Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Tweet tweet


I've been on Twitter for about a month now.

On a personal level, I don't use it much. I've never been much of a social media guy, and I don't make a habit of broadcasting my life every second of the day.

However, Twitter is a godsend for the odd, random card-related thoughts that seem to pop into my head at any given time. Fractured ideas I have that wouldn't fit into a big, official blog post.

That's why I've come to appreciate Twitter over the last month ago. A quick scan, 140 characters, and boom, it's out there.

I've connected with quite a few fellow bloggers on Twitter and chatted with them in ways that the blogs don't really allow. I also had "The Baseball Card Song" post I wrote shared by one of the actual members of the The Baseball Project (Josh Kantor, keyboard player), which was a truly gratifying experience.

And, as it happens, I completed by very first Twitter trade a few weeks ago with a Twitterer (is that right?) with the handle @NYYankeesCardz. As you might guess, I sent him a stack of Yanks in our swap.

When he initially approached me for a trade, he asked what I collect. If you read my blog at all, you might realize how much of a troubling question that is for me. I barely know what I collect, so how am I supposed to explain it to someone else?

I basically told my fellow Twitterer to send whatever he wanted.




Thankfully, he put together a pretty nice selection for me.

Along with the '72 mini Hamels at the top of this post was a nice stack of 2014 Bowmans. People seem more and more eager to unload these as the years go by. Makes sense, considering I've never heard of anyone trying to build a Bowman base set.

Though the Darvish, Zunino, Fielder, and all the other you see on this page were new player collection hits, my far and away favorite was the Matt Harvey International parallel at the center.

Topps did a fantastic job with those beauties.




The rest of the package was basically a smorgasbord.

Among the goodies were these Topps UK minis, staples of almost every repack I've ever purchased.

I'm probably closing in on a complete set by now.




Also included for no apparent reason was a bundle of '92 Fleer.

It's not the flashiest set in the world, but it still has its high points.




I guess it makes sense that a Yankee fan would want to get rid of as many Mets cards as possible.

The Johnson is yet another hidden gem from '92 Donruss, a set that is slowly starting to win me over. And, although my "Tom Terrific" collection is over 200 cards strong, that awesome Action Packed issue was new to me.

That's another set that doesn't get its fair due.

Maybe I'll tweet about it one of these days.




My favorite card out of this first Twitter swap, however, was this strange shot of Mr. Nolan Ryan himself.

Singles from the All Ryan, All The Time '91 Pacific checklist are about the most common dime box suspects you'll ever find. About 95 percent of my dime digs seem to result in at least a couple cards from the set.

Most of the shots, as you might guess, feature Ryan on the baseball field. Still, Pacific had the odd idea of sprinkling in a few off-the-field images of the harrowing hurler.

Ryan was, from what I've read, an actual cowboy when he wasn't firing 100 MPH fastballs on the ballfield. He raised cattle, ran a farm, the whole nine yards. He's seen here lounging in his cowboy duds, lasso and all.

Not anything I ever thought I'd see the likes of on a baseball card.

Thus ends a historic day in Dime Boxedonia. My first-ever Twitter trade.

I don't know what my tweeting future will bring, but I'm always on the hunt for ways to further express my love for the hobby.

Twitter seems like a perfect place for that.

3 comments:

Marcus said...

I had/have accounts with Myspace/Facebook, but I've never been big on them either. I love Twitter, though, mostly because it's so easy to connect/follow like minded sports fans. Pretty fun, even though most of the card collecting guys on there are more of the high end types - hey, they can't ALL be bloggers.

Salgado said...

Twitter is a great outlet for me since I don't have time to blog with my dad duties and full-time editing gig. I met a fantastic autograph trade partner via @bobofcubs, and he sent me a Jeter signed card and a Kyle Schwarber signed ball in his most recent package. Last year, a Kris Bryant ball and TWO Javier Baez signed cards came in a single package. I owe this guy big time.

Tony L. said...

I lurk on Twitter more than I contribute, and it's usually when I'm fried from writing/thinking and don't feel like blogging anything or cataloguing anything.

In other words, it's like a handful of Jolly Ranchers after a nice meal. Sweet, short, and nothing too heavy.