Trade Me Anything! III: Trade #13

The Collective Troll sent this latest trade. If he was serving up this trade in a diner, it might be referred to as "a heaping plate of anything, extra anything." Check it out.

Giving: 2009 Topps Updates & Highlights Gold #UH24 Gabe Gross (0821/2009) and Propaganda #PP10 Evan Longoria

Getting: A pack of Upper Deck World Cup '94 cards, a pack of 1992 Score Italian Calcio cards...

...a random assortment of cards and trinkets, including a 1981 Ben Oglivie card, a pack of Texaco Star Team NASCAR cards, a coupon for $2 off a blaster of 2009 O-Pee-Chee, a Charlotte Stone Crabs 2009 schedule, a Jeff Grayer card, a bunch of 1982 Topps cards from my want list (best represented by the Steve Carlton amputee Highlight card), a 1987 Topps Coin of Von Hayes, and a 20c South African coin...

...with the trade being rounded out by a series of Bradentucky Bombers All-Girl Roller Derby flyers




Pluses:
*Isn't that Stone Crabs logo spectacular? They took the colors of the Memphis Grizzlies and made a logo that's easily ten... no, fifteen times better. It will take all of my willpower not to order this T-shirt within the next 24 hours.

*The Upper Deck football cards are genuinely intriguing. I actually put together the whole set of the American version of the cards (including the Mia Hamm rookie), but these look like the German variation. Hau ab!
The Score aren't so bad, either. Looks like Ruud Gullit on the front. I'm hoping for either him or a Roberto Donadoni.

*I was actually withholding one of the rollergirl cards. Check out this one that pays homage to Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

(I do own that DVD as well. "But, how can that be?" you shriek exasperatedly. Do not forget about French Region 2 imports and region-free DVD players, kids.)

Minuses:
*Jeff Grayer? At least go with one of the slow white guys. If not a Fred Roberts, then at least a Frank Brickowski.

*Six letters: N-A-S-C-A-R. This pack will never be opened.

*I haven't seen an O-Pee-Chee blaster at my Target in months. New Year's Eve, perhaps?

Oh, and there's no background DVD today. I searched and searched, but nothing seemed right. (Don't own Ray or Evan Almighty.) Sure, I could have made a stretch, but it would have sucked. Why cheapen a universally-held tradition?

Trade Me Anything! III: Trade #12

This one comes from everybody's favorite Oregon-based Cardinals fan, madding. I expect nothing less than an honest, straight-up trade that benefits both traders equally.

Giving: 2009 Topps Turkey Red #TR123 Roy Halladay

Getting: A pristine, uncut panel of cards from a 1990 issue of Topps Magazine, featuring #TM12 Robin Yount (along with Bo Jackson, Nolan Ryan, Will Clark, and on the back Joe Morgan, Jim Palmer, Ben McDonald, and John Olerud)...

...and a Bausch & Lomb Pre-Moistened Lens Cleaning Tissue

Pluses:
*A Robin Yount card I don't have?!?! My goodness! Believe me, I checked through my Yount binders looking for this thing. It seems a normal enough oddball card (if there is such a thing), but for some reason I've never managed to acquire it. In any form, torn or not. Until now. Nicely done, madding. I stand and applaud thee.

*I do wear glasses when distance viewing becomes necessary.

Minuses:
*I cannot think of a single negative thing to say about this trade. Trading blind is sometimes the best way.

(Editor's Note: The research department here at Thorzul Will Rule knew very little about Roy Halladay, but managed to find the perfect movie with which to provide a backdrop for his card. Kudos to our crack fact-finding team! Can you figure it out?)

Trade Me Anything! III: Trade #11

A package bearing a return address sticker featuring a polar bear and her cub showed up on my doorstep. These were signals that the trade from the madguru had arrived at last. The contents included a little bit of everything. Let's peer inside.

Giving: 2009 Topps Updates & Highlights Propaganda #PP1 Adam Dunn

Getting: A bunch of 1981 Topps...

...an autographed 1991 Fleer #577 Greg Brock...

...an empty box of ShurFine stuffing mix...

...a postcard of County Stadium depicting the 1957 World Series...

...and the book Waiting Game, by Debra Heimerdinger and John Krich

Pluses:
*One more card for the autograph section of my Brewers binder.

*That County Stadium card is damn cool. At first glance, I thought it was a photograph, but it's actually a painting called "County Stadium Classic" by Andy Jurinko. Game 5 of the Series was chosen as the subject matter, the last time the World Series visited my town. Will it return to "Bushville" again? Only time will tell.

*Waiting Game is an oddity, yet strangely fascinating. The cover picture pretty much sums up the inner contents. This bit of photojournalism, published in 1982, concerns everything about baseball but the game itself. By focusing on the minutiae of the game, the photographer creates a sense of clinical detachment. With shots of empty stadiums, piles of equipment, and lollygagging players, we get a look at baseball as if it were invented by Alain Resnais, not Abner Doubleday. Baseball as metaphysical crisis. Chilling.

Minuses:
*That stuffing looks delicious, but there's none left for me. Alas, four more days of waiting.

*I already had all of the 1981 Topps cards. That set is complete, as of about two years ago. Just a reminder to people that everything listed by year in the sidebar is for trade or for sale. I spent the better part of the year cataloguing my unwanted cards, so hit me up if there's something you need. Cards I am looking for to complete sets are listed under "Wants and Needs." Madguru realized his mistake soon after sending the cards. Eh, shtuff happens.

Solve the background riddle, anyone?

Trade Me Anything! III: Trade #10

Well, somehow I escaped a visit from Anton Chigurh with my life, so now it's time to see what else somebody traded me. This next one comes from Fabian in California.

Giving: 2009 Topps updates & Highlights #UH89 Phil Hughes, Topps Town Blue #TTT64 Jorge Posada and #TTT51 Mariano Rivera

Getting. A messload of Brewers. I'll take the time to show you my three favorites: 2001 Upper Deck Decade #51 Don Money, 1998 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #404 John Jaha, and 2001 Fleer Ultra #45 Jeromy Burnitz

Pluses:
*Any Don Money card is automatically awesome. He could probably have played third base for any team at any point in history, yet he spent a really long time in Milwaukee. (Okay, maybe not the 1980s Orioles.) Plus, he looked a lot like my dad.

See? Shave the mustache, and my dad would have been playing in the infield right next to Robin Yount. (And yes, that is me. That picture was taken at the Milwaukee County Zoo at some point in the very early '80s.)

*John Jaha is swinging a sledgehammer. A fucking sledgehammer.

Minuses:
*No Fielders, no Brauns, and a Yount I already have several copies of. Those Brewers between like 1994 and 2006 are just a black hole of failure. I just can't bring myself to show them to you. We sucked then, and I never want to go back. Thank God we can always count on those Pittsburgh Pirates to rescue us from last place.

Celebrity Pack Rip: Anton Chigurh - 2008 Topps Series 2

As promised earlier this week, I decided to invite a celebrity pack breaker. The guest this time is Anton Chigurh. He came over, we had a look at my collection, and then we got into some wax. I made him keep his captive bolt pistol in his car, and he begrudgingly complied.

I had originally intended to get him on video opening the pack of 1989 Donruss I got from dayf, but that didn't work out quite according to plan. As a substitute, we were able to scrounge up a pack of 2008 Topps. Enjoy.


If you want, check out some of the earlier Celebrity Pack Breaks:
Carl Brutanadilewski (from Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
Mike Schank

D-O-O-N... "Done"

Another set I've been building has been completed, 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces. I was fortunate enough to find an eBay seller getting ride of these for pennies on the dollar, and he had the remaining four I needed.
#93 Frank Robinson, #107 Lou Brock, #120 Joe Carter, and #102 Nolan Ryan

I feel pretty bad just storing the 2007 and 2008 sets in a regular old box, so I might need to stock up on 9-card pages with which to properly display these, well, Masterpieces.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made the completion of this set possible. So, not necessarily in order of importance, I'd like to thank:
*eBay case busters who sell near-complete sets for starting bids of $0.99
*Cito Gaston
*The original Broadway cast of Rent, who got me through the tough times when I thought I'd never finish
*Willem Dafoe, for unnamed considerations
*The caffeinated beverage bottling industry of southeastern Wisconsin
*Alan Smithee
*The men and women of our armed forces

In closing, I'd like to say: Rethink your decision, Upper Deck. MLB license or not, 2010 Masterpieces could be the salvo you're looking for. If we as Americans can not have a Masterpieces set to collect, then the terrorists have already won.

Trade Me Anything! III: Trade #9

Pat from Virginia sent the latest trade. He's a smart guy, because he reads the blog, and he uses the want lists as a reference for trades.

Giving: 2009 Topps Updates & Highlights #TTT72 Jacoby Ellsbury Topps Town Blue

Getting: A couple of 1992 Upper Deck cards...

...a bunch of 2008 Upper Deck Heroes charcoal parallels...

...three 2008 Topps Chrome Xfractors...

...and a mess of Brewers

Pluses:
*Knocking out big chunks of my want list is always a huge positive.

*Double pluses for trading me retail-only parallels that I am dumb enough to try to complete.

*The Prince Generation Now cards made me reminisce about the chase after that set.

Minuses:
*Got all the Brewers he sent.

*In weak moment, I bought the Luke Scott card on eBay a couple of days ago. Rats!

*I am now one card closer to finishing my 1992 Upper Deck set. I wish I were completely done, but Pat sent me #77 Carlos Rodriguez, while the card I actually need is #75. I know what you're thinking: Will it take me 17 calendar years to finish that set, or will it be 18? Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?