Friday, September 27, 2019

Back on the TCDB Trading Horse

I took about 6 months off from trading on my favorite trading site.  Part of my reason was the rising cost of postage made me less willing to send out trade packages.  One other, bigger, reason was that I needed to get my tradelists in order.  I was finding far too many trade proposals were coming in and I was missing a card or two that the computer said I had, but I did not.  So I went through the grueling process of going through my traders and touching each card, and removing the cards I did not touch from the list.  I'm not sure that I'm done and that my tradelist is perfect, but I feel much better about it.  In June, I resumed trading--and I completed a record number of trades this summer.  At least for me.  There were a couple of blockbusters involving hundreds of cards each, but most were PWE trades.  I've decided to compile all of those PWEs together and share them in a couple of posts.

First, let me thank these trading partners: nwcardsupplies, mtc32226, MoPack626, budler, itsjustoldcardboard, bravefan1, dsorek, joe0786, nozzlemaster, Breck19D, corozco, alh, Lyrical Kees, and T-Rex 70.

Today let's look at some baseball goodies from these various trading partners.






Most of the 2019 Cubs I own have come via trade, and you see a good bundle of them here. I love the Javy Baez inserts to lead things off.  The Cubs season fizzled out in a monumental collapse, but I can at least feel the fun and excitement of the game in some of these cards.  I'm only now realizing that I acquired two copies of the Windy City Warriors team card.  Whoops.  I can't say that's the first time it's happened, though.


Two more inserts featuring my current favorite player.  You know, four years ago--when they broke into the Big Leagues--I would have put more stock in Jorge Soler than Baez.  Soler is having a great season in his own right, but in the wrong shade of blue, while Javy is just a nightly firework display.  Of course, both were less of a sure thing than fellow rookie Kris Bryant.  That was really a pretty good rookie class for the Cubbies.  I hope the window hasn't slammed shut on all that promising youth.

It wasn't all current-year Cubs, though.  Here is another Baez insert, from last year's iteration, and a Chrome former ROY backstop, Geovany Soto.


I got my first card of reigning All-Star MVP Shane "Justin" Bieber through TCDB trades.



As well as some other All-Star MVPs.  I like the Leather and Lumber of Garret Anderson and Frank Robinson, and the 2013 Gold parallel of Michael Young especially.


Once I put Tony Oliva on my want list as a former ROY, it seemed like everyone had a card they wanted to trade me.  I don't often manage to pull off a trade for real vintage, but that's a nice 1976 there.

Same with Pat Listach.  Man, everybody had Listach crowding their tradelists it seemed.  I went from one or two cards to filling my Listach page in no time at all.


More vintage!  All of these players were Rookie of the Year stars.  Some had better careers than others, but I love these cards.  1973 Luis Aparicio may be in rough shape, but it may be the oldest card I own of a bona fide Hall of Famer.



The mid to late 90s, as always, were well-represented.  Finest and Certified in all their protective glory.


Finally, my BYU collection isn't limited to football.  I picked up some cards of former Cougs Wally Joyner, of whom I already have a decent collection, and Jeremy Guthrie, who was sorely lacking in my collection.

Thanks again to a cadre of traders on the database.  I have football PWEs and a couple of monster trades still to post.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Results of Johnny's Contest

John recently had an anniversary in his little Trading Spot, and he held a simple contest: be one of the first to comment and he had a prize package for you.  I happened to have come along at the just the right time and was able to get in on this contest.  The reward was much more than adequate to compensate the "effort" I expended send some simple well-wishes his way.


John hit me almost exclusively with Cubs I needed.  Here we have some Series 2 offerings.  Two of these players (Montgomery and Edwards) are no longer with the club, having been shipped out on the trade deadline.  And speaking of trade deadline moves, Hamels has been rock-solid since he came over last July.  I was worried that he might be slowing down, but he has been a stud in the rotation that has had its up-and-down moments this year.

Here we have an insert and a parallel.  Like the cards above, this features someone who is no longer with us and a pitcher who was acquired in a trade deadline move.

Moving back in time, here are two cards that left me baffled at first.  These are inserts from 2005 Upper Deck, which I have never opened in my life.  I thought they were some kind of game card, and they still could be, I guess.

2005 Upper Deck - Flyball #40 Mark Prior Back 
The back looks like it might be used for a game.


Going even further back, there are some nice oddballs of all-time great Cubs, including Woody English and Lon Warneke, who both participated in the first All-Star Game.  According to the back of the cards, English entered the game as a pinch-hitter for his teammate, Warneke.  These cards come from a 1983 Big League Collectibles set.  Moving from [Woody] English to [Larry] French, we see a nice early 80s TCMA set commemorating the greatest Cubs up to that point in time.

The cards are newer here, from 2003 SP Legendary Cuts, but the players are still old.  Some Hall of Fame Cubbie goodness is here.  The highlight for me is my first Harry Caray card.  Holy cow!

John didn't stop there with the Hall of Famers.

Also included was this set, which others have already shown on their blogs.  This small boxed set features a Who's Who of Baseball checklist packed into 12 cards.

This is the side of the box.  These are not just cards, but stamps from the island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  It's an innovative concept, marrying two popular collecting targets into one concept.  And now that I know these can actually be used as legal postage, I think they may be the most valuable cards in my collection!

Thanks for the contest and the prize, John.  I enjoy your blog and, as I mentioned in the comments on your page, I hope you have many more blogging anniversaries to come.  Stay safe down there through hurricane season!

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Fantasy Football Team 2019



NFL football is back tonight!  I can think of no better way to kickoff the season than watching my Packers take on division rivals, the Bears.  With real football always comes fantasy football, and I'm actually in four leagues this year.  I'm in a league at work, one on TCDB, and two Yahoo public leagues that I joined because I wanted to try out auction drafts for the first time.  I only count one as my league of record, however, and that is my work league, of which I am commissioner.  So while I have many fantasy players this year, I present to you the Myopic Chihuahuas of the Wolverine Pride Fantasy Football League.  This league standard, no PPR, by the way.

QB-Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City

2018 Panini Prestige #22 Patrick Mahomes II Front
I've never taken a QB as early as I did Mahomes this year, but there he was near the top of my board in the 3rd round.  I know my colleagues in this league and they love to start runs on quarterback in Rounds 4-6.  I knew that if I waited, I'd be stuck without a QB that I wanted this year, so I took the plunge.  Here's hoping to another dominant season by Mahomes.

RB1-Joe Mixon, Cincinnati
2018 Donruss Elite #73 Joe Mixon Front

Mixon worked out well for me last year.  I'm worried about his offensive line this year, but I feel like I could have done worse with a second rounder.

RB2-Chris Carson, Seattle
2018 Donruss #263 Chris Carson Front
I think I ended up with Carson in every league this year.  I never targeted him, but he always seemed to be the right value at the right time.  He has less competition in the backfield this year, so unless Rashaad Penny drastically changes everybody's minds, Carson could be a bellcow back in Seattle.

WR1-DeAndre Hopkins, Houston

2015 Topps Platinum #14 DeAndre Hopkins Front
With the 5th pick in the draft, I went with the first receiver.  With a new offensive tackle to help out Deshaun Watson and Kenny Stills as a new running mate, Nuk may get even more opportunities this year than in the past.

WR2-Brandin Cooks, Los Angeles Rams
2014 Topps #354 Brandin Cooks Front
Sorry, I don't have any Rams cards of Cooks
Sean McVay hopes Cooks continues to be a deep ball home run threat.  So do I.

WR3-Christian Kirk, Arizona
2018 Donruss #313 Christian Kirk Front
Kirk was less than impressive in the preseason, which has me a bit worried.  But I'm thinking that Klif Kingsbury's offensive will put up some big passing yards and Kirk has the potential to be the guy that rookie Kyler Murray looks for.

TE-O.J. Howard, Tampa Bay
2017 Donruss Elite #176 O.J. Howard Front
I've had O.J. Howard on a few teams in the past.  He's a pretty good producer, but I kind of need him to have that breakout year everybody keeps talking about.

FLEX-Mark Ingram, Baltimore
2015 Panini Clear Vision #50 Mark Ingram Front
No Ravens card yet
I ended with Mark Ingram on a couple of teams this year.  I like how he ran as a second option in New Orleans.  The Ravens say they'll go with the hot hand in the backfield, but Ingram is a proven commodity and I feel pretty confident he will often be that hand.

K-Wil Lutz, New Orleans
Image from TCDB. I have no Lutz cards and this is the only card with an image in the database.
I mean, here is my kicker to start the season.  Lutz is good, so I may keep him around for awhile, but one kicker is like another in fantasy football.

DEF-Philadelphia
2012 Panini Rookies & Stars #174 Fletcher Cox Front
I picked the Eagles because I liked their early season matchups.  By Week 5, I will probably be streaming a different defense weekly, though.  But I like my chances with a defense that has Fletcher Cox up front.

Bench:
Duke Johnson, RB,Houston
Tevin Coleman, RB, San Francisco
Devin Singletary, RB, Buffalo
Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Green Bay
Deebo Samuel, San Francisco

I like my guys.  Coleman may be replaced shortly after Sunday; we'll have to see how he performs.  I feel like I've got a good mix of established and proven players and some potential sleepers waiting in the wings.

Now let's play some football!