I have waited longer than 45 minutes when going out to eat at popular restaurants, with a wife and two toddlers in tow. I will give people I communicate via email at work and wait at least a day or two for a response before sending out a second email. I have sat through two acts of dance performances before my daughter's group would appear for their lone dance of the show. My patience gets tested when dealing with patients at the pharmacy, whether in person or on the phone (I'd share stories, but HIPPA).
But when it comes to collecting baseball cards?
If there is a card or two that I need to complete a set, I must have that card..NOW!!!
As of yesterday, I needed 56 insert cards to finish my master set for 2025 Topps Update Series. Thinking I could at least finish the 2025 Topps Update 1990 set (I just needed one card...figures it's Shohei Ohtani), I put out a couple of trade offers to people on TCDB for this one card. I padded both of the requests, believing that the number of cards I was offering for just this one would be enough.
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| 2025 Topps Update 1990 Shohei Ohtani #U90-33 |
However...
both trade requests were...
REJECTED!!!
Why??!
One person said he just traded his Ohtani card off to someone else. I understand that. It happens. I can accept this.
The other person? Said he was valuing the card higher than the 5 cards I was offering in exchange. Granted, four of those cards were Stars of MLB (which even I don't think have much monetary value, seeing that every retail pack, blaster, box, etc, have anywhere from 1-4 of these cards IN EVERY PACK!!!). But even still, I guess the quantity wasn't enough.
And that's when I snapped.
I wound up going on the Bay at lunch and bought this card, and 12 other insert cards (10 from the same seller.) Then, I went onto Sportlots and bought 31 more cards (26 from the same seller...love the site, but it is always best to buy multiple cards from one or two dealers instead of buying 1 card from more then 10 sellers...shipping charges are brutal). In one 30-minute frenzy, I bought 44 of the 56 I needed to finish the master set.
Patience is a virtue, but I guess self-control is something I need to work on as well, especially when it comes to the Hobby.
So after I recovered, I find myself down to 12 cards. I managed to finish the aforementioned 1990 Topps set, Bleacher Reachers, Most Valuable, and Night Terrors in my shopping spree. This leaves the First Pitch (2 cards to go), Mystical (2), and Topps Black Gold Sets (8) needing to be completed. (If you're wondering why I didn't mention the 50-card All-Star Game set, it's because I managed to complete the set through trades. It was done before all of this happened).
Well...
I sent one trade request earlier today through TCDB. A simple two-card-for-two-card offer. I was requesting two First Pitch cards: #FPU-4 Ethan Levine and #FPU-8 Derek Jeter, in exchange for a 1990 #U90-46 Dylan Crews and All-Star #ASG-48 Logan Webb card. He accepted the transaction. The trade information (with the member's name covered for privacy) is below:
When I came home from work today, I reached out to another TCDB member who had one of the 8 Black Gold cards I still need, #BG-20 Nick Kurtz. During the final minutes of my spending spree, I saw this card on Sportlots, prices ranging from $6.00 to $9.00. I passed on it then, and I'm thankful that I did. The gentleman who I reached out to this afternoon lives in the Chicago area, and is actually a few minutes away from the bulding where I work. We've completed about 7 trades since July, 2024. Each time, he would come to the office building I'd work at, and we'd exchange cards in the lobby. Saves on postage, and I really appreciate him making the trip.
The last time I saw him was in December. I gave him a number of 2024-25 Topps Cubs parallel cards (he's a Cub team collector) for a couple of 2025 Topps Update insert cards. This time, I offered a couple of extra Cub cards, just to get something in the transaction. He responds very quickly and accepts the trade. Knowing I'll see him tomorrow, I'll have to make sure to bring the cards I offered. If this was a cash transaction, I definitely over-paid. But I've always been of the trading mindset of, "I will trade whatever I have on your wantlist for whatever you have on mine, even if it looks lopsided on my end." And when you see the cards involved in this trade, you may think so too. So when I meet him tomorrow, this is what we're exchanging:
After all of this, I am now down to these final 9 cards to complete the 2025 Topps Binder:
- Topps Mystical #MYS-6 Jacob Wilson (Athletics)
- Topps Mystical #MYS-9 Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers)
- Topps Black Gold #BG-3 James Wood (Nationals)
- Topps Black Gold #BG-6 Paul Skenes (Pirates)
- Topps Black Gold #BG-14 Hyeseong Kim (Dodgers)
- Topps Black Gold #BG-18 Aaron Judge (Yankees)
- Topps Black Gold #BG-19 Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers)
- Topps Black Gold #BG-24 Roki Sasaki (Dodgers)
- Topps Black Gold #BG-25 Jacob Wilson (Athletics)
If anyone has any of these cards and would like to trade or sell them to me, please reach out to me at bdj610@hotmail.com and make an offer. My trade/sell list is here. If you don't see anything you need there, just let me know what you're looking for. I'm sure I have something.
Sincerely,
JayBee Anama
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