Zistle Trade #57: gasypo

I was browsing the Trade Recommendations section of Zistle when I came across Gabriel's name.  I saw he was a Chicago White Sox collector and knew I could help him out.  I reached out with a trade request for a near complete White Sox team set.

Gabriel did not have too many matches from me to choose from, but that was alright.  Matching the number of cards in a trade is not always the most important factor of a trade.  It is fine as long as both sides are happy with what they receive.

I only received two Mets cards in the trade with the remaining majority being non-Mets needs.  I am happy with Mets I received, though.  The Robles cards is the Rainbow Foil parallel, but the scan does not really show it very well.

Gabriel has his own blog over at White Sox Card Adventures.  It looks like he is big on TTM autos and even got a couple of the cards I sent him signed. 

Zistle Trade #56: paulb

Next up is a Zistle trade with new trade partner Paul.  Paul reached out with a trade request mostly for some Yankees needs.  A small tweak later and we had an agreement.

Paul sent an nice eclectic mix of Mets.  Here are the highlights.

The 2000 Topps Gold Label is definitely the slickest looking card of the bunch.  My favorite card though is probably the 2005 Fleer Tradition Update Mike Piazza (Tale of the Tape).  It is not the best looking design, but I like the color contrast and the turning down of the background color.

Paul, thanks for a nice and easy trade!

Blogger Trade: Bo

Our next trade is a Blogger trade.  This time with Bo over at Baseball Cards Come to Life.  Bo made a post about obtaining about 40,000 cards from Craigslist. 

Bo sent out a lot of cards to various traders.  I ended up receiving a small USPS Priority box bull of Mets.  The majority of cards were early 1990's releases, but there we still plenty that I still needed for those sets.

Even while getting 40,000 cards, I was still able to send Bo the same sized box back in return.

Some interesting cards in the cards shown above.  First, there is Jeff Kent is letting former Met Mark Carreon smell his armpit.  Second, there is Ryan Thompson suffering from some abdominal discomfort.  Not sure why Pinnacle would chose this for his ball card.  Finally, there is power hitting Carl Everett about to murder bunt a baseball.  Very intense.

I really like receiving Lance Johnson Mets cards.  He only played for the Mets for a season and a half, but he was pretty great for the Mets.  His career year was with the Mets in 1996.  That year he was an All-Star starter and led the National League in hits, singles, and triples.  He had a WAR of 7.2 that year, too (if you are into sabermetrics).

I wish Topps would get him on some Archives releases.  I do not believe there are any auto or relic cards of him out there, Mets or not.  Anyone know an address to send a card to him for a TTM auto?

Zistle Trade #55: Gerry

Not too long after our first trade was completed, Gerry reached out with a second trade request.  Our first trade went down with out a problem, so of course I was down for another.

We have another appearance of a mustached Bartolo Colon during his first stint with the Mets.  This time showing him before he was about to go out a bash a few home runs during Spring Training batting practice.  I also received a nice card of Dave Magadan playing with the Florida Marlins.

Zistle Trade #54: scottbdoug

Here is another trade with user scottbdoug.  Scott has not been on Zistle very long, but he has settled right into the community.  He is one of the more (maybe even the most) active member on the forum and often times posts useful information for traders.  Also, it looks like he has a blog going on over at Cardboard Collecting.

This time he reached out with a request with some Fleer set needs.  Here are the Mets (along with some post-Mets Gary Carter) I received.

I am not sure if it is mandatory or just customary for Canadians to offer O-Pee-Chee cards, but I seem to get them mostly from Canadian traders.  I am sure those cards are just more plentiful up north, but I wonder if anyone feels like they have to throw them into an offer just because, you know?  I am not complaining though, as I can just ask for them to be taken off the trade.  Just wondering.  I will stop now.

Blogger Trade: Hoyle

I believe many of you have traded with Mark before and know how he is a generous trader.  I do not believe he has a blog of his own, but simply reads and comments on blogs.  I saw somewhere that he collects all the Boston teams and I had a stack of Patriots and Celtics cards looking for a good home.  A couple emails back and forth and we were set.

I believe one of things Mark is known for is sending out some vintage goodness.  This package was not short on that at all.

Even with all of those 1972 Topps cards Mark sent my way, I still need about twice as many to complete a Mets team set.  Without looking into it, that year has to be the most Mets base cards found from Topps flagships release.

You can see a contrast here in the photography styles used on vintage cards compared to modern cards.  It seems like most vintage cards used posed shots the majority of the time while modern cards are mostly action shots.  Of the four modern cards shown above, three would be considered action shots.  Of all of the vintage cards, there are only two with action shots.  There is probably a perfectly good reason for this, of course.  Less advanced technology, maybe less on-field access at games, or maybe nobody back then really thought actions were all that interesting.

Zistle Trade #53: Gerry

Next up is a Zistle trade with new trade partner Gerry.  I think Gerry reached out to me in the past with other requests, but I was either taking a quick hiatus or was dealing with a number of other trades at the time.  It was really just bad timing.  This time though, we got something worked out.

I received a few 1996 Topps Bazooka cards from Gerry.  Bazooka cards were around all throughout the 1960's before disappearing in the early 1970's.  They had brief comebacks in the late 1980's, 1995/1996, and early 2000's.  They have now be relegated to being a subset, most recently as part of the Topps Heritage releases. 

Zistle Trade #52: BucCollector

Next up is another Zistle trade with user BucCollector.  David reached out prior to last season's playoffs with a trade request for some Pirates with some Mets coming my way.

He had high hopes for his Pirates making it to the NLCS to face my Mets.  It was definitely the match-up I wanted to see, but it just was not meant to be for the Pirates.

Blogger Trade: Gavin at Baseball Card Breakdown

Next up is a trade with Gavin over at Baseball Card Breakdown.  I hope every one reading this is already following his blog, and if you are not the please do so.

Gavin posted some trade bait cards awhile back and I saw something I liked.  Apparently, there was another time even a little further back where he did this and I responded about being interested in something.  I did not remember the first time, but Gavin did and still had that card on hand.  Kudos to you, sir.

We were able to work out a larger trade as I had some cards for his set needs and his various player collections.

I was probably most intrigued by the Ron Swoboda card below.  It is from the 2004 Topps Retired Signature set.  I believe that this set was a high-end version of Topps Archives.  While Topps Archives uses old card designs for current and retired players, Topps Retired used that year's design for retired players.  I would not mind if Topps continued with this type of release.  Maybe leave retired players out of the Topps Archives release and put out a set just of retired players using the current Topps design? 

All said and done, this was a great trade and very much appreciated!  Thanks Gavin!

Zistle Trade #51: Bumfan

Here we are with a second Zistle trade with Adam.  I reached out to this Northwestener to see if he wanted my Seahawks and Sonics cards, along with some other football cards.  I had a decent stack to send, but since we already traded there was not much he had in terms of matches.  Of course, he was doing me a solid by taking those basketball and football cards off my hands, so I had no problem with the number of cards involved.  

I received some nice Mets cards along with some great options for my potential former/former future Mets players collection.  I should probably come up with a better name for the collection.

Zistle Trade #50: danculbertson

This Zistle trade was with user danculbertson.  Dan was looking for a few Topps needs and sent some back in return.

The combo Tulowitzki/Reyes card is quite interesting now that they have been traded for one another.  I wonder how many cards feature multiple players that were later traded for each other?  There has to be some collector out there that has that collection going, right?

Blogger Trade: The Card Papoy

For most of 2014 and part of 2015, I was on a quest to find good homes for all of my non-baseball cards.  I looked around for bloggers and collectors who would take them off my hands.  I found quite a few of great traders in the process.  One such trader was Kevin over in France.

A lot of you might be familiar with Kevin over at his blog, The Card Papoy.  Check out his blog if you have not already.  Kevin collects New York Knicks, so I reached out to him to see if there was any interest.  He was nice enough to take any Knicks cards I had, so I sent them his way.

When I reach out to people like this, I never request much in return.  Kevin sent back a nice trade package from France.  Some of the highlights are below. 

Thanks for the trade, Kevin!

Blogger Trade: Brandon

I have been trying to catch up on my Zistle trade posts that I have neglected the trades I have completed off of Zistle.  With that, let us get a few of those in over the weekend.
 
Brandon is a fellow card collector who reached out via email.  He's done a some trading with a bunch of other, more caught up, Bloggers.  He looked over my Zistle trade and want lists and put together a nice trade package.

Here is what I received from Brandon.  Not a bad mix of parallels, relics, and an auto card.

I think this trade was completed just about a year ago.  Brandon, sorry for the slow turnaround!  Thanks for the trade (and your patience)! 

Zistle Trade #49: mj262

This Zistle trade was with user mj262.  Apparently, Matt lives not too far away from me.  I saw his post on the Zistle forums about wanting to get rid of some recent Donruss product.  I thought he would be a good target for a trade proposal, but he beat me to the punch.  He sent along a trade request looking to unload his cards.

I know in the past I have said that I am not a fan of the Donruss/Panini brand.  The lack of logos will probably always look strange to me.  Their cards do not vary pictures much as players are shown in similar poses to hide any logos (or for there to be less airbrushing).  I guess they do the best they can without an MLB license.

 Matt was kind enough to throw this Jon Niese relic card, too!

Zistle Trade #48: sam383

This Zistle trade was with user sam383.  Dave sent a trade request during the midst of a number of other trade requests.  Unfortunately, I was a bit slow getting back to Dave, so he eventually moved on.  This happens on occasion.  We all have lives that do not center around cards.  I hope no one takes it personally.

Feeling sorry that I ignored his request, I reached back out to him.  Luckily, Dave was cool about it and got things going again.  He requested some various Topps needs while I received the same in return.

Whenever I see older Topps Heritage cards I get reminded that they exist.  I guess I think Topps Heritage is a newer set that has only been around for maybe 6 or 7 years.  Apparently, it has been around for twice as long.

Zistle Trade #47: scottbdoug

Here we are with yet another Zistle trade from the land that gave us Michael J. Fox, Phil Hartman, and Jim Carrey.  This time Scott was looking for some more set needs. 

What makes this the most Canadian trade yet?  Getting some O-Pee-Chee cards, of course!  I don't mind these O-Pee-Chee cards since they have a totally different design from Topps. 

I thought I had already completed the 1992 Topps set, but it looks like not.  This trade got me a little bit closer.  Rick Cerone was one of the Mets catchers for the 1991 season.  He would later rejoin the Mets in 2014 as a pitcher under the name Bartolo Colon.

Zistle Trade #46: dmk250

Here is another Zistle trade with user dmk250.  Dean was looking for some Phillies cards and sent back some Mets cards in return.  There were quite a few interesting odd ball cards that I received in this trade.

The above Howard Johnson and Darryl Strawberry cards are from Baseball Cards Magazine.  They apparently provided cards (those that you had to cut up yourself) in their magazine?  I have gotten a couple of others in box purchases on eBay, but never gave much thought to them.  I like the look of these two cards, though.

Remember those 7-11 coins?  I had a bunch as a kid and wish I held on to them.

These set of next cards have given me an idea to expand my Mets collecting a bit.  There are a handful of Mets players I enjoyed watching, both currently and growing up.  I am thinking of starting a binder of these players that show them throughout their career.  Not trying to collect every card, but maybe a favorite card or two from each year.

Zistle Trade #45 jaysfan46

Here is another Zistle trade to our neighbors of the north.  This time with Leonel.  Most requests I have received are asking for cards of certain teams, players, sets, or brands.  This is the first request specific to Mexican ball players.  Just thought it was strange (in a good way, of course!).

In return, I got a Puerto Rican, a Dominican, and a Floridian.  I will let you figure out who is who.   

eBay - 2015 Topps Archives and more

I missed out on Brent's Mets team sets for 2015 Topps Archives.  I ended up finding a seller that had a decent price and was able to combine it with some other listings, too.  I ended up with some 2014 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects and 2015 Bowman.

First card up is Michael Conforto.  He was drafted by the Mets in the first round of the 2014 MLB Draft being just the 10th overall pick.  He made his MLB debut over one year later.  He is also only the third player to play in the Little League, College, and Major League World Series.  He already has a 2 home run World Series game under his belt.  This is one of his first Mets cards.  It is badly photo shopped.

Next up are the 2015 Topps Archives cards.  Not a bad looking card in the bunch.  I like the first four cards with the 1957 Topps design.  I think it is cool to see Mets players on card designs from a time when they didn't exist as a team.  Overall, though, I think David Wright's card shown below is the best looking card.  It has such a great mixture of different shades of blue.

eBay - 2015 Topps Series 2 and more

2016 Topps is already out and I will get to that post, hopefully sooner than later.  But, for now, we catch up and finish the 2015 Topps flagship release.

With my happiness of dealing with Brent for the Gypsy Queen release, I decided to stick with him for Topps Series 2 instead of purchasing a hobby box. 

The Mets in series are pretty basic looking.  None of them really stand out.  Jon Niese's card show him in an old Mets black hat for some reason.  My favorite base card here would probably be either Jacob deGrom or Wilmer Flores shown above. 

In addition to Series 2, I also purchased some 2015 Topps Archives inserts and parallels.  The first few were from Brent to take advantage of some combined shipping.  He also had some really good pricing on a bunch of silver parallels that I could not pass up.

At the same time of the above purchases I was looking to fill a missing hole in my Mets collection.  By this point, I had cards that are base, parallels, numbered, autos, relics, mini, over-sized, etc.  One thing I was missing was a 1 of 1 card.  I found the above Curtis Granderson printing plate auction with a low number of bids and kept watch.  I am not one to really spend a lot of money on a single card, but the auction was not really getting a whole lot of attention and the price remained pretty low for a printing plate (at least for what I think).  Of course, I ended up winning the auction and getting a printing plate.  Below is the back of the printing plate, if you are into that kind of thing.

Group Break: Crackin' Wax - 2015 Topps Allen & Ginter

The 2016 set releases are in full swing, so I need to get out last year's sets that I received.  For the 2015 Topps Allen & Ginter release I went back to Topher at Crackin' Wax for his group break.

I like the look of this release.  Every one, but Jon Niese, is shown in posed picture.  Juan Lagares sticks out the most to me as my favorite of the base cards.

 

I seem to forget that Carlos Gomez started his career as a New York Met and only get reminded when I see one of his Mets cards.  It was not too much later after this group break that he became even more linked to the Mets folklore.  He is now forever known as part of the aborted trade that led to our beloved Wilmer Flores becoming our beloved Wilmer Flores.

Speaking of Wilmer, I ended up with two hits from this break.  Both being Wilmer jersey cards.  Topher described the one on the left as a dirty jersey, which it is of course.  Do dirty jersey cards hold more value?  Is it because it comes with game-used dirt, too?  Does it make it a double hit?  The dirt does make the jersey card look a little cooler, though. 

I nearly got a master set from this break.  I think I am still looking for the Lucas Duda Starting Points insert.  

I am sort of at a crossroads with group breaks right now.  I like to help out fellow bloggers and traders with their breaks (and I love how Topher uses his to support charities), but I can see how they are a gamble.  It took me three attempts before I got something more than a bunch of base cards and some inserts.  Not that I am ungrateful for what I got from this and past breaks.  I guess I just haven't found the right way or combination of ways in acquiring cards.

Zistle Trade #44: scooterboy

Up next is a Zistle trade request from across the pond.  Matt reached out with a request looking for some various Chuck Knoblauch cards along with some other various needs.

In return, he sent a nice package of various non-Met needs, along with a few Mets in the deal.   

This marks off the forth country I have sent trade packages out to over the last few years.  Matt recently sent me another trade request.  I still intend on responding to you!

Zistle Trade #43: dannicole2112

Well, I had a good run of getting some things posted.  I still have some more posts to burn through before I catch up to present day.  I have not done many trades so far this year.  Work and such get in the way at times.  I still intend to get those posts out there and hopefully I have not overlooked any trades.

Up next is a Zistle trade with Dan and Christian, a father and son collecting team.  Nothing too special here, but still filled a few holes in want lists.  Decent looking Keith Hernandez, though.

If any one is looking to make trades, large and small, Zistle is a great place to find trade partners.  The trade process is so easy to work and the vast majority of people on Zistle are quite pleasant.