Fo' Shizzle My Zistle

Last summer I began the mostly tedious (though occasionally enlightening) task of creating an inventory for my collection on Zistle as I re-began the never-ending sorting project. I got up into the early C's, alphabetically, before setting the task aside to concentrate on sorting, trading and blogging. Then I foolishly took cards from those that had been entered and sent them out in trades without updating the inventory. Bad move. I've fixed that, finally. And I will pick up with the inventory project in my spare time (if such a thing ever presents itself).

The A's and B's, along with some 2013 sets I was using Zistle to help build, are still in there, though. And Steve (SDre31 on Zistle) saw some things available that he wanted. Even better, he followed the link to this blog, figurred out what I like, and put together a nice trade proposal. There were a few things in there that I didn't need, but not many. In the interest of establishing a trade relationship, and to give the man the cards he wanted, I accepted the trade as proposed. The result was a boon to the ol' standby mini-collection: Getting a Grip.

2013 Panini Triple Play Red-Bordered Stickers R.A. Dickey TOR #16

Knuckleballers are stars when it comes to Getting a Grip. Make it a cool, colorful, oddball cartoon sticker of a knuckler, and you've got yourself a real winner.

2002 Bowman Heritage Juan Cruz CHC #34
2009 Topps Allen & Ginter National Pride Ervin Santana LAA #NP1

Cruz rubbing up the ball is a short print from a Heritage set that's virtually unrepresented in my collection at this point. And Santana represents my first card from this sweet Ginter subset.

2007 Upper Deck SP Rookie Edition Phil Hughes NYY #184
2004 Donruss Playoff Honors Andy Pettitte HOU #85

Coupla Yankee-types doing their Grippin' on the flip side. Steve is from Brooklyn, so I got to send some cards back to my last place o' residence. I threw in a coupla bonus Royals in the package I sent him. I'd assumed he was a KC fan since he'd requested a good number of Royals from me. But it turns out he was just trying to gather some trade bait for another deal. He's actually a Mets fan. Good to know for next time...

2003 Upper Deck Victory Curt Schilling ARI #6
1997 Fleer/SkyBox Circa Rick Aguilera MIN #202

The Grips get psychedelic (and a bit obscured, in the case of Aggie). There's a great trend going on here. No, not the hallucinogens. Steve knew that cards from the 1997-2007ish period (other than from Topps flagship base sets) would be most welcome. The man paid attention.

1997 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Alex Fernandez FLA #344
1997 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Paul Wilson NYM #124

"Don't worry, Mr. Fernandez. We'll photoshop the toilet into the picture later." Paul Wilson causes me to expand the Achievement Grips section to include all Multi-Ball Grips.

1998 Donruss Bobby Bonilla FLA #142
1994 Score Gold Rush Dave Gallagher NYM #235

Steve fed the other mini-collections, too. Here are a couple of innocent-looking cards, until you flip 'em over... Mmmmmmm... Doughnuts!

1997 Fleer Ultra Jeromy Burnitz MIL #309
1996 Fleer Update Danny Darwin PIT #U175

Danny Darwin evolves. He comes out of his shell. (I'm here all week.) Gracias para los cuellos alto, Esteban. Me gusta. (Señiora Navares, my elementary school Spanish teacher, would be proud... assuming that I got that right.)

2010 Topps Opening Day Jon Garland LAD #46
2003 Fleer Authentix Fred McGriff LAD #42

Steve helped me out with some Dodgers needs, as well, including the Crime Dog on a cognitive dissonance card. That's what I call a card that lists a different team from the uniform worn by the player in the photo. Can I get a "Nerds Rule!" (I'm one of those rare nerds who isn't very smart.)

1997 Fleer/SkyBox Circa Todd Hollandsworth LAD #251
1997 Fleer/SkyBox Circa Todd Worrell LAD #96

Two Dodger Todds escaped a dangerous intergalactic vortex to safely arrive in my collection!

2002 MLB Showdown All-Star Game Mariano Rivera NYY #18

Steve had the good taste to request a couple of Mariano Rivera cards from me. And the even better taste to send one back my way. Thanks, Steve! No wonder you're a Zistle Hall of Famer. Hopefully this is just the first of many Zistle-assisted deals.