Better Late Than Never

In my 20 some years of trading via the internet, I can only recall 2 times being the victim of a bad trade.  Both trades were back in the early 2000s when Beckett still had a free trade feature.  One was for a Griffey Jr. insert from some Pacific brand that booked around $20 at the time.  Not that big of a deal.  The other was for a 2001 Donruss Classics Legendary Lumberjacks bat card of Roberto Clemente.  I was shocked to pull that card from a few retail packs I bought from Wal-Mart.  I do not remember what I was to get in return, just that I never got it.  I found out later that the father & son team from Verona , New Jersey ripped off quite a few people.
 
Back in April I made a trade that involved about 30 low dollar inserts for some various Cardinals needs.  After 2 weeks of not receiving the cards, the other trader sent a message about a health problem that kept him from mailing.  Long story short, I did not receive anything or have any communication until September when out of the blue he sent an apology stating he was back on is feet and would be sending something my way.  Although it took over a month, a package arrived over the weekend.  The other trader could not find a 4 or 5 of the original cards, but he did add some substitutes.

 

Back in April I needed all of these 1990 Swell cards.  Now I just needed two.

1991 Line Drive had a AA and AAA set for some teams.  Back then the Cardinals Double A team was the Arkansas Travelers, Triple A was the Louisville Redbirds.  Always nice to see the manager and even coaches getting some cardboard love.

The black and white player profiles on these 1996 Pinnacle Afcionado cards are a little creepy.  Kudos to Pinnacle for trying something different, but these were not a great effort.

I have very few MLB Showdown cards in my collection.  The top 2 are from 2000, the bottom from 2001.  Has anyone ever used these cards to play the game?

I remembered I was shocked the first time I found out that Steve Carlton played for the Cardinals.  Granted I was only about 12 at the time, but how could the Cardinals trade away a future HOF pitcher?  I guess Carlton wanted a little more money than what Gussie Busch wanted to pay, so he was traded in 1972 for Rick Wise.  This was like Brock for Broglio, but on the other end of the spectrum for the Cardinals.

Early Topps Chrome cards and my scanner do not mix.  The Drew is from 2002, while the Morris finished my 1999 team set.

Molina almost looks young in this 2006 Fleer Silver parallel.  He does have a lot less tattoos anyway. 

I already had the 2012 Topps Golden Greats from another trade, but did need the other two.  The Career Day insert is my favorite, as it highlights his home run off Brad Lidge in the 2005 playoffs.

I also had one of these Musial inserts by the time the package arrived.  I need three more to complete the 20 card 2015 Leaf Musial Moments insert set. 

All in all it was a decent trade for me.  It did take forever to complete, but I was not out of too much.  I guess I can sleep better now that I know I did not get ripped off.