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.