The First Trade Bait Draft Recap

The first Trade Bait Draft ended last night, and it was quite successful (albeit with a few hitches). Even though a few people got kicked from the draft early on and I then had my computer crash and had to switch to a laptop rendering us video-less, the gang pressed on and really made this thing happen. Everyone got a bunch of goodies and lots of hits! And most appropriately, the final pick of the draft was a Moose. Chocolate the Moose, that is:
That's right. With pick #150 of the draft, Johnny (aka Hiflew, aka Cards from the Quarry) chose a 1997 Beanie Baby card as Mr. Irrelevant. As he himself said, this card alone was worth the $10. But I'm still going to provide a brief recap of everyone's picks for people who weren't there:

Derek of Tomahawk Chopping, picking 1st
Hits: 4 (3 autos - Rafael Furcal, Shelden Williams, and Austin Croshere. 1 relic - Zach Duke)
Pick of the Draft (IMO): 2 XPonential Griffeys, both X2 and X3. They both look gorgeous and were nice for picks 6 and 8.
Biggest Steal: Chipper Jones' 1992 Topps #551 Rookie Card. At pick 16 that's a pretty nice pick up.
Other Cards of Note: Some nices rookies (Buchholz, Phil Hughes, Derrek Lee, Andruw Jones), a beautiful serial (Drew Brees), a wacky Rickey Henderson pin, and some Braves and Chargers.
General Comments: Derek missed the draft and had me pick for him, but he did quite well since the list he gave me was very thorough. Lots of tremendous rookie cards and the 4 hits were second highest in the draft.


Reader Michael, picking 2nd
Hits: 3 (2 autos - Peavy/Harden dual, L.J. Hoes, 1 relic - Chris Hernandez USA)
Pick of the Draft (IMO): 1970 Topps Reggie Smith. Pick #4 turned into this awesome piece of 70's goodness.
Biggest Steal: 2006 Bowman #BDP22 Jon Lester RC. How this was there in the 19th round I do not know.
Other Cards of Note: A lot of nice rookies (Ethier, Sabathia, Billy Butler), a number of older cards, and rounded out the draft with Dodgers.
General Comments: I was shocked at how Michael found the last few nice RC's late in the draft. The older cards he picked were pretty cool, and he also picked up a gorgeous Eric Chavez TSC RC in the middle of the draft.


Dennis of Too Many Grandersons, picking 3rd
Hits: 2 autos (Rich Hill and Scott Olsen)
Pick of the Draft (IMO): Anquan Boldin Finest RC. This card looks incredible and was my favorite for a while as a kid. For pick 7 that's pretty nice.
Biggest Steal: 1967 Bill Freehan. The second oldest card of the draft and in terrific condition, Freehan was an awesome pick for the 3rd round.
Other Cards of Note: A Marques Colston RC, a few serials, a bunch of 70's cards and a Frank Robinson Reds card.
General Comments: TMG came in looking for 3 Hills and a Freehan and left with just one Hill. Discussion during the draft gave TMG hope for future trades though, and he picked up some very nice rookies.


Mike of Ba Benny's Baseball Card Buffet (and the Pack Rip Cafe), picking 4th
Hits: 5 (1 auto - Martin Nance, 4 relics - Hill/125, Delgado/50, Brandon Jones/250, Harvey)
Pick of the Draft (IMO): 1985 Topps WWF #16 Hulk Hogan. Such a hilarious card, and one of the older cards picked in the draft. Not too shabby for Mike's last pick.
Biggest Steal: Other than the Hogan, I'd say the Harvey relic at pick 5. Harvey is a guy who wasn't a well known basketball player, but the relic still looked great. So I was surprised so many people passed it over.
Other Cards of Note: Several Mets and Yankees, a nice El Duque see through card, some serials, some recent Topps inserts, and some Barry Bonds cards.
General Comments: Mike's Bonds run (picks 15, 16, 18, 19, and 20 were all Barry Bonds) surprised me a lot. But he did quite well overall, with 3 Turkey Red cards, a beautiful El Duque, and the most hits of anyone in the draft.


Justin of Justin's World, picking 5th
Hits: 3 relics (Rich Hill/200, Andrew Miller w/ stitching, Shaun King)
Pick of the Draft (IMO): 1979 Topps #579. This was one of the best conditioned older cards I had, so it was a very nice pick.
Biggest Steal: Hill/200 in the first round. Seems silly to call this a steal, but it's got a nice stripe through the left side, which really makes it extra nice.
Other Cards of Note: Justin was all Cubs and trade bait here. He picked up 22 Cubs and 3 trade baits, which were the 2 relics and a Finest card of Fred McGriff.
General Comments: Justin had me pick for him and said trade bait and Cubs, so I did that best I could erring more towards Cubs. It's a pretty nice selection of them so hopefully he'll be happy! I think he will though, especially with the Hill.


Johnny of Cards from the Quarry, picking 6th/last with the turnaround
Hits: 3 relics (Roberto Alomar, Halladay, Tim Couch/400)
Pick of the Draft (IMO): 1997 Beanie Baby Chocolate. As I mentioned above, this was a terrific random choice for the final pick of the draft.
Biggest Steal: The Couch Jersey. I almost mentioned pick #4 (which was a 1965 Chico Salmon), but the Couch jersey is quite nice and I was surprised to see a few of the other things that went before it. Johnny picked it up though.
Other Cards of Note: Johnny, like Justin, hoped to pick up a lot of his team's (Rockies here) cards. He got all 15 he needed from me, leaving just 1 Rockie left in my bait. Johnny also picked a few other cards like a Cutler RC and a Harmon Killebrew card for another blogger.
General Comments: Johnny seemed to get exactly what he wanted - all the Rockies he needed and a few other nice cards as well. I like that he came in thinking of other bloggers as well - it'll be interesting to see what comes of those trades!


Thanks again to everyone who participated, and to those who watched for a while as well! If any of you ever want to use this idea on your own blogs, feel free to do so - I think it's a fun idea that could definitely work as well for others as it did for tonight's group!