30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Monday, March 9, 2020

Hip To Be Square

Back in November, I read a blog post that really hit home.  In short, Tom over at Waiting 'til Next Year announced that outside of an occasional PWE here or there, he was finished trading padded mailers or flat rate boxes.

A lot of what he wrote in that post mirrors my feelings about the hobby, blogging, and trading, so I totally wanted to respect his wishes.  Sadly.  I didn't.

A few weeks ago I sent him a care package, not to inspire a future trade... but to make things square.  That didn't sit well with him, so he hit me back with a padded envelope of his own.  This could easily turn into one of those Trade Wars we saw a few years ago between Bob Walk the Plank and Area 40... but neither of us want that.  Like I said earlier, Tom and I are pretty much on the same page.  So I'm holding up the white flag and calling us even.

From this point forward... neither of us owe anything to each other.  And when we have cards for the other person, it'll be shipped in a PWE with no strings attached.

Okay... now that we've taken care of all of that, here's what he donated to my Oakland A's collection:

1966 Topps #36

I'll get things started with this second year Catfish Hunter.  I'd love to add his rookie card to my collection one day, but it's not really a priority.  I'm very content with this being the oldest card of the hall of famer sitting in my collection.

Next up are a pair of manufactured relics:

2019 Topps 150th Anniversary Commemorative Medallion #AMM-RHE

2019 Topps Golden Anniversary MLB Silhouetted Batter Logo Patch #GAP-KO

Opinions on manufactured relics seem to be divided among collectors.  I'm totally fine with them as long as they're designed well and they don't take the place of a promised hit (autograph or jersey card).  They often make very cool display pieces.

I really have to say that I like the way the KD card turned out.  The MLB logo looks like liquid gold.

And last but not least is a six-pocket page worth of A's...


Thank you for the generous package Tom.  It feels good to call us even.


But just know... any Vogelbachs I stumble across in my collection are yoursNo strings attached.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

P.S.  49er legends and fan favorites... Dwight Clark and Joe Montana make guest singing appearances at the end of the video clip above.

10 comments:

acrackedbat said...

Throwing in the towel?!? Someone has to say "uncle." It's interesting that several of us have reached this same point in trading. I can trade more often with PWEs and spread the joy a bit further around the community. Quite the nice Hunter, btw.

Peter K Steinberg said...

Nice cards! I'm in much the same position as you both. Though I think mine is extreme as I literally have NO cards that aren't part of my PCs and I never make it to LCS's or card shows. And when I to break-down and buy a pack of new cards, I don't keep any of them. Very much on board with the no strings attached. Though there is little I liked more than sending cards to people who actually want them.

The Lost Collector said...

Awesome! Occasional PWEs are the way to go!

Base Card Hero said...

That Catfish Hunter is a great looking cards. Perfect colors.

P-town Tom said...

Fuji, you are the man. No strings attached PWEs from here on out is music to my ears.
All the best to my fellow educator as spring break fever nears!

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Spring Break......You don't need no stinkin spring Break........LOL. Just kidding guys. Enjoy it once it gets here.

Fuji said...

acrackedbat - yeah... in my case... i reached a point where i don't have a ton of autographs or jersey cards to send people anymore. what i did have has been shipped. but i do have some boxes of inserts and parallels that i can always dig into to fill pwe's.

peter k steinberg - yeah, it's fun to be able to put a smile on another blogger's face. but i'm all about the no strings attached thing from this point moving forward

the lost collector - i agree 100%

base card hero - i also love how young he looks in that photo. he looks completely different from his 1979 topps card

p-town - no. you da man! best of luck with your baseball team this year. and i'm totally counting down the days to spring break.

johnnys trading spot - man... i live for spring break. nothing like recharging the batteries.

SumoMenkoMan said...

That MLB logo does look really cool....liquid gold like you said. Hope you ended up having a great Monday.

GCA said...

You guys are killin' me. ;)
I've got six monster boxes plus to trade off! And there's more football than that!
I'll make 400 count boxes for PWE trades if that's what it takes...

Fuji said...

sumomenkoman - lol. last monday was only a week ago... but it seems like weeks. can't remember what i did last monday, but i think it was pretty good.

gca - lol. hope you win the lottery to help you pay for the shipping. you're too generous. when i have extra monster boxes filled with cards laying around, i either:

#1 - sell them for $5 each at the flea market
#2 - bring them in for examples for my students
#3 - drop them off at goodwill