Week In Review: Korean Cardboard, Kris Bryant's and More
The week got away from me, which is typical for this time of year. There are a few times each year that my Cubs baseball card collecting and trading takes a back seat as other things in life come to the forefront.
Trades have been a priority in 2019 for the One Million Cubs Project. As the push to reach my goal of 400,000 Cubs cards by the new year approaches, collecting goals for 2020 are becoming more clear to me. A 2020 goals post is forth coming.
Since the time got away, here's a post recapping my incoming trades from last week. One package inside my mailbox came from...SOUTH KOREA. It's from my friend, @KoreanCardboard, and indeed he sent over some Korean cardboard. Most of the cards are in Korean, which I don't read, but on the back of the foil front card reading "Top Ranker of ERA & Win" reveals it is former Cubs prospect Jae-Kuk Ryu.
Yes, those Korean cards will be a part of my collection. My motto is, "My project...my rules." Another new add is this 1994 Panini Ryne Sandberg sticker.
A couple weeks ago I was cracking open some 2017 Elite Extra Edition boxes I bought on a Black Friday sale from Blowout Cards. I still have four or five boxes left to open that I'll save for around Christmas. A few Twitter followers recognized cards they wanted for trade including Brett in New York. He offered up this 1998 Pinnacle Museum Collection Mark Grace. Panini had some pretty cool parallels in the 1990's.
Surprising me with a box of Cubs baseball cards was Bob in Florida. He wrote about the One Million Cubs Project for Sports Collectors Daily earlier this year. Plenty of goodies were inside including a 2017 Topps Inception Willson Contreras.
Some vintage included a 1969 Deckle Edge Ron Santo.
More vintage with a small pile of 1968 Topps cards of Chuck Hartenstein, Ramon Hernandez, Lee Elia, Ted Savage, Pete Mikkelsen, Rich Nye, Rob Gardner, Glenn Beckert, Bill Hands, and Don Kessinger.
One set that brought me back to collecting baseball cards was 1998 Bowman. During the summer of 1998 I also started catching up on the Cubs top prospects like Jon Garland, the team's first round draft pick the year before.
So, I was pretty bummed when the Cubs gave up on Garland just over a year after drafting the pitcher and getting a reliever named Matt Karchner in return from the White Sox.
Chadd Krist was a minor leaguer and fringe prospect I was excited about in 2012 after he was drafted in the 9th round of that year's draft. I was working that summer with the Peoria Chiefs, and Krist was off to a hot start for the Boise Hawks before he was promoted to Peoria. He slowed down toward the end of that season in Peoria and finished .253/.447/.770 in the Midwest League with 4 home runs and 23 RBI.
Another trade that surfaced from the 2017 Elite Extra Edition break was with Rick in Minnesota. I traded away a Nick Gordon jersey relic for a stack of 31 Cubs cards that included a 2019 Topps Chrome Kris Bryant refractor.
Also some 35th anniversary insert cards of Kyle Schwarber and Mark Grace.
Jeffrey in Florida sent a stack of Kris Bryant cards.
Also, a trio of 2018 Topps Holiday relics inside.
At my current pace, I'm looking to be shy of 400,000 Cubs cards by the end of the year. Maybe I can square away some bulk flat rate trades in the next week. Anybody up for a bulk trade?
One Million Cubs Project Stats Friday's (12/13/2019) Cards: 432
Friday's (12/13/2019) Packages: 5
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: 15,675
November's Cubs Count: 26,705
December's Cubs Count: 1,150
Total Trades/Donations: 323
Trade States of Origin: Arizona (6) Alabama (5)
Arkansas California (22)
Colorado (6) Connecticut (19)
Delaware (2)
Florida (13)
Georgia (3)
Idaho (3) Illinois (29) Indiana (8)
Iowa (2)
Kansas
Kentucky (2)
Louisiana Maryland (12) Massachusetts (12)
Michigan (4) Minnesota (5)
Mississippi
Missouri (5)
Nebraska (3)
Nevada (2)
New Hampshire (2) New Jersey (15)
New Mexico (4) New York (30) North Carolina (6)
North Dakota Ohio (19)
Oregon (3) Pennsylvania (9)
Rhode Island (2)
South Carolina (2)
South Dakota Tennessee (8) Texas (10)
Utah
Vermont (6)
Virginia (2) Washington (7)
Washington, DC
West Virginia (7) Wisconsin (12)
Countries of Origin
Canada (1)
Korea (3)