Friday, September 30, 2022

TCDB Trade Recap: Cards From Nashua, NH

I can knock New Hampshire off the list of states I've haven't traded with yet, thanks to TCDB member Peter. I had a wealth of 2017 Topps doubles he needed, and got more base set Red Sox cards for my efforts:
 
 
At this point in my collecting life, I shouldn't be amused that there's a 40 year gap between the oldest and newest cards here, but I am. To think guys like Tony Perez and Reggie Smith were winding down their careers 40 years ago...

Favorite card: Jackie Bradley Jr's time with the Red Sox is over, having been released earlier this season. At least Topps gave us one more great card to remember him by.

Thanks for the trade, Peter!

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Repack Haiku #273 (John Marzano)

Fun-loving backstop
Would sit next to big play guys
To get on T.V. 
 
1992 Topps #677 John Marzano
 
The backup catcher was known as one of those "character" guys that joked around and kept the clubhouse loose. Among his antics was rushing to sit next to a teammate in the dugout after they hit a home run or made a great play, just so he could get on TV too. Sadly, he died from a tragic accident at the young age of 45.



Monday, September 26, 2022

Generous Cards From Daniel

I've spoken at length many time about a recent contest held over at It's Like Having My Own Card Shop. It was centered around a certain player I won't name. In truth, I had a lot of fun just participating in the contest, and challenged myself to comment on his blog post every day that the contest was open (It was one of the ways to earn extra entries!) I didn't win (or I did depending on your way of thinking), but Daniel appreciated my efforts enough to send some cards my way anyways.

He sent quite a few cards, more than I could reasonably show. But I will show off some highlights and personal favorites. We'll start off, of course with some Red Sox cards:
 
 
A Fred Lynn rookie card? Please and thank you!
 
Another Red Sox card from an insert set I'm chasing. Although I'm not a fan of 30 card inserts devoted to one player, I'm glad Topps did this before Mookie joined the Dodgers. (Man, that trade still stings...)

 
Speaking of sets I'm chasing, these two cards officially close the book on the 1988 Topps Kmart Memorable Moments set. I could have bought the whole set off eBay years ago, but what fun would that have been?

 
Another set on my So Close page that I'm chasing is the 1991 Fleer Pro-Visions insert set. I just need Bo Jackson for that one, but Daniel sent me the entire 4 card factory Pro-Visions set instead! Awesome!


Daniel also included some great vintage - 2 of baseball's more fascinating stories in LeFlore and Washington, along with 2 of baseball's most memorable faces in Moon and Mossi!


Food issues are always fun, and this dual-player card from French's is a new one to me! Baseball cards with your mustard? Why not!


We'll finish things off with 5 cards from the 1979 Topps All-Time Record Holders subset. It's a shame certain all-time record holders won't be appearing on cards anytime soon, because subsets like these are fun just, especially when you can see how these lists have grown over generations.


Thanks for the cards Daniel! Your generosity is greatly appreciated!

Friday, September 23, 2022

Trapped In Time: Remnants Of The 24th Trade

 
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - Chinese proverb

At the time I wouldn't have known it, but today's highlighted card comes from a trade that kicked off a long and fruitful trading partnership:
 
Trade #24 (Bo: Baseball Cards Come To Life!)
Traded 08/24/18: 1967 Topps #206 Dennis Bennett, 1969 Topps #453 Mike Cueller, 1974 Topps #17 Doug Bird (RC), 1977 Topps #294 George Medich, 1986 Sportflics #64 Bert Blyleven/Jerry Koosman/John Denny, 1991 Conlon Collection TSN #13 Red Ruffing (HOF), 2015 Topps Heritage #273 NL Aces (Adam Wainwright/Clayton Kershaw), 2016 Topps Heritage - Baseball Flashbacks #BF-EM Eddie Matthews

Received 08/23/18:
  • 1974 Topps #38 Don Kessinger (See Trade #120)
  • 1974 Topps #67 Tommy Helms (See Trade #151)
  • 1973 Topps #79 Jim Willoughby (RC) (See Trade #82)
  • 1972 Topps #43 Rick Wise (See Trade #110)
  • 1972 Topps #109 Jerry May (See Trade #39)
  • 1970 Topps #56 Phillies Rookies - Joe Lis/Scott Reid (RC) (See Trade #39)
  • 1969 Topps #139 Andy Kosco (See Trade #124)
  • 1968 Topps #348 Larry Colton/Dick Thoenen (See Trade #84)
  • 1968 Topps - Game #15 Steve Hargan (See Trade #44)
  • 1966 Topps #154 Chuck Hiller
It's my very first trade with Bo (Baseball Cards Come to Life)! Since this trade, Bo has been my most frequent trading partner, not just through time Travel trading, but ever - over 30 trades and counting!  As you can see, lots of good cards came my way, and thanks to this trade, 8 more trades came from it. The lone holdout was Mr. Hiller here.
 
 
Whoever owned this card previously obviously did not have access to baseball-reference.com like me. Otherwise, they would have known that Chuck Hiller never played a single game at shortstop. Aside from 17 games at 3rd base and 13 more in the outfield, Hiller was exclusively used as a 2nd baseman!

This rare one of a kind error card is making its way out of Time Travel Trading purgatory and into someone's collection. If it isn't yours, it'll be mine!

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Repack Haiku #272 (Jay Howell)

With postseason ban
Even the opposing team
Came to his defense
 
1989 Topps #425 Jay Howell

 
Caught using pine tar during Game 1 of the 1988 NLCS against the Mets, Howell was suspended for the next 3 postseason games. Many people, including some of the Mets players, thought this was excessive considering it was the playoffs and the pine tar was used for a better grip, and not to modify the pitches he threw. 

Monday, September 19, 2022

Time Travel Trading Update #69

  
With 6 new trades to show off this month (plus 1 that just missed the cut for today by coming in Saturday), it's pretty much a guarantee that I'll be showing off the 200th Time Travel Trade in October! Who gets the illustrious honor? We'll find out soon enough! Remember, I'm giving away any card in the trade stack as a prize! Maybe these new cards will still be around for you to pick from, maybe they won't...
 
We start things off with a trio of cards from Greg (Night Owl Cards).  He picked up some Post Cereal oddballs and sent along some nice 90's cards:

Miami Beach has to be one of the better backgrounds in the 1993 Leaf set, doesn't it?

Next trade in came via the TCDB. Mark becomes the 1st TCDB member (non-blogger division) to reach the 5 Trade mark here at Time Travel Trading. Football season is upon us!

I always enjoy it when cards outside of the major sports leagues make their way in the stack. I'm curious if these Marvel cards will go quickly or not. I think there are plenty of collectors who enjoy the superhero genre, and these cards are quite nice, even if these two aren't among the more well known characters.

Get comfy, because it's going to take awhile to show off all of the cards Brendan (The View From The Third Floor) sent me in our latest trade. 

We'll kick it off with the big get, an autograph from this year's Opening Day set:

Followed by a nice handful of inserts:

More 1993 Leaf (plus some others):

And lastly a selection of cards over 30 years old!

Another repeat TCDB trader, Abraham, sent along these fine cards:


Bo (Baseball Cards Come To Life!) snatched those Star Wars cards up from last month. As I said before, you can tell football season is upon us, as I tend to get more football cards this time of year:

What's that? Another batch of cards from Greg (Night Owl Cards)? You bet! While Greg showed off his trio of cards in a parade of pyramids, I choose to line them up all nice and neat (well, except when I'm showing the backs of course..)

Over 50 new cards for your entertainment and pleasure!
 
As always, these cards are all available in exchange for an older card. You can claim your cards below, or through the TCDB (Kep75). Let's make some trades!

The Time Travel Trade Stack:

 
2022 Topps Opening Day - Opening Day
 
2022 Topps Opening Day - Opening Day Autographs
#ODA-LWJ LaMonte Wade Jr. (AU) 
 
2021 Topps
 
2020 Topps Update - Turkey Red 2020 Chrome
#TRC-28 Andy Pettitte 
 
2017 Topps - MLB Award Winners

2017 Topps Bunt - Programs
#PR-AW Adam Wainwright

2016 Topps Allen & Ginter - The Numbers Game
#NG-56 Miguel Cabrera

2016 Topps Heritage - Then And Now
#TAN-KV Harmon Killebrew/Joey Votto

2015 Topps - Highlight of The Year

#H-29 Justin Verlander

2014 Topps Allen & Ginter
#284 Will Clark

2012 Topps Archives
#12 Pablo Sandoval

2011 Topps Heritage Minor League
#191 Wilin Rosario
  
2010 Bowman - Prospects Black
#BP51 Chase D'Arnaud
#BP56 Rolando Gomez

2010 Bowman Platinum - Prospects
#PP38 Brian Johnson    
 
2010 Topps - Cards Your Mom Threw Out
#CMT-20 Thurman Munson (ASR)
 
2009 Bowman - Chrome WBC Prospects
#BCW18 Tao Bu     
 
2008 Topps New York Yankees
#NYY8 Jason Giambi
 
2008 Upper Deck Marvel Masterpieces (non-sport)
#4 The Beetle
#5 Black Queen 
 
2005 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia
#44 Shawn Green
 
2004 Bowman Heritage
 
2002 Fleer Maximum
 
2002 Upper Deck World Series Heroes
#85 Tino Martinez
#88 Andy Petitte
 
2001 Fleer Greats Of The Game
#77 Lester Lockett 
 
2000 Topps
#228 Mariano Rivera (WS)
 
1999 Pacific
#216 Alex Cora
 
1999 SkyBox Metal Universe (football)
#116 Tiki Barber

1998 Pinnacle Inside
#25 Andruw Jones
 
1998 Pinnacle Performers
#14 Hideo Nomo
 
1997-98 Score New York Rangers (hockey)
#8 Alexander Karpovtsev

1997-98 Score Philadelphia Flyers (hockey)
#18 Vaclav Prospal
 
1997 Collector's Choice
#215 Glenallen Hill 
 
1997 Pinnacle Inside
#111 Matt Williams

1997 Pinnacle X-Press
#64 Craig Biggio  
 
1997 Upper Deck
#13 Mark Lemke

1996 Leaf

1995-96 Kraft Peanut Butter Discs (hockey)
 
 
1995 Finest (football)
#124 Trent Dilfer  
 
 
1994 Ted Williams
#46 Earl Battey
#61 Billy Martin
 
1994 Topps Archives 1954
 
1993 Leaf
#76 Kent Hrbek
#79 Andy Van Slyke
#268 Delino DeShields
#280 Rob Dibble
#283 Cecil Fielder
#406 Tino Martinez
#416 Walt Weiss
#418 Chris Sabo

 
1993 Stadium Club Toys "R" Us
#36 Gerald Williams

1993 Classic Draft Picks (basketball)
#33 Will Flemons
#67 Bennie Seltzer
 
1992-93 Humpty Dumpty I (hockey)
#NNO Troy Murray
 
1992 Front Row Draft Picks
#46 Ed Christian  
 
1992 Post Cereal
 
1992 Score
#162 Omar Vizquel
 
1992 Upper Deck
#723 Sammy Sosa 
 
1991-92 7th Inning Sketch OHL (hockey)
#258 Brandon Convery
 
1991 Post Cereal
 
1991 Topps Archives 1953
#284 Bob Lemon
 
1991 Topps Toys "R" Us Rookies
#30 Robin Ventura

1991 U.S. Playing Card Co.
#2Spades Eddie Murray
 
1991 Pro Set Platinum (football)
#81 Lawrence Taylor
 
1991 Topps Desert Storm (non-sport)
#147 Working Together  
 
1990-91 Pro Set Super Bowl XXV Silver Anniversary (football)
#88 Nick Buoniconti

1990-91 7th Inning Sketch OHL (hockey)
#236 Tony McCabe

1990-91 Bowman (hockey)
#19 Peter Zezel
#127 David Volek
 

1990 Fleer
 
1990 Leaf
#16 Hubie Brooks  

1990 Post Cereal
#22 Pedro Guerrero 
 
 
1990 Upper Deck
#626 Frank Viola

1990 Pro Set - Theme Art (football)
#10 Super Bowl X Pittsburgh Steelers / Dallas Cowboys
 
1990 Score (football)
#436 Chet Brooks (RC)
 

1989 ProCards Triple A
#544 Jay Buhner 
 
1989 Score
#495 Larry Parrish
 
1989 Topps Big
 
1988-89 Frito-Lay Stickers (hockey)
#NNO Cam Neely
 
1988 Score
#649 Speed And Power (Eric Davis/Tim Raines) (AS) 
 
1988 Topps Toys "R" Us Rookies
#30 Terry Steinbach 
 
1988 Topps (football)
 
1987 Fleer Update
#U-82 Kevin Mitchell 
 
 
 
1986 Fleer
#322 Goose Gossage 
 
1986 Topps Baseball Champion Superstars
#18 Fred Lynn 
 
 
1985 O-Pee-Chee
 
1985 Topps - Glossy All-Stars
#18 Chet Lemon
 
1984 Donruss

1984 Fleer
 
1984 O-Pee-Chee 
 

1983 Topps Drake's Big Hitters
#14 Dave Kingman
 
1983 Topps (football)
 
1982-85 Galasso Baseball Hobby Card Report T-206 Reprints
 
1982 O-Pee-Chee E.T. The Extraterrestrial (non-sport)
#15 Among Elliott's Toys

1982 Topps
 
1982 Topps (football) 
#56 Lyle Alzado

1981 Donruss  
 
1981 Fleer
#8 Larry Christenson 

1981 Topps
#40 Tug McGraw
 
1981 Topps (football)
#18 Frank Lewis  
 
1980 Topps 
#90 Manny Trillo
 

1979 Topps 
#220 Cesar Geronimo
#239 Willie Horton 
 
1979 Topps (football)
#12 Bernard Jackson
#252 Robert Newhouse
#385 Thomas Henderson
#399 Calvin Hill
#415 Cliff Branch
#443 Ron Howard
 
1978-79 O-Pee-Chee (hockey)

1978-79 Topps (basketball)
#118 Kevin Porter 

1978 Topps  
 
1978 Topps (football)
#41 John Ebersole

1977-78 Topps - Glossy Inserts (Rounded Corners) (hockey)
 
1977-78 Topps - White Backs (basketball)
#78 Richard Washington (RC)
 
1977 Topps
#79 Don Money 
 
1977 Topps (football)
#487 Jack Rudnay
#507 Ray Easterling (RC) 
 
1976 Funky Sales Corp Funky Facts Baseball
#2 In A Trance
#3 Fans Vs Players
#5 Baseballeese
 
1976 SSPC
#7 Elias Sosa 

1976 Topps
 
1976 Topps - Traded
#28T Dusty Baker 

1976 Topps (football)
#74 Bryant Salter 
#336 Woody Green (RC)
#361 Po James 

1975 Topps
 
1974 Topps  
#84 Rick Wise
#410 Pedro Borbon 
 
1974 Topps - Traded
#43T Jim Wynn
 
1974 Topps (football)
 
1973 Topps (football)
#83 Larry Carwell
#97 Jim Bakken
 
1972 Topps  
#268 Philladelphia Philles (TC) 
 
1970 Topps
#3 Darrell Chaney
#287 Fred Talbot  
#338 Paul Schaal 
#390 Willie Davis  
 
1970 Topps (football)
#41 Pete Case

1969 Topps
#32 Sammy Ellis
#283 Sandy Alomar 
 
1968 Topps

1966 Topps
#46 Howie Koplitz
 
#149 Wayne Schurr 

1964 Topps 
#58 Don Demeter

1962 Topps
1961 Topps
#105 Carl Willey
#111 Jack Meyer
 
1960 Topps
 
1960 Topps (football)
#28 Jim Ray Smith 

1959 Topps
#9 Paul Giel
 
1958 JCM 30a Doyusha Team Name Back (solid front w/o borders)
 
1958 Topps (football)
 
1956 Topps
 
1956 Topps (football)
#42 Tom Fears
#51 Ted Marchibroda
 
1955 Bowman
#196 Russ Meyer
 
1955 Bowman (football)
#9 Don Stonesifer

1955 Topps All-American (football)
#46 Arnie Lassman
 
1954 Topps
#238 Al Aber

1954 Bowman Power For Peace (non-sport)
#91 USS Coral Sea (CVB43)

1953 Topps

1938 Church & Dwight Useful Birds Of America Tenth Series (J9-6) (non-sport)
#2 Black-throated Green Warbler

1937-38  Diamond Matchbooks Tan 6 (hockey)
#NNO Glenn Brydson
 
1935 Church & Dwight Useful Birds of America Eighth Series (J9-4) (non-sport)
#10 California Jay

1933 Church & Dwight Useful Birds of America Fifth Series (J9-1) (non-sport)
#5 Indigo Bunting 
 
1925 Sports Records (multi-sport)
 
1924 Imperial Tobacco Co. of Canada (ITC) Dogs Series (non-sport)
#4 Otter-Hound

1922 Church & Dwight Useful Birds Of America Third Series (J7) (non-sport)
#7 Prothonotary Warbler

1915 Church & Dwight Useful Birds Of America First Series (J5) (non-sport)
#1 Quail
 
1910 Champions (T218) (multi-sport)
 
1890 N245 Sweet Caporal Actors & Actresses (non-sport)
#NNO Frankie Raymond

The Time Travel Trading Project is simple in concept. I started out with a random pack of 2018 Topps Series 1 baseball cards. My aim was to trade every card in that pack for something older. Each card I receive in turn is then made available for trade, with the goal to get the oldest card I can get.

Number of trades completed: 195 (1 pending!)
Unique trading partners: 65

Number of cards mailed out: 885
Year of oldest card mailed out: 1910-11

Number of cards received: 1,311
Year of oldest card received: 1890