The 3rd Annual Stale Gum Trade

I always look forward to trading with Chris Harris of Stale Gum fame. He always goes the extra mile in trades. Chris sends an e-mail message offering things off of my want list, roughly once a year, out of the blue. The e-mail always seems to be a complete surprise. Like a stalker in the shadows, Chris instinctively knows the perfect time to initiate a trade.

I perused his want lists and found much more than I expected to send. The trade was approved and then I dragged my feet for a few days. I wouldn't say dragged my feet really. Chris usually throws in a surprise or two, so I wanted to repay that kindness from the past with a little something extra of my own.

Eventually, the package I put together for Chris got out of my house and into the hands of the US Post Office. I'll assume that my package arrived just fine because today a package arrived from Chris.

Inside were some things off of my want list, like we had agreed to in the first place. A late addition to the trade was this beautiful autographed card of Dayan Viciedo.
It would be my first Viciedo autograph and I believe my first card of him in a White Sox uniform. Even the filler cards got a laugh out of me. An 88 Donruss Milquetoast greeted me first. That would be Fred Manrique to those who have come recently to this blog. Followed by two 87 Topps cards of decent players, at least by late 80s White Sox standards. Those two being Floyd Bannister and Daryl Boston. Two local favorites. Nice touch.

Most of the cards were holes in my 2010 list, so I won't bore you with specifics. 2009 was represented by a gold Podsednik Topps Update card. 2008 found another card toward my foolish goal of collecting the cards against the White Sox from the Yankee Stadium Legacy set. I still don't know where the hell my head was when I decided to collect that. And 2008 Topps Heritage (the entire set). And the White Sox card of Thomas and Thome in 2008 Moments & Milestones. Yeah, I think I needed to be on meds or something back then. The 2005 World Championship team was represented by a Joe Crede Topps Hot Button card.

Thanks, Chris! I hope my package arrived safely. I really enjoyed this trade. Let's do it again next year!