TCDB Monday: It's a Monster, Folks!

Happy Monday, everyone (also, Happy Birthday to me).  Today, as much as I would have liked to take a day off from work that's not in the cards for a professor.  Instead, I'll simply be content to go through the many, many envelopes of TCDB trades that arrived over the past seven days or so.

Let's begin with a trade with user suspiciousplan8:

You can expect to see quite a lot of 2024 Allen & Ginter over the next few weekly TCDB trade wrap-up posts.  After all, I'm working on a ludicrous number of different sets from this year's edition of Ginter including:

• 2024 Topps Allen & Ginter:  Base Chrome Refractors
• 2024 Topps Allen & Ginter:  Chrome minis
• 2024 Topps Allen & Ginter:  50 States minis
• 2024 Topps Allen & Ginter:  Ballpark Bites minis
• 2024 Topps Allen & Ginter:  Batoids Beneath minis
• 2024 Topps Allen & Ginter:  Flags of the World minis
• 2024 Topps Allen & Ginter:  Got the Itch minis
• 2024 Topps Allen & Ginter:  Rookie Design Variation minis
• 2024 Topps Allen & Ginter:  Swamp Creatures minis
• 2024 Topps Allen & Ginter:  World's Tallest Mountains minis

I'm probably certifiably insane for trying to collect all of the above sets, but hey, I'll blame it on early-onset old age.  No matter, trades like the one with the wonderfully named suspiciousplan8 are great since I was able to make progress on five of the above sets all at once.

Sticking with A&G, my next trade was with user Mehurley86:

The Henry Davis is from this year's Rookie Design Variation set which is a retail-only offering from Topps.  My local Wal-Mart did have a single blaster of A&G the last time I was there (which I had to buy, of course).  That being said, I'm probably going to rely on trades alone for building the rest of the Rookie Variation set since it doesn't really pay to buy a blaster looking for a single mini card that I may or may not already own thanks to previous trades!  

Next, from user doublee919 comes even more A&G minis:

I'm not sure I'd ever choose to eat a cheesesteak at a baseball game, but I still enjoy getting the Ballpark Bites mini for my collection (I'm much more likely to choose the Italian Sausage sandwich from the previous trade if I'm at a ballgame). It's definitely nice to get another needed 50 States card. As you can probably guess, there are 50 different minis from that set alone to track down, so I have my work cut out for me for sure!

Next, from everyone's favorite Cardinals fan (aka madding from Cards on Cards) comes three more minis for my collection:

The Cedar Wood card does have a bit of an aroma to it, though truth be told, I'd never guess "cedar" if I had to smell the card without knowing what it was supposed to be.  Maybe it's my nose that doesn't work?  

My next trade consisted of more A&G but also a (slightly) older set in 2024 Topps Series 2.  

The above batch of goodies arrived via a trade with TCDB user Wittykater.  I am still plugging away at the Series 2 1999 Topps Chrome set, though unfortunately, trading has nearly dried up for that particular set as everyone has moved on to the newest hotness.  

You might think I'd be done with my mail haul by now, but nope!  There's still more including this PWE from user herkojerko:

That's two more A&G minis plus a single 1997 Metal Universe card that I needed for that set build.  It's always nice to work out a trade where I can knock down multiple sets on my want list!  Speaking of want lists, I really ought to get my 1997 Metal Universe needs up on my want list on the blog, even if blog-to-blog trading is all but dead in 2024.

Okay, we've NOW reached the end of the mail bag but before I bid you adieu for the remainder of your Monday, here's one last envelope from user Ryegram:

Yep, you guessed it.  More minis that I needed!  Definitely happy to land the Skenes card mostly because a lot of people aren't willing to trade him away right now.  I find it kind of annoying that Skenes is both the Chrome Refractor and Chrome mini set as well which means I have a lot Skenes to search for yet!  That said, I'm certainly pleased to get the Rookie Design Variation card (plus the all the other cards in the trade)!  

That does it for the past week.  I am expecting several more packages in the next few days so hopefully next week's mailbag is equally full of baseball card goodies!