It'll be difficult to top this one

There's no doubt that there's been an uptick in TCDB trade posts on the blogs over the last couple of years. I can't remember the last time a week went by and I didn't see at least one.  I've heard a few people say that they don't like them, but given how many bloggers are using that site now, I'd have to think that those who don't like the recap posts are amongst a small minority. As for me, I guess I'd say that I'm indifferent to them. There are a few kinds of posts that I really dislike, and honestly, won't even click on; but TCDB trade recaps are not one of them. On the one hand, I'd be lying if I said that they're my favorite kind of posts to read, but on the other, I'm glad that they give so many people something to post about.

I mention all of this mostly for the folks who don't like TCDB trade recap posts, because that's what kind of post I'm doing here today. For the record though, this'll be the first one that I've done this year; and I can pretty much guarantee that it'll be the only one that I end up doing this year. Hopefully that won't be too overwhelming for those who fall into Camp BaHumBug.

Sometime back in December I was fortunate enough be part of what was, and most likely, what'll continue to be, my biggest trade on the TCDB. As far as the details go, I ended up sending a various assortment of vintage baseball cards North of the border, and Bruno, who a lot of folks on that site probably know better as sandyrusty, sent a wonderful collection of 1962 Post Canadian back in return.

It took two attempts to get this trade done, the first having gone awry thanks to a bit of miscommunication (I can't remember what it was at this point, but there's a good chance that it was of my doing), which is very easy to have happen in this era of communicating primarily through short typed messages. I can guarantee that there would've been no difficulties had Bruno and I been ironing out the details for the trade while sitting on a front porch somewhere; but alas, that's not really an option anymore -- also, we live in separate countries, so finding a front porch that was convenient for both of us to get to may have been a tad difficult.

I only had one card (Ernie Banks) from this set prior to the trade, and 20 after the trade, or in other words, 10% of the set. Of course, in typical me fashion, I've yet to add any more to the set since this trade. It hasn't been for a lack of trying though, I just can't compete right now with the seemingly endless supply of deep-pocketed folks who bid up any and all lots of these every time they come up on eBay. I figure though that there can only be so many people interested in this set, right? So, eventually they should get all of theirs, and I'll hopefully still be around to get mine once they've moved on to another set.

Like the other Post sets, I'm sure that this one has it's fair share of short prints, after all someone had to appear on the boxes of lime gelatin and Crapz-All Bran Flakes, but still being so early into the set build, I haven't wanted to harsh my mellow by looking those up yet. I'll worry about those later on. And at the rate I'm going, that'll be much (much) later on.

I thought at the time that a couple of the cards would probably need to be upgraded at some point, but given how seemingly difficult this set is gonna be for me to work on, I should probably just be content to get whatever I can get for the time being.

In addition to the agreed upon cards, Bruno also threw in an extra card, which came in the form of this really nifty Frank Lary. Oh, and it too has ties to Canada...

Since many months have passed since this trade concluded, I can no longer remember if I had mentioned to Bruno, or even if I've already discussed it here on this blog, but vintage OPC's are not something that make their way into my collection very often. I almost never saw them at shows, have zero luck when trying to acquire them via eBay, and always miss out on the good ones that pop up on COMC. You'd think it wouldn't be so hard to get a couple of cards from non-HOF players, but for me, it has been. I can't help but wonder if I screwed over a Canadian in a past life, and my punishment for that in this life is to not be able to get any vintage OPC baseball cards? Seems plausible.

I think I did two more trades after this one, neither of which I was entirely satisfied with, and haven't done anymore since. I probably should've just quit after this one, as I'm pretty sure that there's no way that I'll ever top it.

A true oddball

I don't know when the collecting world started using the term "oddball" to describe cards that came with food items, those that were sold through toy stores, regional issues, etc., I just know that I'm not a big fan of the phrase.

I don't recall ever hearing it used to describe anything when I was a kid, but I've certainly heard it many (many) times in the ten or so years since returning to card collecting. I couldn't tell you exactly why I dislike the term, I mean it's certainly not one of those modern "I'm offended by it" kind of things. The only thing that I can really think of as to why it annoys me so, is simply because I find that particular catch-all to be unnecessary.

Growing up Portland (OR), Mother's Cookies were available for sale at literally every single grocery store, and as many of you know, cards could often be found within the company's products. These cards were quite plentiful, and not once did I ever hear anyone refer to them as an "oddball", they were just Mother's Cookies cards. Another example of this, and probably a more apt one for the area, was the Trail Blazers cards that came in Franz bread. These were a staple for the region, in the late 80's and early 90's you couldn't go anywhere without finding these - card shops, card shows, flea markets, antique malls, garage sales, everywhere! They were like water there for about a decade, and you know what? Nobody ever called them "oddballs"! They were just Franz cards, that's it. I could keep rattling off examples for probably another hour, but I think you get my point.

So, I'm probably in the minority here, but when someone refers to something as an "oddball", my first thoughts are that it must be something that's really out there, ya' know, something that's strange or weird, maybe even bordering on freakish, something sort of like this...

Now that's what I call an oddball! So you can see why I might not like the term when it comes to food issues, as to me it just doesn't apply. When I was at the end of September show, I overheard a fellow, probably in his twenties, who was looking through a binder and telling the dealer that he "absolutely loved oddballs!". Out of curiosity, or nosiness, whichever you prefer, I leaned over a tad (not enough to be noticed) to get a glimpse of what he was looking at, and imagine my disappointment when I was expecting to see some cards similar to the above Phantom of the Whitey, but instead only saw a binder of Post (cereal) cards -- Those. Are. Just. Post. Cards! Not Oddballs!

Bo, of Baseball Cards Come to Life!, showed off old Freakshow Ford as part of a lot that he had purchased a while back, he then casually mentioned that even by his standards it might be a bit much, and need to be upgraded at some point. Now normally I don't much care for cards with writing on them, but this wasn't your average card with writing on it, no, this was an entirely different beast, a wonderfully "odd" beast, and one that I had to have! After seeing that it might be upgraded at some later date, I let it be known that whenever it was switched out for a better copy, that I would be mighty interested in this one. Now if you've ever had any dealings with Bo, you already know that he was replying via email before I could even finish typing my comment, nobody, and I mean nobody, likes wheelin' and dealin' more than Bo! Obviously I ended up getting the card, as well as a few other oddities that I had asked Bo to set aside for me.

I bet you never thought that you'd see any '87 Fleer on this blog? If I'm being honest, I certainly never thought I'd be showing any '87 Fleer on the blog.

As odd as my showing these is, I'm not doing so for the fronts, no...

... this and...

... this is why I wanted them! Now tell me, is a set from Woolworth odder than these printing errors? I certainly don't think so. I had never seen any backs quite like this before, hence my asking for them when Bo let be known that they were available for trade. Things like this weren't of any interest to me when I was younger, but the older I get, the more I find myself gravitating to printing errors like these.

Bo also included this odd Mike Witt. I didn't know that this one was coming with the rest, but it's still kind of interesting. I can't figure out what happened to the front of this one, the texture, or lack thereof, tells me that it wasn't stuck to another card or wrapper. The only thing that I've come up with, is that maybe the sheet had something set on it while the ink was still wet.

I know that no one is going to stop referring to things like Kellogg's cards as oddballs, but hopefully at least one person now sees how silly the term is for such cards, especially when compared to cards like these, which truly are odd, in every sense of the word.

Thanks again for the cards, Bo! I've never displayed cards on my desk at home before, but I think Whitey's going to change that, I really need to be able to see him more often.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.