Zistle Trade #73: Cardboard Mets

Next up is a Zistle trade with Thomas.  He had actually reached out via email prior to this trade offer just introducing himself and his blog, Cardboard Mets.  I don't recall if I replied because I am pretty terrible about email.  Seriously, if you have emailed me about trading and I have not replied, just shoot me another email.  I might reply to another one.

As you can see he chose a similar name for his user name and blog.  I am pretty bad with coming up with titles or names for things.  If I have a child one day it might just end up named Kid #1.  Now that I see someone going by something similar, I of course like it better.  

Like my previous Mets-centric trades, we matched up quite well.  First up are some vintage cards featuring a few with some nice action shots.

Next, we move into the 90's and 00's.  Thomas sent plenty of great cards.  I really enjoy the Fleer Ultra Rickey Henderson with him going into the ivy at Wrigley Field.

Finally, we finish up in the late 00's and 10's.  I think the Topps Chrome Cooper parallel looks quite nice.  I am not a proponent of color parallels, but it is nice to see something different.  Thomas also helped fill out with some missing Gypsy Queen base needs.

Thomas is a very generous trader.  He offered up a Mike Trout relic in this trade, too.  He wanted it to go to another Mets fan and that was me!  Thanks for a wonderful trade, Thomas!

eBay: Brent

I think it is time to clean up my scanned folder and show of some of these great Mets cards I have picked up from eBay super seller, Brent.  Brent specializes in case breaking and does a great job at getting it done.

First up is 2015 Topps Heritage High Numbers.  There is no difference design-wise from the standard release, but instead focuses on the younger talent.  Not much variety photo-wise either, but Heritage has never really been used for the action shots.  The Mets got a few insert cards that showcase their young pitching studs.  Favorite card is probably Noah Syndergaard's rookie card.  Biggest missed opportunity is not getting Alex Torres wearing his extra protective hat.

Next up is 2015 Topps Hi Tek.  I do not believe that Brent had any team sets available for this, but it would be pretty hard to put one together considering how many different patterns the set utilizes.  I kept it pretty simple here and picked up a few cards, a couple of "base" and one numbered Kevin Plawecki.  No real opinion here.  The cards look cool, but the various patterns make it difficult to collect.

Finally, 2015 Topps Update.  Here we have the first Mets cards for a few players who debuted or were traded for during the 2015 season.  Yoenis Cespedes, Juan Uribe, Kelly Johnson, and Tyler Clippard were all apart of the teams late season run into the postseason.  Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz both debuted in 2015 and helped get the Mets further and further through their playoff run.  It is interesting to look back knowing that this team was the one that made it to the World Series that season.



The Mets were also given a near page full of inserts.  This time the inserts show the Mets rich history of pitchers.  From Tom Seaver to Dwight Gooden to Buddy Carlyle to Jacob deGrom.

I purchased nearly all of the 2016 releases from Series 2 onwards from Brent.   I doubt I will get around to scanning those cards at this point.  It would probably be best to start fresh for the 2017 releases. 

Zistle Trade #63: jtcrawfordcr (Goodbye Zistle?)

Well, we will continue clearing out my draft posts with another Zistle trade.  Sadly, it looks like Zistle will be coming to an end at some point.  Some may know and some may not, but Zistle was sued by Beckett, which shall be known henceforth as Dickett.  I know, not very creative.  Anyway, Dickett thought Zistle infringed on their copyrights by allegedly using their checklists.  My guess is that the owners of Zistle had to let it go due to legal fees.

It is a pretty shitty move by Dickett.  I purchased their price guides back in the day, but I have not used them for much of anything since then, so I can't really boycott them.  I hope anyone who used Zistle or, at the very least, cares about having options in a marketplace decides to boycott. 

Back to the trade.  This one was another with John.  He reached out with an offer.  I did not have a problem with said offer, so a quick deal was made.

Matt Reynolds made an interesting piece of history last season.  He spent the entire 2015 season in Triple A with the Las Vegas 51's and had yet to make an appearance in the big leagues.  We all recall the hoopla of Ruben Tejada, Chase Utley, and the slide which resulted in a broken leg for Tejada.

With an infielder short, the Mets called up Matt Reynolds making him the first modern player to be added in the middle of a series without having major league experience.  He didn't get to play in the playoffs and was dropped off the roster for the World Series.  He eventually made his MLB debut the following season on May 17, 2016 in place of a scratched David Wright.

Zistle Trade #39: mattdamick

Up next is another Zistle trade in the books.  This time with a new trade partner in Matthew.  He requested some 2015 Topps flagship insert needs and sent some in return.

Only two Mets cards were received in this trade, but I am happy with them just fine.

I really like the image choice for this Mookie Wilson card.  To me, it shows what kind of player Mookie was with the Mets.  I am also pretty sure the photo shows him hitting in the 1986 World Series.

Mookie does not seem to get enough credit for his part in the famous "Buckner play" in Game 6 of the World Series.  Mookie's speed perhaps forced Buckner to rush and misplay the ball.  Buckner also gets the brunt of noise about the Red Sox losing that World Series, but few seem to remember that there was still a game 7 to be played. 

Group Break: Crackin' Wax - 2015 Topps Finest

I participated in another group break with Topher over at Crackin' Wax.  This was my second group break with him and was for the 20015 Topps Finest release.

I like the look and design of this Finest release.  The cards look even better in hand versus image scans.  There are only 111 cards in the set (11 being short prints) and the Mets got four of those slots.  Kind of surprised not to see Matt Harvey anywhere in this set. 

I did not get much more than a team set with this break.  Not a big deal as that is how group breaks go sometimes.  This was a charity break, so the proceeds went to good cause. 

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.

eBay Summer Purchases Continued: Franchise Edition

Another edition of my summer eBay purchases.  Well, I do not see another one of these in my drafts, so I guess this is the last edition.  It only took a couple of seasons...

This time we have the "Franchise Edition" and look at Tom Seaver and David Wright.

Tom Seaver really needs no introduction to Mets fans.  His accomplishments are well known among baseball fans:

1967 National League Rookie of the Year

3-time NL Cy Young Award (1969, 1973, 1975)

1969 World Series champion

Elected to the Hall of Fame in 1992 (highest first ballot vote percentage)

Seaver has quite of few modern cards, but not a whole lot of variety of photos.  Not complaining, just an observation.

The current face of the franchise is, of course, David Wright.  While the 2014 season will hopefully go down as an off-year for him, he still ranks among the best Mets player of all-time.  He currently is the all-time Mets career leader in runs, hits, doubles, and RBIs.  

Group Break at Waiting 'til Next Year

There were some "new" aspects of the hobby I had to experience when I started back collecting.  Group breaks were one of those aspects.  

Thanks to Tom over at Waiting 'til Next Year I was able to participate in my first group break.  The break took place over the summer and included 1989 Swell, 1990 Swell, 1991 Swell, and 1990 Pacific Legends.  Sure, it is not the high-end product that most seem to like participate in for group breaks, but it was perfect for me to test the waters of group breaks.

I, of course, chose the Mets for my team in the break.

1990 Pacific Legends and 1991 Swell

1990 Swell

1990 Swell cont. and 1989 Swell

From this break I learned that Harvey Haddix was a pitching coach for the Mets from 1966-1967.  You may have heard of Mr. Haddix as having pitched an unprecedented 12 perfect innings for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Milwaukee Braves in 1959.  His perfect game was ultimately stopped in the 13th inning as the Pittsburgh Pirates lost 1-0.

Tom also threw in a stack of SSPC that I will show in a future post.  Thanks for the extras and for hosting this group break!

Zistle Trade #7

Another post.  Another Zistle trade.  This time I traded with user bjbernier78.  He was featured on the Zistle blog as he is out serving in Kuwait.

I believe he initiated this trade looking for some 2013 Topps for his set needs.  Among the Mets I received included:

That is another Keith Hernandez (and that stache) with the Cleveland Indians.  This trade was actually started after the previous Zistle trade, but I received these cards all the way from Kuwait first.

Here are a couple more modern cards I received as well.  Not pictured are a few 2013 Topps Chrome cards.

Juan Lagares was one of the bright spots for the Mets this season.  He leads the majors in awesome catches* and deserves some Gold Glove recognition this off-season.  He ranks among the top defensive outfielders in the National League and has been earning the praise of many players and coaches throughout MLB.  Oh, and that is without having played in as many games as the other top ranking outfielders.

*not an actual statistic