2023 trade package #18: Night Owl

 

Greg who runs Night Owl Cards needs no introduction so I'll just lead off by saying I made a deal with him recently and now I'm here to show off my end of the deal. I became aware that he was slowly working on the 1988 Pacific Legends set and I happened to have a good chunk of dupes left from my box break, so I sent him something like 19 of his needs plus a couple other Dodgers. Because I know Greg's on TCDb I thought I'd make it fun and easy for both of us by sending him a trade proposal so the cards would automatically go into his collection, and then I picked out a few cards I hoped to get in return if he thought it would be fair. He did!

So here's what I ended up with:

I know some folks find those 1990 Swell cards too low-end for their tastes, but I enjoy them plenty, especially since they include appearances of some guys that don't have enough, like the Bird (who, by the way, was in '88 Pacific Legends too!). It's not like Fidrych collectors are spoiled for choice, and anyway the colorful look here is pleasing to my eye at least, so I was happy to add it.

Seeing Maddux on a team other than the Cubs and Braves is always a bit jarring, so his stints with the Dodgers and Padres captured on cardboard still throw me off sometimes. But I'll happily take anything I can get of one of my favorite player collections, especially a Topps Gold parallel numbered /2007.

Considering the relatively low quality of most of what I sent to Greg I wouldn't have blamed him if he didn't want to include the '75 Topps Denny McLain base you see there that pairs him up with '68 rival Bob Gibson. But he's a generous guy so he did just that and now I have another fun piece in my McLain collection, now 25 cards strong.

Here's where I'll probably lose a lot of you as I'm sure many who read this blog don't collect football or at least not Wolverines specifically. But these additions are just as fun for me as the baseball ones.

First up is my first (and probably only for a while) card of former UM RB Ty Isaac. Isaac was a highly recruited back from nearby Illinois who opted for USC over Michigan in 2013, then transferred to Ann Arbor a season later and had to sit out a year under the old rules. He put up some decent numbers for the Wolverines in 2015-2017, if not stats that would correspond to his recruiting ranking, then went undrafted and played briefly for the fly-by-night Alliance of American Football league, as captured on the card you see above from Topps. The product includes 10 total cards (including three autographs) for me to chase and I'd love to add more if I can.

And then we head back into Greg's wheelhouse: vintage. Randy Logan was a safety for some very good Michigan teams at the beginning of the 70s, then was drafted by Philly in 1973's third round. He spent 11 years suiting up for the Eagles and compiled 23 interceptions. What you see above is his 1979 Topps base, which marks just my fourth card of his, and the oldest besides his '76 Topps RC.

From the same set I also snagged my fifth card of College Football HOF RB Rob Lytle. The late Lytle was a Wolverine from 1973-76, selected by Denver in 1977's second round, and put up 14 total TDs over 87 NFL games in his seven seasons. He has just 12 cards to his name on TCDb and I now have four from his playing days (including his '78 Topps RC) to go with an autograph.

Here are the backs for those that enjoy them:

Greg, thanks once again for another fun deal! I'm always glad when we can swap cards despite the large differences in our collecting philosophies.

More trade recaps and other stuff to come!

TCDB trade roundup: cards from C2Cigars and BKim

I haven't done much trading on TCDB at this point, having made just one deal with someone other than Paul, but in the last few weeks I got cards from a pair of members there anyway, which was a great development for me.

First up is Chuck, a.k.a. C2Cigars.  If you're not a TCDBer but the name sounds familiar, that's because he's the member Paul and I met at Paul's local show late last year.  An older school collector that looks for vintage Mets, Raiders, and Sabres, plus Syracuse alumni, he followed up the vintage Michigan Football item he brought to that show with a bigger bunch of the same, almost all of which I needed:

Though none of these guys are new to my collection, it's generally been limited to their RCs, so this is certainly a bunch I can appreciate.  WR Doughty (card #2) and OG Mack (4) are from 1975 Topps on a design that's miles away from the baseball version.  RB Lytle (a dupe), OG McKenzie (3), and TE Seymour (3) feature on the '78 design that I think has a bit more going for it.  TE Mandich's (4) second-year '76 Topps photo is very similar to the one seen on his RC.  McRae's '69 Topps probably looks familiar since Jon sent it to me first and I showed it off in my last post.  And LB Nunley (3) and CB Rowser (2) both make appearances in '73 Topps, which was their second-year set.

This next group begins with a card I don't really consider vintage, an '84 Topps USFL of WR Jim Smith (3), but that doesn't make me like it any less, especially since it's a cool piece of history.  Then we return to 1973 for OT Steve Smith's RC plus S Rick Volk (5).  I somehow missed Smith on my RC checklist so I'm glad Chuck alerted me to that, especially since he appears to have only one other card to his name.  By the way, the colors used for the '73 set confuse me, so maybe someone can tell me if there's a rhyme or reason to what was used or if they're just random.  Anyway, I was also treated to a second card of Volk, in this case from the '75 set you saw above.  That gives me Rick's cards from '71, '73, '75, and '76, which is pretty good!

This last scan shows the other two cards from Chuck's package.  On the left is a '91 Pro Set of former QB and current HC Jim Harbaugh, but it's not just any card.  Instead it's from the Spanish version of the set, as indicated by some of the text you can see up front.  That's a fun addition to his PC (142 cards).  He's joined by recent DB Channing Stribling from Topps' coverage of the defunct AAF, the final dupe in the package.

Chuck's a great guy to deal with, as is pretty obvious considering the above, so don't hesitate to trade with him if you're on the site!

The other envelope that arrived was what the site calls a PIF, or "pay it forward."  It's kind of the site's equivalent blog trading's blind trades with the idea that you pick someone and send them something they'd probably like.  Member Robert (BKim), who seems like a good dude from what I've seen on the site, was nice enough to surprise me with this:

As I'm now actively collecting HOFer Ted Simmons--it took me a while to confirm he's a Michigan alum, though he didn't actually play baseball for the school, though that doesn't disqualify him for my collection--I'd updated my wantlist for the catching great, and Robert picked one of those needs and sent it my way.  This is Ted's card from Fleer's 1981 debut, another appearance where he looks high but at least doesn't have long hair like a hippie.  I'm glad to add it as the first Simmons in my collection that isn't included in one of my complete sets, giving me 14 overall.

I made sure to thank BKim in the forum's PIF thread and I already know to whom I'll be paying it forward very soon.  Thanks to both him and Chuck for making TCDB a cooler place to be!

With lots of cards in-hand still to be covered and the likelihood of working from home starting next week you may actually see more of me!  Stay safe and healthy, everyone.