Barter: Care of Night Owl

First of all, if you traded with me recently, and I didn't share it on here, I'm sorry. Just as of last month, I didn't have internet or a scanner that worked more than 10% of the time, so cards were not posted and cards were assimilated into my collection and they were all very much appreciated. Now that I have these luxuries, posting a trade post doesn't take me 3 1/2 hours to put together.

This latest one is from Night Owl. He contacted me about some Dodgers he spotted from my '93 Action Packed box break, and he had several great Darryl Strawberry cards that I didn't own yet. He also took a stab at my needs list and knocked a few off of there!

Some examples of my base card needs he sent:

2009 Allen & Ginter #213 Stephanie Brown Trafton. She brought home US gold from Beijing for discus.

2009 Topps #259 National League Strikeout Leaders Tim Lincecum (265k), Johan Santana (206k) and Dan Haren (206k). Edinson Volquez also had 206k but I guess he lost the popularity contest.

2008 Stadium Club #98 Roberto Clemente. These Stadium Club cards #91-100 are among my all time favorite cards. Incredibly high quality vintage images with a glossy finish. Nothing better.

Here are all the Darryl Strawberrys I traded for. 1993 Upper Deck #477 Team Stars w/ Eric Davis.

1994 Pinnacle #309 Hometown Heroes.

1992 Studio #50.

1992 Leaf #29.

1991 Fleer Update #U-96.

1991 Donruss #696. This might have been my most heavily collected set as a kid so eventually I'll have to put this one together.

1991 Classic Blue #T68.

Once again, thanks for the great trade Night Owl!

Barter: Care of Roll Out the Barrel

What a sweet weekend! I've learned not to get my hopes up when looking for new releases at Wal-Mart and Target. When I first heard about the full blasters of the '09 Topps dark parallels, I was super giddy. I never did find any on the shelves. Probably a good thing too since I see them as a gimmick now instead of a must have. I picked up a small lot from eBay though and that got the curiosity craving out of me. Same thing with Obak. Never saw any gravity feeds. Once I saw a blaster but those are HUGE rip-offs. I still own zero Obak. I'll buy a hobby box one day, maybe for my birthday. I just worry about them selling out. I have no idea how many of the limited hobby boxes remain. Anyways, back to my point, I walked into Target today hoping for my first '10 Topps, but not hoping too much. I could see the double wide gravity feed a mile away! I STILL didn't allow myself to celebrate since I've been duped by empty feeders before. Yes! It was almost empty but that was good enough for me!

I'm really excited for '10 Topps. The base design leaves a lot to be desired coming after last year's. But I do love most of the inserts, except for the "when they were young" set. I can't wait to get into the "million card giveaway". I'm hoping I can use it to trade for at least a handful of singles towards my '69 Topps set. We'll see.

I'm also really going to enjoy the NFL Playoff double-header with my Dad today. And the wife has her own agenda today so she doesn't have to sit through two whole torturous games. Hooray!

Ok, I'm sick of your jibba-jabba! This IS a trade post after all, didn't you know? No, I don't have any scans of '10 Topps. It's mostly '09 T.. where are you going?!!

Last month I posted my first trade bait post, which worked out pretty well and I'm happy with the results. I think that post now sets the bar for hits on this blog. I'm not sure but I think that post caught the eye of Ed from Roll Out the Barrel because of my considerably large set needs, and he needed to unload some extras. Without expecting anything in return, he sent over a much appreciated amount of help towards those sets. I don't like getting something for nothing though. I've never been able to forgive myself for winning a card on eBay for a penny with free shipping, even though the seller was asking for it, right?! Anyways, I was really grateful and sent over some Brewers in return. I scanned 1 card for each set or group that were sent over.


Ed sent several Ichiros, and I don't think I owned any of them yet until now. This is the '09 Turkey Red #TR96. Ichiro is by far my favorite player in the league today. And as of right now, he is the only active player of any sport that I have a player collection of. I plan on picking some more players this year though.


Jeff Weaver '09 Topps Updates & Highlights #UH115. I'm still getting Jeff and Jared constantly mixed up and can't tell one from the other. Cardinals, Angels, Dodgers.. which one is where who whatzit? Red Sox?


#176, this is one of my favorites from the '08 Upper Deck Heroes set. This one might now be much rarer than the rest of the set since I'm sure so many Yankees and Red Sox fans cut it in half the moment they saw it. I like the Sox, but as more of a fan of the game, this card featuring 2 of the greatest hitters of my lifetime is magic.


'09 Topps #40 Carl Crawford. Seeing this card up close helped me understand why this card ranked highly with so many other collectors. It is really a great shot.


Finally, we have an '09 Topps Allen & Ginter Jamie Moyer #68. I had no idea this guy is still on the Phillies roster. I thought he was retired! He should be fun to watch if he plays this year.

That wraps it up. Just the tip of the iceberg of the cards that Ed sent. Check out Ed's blog at Roll Out the Barrel. Thanks Ed!

2009 Baseball Card of the Year: The Winner!!

Happy New Year!

We'll, when I started this thing, I had bigger and better things imagined for my Baseball Card of the Year feature. But with 2 hiatuses since September and internet access cut from our budget (crazy huh?) and now blogging from my phone with it's tedious limitations, well.. my head hurts.

So I'm just going to wrap this up. Since I started in September, I only nominated 5 cards. Here they are:

1. Topps #559 Esteban German
2. Topps # 124 Reed Johnson
3. Topps # 7 Mickey Mantle
4. Topps Allen & Ginter # 18 Clyde Parris
5. Topps #614 David Murphy
   

I had never decided on how the winning card would be decided, whether by vote or contest, but I don't think I have enough readers yet to pull something like that. It would be just embarrassing if no one voted or entered. Almost like that contest I had during the summer where I only had two entrants (hi Mom!) and flipped a virtual coin to decide the winner.

So I've decided on taking away all the rest of the fun from you and just plain picking a winner myself. I'll count this as a victory. 1 point me, 0 points readers. He-he. Keep your eyes open for opportunities to even the score.



Anyways, I decided that Topps Allen & Ginter #18 Clyde Parris is my favorite baseball base card of the year that I personally own. While the other nominations were all selected on their photography, this one won because of originality. I hope to see a lot more historical baseball cards based on lesser known histories. More mainstream cards featuring the Negro Leagues and maybe some other countries' leagues. The Japanese leagues have a long and rich history which most of us know next to nothing about. I think Tristar did a great job covering minor league history with their Obak set, but they just lost their license so who knows if we'll see anything like that again.

2009 Baseball Card of the Year: 4th Nomination

When I first saw that there were Negro League Star cards in this year's Allen & Ginter set, I was thrilled! How often does this happen? I love any look into the Negro Leagues since historical information seems scarce, and collectibles even scarcer. This one features Clyde Parris. It states on the back that he played for the New York Black Yankees and the Louisville Buckeyes. He's shown here playing for a Panamanian team in his native country which he went to the Caribbean Series in '57 with. I don't know about you, but I would love to go to any local league's game in the Caribbean or Central America.. or Japan.. Korea.. Australia.. anywhere!

I've come across a few other Negro League cards in this set and I have a feeling there might be some more nominations for my pick of the year from these cards.

Noms thus far:

1. Topps #559 Esteban German
2. Topps # 124 Reed Johnson
3. Topps # 7 Mickey Mantle
4. Topps Allen & Ginter # 18 Clyde Parris
   

My Rules:

1. Base cards only.
2. Can only pick from cards I own. Any cards I do not own are automatically DISqualified!
3. Focus will mostly be on photography. Design only plays a small part since this is base cards only.
4. I'll pick as many noms as I want.
5. You can suggest noms, but, see rule 2.
6. I don't know yet how the best card will be selected. (contest?)
7. The card subject must be about baseball and not the Milky Way or something like that.
   

Want List (updated 5/6/10)

I collect all cards Portland Trail Blazers, Ichiro and Darryl Strawberry (click here for the Darryl Strawberrys I already own, and here for the Ichiros I already own).

Completed Trades:

Horace from New York, Chris OK @ Budget Baseball Cardboarding, Dgreen1899 @ Drinking the Orange Kool-Aid, Flwheels @ Cardboard Collections, Play at the Plate @ Play at the Plate, Eds @ Roll Out the Barrel, Jeremy @ No One's Going to Read This Blog, Night Owl @ Night Owl Cards, Night Owl @ Night Owl Cards, Jeremy @ No One's Going to Read This Blog. Any I've missed, please let me know.

05/06/10 edited 2010 Topps baseball

04/15/10 edited 2009 Topps 206 baseball

04/07/10 edited 1969 Topps baseball

03/28/10 edited 2009 Score football

03/25/10 edited 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes

03/17/10 edited 2008 Topps Stadium Club baseball

03/28/10 added 2009 Topps 206 baseball

03/13/10 edited 2009 Allen and Ginter baseball

03/11/10 added 2010 Topps UFC Main Event

03/11/10 edited 2009 Topps Updates and Highlights baseball

03/11/10 edited 2009 Topps baseball

03/07/10 added 2010 Topps Unique baseball Unique Unis

03/01/10 added 2010 Upper Deck baseball

02/25/10 edited 2003 Netpro tennis

02/22/10 edited 1969 Topps baseball Deckle

02/11/10 added 2009 Upper Deck A Piece of History baseball

1969 Topps Baseball:

Blue Means Pending
9, 36, 40, 75, 77, 80, 87, 90, 113, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 135, 138, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 150, 152, 159, 160, 163, 165, 166, 168, 169, 170, 171, 176, 177, 182, 185, 187, 190, 191, 193, 195, 196, 198, 200, 203, 204, 205, 206, 208, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 236, 237, 239, 255, 267, 290, 299, 300, 302, 307, 317, 320, 322, 330, 332, 335, 336, 338, 340, 342, 345, 349, 355, 357, 358, 360, 364, 366, 370, 372, 375, 377, 382, 383, 385, 390, 395, 396, 397, 398, 400, 402, 407, 412, 414, 416, 418, 420, 421, 422, 424, 425, 427, 428, 429, 430, 431, 432, 434, 435, 438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 443, 444, 446, 447, 448, 449, 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480, 481, 482, 483, 484, 485, 486, 487, 488, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493, 494, 495, 496, 498, 499, 500, 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, 506, 507, 508, 509, 510, 511, 512, 513, 514, 515, 516, 517, 518, 519, 520, 521, 522, 523, 524, 525, 526, 527, 528, 529, 530, 531, 532, 533, 534, 535, 536, 537, 538, 540, 541, 542, 543, 544, 545, 546, 547, 548, 549, 550, 552, 554, 555, 557, 558, 560, 561, 562, 564, 565, 566, 567, 568, 569, 570, 571, 572, 573, 574, 576, 577, 578, 579, 580, 581, 582, 583, 584, 585, 586, 587, 588, 589, 590, 591, 592, 593, 594, 595, 596, 597, 598, 599, 600, 601, 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, 607, 608, 609, 610, 611, 612, 613, 614, 615, 616, 617, 618, 619, 620, 621, 622, 623, 624, 625, 626, 628, 629, 630, 631, 633, 634, 635, 636, 637, 638, 639, 640, 641, 642, 643, 644, 645, 646, 647, 648, 649, 650, 651, 652, 653, 654, 655, 656, 657, 658, 659, 660, 661, 662, 663, 664

Deckle Edge:

8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30

2003 NetPro Tennis:
43, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 99

2009 Topps American Heritage:
8, 90, 91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 101, 108, 110, 111, 112, 113, 115, 117, 121, 125

2009 Topps American Heritage "Heroes Edition":
3, 13, 21, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 35, 37, 39, 44, 45, 54, 56, 58, 61, 63, 67, 68, 69, 71, 73, 87, 88, 90, 92, 96, 102, 103, 106, 108, 112, 113, 115, 117, 122, 124, 125

2008 Topps Stadium Club Baseball:
will use any variety (reg., 1st day or ser.#)
6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 33, 36, 39, 42, 45, 54, 57, 59, 60, 66, 69, 72, 75, 77, 81, 84, 87, 90, 94, 99, 102, 103, 107, 108, 126, 129, 132, 138, 147, 148, 150

2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes:
1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 14, 15, 16, 23, 24, 25, 28, 31, 32, 33, 35, 37, 39, 42, 47, 48, 52, 54, 55, 61, 63, 65, 67, 72, 74, 80, 81, 84, 85, 86, 89, 93, 94, 95, 97, 98, 99, 101, 112, 114, 117, 121, 122, 124, 127, 128, 130, 131, 133, 134, 135, 136, 144, 146, 149, 156, 157, 158, 159, 162, 164, 165, 166, 169, 175, 178, 179, 180, 182, 184, 185, 186, 191, 195, 196, 198, 199

2009 Topps Baseball:
50, 72, 160, 202, 208, 218, 240, 257, 267, 273, 352, 393, 441, 469, 499, 502, 510, 534, 535, 545, 548, 571, 572, 581, 590, 593, 601, 632, 641

Any of the retired player variations.

2009 Topps Updates & Highlights:
2, 15, 33, 37, 39, 40, 42, 55, 58, 60, 65, 66, 69, 70, 73, 75, 89, 91, 94, 96, 106, 108, 111, 113, 117, 122, 123, 131, 135, 137, 139, 141, 142, 146, 148, 149, 152, 155, 158, 162, 163, 165, 166, 168, 174, 178, 184, 185, 188, 190, 191, 203, 207, 209, 211, 212, 213, 227, 231, 236, 240, 249, 254, 256, 261, 266, 276, 290, 298, 299, 315, 318, 323, 324, 326, 328, 330

Propaganda Posters:
All except PP9, PP14 & PP16

Any of the retired player variations.

2009 Topps Allen & Ginter
4, 5, 6, 19, 22, 25, 33, 35, 44, 53, 61, 66, 71, 73, 84, 87, 88, 89, 90, 95, 100, 104, 112, 125, 130, 131, 170, 171, 172, 175, 177, 180, 182, 191, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 203, 204, 208, 212, 214, 215, 224, 225, 226, 229, 230, 231, 234, 236, 237, 238, 239, 242, 244, 246, 247, 250, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 259, 261, 264, 265, 266, 268, 270, 273, 274, 275, 278, 281, 282, 283, 286, 287, 290, 291, 292, 295, 299, 301, 304, 305, 308, 309, 310, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 319, 321, 323, 324, 326, 327, 329, 330, 331, 332, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 343, 345, 346, 347, 349

2009 Topps 206 Baseball:

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 38, 39, 42, 44, 47, 50, 52, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 63, 64, 66, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 79, 82, 83, 86, 88, 89, 90, 91, 94, 95, 96, 97, 100, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 112, 113, 116, 117, 118, 120, 121, 123, 124, 127, 129, 130, 131, 132, 134, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 147, 148, 151, 152, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 160, 161, 163, 165, 166, 167, 169, 170, 171, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 185, 186, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 195, 197, 198, 199, 200, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 211, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 221, 222, 223, 224, 226, 229, 230, 231, 233, 234, 235, 237, 238, 240, 241, 243, 244, 248, 250, 251, 252, 253, 257, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 267, 268, 269, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 279, 280, 285, 286, 287, 288, 290, 292, 294, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300

Mantle Checklists:

1, 4

2009 Score Football:

6, 7, 8, 10, 14, 16, 20, 24, 28, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36, 39, 49, 52, 53, 58, 62, 63, 64, 67, 68, 73, 77, 78, 81, 84, 87, 90, 91, 92, 95, 96, 99, 101, 105, 106, 108, 110, 120, 121, 124, 128, 132, 133, 137, 140, 144, 145, 148, 149, 150, 155, 158, 162, 163, 166, 168, 170, 173, 175, 178, 182, 185, 188, 194, 195, 197, 199, 201, 205, 216, 218, 221, 224, 226, 229, 231, 234, 236, 240, 242, 245, 246, 249, 256, 263, 266, 267, 271, 272, 275, 276, 277, 279, 285, 286, 288, 290, 293, 295, 297, 298, 300, 302, 303, 305, 307, 311, 315, 318, 319, 320, 327, 329, 331, 332, 333, 334, 335, 337, 339, 341, 342, 343, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 353, 355, 360, 361, 362, 367, 368, 370, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 382, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 400

Retro Rookies:
1, 2, 4, 7

Hot Rookies:
1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 28

The Franchise:
1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19

Future Franchise:
3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19

Young Stars:
1,2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20

2009 Upper Deck A Piece of History Baseball:

1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 41, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 57, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 73, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 84, 89, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 99, 100, 103, 106, 108, 109, 110, 112, 115, 116, 118, 120, 121, 122, 124, 126, 127, 128, 130, 132, 133, 134, 137, 138, 141, 143, 146, 147, 149, 150, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 180, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198

2010 Topps Baseball:

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 17, 20, 25, 26, 31, 38, 41, 48, 49, 50, 51, 55, 62, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 76, 77, 87, 89, 91, 98, 100, 103, 106, 110, 111, 113, 114, 115, 120, 122, 124, 131, 134, 136, 139, 167, 169, 170, 174, 179, 182, 186, 188, 189, 192, 194, 196, 198, 200, 204, 205, 207, 208, 210, 213, 215, 216, 219, 220, 222, 225, 228, 232, 234, 242, 243, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 259, 261, 266, 268, 275, 276, 279, 280, 290, 297, 298, 299, 300, 302, 303, 306, 309, 310, 314, 318, 322, 327, 330

Cards Your Mom Threw Out:

1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 56, 57, 58

History of the Game:

1, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 23, 24

Legendary Lineage:

1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 30

Peak Performance:

1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 49, 50

Tales of the Game:

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23

Ticket to ToppsTown:

6, 9, 16, 17, 20, 22, 24

Wal-Mart Blue-Backs:

All except #7

Any of the retired player variations except #80.

2010 Topps UFC Main Event:

Propaganda Inserts:

All except #MP1

2010 Topps Unique Baseball:

Unique Unis:

All

2010 Upper Deck Baseball:

Joe DiMaggio Baseball Heroes:

All but BH-1 and BH-5

All World:

All