2020 trade package #30: Wes Moore

A few weeks ago Wes, a.k.a. the Pancake King, held a very cool event on Twitter that he called his Tradeathon. He listed some 160 cards from the major sports and even non-sport stuff, one card at a time. There were HOF RCs, vintage, autos and relics, and even printing plates, plus some cool inserts. You know, basically the stuff he's been known to lob your way in his signature trade war packages.

The rules were simple and few: claim up to five cards, be the first to claim what you wanted, and send him stuff in return but make it a surprise. If that isn't a fun way to get stuff into other collectors' hands while getting cool stuff back, I don't know what is. Judging by tweets from Wes and those that were involved I'd say it was a huge success all around. For my part I flipped him a Leaf auto of wrestler Godfather plus some various Arizona Cardinals and Bama guys.

And now I get to show off what I got back from the flapjack flipper. I somewhat cautiously chose three cards fairly early to keep my options open later, and those were the three I finished with while avoiding being greedy and claiming nicer stuff I already had, such as RCs of Trammell/Molitor and Griffey Jr. I was glad to get what I was hoping for, and Wes was even nice enough to toss a couple extras in the mailer.

Here's what I got:

A little bit of theme going on there, eh? The top two cards here were the "throw-ins" and quite nice ones at that! On the left is a 2005 Elite RC of former stud DB Marlin Jackson, definitely one of the more desired brands for collectors like me that like to chase college cards. To the right is a Blue 2012 Leaf Draft auto of Mike Martin, a DL who was nearly unstoppable and a bright spot on defense during some of Michigan's down years earlier this decade. In typical Wes fashion, even the extras are generous!

As for the rest, I'll go in order as I chose them as opposed to scan order. First up was the horizontal Harbaugh, a Row 0 card from 1998 Flair Showcase. I've long admired the various Showcase iterations and their cool variations. In general I believe Row 0 was the rarest of the regular set, as opposed to 1 and 2. This one is numbered /100 and has a couple nice action photos up front.

Next is a card that interested me because of the guy pictured on the bottom, although his QB counterpart is certainly no slouch. Ordinarily I'd be sending a Steve McNair card over the border, but this 2004 Playoff Honors Class Reunion dual jersey is staying with me because of HOF DB Ty Law and that lovely blue Patriots swatch. Numbered /150 it's just my sixth hit of Law as I continue my quest for an auto of his. By the way, for those interested, McNair went third overall in '95 while Ty went 23 picks later. Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks joined Law as first round HOFers from that class.

Last but not least is a Michigan uni card I was glad to grab as a first hit of a recent alum. QB Shea Patterson had his ups and downs for various reasons, but he was still a big enough name to hit a bunch of pro- and college-themed products (despite a total lack of a draft pedigree), in this case Leaf Metal Draft. It may be heavily airbrushed but it's still a solid new autograph for my collection, and of course I'll have to work on adding more of those. If there was a card tailor made for me to choose in a tradeathon like this, meaning it was something I'd want but probably not want to buy, this was it. Plus it's a good example of some of the variety that was available in the football grouping alone.

And how about some backs since I only had to scan five cards today?

Wes, thanks again for the cool event, an idea I may have to steal (in homage to you, of course!) and the great cards I ended up with. I hope your returns continue to pour in with all kinds of crazy stuff you'll enjoy. Though I'm not sure if or when we'll trade again, I'll definitely be on the lookout for cards for you in the spirit of your cardboard generosity.