'Tis The Season To Be Zippy.

       I have declared this month the one where I settle all draft folder business.  I have finally (and mercifully) come to the end of my first tier of posts to close out, my unwritten trades.  It is a relief to have these out of the draft folder and into the world, if only to thank the kind souls who sent me stuff. 

This past Christmas brought me few glad tidings and fewer reasons for good cheer, but one shining exception was an unexpected package I received from Kenny, aka Zippy Zappy.  Kenny and I have exchanged packages since he started his blog two years ago and I must say, if we were keeping score, I would say he's winning.  This one was sent as a holiday gift in thanks for all our past swaps. 

If you read his blog, you'll know that ZZ is a huge prospector and his love of rookies was my gain here, as I am now flush in minor league Mets.  One name really stands out here, L.J. Mazzilli is the son of Mets favorite Lee.  This was great to get in December but that joy has been slightly tarnished now that he has been suspended 50 games of the 2015 season.  Luckily, that tiny Dominic Smith card more than makes up for that.

ZZ sends off some major league cards too. 

Better than jokes about my shiny Dickey would be mentioning my handsome little Dickey, right? Right?  Hello?  Is this thing on?

Back to the bread and butter of ZZ, the rookie prospects.  Here is a six pack of Extra Edition.  I have heard of two of these guys, so in that arena I am batting a cool .333.

There was a bit of gratuitous junk wax, which is fine, but what makes these stand out is the immortal Kelvin Torve, the first Mets player since Willie Mays to wear #24 (the number is unofficially retired).  Hey, it's nice to have something to be remembered for.

Some more major league cards. I have a soft spot for that Topps Ticket to Stardom set from a few years ago, so it was nice to see more of those, including a Jose Reyes insert I didn't have.

Seeing Luis Castillo going up for a pop-up is kind of a mean photo, Upper Deck.  Mets fans know what I am talking about. Lets move on before I get mad.

There was a few more older Mets cards, including a tremendous 1972 Tug McGraw card that I somehow didn't have. 

He also included some New Jersey Devils cards.  I haven't bought much new hockey in the last decade or so, so these are always appreciated.  It would have been even more appropriate if they were in their green and red uniforms, given the time I got this package. 

Last but not least is the absolute highlight of all these cards:

In our first trade, Kenny included a Japanese David Wright card and even translated it for me.  Here, he makes me a multiple David Wright Asian card collector with another oddball from the far east.  He also wished me Happy Holidays in Japanese.  So let me return the fond wishes here, on St. Patrick's Day mind you, and say thanks for Zapping me for Christmas, Kenny.  I should probably take down my tree, now that I think of it.

What The Devil?

       I don't write nearly enough about hockey on this blog.  I also think I write that opener every time I do get around to writing about hockey.  After getting off to a nifty 3-0-0 start, the Devils are stuck in a rut at 9-11-4 at the quarter post of the season.  But hey, we actually won a shootout after losing frickin' 18 in a row.  But the 500 lb. elephant in the room is that for the first time (literally) in my adult life Martin Brodeur is not the starting goalie.  What's worse is that today it was announced that Brodeur is going to sign with the St. Louis Blues.

Brodeur would have been the first hall of fame player I got to watch for their whole career, beginning to end, on one of my favorite teams.  Now he joins Tom Seaver, Mike Piazza, Gary Carter, Patrick Ewing, Drew Brees, Scott Stevens et al., though I am holding out hope for David Wright.  The closest thing I can think of is either Lawrence Taylor or Ken Daneyko.  The problem with LT is I am not sure how attentive a fan can you be as a first grader (not to mention his post-playing career peccadillos make rooting for him difficult) and while Ken Daneyko was a great tough defensive player, I wouldn't go looking for his plaque in Toronto any time soon. 

I think this is as good a time as any to display my Brodeur collection.

These are some recent base cards.  I haven't been buying new baseball very much in the last five years, so you can only imagine how much that my poor mistress hockey has been neglected.

One subset I did pick up is this Hockey Heroes page; this one has been featured here before.

I am a sucker for those Beehive sets, probably because of their elegant simplicity.  On the opposite end of that spectrum is that 2001 Atomic set, which is thick plastic die cut garish wonderfulness.  You'll see more of that card soon.

As you can see, I bought a lot more hockey product in the late 90's. 

Those rookie cards are just glorious not just because they are rookies but because they are the only ones I have of Martin in the old red and green Devils unis.  I hold those ugly things very close to my heart.

I find hockey inserts wonderful, probably because they always involve a ton of silver foil and shininess.

There is a jersey card and some refractors in this scan but also an autograph and friend of mine was kind enough to pick up for me back in 1995.  That card also has red and green goodness, that card is basically Christmas.

See what I mean about silver and shine?

The scan doesn't do some of these justice, they are blindingly bright.

Remember what I said about that 2001 Atomic card?

Well, I have two variations of it, one if them is the numbered parallel (on the right) and the other is the promo card (left) which has slightly different cropping and extra die cutting. 

While I am not a huge fan of horizontal cards, they work well for hockey goalies. 

That top right card is a motion insert when Topps and Upper Deck were going through some kind of Sportsflix phase in the late 90's.  Upper Deck should have stuck with die cuts and holograms, so gorgeously illustrated by that 1996 SPx card on the bottom left.  They really got those right the first time.

All of these cards have a shiny element in them that the scans do not show well.  That Stanley Cup card especially loses something. 

Brodeur brought the Devils three cups in his day in 5 finals appearances.  The poor Blues haven't ever won one and haven't even been to the finals since the late 60's/1970, back when all the expansion teams were in one division and someone had to make the finals.  I will be silently rooting for a little late career miracle for them.

Speaking of a lack of shiny, you can't even see the refraction on that Finest card.  Pity.

Brodeur is now 42, look how young he looks on that 1990 Score rookie card.  He's got his "I shave once a week whether I need to or not" mustache working there.  I truly hope this works out in a Oscar Robinson-on-the-Bucks or Ray Bourque-on-the-Avs sort of way and not in a Joe Montana-on-the-Chiefs or Willie Mays-on-the-Mets sort of way. 

Let me 'splain...no, there is too much, let me sum up...

       It has been a long couple of weeks here at Starting Nine HQ.  I have a long backlog of posts that have been piling up and issues to discuss.  Alas, work, the flu, winter, and depression have kept me from writing as much as I'd like.  I am still not 100% but I am off the DL and available to pinch hit.  I am gonna cover a couple topics that I will expand on in the next week or two.

First and foremost, hockey!

HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY!

Did I mention hockey?  I am very excited and still pretty stunned that the season is being played.  I will be sitting home this evening watching.  If the very small sample size of truncated 48-game seasons is any indicator, my New Jersey Devils will once again be raising Lord Stanley's cup.

***

I actually got out of bed early this morning and made my way the 25 miles north across the Tappan Zee bridge to White Plains for their baseball card show.  I got a ton of great cards:

The stuff on the left is some vintage and game used.  The stuff on the right is an epic score at a 6 for a dollar table.  I figured I'd grab 100 cards or so; I ended up with 486 or so.  I will be posting much more about this pile next week. Promise.

***

Sad news out of Baltimore as Earl Weaver passed away last night.  He was 82.

I have mad respect for Weaver.  He is one of my all time favorite managers and probably my favorite that didn't have anything to do with the Mets.  He was a genius and an asshole.  He knew what buttons to push and whose buttons to push (ask poor Jim Palmer).  He invented the Oriole way and I am shocked more baseball teams haven't focused on that kind of organizational style.  Go over to Orioles Card "O" the Day and I am sure Kevin will have a wonderful tribute up for him by the end of the day. 

***

These three topics do not cover the trade backlog I have nor the fantastic breakdown of something that Night Owl said in an off hand way a week or two ago that I have half written.  Those posts are coming soon as well.  Thanks for bearing with me...winter is very very long and hard.  When do pitchers and catchers report again?

Football Week 18: Mildcard Weekend.

       I have been working 12 hour overnights this week (yay work!) so my enthusiasm for most things is at a minimum.  I shouldn't complain too much, since it's not like I have to break rocks in the hot sun for 30 cents an hour or anything.  So when I sat down yesterday to watch the first wildcard playoff game, the Texans and the Bengals just weren't doing it for me.  I ended up switching over to Raiders of the Lost Ark and dozing off. 

In the end, without my Saints...

or the Giants in the playoffs...

I really just don't care much about these playoff games. I am currently in my pajamas watching the Colts and Ravens battle it out.  I am much more stoked for the snacks and beer on the TV tray to my right.

Wanna know what does have me excited today?


HOCKEY!!!!!!


I got home this morning and my brother texted me that there was a tentative agreement and that they were gonna play the season.  To be honest, I was so bleary and weary after working all night that I thought it was a dream (or worse, that he was fucking with me).  Turns out, it's true!!!  There is gonna be hockey!  I can finally post about hockey.  I can finally watch hockey.  I can finally stop bitching that there is no hockey.  Let me tell you, this is something to get excited about.

Card Draft Results: Shoebox Legends.

       The Whaler Worshiping Wonder over at Shoebox Legends recently held a card draft.  One thing you folks may not know about me is my minor obsession with the Hartford Whalers, problem is the NHL has conspired to keep me infuriated about hockey, thus unable to post about it...but I digress.  I saw the nice mix of cards he was offering and bought in.  I do enjoy these as a way of putting unwanted cards in the hands of those that want them, skipping the messy middle man of commerce or the convoluted nonsense of contests.  In these, everyone wins: the draft holder gets some cash and rid of some excess cards, the drafters get some cards they want at a fraction of the price one might normally pay. As it is, I paid about a dollar a piece for these cards and there is not a single one you wouldn't grab if you saw it in a dollar box at a show or in a store.  The system works!

Let's take a look at the haul I brought up with my net: 

Nine nifty cards here.  The Maine game used there was my first pick - not exactly a glamorous choice, but one I was happy with after the first two cards I wanted went off the board one-two.  That shiny Jeter card was nabbed in one of the four bonus rounds that were offered, a very nice wrinkle in the draft game.  Jeter may not be my favorite, but hey, shiny!

Seven more:

I really like the Turkey Red Chrome cards, and he had a bunch of the Mickey Mantles in the draft.  I think I got three of the four.  That first one is a refractor, once again shiny trumps Yankee.  That hockey card on the far right is numbered 02/10 and I got it in a late round, which I considered a major upset.  Like any sports draft, you always look for value in later rounds.  There was a bunch of game used Hockey cards in the draft and I got a couple of nice ones - dual ones to be specific.  I would be lying if I said I was planning to keep the Rangers one, but I have a friend who will appreciate it a lot more than me and I am sure he has some unwanted Devils card he will swap me for it. 

There was also some great vintage stuff in the draft and I am sorry I didn't snag more of it:

In some kind of grand oversight, I do not own a 1970-71 Topps basketball tallboy. Well, I should say didn't, because now I have that one - and it's a Happy one at that.  The most popular cards of the draft seemed to be the 1953 Bowman color cards and I was a round behind in grabbing the best ones, but I did procure the two you see there.  In one of the bonus rounds, I added that 1962-63 Topps Bill Hay to my small collection of vintage hockey.  If they ever clear up the lockout mess, I might even show you some of them.

One other wonderful thing SL did was properly pack the cards for shipping: top loaders for the better cards, soft sleeves for all the cards, team bags to hold them together and...

Blue Packing tape!  It is my continuing crusade to get all people to never ever use scotch tape on top loaders and this is yet another opportunity for me to mention it and even to show the pleasing results.  Plus, he used enough tape to hold these cards together so tight that even the US Postal Service couldn't move the pile.  Well done.

Oh, I forgot two cards!  Two awesome 2007 Goudey mini short prints - one for my Reggie player collection and one just because.  Magnificent. 

No, Shoebox Legends, thank you!

World Series Rack Packs.

       Walking into K-Mart on a Friday afternoon before Halloween and the perfect killer Frankensnowideathicane 2012, in retrospect, was not the best idea.  First of all, I bought candy a good 4 days before I am going to need it, which means most of it will be eaten between today and the Hallows on Tuesday.  Secondly, I had to walk past the card aisle not once but twice and the siren song of new Topps and discounted product was just too much to ignore.  I noticed that the Update series was out, so I grabbed a couple of the jumbo rack packs, just to amuse myself.  I also saw there was some discounted OPC hockey from a couple years ago, so I snatched one of those too.

Quick aside: I noticed Topps puts their Twitter and Facebook right on the packages now.  Even just 2 years ago, Upper Deck did not have that information on their wrappers. I will have to look to see when they started to put this on the packs.  One thing I love about the old wax packs from the 70's and 80's are the clubs and freebies they advertise on the backs of the wrappers and how dated and odd they look now.  I wonder if kids will look back at these packs in a couple of decades with the same sort of wonderment.  "What the heck is a facebook?" they will ask and go back to playing their 3D imbedded sensory video games that are implanted at birth, or something like that.  Anyway, back to the matter at hand.


The World Series often brings out a longing for baseball cards, new and old alike, in my heart.  Granted, I haven't watched my team in one for a dozen years and haven't seen an actual winner in 26 (though 2004 and 2007 were fun), but there is still a rush that comes from the fall classic.  I like to watch the games, or at very least have them on in the background.  It is all the more enjoyable this year that the Yankees are not involved.  Anyway, let's take a look at what came out of these packs.  I don't like to list every card, so let's just go with the nine highlights:

Hey look, it's superman Mike Trout, I am touting him as MVP of the league.  Sure Miguel Cabrera won the triple crown, but Ted Williams won TWO triple crowns, do you know how many MVPs he won in those years?  Zero.  So I don't think the triple crown is an automatic MVP win.  Also here is the newly minted Giancarlo Stanton.  If I had such a lyrical name as Giancarlo, I would never let anyone call me anything but that.  I assume he went by Mike as a kid because other children couldn't say Giancarlo.  Kids are the worst.  We also have some rookie cards of Trevor Bauer and Will Middlebrooks (who is also on the Golden Giveaway card).  I also got the obligatory Bryce Harper card.  It is players like this that make me feel old.  I am technically old enough to be his father (if I was very popular/irresponsible in high school, that is).  Roy Oswalt tried to pull the Pedro Martinez/Roger Clemens trick of coming in halfway through the year and didn't fare so well.  I have liked Roy ever since I read that he got a bulldozer as a signing bonus (or maybe he bought one with his signing bonus) either way, he went on his ranch and played with it for days.  He didn't really have any heavy earth to move at the time, he just played with it...that sounds like a kid at heart if ever I heard one. On the bottom there are more 1987 minis, the shiny gold and, in a similar move to last year when they put the series 1 and 2 liquorfractors in update, they have the gold numbered parallels for the regular issue in the update.  Why Topps chose to do this and not just, you know, put them in with the proper series, proves that Topps sometimes just likes fucking with us.

Here is Rack Pack #2, and not that it is a contest, but this one was far better:

I didn't get a single Met in the first pack, in this one, I got four, including two Dickeys.  And I have proven time and again how much I love my Dickeys.  Also there are one of my new favorites on the team, Jordany Valdespin, adored for his awesome name, goofy attitude, and hard hitting.  Valdespin can't catch a cold, which means he will eventually find his way to the American League, but I will enjoy him for as long as he is on the Mets.  On the complete opposite end of the love spectrum is Manny Acosta.  The Mets bullpen in 2012 was made of kerosine, but Acosta was more water on magnesium.  I watched him give up 3 runs in 2 innings and his ERA went down.  He was awful.  I mean car crash involving a school bus and a liquid nitrogen tanker awful.  He was so bad, I heckled him in Citizen Bank Ballpark better than the Phillies fans could.  If Manny Acosta is on the team next year, I will know the current regime has no plan on winning anytime soon.  In that upper right corner is the very odd sight of Ichiro in a Yankees uniform. [UPDATE: Eagle eyed reader Nick of Baseball Dime Boxes tells me this cool card is the SP] I watched him the last couple of months of the season and all through the playoffs and I could not get used to this.  I can only imagine what Mariners fans thought of the whole thing.  That other base card is a great shot of the Reds catcher with a glove on his head.  I enjoy silly cards like this and this one is kinda subtle since it does not feature the player listed on the card.  This card will probably make it on to my 2012 Topps page.  The last row is the inserts, which are the same kind as the other rack.  I have no idea if that is the way they are supposed to be or if it is a coincidence.  That mini Mattingly reminds me of the 1987 league leader mini, which is one of my favorite Mattingly cards.  He had a very distinctive follow through on his swing and any card that captures it looks pretty damn good.  If you are building this set/series, drop me an email with your wantlist and I will be happy to send what I have to you.  Everything except the Mets, the Trout, the Ichiro, the Mattingly, and the Simon card are for trade.  I did not use the Golden Giveaway numbers, either, so those are up for grabs if you drop me a line as well.

Wait! There was also hockey cards in this purchase.  I am so mad at hockey right now, I cannot really express my feelings on the matter without swearing and screaming.  The usual cliche anger of millionaire vs. billionaires is tinged with the fact that they just did this 7 years ago.  How greedy/stupid/self-destructive do you have to be to have a lockout again?!?  Anyway, the World Series always reminds me that hockey is around the corner, but this year, it just reminds me that once it ends, I have to wait for all this NHL nonsense to be cleared up; nonsense that really could be settled in a couple hours if everyone involved wasn't dumber than a box of hammers.  I could rant and ramble about this for a long time, and I have done enough of that in this post...

/soapbox

OK, enough, let's look at the highlights of the 2009-2010 OPC pack:

I got one lonely Devil, Colin White, who isn't even on the team anymore.  I also got one rookie, a dude named Matt Hendricks whom I have never heard of before, but I went to school with a bunch of kids named Hendricks and I am pretty sure one of them was named Matt.  I am sure it is not the same one, though.  Also here are former Devil Bill Guerin, rare black dude Wayne Simmonds, a whole bunch of goalies, and one of my favorite hockey names - Martin St. Louis.  If you are a hockey fan/francophile, you know how to pronounce his name correctly.  Why he hasn't been traded to the Blues, I will never understand. 

Complete Set Sunday - 1999-00 UD Retro McDonald's Hockey

      Seeing how I dropped like 30 scans on you yesterday, I thought I'd take it easy on you today and do a smaller set.  Also, seeing how we are now smack dab in the middle of the NHL playoffs, I thought it would be a good time to do some hockey.  I tend to describe sports like relationships...I often call baseball my wife and hockey my mistress.  Come springtime, I get torn between two lovers very easily, especially when my Devils are actually winning series, rather than choking them away.  Plus, granted with a speed bump or two, my Mets are also not sucking with vacuum-like precision (yet).  So while I have been very busy and stressed out recently, my sports watching has been a most welcoming and relaxing oasis. It is with that I give you the 1999-2000 Upper Deck Retro McDonald's Hockey set.

This is a 35 card set featuring 15 different hockey superstars, each shown in a contemporary photo on one card and a rookie photo on another, thus properly fitting under the "retro" banner.  The cards themselves are printed on thick rough cardboard stock, like old school Topps, another defining feature of the Upper Deck Retro cards.

The dual photo set up works well for some players (like Brett Hull, Patrick Roy, and Dominik Hasek) and not so well for others (Jarome Iginla and Paul Kariya) but overall it is a real nice way to present superstar players.  I was always a sucker for those 1983 Topps Super Veterans and these work along the same lines.

The player selection leaves a little to be desired - no Martin Broduer?  hello?!!? plus, no Gretzky, Messier, etc. - but it does capture fifteen of the best players of the turn of the century.  Since this was a regional set, there might have been a method to their madness, I just can't quite figure it out.  Let's look at the backs...

...they are well done...the contemporary cards have complete career stats and the rookie flashback cards have stats from their rookie years and little blurbs about their rookie exploits with matching photos to boot.  These cards being Canadian, they are also written in French as well as English. 

The last five cards of the set are the obligatory "rookie prospect" type cards.  They actually did a pretty good job choosing five players who have had decent long careers.  The only aesthetic drawback to the set, really, is that it is 35 cards, leaving that nasty nasty empty pocket.  Oh well, you can't have everything.

I fell hook, line, and sinker for the Upper Deck Retro card sets.  They were some of the first attempts at faux vintage and they had real personality.  I voraciously collected the baseball sets and when I found out these cards existed, I had to have them.  Of course, they were only available in Canada and as I have mentioned, I have never been out of the country, so I went to eBay to pick up this set, when I cannot recall, and it has resided in my set binders with a few other smaller oddball sets ever since.  I have oddly not chosen to put the baseball Retro sets in my set binders yet, but when I do, this set might go live with them.  In fact, I have a half completed UD Football Retro set from the same time period as well, which I should get around to completing and then I can have the whole happy UD Retro family.

Piety and Charity.

       It is Good Friday and Passover, so I will celebrate with a double dose of blasphemy by eating nothing but bacon-wrapped steaks all weekend.

But to make up for it, I will remind you I have a charity auction up on eBay with one day left.  If you are a New Jersey Devils fan or know someone who is, spread the word and give to a good cause, The Red Cross.

I will be tied up with the joys of family for the next few days, but I promise I will get back to the joys of baseball card pages soon.  Can't wait that long?  OK, fine...

While I may have mocked faith in an above paragraph, Roberto Clemente was a man of god and gave his life trying to help people.  This makes him far more than a ballplayer in most people's eyes.  This beauty is my 1956 Clemente.  I was way ahead of the curve on Clemente.  It seems the late 90's brought all the Clemente worship and card craze out in people, but I was on the Roberto bandwagon way before then.  I bought all his early cards at shows in the late 80's and did not pay an arm and a leg for them.  Sadly, I sold my 1955 Clemente rookie about eight years ago when it was the choice of cardboard or rent.  I kept my '56, though, as I always preferred it to the '55 anyway.  I will probably be clutching this card while living in a refrigerator box, because I am not selling it.  Ever. 

Saturday Bloody Saturday.

       OK, long story time.  I know some of you don't like to read them, but this one has a point, so either bear with me and read it or skip to the end to get to the important part.

       About 20 years ago, I was roused by my mother from a lovely post-school nap to go give blood.  I had never given before, but my mother had read that there was a critical shortage of blood in the area and she wanted me to go with her to give.  She is blood type O negative, which is considered the universal donor, so she was/is a steady donor.  So, I struggled to my sleepy teenage feet and went with her.  The procedure was relatively quick and painless (even the needle part) and they gave me juice and cookies afterward, which is great...anything with juice and cookies at the end can't be all bad.  I didn't think much of it.  Then, literally two days after I gave blood, my grandfather collapsed in his garden.  He had an aortic aneurysm that burst.  Needless to say, this is a quite catastrophic thing to happen.  He was rushed to the hospital and needed 12 pints of blood to get him through his surgery, which was successful.  In my view, and it may not be entirely true, but in a way, I had helped to save my grandfather's life.  I became a blood donation advocate from then on; I have volunteered for the Red Cross over the years, I constantly give blood, and, best of all, my grandfather lived another 16 years.

So this morning, I got up and drove to beautiful downtown Newark, NJ and gave blood.  I try and do it as often as I am allowed and as long as my health will let me.  I even got some sweet swag while doing it:

I am keeping the hat, because, hey, free hat!  But the shirt is only an XL - I haven't fit into XL shirts since I was about 11.  So I have decided to auction off the shirt and give the money right back to the American Red Cross.  Normally, I would never implore you to look at my eBay auctions, but this one is important...

***Hey everyone who didn't want to read my story, this is the important part***

Please click here to view this charity auction.  I know most of you aren't Devils fans but maybe you know one, you could buy it for them, or at least send them the link.  I am not usually the altruistic type, but I happen to think this is all pretty important and believe me, it saves lives.  People always talk about how they can make a difference in the world.  Well, this is a simple thing anyone can do.

Please give blood.  Please donate to the Red Cross.

Thank you.  I now return you to my usual snarky and immature little blog.

Trade with Mark of The Chronicles of Fuji.

        I have a soft spot for player collectors.  I know from the madness they suffer.  I have dozens of player collections, in various shapes and sizes, and they are the last thing I have pared from my collection (the ones I am permanently and  psychotically attached to are listed in my Gotlist, take a look and let me know of there is anything you have I might want).

       When I see someone who has a white whale they are looking for and I can fill that need in my other areas of downsizing, it makes me very happy (ask Night Owl).  So, I came across the blog The Chronicles of Fuji about a year ago and recently saw that he had just three Steve Carlton cards he needed for The "Lefty" Project.  One of the cards was his 1965 rookie card and wouldn't you know it, I had recently come across a slightly off condition Carlton rookie in my piles of piles.  So, I scanned it and emailed him and we hammered out a deal.  I picked some cards from a list he maintains of trade bait (he is very organized; I am, um, not...) and we came to a fast understanding.  The following pictures shows the bounty I harvested:

The Nomar goes immediately into my player collection.  The Dewey Evans joins a page of Red Sox game used cards.  The Eli and Janssen will find nice spots in their respective team collections.  And the Mets, oh, those Mets.  I have a black Ventura from that Pacific set and now it has a dance partner.  And finally, with that Dotel Auto, I now only need the Piazza to have all the Mets from the 1999 SP Signature Edition - a seminal set if there ever was one.  That Piazza, however, is probably the highest priced of all his rare certified autographs and will remain in my white whale dreamland probably forever.

Oh, but Mark wasn't done.  He noticed my love of food issues and the Mets and included some awesome oddballs as well:


For working blind, he only got one card I already had (the Bobby Bo Hostess) and found one (the Hojo) I didn't even know existed.  Those Texas League minor league all star cards are a wonderful epitaph for the once mighty mid 80's Mets. That game used card in the corner? It was part of the original trade, it is of Max Sapp.  Yes, on top of all this, I am a Max collector as well. 

Like I said before, Mark is very well organized.  Our trade got a coversheet, for crying outloud:

and look at that...he has his own personalized baseball card! Let's see it up close:
Wow.  Pretty frickin' sweet. I will certainly find a place of honor for that badboy.

Thanks Mark!

Trade With Robert of $30 A Week Habit.

       I believe, when all is said and done, trading is the backbone of this hobby.  Sure, we all go to big box stores and hobby shops and drop money on boxes and singles - a necessary evil, to be sure - but one grand thing about the internet is that it has brought back what we all did fundamentally as kids: trade cards.  I found card blogs by accident years ago and really enjoy reading them, but what they truly did was wake up my inner child and my want and need to swap doubles and unwanted cards for things I really want (and need).

       Even before I started this blog, I had been a big time trader with a bunch of my now-fellow bloggers.  Alas, no scanned evidence, on my end, exists of these trades and my memory is useless for even the basic knowledge I require to get through the day, much less the intricacies of long ago trades. Let me just say I have found the enthusiasm and generosity of online traders to be boundless.  I would like to take a moment to thank Night Owl, dayf, Capewood, Kevin, Mark, Dave, Dennis, Matt, Andy, John, the elusive Dinged Corners, White Sox Cards, bdj610, Thorzul, and I am sure a few others I have forgotten, for trading with me in the past and I look forward to continuing our online cardboard bartering. And for anyone else who wants to, I swear I will eventually update my wantlists and I can trade with you, too (don't be afraid to email me anyway if you think you have something I want).  

     So last month when I decided to start this blog, I got a package in the mail from Robert of $30 A Week Habit and scanned its contents in anticipation.  I discovered his blog clicking around a while ago and liked his hook (want to get me to read your stuff? have a hook) but what really got my attention was his other blog.  The concept of the insanity set is, um, insane...and kind of ingenious.  I waited to email him when I saw a card I wanted and we worked out a trade.  Ever since, I have been sending him numbered cards I find in dime boxes and my own boxes (to help with his gargantuan task, I suggest you do the same) and he has been nice enough to reciprocate.

This particular package was in response to a group of numbered cards I sent, and my help in completing his One-Card Challenge©.  I have not been buying much new product, so he was good enough to send some 2012 Topps Mets (amongst other things) my way:

The black Topps cards are especially awesome; they are the low numbered parallels, not the Walmart stuff.  The 3D David Wright was so neat, it inspired me to go on ebay and pluck a lot of nine of the other 2010 3D cards to create a whole page.

I also noted his mutual love of hockey and told him I like the Devils. I have a copious amount of New Jersey Devils cards and he somehow sent me nine cards (perfect!) I did not already have - and all inserts to boot: 

While these won't stay as a page, it was somehow prescient of him nonetheless.  Thanks Robert!

UPDATE: I added a list of folks I have completed a trade with in the right column.  I will update this as trades are made.