good use.

Some nice non-baseball cards too! That's my first Wonder Bread card. Heck, my first 90210 card, too.

But the trade really got legit when he told me he had a card on my "Desperate Double Dozen - Wishful Thinking" wantlist that was available...

Warren Spahn! To seal the deal, he commissioned me to whip up a custom to go with one of his display pieces.

Great to check off another HOFer from my '57 Topps needs. A minor crease, but overall in very nice shape.

Big thanks, Jason! Great stuff.

And thanks again to Greg and David.

Played hooky today and got in a nice little hike with the pooch on a cold but sunny autumn day.