October Sports Card Forum Baseball Card Traders

As I've noted before, I've been a long-time member of SportsCardForum. One of the great things about it, is belonging to a group such as the SCF Baseball Card Traders. Actually, it's a pretty sweet deal -- there are six different groups, with at least three traders per group, each seeking cards from a specific team. Each month, each of the groups are paired up and each trader must send at least a minimum of 10 cards.

 

I usually try to throw about 25-30 cards, including a few serial-numbered cards, as well as some nice inserts. If I have a decent auto or game used card for that team, I'll try and throw that in, too. I figure it certainly provides for some good karma.

Among the cards I received this month were these three 2004 Reflection RC cards of Jason Szuminski, Chris Oxsping and Freddy Guzman. These Upper Deck cards are indeed reflective, to say nothing of being shiny and flashy, with an interestingstream background made up of the Padres logo. Really nice cards, easily forgetable players.

 

 I also received a pair of 2006 Finest Jake Peavy cards. The first one is an X-fractor numbered 206/250, while the right one is a Refractor, numbered 7/399. Peavy, a 15th round pick in the 1999 draft and a Padres homegrown player, was truly a joy to watch. In 2004, with a 15-6 record and a stellar 2.27 ERA, he became the youngest pitcher to win an ERA title. His best season as a Padre was yet to come. In 2007, he became San Diego's fourth Cy Young Award winner (behind Randy Jones (1976), Gaylord Perry (1978) and Mark Davis (1989)). Not only that, but he was the 10th NL pitcher to unanimously win the award.

The final pair include the 2008 Topps 50th Anniversary All Rookie Team Ozzie Smith and 2010 Upper Deck Portraits Heath Bell. I know, I know, the Wizard spent the majority of his career with the Cardinals and that's how most people remember him, but damn, did he carve a big swatch as a Padre, especially during his rookie year. During that first year, he stole 40 bases, finished second among all NL shortstops in assists, putouts and double plays and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting to Atlanta's Bob Horner.

I also discovered that Ozzie was playing in a semi-pro league right here in Iowa (Clarinda), when he was initially drafted by the Detroit Tigers. The next year, he'd be a fourth-round pick of the Padres.

Now, I just have to get my packages in the mail. There's only three weeks until the end of the month, so it'll be interesting to see who I'll have as trading partners next month.