Without question, the person I exchange the most frequent trading packages with would be Mark Kaz of This Way to the Clubhouse. Aside from being an all-around nice guy, he has his collection digitally organized on Zistle like I do, so it makes figuring out what he needs a breeze.
I've sent dozens of PWEs full of Mets and other goodies down to Delaware, and Mark's been assaulting my mailbox here in Rhode Island with Red Sox in return. Here are the latest 9 cards sent my way in a plain white envelope just a week or two ago now...
Yet another Wal-Mart blue parallel. I have no idea where Mark finds so many of these, but I'm grateful that he's been kind enough to send some of the Red Sox my way!
I haven't bought so much as a single pack of 2015 Donruss, but thanks to the kindness of other bloggers/traders I'm getting near a complete Red Sox team set at this point. If these were licensed and could show logos, I'd buy some packs for sure.
One set I have bought retail packs of two or three times now is 2015 Bowman. I can't explain why really, but I like the design more than the flagship Topps set everyone was raving about when it hit the shelves a few months ago. I picked up a lot of the Red Sox for cheap money at my local hobby shop, but did not have this Rafael Devers Chrome Prospects card. Thanks for filling that gap Mark!
This is my third card of Anastacio Martinez, whose Major League career consisted of 11 appearances in 2004 with Boston. I should try to grab a few more and see if I can end up with more cards than he has career games played...
A nice Double Up insert from 2003 Ultra. This is the second one of these I've got in my Red Sox collection, and in looking at the checklist on Zistle it appears I have one more to track down...
Sweet!!! This 1986 Fleer Mini Nolan Ryan was an unexpected and much appreciated card. I'm at over 250 unique Nolan Ryan cards now, not too bad given that I am often so distracted that I'm not really looking too hard for them. Really like the retro logo on the card, and the uniform that Nolan is sporting here. Count me as one who's glad that the Astros are finally relevant again this year.
Mark hooked me up with a pair of Gypsy Queen Sox from this year's release. I still can't believe the unreal decline that Allen Craig has gone through since arriving in Boston. I don't think too many people could have predicted that he'd be in the minors at this point in his career.
The other Gypsy Queen card was this Rusney Castillo rookie. I'm still waiting for this guy to really hit his stride, he's definitely a step behind Betts and Bogaerts at this point. I enjoy picking up his cardboard nonetheless, and this wasn't the only new Castillo Mark hit me with this time around:
I think the Studio inserts in this year's Donruss set came out quite well, a job well done by Panini if you ask me. It was nice to walk around the card show a couple weekends ago and not have to overpay for this card. Anything Boston seems to get marked up around here, which makes sense, and I saw this one at a couple of tables with a $5 price tag. So much nicer getting it in a trade.
Mark, you're the man! Thanks again for another great envelope my friend. You know I'll have one headed your way soon...
That's one of the best things about this community of bloggers - being able to get cards in trade that are overpriced locally. In my neck of the woods, Twins stuff is usually marked up a bit compared to buying online, but for other teams I can usually find pretty good prices. Works out great to send stuff back and forth!
ReplyDeleteYou got it, Shane! Was able to make it to a show this past weekend, so I'm fully stocked for ya once again!
ReplyDeleteNice additions.I hate having to deal with the hometown markups at card shows/stores by me. Oh well, at least that means there is a lot more selection of my favorite teams.
ReplyDeleteHappy Fourth!