First TCDB trade

 Yesterday I got a pwe in the mail from Chris, aka The Collector on the blogs and HockeyDude on TCDB. We had worked out a trade over the past 2 weeks that was my first official on on TCDB. I know there is a way to select the cards you are sending and recieving in a trade on the site that will just allow them to be transferred to the apropriate collections, but I haven't figured that out yet. No biggie as it was just a pwe swap. Let's take a look at what Chris sent. 

Blogger has been giving me issues with viewing photos today, so I'm just going to post this and see if it works and shows the photo. First up is a 2018 Topps Big League Gold Paul DeJong. Next is a 1996 Topps Finest of Brooks Kieschnick, another guy I collect. The last 2 cards of guys I collect are both Andrelton Simmons cards. The first looks like an ordinary 2019 Topps card, but is actually an advanced stat card. The cool thing about this card for me is from the back, which I didn't take a picture of, so you'll have to believe me. It is numbered 15 out of 150, and when I was logging it into the site, I noticed that it was one of the few cards in the set to have pictures. I took a look at the photo of the back on the site, and saw it had the same serial # and was uploaded by none other than Chris himself! Kind of cool to have a card that will always and forever be the picture of the card when you view it on TCDB! The last Simmons card is a 2020 Topps Fire Arms Ablaze insert. I've never been a fan of the Topps Fire set, but some of the paralells and inserts are cool, as this one is. 

The rest of the trade were cards from my favorite teams. The Tigers are represented with a 1997 Donruss Ruben Sierra. I'll always remember him as the guy who the Tigers got for trading Cecil Fielder. I'll never forget waking up for school one morning and my parents telling me Big Daddy was traded and being upset. I wish baseball was just a sport and not a business. 
My Rays binder grew by 4 cards in the trade, as I got a 2019 Bowman Willy Adames, 2 cards of who I hope is a Ray for a long time, Tyler Glasnow. The 2022 Donruss retro '88 card might have finished that Rays set for me (I'll update my Rays at some point in TCDB and find out for sure), and the 2023 Topps Archives card got me a Wander Franco from finishing the Rays set, as the 2023 Archives Manuel Margot was the last card I recieved in the trade. A great first TCDB trade, and hopefully the first of many with Chris. Hope you enjoy your end, and thanks for the trade, Chris!

I finished uploading the non-Topps Pirates to TCDB today, and that leaves me with just 4 NL teams to finish (Cardinals, Padres, Giants, and Expos/Nationals). Probably won't get it done by the end of the year, but there is still a small chance. I just don't think I'll have time with how 2 weeks before a holiday gets at work and how my off days are the rest of the year. Weekdays that I am off are usually prime times to upload cards, and weekends are usually out of play as Karen is off and Kyler isn't in school. I usually get a weekend day and a random day in the week off, but I'll basically have 2 days shot right off the bat as we are headed down to Melbourne Friday to visit in-laws. I'm ok with that, becuase we are doing Christmas then and that means we are staying home on Christmas and while I'll probably be going into work around 2 or 3 AM, I won't have to worry about a long drive home and I can just say 'I'm going to bed' whenever. Christmas falls on a Monday this year, so that day will also be shot, so maybe I'll try to get 1 more team uploaded and hope for finishing the NL in early 2024. 

Speaking of 2024, I'm kind of disturbed with what I have noticed with Fanatics regarding new releases, and was wanting to know what you guys think. I'm sure everyone has noticed that lately, Fanatics will release sell sheets of new products a month to a few weeks before the release of a product. 2023 Topps Update, Update Chrome, and Heritage High Numbers (are you collecting these, Night Owl?) are recent examples. I am fine with that as the company is just finishing its first year of running the show. 

I was hoping that 2024 Topps would have a sell sheet out, as it has come out as early as July or August. I think for me, the issue isn't that the 2024 Topps design and sell sheet isn't out, it is that the 2024 Bowman ones are. It just seems to me like it is a sign that tells me Fanatics is going to cater to the flipper brahs that are into flipping and slabbing rookies. Bowman is catered to rookie card collectors and on a smaller scale, in-person autograph collectors, and it just reeks to me of Fanatics catering to idiots that don't collect and are just in it for the profit. Why put out sell sheets of lower-end products a month before they are on shelves and then just stopping the presses and putting out the 2024 Bowman sell sheet when it doesn't come out until April 2024? Put as much care into 2024 Topps as you do to 2024 Bowman! I might just have to purchase the complete set and not support these idiots anymore if they keep making kid-friendly products with SPs, taking away cheap sets like Opening Day, and leaving team/set/budget collectors on the back burner. While I am highly proud of Fanatics for not Tuckering us this year and producing 2 base Topps cards of the same player in the same uniform, I demand higher standards from them. I want more players in the base set, less inserts, 5 or less parallels, and just a fun 2024 Topps set. At least we know 2024 Bowman will give the flippers what they want. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy