Trades Big And Small

Well, it’s just small trades here, although I’ve had packages of several different categories arrive lately. It’s late and I’m feeling the scan folder growing to overwhelming magnitude, so I thought I’d start clearing it out – just a bit.

I discovered that my Twitter pal Jenny had joined up over at TCDB (via Twitter, of course), so I immediately reached out with several cards she needed. In exchange, this little swap enabled me to put the Baseball Equipment of the Ages inserts from 2018 Ginter to rest. This one is just a real fun set, and I closed it out with Honus Wagner. You can’t beat that.

Quallsy here comes via John, whose moniker at TCDB is tigerhead. He’s one of a few Tigers fans that I’ve swapped with over there. Parallels are greatly appreciated ’round these parts, and I think I’m closing in on a few of the 2014 runs – enough so that I should put a little effort into chasing the remainders down. This gold bordered version has to be near finished, by now.

John also had these stellar catchers available from the Archetypes inserts found in 2015 Topps. Don’t ask me why, but I decided this was a great insert set once upon a time. That’s probably because I was looking for things to hunt and/or build. Well, I still think they’re neat enough, and I think I have about half of them at this point.

John had a couple more cards for sets I’m building. Last year I started a Mini Frankenset. I, uh, still haven’t blogged about that. While slowly adding to that, I fell pretty hard for the Kimball Champions inserts in 2011 Topps, and decided to just try and build that full set. Hence, the Scooter you see here. The Goslin was one of a couple cards from 2018 Diamond Kings, another recent set that I’ve really enjoyed. The 2019 set was underwhelming – many of the photos are being reused, and the format was only mildly changed. But the artwork on these just sings, and Panini should be commended for it.

These cards slid my way via Will, (iggywrestler2). We’ve swapped once before, I believe. At any rate, it was the Moth Orchid mini that kicked this one off. I really fell for a couple of the non-sport A&G tobacco-sized inserts last year, and the In Bloom cards in particular look quite swell. So when this match popped up, I threw a trade together. Finding stuff Will needed was easy, and since he didn’t have many matches for me, I just browsed what was available. That led to a stellar ’96 Nomo. I’m too young for Fernandomania, but I certainly recall watching Nomo with rabid interest when he came over. The Tornado was just fascinating. So while I don’t really add guys like this to the wantlist, I will certainly nab interesting cards for my collection.

I found a handful of cards from the 1997 Donruss set to round out the trade. This is one of those sets that has really grown on me over the years, design-wise. It’s simple and subtle and clean. There are some great photos in the set. So picking up this group of HOFers (+ Will Clark) was a no-brainer. I might send that Sandberg off to get signed soon.

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Finally (well, for tonight), I wanted to highlight a small swap with Andy (BrewerAndy at TCDB), which netted me some of my first 2020 flagship. When this deal was agreed to, I had pulled a few Astros from the blaster I bought, but these were the first cards of 2020 Topps being sent my way. Now, they didn’t arrive first, because a few others rolled in just before them, but these were certainly appreciated. I’ll miss both of these guys dearly. Cole is certain to be a menace for a while – with the obvious “provided his arm holds up” caveat necessary when talking about pitchers. But Jake is the one that is a bit of a heartbreaker. He’s a devilishly good outfielder, an outstanding baserunner, and quite a looker. Handsome Jake will certainly be missed around these parts. It’s his lack of production at the plate that decided his fate, in the end. I still think he needs real, consistent playing time to get that right.

Andy also had a blue Altuve for me from 2019 Prizm. These parallels, as most are these days, have umpteen varieties. I actually have a fair number of them from 2019 Prizm, though, from a handful of lucky pulls and a larger number of trades. I’m thinking – once I have some of my other projects done – about trying to complete a few of the runs. This border plays quite nice with the Houston gear that José is sporting, even without logos. Thanks Andy!

Alright, that’ll do it for now. Hopefully I can get off my duff and start getting ahead of the curve here. There are many more thank-yous in order, and a show full of stuff to be blogged!