I have been quietly accumulated cards from the 1984 Topps Traded set the last couple of months, all the while on the lookout for a complete set for sale online that I could purchase and just be done with the whole thing.
But I lost my shot at a complete set a couple of weeks ago when I missed the ebay "due date," and figured I'd have to resume getting cards piece by piece as I had been doing.
So that had been the pattern, a here-and-there approach that may not be efficient but wasn't making me impatient.
Bo from Baseball Cards Come to Life! had been my main supplier and most recently sent these pair of Red Sox. Gale's time with Boston was very brief.
I received all of these Yankees in a sportlots order. Yes, just the Yankees in that order. Why just them?
Well, around the same time that I was building a sportlots order, I settled on a TCDB trade that included 1984 Topps Traded. For some reason, none of the many '84 Traded in that trade included Yankees. (The trader is a Dodger fan as far as I know).
But it was a great trade and I couldn't wait for the cards to arrive. I sent my half out and they were received and then I got a note from the trader saying he had accidentally sent the cards to another TCDB trader. That accidental recipient said he'd send the cards my way, but we were in "middle man" territory and you know how that goes. I was a little concerned.
A few uncomfortable days went by but then on Saturday I got my package -- and those 1984 Traded cards.
A few key "familiar guys on new teams" -- always the highlight of traded sets for me.
And several "pre-rookie cards," a term that has always perplexed me. Nice to have the cards though.
The key Pete Rose Expos card, the only non-oddball Rose Expo card that Topps made.
A couple of key airbrushed cards. There aren't as many of them in later Traded sets as there were in the early 1980s but there are some beauties.
This fine airbrushed example also arrived. The inset photo is a preview of Breining's 1985 Topps card and I don't think I realized that before.
There were plenty of other '84 Traded cards in the TCDB trade that I'm not showing. It really did have everything, including this card ...
I thought I would have to make this a separate mission and that it would take several weeks after finishing off the other cards. I've been to my share of flea markets and card shows where Traded sets have been cherry-picked of the big star rookies.
But not with this trade, all the cards that I needed were there.
In fact, it completed my 1984 Topps Traded set. And I've turned off my ebay search.
I received exactly 60 needs from my 1984 Traded want list in that one deal. All for a bunch of surplus Dodgers.
This is extra key because not only have I completed the 1984 Topps Traded set but every Topps Traded set of the 1980s -- when Traded sets were king.
It's nice to have that run completed. Granted, there are a few Fleer Update sets that I would like to finish, but they're not as big of a priority.
Traded sets for me began, yes, with those 1976 Topps Traded cards (it's possible I might have seen a 1974 Traded card that year but didn't know what it was). But the real thrill began with the news of an entirely separate 1981 Topps Traded set.
I didn't get my hands on that one until I started a blog, but I still remember the excitement of getting the 1982 Traded box in the mail back in late 1982 and I've loved the Topps '80s ones ever since.
Seems like haven't done a lot of set completing this year so it's nice to continue the tradition. And I'm not stopping at this completion. There's another one coming up soon.
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