TCBD Trade Completed w/ Too Many Verlanders

While I may not be as active on the blog and the trades via the blog have all but shriveled up, that doesn't mean that I'm not still making trades online. All of my trading now consists with the aid of the awesome resource site of Trading Card Database. Not only can I track my collection there, but also easily facilitate trades. One recently completed trade was with Dennis from Too Many Verlanders.

I've been pretty busy lately and fell behind on my TCDB activity, including pouring over the details of the trade Dennis proposed to me, but I'm pretty sure he tossed in these various Braves cards just because he's a swell guy. I love the 3 MLB Showdown cards, oddball stuff like this is what makes collecting fun. The Ryan Klesko jersey was a nice surprise, as was the Bowman Chrome Xfractor auto...even if I have no idea who the player is!

6 more cards for the Vladimir Guerrero PC. All but 2 of these are super shiny and one of the others is a super cool Topps HD card!

The next PC Dennis filled update is that of Brian Jordan. Being a two sport star, I mainly focus on his baseball playing days so it was nice to receive 9 new cards. This season Brian has taken on more opportunities with Bally Sports' coverage of Atlanta Braves cards, stepping in the booth from time to time to call the game w/ Chip Carey. I've heard some people think he talks about himself too much on the telecasts, but I enjoy what he brings to the table.

Kevin Seitzer is a relatively new PC of mine and I've been overwhelmed by the response after I got my want list updated on TCDB. Seitzer is the current hitting coach of the Atlanta Braves and is a part of the offensive numbers the Braves have been putting up.

For Atlanta Braves' fans Sid Bream's historic slide into home plate during the 1991 NLCS will forever be etched into our hearts and minds, but my PC of Sid isn't because of that play or that he played for the Braves, but that is a fellow believer of the Christian faith. Sid routinely inscribed various Bible verses with his autographs, which I do own a few. Sid has been one of those guys I already had a good many cards of, but recently decided to pump up the PC by adding every card of his that I didn't already own to my TCDB want lists. Yet another player I've received a lot of in recent months via TCDB trades.

When I was first getting into collecting I heard a lot about Darryl Strawberry. As time would pass his name would stay in the news, but usually for the wrong reasons. Darryl will be the first to admit he's made some bad decisions, but it seems that life is behind him now. I may be a little late in starting a collection, but it's been a fun ride thus far since I added more of his cards to my TCDB want lists.

Ray Durham played ball at a local rival high school of mine in my hometown of Charlotte, NC. Like some of the players I collect, I just casually collected him, putting aside cards of his as I'd pull them from packs or find them at shows. I'm grateful for these 5 new cards, especially the Finest. First things first however, that protective peeling on the Finest card has got to go!!

I've got a pretty good size PC of the ageless wonder, Julio Franco, yet Dennis was able to find 4 cards off my want lists for me. Again, that Finest covering will be peeled!

While I'm moving away from building modern sets, there are enough other sets I'm working on and all of these cards above will help fill holes. The Sportflics Double Take is a much welcome addition...I'm such a sucker for lenticular cards.

Speaking of Finest cards, I decided to try and build the 1997 set (for whatever reason) even though I knew it wouldn't be the easiest task. While I've been able to cobble together some cards, I welcome the opportunity to obtain more!

While baseball is my main jam, I am excited to see my Carolina Panthers take the field this Sunday against the Browns. That said I was happy to add 4 new Panthers to the collection, along with a new Mike Glennon to my NC State alumni collection.

I can't say thank you to Dennis enough for proposing a trade to me. It was one of the largest trades I've pulled off in awhile, but I'm glad we each had things the other could use. If you've not taken the time to familiarize yourself w/ the Trading Card Database platform, you really ought to as it's a great site that helps bring collectors together.

Food Issue Smorgasboard

Steve from Tridents and Trading Cards hit me up on Twitter recently and asked about doing a trade. His baseball want lists are getting smaller and smaller and he told me he wanted to branch out and pick up some Topps football sets. I just happened to have a complete, hand collated set from 2012. We agreed to swap as he said he could help me with some of the recent food issue sets I had just added to my want lists over on TCDB. While Steve did send me a short video showcasing some of the cards, I was really impressed by the selection once the box arrived. I unpacked the box a few weeks ago and took a quick picture, but this trade deserved it's only dedicated blog post.

While I was able to put a dent into some of the food issue sets, he sent me the entire 1992 and 1993 Post cereal sets. The 1993 set is still shrink wrapped too! I remember these sets as a kid and ate many boxes of Fruity Pebbles trying to get as many of the cards as possible. Excited to be able to knock these off the lists so quickly.

I'm not familiar with the 1995 Post set so I'm glad to experience this set with at least this one card of David Justice. He was my favorite Braves player growing up and by 1995 I had already started to move on from cards as I was getting ready for college. These cards are booklets and open up to reveal a larger full color photo of the player inside.

Sticking with the Post cereal sets, here we have 2002 (left) and 2003 (right). At some point the card companies got involved as Topps handled '02 while Upper Deck handled '03. There is a noticeable difference between the two years as the UD cards are printed on a thicker cardstock and feature a glossy UV coating on the front. I might have had a card from the 2002 set in my Braves collection, but the 2003 UD set is completely new to me. These are the only cards from these sets I currently have so I'm still basically looking to buy or trade for complete sets.

Ah, Denny's Grand Slam holograms. I loved these back in the day. I remember asking my dad if we could specifically eat at Denny's for dinner while on vacation so I could score a few pack of the cards. Since the cards were only given away with the purchase of select meals, I would turn into a "meal nazi" and made sure my family only ordered one of these special meals so I could get another pack! While these cards are prone to scratching and don't photograph easily, I love these. Thankfully the design of the Denny's Grand Slam cards would get better as the years progressed.

I had a few Jimmy Dean cards from 1993, but the 1991 and 1992 cards are completely new to me. Since I received this package I was able to purchase a complete 1991 set for super cheap.

I only found about these 1992 Sargento MooTown Snackers cards from browsing the checklists over at the TCBD. Keeping it in the cheese family, Steve also sent one card from the 1994 Kraft Singles Superstars set...and of course it was of David Justice.

Score would partner with Tombstone Pizza in 1994 to release the Super-Pro Series. in 1995 it appears the two companies went their separate ways leaving Tombstone left to produce their own set. 1994 > 1995 easily.

These 1992 Mr. Turkey Superstar cards are from another set I hadn't heard of before. It looks like Sara Lee had a line of lunch meat in the early 90's under the Mr. Turkey name. Must've been regional because I sure don't remember that. The card's design eats up a lot of the photo, but I've seen worse. I'm still looking to complete this set.

The 1992 French's set is one that I am familiar with, but sadly I didn't have any of the cards prior to receiving these 3. The green boarders remind me a little of the 1992 Fleer set...though I can't tell if that's a good thing or not!

These 1991 Pepsi Superstar cards are new to me as well. I love the glove catching the Pepsi can in the top corner of the card.

The following year Diet Pepsi got the card treatment with it's own set...however the design on both the front and back looks a lot like the 1992 Post cereal set. Coincidence?

When it comes to trading cards at McDonald's I was more familiar with their Hoops and Upper Deck sets, however in 1992 Donruss partnered with the golden arches to release a MVP set. Minus the McD's MVP logo in the top corner and the player's name being printed in a metallic gold ink, these look very similar to the regular 1992 Donruss set.

These are probably 3 of my favorite cards in the box. First we have a 2003 Fleer Pepsi card of Chipper Jones. These are smaller than your standard trading card, but still very nice. The set is 30 cards so I still have a good many of these to track down. The next smaller than normal card is from the 1996 Pizza Hut set. There are only 4 cards in this set and these seem pretty hard to track down on the secondary market. I love the pairing of Griffey and Maddux as both players were on the top of their games in the mid-90's. The last card hails from the 2013 Topps Archives Fan Favorite Autograph set. While Otis Nixon might have struggled with his share of personal demons off the field later in his career, I loved watching him blaze the base paths and patrol center field in Atlanta. I believe this marks my first auto of him too!

At first glance I thought this was a random Fleer Tradition card that Steve sent over. I flipped the card over and noticed it was 3 of 12, then I noticed the Twizzlers logo at the bottom. I knew Twizzlers had some card sets, but I didn't know they collaborated with Fleer.

What?!?! Defux on a food issue trading card?! Yes please!! I'm familiar with Church's Chicken (though I've never ate any of their food), but I didn't now they partnered with Pinnacle in 1994 to release two different sets. These Show Stoppers are beautiful in hand and I must complete this set as fast as I can!

Steve must have peeked at my want lists as he sent over two cards from the awesome 1996 Pinnacle Christie Brinkley Collection. I now have most of the Braves from this set, only leaving me with the Indians players before the set is complete.

We are finally to the end of this post! A huge shout out to Steve for hooking me up with so many great cards. I'm having a fun time working on all of these various food issue sets and you've been a tremendous help with getting me kick started. 

Nacho Flavored Set Building

Wow, has it been almost a full month since my last post here?! Well, I can explain. I've been busy over on Twitter talking about cards and sharing new acquisitions and working out a trade with @Pgn3540, better known as Nacho Nordberg.

I really don't even remember how our trade got started, but we went back and forth for a few weeks before we finalized a deal and sent each our some cards. Once my package arrive I realized why it Nacho some time to put his offer together as there were four team bags full of cards...99% of them for sets I'm working on building.

Let's start with the cards I was most excited about...Stadium Club. Nacho sent over cards from my want list for 2017, 2018 and a huge stack for 2019. My love for TSC has really increased over the years and completing these three sets has been a goal I set for myself. I haven't bought a box of either of these years and have just relied on buying retail so I appreciate all the help I can get!

If the TSC cards weren't enough, he also sent over a few cards to help me with some flagship Topps sets such as 2016, some 2018 Big League and a single from 2018 Allen & Ginter and 2017 Gypsy Queen.

Surprisingly there were some 1993 Upper Deck in one of the stacks and even one 2009 Goodwin Champions card. These two sets haven't received much attention from me lately so it's nice to add some cards to the set binders, especially '93 UD...love that set!

I didn't make it to my LCS on National Baseball Card Day unfortunately and I doubt Nacho knew that...but he included three cards from this year's program. Thanks!!

Finally, we have two shiny Bowman Chrome Braves cards of Cristian Pache and a RC of Mike Soroka. Both of these cards are so beautiful in hand, especially the Pache with the Refractor sheen. I've had so much fun watching the Braves this year and Soroka has been a big part of that. Who would have figured this tall, lanky Canadian would come into the starting rotation and be so dominant this year? 

Thanks again Nacho for all of the help with these various sets. My next move is to update my want lists both here on the blog and over at The Trading Card Database.

Trade with the Collector's Crack

Mark from the Collector's Crack had a stack of Braves and Carolina Panthers building for me for some time and recently sent over some good stuff. I had shipped him earlier some Brewers and Packers stuff I had been sitting on for him as well.

I received four team set bags full of cards plus a few others. The bulk of the cards of course were Atlanta Braves, many that I'm pretty sure I didn't have already.

A few of the highlights include some HOF players like Dale Murphy, John Smoltz (which by the way this TSC card features a great picture!) and this numbered Chipper.

Always nice getting cards of players that wore the Braves jersey for only a brief time, or just don't have cards made very often. I think this makes maybe the 2nd or 3rd card I have of Robert Fick in a Braves uni and the first of Shane Reynolds and Horacio Ramirez.

I don't have a lot of Braves minor league cards in my collection, but this shiny foil Pro Debut card of Jason Heyward is a welcome addition.

Last of the Braves highlights is this 2018 National Baseball Card Day of Ozzie Albies. The only LCS close to me didn't participate in the program, but thankfully Mark's awesome local shop did and he tossed this Albies card in my stack.

I don't feature too much football on my blog, but Mark is one of the few baseball card collectors that I know also dabbles in football. Here we have a look at the original rookie Panthers QB and the current Panthers QB. Love those older Pacific football cards.

Rounding out the Panthers were two jersey card, one of draft pick bust Joe Adams (though still a beautiful card) and fan favorite RB DeAngelo Williams.

The perfect ending to the trade is a healthy addition of new Ben Sheets cards for my PC of his. Shy of hitting up COMC or SportsLots I don't often get too many new cards of Ben so I'm very grateful to this Brewers fan to these. I'm hoping the Brewers can stave off elimination in tonight's NLCS game against the Dodgers. Thanks again for the trade Mark!

Awesome A&G Trade w/ Nachos Grande

Hello, my name is Colbey and I have a confession...I have a lot of hobbies.

Most of these hobbies don't always cross over into my other hobbies, but this is one time where toys I collected yielded baseball cards.

Many know of the great guy behind the Nachos Grande blog and his love of all things Allen & Ginter. Another passion of his is LEGO. He's been trying to complete the various blind packaged Minifigure Collections and recently I was able to help supply him with several figures from his want list. In turn he graciously went through my A&G want lists and sent me a nice selection of cards.

I didn't know what he was sending over. I really didn't care. I was just glad to get the Minifigures into the hands of someone who will appreciate them. I've been downsizing (yet again) my toy collection and most of the figures I sent off I had no intentions of keeping. In exchange I was able to put a huge dent into both my 2016 and 2017 A&G want lists.

Thank you so much for the trade! I wasn't able to afford a hobby box of Ginter this year so I really appreciate all of the 2017 cards. This puts me ever so closer to finishing off at least the base set for these two years.