Bench Trade

School started yesterday for my 2 kids.  With summer activities coming to an end, I was hoping to have a little more free time for baseball cards and trading.  After our discussion at the dinner table, I fear my hobby time may decrease.  My 6th grader will be involved in band, choir, dance, basketball, and volleyball, while my 3rd grader is doing soccer and basketball.  My wife is a stickler when it comes to writing all activities on a calendar so we can keep our schedules organized.  I believe from now until the end of September we have 3 free nights at home not counting weekends.  Goodbye free time, hello gyms and practice fields.

Yesterday's mail did provide me with a small chance to escape to my card room.  I received a nice bubble mailer from fellow Cardinals fan Tom of The Bench trading site.  I keep a box of Cardinals duplicates that Tom hit pretty hard in exchange for a large stack of 2016 Finest another trader already has spoken for.  I did mange to get a handful of Cardinals I needed also.

Although Topps limited the availability of 2016 Finest to certain dealers, singles can still be found pretty easily.  Tom sent close to 75 Finest singles in his package.  I kept these 3 Cardinals for my team set.

While this may look like one card, these are 2 minis from 2016 Gypsy Queen.  I think I like the look of them better as one.  Maybe Topps can make a new insert for 2017 called Team Tandems.

Last week I received the entire 2016 Ginter team set from another trader, so this Wacha is going into the duplicate box.  Wacha is currently on the DL with another shoulder problem.  There is a strong possibility he may become a reliever if his shoulder cannot hold up to the 150+innings required to be a starter.