A Trade with a Fellow Giants Collector

Back last year when I was trying to pare down my collection I offered up flat rate boxes by team to fellow collectors.  I didn't put a Giants one up for offer as my Giants duplicates were completely unorganized.  They sat in stacks on a shelf in one of my bookshelves in my hobby room.  In an effort to inspire myself to get them organized and help out a fellow Giants collector who had jumped back into the hobby I told Nick of n j w v that I would get some Giants cards together and send his way.   It took a while but I finally got that package sent out.

Nick let me know he got it and seemed pretty happy with the mix of cards I sent.  He reached out and asked if I would be interested in a custom set of cards he had put together commemorating the Giants 2018 season.  The season wasn't the best but Nick he had shown off some of the cards he designed and I quickly told him I would really like a set.

A little while back a package arrived from Nick and I wanted to show off what he sent my way.

I had shared on a prior post that I was a fan of the Score gold rush parallels and Nick helped fill some gaps for me.

 In addition to the gold rush cards, he shot me a few Giants I needed and even hit on a couple USC Trojans for my collection.

If not for the custom set, this easily would have been the highlight of the package.  These appear to be cut outs from The Mercury News.  I am going to toss the Chili Davis into my player collection binder and the rest go right into the Giants binders.  I couldn't fine a reference to these and have no idea how many were made but man are they super cool!  If there are any more I would like to track them down including a second Chili.

I decided to skip showing off much of the custom set, they are Nick's work product and up to him on how much he shows off. So here are just a couple samples:

I decided to share the Belt card to show off the great photo selection and the design of the front.  The backs show a line score and short summary of each game.  

I also figured I would share the header card and a beautiful tribute to my favorite player of all time, Willie McCovey.  I never did a tribute post to him, couldn't figure out what to say.

Thanks Nick for all the work you did on this amazing set.  If you decided to do it again in 2019, I hope I can figure out a way to get a copy!

I Have Some Thank Yous to Pass Out

My blogging frequency has flat lined.  I have found my life pulling me in several different directions and I won't bore you with the details.  My collecting hasn't stalled but the blogging has.  I haven't decided to pull the plug on the blog, however I suspect I am going to need some sort of jolt or resuscitation every so often to produce some posts.

The jolt I needed to produce a post today was some guilt over not thanking some generous people who have sent me unsolicited cards over the past few months.  I love getting packages in the mail and each of these put a smile on my face.

First up was a nice stack of cards from blogger Tom from The Angels, In Order.   I took a little bit of a like to the Angels when I was living in Southern California that survived a bit even after the f*%#ing Rally Monkey during the 2002 World Series.  I am a fan of a number of former Angels like Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, JT Snow, Bobby Grich, Tim Salmon and Wally Joyner so it is fun checking out there cards when they pop up on his blog.

Here are highlights from what Tom sent:

These were all needs and very much appreciated.

Next up some cards from Marc at Remember the Astrodome.  I am bummed I never made it to the Astrodome, it was a dream of mine as a kid.  I addition to Astros, Marc collects quite a few different players as well so I feel a bit of a kinship.  Here are some highlights from what he sent my way:

Great stuff and tons of variety.  Particularly like the Score Gold Rush cards.  I have been on a bit of Score kick lately.

The final cards to show today are from Dennis at Too Many Verlanders.  In addition to his Tigers collection, Dennis collects guys from the University of Michigan.  I have been looking to add some of my USC Trojans as of late, I think Dennis and I have fairly similar collection approaches.  Here is what he sent my way in the latest package:

It was a Trojan heavy group and all were needs.  The Kyle Moore auto was only his 2nd card I had in my collection and inspired me to seek out the rest of his cards and I am close to a complete run (9 of 11 non 1/1s).

Thanks to all of you for the packages.  I still have more to share and hope to reengage soon!

PWE Palooza

I have a confession, I am way behind on posting cards I have gotten from other bloggers.  Like really far behind.  Like I have some scans that go back to late 2015 behind.  No promises but I am going to try to remedy that over the next few weeks.  I thought I would start with sharing a bunch of great PWEs I have received.  I love getting mail and love a surprise PWE.  Each of these put a smile on my face and deserve a little blog time.

Are you ready for my PWE Palooza?

The first two scans feature cards sent my way by blog reader John Hazen:

I hadn't seen the Lincecum card before it arrived in my mailbox.  Seems like a perfect card of the freak, looking quite mellow isn't he?

Also scored a couple Bowman Giants.  While the Bowman sets are on my want list, it is still a set that causes me way too much confusion.  With Chrome cards mixed with base cards mixed with Prospect cards and two or three releases per year, it makes my head spin.  Glad however to knock these two off my want list.

Next up are 3 scans from either 2 or 3 PWEs from Stealing Home, the author of All Trade Bait, All The Time.  As a Dodger fan, I am sure he was ready to rid his collection of all these Giants.  I am a happy recipient.

A nice assortment here, with a little old and a little new.  The Cain helps on the Topps Gold quest and the Gypsy Queen mini is a nice addition.

Demonstrating how far behind I am, I believe these Heritage and Flagship cards were newly released when I got this package.

A nice assortment here with a couple rookies, some All-Stars some Conlon needs and a parallel Ginter card of Buster.

Next up is a couple PWEs from JediJeff at 2 by 3 Heroes.  I always seem to score some nice stuff when Jeff shoots cards my way.

See, great cards!  Did you hear that the Panda is back in SF?  Can he return to his glory days of 2012-2013.  I love the Opening Day celebrations card.

PWE #2 delivers as well with a couple nice Lincecums, a respectful MadBum, a Darryl sighting and a cool minor league card.

These next 2 PWEs came from Brian of Play at the Plate fame.  Brian has been inactive for over a year now and I hope that lame people like me that took so long to give their thanks had no part in his disappearance.

This was a nice group, adding some new Bowman base cards and some decade plus old cards of stars from Giants past.

This was a great PWE with the highlight being the awesome Onyx Stadium Club insert of Barry Bonds.

The next three scans come from Sportscards From the Dollar Store.  If memory serves me these were all contained within one PWE but I could be mistaken.  Love the variety!

First up we hit on three different parts of my collection.  I do have a nice little collection of basketball players who played at USC. It goes beyond my Harold Miner collection and these two DeMar DeRozan cards fit nicely.  Also scored a Matt Cain for the Giants collection and a couple Niners QBs - love the Steve Young card!

Some more 49ers.  I don't know if I "officially" collect non-vintage 49er cards - since I don't have a checklist I think the answer is no.  However, they are my favorite team and I do have a nice box of them stashed away that these were added to.

The final cards from Dollar Store were these Trojan football players - definitely a PC with over 12,000 USC cards and counting.

My final PWE to put a dent in the scan folder comes from GCRL.  Has it really been 2 years since he posted???  He also has a side project Cards As I See Them which has some pretty recent posts.

I scored this nice group of Giants tucked nicely in a PWE. Glad to take those Giants off the hands of all the Dodger collectors.

A big thanks to all of you for sending these cards my way.  They are greatly appreciated - much more than the months delay in posting might indicate.

Generosity from Johnny's Trading Spot

I decided last night that it was time to kick myself in the butt and get back to some regular posting.  Don't know if it will happen but I figured I would start one step (post) at a time.  Several weeks back I got a great care package from John from Johnny's Trading Spot, one of the most generous bloggers out there.  I sorted through the cards, picked out some of my favorites then scanned and uploaded them to a blank blog post.  For the last few weeks the wordless post just sat there.

Last night I was going through a new Christmas in July package I got from John and realized how much time had passed and that was the kick I needed.  Hopefully I will get to the Christmas package before Christmas but I wanted to share the last batch of cards John sent my way.

The first group of cards are some 90s Stadium Club cards.  I was reminded of how great the photography was in these sets and how different/better Stadium Club was from other releases at the time.

This is a nice group of cards with some great Giants hitters.  Nice pitcher at the plate card of Don Robinson.  I remember Robinson for his okay pitcher, really solid hitting and great nickname - the Caveman.

Also included were two almost complete team sets of Giants Mother's Cookies cards.  I was a little shocked by the price tags on the bags.

Some great cards here, all new to my collection.  My favorite here is the minor league card of former closer Rod Beck.  I recognize the Matt Williams promo card - I got another one in the Christmas package.

Some more oddballs, looks like John may have broken some of those awesome late 80s box sets.  Every so often I try to pick these up, great way to remember the players from my childhood.

I have a nice box filled with stickers and team oddballs.  My ultimate goal is to put together a nice binder displaying all of them.

I believe my comments about these cards was the origin of this package.  I have been giving thought to putting together this retail insert set so these will give me a little jump start.

This group of inserts and parallels were a great addition to the package.  All new additions to the Giants binder.

More adds to the Giants binder.  I love adding Deion Sanders cards from his time on the Giants to my collection.  I have pondered starting a player collection of Barry Zito cards, in part due to cool cards like the shiny Turkey Red here.  I don't think I will ever pull the trigger and will just be happy getting his Giants cards.

I'll end this post with 9 of my favorites from this Giants Stadium Club near set that was sent my way.  I had bought this set a while back but left it sealed up, so now I was able to check out all the cards and get time into the binder.

Thanks for the great group of cards and your consistent generosity John!

Trade Post - Wes Moore

Time to share some goods from one of the best bloggers around.  I have gotten too many packages from Wes of WILLINGHAMMER RISING to count and have quite a few scans saved up.  Since it looks like Wes has his blog up to date on trade posts, time for me to get at least up to date with all the good stuff he has sent my way.

First up are a nice group of Willie Macs.  I had a heck of a time tracking down 2 of those Triple Play cards, one for my set and one for the McCovey binder.  This one slipped right into the Giants binder.

A nice eclectic group of Giants, the Beam Team cards and Gypsy Queen inserts being my favs.

I am not sure why the serial numbered Vernon Davis mini was grouped with the 2 minor league cards.  I am loving the Royce Clayton minor league card.  Vernon is a puzzle to me, he went from being great to being terrible almost overnight - almost like my 49ers.

Speaking of 49ers, Wes is usually good for some 49er goodness in his packages.  Outside of my vintage 49er quests I don't have any collecting goals for 49ers but I always set aside current 49ers like these knowing that some day I will put some focus on that collection.

Wes has had some creative ways to personalize his packages.  My favorite was the Hamburglar trading card but this marked up Gary Redus card was cool as well.

I was excited to get this Andre Carter relic.  I was super excited when the Niners drafted Carter after watching him tear up the Pac 10 at Cal including some good efforts against my USC Trojans.

The Steve Young card is pretty sweet but the Patrick Willis cards are the star of this show.  I am still saddened by Willis' abrupt retirement.  He played an April Fools joke last 4/1 about coming back and I bought into it, hook, line and sinker.  Probably wishful thinking.

Here is a random group of Giants including a sweet Kung Fu Panda World Series manurelic.

Speaking of manurelics, this pair of 49er ones were a great surprise.  I hadn't seen any of these before and really like them.  The camo theme is awesome.

Wes is someone who really watches what you collect and finds things that fit well into your collection.  This Peja relic is a great example.

Another cool eclectic group of Giants, the Chrome Duffy is sweet.  I would bet Kirk Manwaring could win an award for best action photos and the bottom right card is a nice example.

Finally a group of 4 cards I claimed in one of Wes' contests he has run.  I think this was a Christmas promotion but as I age the memory starts to fade.

This is a really nice looking insert with tons of shine and the best player in baseball history - I was super happy to grab it.

A Dodger you ask, but why?  Well it is a nice vintage card from a set I have contemplated chasing one day.  I figured what the heck and jumped at it.

I was happy to see this Artist's Proof of USC Trojan alum Marcus Allen.  This is now one of 530 different cards I have of the Heisman Trophy winner and Hall of Famer.

Finally a Museum parallel of Mr. October.  I have a nice Reggie collection of almost 600 cards and needed this one.  I really enjoy seeing Jackson in the old Oakland uniforms.

Thanks Wes for your generosity, I have referred to you in the past as the most generous blogger and this is further evidence.  You are the best!