You've Got Mail #82: $30 A Week Habit

One of the best things about blogging about cards is initiating trades with new trade partners. That's just what I did a while back when Robert over at $30 a Week Habit offered up an extra 1983-84 O-Pee Chee Wayne Gretzky card for anyone who wanted it.

Here's the card in question that initiated this whole deal. I must say, I'm pretty happy to have a Gretzky Oilers card in my possession now and it's a really nice card as well. Of course, as with most any trade, there was more than included than just the one card I requested.

Robert also made a severe dent in my Joe Sakic collection. So much, in fact, that Sakic card comprised most of the package itself. A "sack of Sakics" if you will. Most modern fans associate Sakic with the Avalanche but tend to forget he played with the franchise in Quebec as well. Cards featuring him as a member of the Nordiques are some of my favorites. I always used to play as Sakic and the Nordiques when I rented NHL '94 from the video store as a kid.

More Sakic cards, this time of the Avalanche variety. The Avs were a real threat back in the day with Sakic as captain, Patrick Roy in goal, and players like Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote roaming the ice. They were so good, that they only missed the playoffs three times in a 17 season stretch from 1992-93 as the Nordiques all the way up to the 2009-10 season and won the Stanley Cup twice in that stretch.

Hockey cards weren't the only thing Robert threw in as there were a few Reds cards tossed in as well, including my first card of young fireballer Luis Castillo. The "blockbusters" card commemorates the trade the Reds made to get Ken Griffey Jr. I still remember when that trade happened. Everyone thought that he would help lead the Reds to a championship but thanks to a number of injury plagued seasons and some very suspect pitching, that never materialized.

A big thanks to Robert for trading with me. I'm putting together a nice return package that should hopefully be going out in a few weeks.