Trade buds

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I have been valuing my trade buds a little more the last few months.

 

With the number of bloggers departing for greener trade pastures, or simply plain departing, the trade scene isn't like it was at all on the blogs. I used to be juggling eight, 10, 12 trades at a time and did so for years. These days, it's more like two or three.

 

That's OK, because life is rather busy and the fear of letting someone down because one of 22 trade overtures fell through the cracks isn't there anymore. But I really do appreciate bloggers like Cards On Cards, Dime Boxes and Johnny's Trading Spot, all of whom have been trading with me for years and all who recently sent me cards!

 

They clearly won't stop sending the cards, like others have. And I'm determined not to stop sending out cards, too!

 

Today I'm showing off some cards from Johnny, they just showed up the other day.

 

They were all current cards, and man do I need a lot of those. That's my first 2021 Bowman's Best right there and that's my first 2021 Topps Allen & Ginter Chrome card. Card companies have got to stop making parallel sets. I'm just going to stop caring at some point.

 

Collecting 2021 cards means forcing myself to accumulate Trevor Bauer cards. Just when I thought I was done with that nonsense, Big League shows up from the past with all kinds ugliness from last year.

 

We're back to the current year with a bunch of parallels from flagship and Opening Day. Players like Urias and Smith are the best I can hope for from Johnny. He saves the Kershaws and Bellingers for himself. That'd be like me collecting Acuna Jr. and Swanson cards, and that would be pretty weird for a Dodger fan.

 

Here's a Dodger who is now a Brave. I see Atlanta fans got to experience what I've dealt with for years: Kenley's been known to blow a save or two, sometimes spectacularly.

This is the Donruss design for this year. It's very distinctive, bizarre, and I think I kind of like it.

Johnny is so much more quick on the latest sets than I am. Here are some prospect types in regular flavor and parallel flavor.

And that's a futuristic-looking insert of a futuristic-looking player. (With my cell phone reflection in the background).

I probably don't have to say it, but without these regular traders who have continued to trade through the blogs year after year, I likely wouldn't have the above cards. I'm not in the habit of regularly chasing down parallels or Bowman or most inserts.

Glad there are people who still do trades like I was doing them a dozen years ago. They're my kind of people.