Never Say Never

The art of trading sports cards is one of the biggest components of our hobby.  It's one of the reasons I started collecting back in the early 80's.  My memory sucks these days... but one thing that vividly stands out about my childhood is sitting on the front porch trading cards with my friends.  This trend continued throughout my childhood and into my college years.  And when I returned to the hobby in 2008, it was one of my favorite things to do.  I'd spend at least a few hours each week sitting on Sports Card Forum and Card Collectors World browsing peoples' trade bait, sending personal messages, responding to personal messages, and exchanging cardboard.

Sadly... those days are in the past for reasons I listed here a few weeks ago.  But out of the blue... less than two weeks after I removed myself from the Super Trader's Group... a fellow blogger and I hashed out an actual trade.  I'm not talking about a blind trade either.  I'll still do these from time to time.  I'm talking about the kind of trade where he we exchanged specific cards.  That's something I haven't done in probably two... maybe three years.

Right before Christmas, I wrote a post about Topps and their buybacks.  That's where Jim over at Cards as I See Them noticed my 1969 Topps Willie Davis buyback.  He asked if I was planning on keeping it and I explained that I'm handpicking a single vintage buyback from every year and that if he had another 1969 card to replace it... the Davis was his.  He emailed me a list of four solid names and I chose this one:

A week later... Mr. Monday is now the 1969 Topps representative in my buyback project.  Thank you Jim for this simple and smooth transaction.  I hope Willie arrived safely.

I'd love to say that this trade made me rethink the whole idea of trading... but it really hasn't.  Like I mentioned earlier in the month and earlier in the post... I'm just not into it anymore.  But thanks to Jim... I would never say never.

On a side note...

The same day I received the Monday... I also received the present from my Secret Santa.  It's this 1984 Fleer Update Pete Rose:

I absolutely love this card for a bunch of reasons:

#1:  It features Rose on the Montreal Expos.

#2:  It's from one of the most iconic sets from the 80's.

#3:  The card's design and colors go perfectly with the Montreal Expos' colors.

#4:  It features the MLB Hit King bunting.

Thank you Secret Santa... whoever you are!  I'm super excited to finally be able to cross this one off of my list.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!