Zistle Trade #62: sam383

Next up is another Zistle trade with Dave.  This time he reached out looking for a bunch of commons and was patient waiting for my acceptance.

I think the most interesting card, besides Ramon Castro hamming it up on his card, is that Doc Gooden Bowman card.  Gooden is shown wearing number 64, but we all know him for his number 16 during his Mets tenure.  Gooden did wear number 64 during his first big league camp, but changed over to number 16 once called up, but this card was in 1993.  My best guess is that he is either in Spring Training or doing a rehab stint somewhere in the minors on this card.

Like a lot of ball players and their chosen uniform numbers, Gooden was no different in his choices.  Along with 16, the occasional 64 with the Mets, and 11 with the Yankees, Gooden chose his uniform numbers based on his birthday (11-16-64).

Blogger Trade: gcrl

Up next is a Blogger trade with Jim at garvey cey russell lopes.  This was a trade that started way early last year and took a few months to complete.  It did not take us a few months to agree to a trade, but rather put together a trade package to send to each other.  It was probably more my procrastination than his, but we eventually got this trade done.

I find Blogger trades make me more nervous than Zistle trades.  You can see what cards you get and what cards you are sending with both sides agreeing to a Zistle trade.  Blogger trades seem to be rather blind in most cases.  You might know some of the cards ahead of time, but generally not every thing you get.  I believe this trade was blind.

Jim sent along a rather interesting card.  The above 1999 Topps Stars n' Steel Mike Piazza.  The set is a pretty basic 44 card set with just two parallel versions.  The interesting part is the cards are printed on 0.25 gauge metal.  It was rather surprising to look through a bunch of cardboard and come across one that was metal.

I received some pretty great cards from Jim in this trade.  Some cards finished some team sets and some cards started some team sets.  

Jim finished up his blog last year with a nice "goodbye" post.  He is still collecting and trade, though, which is always nice to see.  Thanks for the wonderful trade, Jim!

Zistle Trade #61: scottbdoug

Up next is another Zistle trade to our neighbors of the north.  Scott reached out with a request for our third trade.  He requested a stack of set needs and sent out a bunch for me.

I think the most interesting card received was the 2002 Topps prospects card featuring Brian Cole.  Cole was an up-and-coming prospect in the Mets minor league system and was showing great promise.  He was one of the players, along with David Wright and Jose Reyes, the Mets were going to build around.  Tragically, his life were cut short after a car accident. 

Sports Illustrated ran a wonderful 2013 article entitled "The Best Player You Never Saw."  The article is a great read for baseball fans that discusses Cole's impact on a number of players who played with and against him, including CC Sabathia and Albert Pujols.

Zistle Trade #60: halos17

Let's keep the line moving with another Zistle trade.  I sent a trade request to Rob offering up a bunch of Tim Salmon cards.  Rob countered back with a larger request asking for all of the matches I had for him.  Since I like receiving more cards, I was down to work out a larger trade.

I know a lot of junk wax era sets do not get a whole lot of love, but the 1986 Donruss set is not too bad.  The cards above show are some pretty clean looking cards.

I am not sure why I like the 2009 O-Pee-Chee set, but I do.  It has a pretty cool retro design with some good images.

Overall, this was a very pleasant trade!  Thanks, Rob!

Zistle Trade #59: hittinaway

Next up is another Zistle trade.  Nick reached out with a trade request mostly for a bunch of Tim Wallach cards.  I thought it was a strange request since I know there was already a big Wallach collector out there who literally wants every Wallach ever made.  Nick said those Wallach cards are sent out to another collector, so they just might end up at the Stackhouse Law Office, if they haven't already.

Nick sent out the request with just what he was looking for while leaving my side blank.  Instead of picking a bunch of random cards, I thought I would keep it simple and select based on set.  Nick had a complete team set of 1994 Studio, so that was a good starting point.

Nick was kind enough to throw in some extra cards to the package.  Most of those extras will go into the trade pile, but there were still some cards that I needed.  Thanks for the extras, Nick!

Blogger Trade: Tony L.

In the five months I went between posts, the Mets have played five months of up-and-down baseball.  The team has been plagued by injuries with some key pieces going down with season ending injuries.  Other players have been dealing with nagging injuries most of the season.  Other players have not played up to expectations.  Despite all of this, the team is still in playoff contention which in my eyes is still an accomplishment.  

Up next is a trade with Tony.  Many of you might know Tony.  He has his blog over at Off Hiatus Baseball.  Check it out if you haven't done so.

Tony reached out sometime last year on my Topps project page (which I still need to flesh out or just delete).  He said he could help me out with a bunch of my 1970's Topps needs.  His comment totally went unnoticed by myself as I did not realize it was there until months later.

Eventually, I got back to Tony.  Luckily, he still had those cards.  He sent along a bunch of Topps needs that are much appreciated.  

It looks like Topps used a couple of nice action shots in their 1978 set.   I wonder what the percentage is of action shots versus posed shots for vintage Topps sets.

I think the 1979 Topps set is pretty decent.  The set does not really have many memorable cards.  The most memorable is definitely Ozzie Smith's rookie card when he was with the San Diego Padres.  I think the set has a simple design that works quite well.  I also like the use of the "vintage" Topps logo.  I am not sure if vintage is the correct term, but I think it was the first year they put their logo on the card fronts.

Tony was kind enough to send along some non-Topps needs, too.  He also sent along some Donruss, Fleer, Score, and a few oddball cards.

I thought Sportflics cards were pretty cool when I was younger.  I wonder how long it will take Topps to make digital cards like this for their app.  Gif cards?  It still won't get me to use the app, though.

Thanks for the great trade, Tony!