Zistle Trade #27

Tonight is the final game of the Subway Series between the Mets and Yankees.  The Mets won game one on Friday while the Yankees won game two with a shutout on Saturday.  The Mets still have a comfortable lead in the division, but could use the series win here to keep their momentum going forward.

Tonight's game is also a continuation of the Matt Harvey story.  Harvey did not pitch very well during his last outing almost two weeks ago against the Nationals.  He is trying to stay sharp for his first playoff run.  He likes to pitch against the Yankees, too.  Hopefully, Harvey will have a good outing and put this whole media mess further behind him.

Now, back to the trades with this one with Zistle user rbarone5.  He is a fellow Mets fan (or at least I think it he is as his avatar is the Mets logo).  This was a short and simple trade with us exchanging a few cards.

Nothing great here with this trade, but it does fill a couple of needs.

Zistle Trade #26

The Mets keep rolling with another series sweep this weekend over the Atlanta Braves.  There were a couple of unfortunate errors in Sunday's game, but they redeemed those with three runs in the ninth and tenth innings to complete the four game sweep.  The Mets return to Queens to start a homestead against the Marlins, Yankees, and Braves.  It is only a matter of time now until the Mets clinched their division.

Moving along with another Zistle trade.  This time with user reyoung68.  He reached out to me requesting some of his Topps needs and countered with these Mets cards along with some of my other various needs.

Not a bad selection of Mets cards.  I was looking to get Rickey Henderson's first Topps card as a Met for a while at the time of this trade.  I also enjoy the Upper Deck Oviation Mike Piazza I received.  The card is made to look and feel like a baseball.  Of course, they do not feel like an actual baseball, but Upper Deck made an interesting card with that set.

Zistle Trade #25

Well, those were some great games of baseball!  Three come from behind wins for the Mets and they now have a nice seven game lead in the NL East.  Mets fans do not like to say something is definite until it happens, but things are definitely going our way right now.

Now, back to the trades...

I have traded with user bdlehman18 a couple times now.  Our first trade was only my second one on Zistle.  He was only looking for a couple of cards for our third trade, so it was short and simple.

We did hit a little snag when he went to pull the cards he was going to send me.  Zistle is a great website for keeping your card collection, but it does come with some bugs.  It happens on occasion during trades, but it never has been a big deal.

Being the good trader he is, Brian asked if I wanted to pick a replacement.  I gave a couple of options and asked him to surprise me.  This is what he sent.

I really enjoy the look of these 1998 Pacific Omega cards for some reason.  I only had one Omega card prior to receiving these four cards, but that one card has always been a favorite of mine.  I could have pulled that card and scanned it, but decided it was easier to do a Google Image search.

"Courtesy" of The Snorting Bull

It is not too often you find a card depicting a player on three different teams, especially of a high caliber player like Mike Piazza.  Unfortunately, Piazza missed the Hall of Fame election again this year.  His chances are looking better for next year with only one definite shoo-in (Ken Griffey, Jr.) in front of him.

Zistle Trade #24

We are now into September with the Mets in first place.  They look to continue their forward momentum into a playoff run.  Due to the Cardinals, Pirates, and Cubs playing great ball, but being in the same division, the Mets must win their division to make the playoffs.

The Mets and Nationals started a crucial series on Labor Day.  The first game was exciting with the Mets giving up the lead, but then coming back for the win.  The entire team looked ready for this game and did not seem distracted by the recent media hoopla.  Now, it is the person at the center of the hoopla to make his start to continue the Mets path to the playoffs.

Moving along with another Zistle trade with user SDre31.  Steve was one of the first few trades I completed on Zistle a couple of years ago.  This was our second trade.

Those 1987 Topps cards that you can find literally from anyone.  These are from the Topps Traded set which I believe finishes off that 1987 set for me.

The bottom-right card is a rookie card of Kelly Stinnett.  I know he is not one of those players you trade for, but I was glad to get this card.  

I have been to over 20 MLB games, so far, in my life.  I have always wanted to catch a foul or home run ball, but have not done so yet.  The closest was when Kelly threw me a ball after batting practice.  I was maybe 11 or 12 years old and pretty far away from what I recall.  I was waving my glove and he threw the ball up to me.

Zistle Trade #23

This Zistle trade is my second trade with user dvdgao.  He is a St. Louis Cardinals fan and requested some more Cardinals cards in this trade.  Here is what he sent my way.  Not a bad assortment of Mets cards with a nice auto card of Ike Davis.

One of my earliest posts here was about Ike getting traded to the Pirates.  I was with Team Ike instead Team Duda at the time, but later realized that the Mets made the right decision.

Ike is currently playing first base for the Oakland A's in a platoon situation.  Lucas Duda was third in the National League in home runs in 2014.  Duda has been struggling at the plate this year, but he has       turned into one of the top defensive first basemen in baseball.

2014 Topps Stadium Club Group Break at Nachos Grande

The 2015 Topps Stadium Club was released last week.  In honor of the release, I figured I would go ahead and finally post about my 2014 Topps Stadium Club experience (because I am a procrastinator and that is how I roll).

Back in October, Nachos Grande hosted a group break for 2014 Topps Stadium Club.  If you happen to look at the pictures before reading this post, you may notice a lack of the headlining product.  Well, that is because there was not a single Met pulled.  This was my first skunk in three tries with group breaks.

I did not walk away empty handed, though.  Mr. Grande was nice enough to make up for the skunk by sending some Mets my way.  I must say he did a great job with a good mixture of old and new.  He also threw in some custom Allen & Ginter cards.

He also threw in this nice auto card of Lee Mazzilli.

I would eventually get my hands on the Mets cards from the 2014 release.  Decent cards, but it sounded like the release was poorly executed by Topps.  From what I have read and seen, so far, it seems like Topps has improved on this year's release.

I am on the lookout for the 2015 Topps Stadium Club Mets cards.  I will keep you all posted...eventually.

Zistle Trade #22

Zistle user, BucCollector, reached out to me with a trade looking for some various Pirates and some basketball cards.  I generally can not turn down a trade that gets rid of my basketball cards.

I do not mind getting some junk wax oddball cards. We all know what the main sets look like and these are a nice change of pace when dealing with junk wax cards.

Finally, a card that can pretty much sum up the Mets from 1992 to 1995.  I guess you can expand that up until 2035 as the Mets will be paying Bonilla a little over $1 million dollars per year due to a contract negotiation with his release before the 2000 season.

Fun fact:  the "V. Wells" you see on the above card is the father of former MLB player Vernon Wells.  The artist Wells has done numerous pieces of art for many players over the years.