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.

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 #41: OrlandoBolts

This Zistle trade was with new trade partner Jason.  Jason reached out with a request for some
Toronto Blue Jays cards.  This was another quick trade with no back and forth.

I only received two Mets cards from this trade, but two pretty decent ones.  I guess this would be considered Jose Reyes' rookie card for Upper Deck, though Topps had already released a few rookie cards in 2001 and 2002.

Zistle Trade #14

Another trade in the books with Zistle user neckababy1.  He offered a handful of Mets for a few cards in return.  He has been a good source for Darryl Strawberry cards thus far.

Here is what I received:

The Hall of Fame ballots were made official yesterday.  Mike Piazza will have to wait another year to be elected.  It was a pretty stacked list this year with those getting elected being very deserving.  Piazza will be the top holdover next year and will only have one sure thing in Ken Griffey, Jr. in front of him.

I think the biggest oversight on this year's ballot was Carlos Delgado.  He did not receive enough votes to remain on the ballot next year.  Oh, and this was just his first year of eligibility.  He definitely had an amazing career.  Some might say he was not quite a Hall of Famer, while others will say different.  He does deserve, at the least, to be on the ballot longer than one year.  I feel it is another reason to throw amongst the many others to reevaluate the voting process for the Hall of Fame.

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.  

Zistle Trade #9

This trade was with user neckababy1.  I reached out to him because it looked like he would be a good trade partner, since he is also a Mets fan.  I targeted the Panini products because I still can not bring myself to buy a pack.  Maybe one day...

Here are the Mets I received:

Zistle Trade #8

Here is another trade completed on Zistle this summer.  This one was with user dvdgao.  He reached out to me for some Cardinals and offered some Mets.  We reached an agreement after a couple exchanges.

Here is what I received:

Reddit Trade

I completed a trade on reddit recently.  Someone was looking to get rid of some 2007-2008 products.  We worked out a trade for a handful of Mets cards for some Angels cards.  I think this was my third or fourth trade on reddit and things have gone smoothly so far.

Most of what I received were Upper Deck products, but there were some 2007 Topps Allen & Ginter and 2007 Topps Update.

The majority of the cards I received were of various Upper Deck releases.  Upper Deck had some pretty decent card designs for their main set releases.  Some of their secondary releases were hit-and-miss, in my opinion.  I really enjoy the Masterpieces set, though.

 

I am trying to find a good and efficient way to scan cards.  I like this method of using a 9-card page to keep things more neat looking.