Time Travel Trading Update #46

Marty: What about all that talk about screwing up future events? The spacetime continuum?

Doc: Well, I figured, what the hell?

- "Back To The Future"

On the TCDB, I have two collections - my main one and one for the Time Travel Trading Project cards. All of Time Travel cards are marked as "For Trade". For those unfamiliar with the Database, members can mark cards for their want list as well as for sale/trade. This make it easy for other members to search for cards you may have available, and offer cards you may want. 

The big problem  I run into (and I'm sure I've mentioned this before) is that the searches don't differentiate between collections. Therefore I get a lot of trade offers where someone wants a vintage card from my Time Travel collection, but offers something modern off of my want lists in return. This happened 4 times since my last update. When these trade offers come in, I have a few options:

Option #1

The first thing I'll do is check the other person's collection and see what else they have available for trade. If they have older cards that would satisfy my project's parameters, I'll offer a counter-proposal and explain what my project is about. This is the case with Timothy, who had his eye on a few 1960 Topps cards I had. Fortunately, he had a few 50's card on his trade list, and we were able to work out a deal: 

 

Option #2

If the other trader doesn't have older cards on his trade list, I'll look at my personal collection and see if I have any doubles that I could use in their place. I'll essentially make a trade with myself for the Time Travel cards, add them to my collection, then make the trade. Two of the trade offers I received were of this variety, and so now I pulled these cards from my collection and added them to the stack:

Option #3

Well, Option #3 has never come into play before now. It's not something I thought would ever happen, honestly. Here's the story: A TCDB member messaged me and stated he was very interested in the '55 Bowman cards I had. The problem was he didn't have anything older and wanted to know if there was any way I'd part with them for cards that were newer than 1955. The whole premise of the project is to trade for older cards, but I broke my own rule and made the trade anyway. I have a few reasons why:

• The trader who contacted me, Jason, has participated in my Time Travel Trading twice before. In fact, he's the generous collector who gave me the two oldest cards currently in the trade stack. This was an opportunity to repay some of that generosity.
• I've found with this project that it's hard to trade cards from the fifties. There really aren't many potential traders who have even older cards they are willing to give up. As a result, I have a bit of a bottleneck with cards from this decade. I've often wondered how I can encourage more trading involving these older cards.
• As I was looking through Jason's trade list, an idea came to me. Yes, the cards I'm getting back are newer, but I saw an opportunity to potentially get some legendary names from an oddball set that doesn't seem get a lot of "screen time" in the online community.

After some back and forth negotiating (which was incredibly fun because we kept injecting "Back To The Future" references in our correspondence), we finally pulled the trigger. This is what I ended up with: 

 

Yep, I actually sought out Yankees! These were released by Jay Publishing in 1963, and although the Database list them among the card sets, these are more like 5x7 photographs. Hey, if the TCDB counts them, then so do I! Still, it's not often you have a Yogi Berra from his playing days for trade (Ford and Howard are no slouches either - RIP Whitey!) and I'm very interested in seeing what kind of offers these three will generate.

There was one trade I made that was just a straight-up classic trade. Thanks to a collector named Sky, I turned a 1966 football card into a team card from a long since gone team: 

 

Thanks to all my trade partners! If you see something you're interested in, let me know!

The Time Travel Trade Stack:

2018 Topps
#502 Xander Bogaerts

2017-1018 Pocket Schedule
Carolina Hurricanes

2017 Bowman
#12 Trea Turner

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

1998 Score
#68 Scott Rolen
#74 Mark McLemore

1994 Sportflics
#113 Pete Harnisch

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

1992 Fleer Ultra
#594 Dave Righetti

1991 Upper Deck
#778 Dave Righetti

1990 Fleer
#629 Jose Canseco (POD)

1990 Upper Deck
#626 Frank Viola

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

1989 Fleer
#29 Bob Welch

1989 Score
#495 Larry Parrish

 

1987 Donruss

#34 Terry Steinbach (RC, RR)

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

1985 Donruss
#305 Steve Carlton
#421 Andre Dawson
#557 Mark Langston (RC)
#616 Joe Carter 

1985 Topps
#694 Joe Carter

1983 Topps
#70 Steve Carlton

1982 Donruss
#74 Carl Yastrzemski
#76 Alan Trammell
#214 Tim Raines
#252 Lee Smith (RC)
#NNO Checklist 545-653

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

1982 Topps
#3 Tim Raines (HL)
#34 Joe Sambito
#70 Tim Raines
#74 Bob Clark
#190 J.R. Richard
#303 Bill Caudill
#399 Pat Zachry
#401 Johnny Bench (IA)
#462 Dave Chalk
#480 Steve Carlton
#651 Carl Yastrzemski (IA)
#754 Joe Morgan 

1981 Fleer
#268 Rod Carew

1981 Topps

#82 Astros Future Stars (RC)
#98 Clint Hurdle
#121 Larry Harlow

#194 Rod Scurry
#250 Ron Guidry
#259 Mets Future Stars
#363 Geoff Zahn

#365 Graig Nettles

#374 Tom Hutton
#414 John Pacella

#415 Ben Oglivie

#465 Bill Russell

#477 Luis Gomez 
#494 Bob Walk
#530 Steve Garvey
#560 Joe Morgan

#569 Al Williams

#632 Alan Bannister

1980 Topps
#29 Mark Wagner
#88 Ken Landreaux

#90 Manny Trillo 
#143 Bruce Bochte

#145 Darrell Evans
#157 Willie Wilson
#325 Dan Driessen
#362 Danny Goodwin
#406 Paul Molitor
#572 Jerry Morales
#642 Ken Forsch
#655 Tug McGraw 
#671 A's Future Stars

1979 Topps
#25 Steve Carlton
#130 Bob Watson
#214 Boston Red Sox (TC) 
#465 Reggie Smith

1978 Topps
#148 Andre Thorton

#295 Bill Lee
#373 Jim Willoughby
#385 Tito Fuentes
#424 Boston Red Sox (TC)
#482 Rick Miller
#706 Rookie 1st Baseman (Cage/Cox/Putnam/Revering) 

1976 Funky Sales Corp Funky Facts Baseball
#2 In A Trance
#3 Fans Vs Players
#5 Baseballeese

1976 Topps
#70 Roy Smalley/Roy Smalley Jr. (FS)
#196 1975 AL RBI Leaders (Scott/Mayberry/Lynn)

1976 Wonder Bread (football)  
#17 Bill Bergey

1975 Topps
#310 '74 Victory Leaders
#378 Derrel Thomas
#402 Bob Tolan

1974 Topps
#38 Don Kessinger
#67 Tommy Helms
#107 Alex Johnson
#141 Pat Bourque
#158 Jack Billingham
#158 Jack Billingham
#227 Mike Lum 
#349 John Vukovich
#534 Eddie Watt
#572 Enzo Hernandez
#638 Ken Sanders
#660 Larry Dierker

1974 Topps - Team Checklists
#NNO Montreal Expos

1974 Topps - Traded
#270T Ron Santo

#458T Jim Ray
#496T Tom Murphy

1974 Wonder Bread (football)
#8 Bob Griese 

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

1973 Topps
#29 Tony Taylor 
#30 Tug McGraw
#68 1972 Leading Firemen (Carroll/Lyle)
#75 Vada Pinson
#79 Jim Willoughby (RC)
#80 Tony Oliva
#102 Rudy May
#116 Ralph Houk (MGR)
#145 Bobby Bonds
#215 Dusty Baker
#225 Albert Oliver
#230 Joe Morgan
#232 Ken Singleton
#240 Bobby Murcer
#258 Tommy John
#325 Boog Powell
#329 Ed Kranepool
#365 Rico Petrocelli
#368 Bill Buckner

1972 Topps
#33 Billy Martin (MGR)
#43 Rick Wise
#163 Tug McGraw
#197 Johnny Briggs
#225 World Series Game 3 - Manny Sanguillen
#231 Casey Cox
#239 Tom Timmermann
#266 Bobby Bolin
#363 Ron Klimkowski
#373 John Mayberry
#438 Maury Wills (IA)
#451 Tony LaRussa

1972 Topps (football)
#111 Jim Tyrer
#114 Bob James (RC)

1971 Topps
#16 Ken Singleton (RC)
#63 AL 1970 RBI Leaders (Howard/Conigliaro/Powell)

#63 AL 1970 RBI Leaders (Howard/Conigliaro/Powell)

#69 AL 1970 Pitching Leaders  (Cuellar/McNally/Perry)
#71 AL 1970 Strikeout Leaders (McDowell/Lolich/Johnson)
#90 Joe Pepitone
#95 Luis Tiant
#105 Tony Conigliaro
#146 Ralph Houk (MGR)
#195 AL Playoffs Game 1 - Powell Muscles Twins!
#208 Billy Martin (MGR)
#270 Rico Carty
#328 World Series Game 2 - Bufird Goes 2-4 (WS)
#374 Clete Boyer
#374 Clete Boyer
#388 Al Oliver

1971 Topps (football)
#22 Ken Avery (RC)
#110 Floyd Little (AS)
#176 Mac Percival

1971 Topps - Games Insert (football)
#38 Matt Snell
 
1970 Brooke Bond North American Wildlife In Danger (non-sport)
#32 Polar Bear

1970 Topps
#18 Carlos May

#37 Dick Drago 

#47 Bob Miller

#200 1969 AL Playoffs Game 2 
#390 Willie Davis
#457 Rico Petrocelli (AS)

1969 Topps
#66 Orioles Rookies
#80 Norm Cash
#131 Chris Cannizarro 
#139 Andy Kosco
#182 Bill Rigney (MGR)
#484 Joe Gordon (MGR) 

1969 Topps - Deckle Edge
#13 Mel Stottlemyer

1969 Topps (football)
#73 Bennie McRae
#115 Randy Johnson 
#154 Sam Baker
#175 Joe Morrison

1968 Topps
#4 1967 AL RBI Leaders (Yastrzemski/Killebrew/Robinson)
#7 1967 NL ERA Leaders (Niekro/Bunning/Short)
#44 Frank Kostro
#181 Jerry Zimmerman
#260 Jim Wynn 
#309 Ken Henderson
#348 Larry Colton/Dick Thoenen
#449 Gene Oliver
#519 Jerry Stephenson 

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

1967 Topps
#1 The Champs (F. Robinson/Bauer/B. Robinson)
#348 Tug McGraw
#366 Andy Kosco

1966 Topps
#46 Howie Koplitz

#154 Chuck Hiller

#575 Earl Wilson

1965 Topps
#17 Johnny Romano
#27 Dick Bertell
#86 Les Narum
#87 Nelson Mathews
#108 Don Mincher
#111 Lee Thomas
#178 Dalton Jones

#267 Washington Senators (TC)
#307 Barry Latman
#352 Alex Johnson (RC)

1965 Philadelphia (football)
#193 John Paluck

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

1964 Topps
#18 Billy O'Dell
#45 Milt Pappas
#92 Steve Ridzik
#341 Jim Roland 

1964 Topps - Coins 
#7 Frank Malzone

 

1963 Jay Publishing New York Yankees

#NNO Yogi Berra

#NNO Whitey Ford

#NNO Elston Howard

1963 Topps
#155 Bill Stafford

1961 Topps
#32 Ray Sadecki
#38 Bob Lillis
#96 Billy O'Dell
#98 2nd Series Checklist 89-176 (CL, VAR)
#258 Jack Sanford
#267 Norm Siebern
#399 Cliff Cook (RC) 

1960 Topps
#289 Willie Jones

1959 Topps
#298 Tex Clevenger
#424 Ken Aspromonte
#424 Ken Aspromonte  

#521 Gary Geiger

1959 Topps (football)
#80 Joe Perry

 

1958 Topps

#289 Series Hurling Rivals (CPC)

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

1957 Topps
#212 Rocky Colavito (RC)
#249 Dave Pope
#406 Bob Hale

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

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

1955 Topps
#45 Hank Sauer

1954 Bowman
#16 Jim Wilson
#73 Don Mueller

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

 

1953 Topps

#35 Irv Noren

1952 Bowman
#57 Clyde Vollmer

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

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

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: 64
Unique trading partners: 37

Number of cards mailed out: 207
Year of oldest card mailed out: 1955

Number of cards received: 429
Year of oldest card received: 1915