Trading Ken for Neil... with Rod!

I've read a lot of talk in recent months about the lack of new blogs being started up, having not been around during the blog boom, I can't personally attest to the validity of these claims -- but if those who were around during that time say so, then who am I to argue?

If true, I suppose the lack of new blogs being started is a bad thing, but if I'm being honest, it's not really something I think about, or have ever thought about for that matter. Those that are perturbed by the lack of new blood might be wondering why I'm so unfazed by it? Well, the answer to that is actually quite simple, even after five years of reading blogs... I'm still finding one's that are new to me!

In fact, just in the last month alone I've started following three more blogs, all of which are well established, and already known by everyone... except for me!

One of these new to me blogs is Padrographs, and before anyone says anything, yes, I know that you already know of Rod and his blog, but I didn't! Actually, that's not entirely true, I had heard people mention him, and his blog, on more than few occasions in recent years, but just hadn't ever gotten around to seeing what he was all about, which as I've quickly learned, has been my loss.

Besides some minor personal connections that we seem to have, Rod has also come up with one of the best ideas for a frankenset that I've seen so far, that being his autograph frankenset. Not only is it fun, but it also provides for plenty of variety, which is something that I'm always looking for, whether it's my collection, or someone else's.

Apparently this frankenset of his is somewhat fluid, with cards getting pushed out from time to time, said cards are then put up for trade, which is where I come in. Some weeks ago while reading a post from someone else, I noticed a 1972-73 Topps Neil Johnson staring at me from their blogroll. There isn't a lot of vintage basketball being shown on the blogs, so this image was a bit of an attention grabber. A quick glance told me that the image was originating from this blog that I've been meaning to check out, but just hadn't gotten around to doing so, Padrographs.

After clicking on the post, I quickly got up to speed, and found out that this signed Neil Johnson card had been part of Rod's autograph frankenset, but had been replaced by something more desirable, and was now up for trade. I knew instantly that I wanted the card, but didn't know if Rod would be wanting to trade with someone new, thankfully he didn't mind, and less than a week later, I had Neil in hand!

Pretty neat, huh? Rod didn't want to know was being sent, it just had to be an autograph for his frankenset, one who's number he didn't already have. After a quick search, I settled on a 1972 Topps Ken Henderson that I got signed via TTM a few years ago, I still liked the card, but I liked the signed Neil more, so off went Ken. Plus, exchanging a '72 for another '72 just seemed appropriate.

As for Neil, he played pro ball for seven years, four in the NBA, and three in the ABA. Had his best season during the 1970-71 campaign, his first with the Squires, in which he averaged 12.7 ppg, to go along with 8.6 rpg, all while shooting 52.6% from the field. He played in his only ABA All-Star game that season as well.

Neil was also involved in an altercation with Warren Jabali, that has become somewhat infamous, the only problem is that there's at least three different versions of what actually happened floating around out there, so which, if any, are the correct version? Most people seem to site the version that was covered in Loose Balls, but if you've ever read that book, you probably know that there are some inaccuracies within it's pages, and a few other stories that questionable at best. There aren't a lot of books out there about the ABA, so it's unfortunate that one of the few is so shi poopy, but there's nothing that can be done about it at this point.

Thanks again for the trade, Rod! Hopefully some more good stuff will end up getting pushed out of your frankenset, because I have quite a few more autographs that I wouldn't mind trading :)


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