Delivery Time! Trade with Night Owl (Plus a New Goal for Me!)

The last few days have been incredibly busy for me.  Unfortunately, the quality of posts on my blog (which, let's be honest were never that high to begin with) has been quite poor.  While it may seem like a poor idea to use a trade post as a "pick me up" for blog writing - that's exactly what I am to do.  The particular package is from Night Owl - a person who never seems to lack for quality posts (or great cards to send me).  The great thing about our relationship is my knack for pulling Dodgers seems to be equaled only by his knack for pulling cards that reside on my want list!

While the venerable Night Owl did send me a bunch of Reds plus a Ginter relic (that I'll get to later in the post), in many ways, the real highlight of the package was three surprise cards:  Kosuke Fukudome, Pedro Martinez, and Clayton Kershaw.  Yes, you read that right - the highlight wasn't relic, nor Reds cards - but a Cub, Met, and Dodger (oh my!).

You see, I needed the three aforementioned cards as part of my quest to complete the 2008 Upper Deck Timeline set.  You may recall that's the set with 50 base cards and then 300 short prints (I kid you not).  And yes, I'm dumb enough to try and collect the thing.  Companies like Topps and Upper Deck rely on shmucks like me - it's probably good for them to see that I'm not letting them down.

Now that I have the three Timeline cards, I am down to only needing 19 more cards to complete the set.  In case you don't feel like clicking over to my want list, here's what I still need:

Base: #235, 276, 279, 288, 300, 302, 308, 332, 334, 336, 341, 345, 356, 361, 363, 366, 373, 374, 375

As you can see, I'm tantalizingly close to completing the bad boy.  I should mention that I have a ton of cards from the set still available for trade - and I'll gladly trade two-for-one, three-for-one, or ten-for-one if I have to.  My newest goal is to complete this set before Ginter comes out this summer.  I'd love to finally cross of a full set from the want list - and this one seems to be as good as any to try to meet my goal.  Perhaps some of you had decided to try and complete the set and have since given up - or maybe you are still working on it and can possibly trade me one (or more) of the cards I need in exchange for two (or more) cards that you still need...it'd be a win-win for all of us!

Besides the UD Timeline cards, Night Owl also sent me my first Golden Sparkle card from 2012.

That's right - I didn't buy a single pack of 2012 Topps, nor Opening Day, nor Heritage.  I think I'm still annoyed that I can't finish off a bunch of sets from the past few years which is sort of pushing me in the direction of not trying to start a bunch of new sets!  In addition, money has been extra tight lately - so frivolous spending on cards is an easy way to save a buck or two.  Luckily for me, the group breaks that I've hosted still help me satisfy my pack opening itch, even if I don't get to keep most of the cards.

The Golden Sparkle wasn't the only 2012 card in the package, there was also this 1987 mini of Joey Votto.

I certainly hope Votto remains a Red for many years to come - but recent signs (and statements) seem to put the odds at 50-50 (at best).  I suppose I should be sure to enjoy Votto's cards while he remains a Red and be happy that such a good player played for Cincinnati.  It's been quite awhile since the Reds have had a true superstar - the last probably being Ken Griffey Jr. and we all know how that worked out.

There were a few other assorted Reds - including a true 1975 mini and a rather ugly Calvin "Pokey" Reese card.  However, as team collectors know - even an ugly card, if it is a new one for the collection, is much appreciated!

And finally, the reason the trade started in the first place:

That's the 65th different relic card that I now own from the 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter set.  Unfortunately, by my count, there are almost 200 different relics in the set - 198 if my list is correct.  I'm debating about trying to sell my entire collection of both 2011 and 2010 relics (and autos) in an attempt to raise enough funds to put serious charge into the 2012 Topps Allen & Ginter relic set.  It's hard to part with the relics though...so I guess we'll see.  Maybe in a moment of weakness you'll see them on eBay.

Thanks for all the great cards Night Owl!  And, as always, if anyone else would like to trade - check out my want list and make an offer!