TCDB Trade Recap: Cards From Loveland, CO

Just a small trade today, courtesy of a TCDB member named Harrison:

 

 

1 card for an insert set build, 1 for a team set build, plus two recent Heritage rookie cards!

 

Favorite Card: 2026 Topps Heritage #386 Payton Tolle (RC)  - He's such a joyful player and his interviews are entertaining!

 

Thanks for the trade Harrison! 

 

Generosity In All It's Forms

It's a well known fact that card collectors are among the most generous of any hobby group. What's more, they express this generosity in many ways:

 

Take for instance Tom (Batting Out Of Order). He recently held a giveaway on his blog for anyone to take advantage of. I of course took part. Nabbing the Red Sox cards was an obvious choice for me, as was a vintage Sabres card. The rest, to be honest, were cards I just liked for one reason or another. (Except for the Big Red Machine Combo card - I actually wanted the card next to it, but wrote down the wrong number in the comments! No matter - it's still a cool card! I should probably double check and see if a certain Larkin super-collector needs it...)

 

 

Favorite Card: 1977 Hostess #148 George Scott  

 

Sometimes generosity comes in the form of some extra cards in a trade. That's what Bo (Baseball Cards Come to Life!) did with our most recent Time Travel Trading trade. He included these extra cards for my collection:

 

 

Favorite Card: 2002 Upper Deck #597 Johnny Damon

 

Random unexpected cards are wonderful, but sometimes a collector will contatc you, see if you need specific cards and then hunt them down for you. That's what Stuart (S.R. '75 Cards) did when he asked if I needed the two Japanese variations of Daisuke Matsuzaka's 2007 Topps card. He sent both of them my way, along with an unexpected autograph:

 

Favorite Card: 2026 Topps Heritage - Real One Autographs #ROA-KCA Kristian Campbell (AU) 

 

My sincerest thanks to Tom, Bo, and Stuart for their amazing generosity!  

Repack Haiku #472 (Wyatt Langford)

Fourth pick in the draft

Jumped four levels in three months

Joined Rangers next Spring

 

2024 Topps
#700 Wyatt Langford (RC, VAR)

Langford was the 4th overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. He signed quickly and made his pro debut July 18th for the Rangers' rookie league team. On August 2, he was promoted to their High-A affiliate. After 24 games there, he was promoted again to AA for the final 12 games of their season. When that season ended he joined the AAA team to finish out their season. The following year (2024), he made the Opening Day roster for the Texas Rangers. 

 

Also, in all my years buying repacks, this is the first SP variation card I think I ever pulled!  

More Than Manny - A Side Of Rice

Last Monday, I showed off a buffet of Manny Ramirez cards sent to me from blogger and card collector extraordinaire John (Johnny's Trading Spot). This feast of Manny cardboard wasn't all he sent however. Along with the main course, he included a side of Rice! 

 

 

Favorite card from this group: 2023 Panini Chronicles - Zenith #15 Jim Rice

 

Favorite card from this group: 1992 Sportflics Kellogg's Corn Flakes All Stars #8 Jim Rice

 

Favorite card from this group: 1986 Topps #320 Jim Rice

 

That's a lot of Rice! Now, some of you may be wondering why I didn't show off my TCDB ranking and how much it changed as a result of this bundle. Truth is, out of the 32 cards listed here, only a dozen were new to my collection. That wasn't going to move the needle very far I'm afraid. 

 

Dessert Time!

 

Also included were a few extra Red Sox power hitters:

 

 

Those two J.D. Martinez did not improve my standings on TCDB by the way. That 2007 Topps Ted Williams insert set is on a short list of sets I'm thinking of chasing.

 

Thanks for the cards Johnny!

TCDB Trade Recap: Cards From Minneapolis, MN

Time to catch up on some little trades. A recent one came from Tim via the TCDB. What made this particular transaction stand out was the envelope itself:

 

I recognize these as the stickers from Fleer's 1988 set. I'm not sure if there was a particular reason for choosing Expos or if he was just randomly decorating the envelope. Still, it was amusing to see!

 

As for the contents within, the Montreal theme continued with some bonus cards:

 

I didn't set out to trade for Expos though. This trade was made with the intent to whittle down some cards for a particular set build:

 

I'm in the home stretch! Only 6 more cards until the 1977 set is complete! If time permits, I'll try to scroll through the TCDB and try and trade for them. Then again, with just a half dozen to go, I may just buy the final ones and be done with it! 

 

Thanks for the trade Tim! 

Repack Haiku #471 (Dylan Moore)

Now with the Phillies;

Debut occurred overseas

With games in Japan

  

2022 Topps #567 Dylan Moore

 

After bouncing around the Minors with 4 different organizations, Moore made the Opening Day roster for the Mariners in 2019. That allowed him a unique moment, as his Major League debut came in special series held at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.

Climbing The Ranks With Manny Ramirez

Johnny (Johnny's Trading Spot) has been culling through his collection and shortening the list of players he collects. He's been generously sending out those cards to other collectors. Back in March, he sent me a whole bunch of cards featuring J.D. Martinez. This time around, I received a package of cards primarily featuring former Red Sox legend Manny Ramirez.

 

As I mentioned before, I'm not specifically a player collector, but I do appreciate some players more than others. Ramirez is a former player I can look back at fondly, but only if I compartmentalize his off the field issues away from the many highlight reel moments he had during games. He should be a Hall of Famer, but too many bad decisions on his part have keep him out. 

 

Just like I did with Martinez, I thought it would be fun to look at my Manny collection before/after. According to the TCDB, I had 72 Manny Ramirez cards prior to this gift. 

 

 

Those 72 cards are close to the same starting point I had with Martinez (70). However, Manny was a mega-star and has over 8,000 more cards than Martinez does. That means my meager 72 cards was only good for 439th place on the TCDB list of collectors. I jumped 101 places after entering in all those J.D. Martinez cards. Will I see a similar jump with Ramirez? Let's find out!  

 

 Group 1

 

Favorite card from this group: 2002 Fleer Focus Jersey Edition #190 Manny Ramirez

New cards to my collection: 8

Total Manny Ramirez cards: 80 

 

OK, a 55 place gain with only 8 new cards! As for my favorite of the bunch, you'll soon see there aren't many cards of Manny fielding a ball. It was not his strongest skill set...

 

Group 2

 

Favorite card from this group: 2003 Bazooka - Comics

New cards to my collection: 10

Total Manny Ramirez cards: 90

 

 

Exactly 55 more places gained! For a player with over 14,000 cards, it's interesting to see how tightly grouped collectors are. I only added 18 new Ramirez cards so far, and I've moved 110 places. It doesn't take much!

 

Group 3

Favorite card from this group: 2003 Ultra

New cards to my collection: 10

Total Manny Ramirez cards: 100

 

Exactly 100 Manny Ramirez cards! If I were a player collector, that sounds like a good arbitrary stopping point. (OK, maybe 99 if I was going to put them all in a binder...)

 

Group 4

Favorite card from this group: 2005 Merrick Mint Colorized Statehood Quarters

New cards to my collection: 7

Total Manny Ramirez cards: 107

 

This batch includes a couple of cards celebrating the Red Sox 2004 postseason run. I bet a lot of  non-Red Sox fans forgot Manny was the MVP of that curse-breaking World Series.

 

Group 5

Favorite card from this group: 2008 Upper Deck

New cards to my collection: 8

Total Manny Ramirez cards: 115

 

 

I received 58 Manny cards, and 43 of them were new to my collection! Those 43 cards allowed me to jump an impressive 206 places. Despite the volatility of  these lists, I doubt I'll crack the Top 100 anytime soon - I'd need another 100 cards to reach the level where the big boys play!

Thanks again Johnny! You're awesome!