Much catching up has been done this week in completing trades and sorting to get some trades going.

The most common trade avenue I’ve been conducting is the base team trades. I’ll trade you “x” amount of your favorite team for “x” amount of Cubs. I do have all teams available for baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. Additionally, I have select wrestling cards (newer – no vintage), as well as thousands of NASCAR and other racing cards.

Also, I have some non-sports card sets. These are all available.

Along with team trades, I have several player lots sorted. For football, I have a Barry Sanders and Randy Moss stack already sorted.

Baseball is where a majority of my player lots are at this time. When trading for players, I’d prefer to move player lots for Cubs stars, specifically Ryne Sandberg, Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Kerry Wood.

Player lots I have include: Roger Clemens, Craig Biggio, Lance Berkman, Nolan Ryan, Jim Thome, Tony Gwynn, George Brett, Pete Rose, Frank Thomas, Jose Canseco, Nomar Garciaparra, Manny Ramirez, Fred McGriff, Pedro Martinez, Don Mattingly, Wade Boggs, Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez, Alex Rodriguez, Kirby Puckett, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, Jeff Bagwell, Deion Sanders, Ozzie Smith, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Robin Yount, Mike Mussina, Mariano Rivera, Yadier Molina, Rickey Henderson, Omar Vizquel, Steve Garvey, Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, Randy Johnson, Mark McGwire, Andrew McCutchen, Mike Schmidt, Sammy Sosa, and Gary Sheffield.

Let’s trade!

Trade maildays have been few and far between lately with my schedule. A bubble mailer arrived today from Joe in New York, and it was packed with some goodies, and plenty of new cards for the collection.

First, some new Javier Baez cards. There were five Baez cards total and two new ones including a 2017 Topps glove work Insert and a 2018 Opening Day foil.

Some Kris Bryant cards inside as well. The 2016 Topps Record Setters and 2017 Topps MVP inserts are new for me.

The other half of Bryzzo is represented with this 2013 Topps Heritage rookie cup.

Here is a 2000 Topps Prospects card featuring Corey Patterson.

And there’s a young Josh Hamilton before his off the field problems sidelined his career a bit.

Another trifecta, this one all Cubs from 2017 Bowman. It’s a Talent Pipeline Insert featuring Eloy Jimenez, Ian Happ, and Mark Zagunis.

My first 2017 Bowman Draft Chrome Refractor is Brendon Little.

He was the Cubs first round (27th overall) selection last year.

I love Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam. In two months I will be taking in my all time favorite band inside my all time favorite place on Earth (Wrigley Field).

I may start hoarding these Vedder first pitch cards. Why not? I’m already hoarding Cubs cards!

Usually when looking back on Cubs top prospects it’s very disappointing (pre-2013). At first glance, you see the names and think the same thing, but when you break it down it’s pretty refreshing.

Andrew Cashner turned into Anthony Rizzo. Chris Carpenter kind of turned into Theo Epstein. And then there’s Aaron Shafer.

And Dylan Cease (along with Eloy Jimenez) turned into Jose Quintana. At one time I was hoarding Dylan Cease cards and still own over 600 of his 2014 Bowman Draft cards and about 15 of his 2014 Chrome autographs. Surprisingly, this is my first Cease 2017 Bowman yellow retail exclusive.

Every time I walk into Wrigley Field the smell makes me want to throw up. Maybe it’s the “incredible eats.”

Even though Wrigley Field and the surrounding neighborhood is my favorite place in the world, the smells in the bowels of Wrigley still make me want to barf.

A new Addison Russell for the collection from 2017 Donruss Optic.

And I used to despise the buybacks from Topps. I’m beginning to come around, and have actually sought out a few to add to my collection.

Here’s a new one: 1964 Topps Steve Boros 50th anniversary Buyback.

Thanks for the trade, Joe. He’ll be receiving Yankees in return.

While enjoying a new favorite beer (Sweet Sunglasses blonde ale from Hop Haus Brewing in Verona, WI) on my patio, I began thinking about Cubs baseball cards on my want list.

I’ve been able to knock off a few cards from that list over the past few months. There’s one card that has always been at the top, and remains there for now. The 1954 Topps Ernie Banks rookie card. Eventually I will pick off a low grade copy (the below copy is not mine – google image search).

So, then I took to Twitter and received an overwhelming response. A response so good it became blog worthy.

Thanks, everyone for joining the conversation. I posed the same question to Twitter. What’s the number one card on your want (or wish) list?

My ten most wanted Cubs cards.

Last week, Brian in Chandler, Arizona reached out saying he had some Cubs to send me. In return I’ll be sending out Brewers and Diamondbacks.

His package arrived Saturday, and instantly I had to send him a message as he had included some Club 400 stickers.

My love for Club 400 is well known here, as I’ve made a couple trips to the ultimate Cubs pad. Stu, the owner of Club 400 is an awesome person and I’ve been privileged to get to know him at Cubs Conventions, and his events at Club 400.

So I had to ask Brian if he was a member of Club 400. His response was even better. Brian served as an umpire at Randy Hundley’s Cubs Fantasy Camp this past spring. Stu and his brother Eric both played in the Fantasy Camp this year and brought a bunch of stickers with them. Brian said he picked up a few at the end of Camp party. These are the types of connections that make the journey to collect one million Cubs cards worth it. I am enjoying interacting with fellow collectors and others involved in baseball just as much as opening my mailbox and finding packages filled with Cubs cards.

Now to the cards! A nice stack of Starlin Castro’s were here, including a 2011 Topps Chrome I’ve never seen.

And some Bryzzo.

My favorite! Javy Baez!!!

Allen & Ginter is one of my favorite products. Some of the Insert sets turn me off, but this Derrek Lee This Day In History Insert is a beauty.

Another insert from a Cubs player from long ago. This Hack Wilson is from 2002 Topps. Love the photo and the Cubs logo in the background with the shatter look.

A serial numbered Kyle Smit from 2011 Bowman Chrome. This is 374/799. Smit reached Triple A with the Iowa Cubs in 2011, but never made it to the big leagues.

I love the cards of players like Smit and Mike Amrhein. Amrhein was drafted by the Cubs in the 10th round of the 1997 MLB Draft. He worked all the way up to Triple A Iowa in 2002, his last year in professional baseball.

Chris Carpenter did make it to the show, debuting with the Cubs on June 14, 2011. Eight months later he was traded to the Boston Red Sox for….Theo Epstein. Carpenter was sent to Boston as compensation for the Cubs hiring Epstein. No offense to Chris, but I really like this “trade.” But I also like this 2011 Bowman Chrome Green X-Fractor of Carpenter. Just a bit less than seeing Epstein in a box at Wrigley Field!

More shiny cards in the form of Jeff Samardzija. A 2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary and a 2012 Topps Gold Sparkle.

In 2016, Topps included a 100 Years of Wrigley subset. I absolutely love this Insert set. I’m a bit bias.

James Russell will always be a household name in my home. That’s because I have a pair of his game worn throwback pants in a shadow box hanging on my basement wall. My wife wouldn’t allow me to outfit a mannequin in Cubs game worn memorabilia, so this was a compromise. This Russell card is a 2010 Topps copper Parallel numbered 196/399.

Thanks for the trade, and a great story Brian!

Sometime in the mid-2000’s I ramped up my through the mail (TTM) collecting. From 2004 through 2008 I amassed a collection of more than 1,000 Cubs autographed baseball cards that were all successes by sending a letter in the mail.

There are two great sources for TTM collecting. Mainly, is Sports Collector’s Net, a huge database of addresses and a tracking of successes and failures. The other is Harvey Meiselman’s address book. This was a huge help during my intense TTM collecting.

It also made me realize that there was a former Chicago Cubs player right in my backyard. Not literally, but the same town of Macomb, Illinois. His name was Alec Distaso and was a member of the 1969 Cubs.

For some reason I never did send anything to Distaso, and sadly he passed away in 2009. After his death, I wrote a column about Distaso’s playing career.

I wrote a weekly column for a newspaper in Macomb on various topics. Even about baseball card collecting (unfortunately I cannot track down the Distaso column).

Distaso had an interesting life, and I never did learn much more about him. He was a very private man in his later years. One of the local sports editors for the newspaper attempted to interview Distaso multiple times and he always declined.

After his playing days, Distaso entered the police force and became a detective for the Los Angeles Police Department. He retired in 1994, and somehow made his way to Macomb, Illinois of all places.

As I opened my mailbox I was expecting one package to be inside (more on that tomorrow). But to my surprise there was a second and larger package. The curiosity struck me because I currently do not have any trades that would arrive today.

It was sent from my buddy Matt in Galesburg, Illinois. This was truly unexpected. And then I opened up to find the contents! Wow!

First, there are several Sunoco unopened packs. They are from a set I haven’t seen before produced in 2001. It’s Sunoco Dream Team and the set includes 12 cards. I opened a pack to check them out.

There were a couple piles of 2005 Peoria Chiefs cards. The Chiefs (the Cubs-affiliated Chiefs are close to my heart, and I don’t have any from 2005….until now).

As I looked inside, I was shocked. Here’s an Alberto Garcia signed Bowman Chrome. And another, and another, and another…

Also a signed 1983 Fleer Jody Davis.

And a couple 2004 SP Prospects Ryan Norwood signed cards.

Peoria also put out a smaller team set in the mid-2000’s from the Disabled American Veterans. Now I have a 2006 DAV Chiefs set.

But wait…Opening another packet I found more autographs…a lot more!

Mixed among the Cubs and autographs were a Michael Jordan, a 1983 Donruss Cal Ripken Jr, and a couple of really nice Kellogg’s 3-D All Stars.

To top it all off a couple sealed minor league sets of the Las Vegas Stars and Omaha Royals from 1990.

At first I was going to send a stack of Tony Gwynn cards to Matt. After flipping through all these goodies I’m gonna have to step up my game for a return package. I love this hobby!

I’ll be heading out to a Madison Mallards game in a few minutes. My office reserved seating in the “Duck Blind.” I’ll be looking to add to my “sorta Cubs collection” in search of a 2017 Mallards team set. Cubs first round draft pick Nico Hoerner was a member of the Mallards last summer. The Mallards are a collegiate summer team.

Tomorrow (Wednesday 6/12) marks the release date for 2018 Topps Series 2. Normally, I don’t even buy blasters of this product, only picking some up in my stocking at Christmas. But this year it seems somewhat enticing, maybe because I had fun breaking Topps Series 1 this year. Also, my wife will be out of town for 10 days so I’ll have more than enough baseball card time. So, I decided to buy a few hobby boxes.

The Cubs are well represented in the checklist, as they also were in Series 1.

Series 2 Cubs base checklist

384 – Addison Russell

391 – Ben Zobrist

399 – Cubs team card

422 – Victor Caratini

432 – Albert Almora

436 – Yu Darvish

487 – Carl Edwards Jr.

498 – Jen Ho Tseng

500 – Kris Bryant

529 – Cubs Combo Card

552 – Kyle Hendricks

572 – Dillon Maples

643 – Justin Wilson

691 – Jason Heyward

699 – Drew Smyly

Love the series 2 base checklist. Another Drew Smyly card is odd (he was also in Heritage), since he won’t play this year. Other than that nothing stands out here.

The Cubs also get several variations and short prints, including the above Yu Darvish variation.

There are plenty of inserts, including the 1983 All-Star cards.

83AS-33 – Kris Bryant

83AS-34 – Anthony Rizzo

83AS-35 – Addison Russell

83AS-49 – Ryne Sandberg

Jen-Ho Tseng and Dillon Maples are in the 83 Rookies Insert set.

I will have to pick up some retail boxes, because it’s the only place to pull the Future Stars cards that include a few Cubs.

FS-23 – Ian Happ

FS-33 – Addison Russell

FS-35 – Javier Baez

FS-37 – Kyle Schwarber

Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Willson Contreras all have Home Run Challenge cards. Billy Williams is in the Instant Impact set.

Legends in the Making is also available retail only.

LITM-5 – Kyle Schwarber

LITM-6 – Addison Russell

LITM-7 – Javier Baez

Another subset with plenty of Cubs honors the home run. It’s the Long Ball Legends.

LL-4 – Willson Contreras

LL-20 – Kris Bryant

LL-26 – Anthony Rizzo

LL-33 – Kyle Schwarber

Another retail only is the United States flag patch, in which Javier Baez has a card.

Additionally, there are autographs to these Insert sets and other relics available. After seeing the checklist, I seem to want more cards out of retail than hobby. Stay tuned, I will be ripping 2018 Topps Series 2 later this week.