Trade Me Anything XV: #3

I would like to start by thanking everyone who sent me something for being patient.  Work is busy, Card-vent is in full swing, and the unopened TMA packages are piling up.  Don't worry, I'll get to each one in due time.  This one is from gcrl, another longtime trader.

 

Giving:

#70YT-55 Cody Bellinger

#86B-1 Mike Trout 1986 Topps 35th Anniversary Blue Border

#86C-42 Mike Trout Topps 35th Anniversary Refractor

 

Getting:

Lot of 6 Milwaukee Brewers

Pro Hockey NHL 75-76 Book

This cover reminds me that Mrs. Thorzul has had the idea that we are going to flood the backyard to make a skating rink this winter.  I will keep you posted on this.

May 1964 Issue of Playboy Magazine

No cover, but here's a look at the first and last pages.  Certain things were a lot tamer back then, but not the misogyny.

2011 Topps Collector's Guide

Interesting little booklet, with highlights from past sets and each team's 2011 schedule.

 @wthballs Promo Sticker

Some Cards From My Want List

A good portion of this year's Update I needed, some 2008 UD O-Pee-Chee, and some '74 Topps.

 2013 Topps Jered Weaver BCCG 10

A Daisy Ridley Star Wars Something-or-Other

And I think that's it (so long as I didn't misplace anything).  It's these eclectic trades that really make this worthwhile.  Thanks, gcrl!

2021 Card-vent Calendar: December 12

December 12, 2021:

1973 Topps #47 Mike Bragg

Such is the unappreciated life of a punter.  You wait all game, just hoping that you don't have to play.  If you're lucky, you'll see some action when a teammate tries to use the ice for an unapproved reason.  See the ICE bucket Mike is guarding?  "Emergency use only," it says.  Mike enforces this.  He lies in wait, ready for the moment that may never come.

 

What runs through the mind of a punter during a particularly uneventful game?  For one, you have plenty of time to conceive of a contemporary Christian music album you're thinking of titling "By Request Only" and releasing under the mysterious pseudonym "Ken."
 

Mike, you were never spectacular, but you played your part to the best of your ability.

2021 Card-vent Calendar: December 11

December 11, 2021:

1994 Score #262 Junior Ortiz

THAT LOOK!

The phrase "like a man possessed" certainly comes to mind here, and I think that in this case, it's been captured on film in the most literal sense.

 

Let's see if we can discern what's going on here.

 

Close play at the plate, perhaps toward the end of a tight game, the runner is called safe.

Ortiz is incensed.

Ortiz, despite being from Puerto Rico, begins the incantations for a  Haitian Vodou bòkò curse.

The intent is for the home plate umpire to befall significant personal tragedy in the next calendar year, including haunting by his ancestors, illness to his children, and death of his livestock.

Ortiz inadvertently spies a stadium vendor while delivering the spell.

Between the top and bottom of the ninth inning, the umpire's head is replaced with a three-foot-long hot dog, with mustard. 

Game play is halted for 40 minutes, until a replacement umpire can be found.

Cleveland fall to Toronto, 5-4.

2021 Card-vent Calendar: December 10

December 10, 2021:

1993 SkyBox The Nightmare Before Christmas Prototype

I must confess that I'm not in the camp that worships this movie.  I think it has to do with being just a little too old to fully appreciate it at the time of release.  Once you discover Goodfellas on a library VHS, your threshold changes.  I knew as a 15-year-old that I had to see Pulp Fiction in the theater, but The Sandlot would escape me for 25 years.

 

Do I own the DVD?  Sure.  Do I put it on the to-watch pile each October?  It's usually there.  However, there's this mental block I have where I go back and forth between thinking of TNBC as either a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie.  Basically in whatever season it is,  I tend to view it as part of the other.  If I've got 90 seconds, I'll check out the trailer.  Admittedly the very last shot in that thing gets me every time. 

Good enough.

Though I wouldn't mind tracking down a set of those SkyBox cards, though.

2021 Card-vent Calendar: December 9

December 9, 2021:

1992 Bowman #85 Robert Nutting

You get one guess what Robert did into his jean shorts when he got drafted by the Cubs in the 35th round, then somehow found himself with a card within the first 100 of the checklist in a significant Topps issue.
 

2021 Card-vent Calendar: December 8

December 8, 2021:

2005 The Wayans Bros. Present: The Dozens #17 Yo Mama's Breath Sticker

Well, that's a first for me.

 

Now most collectors who consider themselves "in the loop" would have an easy time remembering the 2010 Topps reprint insert series The Cards Your Mom Threw Out, dubbed the "Yo Mama" set.  Believe it or not, those wacky Wayanses beat Topps to the punch by five years with their rib-based CCG The Dozens.  The rules on the back of this card describe a rudimentary deck-building game based around the popular adolescent pastime of cracking on your friends.  There's even mention of an "Oooh" card, the highest trump available in the game.  Personally, shit-talking of this ilk doesn't need a formal structure, since the time-honored tradition of ribbing someone until they cry already has a relatively established unwritten code.

Down to the nitty grit: Did you ever think you'd see the word "rectal" on a trading card?  Even the free-wheeling 1970s Topps sets eschewed such imagery (though I would have to inspect the backs of those '72s one more time just to make sure).  It gets me thinking, what words or phrases would you like to see appear on a wide-issue trading card?  Here are my Top 5:

5. cocksucker

4. fascist scum

3. Goddamned moron

2. douchebag

1. honky

Fanatics, I'm looking in your direction on this one.  Don't let me down.

2021 Card-vent Calendar: December 7

December 7, 2021:

1995 Upper Deck Minors #91 Roger Bailey

This card has a lot going on.  The Super Soaker with backpack water tank is clearly the star of the show here.  But let's not discount Roger's bad-ass shaved sides.  This haircut died over 25 years ago, but its soul still walks the Earth in search of a high school sophomore ready to explain the connection between the works of John Locke and Nirvana's "Senseless Apprentice" (from the band's third studio album, In Utero) to his British Authors teacher.  And if that's too frighteningly spot-on a reference, I'll go easier on you with this next one.

The first thing that jumps into my head when seeing this card is the ending of The Boy Who Could Fly.  ***SPOILERS*** for a movie from 1986 ahead, but if you're like me, you are picturing a pre-Wonder Years Fred Savage getting the best of a gang of bullies by spraying them with a water gun filled with dog piss.  It's easily been over 30 years since I've seen that part, but I can still enjoy one of the best villain comeuppances in movie history with that one.  I'd imagine Roger's weapon is filled with nothing stronger than high quality H
₂O. "Pew-pew-pew!"