The Small Trade Parade, Vol. IV
Alright, it’s time to whip up another of these posts. I’m sitting here watching us hit the crap out of the ball – right at the Rays, however – and blowing another shot to steal a game. I can’t imagine how we’re going to make it through a long series with no off days, but Valdéz and McCullers have given us great long starts and the bats haven’t bailed them out of a couple small spots. That’s a shame. You know what isn’t a shame, though? These cards I’ve been reaping in trades! Let’s have a look at some recent small swaps.
John (johlamb) and I put together a quick and easy swap. I sent over a PWE of Archives needs, and he sent me this trio of inserts. I was a field guide nerd as a kid, and the rocks & minerals one got heavy use, so when I saw these Digging Deep inserts in Ginter this year, I knew I was going to build it. The Altuve is a lime green parallel from this year’s Optic, and it sings.
Marti (glassnickels) and I traded last month, but I found a few more things he needed, and scooped this blue refractor of Delino DeShields Jr. from 2014 Bowman Draft, numbered to 299. It’s a beauty as well.
Matthew (jmswyo) needed some Royals, and shot me an offer for a few Astros. Between him, Ian, and Merlin, I now have trade partners for plenty of my Royals cards. I was able to dig out a couple older things and several Royals stickers in exchange for this PWE stuffed with Astros. I’m getting close to finished on that 1992 OPC team set, and the Drabek and Reynolds are from the 1995 Bicycle Aces playing cards. It’s always nice to pick up some of the less common stuff from the aughts like that ’01 Chrome Caminiti and the silver Kent from ’03 Total. Finally, a pair of Ginter inserts round out the bunch, with the Altuve knocking off my Numbers Game needs and a lovely black bordered Jon Singleton mini from 2015.
Ryan (rmcketchnie) only had two Astros I needed – a Eusebio from the great looking 2001 Pacific set (Shane and Julie will appreciate the tools of ignorance, I’m sure) and a Jio Mier card from 2009 TriStar Prospects. That allowed me to unload a handful of Red Sox cards that were just taking up space here, and that’s just fine with me.
Meanwhile, a different Ryan (Ryans0625) had a few other needs for me to scoop up in exchange for some Jeremy Hellickson cards. That was just fine as well. I know it’s pointless to scan these Topps Coins and their more recent Archives issues, but I’ll still do it, because hey – they’ve got to make the blog somehow. The Apollo 13 mission card is in the Astros binder, well, because. And yes, we’ve had* a problem: Bregman just flew out with the bases loaded to end the ballgame and now we’re down 2-0 to the Rays and blew another great start. Finally, I am working on the scratch-offs from last year’s Heritage, you can find them on the want list over there. I’ve got most of the regular release, but am missing almost all of the high series.
* The quote is “Houston, we’ve had a problem,” not “you have,” get it right.
Finally (well, for today), recent trading pal Tim (jfcard) turned out to have the two legends SPs from 2020 flagship that I care about most, the Killer B’s I grew up watching. I’d seen some basketball matches from him of all things* and so in exchange for a Jordan, a Griffey from Archives, and a handful of other basketball cards I landed these two beauties. Look at those glorious late-90’s uniforms! They’re the second-best** Astros uniforms out there. My only peeve with these is that they keep the modern color scheme for the nameplate instead of trying to match the color scheme of the uniforms depicted on the cards. The double-dip shot of Biggio over another HOF second baseman is just icing on the cake.
* The recent match tool at TCDB is one of my favorite ways to unload unwanted cardboard.
** I’ll get drilled for this, but it’s (1) 60’s shooting star unis (2) late 90’s unis (3) initial tequila sunrise with numbers on the pants. Fight me.
Alright, hopefully we can get the bats up and going tomorrow, because we surely need it. I don’t even know who we’re giving the ball to, although the smart money is probably on hard-throwing José Urquidy. Time to put up some more Ws.
Not gonna fight you. I love the shooting start unis but never cared for the mid/late 90s unis. I was watching the Stros heavily in those years. I like bold, bright colors on my boys. I do believe the Stros will go home after four. Sad end to what could’ve been a great season.