Zistle Trade #31: tidalwav90

It is the end of 2015 with 2016 just a few hours away.  This has been a pretty great year for Mets fans.  We went into Spring Training with a returning Matt Harvey, but then lost Zack Wheeler for the season.  We started the season strong, but then lost a couple of big bats to injuries and stopped scoring runs.  We traded for a big bat then went on a tear to the top of the NL East.  We made it to the World Series then lost it in five games.

I have read a lot of Mets fans being upset at the lack of a big signing this off season, but I think the signings we have made are just fine.  Cespedes would be nice, but not at the cost he is asking.  Zobrist would have been nice and filled many needs, but he wanted to play somewhere else.  Murphy signing with the Nationals hurt a little, but we got a nice replacement in Neil Walker.  We still have a couple more needs to address, but this off season has been good enough so far. 

Now back to the cards!  Here is another Zistle trade completed, this time with Jesse.  He reached out with some Cubs needs and offered up some Mets in return.

I always like to get 1988 cards since they show Mets players in their 1987 uniforms.  The 1987 season was the only time they wore those New York script uniforms.  Here's to hoping they bring it back for some games in the future.

Finally, here is nice Jeff Kent card depicting him about to make a play at second base.  Kent had a great career and showed a lot of promise with the Mets, but played his greatest elsewhere.  For Mets fans, at least for me anyway, it feels like there are a number of players we can look back on in the same regard.

Zistle Trade #30: hpennington22

The last time I posted the Mets and Royals were going into Game 4 of the World Series.  Well, we all know how that turned out.  I was not heartbroken with the lost.  The Royals played great baseball, but ultimately I think the Mets beat themselves.  They had every chance to maintain the lead or take it, but failed to hold on in the end.

Even with this lost, there was a lot gained by the young Mets players like Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, and Michael Conforto.  They each made their MLB debut this season and ended up playing in the World Series.  There are a lot of great players who never even got that chance.  Ken Griffey, Jr., Ichiro, and Ernie Banks are some of the first to come to my mind.  No doubt that this experience will help each of those players out tremendously.

All things consider, the 2015 season was an enormous success for the Mets.  Most people probably thought the Mets were a fringe playoff team at best.  The Mets exceed all expectations, in my opinion.

Now, back to some trades.  This is my second trade with Henry.  He reached out to me with a rather large trade offer.  I believe it was, and still is, the most cards I have traded and received via Zistle.  Here are just some of the cards that I received.

I enjoy these 1996 Upper Deck cards.  I like how each card is game dated to the photo depicted.  It really puts the photo into context more than today's cards.

Later Upper Deck releases didn't really do much for me.  I think the only thing Upper Deck had going for them in their later years was that they were able to get more players on cards, but that came at the expense of large, massive sets.

And we finish up with another player who never played in the World Series and one who was a big part of the 1969 World Series champions.

Zistle Trade #29

So, here we are before the start of game four of the World Series.  It has been a tremendous ride so far this postseason.  At the start of the season I said that a successful season would be a playoff run.  Well, we made it to the World Series!  The Dodgers made it a tough Division Series.  I thought the Cubs had our number before game one of the League Series, but we rolled through them with a four game sweep.

Things have not started out too well for the Mets in the World Series, but they have played well.   The Royals have just played better.  The Mets showed some life in game three and look to continue their swinging ways in game four.  

Now, on to another Zistle trade!  This one with user ccards.  Tim was looking for some various card needs and I requested some various Mets needs in return.

Next up is a nice full sheet of 2003 Topps.  This time with Cliff Floyd in an actual Mets uniform. 

There wasn't anything too ground breaking here, but still a nice set of cards that fills some holes in my binders!

Group Break at Crackin' Wax: 2015 Topps Heritage

Let us pause the trade posts and check out a group break.  This break was a number of months ago, but at least I am now in the current year with my posts.

I have known of Topher over at Crackin' Wax for a while now.  I read his blog, follow him on Twitter, and like how he does his group breaks for charity.  He always comes off as a good dude.

I decided to join one of his group breaks.  The spots in his breaks go fast with the Mets spot being among the fastest to get claimed.  I was able to claim a spot in the 2015 Topps Heritge group break as you can see below.

It was a fun break.  Topher makes his breaks enjoyable as he and his wife discuss things while he is crackin' the wax.  I generally do not watch breaks because they get boring for me (probably because I would rather be the one opening the packs).

As you can see, I ended up with a complete Mets team set (including the deGrom, Harvey, and Wright short prints), a deGrom insert, and a deGrom chrome parallel.  I did not get a hit, but still enjoyed what I got during this break.  I also like the look of this year's Heritage release.  The blue sky background works very well with the Mets uniforms and the shots are mixed up well enough to keep each card looking fresh.

Zistle Trade #28

Here we are now.  The Mets made it to the postseason!  They start the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday night.  The series will surely be a well-pitched one with the winner being whichever team's bats show up.  I think a lot of people are looking for the Dodgers to take this series, but the Mets have the ability to surprise those skeptics.

Now, back to the trades with this quick one with Zistle user dogfacedgremlin.  Check out Tim's blog over at The Real DFG.

I sent him a trade request seeing if he wanted any or all of my Pittsburgh Steelers cards.  He did not have many Mets cards to offer in return, but that was fine with me.  I was still able to add some Cal Ripken, Jr. cards.

The lone Mets card was a dandy.  I think this card sums up the early 1990’s Mets teams quite nicely.

Zistle Trade #27

Tonight is the final game of the Subway Series between the Mets and Yankees.  The Mets won game one on Friday while the Yankees won game two with a shutout on Saturday.  The Mets still have a comfortable lead in the division, but could use the series win here to keep their momentum going forward.

Tonight's game is also a continuation of the Matt Harvey story.  Harvey did not pitch very well during his last outing almost two weeks ago against the Nationals.  He is trying to stay sharp for his first playoff run.  He likes to pitch against the Yankees, too.  Hopefully, Harvey will have a good outing and put this whole media mess further behind him.

Now, back to the trades with this one with Zistle user rbarone5.  He is a fellow Mets fan (or at least I think it he is as his avatar is the Mets logo).  This was a short and simple trade with us exchanging a few cards.

Nothing great here with this trade, but it does fill a couple of needs.

Zistle Trade #26

The Mets keep rolling with another series sweep this weekend over the Atlanta Braves.  There were a couple of unfortunate errors in Sunday's game, but they redeemed those with three runs in the ninth and tenth innings to complete the four game sweep.  The Mets return to Queens to start a homestead against the Marlins, Yankees, and Braves.  It is only a matter of time now until the Mets clinched their division.

Moving along with another Zistle trade.  This time with user reyoung68.  He reached out to me requesting some of his Topps needs and countered with these Mets cards along with some of my other various needs.

Not a bad selection of Mets cards.  I was looking to get Rickey Henderson's first Topps card as a Met for a while at the time of this trade.  I also enjoy the Upper Deck Oviation Mike Piazza I received.  The card is made to look and feel like a baseball.  Of course, they do not feel like an actual baseball, but Upper Deck made an interesting card with that set.

Zistle Trade #25

Well, those were some great games of baseball!  Three come from behind wins for the Mets and they now have a nice seven game lead in the NL East.  Mets fans do not like to say something is definite until it happens, but things are definitely going our way right now.

Now, back to the trades...

I have traded with user bdlehman18 a couple times now.  Our first trade was only my second one on Zistle.  He was only looking for a couple of cards for our third trade, so it was short and simple.

We did hit a little snag when he went to pull the cards he was going to send me.  Zistle is a great website for keeping your card collection, but it does come with some bugs.  It happens on occasion during trades, but it never has been a big deal.

Being the good trader he is, Brian asked if I wanted to pick a replacement.  I gave a couple of options and asked him to surprise me.  This is what he sent.

I really enjoy the look of these 1998 Pacific Omega cards for some reason.  I only had one Omega card prior to receiving these four cards, but that one card has always been a favorite of mine.  I could have pulled that card and scanned it, but decided it was easier to do a Google Image search.

"Courtesy" of The Snorting Bull

It is not too often you find a card depicting a player on three different teams, especially of a high caliber player like Mike Piazza.  Unfortunately, Piazza missed the Hall of Fame election again this year.  His chances are looking better for next year with only one definite shoo-in (Ken Griffey, Jr.) in front of him.

Zistle Trade #24

We are now into September with the Mets in first place.  They look to continue their forward momentum into a playoff run.  Due to the Cardinals, Pirates, and Cubs playing great ball, but being in the same division, the Mets must win their division to make the playoffs.

The Mets and Nationals started a crucial series on Labor Day.  The first game was exciting with the Mets giving up the lead, but then coming back for the win.  The entire team looked ready for this game and did not seem distracted by the recent media hoopla.  Now, it is the person at the center of the hoopla to make his start to continue the Mets path to the playoffs.

Moving along with another Zistle trade with user SDre31.  Steve was one of the first few trades I completed on Zistle a couple of years ago.  This was our second trade.

Those 1987 Topps cards that you can find literally from anyone.  These are from the Topps Traded set which I believe finishes off that 1987 set for me.

The bottom-right card is a rookie card of Kelly Stinnett.  I know he is not one of those players you trade for, but I was glad to get this card.  

I have been to over 20 MLB games, so far, in my life.  I have always wanted to catch a foul or home run ball, but have not done so yet.  The closest was when Kelly threw me a ball after batting practice.  I was maybe 11 or 12 years old and pretty far away from what I recall.  I was waving my glove and he threw the ball up to me.

Zistle Trade #23

This Zistle trade is my second trade with user dvdgao.  He is a St. Louis Cardinals fan and requested some more Cardinals cards in this trade.  Here is what he sent my way.  Not a bad assortment of Mets cards with a nice auto card of Ike Davis.

One of my earliest posts here was about Ike getting traded to the Pirates.  I was with Team Ike instead Team Duda at the time, but later realized that the Mets made the right decision.

Ike is currently playing first base for the Oakland A's in a platoon situation.  Lucas Duda was third in the National League in home runs in 2014.  Duda has been struggling at the plate this year, but he has       turned into one of the top defensive first basemen in baseball.

2014 Topps Stadium Club Group Break at Nachos Grande

The 2015 Topps Stadium Club was released last week.  In honor of the release, I figured I would go ahead and finally post about my 2014 Topps Stadium Club experience (because I am a procrastinator and that is how I roll).

Back in October, Nachos Grande hosted a group break for 2014 Topps Stadium Club.  If you happen to look at the pictures before reading this post, you may notice a lack of the headlining product.  Well, that is because there was not a single Met pulled.  This was my first skunk in three tries with group breaks.

I did not walk away empty handed, though.  Mr. Grande was nice enough to make up for the skunk by sending some Mets my way.  I must say he did a great job with a good mixture of old and new.  He also threw in some custom Allen & Ginter cards.

He also threw in this nice auto card of Lee Mazzilli.

I would eventually get my hands on the Mets cards from the 2014 release.  Decent cards, but it sounded like the release was poorly executed by Topps.  From what I have read and seen, so far, it seems like Topps has improved on this year's release.

I am on the lookout for the 2015 Topps Stadium Club Mets cards.  I will keep you all posted...eventually.

Zistle Trade #22

Zistle user, BucCollector, reached out to me with a trade looking for some various Pirates and some basketball cards.  I generally can not turn down a trade that gets rid of my basketball cards.

I do not mind getting some junk wax oddball cards. We all know what the main sets look like and these are a nice change of pace when dealing with junk wax cards.

Finally, a card that can pretty much sum up the Mets from 1992 to 1995.  I guess you can expand that up until 2035 as the Mets will be paying Bonilla a little over $1 million dollars per year due to a contract negotiation with his release before the 2000 season.

Fun fact:  the "V. Wells" you see on the above card is the father of former MLB player Vernon Wells.  The artist Wells has done numerous pieces of art for many players over the years.

Zistle Trade #21: Hockey Edition

I am getting closer to finding good homes for all of my non-baseball cards.  This Zistle trade pretty much wiped out all of my hockey cards.

I found user opierocks forum post about wanting any hockey cards for any of his non-hockey cards.  It seemed like a perfect match, but I thought I might have missed the boat.  I found his post at least a month, maybe two, after he posted.  I still sent him a trade request.  He did not seem too active on the site, so I figured the request would go unnoticed.

Of course, he got back to me.  Why else would I be writing this post?  These are the Mets received from the trade:

Currently, I am down to just two hockey cards.  If anyone reading this is (or knows) a hockey fan or Florida Panthers fan, let me know if you (or they) want my last two hockey cards.  Both are auto cards that were obtained in person during a preseason many years ago.  

Zistle Trade #20

This Zistle trade is with user 1carddawg.  I reached out to him with a trade offer since we seem to match up well with wants and needs.  For this trade I offered him all of my Atlanta Falcons cards for some Mets.

I like completing a team set with a trade.  These 1994 Score cards are probably not the hardest to find, but finishing the set gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Of course, now I have to start looking into completing these 1996 Leaf and Stadium Club sets.

Zistle Trade #19

Alright, I have gotten behind on these trade posts.  Let's try to work through my draft folder and get closer to present time.

This Zistle trade was completed with user royals.  I reached out to him a while back regarding some various basketball cards.  I looked through our matches selected some cards from his trade list that intrigued me.

I think the first card I saw was the 2003 Upper Deck Rey Ordonez.  I liked the look of the throwback uniform and then saw he had some more Mets from the same set.  Upper Deck usually has a nice look to their design.  The 2003 set is on the simple side of designs, but it works well here.

I also got reminded from this trade that David Cone had a second stint with the Mets.  He was attempting a comeback after sitting out the 2002 season.  His comeback was short-lived as, at the age of 40, his chronic hip problems became too great to finish the season.

The cards you see here are just what we agreed to for the trade.  It was a total and pleasant surprise to find some extra stacks of great Mets card in the package!  I definitely try to reciprocate when a trader is over generous and this one is long overdue!

2015 Topps Mets

The 2015 season is in full swing.  The Mets are playing well, but have run into a few bumps.  The most concerning being David Wright's hamstring injury (let's see how this plays out before freaking out Mets fans!).  Despite the bumps, they appear to be staying focused.  The fans at Citi Field seem to be more excited, too.  Well, except that douche who threw his beer at Grady Sizemore.

To celebrate (albeit, belated) the season, let us take a look at some new 2015 Topps Mets cards (again, belated).

In the past, I would buy my cards from Target since I do not have a true LCS.  I would buy a box here and there.  End up with a mostly complete Mets team set and a bunch of duplicates.  This year, I decided to change things up a bit.

I purchased a jumbo hobby box from Blowout Cards.  This was my second order ever from them, but my first for a new release product.  Luckily, I live in the one day zone for their shipping times, so it got to me pretty quick.

Overall, I am pretty happy with this new Topps release.  It is a nice change from the last few releases.  I was a little skeptical when I first saw the border designs.  Now that I have seen them up close, I have to say that they are not bad.

The best looking Mets card goes to the team card.  I am not sure why they would only put Travis d'Arnaud on a team card though.  It seems like a weird choice.  Anyway, I like the return of the team card.  I also like the return of the Future Stars cards and Topps could not have picked better Mets than Jacob deGrom and Juan Lagares.  Jacob appears to be building on his Rookie of the Year season, so far in his two outings this season.  Juan is still playing centerfield-plus and is making some improvements at the plate.

It looks like Topps could not find any great shots for these Mets cards.  Pretty standard in the photography category.  Regardless, I still like them!

Here are the Mets related inserts I received from my box:

It sounds like the Gallery of Greats is this year's favorite insert.  I would have to agree with the praise the insert has been getting thus far.  I also like the rainbow foil cards.  This card did not scan very well, but it is a nice change of pace as far as parallels go from the past few years.  I might try to put together a Mets team set of these foil cards. 

The hit of the box goes to...

Nice!  This was the first Mets hit I have ever pulled!  From now on, I expect to get more Mets hits from my Blowout Cards purchases!

Zistle Trade #18

This Zistle trade was with user Bumfan.

This was a simple trade.  In my quest to find good homes for my unwanted football cards, I found Bumfan had a some on his want list.  I sent some his way while getting these in return.

Charlie O'Brien played for the Mets from 1990 to 1993.  He was their starting catcher until Todd Hundley was brought up to the majors.  Charlie is probably best known for introducing a hockey-style catcher's mask to the MLB world.  He began using the mask while playing for, whose else, the Toronto Blue Jays in 1996.

Now you can find Charlie selling his own brand of Charlie O's Products.  Sadly, these are not cereals, rather a line of hunting scents.  Well, I think that is what they are (I am not a hunter).

Trade with an Underdog

I have been actively seeking good homes for all of my non-baseball cards.  I have pretty much taken care of hockey (only 3 more cards to go!) and have made some progress with the football and basketball cards.

I had a small stack of San Diego Chargers that I was looking for a nice home.  I used Zistle to look for some potential trade partners when I found Zach of The Underdog Collector.  He was more than happy to take these cards off my hands and sent along some nice Mets cards in return.

Zach also sent over this oversized Dwight Gooden.  It was a nice suprise and my first oversized Mets card!  Thanks Zach!

Zach blogged about our trade back in October.  You can really see how far behind from current time I am on these posts.  

Let me know if you would like some football and basketball cards.  I saw a couple other blogs offering their unwanted non-baseball cards.  I will hopefully be reaching out to those that commented on those posts soon.

Zistle Trade #17

This Zistle trade was with user glassnickels.

Not too long before glassnickels sent a trade request, I had purchased a number of 2007 Upper Deck Goudey packs.  I found them in the clearance section at a local drug store for $0.75 a pack.  I ended up with a few Mets, a number of short prints, and a Ken Griffey, Jr. relic.  Griffey was one of my favorite players to collect back in the day and pulling a relic was quite the surprise.

Anyway, glassnickels requested a bunch of these for his set.  He offered quite a large number of cards in return when compared to my previous Zistle trades.

I debated leaving off those 1991 Fleer, but I just need one of each Met.  They look bad due to their yellow color, but at least they look different.

Some more glorious 1992 cards from Donruss and Score.  It looks like Score kept to two basic types of card shots that year.  Hitters hitting and pitchers pitching.

I sometimes forget that Carlos Gomez started out with the Mets.  He was part of the deal that brought Johan Santana from the Minnesota Twins to Queens.