Night owl in million card giveaway wonderland

I'm not the first one to say this, but I can't believe how excited people are getting over unredeemed codes in the Topps' Million Card Giveaway.

I know what you're saying: Night owl, I thought you loved the Giveaway.

I do. I love it dearly. But I am collecting the entire set. The Giveaway is just a fantastic side effect. But I don't understand why anyone would pay a bunch of cash on ebay solely for some codes when the chances of you landing a 1988 Mike Loynd or 1984 Steve Lubratich are extremely good. Sure, you could wait until the way-back machine returns to the '50s cards, but code-hoarders don't strike me as the patient type.

The other day I received an email from somone looking to hammer out a deal and send me a 1971 Thurman Munson card. And I don't mean the "Yo Mama" card pictured here. I mean, the actual 1971 card, one of the big cards I need to complete the '71 set.

The person was willing to trade it to me for nothing more than a bunch of unredeemed codes.

My first reaction was that this was spam. My next reaction was that this was the most specific spam that I have received in my entire life, and if spammers now knew my exact hobby interests and which cards I needed to complete sets AND about the million card giveaway, then maybe it was time to throw my computer in the river and live in a cabin in the woods.

But then I thought, maybe the Munson card is in terrible shape. Or maybe this guy has 35 1971 Munsons and is sick of looking at them. Or maybe he doesn't want to sell them on ebay because ebay killed his father. There could be a good reason.

He could hold onto the Munson and just buy a few packs himself and get codes that way. It worked for me. But maybe he doesn't want to spend the cash. Or maybe he lives on an island in the Pacific with the nearest big box store thousands of miles away. Or maybe he wants 5,000 codes and by agreeing to trade for the Munson, I'm doomed to an endless eternity in Target. I would become a perpetual professional shopper -- for baseball card codes (*shudder*).

I don't mean to make light of what was probably a perfectly legitimate offer. I'm just trying to wrap my feeble mind around it.

Anyway, all of the questions, or suspicisions, or whatever you want to call them, didn't get answered because I accidentally spiked the email. Emails from bloggers and traders are forever landing in my junk folder, like this one did, and sometimes they get deleted by mistake. I'm cursed with a feeble mind and a trigger-happy delete key finger.

So, sorry, Mr. Munson man. I didn't get a chance to ask you: What the hell?

It doesn't matter anyway. Now that I've completed the set, I'll be buying a lot fewer packs of 2010 Topps until Series 2 rolls around. I've probably blown my chance on that Munson card.

Also, along the same topic but only slightly less wacky: yesterday I lamented that I haven't been able to complete a trade on the giveaway site. I did this while talking about the 1978 Braves team card that I had just redeemed.

Well, within a couple hours of that post, two bloggers offered me a trade for that same card.

BA Benny offered me a 1981 Jeff Burroughs card.

Dayf offered me a 1976 Leron Lee card.

I have both of the offered cards already. But I really want to complete a trade on the site just to say I've done it. I have no idea which offer I should accept. So, I'm going to go through the pros and cons of each trade proposal right now. It's intense analysis like this that should be applied for more important tasks, like buying a car or shopping for a college. Instead, I waste it on virtual baseball card trades. I am the man.

OK, here's the breakdown:

Trader: BA Benny. The Trade Offer: 1981 Jeff Burroughs for 1978 Atlanta Braves team

Pros

1. It's from a set I'm collecting.
2. It's a player card for a team card.
3. Burroughs is wearing a smashing powder-blue uniform and has a dirt streak going up his left pant leg.
4. BA Benny sent me some Dodgers just because I didn't want some football cards.
5. I could acquire this card and still have a Brave and then maybe dayf would offer me something I really want.

Cons

1. The '78 Braves team card is three years older
2. It's not card #119, #179, #206, #311, #321, #497, #516, #554, #574, #676, #678 or #712, the last cards I need for that set.
3. BA Benny is a Mets fan. Why on earth does he want a Braves card?
4. BA Benny is about the 10th or 12th or 497th Mets fan that I've dealt with since I began this blog. I will need to be cloned in order to have enough Mets to satisfy these people.
5. BA Benny is also a Yankees fan. I can't condone that.

Next up, the Cardboard Junkie:

Trader: Dayf. The Trade Offer: 1976 Leron Lee for 1978 Atlanta Braves team

Pros

1. It's a Dodger card.
2. It would be the first Dodger card in my Million Card "collection"
3. It's two years older than the Braves card and five years older than the Burroughs card
4. It's from a set I am collecting.
5. Players with alliterative names are cool.

Cons

1. I have this card already. Three of them.
2. Dayf knows this.
3. Lee is the uncle of Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee. We don't like the Cubs.
4. It's not card #1, #33, #49, #160, #184, #250, #316, #441, #452, #480, #540, #580, #596, #627, #27T, #74T, #158T, #259T, #292T, #383T, #401T, #428T, #464T, #524T, #528T, the last cards I need for that set.
5. Dayf is a rabid bipper.

Well, that didn't help. I still don't know what to do. I'm so indecisive.

I guess I'm going to have to go with the Braves fan. I can't not trade a Braves card to a Braves fan. That would be rude, although I'm guessing dayf has as many Braves team cards as I have Leron Lee cards.

I'll sign off on the trade later tonight. Sorry, B A Benny. I'll have to find something for you at some point. Once I figure out how to clone myself.

Now, I still have a  fine, coveted, rarely seen 1987 Kevin Bass in my giveaway collection. Who wants to give that baby a test drive? Anybody?