A Truckload of Baseball Cards Trade

My favorite part of the collecting hobby is acquiring large amounts of cards, be it through Craigslist or other means. Over the past five years I have picked up bulk loads of cards about a dozen times. In some instances the lot of cards was nothing but junk era commons. A couple other instances there were some high dollar sets and bulk vintage involved.

Through the One Million Cubs Project I have had the pleasure of communicating with several new fellow collectors and have concluded about 20 trades in the past month. 

One such collector on Twitter, @SScards16, began flashing pictures of large amounts of monster boxes. My favorite! Even better he offered to GIVE me what he didn't want. Give as in free. He lives in Sterling, Illinois, which is only two hours from home. Score!

His sorting was complete earlier this week, so we arranged Saturday for me to pick up the boxes. By Saturday, the count was 51 monster boxes. 

A good friend from college now lives in Sterling where he is the high school volleyball coach of a very successful program (189-38 over the past six seasons). He was free for lunch and I was able to visit with an old friend to make the trip extra worthwhile. 

After opening a box of 2018 Topps on Thursday, @sscards16 expressed interest in a Harrison Bader 1983 autograph I pulled. He was giving me at least 150,000 cards, so the least I could do was give him the Bader. Much to my surprise, he not only gave me the 51 monster boxes, he added an Anthony Rizzo relic and an Addison Russell medallion card, along with several other Cubs cards. 

We loaded up my SUV with the monster boxes and then headed over to Buffalo Wild Wings to meet my friend for lunch. He was running a bit behind and I used that 15 minutes to pick through a box (any collector knows that feeling - a carload full of baseball cards just eats at you). 

A couple hours of catching up, a dozen boneless honey mustard wings, and then I was on my way home. About 30 minutes into the drive home the weather switched from no precipitation to white out conditions and snow covered roads in a span of five miles. 

It took more cautious driving, but I arrived safe at home and ready to unload my loot. As of this writing, I haven't had time to sort through any of the boxes. It will make for a good Super Bowl Sunday of Sorting.