A Bounty from RandyLaw

I wanted to wrap up the trade with RandyLaw before I move on to the dime deals I snatched up at baseballcardstore.ca. Here's the rest of my bounty.

It's a bit of a stretch, but I just re-watched Once Upon A Time In Hollywood this weekend.

Lots of new Red Sox cards including the fantastic Jack Clark single from 1992 Topps.

Flagship. The 2007 Topps cards in the middle row are Red Sox team set issues.

More flagship. 

Some non-flagship. The David Price holo was listed as a base card. 

Manny and Papi. The Upper Deck card makes me smile. Man-Ram is a complicated figure for sure.

Here's an Oakland issue of Ramirez, along with other greats of the diamond. 

Legends galore, including a Randy Johnson refractor. 

Some candidates for the All-Time Teams collection, especially Gossage and Doby. 

Conlon Collection. Ross Youngs retired at age 29 (and died at age 30) due to a kidney illness, and still made it to Cooperstown.

Some random-ish stuff including Fernando batting and Straw signing autographs.

Chromes. I've got a bunch of Blake Snell but very few Jacob deGrom cards. 

Current year cards - except the '72 Votto mini. While sorting this stack I dropped a few singles and this flimsy little thing got creased. I was pretty pissed but it could have been worse.

I didn't ask for a whole lot of football in this trade, and some of these early '90s singles were added by Randy as replacements for cards I had requested. The creamsicle Craig Erickson is my favorite here.

A six-pack of Packers. Apparently I already had the Aaron Rodgers Absolute single, a fact that escaped me until I added these to my Packers binder last night. 

Over the past few days I've received multiple offers/counter-offers from traders who want to send me cards like this in exchange for my Michael Jordan base cards and inserts. I wonder why?

I grabbed a half-dozen 2011 Finest singles for this deal. Gore, Tomlinson, and A.D. are guys I've semi-collected over the years. Peyton Hillis had one good year and made a Madden cover. I was never a Wes Welker fan but he won me over after watching an episode of Caught In The Draft. Rutgers alum Kenny Britt lives in the same neighborhood as my manager. She's told me a couple stories about him.

This photo happened to appear on the MSN home page as I was writing this post.

The rest of the notables from RandyLaw, including Tom Brady and Drew Brees. The league leader card at the top left had some pretty rough corner dings. I may have to scrap that one. 

Here's a closer look at the Matthew Stafford Blue Prizm parallel, one of my favorite cards in the box. Randy, thanks for the great big trade!

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Thank you to everyone who commented on my previous post. Every one of the five Ivan Rodriguez cards I scanned received at least one vote for the Frankenset.

The winner (with six votes) is this 2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars single. Excellent choice.

I think I'll post the Kansas City Royals this Sunday. But which player will it be? Stay tuned. 

Thanks for reading!





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The Second Wave

The second wave has arrived...

I made a large trade with TCDB user Randylaw. His wantlist contained over 400 cards on my tradelist and I was happy to offload a full box of my duplicates in one shot. I shipped his cards last week and received mine sometime overnight or very early this morning (the box was sitting on my porch when I left for work at 8:45 a.m.)

I picked up plenty of stars and Hall of Famers. 

 

Red Sox, Royals, and Redbirds. The Mike Greenwell glossy at the top left is creased :/

Relievers. I tried to balance out the list of cards I requested with some "junk wax" from sets such as 1989 Score.

The Tigers were well-represented.

About half the cards I received were baseball. I got a nice chunk of singles from the other major sports, too.

The 1978 Topps Greg Pruitt was part of a replacement lot as Randy no longer had 16 of the cards I requested.

 

Many of the cards Randy sent were pack-fresh, including these gems. One of my collecting goals as a kid was to own a Jim McMahon Starting Lineup figure with the Chargers. However Kenner faked me out; McMahon was listed on the 1989 checklist as a Charger but he was still a Bear when the figure was produced.

These basketball singles pair nicely with the Secret Santa gift I received from Mark Hoyle.

More Hall of Famers here, including a Charles Barkley Fleer sticker.

A new set build perhaps?

These are just some of the cards in The Second Wave. There's plenty more up ahead. Brace yourselves ;-)

Thanks for reading!



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Free Stuff and TCDB Stuff

I'm hoping to have the Washington Nationals All-Time Team posted tomorrow. This young stud didn't qualify, but he's already made his mark on the franchise:

The Juan Soto Atomic Refractor you see here is the only recent card I received in a TCDB trade with Base Card Hero. I sent Ryan 21 dupes from 1992 Fleer Ultra and three from 2016 Topps.

The cards I asked for (besides the Soto) were 1983 Topps singles. These were the biggest names. Fergie might be my favorite of the whole lot, it's really sharp and the colors pop.

Some lesser-known players here, though you may know Randy Moffitt as the younger brother of Billie Jean King. Larry Milbourne is interesting to me; while I was researching the Mariners All-Time Team I discovered that he's the most accomplished major leaguer from my wife's alma mater.

These cards were selected with an eye toward the All-Time Teams franken-set (more details next week). Originally I had asked for a 1983 Topps Simmons but Ryan no longer had that card. I asked for the '81 as a replacement, and any of the next three cards as a backup.

He sent them all, since the Simmons is off-center and the Smith is bleeding pink ink. Nettles and the Phillies are clean. Ryan, thanks for the trade!

I sent another five dupes from 1992 Fleer Ultra baseball along with ten dupes from three other sports to TCDB user Sheepboy in exchange for 14 cards.

 

A couple set fillers here. I'm down to 27 needs for the 2018 Stadium Club set, and that should be below 20 once my Cardbarrel order arrives. The iconic Craig Ehlo brings me to 70% completion of the 1993-94 Ultra set.

I also acquired a couple of upgrades for my 1986 Topps football set. They're plentiful and affordable enough for me to request in trades without needing to know what condition they're in:

Bobby Butler seems to be questioning this strategy, but most of my '86 Falcons cards are a mess.

I also added some team favorites to the trade. Thought I had the Freeman Leaf and the Newsome but it turns out I had other versions of each. This is my first Aaron Ripkowski card; he was the Packers' fullback after fan favorite John Kuhn and before Dan Vitale (who has the same name as my nephews' father.)

When a PWE arrived yesterday I assumed it was the third and final TCDB trade, but it was a care package from Jon, originator of the Free Stuff Friday trend (yes, it's a trend now!)

I claimed a couple cards here and there, including some Packers:

 

According to his note, seven of the nine cards in the nine-pocket page were claims. I think these color-matching parallels pre-date Free Stuff Friday but I can't be certain:

Jon has sent me tons of basketball over the years, and he knows I like to collect Milwaukee Bucks (I sure hope they're able to complete this season because I'd love to see a Bucks-Lakers final.) 

He also knows I have very few Nikola Jokic cards. As in.. three. This is now my fourth 'Joker.'

Bringing it back to vintage-ish cards here including a Sonny Siebert high number(!) and a card commemorating the 1981 AFC title game. Why did I claim this card? Because I am fascinated with the story behind it. The San Diego Chargers advanced by defeating the Dolphins in Miami the week prior. It was 76 degrees at the Orange Bowl, with 80% humidity in January. At the end of the Chargers' OT victory Kellen Winslow looked like a boxer who had just gone 12 rounds with Muhammad Ali:

San Diego's reward for surviving this epic clash in brutally hot weather? A trip to Cincinnati - where the weather was historically cold. Football can be so cruel.

Jon, thanks for the great cards! I hope I'm able to return the favor soon.

Thanks for reading!


 

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Taking a break / random 311 post

I thought I'd take a little break from the baseball research with an impromptu post of random things. 

It's 3/11! What's your favorite 311 song? I think mine is either "Beautiful Disaster" or "Don't Stay Home". Their cover of The Cure's "Love song" is pretty good, too. A lot of my high school friends listened to 311 but I didn't get into them until much later.

Have you seen any good movies lately? I was finally able to get out to the local video store (aka the library) earlier this month. Couldn't find any new releases that were interesting so we rented Long Shot (which I had wanted to see for a while) and Why Him? 
 
Long Shot was really funny. I enjoyed that one a lot. Why Him? was good, too. The actress who plays James Franco's girlfriend looked familiar to me - sort of like Isla Fisher, or Emma Roberts. My wife was the one who searched Google/IMDB for Zoey Deutch because she's usually good at recognizing people in movies/TV shows.. and the reason she looked familiar is because she's Lea Thompson's daughter. 

Zoey starred in the film adaptation of Before I Fall, which I have sitting on my bookshelf. I'm not certain I've read it, but if I have it was at least four or five years ago when I was immersing myself in Young Adult fiction. 
 

Sometimes I feel like I've outgrown all the books, movies, and TV shows I used to enjoy. Then again..my manager (who is a dozen years older than I am) was talking to one of the guys about Arrow. They're both big fans and I've never seen it. They were talking about the ending, and the characters they liked..and she said she likes Mia because "Mia is a badass."

Mia is played by Katherine McNamara. That sweet little thing is a badass now? Where does the time go?

 

Speaking of lovely ladies who can sing.. you may have noticed the picture on my right sidebar changed. I went down a bit of a wormhole earlier this week because a Carole King song came on at work.. and my mind immediately went to Melissa Benoist.

Goddamn that woman is talented. Y'know, Glee never interested me at all but I might have to give it a chance some time. I've seen Pitch Perfect at least twice. It's pretty much the same thing, right?

It's the weirdest thing. I rarely - almost never - have any interest in female singers. Some of them might be nice to look at but their music doesn't appeal to me. Except Lynn Gunn of Pvris. She frickin rocks:

That said, nearly every actress and entertainer I've liked over the past few years can also sing. I think I made a playlist of them all in a  post some years back, so I won't repeat myself here. I know Kristen Bell was on that list...

One other thing we watched recently was the fourth season of Veronica Mars. I might have to share my thoughts on that in a separate post - not that anyone cares, lol.

Do you have a favorite singer or actress at the moment? Any Veronica Mars fans reading this? Let me know if I should bother with a recap post in April :)



Switching back to sports.. I completed my 102nd trade on TCDB earlier this week, which was supposed to be a one-for-one with user terrbear5951. I offered up my extra Ryan Zimmerman manupatch for a Satchel Paige MLB Debut coin. When Teresa checked her collection she realized that the Paige was no longer there and asked me to pick a replacement. I didn't mind at all since she had a lot of things I needed. I made a list and asked her to send whatever was fair. This is what I received:

All the Boston guys were on my list. The Ultra Jordan was too, but I wasn't expecting a graded copy. No idea why she sent the 1994-95 Ultra cards, I'd asked for 1993-94 Ultra singles. But that's okay. I think this was a fair return - though I'm not sure what to do with the MJ now.

I don't want to get into a whole big discussion over the Coronavirus, but it would be a shame if Joe Thornton played his last home game in an empty arena. I'm not sure how much he has left in the tank but I'd really like to see him come back next year and take one last run at a Stanley Cup - with anyone but Pittsburgh. Or Carolina. Or the Rangers. Or Winnipeg. Or St Louis. Or...damn there's a lot of NHL teams I don't like.



Anyway, that's all the random thoughts I have for now. Its' been fun to free-write a little bit. The All-Time Teams series will resume this weekend. I'm working hard to complete it before the season starts in 15 days. Also, at the conclusion of the series - and a "Free Stuff Friday" exclusive for those of you who have commented on the series. (There will be cards to claim from all sports, not just baseball.)



Thanks for reading this randomness!




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100 Trades!

As I mentioned in the TCDB forums (I posted something on a message board? what?) I completed my 100th transaction on the site. In exchange for 31 duplicates (mostly hockey) from the 1990s I received 31 cards from DukeyDevil. They arrived in a folded-up 9-pocket page:

The most interesting item was this 1980-81 Topps Whalers team poster insert. 1979-80 was the Whalers' first year in the NHL (Gordie Howe is in the front row.) I was expecting this to have more wear and tear but it looks great!

Three more 1980s Whalers I needed. 

A nine-pocket page worth of set fillers from 1993-94 Fleer Ultra basketball. I've completed the 1992-93 Ultra set, and now I'm at 69.3% completion of this one.

Some more set fillers here. I finally finished 2019 Topps baseball, though I could use a couple upgrades. The Singletary is a huge upgrade to my 1986 Topps football set, my previous copy was creased. I've had a hard time finding a well-centered Al Toon RC. This one isn't 50/50 but it's good enough.

Some team favorites here, including a Ted Williams insert from 1992 Upper Deck. The John Garret isn't a team PC card, and it isn't part of a set build... yet.

I was thrilled that these Hall of Fame Habs were in fantastic shape. I've had so many bad experiences trading for vintage-ish OPC hockey cards that I almost quit TCDB trading. In fact the 1982-83 OPC Shutt is an upgrade over a creased copy I got in an earlier trade.

There were two reasons I kept at it - to finish my 2019 Topps baseball set, and to complete 100 transactions. I couldn't be happier that this deal accomplished both those things and more. Transactions #101 and #102 (which will be trade #100) are already in progress.


Btw, this brings my current card count up to 98,002! However that number will go down as I have a stack of cards ready to ship out to a blogger tomorrow.


Thanks for reading!



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