Trade with Chris from the Call of Cardboard

Trading has been the backbone of my blog ever since I trying to secure the last few cards of the 1980's Topps set. Things have changed, there are well over three to four times as many blogs and I have been losing out on trades to some bigger (and closer) Red Sox collectors. So it was a welcome relief to be contacted by a few collectors recently interested in a Red Sox trade. This trade with Chris from The Call of Cardboard was completed a few weeks ago.

We originally made contact in regard to 2009 Goodwin Champions, as we are both attempting to collect the base set and it grew from there. Chris received my selection of cards and sent back a big selection of Red Sox from the 1970's and a large pile of Goodwins to check off the wants list.
To my surprise tucked away amongst the cards were the three 1951 Bowman cards shown above. Unexpected and greatly appreciated.
The '51 and '52 Bowman sets are rapidly pushing out the 1980 Topps as my favourite set of baseball cards. As I have said before I prefer the 50's Bowmans to 50's Topps.
Thanks to Chris for the 'awesome' trade.

Trade with Chris from Stale Gum

All the blogging comes down to just one moment, the day you receive an official 1/1 Stale Gum autograph isn't doesn't get better than this.

Chris of Stale Gum, the home of the acclaimed 'On location box-break', whether it be in a cemetery, a stadium, an industrial site, a windy corner or even in his car, they are well worth a watch.

But for me this is what blogging about collecting is about - making contact with other collectors and trading. The exchange of 'I have something that you would like and I am willing to part with it'. I tried trading on forums and didn't have a great deal of success, a made a few trades but none to the extend I have made while blogging. Bloggers are generous, consistent and you end up trading again and again.

I sent Chris some Panini World Cup sticker packets and an assortment of any football related product that my local store carried.

Chris sent back a large stack of Red Sox cards and,

A relic and an autograph,

A sampling of Upper Deck 'soccer' cards, including a relative unknown named David Beckham,

and something that you don't see very often in this country- a girl on a football card.

Thanks for the cards Chris, a much appreciated and enjoyable selection. Rest assured the Thierry Henry card you returned inscribed 'cheating bastard' has gone to a landfill somewhere.

Trade with Chris from Sac Bunt

There have been a number of newer blogs arriving on the scene lately and they raised the bar on blogging. The great looking site Sac Bunt Baseball is one one of them. Chris and John, Orioles and Twins supporters respectively, not only write very well but add, what I think, are some stunning photos. Where do they get those fantastic stadium shots? Their banner is particularly impressive and have me exploring for a better picture of my own blog. We recently undertook a trade, a first with these two, and I had my first helping back. What a brilliant selection of cards, including my first 2009 card, arrived from Vienna Virginia. Included was:
1980 Topps #40 Carlton Fisk
1987 Score #625 Jody Reed
1990 Post #2/30 Roger Clemens
1991 Stadium Club #459 Phil Plantier
1992 Donruss #23 Wade Boggs
1992 Donruss #523 Mike Greenwell
1992 Fleer #4 Roger Clemens
1992 Fleer #33 Tom Bolton
1992 Fleer #34 Tom Brunansky
1992 Fleer #35 Elleis Burks
1992 Fleer #40 Joe Hesketh
1992 Fleer #44 Phil Plantier
1992 Fleer #45 Carlos Quintana
1992 Score #21 Roger Clemens
1992 Score #58 Jeff Reardon
1992 Score #156 Greg Harris
1992 Score #187 Jeff Gray
1992 Score #189 Carlos Quintana
1992 Score #294 Steve Lyons
1992 Topps #59 Mo Vaughn
1992 Topps #677 John Marzano
1992 Upper Deck #505 Matt Young
1992 Upper Deck #676 Kevin Morton
1993 Fleer #12/18 Eric Wedge
1993 Fleer Excel #2/20 Joel Bennett
1993 Leaf heritage Series #BC3 Wade Boggs
2008 A piece of History #FM4-8 David Ortiz
2008 A piece of History #CSC-PS Curt Schilling /Jonathan Papelbon
2008 Allen + Ginter #US37 Jacoby Ellsbury
2008 Baseball Heroes #92 Jon Lester Green 143/499
2008 Baseball History #177 Carlton Fisk/ Carl Yastrzemski Green 191/499
2008 Masterpieces #31 David Ortiz Green
2008 Upper Deck SP Authentic #RE-CB Clay Buchholz 61/99
2009 Topps #50 David Ortiz

Wow, fantastic cards Chris. A 1980 Topps, three numbered cards, my first green Masterpieces and a Jacoby. I really appreciated the trade and look forward to more in the future.

2008/9 Match Attax with Stale Gum

I sent a couple of packs of Match Attax to Chris at Stale Gum. Although there was not a lot of love for these cards on A pack a Day here and here when I posted them. Chris, The Captain at Waxaholic, Todd and even Travis at PunkRockPaint were interested in getting a few packs. I am always happy to oblige a request that is very easy to fulfil.

Click here to see Stale Gum's Match Attax bust.