do iou?

i decided sometime in may that i needed a better way to track trades.  previously, i had used email folders to remind me of trades that had been agreed to - i had one folder for 'i have sent' and one for 'they have sent' and one for 'completed', and i would move the email around based on the status of the trade until it was in the 'completed' folder.  it worked for most of the last 5+ years, but now there are some packages that show up without warning (which is great), and so email is not all inclusive when it comes to trades.  

for example, i owed the writer's journey as jason sent me some cards unannounced.  included in his envelope was this 1983 donruss greg brock card

brock and i have a complicated relationship, thanks to the fact that he was supposed to replace steve garvey in 1983.  not his doing, but what was a 12-year old to do but wish that brock continued to be blocked by the nl iron man.  regardless of how i felt, this card was a hot commodity in my neighborhood in 1983 due to brock's 44 home runs in triple-a in 1982.  my friends and i were perplexed, however, by the text on the back - brock was a '1983 donruss rated rookie'

we didn't know what that meant.  the guy at the card shop didn't know either.  it became clear in 1984 when donruss moved the designation to the front of the cards that it was just another way of saying 'future star' and the like.

jason also sent a 1982 kellogg's ron cey

and a 2014 topps stickers carl crawford

i put together a return package and sent it off  - you can read about it here.

i also knew that i owed reader mark who sent some cards for my 1971 topps set

and i recently got the return package in the mail.

i know that i still owe dennis from too many verlanders for sending me a pwe with this card inside - a 2002 fleer fall classic steve garvey/tony perez rival factions insert

i've also received some cards from dennis as part of his recent giveaway that i will show off later.

anyway, in order to help me track my trades and not lose track of who i owe, i have added a 'trade tracker' gadget to the blog.  it's over there on the right (if you're reading this with the mobile version of the site, you need to select the web version to see what it).  it's pretty self explanatory, i think.  'incoming' are cards that i have received, and 'outgoing' are cards that i have sent.  (1) indicates which package was sent first to initiate the trade, and (2) indicates which package completed the trade.  any incoming packages marked with a (1) means that i owe cards to the sender.  so, you can see that i currently owe not only dennis, but also bo and pat at the hot corner (since march!), and you can also see that i have recently started and completed trades with fuji and the rhubarb runner.

i will probably leave completed trades up for a month or so (or until i publish the trade post which sometimes takes longer).  in addition to cards for dennis, bo, and pat, i am also working on packages for people (patp, nick, dollar store), and i don't know if these are return or initial packages to be honest.  i will assume that they are all return packages just in case.

the whole point to this is that i don't want to leave anyone who has sent me cards without a return package.  if i owe you cards, please leave a comment or send me an email, and i will add you to the tracker and send some cards.  like i said earlier, i tried my best to keep track, but i may have missed someone at some point.  and, if we haven't traded before (or even if we have - and thanks very much, by the way), rest assured that i will complete a trade so let's make it happen.