Old School Trade

In with the old thanks to Matt over at Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius. I really appreciate the cards he sent, which actually rank as the oldest in my Mets collection. Here are my two favorites:


I was quite happy that Matt sent over this Cleon Jones, who will be forever remembered for catching the final out of the 1969 World Series, card.

He also sent over this interesting specimen:

OK, Willie Montanez: Classic Mets - trade for a guy who goes on to play poorly for you. However, the plot thickens thanks to this note from Matt.
Now I am intrigued. So, I take a look at the back and what do I find:
I'm not sure about you, but the first thing I noticed was the tilda on the "n." Hmmm... Topps in the late 70s having a tilda on an "n"? Then, I look at the other Montanez Matt sent, a 1979, no tilda on the front or back. Is this, perhaps, a Spanish card? Why yes it is. Complete Major League Batting Record in English and Spanish. Very nice!

Thanks again Matt.

Call to Arms and a Delgado Trifecta

First, and most importantly, there has been a call to arms in support of a fellow card blogger. Please check it out here.

Second, thanks to my recent trades with McCann Can Triple (referred to in an earlier post) and now a trade with Steve over at White Sox Cards I ended up with these three Delgado beauties.



Can you tell the difference between the second two? Here is how the back of the white boardered one on the right looks:


Look again. The Topps Logo in the upper left hand corner is different to match the old-school, true-cardboard look on the back of the card. The back of the black boarder and base Delagado are both the normal glossy white.

So thanks to Steve and everyone else who has been working out trades with me I now have three 2010 Delgados where once there were none.

My biggest question is whether this will be Delgado's last basic Topps card. If so those 473 HRs are not going to be enough to get him into the Hall of Fame, at least not in my opinion.

First Completed Trade

Courtesy of BA Benny I got my first package of trade material in the mail today. He was very generous with me, especially considering the fact that we are both Met fans. I got some great game used cards and other Mets singles in return for the vast majority of my yankee collection including the one game-used card I have ever pulled (of course it would be a Bernie Williams card) and all my Jeters and Posadas. Thank you for taking them off my hands and sending me back some NL New York cards! I even got an Edgardo Alfonzo card that I did not already have.

First, my favorite game used from the bunch, a Turkey Red Pedro Jersey card. Yes, I am posting back-to-back Pedro game used cards, but I have always enjoyed Turkey Red and I love the texture on this card (which you can see from the scan) in addition to a black uniform piece that will compliment the white ones from the last post. I was looking at the statistics from Pedro's first season with the Mets, on the back of a Topps Opening Day card from the trade, and I had forgotten how good Pedro was that year: a 0.95 WHIP and almost 9K/9. That was one of the best years in Pedro's career.

My favorite completely cardboard card was the David Wright on the right. I like the return to classic card designs that the industry decided on several years ago. The bright colors on this card are awesome and contrast nicely with the black and white photo.

So thanks again BA Benny! I will let you know when I get some more Yankee cards worth trading.

I should be getting several other packages in the mail this week from trades and ebay, so I have some fun stuff to look forward to.

Card of Day #1

Todd Hundley E-X2000 1997 #85
Construction: Cardstock frame with blue sky style translucent plastic window


So why in a blog entitled "Clear Cut Cards" do I choose a card that is not really clear at all as my first choice?

Well, for one eX was one of the first brands that I became aware of as using non paper based materials well in card construction and I was hooked right away. Unfortunately, I did not have the means to purchase packs at the time, so I stuck to a few reasonably price singles such as this one. Happily, several of eX's subsequent releases continued to up the ante when it came to using plastic as the card's base.

Another reason is because Hundley, definitely my favorite Met of his era, worked in New York during the most productive part of his career while being from the Chicagoland area and I find myself in the opposite situation: being from New York while working in the Chicagoland area. So, I guess part of the reason for this selection is in way of an introduction. Hi!

Oh, here is the back of the card. You can tell that the card certainly has its flaws (missing thumb and cut off brim to the helmet), but it is interesting!

I hope to be updating the list of cards I have in the coming weeks. I decided to start with my Piazza collection, probably the largest of any player I own.