Zistle Trade #74: mattdamick

This was a quick trade with Matt.  He reached out with a simple request.  One PWE later and I received some nice cards.

Seeing Keith Hernandez in an Indians uniform is quite strange.  He isn't too fond of his time there either.  He batted right at a .200 average which was a career worst.  He retired after his one season in Cleveland.  He rarely mentions it during Mets broadcasts and pretty much changes the subject when it is brought up.  I also read something somewhere that he won't sign anything featuring him on the Indians, but I think there are some Leaf Buybacks out there that he has signed.

Seeing Gary Carter in a Giants uniform is also strange.  He only played one season with the Giants and mostly as a platoon player.  His best playing days were behind him at that point, but he did reach a catching milestone while playing with the Giants.  He became the all-time NL leader in games caught as 1,862.  He added to that total by playing a couple more years, but I believe he still holds the NL record.

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!

Zistle Trade #72: SDre31

This next Zistle trade is with Steve.  He was one of my first trades completed on Zistle.  He reached out with a nice trade offer, but I offered back with a nice stack back to him.

I received a bunch of oddball cards from Steve.  Oddball cards can be a little frustrating at times.  Some look cheap and are airbrushed of logos.  Some are nice looking and sometimes beat their flagship release counterpart.  I would say the most interesting one here is the Topps Magazine card.  Although, the cards showing off Keith Hernandez's mustache are pretty sweet.

Topps released a magazine for a few years in the early 1990's.  One would think that there would 9 cards attached in the magazine (you know, since 9 cards fit to a page), but for Topps reasons there were usually just 8 cards.  Towards the end of its run it was decreased down to 4 cards plus one jumbo card.

 

A couple more oddballs I received were these Denny's cards.  I enjoyed getting these cards as a kid because of the cool holograms.  The cards still hold up well today and always fun to revisit.  

Overall, this was an excellent trade with Steve.  I recall our first trade being pretty cool as well, so it is nice to things have not changed.

Zistle Trade #71: tbjc

The Mets season has been pretty interesting thus far.  Pitching was suppose to be the strength of the team.  Yoenis Cespedes was suppose to playing MVP ball.  Michael Conforto was likely to start the season in the minors.  Nothing has really worked out for this team.

The pitching staff has been anything but stellar.  Noah Syndergaard thought he knew his body, but his body told him different.  Matt Harvey has lost his Dark Knight status.  Cespedes has been out with leg issues.  One bright spot has been Conforto.  He has proven that he belongs in the big leagues and is making a case for being the best player in New York.

There has been medical miscommunications, Harvey being suspended, and an over worked bullpen.  Then there was Mr. Met giving the middle finger to a fan.  To be fair, Mr. Met only has four digits on his hand.

There are some things to look forward to on the horizon.  There is some pitching relief coming that can hopefully pitch into the seventh inning.  Cespedes returning will make the lineup stronger.  Amed Rosario is knocking on the door to his big league call-up.  There is still a lot of baseball to play and the Mets have players to make it happen.

Speaking of disasters, let us take a look this next Zistle trade.  Another one to the Great White North.  This time with Richard.  He reached out looking for some 1994 Upper Deck Collector's Choice needs.  We struck a deal and sent off our cards.

Unfortunately for me, my cards never made it.  It was pretty weird.  I received a PWE, but the side of the envelope appeared to be sliced open.  Everything was there, except for the cards.  Richard's letter with a team bag attached to it was there.  The team bag was opened on the non-flap side, but that side was pointed towards the unopened end of the envelope.  Could they have slid out during their journey?  Could someone have grabbed the cards during their journey across the border?

There would have been just 4 cards and nothing important, so no big deal.  I do not think Richard tried to pull a fast one on me.  It was just a really weird experience.  After all of these trades, this was the first time something didn't show up.  Anyway, life moves on.

Zistle Trade #70: scottbdoug

We head back north to Canada for our next trade.  This one again with Scott.  We have traded a few other times and so far so good.
Scott sent a couple cards that will be going into my in-progress FFM binder.  That is Former & Future Mets.  I am still working on that name, but FFM is a decent abbreviation, right?  F&FM? 

Anyway, the 1983 Topps Keith Hernandez and Bud Harrelson should be nice additions.  I believe this is my first Hernandez in a Cardinals uniform from his playing days.

Bud Harrelson was the Mets' shortstop for 13 years.  He played with an excellent glove and poor bat, but that was pretty standard for his position at the time.  At one time he held the Mets single season record for walks, so he must have had a pretty decent eye at the plate.  Guess who broke that single season walk record?  Keith Hernandez.  That's right, we went full circle.  

  

Also received in this trade were some 1991 Score Traded.  Something I learned from this trade was that there was a Traded release for Score.  I guess Score thought their rather large sets needed to be larger.  The cards I received are not too bad, though.  Some have some pretty decent photos.

Pretty solid trade!  Thanks, Scott!

Zistle Trade #69: TheToddFather21

This Zistle trade came in from Josh.  When I saw his username, in my mind, I was thinking Todd Helton.  I believe there is another Blogger out there that goes by something similar.  Josh's request was for some Reds cards, so I thought that was weird.  Then it hit me and I was forgetting about Todd Frazier.

I always find Bobby Bonilla cards from his second stint with the Mets to be funny.  He put up pretty decent numbers during his first go round, but he never lived up to being the highest paid player in baseball.  I am not sure why the owners thought things would be different the second time around.

There is an annual reminder about how the Mets pay him over $1 million a year despite not playing baseball since 2001.  I do not understand why this is a big deal.  A lot of teams have deferred payments for players who are retired, just not as long as Bonilla's runs.  I guess it only gets attention because of the Madoff scandal that made his deferred salary possible.  Just Mets' owners being Mets' owners.

Zistle Trade #68: Lightningfan7609

Well, it has been awhile since my last post.  I am still around doing my thing.  I have spent the last few months not doing too much with baseball cards.  I had not logged into Zistle since February until recently.  The site is still up and running which is surprising.

I have been entering my collection into the Trading Card Database over the last few months.  It was a bit of a process that I will get to in a future post.  I won't give up on Zistle until the very end, so I will manage both sites until something changes (or I go crazy juggling both with trades).  I still want to get through these Zistle trades and acknowledge the many collectors I have traded with over the last few months.   

This next one was another simple trade.  This time with Justin.  There was only a few cards exchanged and the this card was not even apart of the trade.  Justin threw it in when he could not find one of the other cards he was going to send.  Not a bad replacement.

I do not recall a lot of the 1970 and 1980's Topps by design, but you can definitely tell this is from the 70's.  1978 to be exact.

Nino was not the Mets best pitcher by any stretch, but he had an 8 year career where he spent time with the Mets, Phillies, and Blue Jays.  Well, he did not spend a lot of time with the Blue Jays.  He pitched one inning of relief, gave up four hits and one run, then was released.  He never made it back to the big leagues and unfortunately died at the young age 34.