Trade with Night Owl

Yesterday, I had a post about a trade with Chris at Nachos Grande, who seems to be one of my more frequent trading partner. Today's post is about another blogger I trade with frequently, Night Owl.  Okay, so I suppose that he wouldn't consider it frequent, but since I only complete 1 or 2 trades a month, the fact that I have had multiple trades with him makes him a frequent trader for me.

As you will recall from yesterday's post, I had a box of 2006 Greats of the Game that didn't excite me. I sent a number of inserts to Nachos Grande.  But, Greg had requested the Nickname Greats Jay Johnstone card that included a picture of someone who was not Jay Johnstone. Read Night Owl's take here.  This occurred at the same time as I went to the August card show in OKC, where I found a 1958 Don Newcombe in a dollar box. As it happens, Greg needed the Newcombe. So, off Don and not-Jay went.

His return package arrived yesterday and what a package it was.  It was way too much to exchange for an error card from a mostly forgotten set and a dollar box find.  So, what did he send?

He sent 11 cards from my 2012 Heritage want list, including 4 short prints (!!!) and one of the stickers.

MIIIIIINNNNNNNNIIIIIISSSSS!!!!1!!!11!1!!!

I'm not a huge fan of 1987 Topps. Nor am I real enthralled with 1962 Topps, which '87 riffs off of. But, this Ruth mini is a nice looking card.  I particularly like the old timey NY emblem.

I'm not much of a A&G fan either.  I am not sure why.  It is a quirky little set that fills much the same niche as Tristar Obak, which I love (as you will see soon). I think it is because of Topps tendency to think that if a little of a something is good then a lot of that thing is super.  Like short prints. And inserts. And parallels.I think  I really could get into A&G if Topps scaled it back some.  Okay, if they scaled it back a lot.  This Curtis Granderson mini is a sharp looking card.

As an aside, I like Curtis Granderson as a man, but I am starting to sour some on him as a ballplayer. His power numbers continue to be good, but his batting average is down and his strikeouts are up.  Coupled with suspect defense, he seems to be turning into a latter day Dave Kingman.  I suspect that the Yankees will pick up his option for 2013, but I would rather see the Yankees let him walk (or pick up the option and then trade him) and focus on getting some young talent.  Brett Gardner would be a much better center fielder.  Gold Glove quality.

Anyhoo, what else did NO send?

Card number.......wait for it..........7.  The ubiquitous number 7 in every recent Topps set (or so it seems).  He also sent a full size A&G Bambino, which I didn't scan.  Another card I forgot to scan was a 2012 Archive 1971 style Alex Rodriguez. Nice looking card of the highest (over)paid player in baseball.

He also sent some 2012 Bowman Yankees including this gold Robbie Cano.

The final card? A night card of course!

Overall, a seriously sweet haul.  All for a 6 year old insert and dollar box find.  If I make it to the October OKC show, you can bet I'll be scanning the vintage discount boxes for more Dodgers for Greg because I am in his debt.

Coming up next: something I have been waiting three months for.

Obligatory Allen & Ginter Post, or the story of my life as told in the medium of LOLCats

Y'all know the drill.

I had to run down to Walmart to buy eggs, milk, bread, and feminine hygiene products.

And alluvasudden I am on the card aisle.

How did that happen?  I don't know!  One minute I was lost in a sea of pink and purple boxes and the next minute I am standing in front of baseball cards!  Am I having some kinda Billy Pilgrim moment?

Well, as long as I am here.....

Hey, look is that something new since the last time I got lost and ended up on the card aisle?

Why, yes it is!  OMGWTFBBQ! It is blasters of Allen and Ginter!

Well, $19.98 is awfully expensive. I could buy a coupla big ole T-Bones for that.

Wait a minute?  That blaster comes with an extra pack? Whoa! What a deal!  That totally changes the situation.  Besides, it's taco night, so the steaks would just go to waste.

Yes.

Okay, I'm home. Probably should put the frozen stuff away first. Oh! Hello, dear, how was your day? Why, yes that is a box of baseball cards.  

Well, technically, it didn't cost $20.  It was only $19.98.

Well, I can't return it now, so let's see what's inside

Anything good?

I'll say this. A&G has some interesting insert sets.  Frankly, I like the inserts better than the base set.

When I first started blogging, I was put off by nonbaseball players in baseball card sets.  But, I think they actually complement A&Gs quirkiness.  They fit here.

I'm sorry, but this picture is fuh-reaky!  I get that 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches is a small space and any artwork intended to be reproduced in such a size will need more pronounced contrasts in the colors to translate well.  But, dang, this image is going to haunt my sleep for at least a day or two.

Oooh!  A hit!

These little suckers are selling for between $20 and $30 on EBay. So, after I pulled this I threw it up on the 'bay as an auction with the option to Buy-It-Now for $25.  Less than a day later, someone bought-it-now.  So, I made bank.  I've got some other things to put up on EBay, so I'll probably sit on the proceeds from this card now and use it later to help fill out some of my open sets.

So, that is my Allen and Ginter experience for 2012.

The End

Sigh....

So, how did I address my desire to reduce the number of sets I am working on?  By picking up a box of a set that I have wanted to start, but hadn't yet.

Yup.

2006 Fleer Greats of the Game.  In my defense, it was a killer deal.  Boxes of 2006 GOTG are available from several sellers, but all are generally selling at about $150 each box.  That is too rich for my blood.  So, when a box came available (along with the 2006 Fleer Ultra box next to it) for a Buy-It-Now of an even $100, I snapped it up immediately. My plan is to flip the Ultra, which I have no interest in, so I should make back some of what this cost me. If you are interested, make me an offer. Otherwise, it goes back on EBay in a couple weeks.

Yes, I also bought a blaster of A&G. No, I am not going to build the set.  I just decided to take a look.

I'll probably do a series of posts on the GOTG box, but after that, I may be going into power save mode for a while.  We are thinking of buying some, or all, of the property next to us and I am guessing it will take a lot of our time, and spare coin, to close the deal.

Lastly, there are a couple of you that I have promised cards to.  I haven't forgotten you, I have just been really busy lately. I'll try to get your cards out this weekend.