Delivery Time! Ryan's Card Collection - A First Trade with a New Trading Partner

Trading baseball cards isn't a science.  That is to say, there is no one way to do it that's correct.  Some people prefer to do rigid, agreed upon swaps while others like to say "surprise me."  Some people send cards on a regular basis while other people may go months (or even years) between care packages.  Some people will only mail using PWEs while others prefer to wait until they can fill a padded envelope or even a flat-rate box.  For me, any of the above ways are a fine way to trade - and I can probably name several trading partners of mine who generally subscribe to each train of thought.  In my view, so long as you are trading cards with me I don't care how you do it!

Case in point:  A trade with Ryan from Ryan's Card Collection.

Ryan and I started chatting about a potential trade back in 2018.  I went back through my emails and saw that one of emails I sent him was at 7:45 PM on May 16, 2018.  That date (and time) is kind of neat in retrospect because it was about 6 hours on the dot later when my wife would wake me up from a slumber saying that her water broke.  About 14 hours from that email I was welcoming our first-born son to the world (a few weeks earlier than expected).

After a fairly long hospital stay, my family and I returned home and then about a month later I finally had the chance to mail out the cards that I had promised Ryan.  My comment to him at the time was basically that I finally had time to mail, send whatever you think is fair when you can, no rush.

Then, in the hustle and bustle of raising a newborn, I basically forgot about the trade.

Flash forward to June of this year and in my mailbox there was a package from Ryan that showed up.  Ryan's name was vaguely familiar to me, but I have to admit that I needed to go back through both my emails and my Excel spreadsheet (where I keep track of trades) to make sure that I didn't owe Ryan something.  Luckily for me, the package was simply a return mailing for what I sent Ryan last year.

Now, some people may not take a year-long gap between mailings well but for me I find it perfectly fine (hey, life gets busy).  I mean, not if it is something I actually paid money for - or maybe a high-valued trade (of which I almost never participate in since I don't buy high-end stuff), but otherwise I'm happy to get cards whenever they arrive.  And boy, Ryan sure did make me happy because he hit a whole lot of my Allen & Ginter wants from both 2017 and 2018.

Most of the cards Ryan sent my way were of the mini variety, but I think it's worth beginning with the What a Day! full-sized cards that he sent me.

This is the 100 card insert set from 2017 A&G and somehow, someway I still haven't completed the darn thing.  The cards aren't even rare (originally seeded 1:2 packs) but the problem is that you needed to open 200 perfectly collated packs if you were to complete the set.  With only 24 packs in a hobby box, you can do the math and see that even a simple set such as this becomes prohibitively expensive if you are going to try and complete it purely by purchasing packs.  That's where trading comes in hand for me - and thanks to this swap I'm now down to needing only six cards from the set.  If you are curious, here's what remains:  WAD- 29, 39, 44, 54, 75, 90.

With the full-sized cards out of the way, let's take a tour through the various mini sets Ryan sent me starting with the 2018 World's Hottest Peppers.

I bought less A&G last year than maybe any year since 2009 (mostly thanks to having a baby) and as such, I'm woefully behind completing the vast majority of the mini insert sets.  Case in point, the World's Hottest Peppers set has 15 cards and I'm still missing ten of them after this trade.  Ouch!

Sticking with 2018, another mini set that I've yet to complete is the retail only Exotic Sports.

Bo-Taoshi is a sport played first by the Japanese militia during World War II.  The idea is that two teams of 150 people go against each other trying to tear down a single large pole in the ground.  Apparently the sport can get quite crazy.  What's not crazy though is that I'm nearing completion of this set - out of the 25 cards I now own all but seven of the cards in the set.  I'm definitely doing better on this one than I am the Hot Pepper set.

The final mini from 2018 belongs to the Baseball Superstitions set.

Once again, I'm still missing 10 of the 15 cards in the set which means I'm equally hopeless with both this set and the pepper set.  Or, maybe being a bit more optimistic, I have plenty of stuff to trade for yet in both sets.

Sliding back a year to 2017, Ryan sent me cards for three more mini sets.  Happily for me, I've done a bit better in terms of collecting the 2017 sets so you'll see fewer remaining cards on most of my want lists.

Starting with the set I'm closest to completing, 2017 Constellations:

This card is the second-to-last card that I needed for my set.  I've actually purchased the final card that I need and so this set is now basically completed!  The front of the Constellation cards are kind of cool - you get the constellation printed in glow-in-the-dark ink.  That's a cool gimmick even if the fronts don't scan particularly well (hence why I scanned the card back for your reading pleasure).

Next up, a pair of World's Dudes.

I loved this set when it was first released and I still love it today.  Out of the 50 World's Dudes, I'm now down to needing only two more (WD- 25 and 37).  Put another way, Ryan was able to halve my want list for this particular set - a feat that is always appreciated.  Plus, how cool is that Fisherman Dude card?  That dude caught a big fish!

Finally, we get to the last set Ryan helped me out with:  2017 A Horse in the Race minis.

Ryan sent me three of the horse cards which leaves me missing only five more before this set is also going to be complete (HR- 4, 6, 9, 16, 22).  I don't know all that much about horses but the Scandinavian Coldblood Trotter card is kind of cute with the baby pony.  (I'm pretty sure "baby pony" is redundant but whatever.)

Thanks a ton for the great trade - this one is proof that good things comes to those that wait!  As for anyone else, if you'd like to trade be sure to check out my want list and make an offer!