Trade POSTS!!!! Gotta love some tradin'...

Hey everyone, the wife and I just got home from our first Astros game of the season... an embarrassment at the hands of the Reds, apparently Homer Bailey is unstoppable. Needless to say we're old and didn't stay until the end. I got free tickets through an old high school buddy who is now the Astros "Director of Entertainment" which, from the product on the field tonight, I'm assuming he's not in charge of the actual team... GREAT seats though about 10 rows up behind Astros' on-deck circle. I was very happy to yell at Carlos Lee a few times.

Onward, I know you came here to read about trades and not the Astros' latest attempt to deepen their fans' collective shame... so first up we have Ryan G over at "This Card is Cool", who worked his tail off to get me some Astros hits in exchange for a couple of nice mini's from my own boxes, the Bard "leather" and the Victor Martinez sepia tone /99. We built up some more trade material and I also pulled in a 2011 Topps Silk of Michael Cuddyer that I flipped to Rhubarb_Runner (I'll get to that trade later this week, it's a doozie!). So, here's the highlights of my end of the deal:

The Biggio is especially sweet as it is numbered 65/88, the Bagwell is 92/125, both solid hits and great additions to my collection. My Bagwell "hit" collection is pretty low in quantity, so I always appreciate anyone who runs one of these down to send my way. Thanks Ryan!

Next up is my blogger buddy Derek from Tomahawk Chopping, this is the first of two trades we consummated within a weeks time. The second trade should show up later in the week and I'll get that one posted probably around the same times as the previously mentioned trade! This trade involved quite a few cards from my 2011 GQ want list and a couple of bronze bordered cards, so he's the first to officially net entries into the contest! (You didn't think I'd go the entire post without mentioning that right? By the way, even if you send me one that I already have, you still get an entry! I can use duplicates to trade for ones I need!!!) He sent me 18 cards from my want list as well! So, here's what he sent my way:

Vlad and Matt Kemp, I know I've got another Kemp headed my way from the duplicates from the group break, so that'll be one I have available for trade!!!! Thanks Derek!

Next up is Matt Hickes from Cardboard Anathema: he sent a long a nice stack of "Great Ones", "Home Run Heroes" and "Future Stars". Plus a bronze border and an SP, as seen below!

Stupid scanner cut them off... me and the scanner are going to have a serious discussion later tonight and if he doesn't get his act together, he's getting the "Office Space" treatment... Ok, sorry scanner I didn't meant it, just stop cutting off the bottoms of the cards! Great cards, thanks again Matt!

Finally, I present to you a "token of appreciation" card received from one of the greatest-named-blog bloggers, Spankee over at My Cardboard Mistress. He just posted his video of cards from the group break, and gave me some props... he also sent me 2 UD 20th Anniversary cards (yes, I'm still collecting this ridiculous set!) and this great vintage card of a bygone Astros manager:

BY GOLLY IT'S GRADY!!!! Sorry, I feel the need to speak country-fied whenever I see someone named Grady... alright, that's it... it's bed time... goodnight blog-o-sphere... oh yea, on a totally unrelated note, it looks like we're going to be moving... like to another state... like Alabama... this summer... Mobile here we come! That's that "big news" I mentioned a few weeks back, life is about to get crazy!!!!