Trade Post: $30 a Week Habit

About two weeks ago, Robért from $30 a Week Habit ripped through a hanger box of Topps Series 2 and found a Gold Parallel Sean Halton.  While I've set some limitations on how far into the parallels I am going to go with my team set collecting, I decided that the Gold Parallels are numerous enough to chase in a cost-effective manner.  

One cost-effective way to chase these was to see if Robért would send me the Halton.  He was kind enough to do that.  

When I got the envelope, though, it was a bubble mailer.  The first thing to pop out was this note:

Pad the envelope? What you sent, Robért, was more akin to making the Halton padding! Here's what I saw next:

Every one of the cards was serial numbered, and each one had a lower population number than the Halton did.  

Now, certainly, the Carlos Gomez was just 3 fewer, but that one works well because Gomez is a guy I include in my player collections and, further, is a player who is once again tearing up the National League at the plate and sometimes when sliding into base (right, Ian Desmond?).  My only worry with Gomez is that his outbursts and his acting out is becoming so frequent that I fear he might end up going down the Luis Suarez path:

Maybe he won't bite anyone, but Carlos does need to simmer down just a little bit.  He's becoming a magnet for controversy.  It makes it too easy for a team to get rid of a player like that when the performance isn't among the best in the league.  So for his career's sake, he should tone it down.

Thank you, Robért, for the excellent cards.  I promise that you're getting some Blue Jay beauty soon from Atlanta, and it will not include an upside-down Canadian Flag.

Quick Reminder:eBay Auction

Just a quick reminder that the Danny Salazar Topps Turkey Red Green autograph, serial numbered 7 of 10, is still on sale on eBay. The current bid is $26 for this card. 

2004 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classics

I'm in a chatty mood today.

I've said in the past that I went away from baseball cards from college pretty much through now.  That's almost 100% true.  Almost.

You see, every so often I would find myself on eBay buying a box of junk wax.  That's apparently why I have as many 1989 Topps as I do -- I didn't buy that many cards during my junior and senior years of high school.  I was busy chasing girls and colleges -- usually in that order.

After I started working after I finished school, I didn't think about baseball cards all that much.  But there was one time at some point in either 2004 or 2005 when I decided to make a trip to a baseball card shop.  I think the shop I visited was in Snellville, Georgia -- a true road trip for someone like me who, at the time, lived in the heart of Midtown Atlanta and, to be fair, lived my entire life within about a 2-mile radius of my condo.

On that trip to the baseball card store, I ran into the ridiculous number of cards that all the card companies were printing in those days...not that it's any better now or anything, but there is only one company with real logos and all.  Anyway, I recall that I bought a 1975 Robin Yount rookie card on that trip for like $15 -- because I could afford to do it and I thought that was a great price.

I also bought an unopened box of what was called the Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic set.  High priced packs, no current players -- it sounded like a great idea to me to drop like $30 or $40 on an unopened box. I was a little disappointed in the number of cards I got -- I didn't know any better, to be fair -- but I kept those cards stored away and thought little of them until each time I've had to move.

Now, I'm glad I kept them, I think.  I've looked around and this set carries some pretty high price tags on COMC.com, it seems.  I like the set, but I'd really like it more if I would have gotten a Rollie Fingers or Robin Yount card in it!

Anyway, this set had a bunch of serial numbered patches commemorating various things.  I don't recall noticing the serial numbers back then, but I do recall thinking that these "relics" were a rip off -- they weren't real patches from the games, were they?  I learned today that that doesn't matter.

Here are a couple of the patches I have:

Don Drysdale, commemorating nothing in particular, but serial numbered 57/150

Frank Robinson, 1961 World Series, Serial numbered 86/200

Babe Ruth, Commemorating the first All-Star Game, numbered 207/230

Early Wynn, commemorating being an Indian, 116/300

Anyone have any ideas on what these are worth?  Anyone want to trade for these?