What's Easier Than Packing for a Move?

Shipping all your Cubs cards to me!

 I think this is just what Julie, from A Cracked Bat, did in this case.   She has become a very reliable trade partner over the last few months and she mentioned recently that she had some 2015 Heritage and a few other cards to send my way.  So, I started setting aside some Tigers for her and then  . . . BAM . . . a flat-rate USPS box landed on my door step.

I'm guessing it's easier to clean the unwanted cardboard out of a collection than to try to find room to pack it all?  Hey, I'm okay with that!

  Oh, French baseball cards with randomly inserted Blue Jays!

The Sammy Sosa and Derrick May cards are a little sample of the 1994 O-Pee-Chee cards that you will surely see in a Pack War.  Thanks for the extra blogging material, Julie!

 Woo-Hoo!  Some more 2015 Topps.  I'm doing pretty good for not buying one pack of the stuff.

 Legendary Cubs Billy Williams and Ferguson Jenkins.  These Hall of Famers are always welcome in my Cubs binders.

 A couple of serial numbered cards.  The D-Lee is #221/1350 and the Jae Kuk Ryu is #98/99.

 The Ryu card above is pretty shiny, and everyone likes shiny.  Here's more!

 The mid-aughts are highly represented there with A-Ram, D-Lee, and Big Z.  Poor Mendy, he seems a little out of place.

The Soriano die-cut is not out of place... Sori has had many different die cuts in the last decade, but that Rick Wilkins from the early 90s is almost before its time.

 Odd ball baseball cards!  I have both of these sets, but I can't get enough of those randomly produced boxed sets.

 I'm not sure where Julie found all of these, but it appears I have makings of near team sets.

 Oh, and did you notice the Kerry Wood card in the last picture?  Well, pair it with the credit card-esque card below and I have two new additions to my Wood player collection.  Score!

 I've never seen these 2002 Donruss Studio cards before.  Instead of the standard sixteen digits on the front it has Kerry's win total, stikeouts, and ERA. 

Stats on the front and facsimile signature on the back.  It's nice to mix it up every now and again.

Another one for the Ryno player collection!  This Ryne Sandberg card is from the 2012 Panini Cooperstown set.  I think every player collection needs a nice card like this one.

 Here's some more Panini...  Mr Cub makes an appearance as usual, but he's joined by Billy Herman, Joe Tinker, and Phil Cavarretta.  It's nice to see some of the other bigger names get some love.

 Wow, we're pretty far into the post and I'm just now getting to the Heritage cards that initially started this trade.

 Hey, it's my boy Kyle Hendricks!  He has two Topps cards in Cubs uniforms and they are both from Heritage sets.  Weird.

 I know I'm in the minority on this one, but that Donruss design is starting to grow on me.  As is that Kris Bryant fellow.  Theo is my main man crush, but Bryant is quickly turning into a close second.

 Ugh.  Todd Hundley was never in my good favor.  I called him "Mr. Cranky Pants" during his short stay with the Cubs, because he always seemed to scowling.

 What did Todd Wellemeyer do to deserve being a Diamond King?

 So much bright Red!  Quick, I need some muted vintage colors to look at!

 Ahh, that's better.  Fergie looks so young on the left.

Speaking of looking young . . .

 Some prospects from the 2014 Bowman Draft and Prospects set.  I love me some Cubs prospects . . .

 I also love adding cards to my Rizzo collection, especially X-fractors!

No, Albert, I haven't forgotten about you.  Many others have lost you in the shuffle behind Baez, Alcantara, Soler, Russell, and Bryant, but I think you are poised for a big year for the Tennessee Smokies with Kyle Schwarber in 2015.

 Ahhhh... prospects of years past.  Beautiful cards of a couple of kids who never really maximized their potential on the diamond.

 Stickers!  Thanks, Julie!  I like to make the first page of each of my Cubs binders a page full of logo stickers, and these will certainly help.

I thought this last card would be a fitting end to such a great trade package.

It's Aramis goin' deep!  Yep, Julie certainly hit a home run with all of the Cubs goodness she sent my way.

Good luck with the move to Michigan, Julie. I'll be sure to send you a house warming present consisting of rectangular pieces of cardboard toward the latter part of May!

Are You Ever Fearful of a Trade Package?

Do you ever put off a package for a few days, or maybe even a week, because you're afraid to open it?  Let's get this straight: I'm never afraid of the contents . . . I deal with cardboard, remember?  It's more of a fear about appropriately paying the sender back for the contents of an unannounced package.  For example, JBF's packages freak me out.  Every. Single. Time.   I'm indebted to this man for the rest of my collecting days.

So my thought process goes like this: If I don't open package, then technically I'm off the hook. Then there's nothing to be afraid of! Right?

No.  I don't think it works that way.  So, I finally opened the package from Alaska.

David is a blog-less trader who has been popping up in many a trade post as of late.   I've traded with David before, but man, it was not easy.  My collecting tastes are broad: if it's a Cub then I'm all ears.  David's?  Not so much.   I'm not sure what I'm going to come up with for him this time around.

No worries about the blue tape, my friend.  Packages like this are glorious regardless.

I've heard of journal of baseball collectible's known as Cartwright's, but I've never seen one until now.  Actually, I have two!  The Griffey at the top of the post was accompanied by Frank Thomas.

 These are both from Volume #1 and are way cool.  The backs of each magazine have beautiful sketches of each player and inside there is a feature length article on the sluggers who grace each cover: The Kid and The Big Hurt.

Best of all, there's sports cards in the inside! 

 The A-C-E-S cards are my favorite, but Ryne Sandberg doesn't make an appearance here.

 Ryne wasn't a prospect in 1992 like Pedro Martinez, Jim Thome, or Chipper Jones.

 Wow, there are some big time names shown here: Aikman, Montana, Gretzky, Ripken, The Babe, and the Ryan Express.  So the Sandberg cards David mentioned have to be somewhere!

 Woo-Hoo!  Two Rynos as promised!  Wait, I've seen these before...

<P-town Tom runs down to the man room and takes a quick picture.>

I'm back!  Look what I found in one of my Sandberg binders!

I guess when I picked these up in my youth I didn't realize that they were part of an uncut sheet from a magazine publication.  I even have the A-C-E-S card.  Man, young collector me was so thorough.  I miss him.

 

David also sent some cards and there were some definite surprises!

 Raise your hand if you knew Leaf had any 2015 baseball product out.  Yeah, I didn't know either.

 This is my third different Sandberg card issued from 2015.  Oh, and there were two Billy Williams cards from this set in the package.  Guess who's getting a PWE?

Stickers!  I really like the design of the 2015 stickers.

 Topps Heritage!  Watch out AAA pitching, Kris Bryant is coming for you!

Legitimate vintage!

Pretend vintage Wrigley Field giveaways serial numbered to 20,000 or 30,000:

 Some minis from 2013.  Is it sad that none of these guys are on the 2015 roster?  How did Kyle Seager get in there?

What do you think would happen if I send this card to Wrigley Roster Jenga?  Hmmm...  would it make the CATRC set?  My gut says no.

Lastly, a really shiny Starlin Castro from Topps Chrome. The X-fractors are by far my favorite of all of the refractors.  Even the blue.

 David, that was quite a package of Cubs goodness!  I'm going to share a few pieces of it with a couple of Cubs bloggers I know and a Junkie who lives in the bayou.  Spread the wealth, you know?

And now, I have to face my fear . . . finding cards worthy enough to repay your magazine and cardboard generosity.  Wish me luck!