More of the Same or Double the Fun? ... Plus Trading Updates

I have to start by saying thank you for clicking on this post despite the thumbnail for the post displaying a 1988 Donruss common. I hope you aren't disappointed. 

I have an odd fascination with duplicate cards. I'm not entirely sure why. Now before you say I'm nuts, I do have to provide context. First, I must say that when opening a pack of cards, NO ONE, including myself, wants to keep pulling ones like this:

1988 Donruss #514, Bob Walk

And that's how it happens when opening packs. Instead of duplicates of a player you like or a valuable card or even an interesting card, you get the same dud over and over. If I had kept every one of Mr. Walk's mustachioed face I ever owned, I could have created a wall mural for the Pittsburgh Municipal Library. Instead, they were purged long ago. At least I thought they were. I just found one. Like a weed in the garden. Just when you thought you got them all. 

Anyway, though I have yet to open a pack of 2020 cards (blasted quarantine), I believe I can still provide you with the equivalent card from this year's Topps base offering.

2020 Topps #116, Daniel Murphy

I don't want duplicates of that card. No one wants duplicates of that card.

But if it's a card I like, I say, bring on the duplicates!

In a bizarre sequence of events, I ended up with duplicates of a card I featured in a recent post just days after it was posted. The cards came from a USPS medium flat rate box full of cards I bought on eBay. I got about 2500 cards for $20 (including shipping). I've done this before when I just want some variety to look through and hope there is a gem or two graciously thrown in by the seller, who only makes a couple of bucks on the sale. I was pleasantly surprised to find 8 copies of this legendary card.

1988 Fleer #7, Steve Carlton (just 7 pictured - because one is in my Frankenset)

It's neat to have eight copies of a card when the first time you saw that card, you had trouble believing it even existed. I also enjoy seeing a player's long career spelled out in stats on the back of a card so that's another reason I enjoy this particular card. Speaking of a long statistical chronology, that reminds me of the card in this box with easily the biggest number of duplicates. Sometimes when you buy these boxes, you get several of the same card, though sellers try to limit this to a few or several of the same. So the most I found of any card before I got to the big stack was probably 10 or so. And then these came, all together.

1987 Topps #673 Don Sutton (x 45)

45 cards. As I flipped through them, it seemed like the never ending pile. And remember my liking of long statistical records? Here's the back of this card:

Nine shutouts in 1972. NINE!

These duplicates made my day. Weird, I know. 

These late-career duplicates of players with long careers seem to just find me (not in the same box referenced above, however). If you don't believe me, behold the greatness of the following:

More 1987 Topps! More Carltons! (x 11! Card #718)

Lefty strikes again! 1987 Fleer #490 (Base card x 5) and #635 (4,000 Strikeouts x 4)

The return of Tommy John (1989 Topps #359 x 20!)

Tom Terrific! 1987 Topps #425 (x 8!)

1990 Upper Deck Fred Lynn #771 (x 10)

You had to know Knucksie was coming! - 1986 Topps #790 (x 7)

 

These were easier to find because I keep a bunch of players' cards sorted for trades and such, but I knew these were there. Because they find me. And I keep them for some reason. But I would trade all of them away for duplicates of this next card. As a kid, I opened a fair amount of 1989 Donruss and developed an affinity for the set that continues today. Besides the Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card (of course) there was another card in the set that I was always thrilled to find in a pack. And unlike Bob Walk, I kept them. At some point I ran across a bigger stack of them, and so, at 58 cards, this is my favorite big stash:

1989 Donruss #105 Ryne Sandberg (x 58)

I will gladly accept an unreasonable number of this card in trades.

I have no use or need for all of these duplicate cards. Does anyone? Probably not. But card collecting is a hobby where not everything needs an explanation. We like what we like and sometimes can't even really explain why. And I think that's just fine.

Trading Updates!

Just finished a few trades and got some neat stuff. I'll highlight my favorite card from each trade. Besides these cards, I got some help with my 81 and 85 Topps sets.

Brian from Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary would have had no way of knowing one of the cards he sent was on my unofficial Sandberg wish list, but there it was! 

Great series and a great nickname. Thanks Brian!

Tom from The Angels, In Order sent me this sweet auto after we did our original trade. I owe him! 

Coste is from my hometown here in Fargo and I watched him growing up as he started his career with the independent minor league team in town, the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks. He didn't make the major leagues until age 33, and he wrote a book about his journey, which I recommend. He's a nice guy and a class act.

Finally, Jay from Card Hemorrhage sent some nice Cubbie cards, but this one was my favorite (as a long-suffering fan, the reason is obvious).

Check these guys out. They do good work on their blogs and their trades! Thanks for welcoming me into the card blogging community!