Reciprocation.

I have ended a long fallow period of blogging and declared this month the one where I settle all draft folder business so I can move on anew without dozens of unfinished posts hanging over my head.  This past week, I have concentrated on trade posts that for whatever reason, did not get completed. 

       In one week of August 2014, I received not one but two packages in return for my sending out unsolicited cards.  The first bunch is a perfect little pile from everyone's favorite chronicler, Fuji.  Apparently, I had sent him a little something in a fit of mass mailing and these are the cards he came back with:

I must say, two game used cards and two autographs is tough to beat.  I especially love the Jorge Toca, one of my favorite Mets prospects that never panned out.  He was supposed to be the Cuban savior and he wasn't even as good as a Cuban sandwich.  Plus, it is hard to beat a shiny Dickey and an even shinier David Wright.  Allow me to extend a 遅ればせながら ありがとう to Fuji for these great cards I know I can use.

The other package that arrived in the dog days was one from Robert of $30 a Week Habit.  I had sent him a stack of gold numbered parallels I had found in a dime box over the summer for his Insanity Set.  Finding cards for this project of his has been one of my favorite altruistic distractions and he always returns the favor in kind.  This time, he outdid himself:

First of all, more than anyone, Robert looks at and follows my want lists.  He sent me a half dozen 1983-84 OPC hockey cards for one of my pages.  And then, not to be out done, he sent a low numbered camo Mets card from 2013 and a Johan Santana game used Heritage jersey card.  Johan will always be a hero to us Mets fan, so this piece of cloth was greatly appreciated.

I always refer to how endlessly polite Robert is, and his friendly note that was included in the package is no different.  Thank you, Robert.

Everything Old Is New Again.

       As you know I don't do resolutions, but seeing how today is New Year's Day and this is my 200th post, I figured it might not be a bad idea to do a little State of the Blog address.  Of those two hundred posts, only 71 came last year so I would like to get around to posting a little more often than every 5 days.  I also have about 20 half written posts in the drafts that I would like to try and take care of in the dead time between now and spring training (6 weeks and counting!).  I have added some blogs to the blog list (and removed a few dead ones) and if you would like to be added to that list, drop me a line.  I have some series ideas that my intermittent posting hasn't let me bring to fruition, I would certainly like to get those off the ground and bring them to all six of you who read this blog with regularity.  That said, I have an awesome blog and if you don't read it all the time, you should and if you haven't read all my posts, you should go back and do just that, don't worry, I'll wait.


If we are going to do old and new, tried and true today, let's look at a couple of recent trades - nothing more tried and true than a trade post.  First off is one of my oldest and steadiest trade partners, Night Owl.  A few months ago he wrote a platonic love letter to me about how I get him.  Seriously, that shit made me blush.  Well, I can pretty much say that notion is reciprocal.  As I have pointed out before, we have gotten to the point where we don't even set up formal trades, we just put cards aside for each other and when we point out cards in the comments of posts, those get put aside as well.  Then eventually one of us will email the other and into the mail the piles go.  Honestly, my trade relationship with Greg is better than most of my current face-to-face interpersonal relationships and I have never met the man.  Anyway, this pile came to me at the end of November right after I sent him this pile. 

Oh those David Wrights.  Since the All Star game was held in Citifield this year, it figured all the Topps Update AS cards would be Mets centric, but wow, Topps outdid themselves with the official logos and some great pictures.  That Chrome Wright on top is probably in my top 10 all time favorite David Wrights already.  Zack Wheeler is going to get most of my love this year while poor Matt Harvey is on the shelf so I will probably end up doing a rainbow of his rookie card so that Chrome is a good start.  I am holding out hope that Juan Lagares turns out to be Steve Finley and not Alex Escobar.  Last in this scan is a marvelous little juxtaposition of a 2013 mini 1971 David Wright and an actual 1971 Topps Mets card.  I am not sure if Night Owl planned it to be such a nice contrast, nor could he have known that I did not have that awesome Sadecki card, but it sure as hell worked out well.  Someday, I want to know why Topps has decided to reprint the 1970's designs in mini form with modern players.  I would really like to have been in on that little committee meeting - and it had to be a committee, because only groupthink could have come up with such an odd and misguided idea as that one.

Not only does the Owl take direction well, he also reads my posts and wantlists:

I asked him for that Frazier All Star Rookie card and he threw in the Rosario as well.  I had stated in a recent post that I didn't have a complete nine pocket page of Clayton Kershaw and in an altruistic gesture (or perhaps in a doubles dump) he provided more than I needed to put that complete page together.  I must say, that red bordered Dodger card just pops. 

Oh, and he also bipped me with Strawberrys:

But the joke is on him, I love pages of single cards, even junk wax ones.

Everything was properly packaged as always and he used blue painters tape to hold it together, but I do have one issue...

...he wrote a little note but I am completely puzzled as to its meaning. A little help, Greg?

The "new" part of this presentation is my first unsolicited trade with a reader who does not have his own blog, a man known in the blogiverse as Zippy Zappy. 

He emailed me out of the blue that he had a bunch of Mets cards and that he had looked at my want lists (hey, someone reads my want lists!) and that he had a bunch of those for me too.  You see here in this first scan some of those Mets cards.  I am gonna miss Johan Santana but since he hasn't pitched much the last year and a half, I guess I am already used to it.  I hope one of those three Prizm rookies pans out.  And it's hard to tell, but that Zack Wheeler is purple.

He also looked at my player want list and came up with some great stuff:

I have a weird attachment to Alex Gordon and now I have a page of his cards to accentuate that odd infatuation.  ZZ is a Yankees fan and filled my odd request for horizontal Derek Jeter cards.  I had obtained a Listia lot of Jeter cards that I had earmarked for trades but it turns out that seven of them were horizontal, so of course instead of getting rid of them I decided to make another page of Jeter cards.  With those two, it is now complete and I hate to say it is pretty sweet.  The Trout, Bautista, Bruce, and Votto go towards finishing their pages as well.  That Bautista card is very very blue.

Zippy Zappy collects Yankees cards and in exchange for this pile of booty, I sent him a nice assortment of 40-50 random Bronx Bomber cards.  Since I did not have a want list to go by, I just kind of picked as many oddball and obscure cards I could of players I figure he liked.  He told me I did a pretty good job as he only had 3 or 4 of the cards I sent.  Who knew I had pinstripe instincts?

Here you see some 2013 Topps Update Mets needs and a wonderful Mr. Met insert from Opening Day.  I have never heard of Logan Verrett but I assure you, he is a Mets prospect.  It is so rare to see green on a Mets card that isn't the grass.  Also here are a couple of Gary Carter cards, one of which I didn't have (the white GQ parallel) and one I already had which featured prominently in this snarky post.  And that lower left card is a gold shiny Matt Harvey rookie card.  Wow, I might not have sent ZZ enough for this package, huh?

The last scan covers some junk wax era stuff he sent, 99% I already had.  I believe that Rick Cerone might be the only one I needed but I certainly appreciate the effort.  Those Knight and Strawberry cards are tremendous to look at so I included them here.  The last card in the package blew my mind...

It is a 2007 UD Kellogg's David Wright card that I didn't even know existed, probably because it is Japanese.  Not only did he include this fabulous oddball food issue, he even translated it for me in his little note for me.  Believe me fellow bloggers, if you get an email from Zippy Zappy requesting a trade, answer that thing ASAP.  Thanks Kenny!  You have been proudly added to the trade wall of fame.

***Update*** Turns out right after I posted this, I found out Zippy Zappy started his own blog literally yesterday (thus making a liar out of me;). You should go check it out: http://cervinupcards.blogspot.com/

The New Favorite: 2013 Topps Museum Collection Mets Pitcher Jersey Piece Goodness.

       I have severely cut down on my purchases of fancy modern game-used cards in recent years.  I've done this for a few reasons: cost, the veracity of the pieces, and simple overkill.  What was very new and neat in 1999 is not so much in 2013. There is only so many times you can see a swatch of bat or jersey and lose your shit before the emotion just isn't there anymore.  The manufactured scarcity of low serial numbers should be factored in to the equation.  But every once in a while I stumble upon a card and I must MUST make it mine...

Oddly enough, this is not that card.  The original one I saw was all patch pieces and numbered much lower.  When the bidding went into the triple digits for that one, I gracefully and sanely bowed out.  But when I searched eBay for similar cards, I stumbled across this one.  Granted, it is not all colorful patch pieces and the serial is higher, but damn, ain't she a beauty?  It nicely covers the past, present, and future of New York Mets pitching.  I mean, yeah, the perfect choices for that card would be Zack Wheeler, Matt Harvey, Dwight Gooden, and Tom Seaver - but you can't have everything.  Sometimes, you have to roll with the Topps punches and they did a nice job of selection in spite of themselves.  Seaver is a must, Johan pitched the Mets' first no-hitter, Dickey won the Cy Young award last year, and Matt Harvey is the heir apparent to all the rich heritage Mets pitching history has to offer. And while it is all one-color jersey pieces, they did go out of their way to get different textures and colors of the four different pieces.  In the end, quite a nifty card. 

A couple of quibbles with the back...Topps numbering system continues to baffle.  PPFQR?  Why not just go with L.H.O.O.Q.? I also find it troubling that their disclaimer is now bigger than anything else printed on the back and is so vague and far-reaching it may as well say "The fuzzy pieces on the front of this card are figments of your imagination."

Happy Johan-niversary.

     While I have not been posting like I had hoped and promised, I would be remiss if I did not mention the one-year anniversary of one of my favorite memories as a Mets fan:

Yeah, sure, Beltran's hit down the line kicked up chalk and the ump missed it, and yeah, sure, the game may or may not have contributed to Johan needed a second surgery on his shoulder, but the excitement and overwhelming joy of the first Met no-hitter ever: Totally Worth It!!!!

Above you see the first of two cards I have bought this year (so far) that commemorate this glorious event.  The other is this one, sadly still sitting in my COMC waiting to be sent queue but I will post it when I break down and spring the pile from Seattle.  I will keep a look out for others and if you come across one, please let me know.  I already bought this gem last year and I never get tired of smiling every time I see it when I go through my Mets box. Considering I think I already saw the highlight of the 2013 Mets season this week with the sweep of the Yankees, it looks like it's gonna be a long summer.

Requiem For a Team.

       Today is game 162 and all sorts of things hang in the balance for some teams this evening - division titles, wild cards, triple crowns, etc.  Unfortunately, this does not apply to my Mets.  I am currently watching the bottom of the 8th of their last game (and, go figure, the bullpen is doing everything they can to give this game away) and I am ruminating on what started off so sweet and how it all turned so sour.  For the 6th consecutive year, there will be no playoffs; for the 4th consecutive year, they will finish below .500.  I long for the days of 2007 and 2008 when this team was choking away big leads - but at least mattered - in September/October, as opposed to the lifeless and meaningless late season games I have forced myself to watch for months at the end of the season.  This team hit a high point of 30-23 on June 3rd (and then they wore their black jerseys for the first and only time this season - draw your own conclusions...) and were still 46-40 at the all star break, then everything fell apart.  If the human combustion brigade that is the Mets bullpen can hold on to this one, they will finish 74-88, fourth place in the NL East.

       Putting it mildly, 2012 has been a let down but there has been a few highlights and even a couple of reasons to look forward to the future.  Matt Harvey looks like the goods.  David Wright carried this team for the first three months and will hopefully be resigned before too long.  Ike Davis overcame a disastrous start to finish with 32 homers.  RA Dickey, besides having a name that my inner fifth grader loves to say out loud, won 20 games and just might win the Cy Young award.  But the true highlight of the season came right near that aforementioned high water mark on June 1st when Johan Santana pitched the first no hitter in New York Mets history. 

My excitement over this achievement was palpable and immediate.  Sure, it was as fluky as a no hitter itself that the Mets hadn't pitched one in 50 years and 8020 games, but this moment was marvelous for me and all Mets fans.  I was recently searching eBay for a particular card and somehow came across this one.  When I saw it, I had to have it.  Had to...

It is from 2012 Topps Triple Threads.  The one I came across was actually a shinier version (though this one is plenty shiny, the scan does it no justice) and numbered to /27.  But the bidding for that one got out of hand ($43 worth of hand) so I searched for another one.  I eventually found this one and after nursing my bid for a few hours at the end, I was able to procure it for $15.55 (plus shipping of course).  I hadn't obsessively watched an eBay auction like that in a long time.  It was well worth it, as this card is a glorious tribute to that June evening.

When I got the card, I found out it had an interesting back:

It had a second cut out that commemorated Johan's Cy Young Awards.  OK, that's pretty cool.  In fact, it is the same jersey, as this ingenious photo will show:

Of course, as we have found out, the little disclaimers on the backs of cards aren't worth the paper they are printed on.  But I don't care in this instance.  This is an awesome card that commemorates a magical moment for my team.  A moment that will long outlive the disappointment of this season. 

JOHAN!!!!

51 seasons. 50 years.  Eight thousand twenty games.

Finally.

You can shut down this particular website - The Mets have a no-no!!!

Johan Santana threw 134 pitches and looked like he didn't care if it was gonna take 200.  I was flipping around all night and turned over to the game in the seventh inning and I still can't believe it. 

The biggest villain in Mets history to me was always Jimmy Qualls.  For Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Dwight Gooden, David Cone, Nolan Ryan, Gary Gentry, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez, Al Leiter, and every other Mets pitcher - this no hitters' for you!

***

The fantastic High Heat Stats has the Ten Amazin’ Mets facts about Johan Santana’s no-hitter.  Go check it out.

Jaybarkerfan's Junk Part 2 - The Lots

       Yesterday, we covered a card draft held by the esteemed Jaybarkerfan's Junk on his blog.  But Wes wasn't done getting rid of his cards, oh no.  He was also offering team lots.  Lots!  My favorite.  And Mets! also my favorite.  So you can tell what a fool I am for lots of Mets.  Basically, all he wanted was the cost of shipping for them, so how could I resist (spoiler! I couldn't).  So along with my draft pickings came four jam-packed team bags full of Mets:

Also, altruistically or practically, I cannot tell which nor will I speculate, Wes was giving some lots away.  Yup, just giving them away...so because I also have an odd enjoyment of defunct teams, I grabbed his lot of free Expos, because, hey, free stuff! (what's with all the exclamation points? and parentheticals? I guess I shouldn't have had that third cup of coffee).  Before we break down the Mets, lets  take a quick look at some of those Expos...

...and we are already in a cardboard happy place.  Overly colorful Larry Walker rookies, dust-flying plays at the plate, those sharp mid 90's Expos unis, fabulous early 80's record breakers, and Mike Fitzgerald, one of the four quarters the Mets gave the Expos for their Gary Carter dollar.
I love players on odd teams; everyone remembers the Mark Langston trade because it had Randy Johnson in it, but few recall that a) it even involved the Expos or b) Langston was only in Montreal for half a season.
One can criticize Milton Bradly for his shitty attitude all they want, but no one can deny his awesome name.  He'd just be an ordinary malcontent if he was Robert Jones, but instead, he was a colorfully named malcontent.
Last, but not least, is Woody Fryman.  I always enjoyed Woody's cards as a kid because he looked 150 years old on them, even when he was 35.  Now, Woody is 42-43 in that picture there, and sadly, looks younger than I do now at 37.  Oh the ravages of time.  Of course, Woody is now dead and so are the Expos, but they will both live forever on cardboard.  

OK, lets break down that Mets lot.  Yes, there was a bunch of junk wax in there, I didn't expect anything less.  When one is dealing with lots, especially team lots, you know that 12th 1987 Topps Keith Hernandez All Star card is waiting for you.  But there were plenty of gems as well. 

I can never pass up Mike Piazza cards.  Ever.  I always loved that 1998 Finest card, his white uniform just pops out from the dull silver background.  I didn't have that 2002 Ultra short print, I only have the gold medallion version, so now we've got new cards...yay!
As you may have read earlier, my brother and I went to Jackie Robinson Day in Philly last weekend.  Since all the players were wearing #42, the Mo Vaughn jokes came fast and furious.  My favorite: "Are those Mo's old jerseys?"  "No, they saved three or four of them and sewed all of today's jerseys out of them..."
My other favorite card on that page is Don Schulze.  Why?  Well, in 1987 the Mets pitching staff was the walking wounded.  Everybody got hurt one way or another. My brother and I went to a game in early August expecting to see Sid Fernandez pitch but instead, we got Don Schulze (they never said what El Sid's injury was, but we are pretty sure it had to do with the buffet).  And he got brutalized.  And for the last 25 years, Don Schulze has been a punchline in our family.  Sadly, that was Don's last appearance in a Met uniform, yet he got himself a 1988 Topps card, so he's got that going for him.

Look! Nolan Ryan cards!  In a Mets uniform! (more exclamation points? really?)

I have often said that I have more cards of Nolan Ryan in a cowboy hat than a Mets uniform.  While that joke is not quite as accurate the last few years with all the faux-vintage cards around, the 1991 Pacific Nolan Ryan set seemed to be nothing but Ryan in a cowboy hat.  I see now that the problem I had with that set is, I bought nothing but the second series.  Obviously, Wes bought a lot of the first series, because I got a boatload of Nolan Ryan from him...in a Mets uniform!  I got several of each card, so if any other Mets fans have the same issue I (used to) have, I would be glad to part with some of the doubles.  Plus look at the baby picture, jeez he was born with that giant head....I feel bad for his mother.

Oh yes, there is plenty more...

This mishmash of stuff does have a theme.  Gregg Jefferies, one of the great disappointments of my life, did get some wonderful cards in his day.  I love that shot from the '91 Upper Deck set.  As I have gushed before, I love double play cards, and Rey Ordonez got himself a few nice ones, that Stadium Club shot included.
I have a bunch of those Tom Seaver Baseball Heroes cards, but I have never looked to see if I have them all.  That is one I didn't have, so the answer to that question was "no" and now is back to "I don't know."
Tim Teufel was always one of my forgotten favorite Mets.  He didn't look like a ballplayer, he didn't move like a ballplayer, heck, if you saw his batting stance, you might swear he wasn't a ball player at all.  Yet, he was a pretty solid contributor.  He was greater than the sum of his parts and scrappy, to use two horrible cliches.  Plus, his last name means "devil" in German - he is literally the devil...how cool is that?
Ryan Thompson is another in a long line of Mets disappointments (Jeff Kent was shown earlier but not mentioned - they came together from the Blue Jays in the David Cone trade - double disappointment!).  But I have a large Ryan Thompson collection.  Why?  Well, besides the fact that you always seem to accumulate cards of your teams failed prospects in gross, I have not one but two friends with the moniker "Ryan Thompson."  If I had the same name as a major leaguer, I would have my business cards printed on my same-name player's baseball card. 
I am currently infatuated with the 1994 Fleer set, a set I never really collected or even really looked at much before.  I am looking to pick up nine cards for a page (I have 2 so far) and I am looking to put together the Mets team, this is two more cards towards that goal.

There were some minor league cards too...

As I get closer to acquiring all the Mets cards from major manufacturers from the last 50 years, I find myself contemplating whether or not I should start picking up minor league Mets affiliates team sets.  You know, so I can have something new to drive myself nuts about. 

One great thing about baseball cards is, even when you think you have All The Cards, you don't...

...there is always an oddball you have never seen, an insert from a set that you didn't collect, a shiny variation of a vague set.  And, of course, stickers.  That Strawberry is an OPC sticker, to boot.  Oh yeah, and that cool graded Johan belonged in the Draft portion from yesterday but somehow wound up here.  Ahhh, my wonderful organizational skills.

There was a large vein of recent Mets cards, which is good, because I am still filling in the gaps from the last couple years:

There was an abundance of 2011 Topps, which I think finishes off my team set (I'll have to check).  I didn't have a Lucas Duda from the 2011 Bowman set, nor the Ike Davis from Heritage, and now I do.  I think James Fuller invented the steam engine or the hair brush or something, I'll have to check that as well.

Last but not least are some more contemporary Mets:

I think I now have 2 of those Gold R.A. Dickey cards.  I also think I am now one away from completing the Golden Tom Seavers, I have four and I believe there are five of each player.  I read a lot of trashing of the 2012 Topps design, but it has grown on me.  It is simple and modern with a little elegance and a little pizazz.  It fits in nicely with the last few years of designs with its white borders and curves.  I think I prefer the 2010 Topps design, but certainly not those two...is there a more apropos indicator of how lousy the Mets have been recently than Oliver Perez and Francisco Rodriguez?  I think I better wrap this up.

One man's Junk is another man's treasure.  Thanks Wes!

Almost There.

       Tomorrow is my favorite day of the year.  Opening day.  Hope springs eternal.  Everyone starts out 0-0. Your positive affirmation here, etc. etc.

Being a Mets fan, the last few years have been an adventure.  And by adventure, I mean like being kidnapped and tortured is an adventure.  But on opening day, everyone has the right to be optimistic.  Every player will hit .300; every pitcher will win 20 games.

My favorite player on the current team is David Wright.  He replaces The Shortstop That Must Not Be Named as the apple of my eye.  Wright has always been my second favorite Met for as long as he's been on the team.  He now has earned the right to be my favorite strictly by sticking around.  For how long, though, no one knows.  I hope with the settlement of all the legal unpleasantness, we can actually try and keep the players who are, you know, good.


Starting on opening day will be Johan Santana.  I became a big time Santana collector when we traded for (stole) him from the Twins.  He is one of the few players who's very presence on the roster is important.  He is affable and a leader.  Seeing #57 back on the mound is a big reason to be positive about the upcoming season.

I have a lot of hope for Ike Davis.  In typical Mets fashion, he was injured in the most freakish of ways last year.  After getting off to a scalding start, he missed the rest of the season with what was suppose to be a little ankle tweak that would keep him off the field for a week or two.  On any other team, this would be tragic...on the Mets, it is par for the course.  I am pretty sure Dr. Mengele is our team trainer.  I have Davis as a fantasy sleeper and penciled in for .320-35-120.  Yeah, I like my rose colored glasses, why do you ask?

On opening day, we can even have hope for Jason Bay.  Going by the Einstein definition of insanity, it would be completely crazy of us to expect anything from him.  But I refuse to give up on him.  That great hitter from Pittsburgh and Boston has to be in there somewhere.

The pitching equivalent of Jason Bay is Mike Pelfrey.  We were sold a bill of goods on Big Pelf and we have never collected.  He is the sad case of the Million Dollar Arm and the $3 head (think about it).  He has all the skills, but is too emotionally unstable to put any of it into motion.  What's that great line from Bull Durham - "don't think, it can only hurt the ballclub." - someone needs to show that scene to Mike.

Replacing Pelfrey as the great future #2 starter is Jonathon Niese.  His great claim to fame is that he was born on October 27, 1986 (if you aren't a Mets fan, look it up).  It would fit into the great cosmic plan if he pitches well this season and becomes a great pitcher.  It is also a pretty nasty knock on the great cosmic plan that someone his age is part of that plan.  Dammit, being a Mets fan is difficult.

Also on that page is Daniel Murphy.  Not only does he look great in those green St. Patrick's Day uniforms, he can hit.  I mean, really hit.  Unfortunately, he can't field.  And he seems to be made of paper maché.  My biggest fear is we never find a position for him, release him, and he goes to an AL team and rakes as a DH for a decade or so.

My current Mets collection is surprisingly skint.  This is a two fold issue, the Mets turnover lately has been unbelievable and my purchase of new product has been practically nil.  Most of the cards you see from 2011 and 2012 have come from kind donations/trades with fellow bloggers.  What will become of Lucas Duda, Ruben Tejada, and Josh Thole?  Well, on opening day, they are all fresh young faces with bright futures.  Duda can mash, Tejada can field, and Thole will bring this pitching staff together.  I say the Mets win 88 games and steal a Wild Card.  Yeah, I said it.

And if everything goes horribly horribly wrong (like it no doubt will) we always have Mr. Met and a lot of great memories (good and bad) to keep us entertained.  Also lucky for Mets fans, we hold the all time best winning percentage on opening day.  Let's Go Mets!

Lots of Mets.

       I love lots.  No, that is not an incomplete sentence, I love buying and selling lots of cards on eBay.  All sorts of people will tell you all kinds of strategies for getting a good price on the venerable auction site; ideas ranging from searching misspellings to sniping to days of the week, etc. etc.   I have bought and sold on there for over a decade and I find the best way to get bang for your buck is lots.  When I sell in lots, I always list everything that's involved, including names, card numbers, and serial numbers - not just one of these but all of them.  Sure, it can be time consuming, but such completist actions gets results.  And conversely, when I am looking for a card, I will always use the "search description" option to see if I can find it in a lot to get some other cards with it, either to add to my collection or turn around and resell.  I find this adds to the fun and since this is a hobby, that is the name of the game.

       I don't always have a specific target when I search, sometimes I just plug in a few words and "lot" and see what comes up.  "Mets lot" is one of my five most common searches on eBay and last week I found a rather vaguely worded listing, offering 50 cards including "serial numbers" and "refractors" with nothing listed and only one card pictured.  Normally, I would not take a chance on such a lot, but I was feeling frisky and the price was right.  Lucky for me, the lot was all refractors and serial numbered cards.  It is one of my favorite buys of recent memory.  Lets take a look:

Right away, there are some Topps gold parallels, I happen to love these cards.  Johan is always appreciated, I am still a little weary of Pelfrey.  Pagan is now gone, but he did have one good season on a bad team and, last but not least, Brandon Looper.  I like Brandon Looper strictly because in MVP 2005, he was listed as B. Looper - so that means the Mets closer was literally a Blooper!  How appropriate. *sigh* Moving on, there is some Heritage Chrome and those wacky Topps Co-Signers cards, with their labyrinthine system of colors and numbers.  Luckily, Jose Reyes is in the dark shadows of two of them and not featured.  My love affair with Jose Reyes is over and I am very broken-hearted about the whole thing.  It is always nice to see David Wright's smiling face, with any luck, we will see more of it on the field this year. 

Let's move on to the shiny, OOOOOOooooooooooo..... shiny...

Night Owl was right when he said the 2010 Chrome cards were the worst offenders of the curling, that Jason Bay bows something awful and it was packed tight with these other cards.  Oh, but those Blue and Orange refractors are purdy.  I can't tell which color works better.  That David Wright looks 100x better in person, with its orange popping right out at ya.  More stately and beautiful is the 2011 Johan Santana; that might be my favorite new Johan.  Heck, the blue even makes Armando Benitez look good.  There, once again, is a mega-shiny X-Fractor Jose Reyes...there was a time when I would have been thrilled to own that card.  Then there are some Bowman refractors, which are always hit or miss.  The shine on the black borders is hard to see in person, much less in the scans here.  And while I love the color purple normally, it does nothing for Mets cards.  I do like that those cards are numbered out of /777 - I like it when they mix it up from the usual /999 or /500 or what have you.

Here are some more Mets shiny.  Told you there were a lot of refractors...

Lots of painful memories in this scan, but being a Mets fan is knowing the meaning of the words "what might have been."  That Daniel Murphy X-Fractor is quite something in person; he is the only potential positive here.  The less said about the others, the better.

Even more shiny and some die-cut rookies:

Kurt Presley's claim to fame is being a cousin of The King; too bad Lisa Marie has a stronger arm.  That gold refractor David Wright is the rare card that looks better in the scan than it does in person.  The colors don't quite work in real life, but the scanner seemed to get the right angle on it.  Odd.  Oh, and Darryl Strawberry.  I have been in an abusive relationship with Straw since 1983.  I wish I could quit you, but a low numbered blue shiny Topps Tribute card is not going to help at all.  Deolis Guerra was one of the pieces of the Johan Santana trade, I think he parked my car last week in the city, I can't be 100% sure.  Then there are two more Orange vs. Blue examples.  These are both off colors to the Mets colors, but both work; yes, even with Victor Zambrano prominently involved.  Matt Den Dekker opened some eyes in Spring Training this year, and this is the first card of his I have.  The only thing I have to look forward to this year is some young bucks going out there and showing something, so I hope they keep some of these kids up.  If you're gonna fail, you might as well do it with rookies.  I remember we picked Steve Matz in 2009 and this is the first I have heard of him since.

Getting a little older with these, and a little more random:

Mike Piazza and Tom Glavine.  You cannot get further on my love list than those two.  I have never said a kind word about Tom Glavine and I never will.  OK, Carlos Beltran.  I avoided commenting on his cards now long enough.  I want to like Carlos Beltran.  Heck, I want to love him.  I have a boatload of his cards.  And yes, I know he had some good years for the team, but I am afraid in the long run, the best thing about Carlos Beltran for the Mets is he got us Zack Wheeler.  Sad.  The bottom row has a neat old Topps Gallery Players Private Issue card of Rey Ordonez.  I now look back on Rey Ordonez fondly, so I guess there is hope for Carlos Beltran.  I have that Dynasty card in a gold ultra-low numbered version, so having it in orange is nice too (the back has Keith Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry).  That last card proves the old Meatloaf lyric correct: two outta three aint bad.

This was a 50 card lot, so the last scan only had five cards:

The top row are three rookies that didn't pan out, two of them from Japan.  I love all of the Mets failed experiments in free agents from the far east, so these cards will find themselves in good company with Kazuo Matsui and Tsuyoshi Shinjo, et al.  The last two cards kind of belong together...Darryl Strawberry and Jose Reyes.  Probably the two best position players the Mets have ever developed.  Both of them left for greener pastures and fatter wallets.  One of them regrets it, I hope the other one lives to. *double sigh* To end this post on a more positive note, those Upper Deck Baseball Heroes cards sure look wonderful in blue. 

Trade with Greg the Night Owl.

      Turns out blogger uses the European calendar and because I can't read simple letters at the top of a page, we went a few days without posts.  And here I thought I was being all organized by having a few new posts prepared ahead of time and scheduled to post by themselves.  Oh well...so, welcome back.

       While my first online trade was with Kevin over at The Great 1965 Topps Project (and he remains a steady partner), the most prolific of all my blogging traders has been Greg at Night Owl Cards.  He has been good enough to send me all his excess Mets cards and in turn, I segregate all his beloved Los Angeles Dodgers, to which I am ambivalent. We basically have a nonstop shuttle of padded envelopes to each others mailboxes full of our mutual teams.  He has been very generous over the years and this time was no different. 

     My most recent package to upstate New York wasn't very impressive (so I thought) but it contained a card that hit a nostalgic nerve with old Night Owl.  I have certainly sent larger and more valuable packages.  It is, I think, the collective that led to the final two cards shown here.  First, the fun:
 
I am not buying much new product, so any 2012 cards are greatly appreciated.  Seeing that the Justin Turner celebration is his regular card (not a ridiculous short print) makes me genuinely happy, since the Mets usually dole out joy in such a miserly manner and this card shows a rare moment of Metropolitan exuberance.  The Seaver cards from this year make it only two left that I need from the bloated Golden Moments inserts and the 1962 Seaver from last year is one I have been meaning to snap up for a while.  And the Johan?  OOoooooo.....shiny....Good stuff.

The next group is a sad tribute to what the Mets have become:

Where once we signed big ticket free agents like Beltran and Delgado, this time around we wouldn't pony up the money to keep our own homegrown hero Reyes.  The bottom three are various rookies, one of whom has a future, two of which only have pasts.

Also included were some early 90s gems, O-Pee-Chee and minor leaguers and some Classic board game cards; there was a whole rainbow in 1991 - Blue, Red, Yellow, Pink - but somehow the green stayed under my radar until now.  I'll have to check out if there are more Mets in the Green set.  The Panini stickers I have plenty of, but how can you go wrong with Kid and Mex in any incarnation?

I always write a little note to my trade partner, usually on a post-it or something, just so people know where and when the cards came from, since my biggest fear is that most people are as organized as I am (read: not very).  Greg included this little blurb explaining the best two cards in this package:

The Bonilla signature is perfect for my Mets autograph collection.  Plus, the 1993 Topps card of Bobby Bo was so optimistic of his stay in the Big Apple, until the horrible truth of the whole situation became abundantly clear later on.  The A&G mini is from 2008 and it is what you think it is, a wood 1/1.  It is my first Mets 1 of 1 card.  It doesn't even matter that it is of Ryan Church, it is damn cool. 

And he even welcomed me to the wonderful world of blogging.  Once I learn how to read the calendar, I'm sure I'll have a ball.  Thanks Greg!

Metropolitans.

  

        As you may have gathered from the color scheme, borders, name plate, or maybe if you aren't very observant and just know me so well, I am a huge Mets fan.  My family moved into a new home when I was 12 and I was allowed to choose the colors of my new bedroom walls.  My choices: blue with orange borders.  If I were allowed to paint any of the walls of my house now, I doubt my choices would be any different.  There was a time in the 1980's when being a Mets fan carried clout, cachet even.  Alas, these are dark times to be a fan of the Nine from Flushing, but as with any marriage, I will root for them in sickness and in health, 'til death do us part (even if I am incarcerated for murdering Fred Wilpon).  Anyway, when I was going through the "Great Purge" of cards, I could not part with my Metsies, so I decided they would get special dispensation.  I have over 10,000 Mets cards spread over 2 monster boxes, a top loader-laden shoe box and several binders.  I did part with about 3,000 or so doubles, but as in any streamlining process, redundancies must be eliminated. 

      My Mets binders (one of which is featured at the very top of this blog with a brand new mascot courtesy of card blogging's best bronie, dayf from Cardboard Junkie) are some of my most eclectic and meticulously kept.  Choosing 800 or so cards out of 10,000 is not an easy task.  Then, picking a couple pages from all those is even tougher, so this will no doubt be a series on my beloved team.

       I do like to keep pages on current star players.  This page of Johan Santana features some of the many many incarnations of his 2011 Topps card.  I picked up a few from bloggers and then decided to augment that with some from COMC to complete the effect.  Parallels are here to stay, so instead of complaining, I embrace the concept with a tight squeeze:


Keeping with the parallel theme, here are some Topps Gold Mets in all their serial numbered glory:


And some late, great Fleer Gold Medallion:


Want to know why the Mets are so awful?  Because of pages like this:

I follow the Mets closer than my own family and I have never heard of any of those guys.

These are some longwise game-used cards and a Fan of the Game insert that seems to have wandered in from another page.  I can be a slave to my own aesthetics and ruin the whole thing at the same time:


I do like to me some faux-retro vintage,


and actual vintage vintage.


And finally a page that is a reminder that at one time, the Mets actually played in (and won!) World Series.  Heck, we were once the most hated and feared team in the league, rather than the most reviled and pitied. 
  
 Ahhh, the good old days, may they return.