Ebay/SCF Pick-Ups

I love to trade baseball cards.  Which is an obvious statement, being that I have a baseball card blog.  Trading is one of my favorite things to do in this hobby.  You send cards that you may not want to someone who will really enjoy them and they send you something that you'll cherish.  Also, the person you mail a package to is a stranger.  You may never meet this person or even know what they look like.  It makes the baseball card collecting even greater because of the internet.  It opens trade portals that you never know existed.  I'm sure Al Gore had trading cards in mind when he invented the internet.

The Shawn Green card above was acquired from one of the many strangers that I trade with on the Sports Card Forum.  It's a card from 2001 Private Stock.  The Sports Card Forum was a site that I joined last fall when I started to get back into collecting.  That site has been the source of over a hundred trades and helped me build up my collection.  I had a lot of gaps to fill in my PC after taking several years off from the hobby and the Sports Card Forum helped me obtain a lot of cards.  My screen name over there in Spiegel83.  So, look me up if you'd like.

This was the second card that I received in the same trade.  It's a 2009 Topps Career Best Matt Kemp GU.  This card has two gray swatches from his jersey.  It looks like a retro jersey though.  It kinda looks to be made of wool from the type of jersey Pee Wee Reese would have worn. 

This is my first game used card from 2011 Topps.  I picked this one up on ebay.  As you can compare this Matt Kemp to the 2009 Topps Matt Kemp, the jersey looks different.  The material doesn't even look the same at all.  Maybe, one of you other bloggers out there can explain this to me.  The back of this card lists the center fielders who have hit the most homers during the 09-10 season.  Kemp ranks number two behind Curtis Granderson.  Kemp takes some grief about his defense and base running from Dodger fans.  He is still a major talent with huge power potential.  I expect that if Topps does a card like this again in five years that Kemp will be far and away the number one power hitting center fielder.  That may be my Dodger bias kicking in but, I still believe that Matt Kemp is the next Dodger superstar.

Andre Ethier is my favorite current Dodger.  From his clutch hits to his great hair, Ethier is my boy.  This card is a gold refractor from 2010 Bowman Platinum numbered to 539.  I was able to snag this one for $1.25 delivered.  The goldiness gives this card a classy, regal feel.  Ethier is another Dodger that I expect to have a big year.  Maybe hit 30-35 homers if things go right.  I think my Dodger bias is persisting.

This card was another ebay pick-up.  This is a very sweet 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces Mike Piazza.  The card depicts Piazza in Dodger blue not the stolen blue of the Mets.  I only collect Piazza cards when he is wearing a Dodger uni.  When he is pictured in any other uniform it makes me depressed and angry towards Fox for trading him.  Upper Deck Masterpieces is one of my favorite sets.  It's also a set where I have never opened a pack but, I am able to get cards from this set by way of trade or purchase.

One more thing before I go, Night Owl wrote a post last night about a package that I sent him.  I love his blog!  Anyways, he seemed to really appreciate what I sent him.  I believe he also is a reader of my blog which gives me a very happy feeling.  Night Owl is one of the blogs that got me to not only collect cards but to also read about them.  He is one of the reasons that I decided to start my own blog.  He seems to have a joyfulness in his posts.  I just wanted to give a shout out to my boy, Night Owl.  He is the leader of the Dodger Blogger Union.  Please check out what he wrote last night, right here.