2021 trade package #9: Bob Walk the Plank

I know I'm always repeating myself about this but it's really nice dealing with a bunch of folks with different trading styles. I have some that opt for PWEs, others that will send bubble mailers; with a few I tend towards rapid-fire deals while some go the once-in-a-blue-moon route.

One dude that falls into the latter part of the second category is Matt, formerly of Bob Walk the Plank, who's still plenty active on Twitter. Apart from maybe one or two others, he's been my high-end trading guy, meaning that we generally don't have a lot of envelopes go back and forth on a yearly basis, given that neither of us is rich enough to afford that kind of thing. That, and as he noted in a recent Twitter discussion with me, it's difficult to acquire new trade bait right now.

The last time I posted cards I received from him was last June, when he sent me a $1000 package of stuff. Given the absolute lunacy around the hobby right now that's probably not much of an exaggeration! Two of the items are Jake Cronenworth cards, and his prices have exploded beyond reason. Then you add a super nice relic of Al Kaline and auto of Ivan Rodriguez, plus a Brady RC and rookie-year parallel, and you've got a pricey package indeed!

So whenever he lets me know he's sent something my way, I know that means he's put both effort and money into one or more cards I know I'll treasure.

That was most definitely the case once again this week after he alerted me that I'd have two envelopes coming to me directly from eBay sellers, which is awesome if you can get them to do that and eliminate yourself as the middleman (not to mention more shipping cost). I'm showing them here in the order in which I received them: 

While I have to wait until tomorrow to learn Michigan Basketball's fate against Florida State in an exciting Sweet 16 matchup, here's a guy whose team made it all the way to the title game eight years ago. In his second and final season in Ann Arbor, Burke led a team of future NBAers to the finals, going off for 24 points in the six-point loss to Louisville, earning himself a ton of accolades along the way. Though he's now with his fifth NBA team (Dallas, with a quick stop in Philly in between tenures with the Mavs) he's had a solid career after making the 2013-14 All-Rookie team.

That was with the Jazz, who traded for him from Minnesota at the draft, and that's whom he's pictured with here on a 2015-16 Immaculate magenta plate inserted into 2016-17 National Treasures, as Panini likes to do sometimes. I don't have the original Dual Memorabilia card--my Burke collection is still relatively small at just six hits--but this is already my second plate, so that's extremely cool!

No matter where he ends up in the pros I'll continue to collect Trey in memory of his contributions to the team's postseason success in the past decade.

After I thanked Matt for the first card to let him know it had made it safely, he promised the next one would be even more PC-centric for me. And if the Burke had me seeing red (in a good way--magenta means printing plates!) then this one that came the following day definitely had me looking at the world through rose-tinted glasses. You all know old Rich Hill is my favorite PC guy and I get geeked for any items of his I can add to the collection, but better yet, I love it when I can add items like this to further my argument as the top collector of the former Wolverine hurler. Why would anyone care enough to oppose me? I don't know!

Anyway, what we have here, as you can probably tell by the reverse image--Mr. Not-So-Resting Pitch Face is a lefty--is a plate from a Chrome card, and as it happens, it's Hill's 2020 Topps Chrome Update Magenta Plate. That makes it the most recently produced 1/1 in my Hill collection, which numbers roughly 30 (out of around the 150 I own in my entire collection). Yep, you could say I'm a bit of a supercollector. Apparently not that great of one, though, since Matt apparently snatched this up in a BIN/OBO deal before I even knew it was available. With friends like this who needs eBay?

My collection of Rich playing for the Twins remains small since I haven't had the opportunity to pick up too many of his 2020 issues, but that's fine since I'll get 'em eventually, and anyway now I can look forward to landing my first cards of him with the Rays whenever those are ready. Given his health issues I think Tampa was an ideal landing spot for him with their recent pitching innovations (like openers) that I'm betting help get him on the mound for more games, if not total innings. The opportunity to see the over-the-hill Hill back on the hill soon is one of many reasons I'm excited for baseball to return in 2021.

Matt, thanks again for this super nice high-end pair of eBay wins that you so expertly pinpointed for my collections! Whenever I can break out of my own trade bait slump you can count on me hitting you back with one or more nice Pirates/Mountaineers items that you'll love as much as I appreciate these.