Trade with Tom of Waiting 'til Next Year

As I'm slowly getting back into the swing of blogging, I'm remembering all of the good people/bloggers that I've met over the last couple of years.  Trading is something I miss the most about blogging as it's a great way to network with other collectors.

Tom from Waiting 'til Next Year is one of the aforementioned good people/bloggers that I've traded with a couple times over the last few years.  He sent out a cry for help to complete the 1987 Topps set over the blogosphere and I was happy to help out.  I was able to help him with a couple of his other set projects too.

He always seems to find some good cards for me.  He knocked off a few cards from my 2013 Topps set as well as a few Cubs extras that will fit nicely into my 1979 Topps set.  But that's not all he sent.

For my One Card of Every Oriole binder he sent me this 1956 Chuck Diering.  If you aren't familiar with my OCoEO binder, I'm working on getting a card of every Oriole to ever play a game for the Orioles.  I'm probably about 75% (rough estimate) of the way there but I still need (mostly vintage) help!

I do have a small Boog Powell PC.  This 1970 Topps All-star will fit nicely into that collection.  Boog doesn't get that many cards these days so most were from when he was an active player.

Finally, We have a Matt Wieters card from panini.  I'm going to let Tom off the hook here since he is correct that Matty Ice doesn't have a lot of cards.  Maybe panini will grow on me in time like the late 80's/early 90's oddball unlicensed food issues but I doubt it.  I just think overall panini is a waste of paper.  I was at Target the other day in the card aisle and there were several boxes of panini packs sitting there on the shelf.  Out of 5 boxes (Hometown Heroes, Pinnacle, USA Baseball Legends, Prism, and Cooperstown) not a single pack was missing.  I think that says something about how the general public feels about unlicensed product.

Thanks Tom for the trade!

Trade with Dustin of Coot Veal and the Vealtones

Another awesome trade that I completed recently was with Dustin of Coot Veal and the Vealtones.  Dustin has become one of my favorite trade partners over the last few years.  I even traded with him before he made it to Major League Blogging (*not a real league).   He sent me so many cool cards I had a hard time whittling this post down to 5 cards for the sake of brevity.  Lets begin:

I really enjoy adding new autographs to my Orioles collection especially if they are on-card.  Here is my second Brandon Snyder autograph but my first on-card one. While Brandon didn't make a huge impact with the Orioles he was able to play with Texas and is now with Boston.

Speaking of Boston, it still pains me to see Koji wearing "red socks" now.  He really endeared himself to the Orioles fans while he was here even though he was hurt a lot.  I think the only thing that I take solace in him being gone is when I seen Chris Davis manning first base!

Speaking of big burly first baseman, Boog Powell did it first in Baltimore.  Now he makes a mean BBQ sandwich in right field at Camden Yards.  I'm thrilled that Dustin sent this vintage "Booger" for my PC.

Speaking of boogers, PC's, I also found this Brady Anderson MLB Showdown game card in the package.  I've slowed down on the Brady PC as of late since I have most of his early career stuff (think over-production era) and some of the late 90's "off the beaten path" stuff can be somewhat harder to find.  MLB Showdown was underrated in that there were some obscure players in there.  There are Orioles cards of Trenidad Hubbard and Mike Trombley in some of their sets!

I'll close with another PC addition of Jim Palmer.  I don't have many Topps Pristine cards in my collection mostly because I wasn't collecting much when they were released.  Plus, me being a poor college student at the time kept me from buying the high end products.!   

Thanks Dustin for the awesome trade package!

Trade with David of "e rayhahn, rayhahn"

Wow, it's been a week since my last post.  I've been playing a lot of Xbox lately since Mass Effect 3 came out.  That doesn't mean I've been completely ignoring my card collection though.  Things have been slow this early spring since series 1 came out. There have been 4 new products come out since then (Opening Day, Heritage, Stickers, and Tribute), and I haven't even bought a pack of either one.  Neither of these sets has really inspired me to go out and buy any.  I'm interested in the Orioles from the sets but that's about it.  I haven't bought any packs since the beginning of February.  That's probably a new record since I returned to the hobby (for the 4th time) in late 2009.  Another reason things have been slow around here is because my Spring Training TTM's have just been a big disappointment.  I sent to some longshots but also to a bunch of safer bets.  I've only gotten 2 back this spring.  I might be seriously reconsidering if Spring Training TTMing is worth the time and effort next year.  I'm still holding out hope that a couple more will come back with the exhibition schedule wrapping up next week..

Luckily for me though, to break me out of my cardboard doldrums David from "e rayhahn, rayhahn" contacted me about a week ago about some Twins relics I had on my trade list.  Of course, I was happy to trade with David again since the first one was awesome.  Here's what he sent me in return:

My scanner hates this card but it really looks pretty cool in person.  I was wondering what had happened to Mr. Rodriguez until Kevin from Orioles Card "O" the Day made a post just yesterday about him.  Not all players who make the majors particularly belong there.

This is a nice relic card from 2007 Topps Heritage.   All of the Clubhouse Collection cards I've seen from Topps Heritage releases look pretty classy with a nice vintage touch.
On a side note Mr. Tejada reportedly still wants to play ball this year but only with a contending team.  At this point in his career, and as bad as he played for the Giants last year, beggars can't be choosers.

Here's a nice jersey card of Brian Roberts from 2007 Upper Deck.  This relic design is probably my favorite of Upper Deck's flagship sets.  This one goes great with my Melvin Mora and Erik Bedard cards from the same set.  It looks like I got a bit of a seam on this swatch too so that's a bonus!  

I'll close with this awesome Boog Powell card.  I don't have too many of his cards (heck, there aren't that many anyways) but this is one of my favorites.  The 70's were a great time for the Orioles franchise.  One of these days we'll have a team that can play to a .500 record or better.

Thanks David for the awesome cards!

Trade with Oscar of All Trade Bait, All the Time

Oscar of All Trade Bait, All the Time contacted me before my sabbatical from blogging and said he had some Orioles card up on his blog that I might be interested in.  I found more than what is pictured here but I'm just going to hit the highlights:

This Tribute card comes from 1994 Pinnacle.  I like the classic mid swing a pitch "pose" on this card.  You can really see the concentration and might in Cal's eyes.  Notice on the bottom of the card where it says Steady Run Production.  I've heard rumblings that Cal wasn't as great as everybody though he was.  Well he wouldn't have played all those games in a row if he wasn't a good run producer!

I believe this card is from 2001's Topps Archives set.  I initially missed out on the set but I'm proud to have this reprint of Boog Powell's rookie card from 1962 Topps now.

Here's another great card of Cal that I can add to my binders.  For what it's worth, it looks like the picture was taken in Comiskey Park.  I think the concrete dugout top gives it away.  I think the Pinnacle  Tribute card above is also from Comiskey.

Thanks Oscar for the trade!