Collections Getting a Boost from Trades

A couple of solid trades lately have boosted my player and set collections, so I thought I would share some highlights. Kevin, a.k.a. The Diamond King, and I swung a trade where I sent his some Diamond Kings, a few Bo Jackson oddballs, and a few Scott Rolen rookies. He sent me an awesome package in return. 

The top two from this group were from one of his Diamond Nine giveaways. This is followed by some other general awesomeness, including the Fleer Pro-Visions Sandberg that had eluded me for so long.

It gets even better with this group of Sandberg/Grace/Wood cards. The top middle card is numbered to 500 and the middle Kerry Wood is numbered to 250! I don't have a lot of that in my collection, so it's even more appreciated! And that Mark Grace Finest card is so nice I really am tempted to peel back the protective film to enjoy it more. I mean, the instructions say to peel it off, right?

Kevin was looking for a few more ideas so I told him I enjoy anything from the 1970s, and I thought this would be helpful since I think a lot of people have at least some lying around that they don't mind parting with. I would have been satisfied with a few 76 Topps commons or something, but Kevin stepped up his game here, too. A Richie Ashburn Post card (for the Cubs of course), J.R. Richard and Cesar Cedeno rookie cards, and a run of 2nd through 4th year cards of Bruce Sutter! Oh and that mind-bending Ron Santo with the White Sox card. Awesome stuff. Thanks Kevin!

I also recently completed a small trade with Tom from The Angels, In Order after spotting some things on his want list I knew I could help with. He sent back five new Sandbergs to my Ryno collection (including Sandberg sporting his short-lived mustache), as well as a healthy group of 81 and 85 Topps set helpers. Thanks Tom! 

Thanks to Kevin, Tom, Card Barrel, Baseballcardstore.ca, and others, these are now my stats for a few collections:

Ryne Sandberg: 384 unique cards

Mark Grace: 281 unique cards

1985 Topps: Only 31 cards left to complete the set.

1981 Topps: 83 cards left to complete the set.