More Than 4,500 Cubs Cards From Howard the Rockies Collector
A trade months in the making was finally completed this week. My bulk trade partner for Colorado Rockies baseball cards acquired a collection over the summer and pulled over 4,500 Cubs cards for a trade.
It's tough sorting out that many Rockies cards (or other recent expansion clubs), so it was going to take some time. Howard in Missouri and I had already completed three big Cubs for Rockies swaps, so my Colorado collection had dwindled.
I kept Howard updated on my progress and he was also seeking Mike Schmidt cards, so I was able to set aside over 100 of those to include with the Rockies. A few weeks ago I put out a call to action for Rockies, Nationals, and Diamondbacks cards. Thanks to that call out, I was able to secure about 2,000 additional Rockies cards which was more than enough to complete this trade. The rest will be set aside for future trades with Howard. The Nationals and Diamondbacks are an ongoing collection for a trade next month with Steve at the Chicago Sports Spectacular.
Steve holds the record for providing the most Cubs baseball cards in a single trade, which was right around the 30,000 mark last November at the Chicago card show.
Howard sent two medium flat rate boxes filled to the gills with Cubs cards and pushed me close to 359,000 total in my collection (358,888 to be exact). Here are some highlights from the boxes.
Cole Roederer! I wasn’t expecting any Roederer cards, but there were four from 2018 Bowman Draft. I am looking forward to 2019 Bowman Draft. It’s one of few products that I will buy into a case break.
Another card from the 2018 Bowman Draft set is Brennen Davis. I met Brennen this past summer dat a South Bend Cubs game in Beloit, Wisconsin.
David Ross was named the new Chicago Cubs manager this week. The hire was met with mixed reviews. Most of the social media takes were similar. But Jason Hammel broke the mold...
So I had to highlight a Hammel card in this post just to show off that tweet. This is his 2016 Topps baseball card.
Flashy Brooks Kieschnick card checking in. It’s a 1997 Topps Awesome Impact insert.
Topps Opening Day is a product I pass on, although I did buy a couple blaster boxes this past year. I really like their parallels. The blue parallels really pop. Take a look at this Jon Lester from the 2018 Topps Opening Day set.
HoJo sighting! Howard Johnson is mostly known for his hotel chain. I kid, I kid. Johnson made a name during his New York Mets career, but did spend a bit of time with the Chicago Cubs as you can see on this 1995 Upper Deck card.
The next card really stood out. I do feel that Topps is running through some older designs too often, and recently the 1984 design has been a bit overdone. However, this card was produced in 2004 long before the company began sspitting out old designs on the regular. Additionally, it’s of a former Cubs player that doesn’t get used too often (see Ryne Sandberg, Ernie Banks, Andre Dawson, etc.). And, it’s a photo I had never seen and I’m a sucker for those bright blue 1980’s vinyl jackets with the fat Cubs logo on the chest. Just a well-done card overall.
The rest of my Cubs additions came from breaking the 2018 Topps Holiday boxes as I went Ronald Acuna hunting.
While I didn’t find an Acuna metallic snowflake, I was able to pull about a dozen Acuna base rookies, and a few Cubs metallics including two Javier Baez.
And one of the relic cards I pulled was Kyle Schwarber and it even has a blue pinstripe on the jersey swatch.
One Million Cubs Project Stats Wednesday's (10/23/2019) Cards: 4,607
Wednesday's (10/23/2019) Packages: 1
January's Cubs Count: 9,343
February's Cubs Count: 8,980
March's Cubs Count: 15,704
April's Cubs Count: 11,651
May's Cubs Count: 7,273
June's Cubs Count: 7,690
July's Cubs Count: 10,803
August's Cubs Count: 11,929
September's Cubs Count: 9,127
October's Cubs Count: 13,923
Total Trades/Donations: 273
Trade States of Origin: Arizona (4) Alabama (5)
Arkansas California (20)
Colorado (5) Connecticut (14)
Delaware (2)
Florida (11)
Georgia (3)
Idaho (3) Illinois (23) Indiana (5)
Iowa (2)
Kansas
Kentucky (2)
Louisiana Maryland (12) Massachusetts (10)
Michigan Minnesota (3)
Mississippi
Missouri (5)
Nebraska
Nevada (2)
New Hampshire (2) New Jersey (14)
New Mexico (3) New York (26) North Carolina (6)
North Dakota Ohio (17)
Oregon (3) Pennsylvania (7)
Rhode Island (2)
South Carolina (2)
South Dakota Tennessee (8) Texas (7)
Utah
Vermont (3)
Virginia (2) Washington (5)
West Virginia (7) Wisconsin (12)
Countries of Origin
Canada (1)
Korea (2)