A Surprise PWE From Johnnys Trading Spot

Aloha, everybody,

Last week I received a pleasant surprise in the mail - it was from one of my long-time PWE trade collaboraters, Johnnys Trading Spot.

Let's dive in and see what was in the envelope. THANKS, John. I'll get you back soon.

Enjoy and aloha!

Baseball Cards Surprise Package From Johnny's Trading Spot

Aloha, everybody,

I received a surprise package from Johnny's Trading Spot. Let's check out this great windfall of Dodgers cardboard!

Apologies, John, for taking so long to upload this video. Just having life things get in the way of my online hobby fun. Hopefully, 2020 will bring me more free time to be active. 

Thanks again for the great cards! I appreciate them and it was a wonderful surprise. 

Coming next: A package from Zippy Zappy 

Aloha!

What's Good for a Rainy Day? Some New Piazzas, of course!

Aloha, everybody, 

Time to play some catch up with backed up trade posts. Today's cool batch-o-cardboard came to me from Johnny's Trading Spot. 

Good ol' John sent over a great smattering of Piazzas (and a few others) that were all new for my collection. Let's get right to 'em...

Mike and his contemporaries were lucky to come along in one of the golden eras of cardboard. Sure, we refer to it as the "junk wax era" because there were so many sets popping out of the woodwork, and so much overproduction. 

I subscribe to the theory that was actually a hidden blessing. So many sets led to competition, creativity and variety in card designs. No Topps monopoly meant card companies beyond the grandfather brand could use real team logos and didn't have to play stupid airbrush games, or only use photos of our cardboard heroes from behind. 

How about a great play at the plate...Spring Training style...

It might just be the Dodgers-tinted glasses that I wear, but Piazza seems a perfect fit for the design and photography styles of the day...

Really digging this shot of big Mike waiting for the inevitable home plate collision. They even used it for the close up on his name plate. 

Speaking of cards I dig. Here's a meaningless (in the grand scope of things) but beautiful, little work of baseball art. 

Finally, another great action photo...

A great haul of Piazzas. THANKS, John. More cards coming your way as soon as I build another stack for you. 

Aloha! 

The Golden Age of Blogger Events, Games and Prizes

Aloha, everybody, 

Is it just me, or have these past couple of months in the blogosphere been a whirlwind of contests, giveaways and big time trade-a-thons? 

It's not a bad thing. Not at all. Increased interaction among us is a great thing. Our periods of "quiet blogging" are punctuated by the occasional contest and blog bat around, but it seems to me this is different. We're in the middle of a golden period of interaction, trades and gifting in our community. 

Fittingly, my brother from another mother, who we all recognize as one of (if not THE) most generous of bloggers around, good ol' Wes, kicked all of this off with his revival of the Big Fun Game. That set the ball rolling and the blogosphere has been filled with one event after another ever since. Some events, of course, have bee more successful than others. 

One idea that I liked, which unfortunately has stalled (for now), was the Fun-at-a-Time book chain, which was launched by Matt, from Summer of '74. The book chain slowed up here on ATBATT, but it did spur some positive comments. A good suggestion came from Jon, the proprietor of A Penny Sleeve for Your Thoughts. He surmised we would have more time for reading books in the baseball offseason. I'm thinking we may have to revisit the book chain at that time. 

As I mentioned, the book chain stalled, but it won't stop. Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown mentioned he wants to read Mint Condition (the first book in the chain), so Gav, as soon as I'm finished reading it (I'm presently about a third of the way through), I'll be sending it off to you. There's no obligation that you run the book chain. I'm just completing my part in the chain, and I'm happy to pass off a good book to someone who wants it. 

But I digress. Back to our golden age topic. I'm backed up with winnings posts, so the next few will be featuring my loot from a few contests. 

Here we go with my winning item from The BFG over at Johnny's Trading Post. Check this out...

It's a heavy duty, and I mean HEAVY, bronze, Roberto Alomar RC from the Highland Mint. 

It's a pretty cool relic, but I'll have to admit, I'm not really an Alomar or Padres collector, so I'd like it go to a loving home. Anybody out there fancy a trade? My ears and eyes are open. 

John also included some bonus Dodgers for me that I do collect. Yahoo! 

 Finally, hard luck Julio Urias, whose out for who-knows-how-long with arm troubles. This despite the Dodgers' best-intentions of pampering him. I'm hoping for the young southpaw's speedy and complete recovery.

Aloha! 

The Lost Collector Chooses Prize Number 5

Aloha, everybody, 

Let's get the Lucky 13 Game up and running early today (at least, early on the west coast). 

The Lost Collector has already picked up a couple of bonus prizes while waiting his turn. He's got his chance and taken Prize Number 5, the first non-baseball related prize of the game, the Football Lot...

There's a couple of promo cards, a Barry Sanders mini, and a couple of autos. 

In honor of the first non-baseball prize, let's have a bonus giveaway. Anybody can try for the bonus except for The Lost Collector and our next contestant...John Miller. To win the bonus, just include the word bonus somehow in your comment. 

John, your choices are: Numbers 3, 9,10, 12, or possibly stealing...
Prize 1: 50's Vintage 
Prize 2: Wheaties Boxes
Prize 4: Clemens, Schmidt, Ripken
Prize 5: Football Lot
Prize 6: Young Stars, Rookies
Prize 7: 70's Vintage
Prize 8: Autos, Relics Lot
Prize 9: Dodgers Figurines
Prize 11: Mixed Packs Lot 
Prize 13: 60's Vintage (Locked) 

Aloha! 

How Did it Take so Long for Me to Trade With a Trading Spot?

Aloha, everybody, 

The name of my blog doesn't pull any punches. It's all trade bait...all the bloody time. Sure, I like showing off cards and writing about stuff, but ATBATT is really all about the trading. THAT'S what I love about our community. 

There's another guy out there who runs a blog that's all about the trades, it's called Johnny's Trading Spot. It took a while, but our two trading blogs finally knocked out our first swap. 

Spoiler Alert: Good ol' Johnny did not disappoint. He went right for my Dodgers team checklists and batted .1000

Wes Parker was my first favorite Dodger. He was southpaw and played first base. What's not to love? 

 That looks like a lurking skipper back there. It's Walter Alston performing the magic floating ball trick. 

More needed Dodgers. This time '71 Topps...

Here's a good one. Bobby Valentine's RC...

Raul Mondesi gets the Disneyland Haunted House spooky face treatment on this 1996 SP Special FX card. Now I need to find the die-cut version...

One more for my 2017 Topps team...

 Who knew Jeff Kent had so many Dodgers cards? I'll take em all! 

Finally, the one who got away, Jose De Leon. He was traded away for the Dodgers new second baseman, Logan Forsythe. He's now playing for the Durham Bulls. 

Grant Dayton got his call up to the Dodgers. He's had a decent start, so stay tuned. 

Decent start, stay tuned. The same holds true for the new trading relationship between JTS and ATBATT. THANKS for the great trade, John! 

Aloha!