Back in October, I set up at my buddy's card show in South San Francisco. Although my sales were way down compared to the July show, I did manage to pull off my first "old school" trade in years. What's an "old school" trade? Well it's how I traded when I was a kid hanging out on the porch with friends. One of my friends would pick a card or some cards from my trade stack and then offer up something in return.
These days, most of my cardboard exchanges are "blind", where I send and receive random stuff to fellow collectors. In fact, I have little interest in conducting "old school" trades, because my trade bait inventory hasn't been updated in a long, long time.
However at the show, there was a gentleman who was very interested in my 1981 Granny Goose set. If you're not familiar with these cards, I written about them before. Feel free to click here to read more about one of my favorite oddball issues of all-time. For those of you who prefer the Cliffs Notes version, these Oakland A's cards were inserted into bags of chips back in the early 80's and the 1981 set is considered the most challenging to build.
1979 TCMA Ogden A's #9
Anyways, the gentleman wasn't interested in dishing out $250 and this was one of those items I wasn't interested in blowing out... so he asked if I was interested in trading for a graded 1979 TCMA Ogden A's card of Rickey Henderson. The offer was tempting, but I already have a signed version. Then he pulled this card out of his box:
This is a card that I have wanted to own since I was a kid, but gave up trying to own.
The bottom line is they're a little too pricey for my hobby budget (especially these days). It took a lot to hold back my excitement before accepting his offer.
In case you're wondering... the rare Revering wasn't part of this trade. I love me some Reggie, but I hunted that white whale for way too long to let it back into the wild.
Here's your question of the day...
If you were a manager, who would you rather have in your line up? Reggie or Rickey?
Who do you own more cards of?
The Man of Steal would be my response to both of these questions.
Well that's it for today. Happy Tuesday and sayonara!
21 comments:
I'd rather have Rickey, both for peak season and an average season. More walks and stolen bases, plus better defense.
Rickey Henderson is my pick out of these two legendary players - I don't know if he is considered a 'better' player, but did a lot more things - get on base, set the table, run, play defense, pop the occasional home run.
Reggie had light tower power was a force in the middle of the lineup - but seems more of a three true outcomes guy where he might walk, hit a home run or strikeout.
I own more Hendersons because he was more of a junk wax era guy with a perpetual number of cards - he also played just about forever in baseball.
Rickey. Seems strange to vote against a guy called Mr. October. But Rickey was special.
Rickey. Reggie's career was almost over when I started collecting. So I might have pulled a couple Angels cards of him, but that's it. Picked up a few older ones after my return to collecting. But I pulled a lot of Rickeys during the junk era.
Another vote for Rickey. So dynamic! I recently came across 6 of those Granny Goose cards, but unfortunately, not a Rickey among them. Maybe someday...
Fun trade. A lot of TCDB is like that, although for my much lesser stakes than what you pulled off.
I think I'd rather have Rickey because he could impact the game in so many ways.
That's a great trade story. That's one of the best reasons to get a table at a show. Like others, I have too many junk era Hendersons. A vote for Reggie just shows my age.
Rickey of course ,Reggie is still the all time strikeout leader,I want someone who can get on base.I started my collection in 1969 so naturally I have more Rickey's than Reggies.
I'd put Rickey in my lineup, but I'd take the Reggie rookie any day of the week. (Although that Granny Goose Rickey is quite excellent.)
I'm actually not sure who I own more cards of - it'd be a close race. I know I have more A's cards of Rickey than Reggie, but I have quite a few of Reggie on other teams. Gonna have to total 'em up one of these days.
Great trade, that Reggie looks beautiful!
That said, I would go with Rickey in my lineup. I remember somebody saying that if you split his various baseball skills in half, and gave each half to two different guys, they'd each still have enough to put together hall of fame careers on their own.
I agree, that is a great trade. As far as building the '69 set, the Reggie rookie was one of the first cards I ever pulled and I still have it. I think your copy is probably in better shape than mine. Still need four more '69s to complete the set.
Great trade and Rickey and Rickey - the junk wax years make having more Reggie cards a bit more difficult.
gtt - rickey was a run scoring machine. nothing like seeing him get on base, steal second and third, then score when the next hitter made contact with the ball
laurens - i didn't think about the junk wax era. i guess most people will own more rickeys unless they pc reggie
elliptical man - it does seem weird to vote against mr. october, but no way i vote against rickey
the diamond king - any card from this set is pretty rare... and probably will fetch a buck or two. with the dime boxes i've seen blogger share those six cards could turn into some really cool stuff
the lost collector - maybe one day i'll inventory my tradebait and hop on tcdb.
runforekelloggs - i'm grateful that rickey played during the junk wax era. it gives me more cards of him to collect
sg488 - i totally didn't factor in the junk wax era and rickey playing throughout it. i'm guessing most collectors have more rickeys unless they strictly collect vintage
nick - you're the first one who even struggled to decided... since rickey played during the junk wax era. but i think that's pretty cool that you have so many reggies in your collection
sean - i think i read or heard that statement about rickey too.
bbcardz - that's awesome that you pulled a reggie rookie and held onto it all these years. very, very cool.
craziejoe - yeah, i should have thought of that before i posed the question.
In both were in the hay days, I'd take Reggie. I own more Rickey's. Congrats on the huge pick up I mean er trade.
Cool trade story. Must have made going to the show feel really worthwhile.
Great question. It might depend on the rest of my lineup, but I figure a power hitter -- even a clutch one like Reggie -- is slightly easier to come by than a leadoff man who can hit, take a walk, intimidate pitchers by stealing a million bases, and hit a bunch of home runs to boot. So I'd take Rickey. (Oh, and I have more Rickeys in my collection than Reggies.)
Nice trade! I'd have to answer Rickey to both your questions - Rickey was just an all around more exciting player, and the fact he played into the 90's means I have much more of his cards.
That Reggie rookie is fantastic. Great trade! Can't be too many players who are clearly superior to Reggie Jackson, but Rickey Henderson is. Arguably the best player of his generation. Such a shame the Yankees management squandered his prime years squabbling with him instead of building a pitching staff to support the incredible Henderson/Mattingly/Winfield led offense.
I love both players and collect both. I too would have to go with Rickey - he just did more elite things on the diamond.
As for cards, I have more Rickey's and since I collect both I have an exact tally Rickey - 1862 different cards, Reggie - 775 different cards. I used to fancy myself a Rickey "super collector" until the early 2000s, 2004 and 2005 in particular fully made me realize having 1 of every card of his was not in the cards.
Rickey and Rickey. He's perhaps the best table setter of all time and had some pop from leadoff before that was en-vogue. The power/strikeouts of Jackson could be replicated somewhat but not the five-tool Henderson.
I would rather have Rickey in the line-up, but is there really a wrong answer here? I own more cards of Rickey. My time as a collector intersecting with a large part of his career and Reggie Jackson is a great player, but I am not going to go out of my way to buy his cards.
johnnys trading spot - thanks johnny. i wish i would have been older when reggie played in those world series. maybe i'd pick him too
jongudmund - i didn't sell much that day, so the trade was pretty much the best part of the show.
gregory - great argument for rickey. especially these days. seems like every lineup in baseball features one or two decent power hitters (maybe not reggie's level, but decent)
matt - the fact that he played during the junk wax era totally impacts rickey's number of cards
bo - that lineup of rickey, mattingly, and winfield was scary. don't forget about pags. that guy was clobbering the ball too for a few years
arpsmith - dang. you have 1862 different rickeys? #jealous it's even more impressive that you own 775 different reggie jackson. i doubt i even have 100.
grant - yeah... rickey could do it all. just wish he didn't get shipped off to new york for a few years
the snorting bull - i don't think too many managers would complain about adding reggie in his prime. as for his cards, i'll add a card of his to my collection every now and then, but rarely chase after them.
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