Trade with Fellow Blogger: Caitlin of Yankees and Jays.

I scored my biggest (price guide wise) trade to date with a relatively newcomer to the blogosphere.

Caitlin of Yankees and Jays. fame has had a card on her trade bait for quite sometime and I approached her months ago but she was more in the selling mode at that time than trading mode so I passed at the time but kept it in the back of my mind as I would check in again to see if her stance would change.

Trout, Ethier with a dash of Adrian

I contacted her a few weeks ago to see if the card was still available and it still was but she was more receptive to trading it now. There was still a little money involved as I paid off one of her box breaks she entered that was hosted by Nachos Grande . That thankfully was the only money out of pocket. 

One more Trout and one more Adrian

Now the fun part. With the card being of higher book value than usual I had to come up with a package that was acceptable to her. I was getting one autograph but I ended up giving up a few to get that one. The big 2 were the BGS graded Abreu that I pulled from a  Chavez Ravining box break. The only reason I entered that break was to pull that specific card for the purpose to trade it for a more desirable autograph. Plan worked to a "T". Next up was the one card that hurt the most but I had to give something to get something and that something was a Giancarlo "Mike" Stanton 5 Star autograph. Hurt to part with it but I am already on the hunt for another copy.

Kid K and the Bison

After that one we agreed on a Trumbo autograph card and a Nick Castellanos autograph card that I also pulled in the box break that yielded the Abreu. I had no attachment to either so I was okay with those. I also believed there was a Nathan Eovaldi autograph but again no big loss to me on that. The Stanton one still hurts the most.

2014 Topps Class Ring Insert of Trout

Though I was only after one card from Caitlin she was kind enough to throw in some other cards that you have seen as I have typed out this post. The biggest of the batch is the Trout right above this paragraph. I am no longer collecting relic cards so if anyone is interested in this feel free to contact me. A lot of great cards were included in the package but the prize is this one :

2014 Topps Strata Autograph of future Hall of Fame member Ken Griffey Jr.

21 / 25

Finally, this beauty is mine. When I first saw it on Caitlin's trade bait I wanted it but the timing was not right till now. I had an autograph ball of Griffey but we all know what happened to that (ball purge) so I have been on the look out for a long time to reacquire Ken's autograph. There were two requirements though, one it had to be an on card autograph and two it had to have him in a Mariner uniform. I associate him with the Mariners and glad he was able to retire as one at the end of his career.

I could have waited till January and used my eBay bucks and gift cards to get Griffey's autograph but why wait when I could get this one for cards I wasn't too attached too and swap them for a card I really wanted in my collection. Caitlin now has cards she really wanted and I now have a card I really wanted. A win win of a trade.

Thank you again to her for our first trade. Though it took some time to get the logistics figured out the trade was completed without a hitch. Look forward to our next one.

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... she did throw in one last card though. A unique one at that. One I might have to replicate somewhere down the road for myself. Here we go :

1 / 99

A self made card! Now why I haven't thought of or gotten around to doing this for myself? Who wouldn't want a Penguin card? Don't answer that. Ha Ha. As you can see it is numbered 1 of only 99. That's right, I received the first one. A true one of one.
= )