Dealing in bulk

 

I have received more than my share of generous card sends from Johnny's Trading Spot over the years. Large boxes filled with smaller boxes, stacks of cards, 6-to-8 stacks a box, almost all nestled inside newspaper wrapping.

It seems like he is dealing in cards almost every day, driving from show to show like every week, making deals, picking up hauls, I don't know where he puts it all. It's a foreign world to me, almost difficult to conceive.

I'm just a collector who saves his dollars so he can grab a few packs at a retail store or find $100 worth of card-show cards every 4 months or so. I've been that way since I was walking to the corner store to buy cards with my allowance in the mid-1970s.

So we're in two different collecting worlds. I will gladly accept his extras and he obviously has extras to unload. He's dealing in bulk. I'm trying to avoid being buried. 

 

Too late.

This massive send per usual includes lots of Dodgers and many -- most -- that I own already. So it tells you something when a stack this size includes all the Dodgers I needed:

 

 Pretty impressive.

The majority of cards were Dodgers from the past five years or so with some '90s cards included.

But there was some sweet variety, too.

 

 

These 1983 TCMA Stadium salutes were the oldest items in the box. They're a bit wrinkly but that's to be expected for the size they are. They are perforated so I could separate them into 3's, but I won't. 

 

 

 

Also from 1983, a 7-Eleven disc. I have not been good with tracking what I need with these.

 

 

 

Random music cards! More music cards to come in a future post.

 

 

This is my first look at the 2021 Topps Chrome tennis set. The checklist is pretty random, all over history but I like it. May have to look into it more.

 

 

 

Super-appreciate these! All previous wants from 2023 Heritage and, yes, there is more on the way.
 

 But like I said most of the box was Dodgers.

Thank goodness for parallels, right? They'll keep us collecting for eternity, or at least until Topps stops issuing cards on the 1987 design.

 

 

 Here are some old-school parallels from the '90s. All needs.

 

 

 

So much Bowman. Obviously I needed almost all of it. When do I ever buy Bowman? I don't know why Johnny gets so much of it.

 

 

 

Even more (plus more Topps parallels). I think I have every version of the Bowman Luis Rodriguez card by now. He better do something.

 

 

There wasn't quite as much Panini that I needed. This is most of it.

 

 

 

But this is my first look at 2023 Panini Donruss. Unlike Big League where I said I wouldn't buy it and then did, I definitely won't buy this. Putting prospects together with Hall of Famers -- all with no logos -- makes for a bizarre set.

 

By now the Topps fan boys are wondering whether I received anything good at all.

Well these are all Topps and stuff I never get, too. Fancy high-end, just my second rip card (already ripped) and an online-only card.

 

 

I don't receive many Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger or Walker Buehler cards from Johnny. He holds onto those, which seems odd to me, as they're known to make Braves fans miserable.

But these five Mookies made it to me!

 

 Just these two Codys.

 

 

 And just one Kershaw and Buehler each.

 

 

You may have seen that one of the Betts cards was a "Cosmic Chrome" card from last year. This is my first look at them.

I don't understand why people flipped out over them when they were released last fall. I know some of the noise is people pushing new product, but I started to think I was missing out. I wasn't.

 

Around the time that Johnny was getting ready to send me the big box, I won one of his daily contests. He said he'd add the winnings to the box. I have no idea which cards those were, but he usually sends around nine per, so I chose the above nine.

They are all very key. The Wallach '93 Finest has been elusive for so long. The Strawberry Longball Leaders card I had just added to my COMC cart a couple weeks earlier. The Piazza is a '90s insert I had never seen before. And so many Jackies!

 

 

There were also a lot of Bills in the box. I don't know what to do with most them anymore, especially anything post-1993, but these cards on real cardboard sure make an impact.

 

Sportscaster cards are very cool but I can't be getting into collecting them all.

Any Johnny box means inevitable sorting and filing. I'm so glad I have TCDB now, especially for the Bowman cards. I hope nobody sees all the Bowman Dodgers I have now and thinks I know anything about them.

Anyway, thanks for the haul, John. Glad I could free up some space.