Some Collective Minds Work Faster Than Mine

There are card bloggers out there who get involved in trading wars with the likes of Jay Barker Fan.  These battles are epic.  They involve huge trade packages and result in a lot of good blog reading.  I'm not on that scale.  Some people out there have piles of high-quality trade bait that are probably bigger than my entire collection.  My trade boxes are filled with a lot of commons that I just don't see on many people's wantlists.  Some bloggers are sending out extras from the year that dwarf my total accumulations for the same time period.  And that's okay; I love the hobby and I collect what I can and I try to send some good stuff to others and it's fun.

There is one particular blogger out there, though, who I can't seem to keep up with.  I wouldn't say I'm in a "trading war" with him, per se, but he does send me a package usually right after every time I send a return one to him, and I can never call myself even with him.  Greg at The Collective Mind is the trader who just happens to have a lot of cards from my wantlist and who keeps sending them to me faster than I can return the favor.  In December, I finally sent him a package in return for a trade that he sent me probably 3 or 4 months earlier.  It didn't take him long to strike again, and I received another package from Greg last week.  So here I am again--owing a debt of cards to Greg.  Now, don't get me wrong; I'm not complaining.  And I would hope that neither of us would classify this as a trading war.  He just works faster than I do.

So without further ado, let's check out the goodies I got from a Collective Mind.

Greg prefaced this package with an email saying that he had a card from my 2017 Update needs and that he checked out my TCDB wantlist for some other set needs.  Here are the cards that fill set needs.  The statue is of James Fenimore Cooper, author of Last of the Mohicans.  The card comes from the Village insert set, from 2012 Panini Cooperstown.  Apparently Cooper's father was a founder of Cooperstown.  I did not know that.

Here we have a trio of All-Star MVPs, two of them gone too soon.  I haven't really cracked into 2018 Topps yet, so I don't have any 1983 inserts.  I do enjoy the original set, modeled here by lanky pitcher Jon Matlack.

Here is an eclectic smattering of Rookies of the Year.  We have regular vintage Topps, an early-Donruss Diamond Kings, a more recent A&G insert, and a lenticular card from 2010 Topps.  The players are an eclectic mix, too.  Hargrove was solid, but may better remembered as a manager.  Longoria has been a star, while Coghlan is better as a role player.  Carew is an absolute legend in the game.  These four players are all on different levels, but they all can claim they won a Rookie of the Year award.

Finally, here are just random cards that I wanted for my collection.  The two historical event cards are really cool to me.  My favorite class in college was Sports in American History, and my professor literally wrote the book on the Baseball Hall of Fame.  It made for some good conversations with him outside of the classroom.  These cards satisfy my thirst for commemorating history, not just immortalizing a single player on cardboard.

Thanks for the cards, Greg!  No, I don't have a package ready to go for you yet, but I will put something together for you.  I'm trying to keep up, I promise!