Trade with Infield Fly Rule

A little over a week ago, I emailed Adam from Infield Fly Rule Cards, and asked if he wanted to trade. I felt like I still had some nice Rockies cards I could swap, and he kindly said he was up for a trade. He also mentioned that he wanted some inserts from some of the last few years Topps sets in whatever teams I had, so I dug through some binders and found some of them as well. I guess in spite of one of my previous posts, you don't have to look too hard, and you will find some cards that another collector can use. 

Yesterday night, I recieved a package from Adam in the mail, and got a bunch of Rays, Tigers, and PC guys. The Rays got me closer to completing a few Topps team sets, including 2006, 2012, and 2014. I have a feeling that with a couple more trades and hopefully a COMC purchase in the coming weeks that I should knock some of those sets out.

I got a number of Tigers cards, which helped me out a ton. Many of them helped replace cards for whatever reason. The '88 Topps Bill Madlock is his sunset card, so now I have a copy of one in my sunset binder and this one to put in my Tigers binder. I love the '90 Bowman Ed Romero. The photo was taken during Spring Training in Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida. I have been to at least 100 games in that park. I can tell that it was taken on the 1st base side because on the 3rd base side, the stands don't go out that far and there would be a small fence in the background. I have probably went chasing after a foul ball though the tunnel behind Ed's left shoulder at least a dozen times. I think I will do a whole post on Joker Marchant Stadium and include pictures I've taken from various games, as well as some cards showing different parts of the stadium. Expect to see a lot of early '90's Bowman, Stadium Club, and a few Topps cards.
Back to the cards, the '96 Topps Flaherty and Nitkowski, as well as the '02 Topps Kenny Baugh all replace cards I had autographed. I got a ton of Tiger autographs through the years, and in a moment of stupidity in 2012, I sold most of my autographs, and many of the cards I have been getting in trades have replaced ones I got signed and that are no longer in my collection.

The '04 Topps Don Kelly, Kody Kirkland, and Chris Shelton are more that I got signed and sold. If you look closely, the '06 Topps Kenny Rogers is a 1st Edition (You can see it on the bottom left). I haven't ever seen one of those, and it is pretty cool. Some '12 and '14 Topps cards get me pretty close to finishing those Tiger team sets. 

Lastly, I got some cool cards of guys I collect. A '91 Stadium Club Brady Anderson starts us off. Then 2 John Axfords from '15 Topps Update and the sparkly Topps Chrome Refractor. There is a '14 Topps Mini and '14 Topps Opening Day card of Tyler Colvin, a power hitting prospect. Sam Fuld is a Type 1 diabetic like me, and I don't know how I didn't ever get his '11 Topps Update card, but now I have one thanks to Adam. Same thing with the '04 Topps Update Joey Gathright. I busted so many packs of both '04 Topps Update and '04 Topps Chrome Update, that I should have numerous copies of the card, but this one is the first. My Quinton McCracken collection got a big boost. First off is a '93 Bowman rookie, then a 1996 Fleer team set card, a 1997 Collector's Choice team set card, and a '98 Score card. I'm glad to knock some of those tougher team set cards off of my list. Next is a 2014 Topps Drew Stubbs. I remember when Stubbs came up, and it wasn't his skill set or anything related to baseball that got me to collect him, but the fact that he plays piano. I play piano, and when I found out that Drew has a keyboard that he takes with him on the road, I knew I had to collect him. The last 2 cards are additions to guys who I probably have at least 50 cards of already, with a 2014 Topps League Leader Max Scherzer, and a 2012 Topps Archives Ben Zobrist. I remember not buying many packs at all between 2012 and 2014, and with all of the 2014 Topps cards that Adam sent, I think I may be getting closer to having a respectable amount of the set.
He also threw in a 1992 Classic Cliff Floyd, which I will happily add to my rookie card binder, and some Anibal Sanchez cards, which I don't have, that will fit in nicely in my Marlins binder.

I recently updated my Want List with some sets that I will lightly chase, and if I happen to complete, great, but if not, I won't worry. Nothing big, just a few sets that were pretty important sets that came out when I first started collecting. The first is the 1992 Topps Gold set. The first parallel set, it shouldn't be too tough or expensive to complete. I figure if I am collecting that one, then I should also collect the 1992 Topps Gold Winners set (the one with the word 'winner' stamped on it). The next might be a little tougher, the 1993 Topps Finest regular set. The refractors would cost me an arm and a let, but the main set might be a little more doable. I remember everyone in 3rd grade talking about the set and how it cost like 10 bucks a pack and how the refractors were worth a ton in Beckett.
The last 2 sets might be challenging. I decided to tackle the 1996 Topps Chrome Refractor set. It doesn't have too many expensive rookies in it, and it was the first Topps Chrome Refractor set. Why not? The last one is the 1998 Topps Minted in Cooperstown parallel set. It was just a fun set, and with no really expensive rookie cards in the set, it could be doable as well.
The 4 team sets I have listed should be a piece of cake. Just some team sets of expansion teams that came to be during my lifetime. 1993 Topps Marlins and Rockies team sets, 1997 Topps Diamondbacks team set, and the 1998 Topps Diamondbacks team set. I am choosing 2 yezrs for Arizona since Topps issued like 4 cards of them in the 1997 set, and then had the free agents/expansion draft choices in the '98 set. The list of those sets are at the bottom of my Want List page, and they have links to their individual want lists.
Thank you Adam for helping me out with some cards to knock off some cards off my want list. Hope you enjoy your package (Sorry about the Moose card! I had to do it).
Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy