Friendships In The Hobby

Having friendships in the hobby is one of the most vital parts. Friends near or far give you someone to discuss your hobby with, someone to trade with, someone to help you out when you need that set number or a card to fill in some kind of gap, someone who will give you that yes or no buying opinion on an item and someone just to talk to when you need an ear.

When I first discovered the internet part of the hobby in 2011 late 2012 I didn't have an hobby friends and it took a little while for me to find my place for those. It was like my wife and I's first puppies when they met. They didn't know each other but overtime grew a friendship like no other.

We took this cute picture of them in our nieces toy Lamborgini and it's one of my most treasured ones of them. They have long passed since.

I feel like I have met many great friends and collectors over the past seven years online but one that I have become really good friends with messaging on a daily basis since my internet beginning is Shane over at Project Pedro Blog. Despite our team differences, we are always up for a good sports debate, card talk or discussions in general.

We are also always on the lookout to help each others PC's out. This is especially true for Shane.

Towards the end of 2017 we once again pulled off one of our big trades. We pretty much save up a few months worth of items and then did a big bonanza. It's a lot of fun and we always do a fair trade and it's been this way since we became Twitter friends in 2012.

The first part of my mail day are oversized cards. Some of his least favorite types of cards and he knows I am willing to take them off his hands. These are from the National and each are numbered.

Here are a few more oversized cards including Shaq and Aaron

Another one this time with an iconic Finest design

Some box toppers from Heritage

and finally a really cool film swatch card of Shaq. I couldn't say no to a unique card.

Another thing I have learned about Shane in our friendship is he is not a non sports fan. Over the years he has been sorting and sending me all of his. This is a bunch of Allen And Ginter over an amount of years he found recently and sent. Some Sp's in here as well.

Also like I said earlier, he is always on the lookout for my PC. The biggest thing he has helped me with is narrowing down my Griffey needs. Every Wednesday he posts a Cheap Wax Wednesday break, these are box breaks of baseball and football under $50, and always pulls out the Griffeys for me when he pulls them. Pretty cool that I get first dibs.

I like the Lumber Company. Always been a fan of that insert in the 90's.

These Documentary base cards are annoying as anything. The same picture can be found on multiple different documented base cards. Really lame and lazy. That's not something I say too often with Upper Deck products.

There are so many Griffey gaps that even a checklist is a huge gain. I also really dig the Summit product. Not sure why it didn't continue past 1996.

The Fleer Gamers baseball design was one of my favorites of the early-mid 2000's. I also really liked Ovation.

Here's a really cool numbered insert he pulled from his 1996 Summit break called Ball Parks. There weren't many Ball Parks that Griffey couldn't sit on and hit a home run at. I am sure most pitchers see Griffey this size when they faced him at the plate.

This is a parallel from Topps Stars. Any numbered cards I can get knocked off is a big key.

  

Hologram and Griffey along with a cool Certificate Of Authenticity with his face on it, give me all day long!

 

Golden Jr! Shane found this at his LCS for me. Very cool!

  

Then came this oversized numbered Junior I hadn't ever seen before he snagged at a card show for me.

And then this set that included Griffey. I didn't reveal him yet as I plan on this set as a future box break where I will reveal more of the players within.

and to end it, he snagged this off of eBay for me. Great throwback design bat relic.

Now we can move onto some other odds and ends and these aren't even the end of the trade.

Eli refractor and a rookie I didn't have from Press Pass that's a National Trading Cards Day one.

Some odds and ends from the National.

A really cool promo card set from Collectors Edge still sealed.

A Skip Bayless autograph he pulled from Archives. Yes I know the guy is annoying and yes I know I am probably the only person who wants a card like this. But, I enjoy the oddballs.

And to finish up this part of the mail day, he grabbed two really rare Rodney Hampton cards for me.

First is my second plate of him.

Second is this Leaf Signature autograph (which is also oversized if you haven't seen them). It's not the normal version however. This one is the 1st Down Marker parallel that is really tough to find. Only the first 100 cards are stamped with this stamp and are signed in blue ink instead of black. I always loved how Rodney ignored signing the spot he was supposed to and signed his crotch.

And I will say that this wasn't the end of our trade. Being the great dude he is and knowing how bad my budget was, he also helped me grab some boxes when they went on sale for Black Friday and included those in as apart of our trade. It was the only stuff I got to open around Christmas so it meant a lot. I will be posting these breaks as the year goes on.

A big thanks goes out to Shane for the trade. If you guys haven't checked out his Cheap Wax Wednesday segment please do. He is also starting up some new series soon.

I am looking forward to our next big trade but am also looking forward to continuing on our great friendship for years to come.