It's not often that I receive an offer that I can't refuse. Sure, there are plenty of "do this or else ..." moments in my life. But I'm talking about something in which both ends of the equation are "oh, boy, where do I sign up?!"
A couple of weeks ago, Kenny "Zippy Zappy" contacted me about another deal. He said he had a handful of cards for me and all he wanted in exchange were some cards of Alex Rodriguez.
I stared at the email blankly.
"Hmmmm, that's strange," I thought. "I know Kenny. I've traded with him before. I've seen him trade with others. But goodness this sounds like spam."
A-Rod cards. He wants A-Rod cards?
I read the email again.
"I'd love to trade for any A-Rods (I know this will shock you but Alex Rodriguez is one of my favorite players)."
Yeah, that's got to be spam.
But just because I'm a nice guy, I sent a reply to Kenny -- if that is his real name -- and braced myself for an endless bombardment of "I delight myself to correspond to you the contents of which are properties in Botswana" emails.
Shockingly, I received an email back from Kenny that didn't say anything about Botswana, but instead said:
"Awesome. I'll dig up some more Dodgers that you may need."
And then I got another one that said:
"I dropped your cards off at the post office today."
OK, so I guess it wasn't spam after all. I was a little disappointed because I thought I was going to learn about undervalued land in far away places. But I set off to find some Alex Rodriguez cards. And halfway on my way to find those cards it dawned on me ...
I GET TO GET RID OF ALEX RODRIGUEZ CARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How I've always dreamed of an excuse to do that.
So, today, I finally gathered up some. It turns out that I didn't have as many as I thought I did. Some A-Rods I have to hold on to because of that stupid set collector thing. What a crazy idea that was. But I do think I have a sufficient amount that (*happy dance, happy dance*) WILL NEVER BE IN MY COLLECTION AGAIN.
And I got Dodgers in exchange!
Those are actually the mini versions of each player's respective 2013 Topps card.
Only two of these guys have a chance of appearing in the postseason. And I hope to heck that it has been whittled down to one by Oct. 1st. (I'll give you a hint: I don't want to see chest-thumper anywhere near my playoffs).
There's a Bowman Platinum card of future star Joc Pederson. See? He's got that space-age helmet going on. That tells you that he's going to hit balls to the moon.
This card also means I should really get my Platinum Dodger want list on the blog -- and all those other sets that have been released since August when I stopped having money.
I scanned this card even though it scanned hideously and I already have it because I remember when it came out a couple years ago and I was desperate to have it. Sometimes I accumulate cards like this just because I can't get rid of that feeling of "I waaaaaaaaaaaaant" even after it's mine.
I'm so weird.
But what's weirder is I was able to get all that just by getting rid of some A-Rod cards that I can't even look in the face anyway.
Kenny, I'm finally getting together those Rodriguez's together now, and hopefully they'll be out the door soon.
Sorry for being slow.
And sorry I thought you were spam.
It was just too good to be true.
Comments
Anybody want any McGwires?