My 10,000th Mets Card

I've been aiming to get to 10,000 Mets Cards for a while now. I finally achieved yesterday when I opened a package of cards I got from a trade I made on TCDB. It was a big trade, I got 175 or so cards, mostly junk wax era stuff, but that's fine. You aren't getting to 10,000 cards with just Topps Chrome Superfractors!

I was hoping the card would be something I had a deeper connection to, like one of my favorite players or something that stirred a specific Mets memory, but that was not the case. 

It's still a Mets card though!

Anyway, my 10,000th Mets Card is a 1997 Circa #207 - Lance Johnson.

Johnson played with the Mets for 2 years (1996 and 1997). He was signed as a Free Agent in December 1995 and was traded in August 2007 to the Cubs, along with Mark Clark and Manny Alexander, for Brian McRae, Mel Rojas and Turk Wendell.

As a Met, Johnson was selected to the 1996 All-Star Squad and he compiled a .326/.369/.458/.827 line with 10 HR in 232 games. 

Here is the card:

I am currently the #9 Mets Collector on TCDB and I am aiming for #1 eventually. On to 20,000 cards!

Some Ugly Noah Syndergaard Cards

 Got a few cards in the mail from a big trade on I made on TCDB. 2 of the cards that came in the trade may very well be some of the ugliest cards in my collection.

The first is a 2018 Topps Gallery Heritage #H-28. As soon as I looked at this card, I thought this is the ugliest depiction of Noah Syndergaard I have ever seen. He looks sort of like that kid from the movie "Mask". I even showed my wife and she agreed it was a very ugly card and a terrible drawing. I mean, Noah's lip is kind of off-centered, his face is sort of twisted, his eyes don't look right.

It's a horrible looking card. I really like Topps Gallery, but not this one.

Judge for yourself:

The second card is also a Topps Gallery card. This time it is a 2020 Topps Gallery - Rainbow Foil #77. The first thing I thought when I looked at this card is it looks like some cheap Jesus painting you could buy at the big flea market in Sevierville at exit 207 on I-40. This looks like it was either done by a 12 year old or some 80 year old grandmother. Remember the scene in Goodfellas when Tommy's Mom is showing the crew her paint by number paintings after the killed Billy Batts? That's what I am talking about.

Instead of a ball, they should have had Syndergaard holding a dove or a lamb or something. Horrible.

I'm going to have to page through my folders and look for some other ugly cards.

Here it is:

That's all for now. Until next time.........

My Favorite Card

I finally finished entering my collection into TCDB. I have 8,923 individual Mets Cards in my collection. Now I just have to enter all the cards I am willing to trade (Mets duplicates and cards of other teams) and I can begin trading again and working towards 10,000 Mets Cards and beyond.

My favorite Mets Card of all time is the 1974 Topps #80 Tom Seaver. The 1974 Topps is the first set of cards I remember collecting when I was young. "Collecting" might be too strong a word for a 6 year old though. Seaver was my Mothers' favorite Met and I am sure she is asking him for an autograph in Heaven right now. 

The pose, of Seaver hurling a pitch over that long stride is classic. It looks like John Milner (one of my favorite Mets of all time) is at first and a packed house watches on. I am not sure if that photo was taken at Shea Stadium, though.

Anyway, I love the 1974 Topps set and if I ever decide to start collecting sets as opposed to just Mets Cards, I will probably start with this one.

Random Card of the Day

The Random Card of the Day from my personal collection is a 1994 Fleer Update #U169 - Mike Remlinger.

Remlinger pitched 60 1/3 innings over 15 games for the Mets during the 1994 and 1995 seasons. He compiled a 1-6 Record with a 4.77 ERA. He also recorded 17 Plate Appearances with 1 Hit and 1 RBI. 

This card is the only card on which Remlinger appears as a Met.

I have no recollection of ever seeing Remlinger play for the Mets!

Random Card of the Day

The random card of the day from my collection is:

2005 Topps #387 Kris Benson

Benson pitched for the Mets in 2004 and 2005, starting 39 Games and compiling a 14-12 record with a 4.23 ERA.

Beyond his pitching career, Benson is probably most famous for his marriage to Anna Benson. Anna, a stripper who had been previously charged with murder, was a perfect fit for the NY tabloids. 

In July 2012, Kris Benson filed for divorce. Anna was arrested on July 8, 2013 after allegedly coming to Kris' home and threatening him with a gun and metal baton while wearing a bullet-proof vest.

Random Card of the Day

It's been awhile since I posted to this blog, but I'm going to try to reactivate it, now that my personal life, which has seen some huge changes over the last 2 years, has settled down. I am reorganizing my Mets Card Collection and will soon get back into trading on TCDB.COM. Also, the 2022 season has me excited about Mets Baseball again.

I'm going to try to post a random card from my Mets Collection every day, sometimes with commentary, sometimes without. It all depends on how busy I am.

So, for 21 July 2022, the random Mets Card of the Day is:

2007 Upper Deck #383 John Maine. 

In the midst of the Mets historic 2007 collapse, Maine threw 7.2 scoreless innings allowing only 1 hit and striking out 14 Florida Marlins on the second to last day of the season (9/29/07). The Mets won that game and pulled back into a tie with the Phillies for 1st place.

The next day, the last day of the season, a game I was at with my wife and 2 sons, Tom Glavine shit the bed, giving up 7 runs in the 1st inning and the Mets lost 8-1. They were also eliminated from the playoffs. 

I'll never forget turning to my 2 sons (ages 5 and 9 at the time) and telling them:

"This is what it means to be a Mets Fan."

They are still Mets Fans to this day.

MY 200TH TCDB TRADE

If you collect baseball cards, you should be aware of the Trading Card Database. You can find it at https://www.tradingcarddb.com/. I created an account there a few years ago, but was using a different site to manage my trades. Then, I went on a baseball card hiatus. In November 2019, I pulled all my cards out, organized them and got back on Trading Card DB.

If you haven't been to TCDB, it's awesome. It's relatively easy to enter your cards - the ones you have, the ones you want and the ones you are willing to trade (or sell). It's also pretty easy to find trading partners.

Suffice to say, it's more for bulk collectors - team collectors, set collectors and player collectors. And it's not just for baseball either. Football, basketball, hockey, non-sport etc are well represented. It probably isn't the place you are going to go to if you are looking to sell some high-value, slabbed cards or trade cards worth thousands. It is, however, an awesome place to get rid of doubles and duplicates and find fills for your card wantlists.

This morning, I completed my 200th trade on TCDB. These trades have taken my Mets Team Collection from just around 2500 cards to well over 8000 individual cards.

My 200th trade was with a trader named Scrubeenie from Fort Worth, TX. This was the 3rd time we traded. In this trade I sent along 10 cards from the 1981 Drake's Big Hitters set and a Bobby Parnell Topps Heritage I had as a duplicate.

In return, I got back the following:

1993 Select - Aces #8 Dwight Gooden

1997 Finest #68 Mark Clark

1999 Topps Gold Label Class 1 #77 John Olerud

2003 Topps #577 Tom Glavine

2010 Bowman #154 Jason Bay

2016 Topps Allen & Ginter #98 Michael Conforto RC

 2016 Topps Allen & Ginter #224 Gary Carter

 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter #14 Robert Gsellman RC

2017 Topps Allen & Ginter - Sport Fish & Fishing Lures #SFL-6 Largemouth Bass

2019 Topps Utz #84 Michael Conforto

Anyway, that's about all there is. I'm happy with that trade. That is all that counts. My next goal is 10,000 individual Mets cards. I'm sure, with the help of the TCDB community, that I will get there.