The Small Trade Parade, Vol. I

I’ve determined that the only way I’m going to get through all of my backlog (especially given my dismal posting rate of late) is to just start putting up these trades all willy-nilly. So welcome to the Small Trade Parade, a seemingly endless set of posts in which I’m just going to put up the past year and a half worth of cards that got sent my way, provided they haven’t made the blog as of yet. These aren’t going to be me waxing poetic or pondering the deeper meaning of any of the cards, sorry. I’d like to get to where I’ve got more time to post like that. But, I also want to acknowledge stuff that’s arrived here at RTA, even if that’s mainly to just say, “XYZ sent me a cool card, look at this cool card, thanks XYZ!”

This installment of the parade is going to skew a bit longer than most, since I’m working off an already loaded draft. Let’s start with the smallest of possible swaps, a 1-for-1 from Clay (yrrcwc) who shot me an offer at TCDB. That got me this Gerald Young coin. I don’t know why I compulsively try to scan these even though I know the focus will be off, but here you go. Thanks Clay!

These came in much more recently. You may be wondering, “Football cards?!? What are those doing here?” Well, I got a match notification on some of my football traders, and Mike (bakerybum) relieved me of about five dozen pieces of ’90s hand-egg cardboard. In return, I scooped up a couple of Oilers legends – an Earl Campbell on this ’79 Topps team leaders card and this beautiful ’87 of Warren Moon leading the huddle. I do love that ’87 football design. Thanks for helping me make some room, Mike!

At some point in the not-too-distant past I placed a few Calvin Murphy, Moses Malone, and Rudy Tomjanovich cards on my wantlist. Aspiring someday cardshop owner Sky (BasketballHQ) offered up this ’72-’73 Murph in exchange for a couple of Rangers. I couldn’t pass that deal up! The Houston placard in here really threw me for a loop, until it was pointed out to me that this set also featured the ABA’s Denver Rockets, hence the necessity to distinguish them. Thanks Sky, and good luck on your shop!

Carl (vanstryland) shot me a trade offer for a few Cardinals and a Karl Malone card. In return I picked up three Astros. What’s that? You say that I’m mistaken, and that Nevin is a Team USA card? Well, the back talks about him being drafted by Houston, so it’s an Astros card to me. I snagged a ’94 Topps Gold Al Osuna and a Jimmy Jones of the more elusive ’92 Topps Gold parallels – not a Gold Winner.

Brandon (BLWinborn40) and I have made many a small swap. I think we even have one underway right now, or I have a proposal of his to review. He’s a Braves collector, and in exchange for a pair of Atlantans from 2020 Heritage I scooped these. Martin is a fellow Aggie, and while we traded him away last year, it was fun to see him make a handful of appearances here. The Springer card knocked off my base needs for 2019 Holiday, outside of the variations.

John (YanksFan876) had a pair of Altuves for me. The throwback jersey is one of the many, many Astros in the massive “Salute” series spread across the three 2018 Topps releases. The other is a Throwback Thursday issue featuring the ’84 football design. That they found a picture of José throwing a football for it is a nice touch.

Phillies fan Bill (Drdirt) is another recurring trade pal from the site. We’ve conducted two little swaps this year. The first one brought in a stellar Mike Piazza from the super-duper 1996 SPx set. I made the decision to start building that one either late last year or early in 2020 (time is a flat circle, so who knows now?), and I’ve picked up about a dozen of the 60-card checklist. I’m building the glossy run of Diamond Kings as well, and that includes the glorious pop art editions of ’93 and ’94, and I’m including the Triple Play Gallery of the Stars offerings in there.

The other trade was more recent, and saw me land Garrett Stubbs rookie card from Series 2, and one of the last Big League cards I needed. I’m still missing two of those. Finally, this one rounded out with a 1995 Leaf card of A-Rod. Why? Well, I finally caved and started slow-rolling a build of this set I’ve loved for so long as well.

Seth (CardsintheBasement) needed a few cards from 2019 Archives. That brought me a Reggie Jackson’s Clutch Performers insert of Will Clark from 1993 Upper Deck, a Bregman from GQ, and a Gold parallel of my lost golden boy, Jake Marisnick. *Sniff* We miss you, Jake.

Chet (chet9) and I pulled off a 1-for-1 swap as well, which is how this Walmart Blue edition of Lucas Harrell wound up in my binder.

These came from Rory (lord_bagel), who apparently just moved away from Houston. I was able to help him out with some 2019 Topps and a few other things. He actually shot me an offer with the two 2020 Series 2 inserts here, the Verlander and Springer cards. That’s actually the second Home Run Challenge card of Springer, and the one from Series 1 has the same number. That drives me crazy, because I really wish Topps would just pick up where they left off number-wise when they continue an insert series across multiple series. What I was most excited about here, though, are the two giveaway cards from 2018 National Baseball Card Day. Those are tough to find, since they were a stadium giveaway. Still need the Correa and the Gurriel.

Adam (2822ams) needed a handful of Red Sox cards, which hauled in a blue parallel of Roy Oswalt’s Decade’s Best insert, a shiny gold foil version of Handsome Jake, and a Scratch-Off insert from last year’s Heritage set. I’m decided to build those and the Candy Lids.

Also included in the haul were some stickers from 1984. Those two-fers include Denny Walling, Joe Niekro, Joe Sambito, and Alan Ashby. The final card in this trade was a white parallel from 2020 Heritage, and wow does that look weird. These aren’t numbered but apparently only had a print run of 50 a piece. I’ve got a weird bone to pick with Topps and the postseason cards in 2020 Heritage: I don’t understand the mixed use of (toned) black & white images and color images. Perhaps that’s a direct correlation from 1971, I’m not familiar enough with the smaller intricacies of the set to know.

Joseph (hawkking) needed a few White Sox cards. That led to a small swap that landed me a few stickers, including a lovely action shot of Nolan Ryan from 1988 Panini. The Craig Reynolds here on the right is what the standard player stickers look like, in case you’re unfamiliar with them. The other was a bizarre Upper Deck hologram sticker which I’d never seen before. Apparently there were separate stickers for the Heroes of Baseball inserts? The date on it is perplexing. Someone more familiar may have this, but was that a giveaway? I have one of the Heroes of Baseball 8x10s, and I recall getting that one at a ballgame once upon a time. Perhaps that was the giveaway day?

Also involved in the swap was a handful of Astros inserts. That Fractal Foundations parallel of Richard Hidalgo from 1998 Leaf is a-mazing. In wild late-’90s fashion, it’s serial numbered to just 3999. The Oswalt finished off my SportsNut needs from the 2003 Upper Deck MVP set.

Let’s wrap this up with one more 1-for-1 swap. This 2020 DK card of Nolan came from Peter (pdmkam), who needed the corresponding Machado card. It always feels good to help out another collector, no matter how small the swap. Of course, getting something in return doesn’t hurt either.

Alright, you’re in for a legion of Small Trade Parade posts. Like I said, this one is certainly going to be longer than most. I’ve got to clear out this backlog – it’s preventing me from getting my scans organized, which is preventing me from scanning some of the other stuff around here. I’d like to make sure I’ve got scans of all my Bagwell and Biggio cards – and some of my other small PCs – so that I can reference them easily. Of course, I don’t really want to spend extra time scanning and cropping cards that are already sitting in a trade folder, waiting to be posted. It’s time to start resolving that.

If you are getting into the 2000 Just Minors super-cheap break (it’s just $1 per major league team if you’re not already in!), I’m pushing that one back a few days. I ran out of time this weekend and I’ve got a big interview to prep for in the mean time. That’ll happen bright and early on Wednesday, so keep me in those thoughts and prayers, if you do that sort of thing. I’d really like to have a job again and I’d especially like this job.

2 Replies to “The Small Trade Parade, Vol. I”

  1. You don’t need any thoughts or prayers, the job’s already yours, they’ve been waiting for you, they just won’t know it until you walk in! 🙂

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