Trade Post - The Angels, In Order

As I continue on my streak of trade posts, I want to highlight a trade made with Tom over at The Angels, In Order.  Tom reached out to me letting me know he had a card I would be interested in (I was!) and the trade blossomed into a much bigger deal.  This seems to happen more often then not for me and I love it.

Here are some of the highlights from a great trade package:

First up are some cards from the 90s.  I have tons of needs from this era and Tom was able to fill some binder gaps for me. I am particularly fond of the Emotion set, I didn't have any cards from this set until some recent trades brought some to me. I am not sure of the story behind the word on the front (I am thinking some random dude had the card flashed in front of his eyes and they put the first word that popped into his head as the word on the card) but I really like the photography and the words are usually fitting - What else is Royce Clayton doing but anticipating the pop up?  The Pinnacle set across the middle is a frustrating set to me.  I have several hundred cards from this set, I cannot recall how I got them, but very few of them were Giants. When I decided to go full force on the Giants that was one of the first boxes I went to and I was gravely disappointed.  This trade got me 3 cards closer to finishing the team set!  A couple different years of Studio cards of Matt Williams were also some nice additions and I always enjoy picking up another Barry "US" Bonds card in a deal.

Next up are some cards since the turn of the century.

Ellis Burks was a darn good player.  His best years were with the Rockies but I was happy to see him on the Giants and add the Victory card to my collection.  A 2012 Bumgarner!  He is having a very nice year and I anticipate him being the #2 starter as the playoffs begin behind Matt Cain.  I have only bought 2 packs of Bowman Platinum (and no Giants) so any cards from this set are very welcome.  Turkey Red is one of my favorite designs.  I am technically working on the first set from 2005 but I am down to needing 43 cards and all but 1 are SPs.  These are virtually impossible to track down so this will probably end up as an unfinished set.  I do like the insert sets that Topps put out for a couple years.  I believe I collected all of them with my sets and am picking up the Giants, like this Freddy Sanchez to fill up the Giants binder.  I got a couple Bowman needs in the middle of this picture, included a 2012 purple parallel.  The Opening Day Rich Aurilia leaves me once card (Robb Nen) away from completing the team set.  I have very few MLB Showdown cards and after hearing Nick from Dime Box talk about his love of the game, I am tempted to track down a ton of these and try out the game.  Finally a nice Donruss Classics card, did anyone remember that Kenny Lofton was a Giant?  It was only 46 regular season games in 2002 but he did play in the playoffs and World Series.

Now finally the card that started the trade...

I very nice Green Parallel Barry Zito GU card serial numbered to only 25!  I am a huge fan of this set but never bought much of it.  I am thinking of working on a Zito rainbow now that I added this card, it is my 3rd different version.  Zito is having a very solid year for the Giants - they have actually won his last 10 starts.  This has apparently earned him a spot on the playoff roster but I don't think it will be as a started.  As much as I hate how the contract he was given has somewhat handcuffed the Giants financially, it is hard to blame him. From the second it was signed most knew it was way too much money for a guy without dominant stuff so I tend not to blame Zito. Has he frustrated me at times - heck yeah! - but I do think he gives maximum effort and I am glad to see him doing well this year.  Hopefully he earns a WS ring this year instead of just getting one without playing in the post season.

I am also glad Tom reached out to me and allowed me to add this card to my collection. Thanks for a great trade!!!

Trade Post - Cards on Cards

I want to continue my focus on trade posts in an effort to recognize all the great bloggers/traders out there and get a little more caught up on these posts.  I have a couple other ideas that I plan to work on over the weekend for posts but I think I will continue to celebrate some trades for the time being.

A few weeks back Kerry over at Cards on Cards dropped me a note letting me know that he had a bunch of cards from my want list and wondering if I wanted to make a trade.  I jumped all in and over the course of a couple weeks we worked out a pretty big trade. I sent Kerry some Cardinals goodies and he sent me a big stack in return.  Here are the highlights of the stuff Kerry sent me.

I got a ton of base cards I needed and I really enjoy knocking cards off that want list.  What a great variety of sets represented here.  I got cards from two of my favorite sets in Ultra and Stadium Club (is it just me or does everyone see a picture of Orel Hershiser in a Giants uni and just think it is WRONG!).  I had a couple of the Donruss World Series cards for my player collections but this is my first going into the Giants binders.  Love the mascot card from Opening Day, they are inserts now but in 2007 they were part of the base set (Are there any Giants fans out there who remember Lou Seal's predecessor The Crazy Crab?  At AT&T Park they have the Crazy Crab costume and a bobble head on display on the Club Level).  I really like the design of the Rod Beck Select card and have picked up a few of those recently.  A very nice selection.

 I also scored some nice parallels.  3 Topps 1st edition cards, I thought these were pretty rare, I know I pulled 1 or 2 in 2007 in a ton of packs.  Very glad to add these.  I have the complete set of UD Timeline (that was a tough one to put together) but this is a nice Gold Parallel.  The Stadium Club of Robby Thompson is a nice pick up, he was one of my favorite Giants growing up.  I have been slowly picking up some Topps Gold parallels over the last few months.

 Next up are some inserts.  Have a trio of Barry cards along the top.  Love the 1951ish Home Run card - what else would you expect the HR King to showcase on this card.  I am up to having 133/586 (22.7%) of the Home Run History cards - I am only looking for the ones in a Giants uniform.  I recall pulling some of the Iooss Collection cards back in the day and the photography was before its time.  Nice to pick up Will the Thrill.  Scored a couple 2010 UD inserts from their last baseball release along with a recent Mel Ott insert.  The two Big Cat cards are nice and shiny as well.

 These 5 cards have something in common with each other - anyone want to guess the connection?  Well unless you are a student of my want list, you wouldn't guess it but these all completed team sets for me.  What a great trade package - one that can fill 4 team sets in one trade!

Speaking of team sets, this group of Fleer Update cards include all but one from the team set - Barry Bonds.  Any guess what, I already had the Bonds so this is a 5th completed team set.  These new additions to the Giants at the time bring back a lot of memories and a few frustrations.  I was never a fan of Mark Carreon or Dave Martinez.  I actually had high hopes for Todd Benzinger when the Giants got him but that didn't really pan out.

The final two cards I want to showcase are probably my favorite types of cards to get in a trade package.  Neither of these cards were even on my checklist.  I have seen the trifold cards before but they didn't make it on my checklist from Beckett, I have since added all the Giants thanks the checklist on Team Sets 4 U.  What a great looking card, I really want to add a few more. I had the Garko base on my checklist but not the Chrome version.  Both great additions and also value added to get my checklist up to date.

Thanks Kerry for a great trade!!!

Trade Post - Lifetime Topps

Today I wanted to share a trade I made with Charlie over at Lifetime Topps Project.  It was our first trade and it was a great one.  I filled a bunch of his set needs and got a big stack of Giants and a couple set needs in return.

First up is some golden goodness:

I don't have too many of those 90s gold parallel cards so I was happy to pick these up.  The Royce Clayton Topps Embossed gold parallel is a pretty unique looking card, it was the first time I had seen one of these.   I am far from a Cubs fan but always enjoy seeing the ivy covered walls and this Willie McGee card doesn't disappoint.  I was lucky enough to see a game at Wrigley last year on a work trip to Chicago - you can feel the history ooze out of that place.

Next up are some Stadium Club Giants needs.  With these additions and some from a group break at Cardboard Connections, I am strongly considering an all out blitz to collect all the Giants from the Stadium Club releases.  I will probably limit it to base and inserts as I am not too excited about the first day parallels but we shall see.  A couple nice looking defensive plays by Royce and Barry captured in these cards.

If I decided to embark on my Stadium Club quest, I would bet Ultra won't be too far behind.  Again, not a huge fan of the Medallion parallels but the photography in Ultra is typically strong and they have a great assortment of insert cards.  Here are 4 that I needed that came over in this trade.

These are some miscellaneous Giants that I really liked.  I am a fan of all the different 3D cards that have been out over the years.  The Trevor Wilson Flair card is very pretty and the Fleer card finished my team set.  I just love the CLOBBERING on the Glenallen Hill card - the man could just crush the ball.  To me this is a perfect Darryl card, he appears to be moping in the dugout.  Darryl helped me recognize the strength of my passion for the Giants.  Attending a game shortly after Darryl joined the Giants I found myself standing with the crowd and shouting his name to encourage him (as I recall the bases were loaded in a tight game).  Darryl had been far from a favorite for me - in reality he was probably in my top 5 most hated players before he joined the Giants - but that all changed when he joined my team.

Here are a couple of set needs I picked up in this trade.  The Bautista is an SP and I still need a decent number to finish up this set - why do I torture myself in trying to build this set.  On the other hand, the Kiner card was one of the last 3 I need to finish this set in my epic Two Sets - Same Day event recently.

Finally the actually origin of the trade.  Charlie received a set of the Diamond Anniversary set and I was lucky enough to trade for the Giants set.  I share some of my favorite images that have been seen quite a bit.  While Pat the Bat won't be taking a victory lap and The Beard won't be notching the winning save, I am hoping my playoff bound Giants can create some additional memories and card awesomeness with a deep run in the playoffs this year.

Thanks Charlie for a great trade!

Trade Post - Fantastic Catch, Reader Jim and Card Hobbyist

I have been a very bad blogger.  I have been pretty proud of myself the last few days as my desk is looking fairly organized and most of my incoming trades and purchases have been scanned.  I haven't quite put all the cards into their proper binder or box but they are organized by product (for my sets), player (for my player collections) and year (for my Giants).  I have been a little lax in posting, not meeting my one post per day goal but justified that by applauding myself for being somewhat organized.  My self congratulations stopped this morning when I checked my scan folder for the blog and saw that I have 17 trades that I have yet to post on.  This doesn't include the stack of cards I received in yesterday's mail or the 3 trades I have finalized in the last couple days.  Yes, I am 20 trades behind.

 Time to fix this and there is no time like the present.  My favorite part of blogging has been the trades.  There is nothing better about taking cards that really don't fit into my collection and trading them for cards that fit in quite nicely.  However my next favorite thing is reading about the trades I have made on other blogs - it is great to see the pleasure others find in the cards I send their way. Not sure if others feel the same but if they do, I am have not been holding up my end of the deal.

I thought I would share three oldest trades I have yet to post today. 

First up is a trade with Weston over at Fantastic Catch.  Weston and I have made a few trades and he is great at tracking down cards from my want list and dropping me a note to initiate a trade.

Weston traded me this very patriotic Brett Pill Rookie parallel (I love the American Flag cards!) and a Topps Update of former Giant Nate Schierholtz that completed this team set.  He also shot me two inserts that I quickly filed and forgot to scan. While there weren't too many cards in this trade, it was another great trade with Fantastic Catch. Thanks Weston!

Next up is a trade with Jim who is a reader of the blog.  He uses the log on of mrhaverkamp on the blogs and is also a Giants fan!!!  This is the first of two trades we made - the other will get its own post fairly soon. 

 Jim gave some help in completing my 2012 Allen and Ginter set.  Here are 7 base cards I needed.  In typical A&G fashion we get a mix of ballplayers and people from other areas of the sports world.  I was happy to knock these off the old want list and through some other trades I am now 2 SPs away from finishing this base set off!

Jim also included these 5 What's in a Name inserts.  I am farther away from finishing this one up still needing 23 cards but that is 77% done!  I really like this insert set, many of the card backs are pretty interesting and informative and the front design has grown on my featuring a mini card, the team logo and player name prominently featured.

The most exciting part of the trade for me was getting these 6 Hostess cards for my Giants collection.  I didn't have too many Hostess cards so this really filled a gap for me.  The Giants sure had some good players and personalities in the 70s.  Hard to believe they had Gary Matthews, Dave Kingman and George Foster early in their careers and got rid of them prior to them amounting to much.  Thanks for the great trade Jim. I am sure you are as excited as I am about the upcoming post season.  GO GIANTS!!!

The final trade I want to feature today is from the Card Hobbyist.  Patrick reached out to me with a big list of Ginter cards he had from my want list.  I am still amazed at how easy it has been to work towards completing sets in our blogging community.  In the past I have bought an extra box of certain cards to try and get close to my sets or get tradebait for the forums but trades like this really excite me about our community.  Patrick traded me a nice stack of Ginter base and inserts for a group of minis from the last couple years he needed for his mini sets. I decided to only collect the Giants minis so it was a perfect trade.

 Patrick sent me a big stack of base and these are some of my favorites.  This group includes a coach (and a jerk of a coach at that), a fisherman and an astronaut.  We also have 2 HOFers, a rookie, a nice action photo, a new Dodger in his old Red Sox uni (hitting .263 since the trade with only 2 HRs since his first AB) and a NL West Champion Giants.  Great collection of cards!

I also scored 5 What's in a Name inserts and one Baseball Sketch card.  I was very happy to pick up the Lynn Nolan and Rickey Nelson Henley cards in this trade.  I still need 2 sketch cards to finish that insert set.  Thanks Patrick for the major help on the Ginter set.

Thanks to all 3 of my trade partners.  I want you to know that the delay in getting this post up is in no way a reflection of not appreciating the trades.  After several months I am still trying to balance the buying, trading, scanning, posting and organizing of my cards - not to mention the work and family as well. I pledge to get caught up on trade posts in the next two weeks so keep the trade offers coming!

Baseball Book Review - Driving Mr. Yogi by Harvey Araton

I have been reading quite a bit lately but have mostly been focused on the fiction genre.  I used to buy tons of books but have narrowed my scope to baseball books and a few of my favorite fiction authors.  To get my fix with a variety of different books, I visit our local library fairly frequently.  It is a beautiful building and has a huge selection of books.  I always peruse the new release section and a couple weeks back this new book caught my eye:

Driving Mr. Yogi, by Harvey Araton, caught my eye.  Regular readers of this blog know that I am by no means a Yankees fan but I am a huge fan of baseball history, especially those who came before my time. I have read a few books either about Yogi Berra or that included him but this seems to be a fresh angle. a story about Yogi's relationship with Ron Guidry a former Yankees star left-hander.  Before I share a little about the story, I thought I would share a couple of nice Yogi cards that I have in my collection, this is a card blog after all.

I bought the Yogi auto in a 3 card lot years ago on eBay with cards from Phil Neikro and Duke Snider as well.  The GU was a very nice pack pull, I am struggling to remember the product but was very happy to pull it.

Now on to a little about the book.  It was a fairly quick read, only 210 pages long.  It has a fairly narrow focus on the relationship between Guidry and Berra with some George Steinbrenner mixed in.  Many baseball books about players spend a lot of time delving in the childhood and background of the subjects and while this book had a little of that, it wasn't over the top.  A majority of the book is spent describing the interactions of the two main characters, first when Guidry was pitching for the Yankees in the late 70s and into the 80s then after Yogi reconciled with Steinbrenner and became a part of the Yankees once again.

The most pleasurable parts of the book are the stories and interaction over the past decade plus during Spring Training.  Guidry has spent time as the pitching coach and as a special instructor while Berra attends annually to help out the younger players and relive his youth as a ballplayer.  Guidry and Berra find joy in pranking each other but there are also heartfelt moments between the two.

The best way to describe their relationship is that it is a sweet and loving relationship.  It seems a little odd to me to describe a relationship that takes part mostly on the diamond, in the dugout and in the clubhouse but it is the best way to describe it.  Often times when you hear stories of two people coming together from different generations it is described as a father/son relationship.  This was different.  Guidry is close to his father and wasn't in the market for a daddy replacement, these two men just bonded out of mutual respect and admiration for each other and have become good friends.

Each year Guidry picks up Berra at the airport to signal the start of Spring Training.  The two spend most evenings together going out to dinner and Guidry even makes his Cajun frog legs for Berra and convinces him to try them.  It became an annual tradition.  Guidry, especially as Berra has aged, spends most of the spring looking out for his buddy's well being up to the point he drops him off at the airport at the end of spring.

In addition to highlight this relationship, there is time in the book dedicated to explaining the troubles both had with George Steinbrenner and how they worked through and overcame the troubles to respect the man called the Boss.  I actually enjoyed this part as well, I knew there had been a feud between George and Yogi but got a lot of insight into the details and how everything went down.

This book is touching and a decent read. It is the right length, any attempt to lengthen it out to 300 pages would have ruined it for me.  I wouldn't highly recommended it but for a quick read to learn more about one of the games greats and one of the top pitchers of the late 70s and early 80s you could do a lot worse.  I still have dozens of unread baseball books lining my shelves, time to pull another one down and get back in the baseball book groove.

I have gone Crazy for Triple Play

I am a little late to the bandwagon on Panini's Triple Play set.  Many bloggers have professed love (well maybe closer to a sincere like) for this product but interestingly enough I don't think the rest of the hobby world has caught on.

The best card in the set

This was lucky for me and I was able to take advantage at my LCS.  Recently I went in to the shop and was talking to the owner and a box of Triple Play caught my eye.  I had picked up a couple packs at Target and was thinking of getting more and the $22 price tag was tempting.  I asked him how much he had bought and if it had been popular.  He told me that is really hadn't sold at all and he bought 4 boxes and he was certain he would be sitting on them forever.  Without even asking, he told me he would sell me a box for $15 and I didn't hesitate to jump on it.  A couple days later, after thoroughly enjoying the break I went back for one more and got it for $17.  $32 for 48 packs - not too bad of a haul.

I already shared what I feel is the best card of the set, I am quite certain there will be disagreement from at least some of the Dodger bloggers out there.  (Side note - Wilson has been spending time in the Giants dugout lately and I LOVE the celebration dance he and Pablo Sandoval do in the dugout after the Panda homers.  Panda has hit 4 HRs in the last 3 games so I have had the chance to see it quite a bit.)  I thought I would share the results of my breaks, somewhat of a product review and a status on where I am with the set - yes I have decided to go for the entire set.

The first 90 cards in the set are the base cards featuring a few players for each team.  There are a few different artists, my favorite is the one who puts the little pictures in the background like the Golden Gate Bridge in the Lincecum card.  I think that extra touch adds a lot to the design of the card.  I was able to get all 90 cards in my boxes.

 The next 144 cards show a player picture on the front and have puzzle pieces of the same picture on the back.  There are 9 pieces per player and 16 total players featured.  After my 2 boxes I am 39 cards short of this portion of the set.  I really want to finish up the Buster Posey puzzle and I will need a second for my Giants collection.  I am missing 2 for my set and only got 1 duplicate for the Giants collection. 

 The next portion of the set is called Focus and shows the eyes of selection of 30 players, one from each team.  I was able to get 20 of the 30 cards in this section.

 The next 8 cards are titled Baseball 101.  If you hadn't figured it out yet, this is a set geared towards kids and these card backs provide lessons about different aspects of the game. I nice addition to the set with some generic (no specific players) art work on the front.  I was able to secure all 8 of these cards.

 Next up are 12 Hall of Fame cards.  I really like the design of these cards. One of the best designs of a non-licensed card I have seen in quite some time.  I only got 5 of the 12 cards in my boxes.  I was able to pick up a McCovey in a trade but that went straight to the McCovey set.  I was very pleased that my favorite player was included but I can't say with any certainty why the players in the set were specifically chosen.

 The second to the last portion of the set is titled When I was a Kid.  There are 10 of these and I was able to get 4. Again, a very kid focused section of the set.

 The final 6 cards of the set are Real Feel cards.  They feature swatches of material imbedded into the card.  These aren't attributed to any player, team or called game used (to me this is actually refreshing, at least they aren't misrepresenting like some of the recent news we have heard) but I really like these cards  They are very thin, hardly thicker than a regular card, and feature a nice design.  I was able to pull two of these, interestingly enough both came out of the first box.  I was able to score a third in a trade you will see more on soon so I am half way to the "relic" portion of the set.

All totaled the set is 300 cards.  I am 65 cards short of the set and my want list is posted on the blog. If you have cracked some packs and want to make a trade let me know.  Who knows, maybe I will head back to the shop and see if he is willing to let the last box go cheap as well.

 There are also 3 insert sets and I figured what the heck, might as well go for those as well.

 These stickers were inserted 1 per pack and these 12 are the only ones out of the 30 card set that I got. Yes 12 different stickers in 48 packs (plus a few from Target as well).  This was the only disappointing part of the break.  I ended up with 7 Mauers, 7 Tulos, 7 Matusz, 7 Grand Slams, 7 Screaming Managers and 7 Baseballs with Big Eyes.  The saving grace is my kids love them, especially the non player ones.

 These inserts are Tattoos and I got all 5 versions in my boxes.  I have yet to use the duplicates on the kids yet but I am sure that will come soon.

The final insert set is the Eye Black insert.  Each "card" features 2 stickers that could be stuck under the eyes as Eye Black.  I was able to secure 4 of the 6.

I obviously am a fan of this set, cheap and fun.  The designs of most of the sets are nice in my opinion and I look forward to going after the entire set. Let me know if you can help out.

Group Break Goods - JABO

It has been a slow week of blogging for me. I didn't get a chance to put together a few drafts over last weekend and had to travel for work.  I am also a little behind on reading some of the other blogs, hoping to get some "me" time this weekend and get back in the groove.  I have also gotten quite a few packages, both trades and purchases, that have been great to go through but time to get back to blogging.

I realized that my last Group Break post was a JABO post and I have another in the scan folder.  In honor of my friend Kyle's decision to smartly focus on his family instead of his hobby, I thought I would share the goods from the last break I participated in on his blog.  I respect his ability to set his priorities straight and have wondered if I may have to make that decision someday myself.  So far I have found what I think is a nice balance but the family is what typically results in the gaps between posting, which is all right by me.

Let's get to the cards.  The break was a 2 box break of 2012 Topps Chrome.  I bought a couple boxes of this stuff and am closing in on the set (just need 12 cards).  I picked up a few duplicates of Giants and this break got me to within 1 of the team set, just need a Ryan Vogelsong to finish it off.

 I also picked up a sweet Xfractor of Madison Bumgarner and a regular refractor of my favorite current Giant Matt Cain.  Very nice additions but not the best part of the break.

Here is the highlight of the break for me.  I really like the design of these cards.  I have heard some say they are more reprsentative of a typical Finest insert rather than Topps and I can't argue with that.  However, I really like the design and was very happy to pick up MVP candidate Buster Posey.  I have the Lincecum as well and only need the Kung Fu Panda to finish the team insert set.

 I got the Reds as team number 2, so if you need any of these let me know, they are for trade.
All of these are regular base cards.

I was very happy with the break and will miss the JABO breaks moving forward.  I will also miss Kyle's blog and making trades with him but I wish him all the best in the future.

Two Sets - Same Day

I was 12 years old during the release of the 1983 baseball sets and was in the sweet spot of my youth when it came to card collecting.  I was busy trying to put together all 3 sets (Topps, Fleer and Donruss) and get my hands on as many older cards as I could.  I remember one card in particular standing out that year and here it is:

I recall my best friend and I being so impressed that a big leaguer could get traded and on the same day travel to a new city and get a hit in both games.  It probably didn't hurt that he was signed by the Giants in the off season and was on the Giants during the 1983 season. Every time we heard his name on the radio, saw him on TV or he took the field during a game we attended, we would look at each other and say "Two Teams - Same Day".

 The card back shows a little more detail about the famous day:

A couple days ago I got two packages in the mail, both small Plain White Envelops which lately has been a fairly small mail day for me due to the trading generosity of my fellow bloggers :-).  When I opened them I saw that they were two small orders from Sportlots.  Each contained a few cards that I had order and amongst the cards were these:

Some nice cards, yes.  Two of the 3 are HOFers, the 3rd a promising young pitcher.  But the significance of these cards goes beyond that.  These were the final 3 cards to finish two sets - yes I completed "Two Sets - Same Day".  I hope that Mr. Youngblood is proud of my accomplishment.  I can't think of a day where I was able to delete two sheet out of my workbook, especially with sets that I collected all the inserts in addition to the base.

The completion of these sets has given me new motivation and inspiration to finish off some additional 2012 sets.  I suspect that Topps Update will be the last set I work on this year and the base will most likely be finished with the purchase of a Jumbo box so it will be only inserts for that set.  Although I saw that there will be gold parallels of all 3 series cards so there will be lots of Giants /2012 to track down.

Check out my Set Want List and let's make some trades.  I would much rather trade for the cards than have to reach out and buy them.  At the time of this post, here is a summary of what I am looking for, the details including card numbers on the link.

2012 Ginter - 1 Base card, 7 SPs, 45 What's in a Name inserts, 4 Sketches and 6 Historical Turning Points.

2012 Archives - 9 SPs (I am taking a stand and not counting the Bryce Harper card as part of the set), 1 Cloth Sticker, 2 Deckle Edge, 1 Sticker, 1 3-D, 14 Reprints and I may go after the In Actions and Combos if I can make some headway

2012 Chrome - 12 Base cards

2012 Topps Stickers - 30 Stickers

2012 Heritage - 22 SPs

2012 Opening Day - 3 Elite Skills inserts, 1 Fantasy Squad, 9 Mascots, and 7 Stars Inserts

It would be so cool to finish all of these sets by Year End and go into the new collecting season without a set to work on.  That would give me more time to focus on the blog and work out trades with everyone.  If you think you can help, even with one card, take a look at my list and let's deal. 

Trade Post - Nachos Grande

I made another trade with Chris over at Nachos Grande, this time the trade centered on us helping each other out with the 2012 Ginter set.  I am now getting really close to the base set and the regular sized insert sets are coming along well.  I shot Chris some of the mini inserts for the sets he is working on.

Here are the highlights of the stack of cards I got in the trade:

 Here are a group of some base cards of some really solid players.  The horizontal cards don't work well with the minis but they are some of my favorite pictures in the regular sized cards.  Both the Kinsler and Helton are nice pics.  I really like the cloud behind Mark Trumbo's head, great color. 

 I also scored 5 rookies in the trade.  Don't think I have ever taken a stand on the rookie logo so I guess this would be a perfect opportunity.  Personally I am a fan.  Occasionally there is a player where I want to collect all his rookie cards and this is an easy way to make sure I am tracking down the right cards.  I hope it sticks around if/when we get back to more than one licensed company.

 I haven't done a breakdown of this set but it seems we are getting fewer non-baseball players in Ginter.  I did score 3 in this group and only 2 retired players.  I recall my boxes being retired player heavy (good thing) when I cracked them so it doesn't surprise me.  I find it funny that I got 2 Babe Ruth minis yet had to trade for the base.  I can't believe someone as infamous as Don Dekinger is in a set for World Champions.  I clearly remember his blown call and even wrote a poem about it in elementary school.

I also scored some nice inserts.  The Wall Street building finished off the Tallest Building set (yeah!).  I am having a hard time trading for the What's in a Name insert set.  I am only just over half way to finishing that set off so if you can help let me know.





And the surprise of the trade package:

I got Bieber-ed!  My wife and I both got a good chuckle out of this and I have signed it and it is off to another blogger, so those of you I have traded with - keep your eyes open!

Thanks for another great trade Chris!