Time Travel Trading Update #25

Special Agent William O'Dell had been staring at the wall for hours, and yet still he couldn't believe what he saw. Three television screens, each showing the video feed from three different houses in three different cities. On the left, a young man was peering inside his fridge looking for a snack. On the right, the same young man was reading a book. Again, there in the middle, the same man lifting weights.

It was impossible. He had personally overseen dozens of time travels, and every time a singular athlete came back through. The anomaly that was Maury Wills presented a unique challenge to the project. The first two Maury Wills came through the portal in rather quick succession. Fortunately the technicians on hand were alertly thinking and kept the two separated before they could see each other. (Himself?) The third one arrived about an hour later. It was decided to keep them away from each other until a plan could be formulated. Who knows what the ramifications could be if they saw each other? How were they going to fix this? It was a puzzle Agent O'Dell had been working tirelessly to solve. He looked at the clock. He had dinner reservations and needed to pull himself away from the problem at hand. He wasn't going to solve anything tonight. Perhaps a good meal and a glass of wine would help provide an answer.

O'Dell walked out of the room and let the door close behind him. On the left screen, a young Maury Wills was making a call. The sound of ringing phone could be hear from one of the other screens...

**********

I'll admit it. I was seriously thinking of closing up shop. The project had been limping along for awhile. In between a few small trades, the past few months was more about me pimping cards and trying to generate interest. I thought maybe the time was at hand.

Bo from Baseball Cards Come To Life had other ideas. He contacted me just after the new year and offered up a sizable trade.  I sent out fifteen cards from the trade stack! (I'll also make another admission - it was tough letting some vintage Red Sox cards go!) In return, Bo merely injected new life into the Time Travel Trading project!

Let's get these first two cards out of the way. They were included to protect the rest of the cards, but I have no reason not to include them in the stack:

I can't image there would be much demand for these, but if anyone wants to give them a good home, they can we had for your choice of junk wax!

Next is a group of cards from the 1961 Topps set:
They may not be names you know, and they may be (to put it mildly) well-loved, but these are some awesome cards nonetheless. If you're building this set, these would make good place holders until a better conditioned card came along. (Or not...some of us collectors appreciate a little personality on our vintage!)

The rest of these cards I'm rather excited about. I think part of the reason the project has lagged is the lack of some big names. They may not all be Hall of Famers, but these cards are chock full of stars from the era - names that every baseball fan has at least heard of!

That's a pretty amazing lot of 1971 cards if you ask me! I believe this is the third trade Bo and I have done, all of them through the Time Travel Trading project. I really appreciate it, Bo!

According to my records, I have made 29 Time Travel trades so far! I am one trade away from 30 - someone has to want that high honor! As always, any card here is available for an older card. Just comment below or reach out to me on the TCDB (Member Name: Kep75)

***Hey, you! Read this!***

Also, I'm looking for some opinions: I started this project almost a year ago with the first pack I bought of the 2018 base set. With the 2019 set coming up soon, I'm toying with the idea of again adding the first pack I buy to the stack. On one hand, it may add a boost by allowing people to pick up new cards without giving up something old. On the other, I have doubts if it'll generate significant interest since the project is pretty much established and doing well. New cards may not fit in an old project, if you know what I mean. What do you think? Does this project need some fresh blood, or are the 90+ cards I have now strong enough to keep this going?

The Time Travel Trade Stack:

2008-09 O-Pee-Chee (hockey)
#128 Tim Thomas

2001 Upper Deck - e-Card (golf)
#E-TW Tiger Woods

1993 Classic Draft Picks (basketball)
#33 Will Flemons
#67 Bennie Seltzer

1990-91 Hoops (basketball)
#168 Glen Rice (RC)

1990-91 Pro Set Super Bowl 160 (football)
#16 SB XVI Ticket - San Francisco 49ers / Cincinnati Bengals

1990 Pro Set - Theme Art (football)
#10 Super Bowl X Pittsburgh Steelers / Dallas Cowboys 

1986 Sportflics
#122 John Tudor

1986 Topps
#5 Rose Special '75-'78
#6 Rose Special '79-'82
 #401 Fernando Valenzuela (Turn Back The Clock)

1985 Topps
#694 Joe Carter

1982 Donruss
#NNO Checklist 545-653

1982 O-Pee-Chee E.T. The Extraterrestrial (non-sport)
#15 Among Elliott's Toys

1980 Topps
#143 Bruce Bochte
#157 Willie Wilson
#671 A's Future Stars

1979 Topps
#130 Bob Watson
#465 Reggie Smith

1977 Topps
#524 Rowland Office

1975 Topps
#378 Derrel Thomas
#402 Bob Tolan

1974 Topps
#38 Don Kessinger
#67 Tommy Helms

1974 Topps - Team Checklists
#NNO Montreal Expos

1973-74 O-Pee-Chee (hockey)
#53 Richard Lemieux

1973 Topps
#18 Leroy Stanton
#29 Tony Taylor
#36 Steve Barber
#79 Jim Willoughby (RC)
#98 Dick Woodson
#99 Carl Taylor

1972 Topps
#43 Rick Wise
#109 Jerry May
#437 Maury Wills
#438 Maury Wills (IA)

1971 Topps
#16 Ken Singleton (RC)
#63 AL 1970 RBI Leaders (Howard/Conigliaro/Powell)
#71 AL 1970 Strikeout Leaders (McDowell/Lolich/Johnson)
#90 Joe Pepitone
#95 Luis Tiant
#105 Tony Conigliaro
#146 Ralph Houk (MGR)
#183 Gil Hodges (MGR)
#195 AL Playoffs Game 1 - Powell Muscles Twins!
#208 Billy Martin (MGR)
#290 Tony Oliva
#374 Clete Boyer
#385 Maury Wills
#388 Al Oliver

1971 Topps (football)
#22 Ken Avery (RC)

1970 Topps
#47 Bob Miller
#56 Phillies Rookies - Joe Lis/Scott Reid (RC)
#103 Frank Reberger

1970 Red Rose and Blue Ribbon North American Wildlife In Danger (non-sport)
#32 Polar Bear

1969 Topps
#139 Andy Kosco

1969 Topps - Deckle Edge
#13 Mel Stottlemyre

1969 Topps (football)
#73 Bennie McRae
#154 Sam Baker

1968 Topps
#4 1967 AL RBI Leaders (Yastrzemski/Killebrew/Robinson)
#348 Larry Colton/Dick Thoenen

1968 Topps - Game
#15 Steve Hargan

1968 Topps (football)
#7 Earl Gros

1967 Philadelphia (football)
#109 New York Giants (TC)

1966 Topps
#154 Chuck Hiller

1966 Philadelphia (football)
#104 Rams vs. Browns

1965 Philadelphia (football)
#193 John Paluck

1964 Philadelphia (football)
#172 Ken Gray (RC)

1963 Topps
#155 Bill Stafford

1961 Topps
#32 Ray Sadecki
#38 Bob Lillis
#96 Billy O'Dell
#165 Gino Cimoli
#258 Jack Sanford
#267 Norm Siebern

1960 Topps
#95 Frank Thomas

1959 Topps
#289 Willie Jones

1959 Topps (football)
#80 Joe Perry

1958 Topps
#371 Marty Keough (RC)

1958 Topps Zorro (non-sport)
#83 Rude Awakening

1957 Topps
#66 Brooks Lawrence
#235 Tom Poholsky
#249 Dave Pope
#371 Bob Lennon

1956 Topps
#21 Joe Collins
#103 Willie Miranda (white back)
#156 Johnny Antonelli

1956 Topps Flags of the World (non-sport)
#70 Jordan

1955 Topps
#126 Dick Hall (RC)

1954 Bowman
#73 Don Mueller

1952 Bowman
#57 Clyde Vollmer

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

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: 29
Unique trading partners: 21

Number of cards mailed out: 69
Year of oldest card mailed out: 1956

Number of cards received: 161
Year of oldest card received: 1938