Coming Back With A Vengeance

We all take breaks from our cards from time to time.  Burnout is bound to happen no matter how much you love collecting.  I have never quit cold turkey myself, but did slow down quite a bit during my college days.  That had more to do with lack of time and funds.  I have noticed other traders who go all out for a while, then seem to disappear.  I completed a trade recently with one such collector. 

Stu G is a member of The Bench and Trading Bases.  I have traded with him a handful of times before.  He likes to work large trades and does a majority of the work finding cards each trader needs.  I cannot recall the last time I traded with him or saw a post of his until a couple of weeks ago when he sent an email with a very outdated list of cards I needed.  After a some revision, we struck a deal for a big chunk of Cardinals. 

Both these vintage cards are in great shape.  The 1972 Topps Hague is almost gem mint.  The 1980 Hernandez has a slight curl to it, but no cracking. 

O-PEE-CHEE cards seem to get overlooked on my wantlist.  I have a few sets close to being done like 1986 where I need just 1 more.  I really need to strike up a trade with some Canadian collectors on TCDB to finish of some of these.

 

Moving on to the 1990s are some various base cards and a 1995 Ultra Gold Medallion.  I was able to complete the 1996 Pinnacle Aficionado set with the Mabry card.

I have a ton of set from the early 2000s that need short print rookie/prospect cards to finish them.  I did finish the 2000 Mystique set with the Ankiel addition.  The Narveson and Gall cards are also sp cards.  The 2003 Total Kline is my favorite of this bunch.  Only 2 more Cardinals needed to finish the 32 card team set. 

Some not so gold Topps gold cards from 2008, 2010, and 2011.  Maybe it is my eyes, but these seem more bronze to me.

2012 was not much better, but I love the postseason highlight cards. 

Topps went more gold in 2016 and 2017, but I missed the borders.  It was a lot easier to spot the cards in packs.  At least the snowflake parallels have a feel to them that you cannot mistake.

The Bowman Ice parallels are a favorite of mine.  So are cards of retired greats like Red and Ozzie. 

2011 Diamond Anniversary cards are simply beautiful.  I wish Topps would bring back this parallel.

Buybacks are something I can do without.  Why take a perfectly good vintage card and slap a stamp on it?  The 1980 Pete V. is in better shape than the regular card I have.

Some Gallery Heritage cards are better than others.  I prefer 2019 Green #ed to 250 over the regular 2018 card.  The 2018 version is to thin to be Yadi.