Return of the map

 

The other day on Twitter a collector mentioned that he was attempting to trade with someone from every state in the U.S.

That immediately caused me to remember the trade map.

Perhaps if you were around in 2012 -- I mean on the blogs -- you would remember the trade map, too. That's the last time I featured it. And the time before that was all the way back in 2010!

You see, I too was trying to trade with someone from every state. Then crushing apathy killed the dream, so definitively that I haven't thought about the trade map for years. When I last showed it, I had just cleared Delaware and Nevada off my state trade list.

That's the map I showed on Sept. 28, 2012. The blue states all include trade buddies. I had traded with collectors in 40 states at that point.

That's when I stopped paying attention. But when the other 50-state chaser mentioned his quest on Twitter, I pulled out this old map and mentioned how close I had gotten.

That caused others to say, "Hey! I'm from Mississippi! I'm from South Dakota!" and I was like, "read the directions! This map is nine years old!"

So obviously with that kind of enthusiasm I had to update what I should have been updating for nine years. I quickly looked through my list of addresses and re-did the map. Here it is:

 

That's all that's left. Four states. Mississippi, Montana, Wyoming and Hawaii.

I probably will get Mississippi done next with at least one person from the state already saying he's looking for Dodgers for me. I don't know what will be next after that. Montana? I have this theory there's nobody actually living in Wyoming (this will cause Wyomingians to suddenly spring to life on my blog to tell me I'm wrong). I expect Hawaii to be last. Although I'm secretly hoping to trade with a relative of Charlie Hough's.

 

I'm not very good at predicting what's going to happen next though. A few posts ago I mentioned with certainty that Fritz Peterson would be the last card I would need to complete the 1976 Hostess set. It's a short-print and it had disappeared after I had a shot at it but didn't know it -- a sure sign that I would pay. 

Well, one day after I said that, a Peterson Hostess card popped up on ebay. GIMME!

 

And you thought all I was going to show was maps.

I'm very pleased that this will not be the last card I need to finish the '76 set.

 

I went ahead and added a companion for Peterson on the ride to my mailbox. Why not? The '77 set is the next Hostess one I want to chase. This airbrushed Garland is a nice one. He seems to know already that his career in Cleveland is going to be the end of him.

For '76, I'm down to needing two cards, Rod Carew and Willie Stargell. Logic says that Carew will be the last one. Stargell is already sitting in an online cart and Carew is an SP, I believe. But I'm not predicting! The moment I do that, a Carew will fall from the sky.

Just like someone from Hawaii is going to contact me tomorrow about having a bunch of Dodgers on my want list.

But, yeah, if you're from one of those four states and think you have some cards I'd like, reach out. I should finish this job ... I guess.