RTP #37 - Playing Catch Up

If there is one thing that I have been particularly bad at with the whole blogging thing, it's sometimes forgetting to say thank you enough to my fellow traders.  Honestly without you guys this blog (and my collection in general) would be boring at best.  I love and appreciate trading with fellow collectors and here is some proof of that statement.  One of the things that caused my "burnout" in fall of 2011 was getting so far behind in trade posts that it seemed like I would never get caught up.  Therefore, I have decided to give you a multiple trade post featuring several different traders.  I still appreciate each of you individually, but I'm going to go with the collective thanks here by showing the top (IMHO) couple of cards from each trader.

Cardboard Collections

Colbey from Cardboard Collections is one of my favorite people in blogoland.  During his last group break, he and I worked out a small trade.  I got the above cards (among others).  The first is a (badly scanned) Crack the Code parallel from 2011 A&G of Dexter Fowler.  I am so glad that code has been solved finally, but I read the explanation of how it was solved and was even more confused.  I'll never be attempting the code cracking thing.  The Rickey Henderson brings me to within around 50 of completing 1984 Topps.  I should have a multiple set wantlist up next week to make me even easier to trade with.

 Six-4-Three DP

This is my first ever trade with Michael from Six-4-Three DP.  I have enjoyed his coverage of the Hot Stove League this off season though.  I ended up trading him a Tony Gwynn bat and a Tim Raines jersey for the two beauts above along with a nice selection of non-relics.  Seeing the two of these cards together makes me wonder about putting together a small "number jersey" collection.  Eh, maybe not, but someone might like the idea.

Play at the Plate

Another of my longtime favorites in blogoland is Brian from Play at the Plate.  We have completed several trades over the past year or so, but this is the first one that was completed primarily from unknown cards.  We traded group break packages since we got each other's team as a random in different breaks,  The Chacin is my first relic both for him and from 2012 Topps.  I have a feeling it will not be my last Chacin jersey card.  The Smith and the Iannetta were both courtesy of Brian's son, who is a fan of both players.  I sent him (sorry don't know his name) Thomas several of both players in exchange for the two above.  Great trade.

Smed's Baseball Card Blog

I also recently completed my second trade with Scott (aka smed).  The above two cards are my favorites from the package he sent.  The 1994 Pinnacle Howard Johnson is the overall favorite because it finished off the team set for me.  The 2012 Topps Desmond Jennings brings me to within one of having all the rookie cups from this year's set.  All I need is Craig Kimbrel (plus all the Series 2 ones obviously).

Nachos Grande

Another quick trade I recently made was with Chris from Nachos Grande.  I traded him 4 diamond parallels that he needed for his set quest and he sent me a Pujols insert that I hope to flip later and the two above cards.  The Ubaldo Jimenez is a 2011 Topps Sapphire Blue that was exclusive to either Wal Mart or Target hanger packs.  That design in combination with the 2012 Topps was be a surfer's dream design.  I may have to play with MSPaint later to see how it would look. 

Collector's Crack

This is the result of my first trade with Mark (aka cynicalbuddha) from Collector's Crack.  I believe he joined in one or two of my group breaks last year, but we had never traded cards until now.  With the first card shown, Mark has done the near impossible, he showed me a great card from Circa.  I have gone on record as saying 1997 Circa is the ugliest set of all time, but the Thunder Boomers Larry Walker from 1998 Circa Thunder is fantastic.  The Ellis Burks Aura card is from 1997 New Pinnacle and is neat in a trippy sort of way.

Foul Bunt

Sometimes when blogging you can be surprised.  One such surprise happened to me recently.  I have been doing this blog for over a year and have traded with many of the heavies of the card blogging world or at the very least I have been following their blogs.  I was surprised to learn that I was not following William from foul bunt.  He has a fantastic blog and we recently completed a quick 1 for 1 deal of early Topps gold cards.  Well his end is completed anyway, I am still looking for an Oriole to send his way even though I know I have several.  It should be on its way shortly.

Card Anathema

Let's end this trade post with a bout of absolute generosity.  A few months back, I asked Matt from Card Anathema if he wanted to trade me this Dexter Fowler Rookies auto from 2009 Upper Deck Icons.  As time went on, honestly, I completely about asking about it.  Matt emailed me and asked if I was still interested and I said of course but I didn't have anything he was interested in.  Matt sent me the Fowler anyway.  I will definitely be looking for something for Matt and now it is in print on my blog so I am less likely to forget about it.  I will try and find him a couple of 1971 Topps for his want list. 

Thanks to all of you for the trades and I hope we can do it again, because I do love trading.