The Small Trade Parade, Vol. II

It’s baaaaack! I told you this would be a recurring feature. As you can tell, I’ve returned to my usual posting frequency. Oops. By the way, I haven’t forgotten about the break, just been swamped of late. The interviews, while not abundant, have certainly seen an uptick in frequency. I had the big third round interview for a great position last week and have my fingers crossed while awaiting their decision.

But we’re not here to talk about that right now, we’re here to talk about that delightful distractive disconnect I get to dive into at the end of the day: baseball cards. The scan folders have seemingly grown at an unstoppable pace, and the only way to resolve that is to keep posting. I mean, I suppose I could stop trading, but c’mon.

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Let’s start with my latest swap with Marti (glassnickels) in September. We’ve put a few little ones together lately, and actually just agreed to another. This haul included a Brandon Barnes refractor, an Altuve insert from 2016 Bunt (I liked this idea but did not like the fake wear and tear they applied to the Program inserts), and a lovely Mojo Refractor of new pitching stud Cristian Javier from 2019 Bowman. He’s been really fun to watch, and I think he actually led the team in wins this season – (goes to check B-Ref) – well, he tied for the lead with Framber Valdéz at 5. There was also an orange bordered Big League parallel of the AL Saves Leaders, but I try not to show cards of that guy here.

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Marti also found these two Hostess cards from my want list and threw them in as a surprise bonus. I feel sometimes like my eyes shouldn’t really like this set, with the diagonal lines in the border giving it a busyness that clashes with the angle of the banner, but hell, I do love it. I just can’t stare at these too long, or my eyes get tired.

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This little group rolled in from Jack (jackcutch1) from the end of July. I believe I’ve got the Flipping Out insert set built by now, although I should double check. The Springer is a refractor and the Greinke is a chromed-out Turkey Red. That random Chris Sampson AAA card was quite a surprise. I’m always curious how things like that end up in someone’s trade list. Perhaps it slipped into a repack.

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These horizontal Stadium Club beauties were also part of the bounty: a sepia McCullers from 2018, a black foil Cole from 2019, and a red foil Power Zone insert of Bregman. That McCullers shot is him celebrating after throwing 24 straight curveballs to beat the Yankees in the 2017 ALCS, and that photo never gets old.

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These ‘Stros came in from Steve (Dutchboyfan) in late March, just after the shutdown really commenced. First up were a couple of Topps inserts. I’m sure they were a welcome cheer-up after getting laid off, but it’s been so long that I really honestly have no idea. Although who am I kidding, all the cards that grace my mailbox bring a smile to my face!

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Other highlights in this one included a black foil Nolan Ryan parallel from 2019 Stadium Club and a 150th Anniversary parallel of Correa’s base card. While I am still not in favor of the text choice for last year’s Stadium Club set, I am all about that photo choice. The last big item of note in this trade was a manu-patch (are these really considered patches? They’re not cloth!) with Gerrit Cole gracing it. These things are by and large silly, and yet they somehow feel like a triumph whenever I land one.

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Finally, I’ll close out this edition with another swap from Brandon (stoob), which I received in early April. It felt like we were ripping off a small trade every other week for a while, and these fresh Heritage needs must have spurred this one to fruition. While I like this Gerrit Cole insert, I’m officially beyond sick of the “let’s call back a design and create an insert run that’s really just a whole other set disguised as inserts,” tack that Topps has been on, so I’m hoping it fades away in 2021. I don’t have much of that hope, though. The super-shiny red wave Phoenix parallel of Kyle Tucker from 2019 Chronicles was a stellar surprise, though, many thanks to Brandon for tossing that in as a bonus.

Alright, I’m making myself a promise to break that box this week, and hopefully I can get a few more posts up, because I really need to start emptying these scan folders. I’ve been fortunate to find a lot of trading partners this year, be they big or small swaps. Y’all stay safe now, ya hear?