A Quick Trade With Blaine

Before I get into my Christmas gifts from friends, I wanted to knock out a couple more trades that have piled up to be blogged.  I got an assortment of Chris Davis cards in exchange for something that I have already forgotten to my friend, Blaine.  The main component of the deal was this Chris Davis 500 Futures coin card.  I needed it for the collection, and am glad to have it.

Blaine also tossed in these for the collection.  I hope to see Davis at Fan Fest, and will have a hard time picking out which cards to get signed.  I'll have to think really hard about what I have in my collection, and then I'll also have to get a voucher or two.

Thanks for the deal, Blaine!

Relic Cards From Blaine

Continuing on with what I got from my friend, Blaine, here are some of the miscellaneous relic cards that were included in my package.  I don't know about you, but I really like the 2014 Triple Threads design.  The cards have what I would call a matte finish and it is really visually appealing with these cards, I think.

This 2014 Triple Threads Gausman relic is numbered 10/36.  The bright orange swatch really pops.  Gotta love the orange alternate jerseys.

This 2013 Allen & Ginter JJ Hardy is a nice card.  I don't have a whole lot of Hardy stuff, even though I really like the player.  I just haven't really done any kind of PC with him.  He has been the backbone of the Orioles these last few years, and I am glad that he is around.  He may be declining offensively, but he is still amazing with the glove.  He fills his job well as the "field general" in Baltimore.

I have a relic card like this one of Christian Walker from 2014 Topps Heritage Pro Debut, but it is a different color (white, I think, but I don't remember).  This blue one was nice to find in my package from Blaine.  Walker hasn't yet caught on with the O's, but with Chris Davis's impending departure, the first base job may be his (Walker's) to take.

Finally, I was pretty sure I had one of these, but I need to look through my boxes to verify.  This is a 2011 Goodwin Champions Manny Machado relic.  This is one of the first relic cards issued of Manny, so this is a pretty cool piece to have.

Blaine's deal still continues to deliver.  I will close it out tomorrow by showing off the autographs that were included.

Short Prints From Blaine

I still have a bunch of stuff from Blaine to show off, but I have been really busy lately.  Also, with the World Series starting, I will be watching that as well.  I'm still trying to post every day, but I haven't had much time to get the posts done.

I got four short prints from Blaine, two of which I have scanned and posted here.  I was looking for the above Manny SP for a while since it came out, but I never jumped on it.  I kind of forgot about it for a while, so I was really happy that it was in the package.

Here is the Futures Game jersey SP of Manny from 2014 Topps.  I also forgot about this card, so it was really cool to get it in the package as well.

I need to do a better job of looking up different short prints, but some of them are so hard to tell, then I give up on them.  Oh well.

By the way, the other two SPs were Dylan Bundys.  One of them was one I had, but the other was needed.

Thanks for hooking me up with these, Blaine!

From Blaine's Collection - Ripken Rookies

Here are some more cards that I got from my friend, Blaine, when I bought his Orioles collection.  There were the three base card rookies of Cal included, and I was glad to get them even though I already had them all.  Above is the 1982 Fleer Cal rookie, which is probably the worst of the four rookie cards that he has.  Fleer was doing their best when they got into the card industry, but those first two years (1981 and 1982) were really low-budget, and you can tell with the photography.  I'm sure Cal looks back on this card and thinks "Wow, look at all of that hair!"

Regardless, it is still a cool card.  I don't remember if this or the Donruss was the first Cal rookie that I ever got.  I know the Topps was a tough "get" back then, and the Topps Traded is still tough to find.

Yeah, this used to be a really tough card to get.  I remember finally getting one when I traded a bunch of wheat pennies to my brother.  Then I found one cheap at a card shop for my 1982 Topps set.  Then I got another when my mom gave me her Cal collection.  Then I got one in a $5 mystery pack at this past year's National and now I got this one out of Blaine's deal.  So, if my potato math is correct, I have five of these.  Awesome!

Finally, here is the Donruss version that I got from Blaine.  Now that I look it over, I believe the Donruss is the first Cal rookie that I was able to get when I was around 11 or 12 years old.  Now, I have two.  I don't usually care for graded cards, but this is pretty cool.  Also, being graded at an "8" is kind of fitting, seeing as it is Cal and all.  You know, 8 is his uniform number.  Yeah, you knew that.

So, yeah, Blaine really hooked me up on this deal.  I still have a good bit of stuff to show from the cards he sent.

Chris Davis Cards From Blaine

My friend, Blaine, decided to sell off his collection recently, and hit me up with a great deal that saw me land a good portion of his Orioles stuff.  The box finally arrived last week and I was amazed at everything that was inside.  There was so much stuff in there, I will have to break it up in order to do it any justice here on this blog.

Blaine sold me on the collection when he showed me what Chris Davis cards would be included.  The above patch from 2014 Panini National Treasures was the first card I saw, and it really is what helped me decide to do the deal.  This card is numbered 5/11 (kind of an odd numbering) and shows a three-color piece of jersey/patch.  Not bad at all.

Here is another three-color piece, this one is from 2014 Panini Immaculate Collection.  This is numbered 2/25.  I love the Panini Stuff from around this time.  I'm sure it wasn't tier intention for these nice pieces to be so affordable, but they are, and I have definitely taken advantage.

Here is another 2014 Panini Immaculate, this time it is just a swatch of jersey and is numbered 80/99.

This booklet from 2014 National Treasures is numbered 53/99.  I already had a couple of these, but was happy to add a few more.

Finally, this booklet is numbered 80/99.  The relics are kind of hard to see from the scan, but spell out CRUSH.  Looks really cool, I think.

I'll hopefully have some time to show more of what Blaine sent me in the next few days, especially since there is no playoff baseball on IV until Tuesday.

Instagram Trade With Blaine - Awesome Vintage Pickups

I completed another great trade with my friend, Blaine, on Instagram when I sent him a ball signed by Jim Palmer in exchange for this Monte Irvin 1953 Topps.  The card is in pretty good shape, with the exception of a few rounded corners.  I think the '53 design is one of the great ones in Topps's history, and this card might just exemplify that.

The other big part of our deal was this 1962 Topps Gaylord Perry RC.  I already have Perry on a ball, and now I can say that I have his rookie card as well.  I also have his 1963 Topps "rookie stars" card as well, but this '62 is his true rookie.

Thanks so much for another successful trade, Blaine!  I'm excited to think of what we could exchange next!

How Mike Trout Became My New Best Friend

I busted my requisite three jumbo boxes of 2015 Topps Series 1 when they came out.  I had planned on doing a breakdown of what I pulled, but chaos ensued after I revealed my hits on Instagram.  My biggest hit was the above Mike Trout auto.  While I have been an outspoken critic of Trout (not because I don't believe he is a GOOD player, I believe he hasn't shown anything about walking on water just yet), I was really glad to pull the card.  I recognize the fact that Trout is a good player, who has the potential to be a great player, but come on, a .288 batting average isn't exactly setting the world on fire.  Anyway, I had planned to keep it, until my friend, Blaine commented after I posted that he would make me a good offer on the card.  He didn't disappoint.

Blaine offered me, not one, but two Mickey Mantles in exchange for the Trout auto.  Two Mantles.  I didn't even let him get out the "T" in flight (Jay Mohr joke) before I said DEAL!  I wasn't going to pass up a deal for two Mantles, and I really was glad that one of them was the 1964. I haven't even begun to start the 1964 set, but this will be a nice start to the set, once I do get moving on it.

Why, hello there, old friend!  Blaine is the guy I traded my 1962 Mantle to, in exchange for some cash, a 1960 Koufax and some other stuff.  I didn't want to give it up at the time, but Blaine doesn't mess around when it comes to deals, so I accepted.  Anyway, I was happy that Blaine included it in the deal, as well.  I didn't want to give the card up, and now, it's back home where it belongs!  I do believe that this is the very first time in all of my years of collecting that I have traded away and then traded for the same card.  This time, the card is on lockdown!

So, I am really glad I pulled the Trout auto.  My thinking is, Trout is a good player, but he could get hurt tomorrow.  Mantle will always be Mantle, so doing this deal, for me, was a no brainer.  I also appreciate Blaine in that he is an amazing person to work with, and he doesn't fool around with deals.  He makes a great offer right off the bat, and we were able to come to terms really fast.  I really think the Trout was up for less than 5 minutes before the deal was agreed upon.  That's pretty awesome!

Instagram Trade With Blaine

I completed a trade with my friend, Blaine, on Instagram last week when he made me an offer I couldn't refuse for my 1962 Topps Mickey Mantle.  I initially wasn't interested in moving the Mantle at all, but Blaine persisted and we finally struck a deal.

I got a god bit of cash, and also this nice 1960 Topps Sandy Koufax.  I like the 1960 set, almost as much as I like the '62 set.  So, this was a main component to the deal.

Once we had an agreement on the amount of money and the Koufax in place, Blaine helped sweeten the deal by adding this nice Joe Morgan relic to the pile.  Since Chris and I met Morgan a few years ago at the National, I have been picking up some of his cards here and there, so I was happy to add this one.

The final piece that sealed the deal was this Triple Threads relic/auto of Kevin Gausman.  I really liked how this card looked and when I got it in person, I liked it even more.  It has a matte finish to it, that I think really works well.

I also got a surprise when I opened the package from Blaine.  He was just a little short on the cash that we agreed to, so he added this Schoop auto from Stadium Club.  I didn't mind getting this instead, so I appreciated the gesture.

So, thanks for the deal, Blaine.  I guess the old saying is true, everything has a price!  I figured to upgrade that Mantle at some point, anyway.  It was on the lower end of the grading scale, and I wanted to try to find another one at the price I paid, in better condition, and I feel like I can do that.

Christmas From Blaine - Awesome O's Stuff

I got a great Christmas package in from my friend, Blaine, today that had some really nice Orioles stuff in it.  Blaine and I started chatting with one another during the O's run in the playoffs and now we talk all the time about the O's and vintage cards.

Blaine really hooked me up with this Frank Robinson All Star MVP manufactured patch.  I love these cards!

I also got this awesome Jonathan Schoop refractor auto from this year's Finest.  I know I have a Schoop auto from Finest, but I'm pretty sure it is a base auto and not the refractor.  Regardless, I love it and I'm glad to have another.

Thanks so much for the gift(s), Blaine, they meant a lot to me!