Adventures in Trading: All Rise! Judge is Going to California

2025 Topps Update 1990 Chrome Aaron Judge #U90C-44

It's been a week and it's been a quiet one in my Hobby journey. But just because I'm done with the Series 1 set doesn't mean that trading has ceased. 

Even though it's been years Topps produced team-specific factory sets (the Yankees and Red Sox always seemed to be on the short-list), there are still a number of bonus cards that were included in these sets that I am still searching for. When these first came out in 2004 (I believe), nobody was opening factory sets. Auctions and BIN's for the 5-card bonus cards were rare occurrences on the Bay in the early years. So I made the costly...shuddering...mistake of buying full factory sets JUST so that I could get the bonus cards. I still have factory sets from 2004 and 2005. By now the cards are bricked to the point where it would be impossible (unless I want to experiment with a humidifier or steamer) to separate the cards within. Looking back, that was a very costly lesson in how my patience could betray me. 

Now that everybody has no fear in opening full factory sets, bonus cards are a bit more prevalent on auction sites and elsewhere. And while those certainly have been helpful to me to acquire all of the bonus rookie cards over the years, I've managed to put many of the team-specific bonus cards from 2006 through 2010 lower on my priority wantlist. It's not for lack of trying, but it's just focus has been shifted towards the current year's cards and sets. But when an opportunity arises, like one did earlier this week, I thought why not chance it.

With my 2026 Topps wantlist currently at zero on the TCDB, my notifications for new cards appearing in my Recent Matches have been few and far-between. But a gentleman in California added two bonus cards from the 2006 Topps New York Yankees factory set, Wil Nieves and Alex Rodriguez, on his trade/sell list. What he did with the other three cards, I do not know. Funny enough, I did get the Derek Jeter card from this set ages ago, so at least I have something to start with here. The man had 10 cards on his wantlist that I could offer to trade. So I reached out to him, offering a 2025 Topps Update 1990 Chrome Aaron Judge card for both the Nieves and A-Rod bonus cards. He accepted yesterday. The Judge card is now on its way to Cali.

2006 Topps New York Yankees Bonus Wil Nieves #1 of 5 and Alex Rodriguez #2 of 5

With the Jeter card in my possession, I only need the card #'s 4 Mariano Rivera and 5 Randy Johnson and I can add them to the 2006 Topps binder.

It's only been 20 years. I can wait.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama