Wednesday, May 15, 2013

My first international trade package!

I've been following Jeroen, the Dutch Card Guy, for quite some time now and I had been setting cards aside for him in hopes that I might strike a trade with him at some point.  Enter my sister and her set needs into the equation and it finally happened.

Jane, my sister, will occasionally find something that tickles her fancy and to steal a term from Thorzul she'll go all "whole hog" on that item.  She last did this with Topps' Olympic card set from the summer of 2012 and most recently with Panini's Cooperstown set.

Jeroen busted a couple of boxes, I played match maker, and now they both have their base sets complete.  Score one for the match maker!

And I thought, "Heck, if I'm going to send cards internationally, I might as well make it worth my while!"  So, I proceeded to scour my collection for set needs and player collection needs for Jeroen. I boxed them and the results can be seen on his blog: The Dutch Card Guy.

Me?  Well, I made out pretty well myself!

Here's two of the main cards I was after in the trade.  A pair of Cubs prospects from last year's Bowman set: a chrome Jeimer Candelario (#277/500) and an orange Matt Szczur (#246/250).

Jeroen also sent me a slew of Starlin Castros for my unofficial Castro collection.  Here's a pair of blue Opening Day Castros, 2011 on the left and 2013 on the right.  Man, do I love the sparkly blue!

 How about a mini 2012 Topps edition?  Nice! I know, I know, you can't tell it's a mini.  You'll just have to take my word for it.


Luis Valbuena has done a nice job at third base for the Cubs so far this young season.  Yet, I can't help but feel I took Aramis Ramirez and his consistent output of 30 homers and 100+ RBI for granted the last decade.  Below is my first A-Ram relic: a 2010 Upper Deck card. 

Pitching is the name of the game and Jeroen sent plenty of quality arms my way including about a half-dozen early '90s cards of Mr. Maddux.  Below you'll find his Leaf and Fleer Ultra cards from 1992.

How about a 2011 Liquorfractor of lefty set-up man James Russell.  Nice, but I prefer the blue that Starlin is sporting above.  Oh, and yeah, don't even get me started about how he and Samardzija need to invest in a pair of clippers.

I also have an unofficial player collection of Matt Clement (in Cubs uniforms only).  This 2004 Upper Deck Vintage card shows off his spectacular facial hair.  Man, I miss Matt Clement.
Oh, and don't tell my wife I just used the words spectacular and Clement's facial hair in the same sentence.

In all, Jeroen sent about 50 Cubs cards for my sister and I to divide between us.  Jane took a handful and she was kind enough to leave me the rest.  I was really glad when she passed over these two Upper Deck cards of Kerry Wood.
 As soon as my teaching gig ends for the summer I'll return to updating my Wood and Sandberg checklists.  Both of the above are new to me for sure as I was on a collecting hiatus during the early part of the 2000s.

This was a great trade over all and I'm already on the lookout for tradebait for Jeroen (Kershaw, Velander, Mariano, and the like).  Thanks a bunch Dutch Card Guy!











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