A trade post that will make you swear to never read another trade post

First off, I'd like to thank the entire blogosphere for refusing to comment on my last post. Do you realize that at least one person had commented on my previous 93 posts? Goodness, do you know what that does to my ego?

Apparently you all decided to put together your own little intervention. Night Owl's head had grown a bit too big. I mean he's referring to himself by a nickname, and in the third person, too. Isn't it obvious? He's got a problem.

So, thanks for giving my narcissistic self a kick in the id. I needed that.

Now, hopefully, you won't find this post as boring as the last Gint-a-Cuffs post. You may have noticed that I was semi-MIA last week. I was actually out of town for a few days, enjoying the vacation. But a birthday, combined with a vacation, combined with card packages that keep arriving at the door, means I am so very behind in posting pretty pictures of these fine cards.

But I still want to acknowledge everyone. So that means if I don't want to be posting on these trades for the next month, I need to condense them into an epic trade post to top all epic trade posts, which is what I'm going to do.

I have uploaded more card photos for this post than any other. Blogger is hissing and whining and cursing at me, so who knows if I'll be able to do this. But I'm going to try. So, block off some time in your schedule and pack a lunch, because if you're going to read this whole thing, you're going to be here awhile.

First, I'm going to finish posting about the cards from Joe. Part One was here. And that was quite amazing. But before I could even get to Part Two, he sent me another envelope. In it were some '09 cards, including the A&G Clayton Kershaw mini, which I absolutely love. I haven't pulled the Kershaw base card yet, but it is headed my way, so everything is cool.

Joe also sent me this insert card from the Topps base set. Meanwhile, I have sent Joe exactly one card. That's right. One card. I don't know why he keeps sending me more cards. Maybe he thinks I'm going to paint his house as part of the deal. But he's sorely mistaken. All he's going to get are cards, if I ever get them together.

The second part of amazingness that Joe sent has to do with the 2006 Topps set, which I am trying to complete entirely. Joe sent me so many cards to help me with my diabolical plan.

Here are a bunch of cards I needed for the '06 Updates and Highlights set. I am now down to needing a single card. It's No. 295, the Nationals' team leaders card.

After that, Joe sent a crazy amount of inserts for the 2006 set.

Yes, a whole mess of those stupid Mantle home run cards, which I'm insane enough to want.

And a bunch of the Bonds home run cards, which feature a player I can't stand.

Isn't that pretty? A whole mess of the Trading Places inserts, including a couple Dodgers cards that I needed.

And here are the last four Opening Day inserts that I needed.

How about all that shiny? That's not even all of them.

Joe also sent along several 2008 Heritage needs (I'm down to needing one black back card), as well as some 2009 Topps Series 2 needs (down to needing four cards).

It was tremendously generous of Joe. And I will be hunting for cards for him for a long time.

The next series of cards are from John from Pursuit of 80sness, who keeps finding Dodgers. He sent me one package recently and then followed that up with another one. Way cool.

The first cards I'm showing are two Kevin Brown cards from some 2000 Upper Deck series called Ionix. I have no idea what these are, although the red card appears to be a variation. The logo reminds me of a Sunoco station.

On to some card sets that I don't care for much. The 1990s had some very garish sets, and the 1995 Pinnacle Zenith Yellow Brick Road set was right there with them. Here we have Mike Piazza sniffing his armpit.

Here is a more distinguished swing by Erik Karros.

And Hideo Nomo doesn't get the yellow brick treatment, but he is still gold and shiny.

The 1998 Pacific Paramount cards just remind me of the late 1990s fonts that were used by hip-hop groups back then. I'm not a hip-hop fan, so you can see where I'm going with that.

And check out this 2004 Flair Shawn Green card. It has Upper Deck Spectrum disease in that Green's legs are cut off.

There's the back. Orange type on a red background? Mercy.

Moving onto some more pleasing cards, at least to me. I love this swirly, hypnotic card of Dennis Reyes. All Reyes cards are required to mention Fernando Valenzuela on the back. And this card does its job.

John sent a handful of these 2004 Upper Deck Pro Sigs cards. I think these are cool. I love electric blue.

And these 2002 UD MVP cards are among my favorite from the period when I wasn't collecting. Dreifort almost looks like Joan Crawford in this picture, so that's not a good thing.

John continues to send 1975 Topps minis, which is absolutely awesome. The best cards you can send, as far as I'm concerned.

This might be my favorite card that he sent. But not because of the front.

I love the back. Shari marked off all the players she had in green and pink, the colors that matched the back of the card. And then she signed her card. Awesome.

This card is much appreciated, not only because it's a Kershaw card, but also because I was starting to get concerned that James McDonald and Russell Martin were the only Dodgers in the set (I haven't checked the checklist). But you'll see a couple other Piece of History Dodgers later.

I'll finish the cards from John with one of the best cards from a set I like a bunch. Round those bases, Kirk!

Always a pleasure trading with you, John!

You're going to see a lot of Emotion cards in this post. Here are two from reader Robert. The labels they used with these cards are so bizarre. "Steady," and "Promise." I don't think "promise" is an emotion. Neither is "steady."

Next up are three cards from Steve from a Baseball State of Mind. This 1995 Topps Archive card of Preacher Roe is a great one. Love dem Bums.

Jeff Kent, Topps Prestige. I have very few Prestige cards. And by very few, I mean two.

I have suddenly lost track of my 2005 Topps Dodgers. They're around somewhere, but for now, they're missing, which means I need this Penny card.

Thanks, Steve!

Next up is Ed of Roll Out the Barrel, who was trading away his O-Pee-Chee cards. It's a good idea. I might consider doing the same.

Naturally, I snapped up the Dodgers. So we have Furcal here ...

... and Kuroda, Kuo, Loney and Martin (Ed also sent a Kershaw, which I mistakenly deleted from the post).

And you can't complete a team set in O-Pee-Chee, without the great stadium shots. I keep hearing about how the photos they used are a few years old. I don't know Dodger Stadium well enough to know if that's the case with this photo. Maybe someone can clue me in.

Ed also sent some non-OPC Dodgers. Timeline Dodgers are always appreciated. I will get all the the Timeline Dodgers one day. Oh, yes, I will.

And here are those other two Piece of History cards that are not McDonald or Martin. I'm hoping to get all the Dodgers without buying any more packs of the crappy Piece of History set. I've got to be relatively close to having them all.

Ed, you've got some cards coming to you. Just have to package them up.

Lastly, some want list needs from reader Chris, who has traded with several bloggers. I'm showing some 2001 Topps wants first, because trying to get cards from this set has been a pain.

Same with 2006 Upper Deck, probably because there are 400 million cards in the set.

Yet another tour through the crazy world that is Emotion. "Striding?" These things are almost as humorous as the writing on the Skybox cards from the late '90s.

"Shining." I guess that's a bit better. Still not an emotion.

Attentive? Well, maybe we should ask Mondesi's grade school teacher about that one.

Yes, these cards certainly are "deep."

Onto simpler times. 1985 Donruss!!!!! One of my favorite Donruss sets of all-time.

But this is a Donruss set that I have no feelings for, because until this year, I didn't even know what 1997 Donruss looked like.

Here are some cards of Paulie! He was the hero of the White Sox's victory on Monday night.

Some card sets in the 1990s took themselves a bit too seriously. I'd say 1994/1995 Flair was one of them. You can't tell here, but these are some thick, grandiose cards. Can cards be self-important? Maybe these can.

I had to show these 1994 Bowman's Best cards, just because they are so eerie. I don't think card companies set out to make a card set that is scary. But these cards kind of are. Ghostly.

We have reached the last card, yet another Emotion card of the non-emotion of "contortion." And my question to you is: what are you still doing here?

My thanks again to Joe, John, Robert, Steve, Ed and Chris. Believe it or not that doesn't take care of all the people who have sent me cards in the last two weeks. So another trade post is coming. But I'll split it up next time.

Good night.