Zistle Trade #85: stevienicks77

We are getting to the end of Zistle now.  Trades were winding down and it seemed like people were moving on.  Zistle was a great experience and really great at getting me back into this hobby.  It is a shame to see it go down like this, but it is what it is.

This next trade was with Laurie.  Our first trade was excellent and this one was no different.  Laurie is still posting over on her blog at LV's TTM autographs and Baseball Cards.  Give it a read!

I received a nice mixture of Mets.  I really like how Topps did their mini cards in the past.  Today, they are just mini versions of the regular-sized counterpart.  Back in the 80's, the mini cards used the same or similar design with different photos and back designs.  Granted, these were not a 700+ card sets, but it made for some nice variation.

The variation we see now is pretty much what we see above.  The holiday release for 2016 Topps adds some snowflakes to the design.  I guess this was Topps way to do parallels without having borders on the cards.  The nice part about this release, though, would be how each box contained either an auto or relic card.  It had a nice price for a guaranteed hit.  I didn't partake in this release (I am an anti-Walmart shopper), but I did end up with a nice relic thanks to Laurie!

Zistle Trade #81: mtavares

Marcelo sent me a trade request for some 2014 Topps needs and I was more than happy to make some space in my collection.

A downside to Zistle (and perhaps it's downfall) was that there were inaccuracies in the database.  It has happened before in trades when what was requested (i.e. red parallel) turned out to be something different (i.e. orange parallel).  Nobody is perfect and sometimes colors can be deceiving.  Fun fact: 8% of males and 1% of females have color vision problems.

I kind of expected that with the pink David Wright card.  I wasn't giving up too much in the trade, so I set my expectations low.  Marcelo didn't disappoint and sure enough the Wright card showed up being pink and numbered to 50.  Thanks, Marcelo!

Oh, and I also received another Tom Seaver reprint.  I can't recall from which year this one was from.  Maybe 2010?  Maybe 2011?  Maybe 2014?  It probably doesn't really matter.  Another one will be out soon enough.  Topps, thanks? 

Zistle Trade #80: CardinalSauce

Next up is new trade partner Marc.  He reached out with a request for some 1983 Topps needs and offered back a decent package in return.

Okay, so these Jose Reyes cards of him playing with the Rockies don't show him playing at Citi Field.  It would have been cool if they were, because I was at 3 of those 4 games in 2015.

Jose Reyes was the spark plus for the Mets from 2003 through 2011.  He was a cornerstone of the Mets along with David Wright.  He was a 4 time All Star and 2011 NL batting champion.  He left New York for a big contract with the Miami Marlins, but was never really the same.  

He played one season with the Marlins before being traded to the Toronto Blue Jays who then sent him to Colorado two and a half seasons later.  He only played with the Rockies for the latter half of the 2015 season, but you could tell he wasn't enjoying it.  Jose was arrested later that off season for allegedly assaulting his wife.  With the domestic violence charge looming, his time with Colorado was all but done.

Reyes returned to the Mets mid-way through the 2016 after serving his suspension and subsequent DFA from the Rockies.  It was a risky PR move for the Mets, but I feel it was the right move.  We all make mistakes and learn from them and it appeared that Jose did just that during his suspension. 

Jose finished out his Marlins contract with the Mets following the 2017 season and is now a free agent.  There is questions as to whether he is a fit for the 2018 Mets team, but he seems to definitely prefer a return.  I personally wouldn't mind seeing him back next season as a bench/utility role.  I think he can still be that spark plug he once was and also provide a veteran voice to the clubhouse.  Between him and Asdrubal Cabrera, I feel Reyes is the better fit.

Zistle Trade #78: mkaz80

Next up is another Mets-centric trade with Mark over at This Way to the Clubhouse.

We all have duplicates.  Sometimes we have multiple duplicates.  Matching up with other Mets collectors is always nice and welcomed.  It is an easy way to get rid of duplicates and clear up some storage space.  Mark and I were able to exchange a nice mix of Mets cards ranging from the 1980's to 2016.

I think the mid 90's had some decent sets.  One of those sets is the Upper Deck release of 1996 SP.  There were five SP sets released from 1993 to 1997.  The set was renamed to SP Authentic starting in 1998 until it's final run in 2009.

I like the 1996 design the most from the original SP sets.  It is not too flashy and looks pretty sharp.  Maybe it is the wood-grain design that brings the nostalgia of 1987 Topps to mind.

The other set I like is 1997 Fleer.  There have been some pretty terrible designs for Fleer.  There was probably an intervention at Fleer HQ after their 1995 set.  Fleer made a radical change in 1996 to the soft finish on the card and continued going border-less.  They must of liked this look because it barely changed from 1996 to 1997.

Continuing on to the 2000's when every card company decided to go over board with releases.  Topps this and Topps that.  Fleer this and Fleer that.  Upper Deck this and Upper Deck that.  They weren't all duds though.  Topps probably had the better releases, but Fleer didn't do too bad either (at least I think).  

By the end of the 2000's it was pretty much down to Topps and Upper Deck.  I can see why MLB went with Topps with their exclusive license.  Upper Deck had some okay sets, but overall not much varied with checklists.

It is long over due, but thanks for another great trade, Mark!  Mark stopped his blog back in October of last year, but keep an eye on it as he might return someday.

It also looks like Mark made the switch over from Zistle to Trading Card Database.  A cool feature at TCDb is that you can see where you rank among other collectors.  There was a short period of time when I was #1 in the Mets collection.  I thought I was safe because I had a decent lead over #2, but then Mark entered his collection and claimed the #1 spot. 

Zistle Trade #76: The_Sandlot

I had not tried many different websites for card cataloging.  I found Zistle and settled right in because of how simple and intuitive it was to catalog my cards.  The best feature, to me, is by far the Trade Manager.  It was not with out it issues, but it kept things fairly organized.

Once word came out about Zistle's "sale" I knew I had to work out some large trades.  This trade was with Joe, who is a "Dog trainer by day, Mets super collector by night."

Joe sent along some nice vintage needs which is never a bad thing.

A lot of teams like to keep things in the family when it comes to their broadcast announcers.  The Mets are no different here.  Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling make up two-thirds of the Mets TV announcing team along with Gary Cohen.  They get a lot of high praise for their work, too.  They even have their own Instagram account @garykeithron.

I watch a lot of Mets games on the MLB At Bat app which allows you to select which TV feed you want to watch.  I typically watch the home feed when I watch other, non-Mets, games.  There is a distinct difference I hear from the announcers.  Some are good.  Some are boring.   It tells me how lucky Mets fans are to have such a great announcing team.

The highlight of the trade for me is the Daniel Murphy card below.  I was always a fan of Murphy and felt he always had the skills to be an All-star (except in the outfield).   It is nice to see Murphy being among the best players in the league.  It sucks to see that happen with the Nationals.

Another highlight of this trade for me was the Luis Ayala card.  Nothing special about this card except the image used.  It is a fitting choice since this card completed that Topps base set for me.

Zistle Trade #75: Ryans0625

This Zistle trade was with Ryan.  He reached out with a large trade request.  We both ran into some missing cards, but easily worked it out. 

By happenstance, four of the cards below depict the Mets playing the Cubs at Wrigley Field.  The Todd Hundley and Carlos Baerga cards look like they could be from the same game, but unlikely because those cards are from different release years.  It could be possible for the Baerga and Rey Ordonez cards to be the same game or even the same series.  I wonder if there is a way to find out these things?

I understand that photo shopping is sometimes necessary, but it really should not be used.  The Mo Vaughn card below is a good example of bad photo shopping.  There is nothing that I can think of that relates the Mets to mountains.  I recall Vaughn being a big guy, but something seems off about his body here.

Ryan also sent some nice shiny cards my way.  I dig the Jacob deGrom Future Stars chrome card.  It isn't grammatically correct since it features just one star, but I enjoyed the Future Star cards back in the day.  Sure, Topps was probably wrong more times than right with their choices, but it was a nice feature to the cards.

Topps started the Future Stars card back in the 80's when they would feature multiple players on the card.  Later in the 80's they changed it to just showcasing one player, but kept the plural tense on the cards.  I would think the 1987 Topps Bo Jackson card is the most recognized one.  Topps kept the tradition going, but would correct the cards to show the singular tense.

They changed the design over the years into the 90's and eventually stop it's use after 1996.  Topps eventually brought back the wrong tensed Future Stars in the 2014 flagship release.

Overall, this was an excellent trade.  Thanks for the cards, Ryan!

Zistle Trade #73: Cardboard Mets

Next up is a Zistle trade with Thomas.  He had actually reached out via email prior to this trade offer just introducing himself and his blog, Cardboard Mets.  I don't recall if I replied because I am pretty terrible about email.  Seriously, if you have emailed me about trading and I have not replied, just shoot me another email.  I might reply to another one.

As you can see he chose a similar name for his user name and blog.  I am pretty bad with coming up with titles or names for things.  If I have a child one day it might just end up named Kid #1.  Now that I see someone going by something similar, I of course like it better.  

Like my previous Mets-centric trades, we matched up quite well.  First up are some vintage cards featuring a few with some nice action shots.

Next, we move into the 90's and 00's.  Thomas sent plenty of great cards.  I really enjoy the Fleer Ultra Rickey Henderson with him going into the ivy at Wrigley Field.

Finally, we finish up in the late 00's and 10's.  I think the Topps Chrome Cooper parallel looks quite nice.  I am not a proponent of color parallels, but it is nice to see something different.  Thomas also helped fill out with some missing Gypsy Queen base needs.

Thomas is a very generous trader.  He offered up a Mike Trout relic in this trade, too.  He wanted it to go to another Mets fan and that was me!  Thanks for a wonderful trade, Thomas!

Zistle Trade #68: Lightningfan7609

Well, it has been awhile since my last post.  I am still around doing my thing.  I have spent the last few months not doing too much with baseball cards.  I had not logged into Zistle since February until recently.  The site is still up and running which is surprising.

I have been entering my collection into the Trading Card Database over the last few months.  It was a bit of a process that I will get to in a future post.  I won't give up on Zistle until the very end, so I will manage both sites until something changes (or I go crazy juggling both with trades).  I still want to get through these Zistle trades and acknowledge the many collectors I have traded with over the last few months.   

This next one was another simple trade.  This time with Justin.  There was only a few cards exchanged and the this card was not even apart of the trade.  Justin threw it in when he could not find one of the other cards he was going to send.  Not a bad replacement.

I do not recall a lot of the 1970 and 1980's Topps by design, but you can definitely tell this is from the 70's.  1978 to be exact.

Nino was not the Mets best pitcher by any stretch, but he had an 8 year career where he spent time with the Mets, Phillies, and Blue Jays.  Well, he did not spend a lot of time with the Blue Jays.  He pitched one inning of relief, gave up four hits and one run, then was released.  He never made it back to the big leagues and unfortunately died at the young age 34.     

Zistle Trade #66: The_Sandlot

Our next trade is from Joe.  He reached out with a trade offer around the time I was starting to get a bit burned out on trades.  Props to Joe, who was patient enough to wait for things to settle.

Joe sent along some nice cards to fill out my collection.  A few well known players in their pre- or post-Met days.  He also sent along a couple of micro cards which are terrible to store.

The last card is probably my favorite.  It is of Michael Fulmer, who never threw a single pitch for the Mets.  He was sent to the Detroit Tigers for Yoenis Cespedes at the 2015 trade deadline.  Fulmer was another young Mets pitching prospect that had some good upside.  Turns out he had Rookie of Year upside as he was given the year-end award for his stellar 2016 season.  This trade might be one of the best examples of a trade working out for both teams.  

Zistle Trade #65: sam383

It has been a while since my last post and a lot has happened in the baseball world.  We will leave the real world out of this because that shit is crae-crae.  Anyway, the Chicago Cubs finally won a World Series in an exciting 7 game series against the Cleveland Indians.  Bill Murray and Eddie Vedder will die happier men.  Free agents have signed and players have been traded.  Bryce Harper wants to be the $400 million man, allegedly.  Nobody seems to want Jose Bautista.  Relievers are getting paid.  There is no lock out, but there was never going to be one.   

On the Mets front, Cespedes and Walker are both returning.  Bartolo Colon is now a Brave.  Jay Bruce is still on the trade block.  There will be an unfortunate, but appropriate, suspension of Familia.  Syndergaard is lighting fire on social media.

Spring Training is right around the corner.  Players will start to report and continue to get ready for the new season.  Some will participate in the World Baseball Classic.  Before we know it, Opening Day will be here.

On the card front, I have been keeping busy making trades while my beloved Zistle is around.  There is really no information available that suggests that Zistle will stick around.  It sucks to be in the dark.  I also had another go around with COMC's Black Friday special.

Speaking of trades, here is another Zistle trade.  Dave reached out with another trade offer shortly after our previous trade.  He was looking for a bunch of Gypsy Queen needs and offered up something solid in return.

You can not feel bad when you receive some vintage needs.  My favorite is probably the Cleon Jones in the middle of the top row.  I like action shots on vintage cards for some reason, but probably because they are not as commonly seen as modern cards.  It is always nice to receive some Gary Carter Expos cards, too.    

Zistle Trade #64: bbronzan

Well, the San Francisco Giants were eliminated from the postseason earlier this week.  It ended the ridiculous even year streak the Giants were on (#BeliEVEN).  I am not sure "streak" is an accurate description, though.

Fittingly, my next Zistle trade included a bunch of Giants.  I reached out with a trade offer to Brandon, who collects Giants.  We made a pretty quick trade and sent off our cards.
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I received a bunch of Jeff Kent cards in this trade which makes sense as Kent had his best playing years with the Giants.  I always think of Kent as a big loss for the Mets.  He played well for the Mets, but the team was pretty terrible.  He also wasn't known to have the best clubhouse reputation.  Maybe he was bitter for being traded from the Blue Jays during the start of their back-to-back World Series wins.

Furthering the Giants connection, Edgardo Alfonzo also played for the Giants.  His case is a bit different than Kent's.  Alfonzo had his best years for the Mets and is beloved by Mets fans.  He played pretty lousy for the Giants.

Marco Scutaro is another Giants connection from this trade.  Marco made his MLB debut with the Mets in 2002.  He spent some time with the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers before that, but never reached the big leagues with either team.  Scutaro bounced around from the Mets to the A's, Blue Jays, Red Sox, and Rockies.  In 2012, he was traded to the Giants mid-season and helped the Giants win the NL West title.  He went on to hit .500 in the NLCS, win NLCS MVP honors, and drive in the winning run in Game 4 of the World Series as the Giants swept the Detroit Tigers.  Some may remember this image from the NLCS.

Overall, this was a solid trade!  Thanks again, Brandon!

Zistle Trade #63: jtcrawfordcr (Goodbye Zistle?)

Well, we will continue clearing out my draft posts with another Zistle trade.  Sadly, it looks like Zistle will be coming to an end at some point.  Some may know and some may not, but Zistle was sued by Beckett, which shall be known henceforth as Dickett.  I know, not very creative.  Anyway, Dickett thought Zistle infringed on their copyrights by allegedly using their checklists.  My guess is that the owners of Zistle had to let it go due to legal fees.

It is a pretty shitty move by Dickett.  I purchased their price guides back in the day, but I have not used them for much of anything since then, so I can't really boycott them.  I hope anyone who used Zistle or, at the very least, cares about having options in a marketplace decides to boycott. 

Back to the trade.  This one was another with John.  He reached out with an offer.  I did not have a problem with said offer, so a quick deal was made.

Matt Reynolds made an interesting piece of history last season.  He spent the entire 2015 season in Triple A with the Las Vegas 51's and had yet to make an appearance in the big leagues.  We all recall the hoopla of Ruben Tejada, Chase Utley, and the slide which resulted in a broken leg for Tejada.

With an infielder short, the Mets called up Matt Reynolds making him the first modern player to be added in the middle of a series without having major league experience.  He didn't get to play in the playoffs and was dropped off the roster for the World Series.  He eventually made his MLB debut the following season on May 17, 2016 in place of a scratched David Wright.

Zistle Trade #62: sam383

Next up is another Zistle trade with Dave.  This time he reached out looking for a bunch of commons and was patient waiting for my acceptance.

I think the most interesting card, besides Ramon Castro hamming it up on his card, is that Doc Gooden Bowman card.  Gooden is shown wearing number 64, but we all know him for his number 16 during his Mets tenure.  Gooden did wear number 64 during his first big league camp, but changed over to number 16 once called up, but this card was in 1993.  My best guess is that he is either in Spring Training or doing a rehab stint somewhere in the minors on this card.

Like a lot of ball players and their chosen uniform numbers, Gooden was no different in his choices.  Along with 16, the occasional 64 with the Mets, and 11 with the Yankees, Gooden chose his uniform numbers based on his birthday (11-16-64).

Zistle Trade #61: scottbdoug

Up next is another Zistle trade to our neighbors of the north.  Scott reached out with a request for our third trade.  He requested a stack of set needs and sent out a bunch for me.

I think the most interesting card received was the 2002 Topps prospects card featuring Brian Cole.  Cole was an up-and-coming prospect in the Mets minor league system and was showing great promise.  He was one of the players, along with David Wright and Jose Reyes, the Mets were going to build around.  Tragically, his life were cut short after a car accident. 

Sports Illustrated ran a wonderful 2013 article entitled "The Best Player You Never Saw."  The article is a great read for baseball fans that discusses Cole's impact on a number of players who played with and against him, including CC Sabathia and Albert Pujols.

Blogger Trade: Tony L.

In the five months I went between posts, the Mets have played five months of up-and-down baseball.  The team has been plagued by injuries with some key pieces going down with season ending injuries.  Other players have been dealing with nagging injuries most of the season.  Other players have not played up to expectations.  Despite all of this, the team is still in playoff contention which in my eyes is still an accomplishment.  

Up next is a trade with Tony.  Many of you might know Tony.  He has his blog over at Off Hiatus Baseball.  Check it out if you haven't done so.

Tony reached out sometime last year on my Topps project page (which I still need to flesh out or just delete).  He said he could help me out with a bunch of my 1970's Topps needs.  His comment totally went unnoticed by myself as I did not realize it was there until months later.

Eventually, I got back to Tony.  Luckily, he still had those cards.  He sent along a bunch of Topps needs that are much appreciated.  

It looks like Topps used a couple of nice action shots in their 1978 set.   I wonder what the percentage is of action shots versus posed shots for vintage Topps sets.

I think the 1979 Topps set is pretty decent.  The set does not really have many memorable cards.  The most memorable is definitely Ozzie Smith's rookie card when he was with the San Diego Padres.  I think the set has a simple design that works quite well.  I also like the use of the "vintage" Topps logo.  I am not sure if vintage is the correct term, but I think it was the first year they put their logo on the card fronts.

Tony was kind enough to send along some non-Topps needs, too.  He also sent along some Donruss, Fleer, Score, and a few oddball cards.

I thought Sportflics cards were pretty cool when I was younger.  I wonder how long it will take Topps to make digital cards like this for their app.  Gif cards?  It still won't get me to use the app, though.

Thanks for the great trade, Tony!

Zistle Trade #58: mkaz80

I had a good run of posts there for a hot minute.  I figured out how to schedule posts, so I got a bunch of draft posts published.  I made a pretty good jump in catching up to present day.  Then the Summer came with beach trips, yard work, and going to some baseball games.  Now, I am sort of back where I was wanting to get closer to present day.  So, let us start to catch up, again.


This next trade was completed at the start of the year and was a real New York Mets trade.  Mark is Mets fan with a healthy collection of Mets cards of his own.  He has his own blog over at This Way to the Clubhouse.  It is fine read not only for Mets fans, but card collectors in general.

I have been meaning to work out a trade with Mark for a while now.  It sounds like he was doing the same.  We are essentially the perfect trade partners.  We both have plenty of duplicates that the other needs in their collection.  Even after this trade, I still have over a hundred Mets cards Mark still needs according to our Zistle matches.

This was one of the larger trades I have completed on Zistle.  It would take me a while to scan all of the great cards I received, so there are some of the highlights.
 

The cool thing about these large trades is that you can see the changes to the team over time.  Starting above, George Foster represents the early 80's Mets.  Gary Carter arrives from the Montreal Expos and we go into the mid to late 80's Mets with Dwight Gooden, Howard Johnson, and Lenny Dykstra.  The 1990's start with some veterans hitting their declining years and young players just starting their Major League careers.

During the mid-90's, the new crop of players takes full effect with Jeff Kent, Rey Ordonez, Todd Hundley, John Franco, and Rico Brogna.

Towards the late-90's, some younger players were traded and established players like Bernard Gilkey, Carlos Baerga, Robin Ventura, John Olerud, and Mike Piazza were added to the team.

The early to mid-2000's saw the arrival of David Wright and Jose Reyes.  The highlight play from those years is depicted by the center card above.  The Catch.  Then we have our first no hitter from Johan Santana.

This was a fantastic trade with Mark.  Look forward to the next one!

Blogger Trade: Bo

Our next trade is a Blogger trade.  This time with Bo over at Baseball Cards Come to Life.  Bo made a post about obtaining about 40,000 cards from Craigslist. 

Bo sent out a lot of cards to various traders.  I ended up receiving a small USPS Priority box bull of Mets.  The majority of cards were early 1990's releases, but there we still plenty that I still needed for those sets.

Even while getting 40,000 cards, I was still able to send Bo the same sized box back in return.

Some interesting cards in the cards shown above.  First, there is Jeff Kent is letting former Met Mark Carreon smell his armpit.  Second, there is Ryan Thompson suffering from some abdominal discomfort.  Not sure why Pinnacle would chose this for his ball card.  Finally, there is power hitting Carl Everett about to murder bunt a baseball.  Very intense.

I really like receiving Lance Johnson Mets cards.  He only played for the Mets for a season and a half, but he was pretty great for the Mets.  His career year was with the Mets in 1996.  That year he was an All-Star starter and led the National League in hits, singles, and triples.  He had a WAR of 7.2 that year, too (if you are into sabermetrics).

I wish Topps would get him on some Archives releases.  I do not believe there are any auto or relic cards of him out there, Mets or not.  Anyone know an address to send a card to him for a TTM auto?

Zistle Trade #55: Gerry

Not too long after our first trade was completed, Gerry reached out with a second trade request.  Our first trade went down with out a problem, so of course I was down for another.

We have another appearance of a mustached Bartolo Colon during his first stint with the Mets.  This time showing him before he was about to go out a bash a few home runs during Spring Training batting practice.  I also received a nice card of Dave Magadan playing with the Florida Marlins.

Blogger Trade: Hoyle

I believe many of you have traded with Mark before and know how he is a generous trader.  I do not believe he has a blog of his own, but simply reads and comments on blogs.  I saw somewhere that he collects all the Boston teams and I had a stack of Patriots and Celtics cards looking for a good home.  A couple emails back and forth and we were set.

I believe one of things Mark is known for is sending out some vintage goodness.  This package was not short on that at all.

Even with all of those 1972 Topps cards Mark sent my way, I still need about twice as many to complete a Mets team set.  Without looking into it, that year has to be the most Mets base cards found from Topps flagships release.

You can see a contrast here in the photography styles used on vintage cards compared to modern cards.  It seems like most vintage cards used posed shots the majority of the time while modern cards are mostly action shots.  Of the four modern cards shown above, three would be considered action shots.  Of all of the vintage cards, there are only two with action shots.  There is probably a perfectly good reason for this, of course.  Less advanced technology, maybe less on-field access at games, or maybe nobody back then really thought actions were all that interesting.

Zistle Trade #51: Bumfan

Here we are with a second Zistle trade with Adam.  I reached out to this Northwestener to see if he wanted my Seahawks and Sonics cards, along with some other football cards.  I had a decent stack to send, but since we already traded there was not much he had in terms of matches.  Of course, he was doing me a solid by taking those basketball and football cards off my hands, so I had no problem with the number of cards involved.  

I received some nice Mets cards along with some great options for my potential former/former future Mets players collection.  I should probably come up with a better name for the collection.