dAndy

Sometimes the end result of waiting for a long time for a trade to come in is well worth the wait.  Case in point with this trade from multiple time trade partner Andy (TCDB ID: andyroy) who sent me a big helping of cards to make a few want lists shrink quite nicely.

I still remember sitting at a kitchen table with a buddy of mine 30 years ago, ripping open a box of these cards.  We split the proceeds in half, and they promptly went in one of my many monster boxes and sat for over 2 decades.  I finally decided to get a want list going about 18 months ago, and piece by piece this want list has shrank.

I just looked at the want list, and it's down to just 29 cards, much less than I thought.  This set is definitely on the radar now for completion as the task is a lot less daunting than I imagined.  I'll get that done sometime in 2020.....for sure??

The 85-86 OPC set build is the exact opposite of its counterpart above, as it only has 34 cards in hand as of now.  I'm finally starting to get some in here and there via trading, but it's been a very slow process for this set, which is probably my favorite from the 80's.

The only portion of the trade that saw any baseball come my way was these three cards for the Thome and Olerud collections.  The Olerud collection is starting to pick up a little since I expanded the want list, and it's just a handful of cards shy of the 200 mark.   Thome's collection, which I've been working on for much longer, is now 20 cards from hitting 600, and I had to add a 2nd binder as the first one was just too overloaded and a bit tough to manage each time I opened it.

The last scan is nearly a full page of needs for my various hockey collections, including a much appreciated Mitch Marner card from the 2017-18 Tim Horton's set.

This envelope actually arrived via the Pony Express, as it was mailed in April and didn't arrive until Friday of last week, about 5 weeks enroute.  In the end, it was worth the wait.

Thank you for the trade Andy, it is appreciated!  Looking forward to the next one.

Enjoy the hobby and stay safe!

Robert

Sportscards from the Great White North

This is the first of two posts featuring random acts of kindness from fellow collectors.  This package came totally out of the blue from fellow blogger Doug from the Sportscards from the Dollar Store blog, and as he always does, hits every spot on the checklist.

Random Toronto stuff, including the great hair of Lourdes Gurriel Jr., the 8 Stanley Cups of Red Kelly, the multiple 100 RBI seasons from Joe Carter and the last Leaf to score 50 goals in a season, Dave Andreychuk.

A very nice start on the 2006-07 Parkhurst Leaf team set, featuring 6 of the base cards and 1 of the serial #'d Captains card, featuring Toronto's first 50 goal scorer Rick Vaive.  Rick still has the record of 54 goals in a season as a Leaf, which has lasted nearly 40 years now.

I've added the remainder of the Parkhurst Maple Leaf team set to my want list on TCDB, which is another project I'll have to get around to working on some day.

You know, I took a look at these 4 cards and thought, "I guess these are just some random cards from my player PC's".   Nope.   Needed all 4, although with my Mitch Marner collection still only less than 2 pages in length that's not hard to do.  But the Sakic and the Fitzgeralds were needed, and those collections are much larger so these are great to have.

But check this last card out....

This scanned absolutely fantastic!!  I was enamored with it in hand as well, of course.   It's the 2019 Panini Legacy violet parallel, #'d 1 out of 10.  Just wow!!!  The most limited card of my Fitzgerald collection, which is now up to 353.

Doug never ceases to amaze.   Thank you very much Doug, the cards are really appreciated!!!

Enjoy the hobby and stay safe!

Robert

One of the best in the west

Growing up, one of my favorite towns to hear about in the news or weather reports was Moose Jaw, SK.  Just saying "Moose Jaw" was always entertaining for me, and just imagining what it would be like to live there in the middle of the Canadian prairies always fascinated me.  Now, I'm able to get a few cards from there.

I've just completed my 2nd trade with a great trade partner, Kevin (TCDB ID: kdinthejaw), who is great at hitting multiple and varied want lists for me.

Let's start with some set help.  2018-19 OPC has 5 cards removed from the list, including the Maple Leafs rock steady Freddie Andersen.  That set is doing quite well now as it's over 500 out of the 600 cards needed.

Bill Guerin on the lower right of the scan is from the 2007-08 OPC set, which I'm miles away from finishing (I've just over half of the set in hand), and this may be only the 2nd or 3rd card I've received in trades.

Half a dozen cards from another slow set build, 2018 Playoff Prestige.  Still need another 86 cards to finish this set, including a bunch of short printed rookies.  Once I did some digging and found out that the Prestige set is released pretty much with the same amount of cards (300) and Short Printed rookies (100) you can better believe that I stayed away from it in 2019.  It still surprises me that I don't have a lot of trades for football on TCDB, even with a decent want list for my player collections on the site.

Leave it to my Canadian hockey brethren to help me out with some player collections, including a 04-05 Pacific Sakic, leaving me just 11 cards short of the 800 mark for the Sakic PC.  As a contrast, the Mitch Marner collection doesn't even take up 2 pages yet.  He's still quite young, and expensive, so there's a lot of time for him yet...

Pat Flatley RC!  84-85 OPC is still a set that I regret letting get away, and so it will be very sweet when I have this completed.  This card took me over the 50% mark by one, and the next card I receive will be the 200th for the set.  Still need a couple of the big RC's, including Steve Yzerman, so it'll be a while before this is done.

Thank you for the trade Kevin, the cards are appreciated.   Look forward to the next trade with you!!

Enjoy the hobby!

Robert

Trade Week: tenlbpain

We're already half way through trade week and it seems like just a blur.  I'm sure that my liver is working overtime to keep up with the extra alcohol intake that is sure to be happening.

This I believe is my third trade with Nick, and it happened quite quickly as I had notice he had listed some Donruss 2019 FB for trade.  I've found very few trade partners for football on the TCDB site, which for me has been quite surprising.

I do like this set and hope to complete it in the not too distant future, but with the (lack of) speed in which this is happening, I might have to dip into my pocket to finish this up, which I was hoping wouldn't be the case.  I still need 126 out of the 350 card set, so if anyone has any extra cards floating around out there, please check out my want list on the TCDB.

The bigger part of the trade was the hockey portion, specifically a 30 card dent into the 2015-16 OPC set.

It was interesting as I scanned the cards how many players since that year have either moved on to other teams or are out of the NHL already.  Dougie Hamilton has been traded twice already since he started his career in Boston.

Matt Moulson's career hit the brakes when he moved from the Islanders to Buffalo.  It was almost as if the sticks he took with him didn't have any goals in them.  I had no idea he signed as a free agent with the Capitals this past summer, but I haven't seen or heard from him since the season began so I guess that he didn't make the club.

My goodness I had no idea that Nick Bonino was a Canuck!  One season was all it was though, as he left for Pittsburgh for the 15-16 season, and became part of one of the most famous goal calls ever made in the playoffs for his goal against the Sharks.

Last up, I snagged one of the few Mitch Marner cards I have in that PC, the 2019-20 MVP short print.  His cards are going to be crazy expensive because of the crest he wears, so anything I can grab trade wise will be a bonus.

Thank you Nick for the great trade, the cards are appreciated!!

Enjoy the hobby!!

Robert

Is it December 1st yet?

A little bit of sarcasm in the title, but a part of me believes that the Leafs might hold out again on signing another big restricted free agent until right before the deadline of December 1st.

This time it's...

Mitch Marner.   This kid is going to command a king's ransom to play for the foreseeable future in the blue and white, and the telling statement that I heard recently about this contract negotiation was from last year's last minute deadline signing, William Nylander.

Nylander basically came out and said that there's plenty of time to get Marner signed.   Yes there is William, there's just under 5 months to the December 1st deadline.  I hope it doesn't go that long, but it would not surprise me to see the Leafs play hardball again and let it drag out.

On the card side of this post, I've started a small Mitch Marner collection to add to the whole bunch of other things I'm collecting.  Marner will not be a top tier collection, just for the simple fact that I'm not willing to pay a king's ransom to collect him.  It will be mostly base and minor inserts/parallels for this collection.  THat includes the 2018-19 MVP silver signature card you see above.

It's hard to believe it's already been 20 years since the first installment of the faux signature parallels came out, and they're still a staple of the MVP sets today.

Glad to see some things never change in the collecting world....

Thanks for reading, and have a great Friday!

Robert