An Ode to Want Lists (Cards from The Prowling Cat)

Despite having several packages to post, lately I have been thinking more about how I blog, how I trade, and with whom I am trading.  For much of the fall -- no doubt thanks to college football season taking up more of my attention, but also just because I got wrapped up in my own little world -- I failed as a trader.  I promised a lot, and delivered little to nothing.  

It took me several months, for example, to put together a package to send to The Card Papoy. He claimed a card that I found cheaply at my local card show in October -- a 1976 Topps Dave Winfield.  It took me until February to get around to finally sending that card out to him. To make it up to him, I took a look at his Want List of Blue Jays cards and tried to hit a bunch of his needs.  Thankfully, I did so.

Spiff at Texas Rangers Cards sent me two packages for fun late last fall. He told me that no return package was necessary, but when a blogger sends you two large packages of cards that contain a lot of cards you need, you should return the favor.  I finally got around to that in February as well. Once again, thankfully, Spiff had a big want list so I could pull together cards for him that he needed -- as he put it, I sent 34 cards and "batted 1.000 with all the cards hitting holes on my Rangers wantlists."

I spent a ton of my December trying to get more want lists posted. For a long time, I had only posted the 1970s and early 1980s as a want list. So I put in some time and effort into getting another 15 years of want lists put together.  It's not easy to do when you're like me and have to figure out not only what you have but what you don't have.

That effort paid off recently for me. Yet another blogger I had been meaning to send stuff to -- The Prowling Cat -- collects schedules.  I finally went through my old schedules from the 1980s and sent a bunch off to him in mid-February as well.  In return, The Cat was kind enough to come off the Prowl for a moment to send some cards my way.  Clearly, The Cat was prowling on my want lists, because nearly every one of these cards crossed off a need. 

The package included a number of cards I needed either for team sets, player collections, or both.  There were Pinnacle Rookies:

There were Donruss cards of guys in throwback uniforms to the 1920s Brewers:

One of the games was so bad that the local paper said that the play was like a throwback to 1972.  That team -- in the club's fourth overall season -- finished the year at 65-91 and went through three managers.  That sportswriter, though, was fairly prescient -- the next time the Brewers would see .500 would be 2005.

The Cat even sent some mid-1990s Stadium Club:

There were others too.  And the great thing is that all of these cards were on my want lists. Now, I just have to go back and make sure that they are OFF my want lists.

Seriously, though, if you have a want list, it helps.  To me, it makes me feel like I am sending you something you truly need as opposed simply to sending you cards that I just want to get rid of.  

Unless, of course, you really want all 1500 of my junk wax Red Sox.