30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Sunday, March 16, 2014

The Craziest Trade of My Life

On Friday, I was involved in the craziest cardboard transaction of my life.  It all went down at the 8th Annual GTSM Bay Area Autograph Experience which happens to double as a sports card show.


My buddy who sold me those IP/TTM autographs last month told me he found another binder of autographs and brought it with him to the show for me to check out.  This time he had a bunch of California Angels autographs as well as some random vintage cards and some memorabilia cards.


He wanted $60 for the binder, but I only wanted to pay $40 (only brought $50 to the show).  He ended up taking out the pages with memorabilia cards and the deal was made.

That's when the insanity ensued.  Within thirty seconds of my purchase another one of our friends came up to check out what I had bought.  He immediately wanted to take the binder off of my hands.  I told him that there were a few cards I really wanted, but he could have it for the price I paid if he threw in a set I was interested in from his table.

He agreed, so I pulled these cards out of the binder:



The main card I was interested in was the 1975 Kellogg's Nolan Ryan.  This card is so awesome!  I also really like the look of the Frank Robinson autograph too.

Here's the sealed set I wanted from my buddy's table:

1992 St. Vincent Hall of Fame Heroes Stamps Set

As I began putting my new acquisitions into toploaders, he turned around and began showing off the binder to a few people and within minutes he had sold it to someone else for $85.

Three transactions involving four guys within a five minute period.  I had never seen anything like it.  Best of all... everyone walked away with a smile on their face and a nice cardboard story for their grandchildren.

I'll post the rest of the card show pickups in my next post , plus a pair of flea market recaps later in the week.

In the meantime...

What are some of your craziest cardboard trades?

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

22 comments:

Brad's Blog said...

Wheeling and dealing! My largest trade happened recently. I negotiated at a card show for about 2 hours ended up trading a Puig auto for a Michael Jordan rookie graded 6.5.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Basically, You got some very nice autographs for no charge! How awesome is that! I have one of those stamp sets that I need to trade away. I think Nick has a set too. They are cool.

BobWalkthePlank said...

I feel like mlbtraderumors.com should have a post breaking this down. Awesome deal!

gcrl said...

those are some nice free autos. the frobby is especially cool, you know, since he's shown as a dodger and all. i experienced probably the best trade of my life when i was 8 and traded some common 1979 topps giants for a 1955 bowman don hoak card. i've told the story before, but the guy was a collector who lived on the other side of my block and, looking back on it, probably just wanted to help a young collector out. mission accomplished.

AdamE said...

My craziest trade.

I traded a Vince Carter Finest RC to even my debt from playing Home Run (actually being basketball it was rebounds). That same day the guy I traded the Carter too traded it to another guy we were playing Home Run with for a two Kobe RCs. A few days later owner three then traded it to another guy that we played Home Run with for a McGwire USA RC. A few weeks later that guy then traded the Carter to another guy who was playing Home Run with us for a bunch of Ripken Insert cards. Owner 4 sent the card to PSA and it came back a 10 (which was bs because the back had this weird flaking thing along the edges, PSA is like that, the longer you are a customer the better your grades are). Right after he got the thing back from PSA Carter won the All Star Dunk contest and owner 3 put it on ebay and got over $1000 for it. You would think that owner 4 who sold it for $1000 made out great but he got junk at the end too. He used the $1000 to buy a Babe Ruth auto that turned out to be signed by Ruth's secretary and was worth nothing.

Play at the Plate said...

That was whirlwind of a trade. Glad you made out so well. I don't recall anything like that off the top of my head.

Mark Hoyle said...

What what else was In the book. Looks like some good cards.

Yankeejetsfan said...

My craziest trade was only because it took so long to complete. When I was 12, there was a girl who used to live across the street from me who collected and she had some beauties. I was fixated on a 1972 Topps Roberto Clemente card that she was willing to trade. What started out as a 5 for one deal, turned into a 10 for one deal that took over 3 hours to negotiate. She took 10 Yankee cards, but I got my Clemente. I really wish I still had that card though. Itwas stolen along with a bunch other cards from my collection, but I've replaced most of the cards. Just haven't replaced Clemente yet.

Fuji said...

Nice. I'd love to add either of those cards to my collection.

Fuji said...

I'm looking forward to breaking the set open. When I arrived at the show, I noticed that set on his table and was going to buy it. I'm glad I was able to get it for free.

Fuji said...

Lol. I know. It was fast and furious for sure.

Fuji said...

That's really cool. A few years ago (when I was still at the elementary level), I'd make trades with my students and make sure they got the better deal in hopes that they'd get hooked.

Fuji said...

Wow. No joke... that's one amazing sequence of trades. That stinks that the Ruth ball was a fake... can't imagine the feeling of discovering you spent $1000 on a Ruth secretary signed ball.

Fuji said...

There were a bunch of autographs... including an extra Reggie, Robinson, and a pair of Nolan Ryans. I actually forgot to pull one other really cool card (didn't notice until later). It was a Hostess Nolan Ryan card from the 70's.

Fuji said...

I was always trading one of my good cards for a handful of low end cards when I first started trading. It was a quick way to build up my collection.

It's funny that you mention the 72T Clemente... I just picked one up at the flea market this past weekend. It's in pretty rough shape, but I'm glad to add any vintage Clemente to my PC.

Comatoad said...

I think it was in 1991 7-11/Pepsi and a local hospital was giving away Denver Nuggets safety sets. I gathered up four boxes of these assorted cards and traded one for a Scottie Pippen rookie card

jacobmrley said...

Funny you ask that, my craziest trade was made when I was but 13 years old and a card I lost 25 years ago is about to return to me (sort of) and I will have a post about it soon. Do I know how to hint and hype or what? Look for it on the blog next week, post office willing.

Fuji said...

Nice. I wish my local hospital was giving away Warriors sets. Congratulations on nabbing a hall of famer rookie card.

Fuji said...

Can't wait to read about it.

Ana Lu said...

Not that much..I don't have many hits and mainly have base cards. But the few trades and offers I made were all great, but not that crazy.

Chris P said...

I remember trading like 60 or so Stephon Marbury cards to my cousin for a James Posey Hats Off Card back in 1999 when memorabilia cards were rare. He was a HUGE Marbury fan and Marbury was still considered a hobby superstar at that point.

Fuji said...

Those Hats Off cards were tough pulls. I really, really, really wanted the Steve Francis card back in the day.