Trade Bait Draft 2: The Summary!

As you likely noticed in your blog feeds, Trade Bait 2 occurred last night, and I like to think that it went a million times better than the first one! Despite adding three drafters, we still got the draft done in quicker time, thanks to my computer not crashing, a nicer draft site, and everyone following along a little better. Most importantly though we talked some cards, had some laughs, and everyone got some good lots to show off in future weeks.

This draft's Mrs. Irrelevant, pick #225, is a 1985 Topps WWF Sticker of Wendi Richter. It's not this exact photo (mine wasn't graded haha), but it is this exact card:
As with a few other bloggers, Dan was gone by the time the final round came by, so I actually picked Mrs. Irrelevant for him. But I think/hope he's appreciate the pick.

Speaking of Dan, I'd like to start my recap of the draft from the bottom up this time since last time I started with the guy who picked first. So Dan will be first in my quick summary!

Picking 9th: Dan of The Other World
Hits Acquired: 7 (3 autos, 4 relics)
Best Value: I'll say the Donovan McNabb RC with Pick #18. That's a crazy low round for such a nice card!
Best Card: The Cal Ripken Jr. 2,632 games die cut from 1998 Pacific. It is just a beautiful card.
Overall Thoughts: It's tough picking at the turn, but I think Dan did quite well for himself. He picked up some nice rookie cards and a few Phillies and his first pick is from one of my personal favorite auto sets. So all told, very well done.


Picking 8th: Spiegel of Nomo's Sushi Platter
Hits Acquired: 9 (4 autos, 5 relics)
Best Value: I think I'd say the Raffy Palmeiro batting glove relic at pick #4. A lot of people were scared away by the player, but it was definitely one of the nicest swatches available in the draft so Spiegel got a steal here.
Best Card: The Reggie Miller floor relic at pick #3. A very cool piece of floor that'll go nicely in his UCLA PC.
Overall Thoughts: Spiegel picked some cool stuff, including 5 1989 Topps Coins, a 1979 TCMA card, and a Yovani Gallardo jersey that someone dropped many many rounds. Spiegel always seems to find some steals in my drafts and he definitely did this time!


Picking 7th: Mike G of BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet
Hits Acquired: 18(!) That's 13 relics and 5 autos. Mike always gets the most hits, partially because he collects more football than most of the other drafters, partially because he picks hits first and then moves his way to non-hits.
Best Value: I'm gonna say the Isaiah Stanback Auto in Round 18. Just because I think Stanback is super cool (I have another auto of my own that I kept) and would've personally picked up the Stanback auto in like round 5 had I been picking.
Best Card: I really love the Culpepper/Brooks dual jersey that Mike picked up. It used to be a PC item of mine but I kind of just wanted an Aaron Brooks card by himself so I put this one in the draft and Mike snatched it up.
Overall Thoughts: I think everyone figured Mike would end up with a few more relics than others, but never 17. His non relics were pretty neat too though, including a few Mariners, a few Albert Belle late 90's serials, and a really wacky refractor-y Raptor card that I'll let him showcase on his blog!


Picking 6th: Justin of Justin's World
Hits Acquired: 11 hits (6 autos, 5 relics)
Best Value: I'll say the J.P. Losman Path #'d 1/50 in round 5. I know people don't get excited due to the player, but the card is a BEAUTY in terms of its patch. Very, very nice relic, how all swatches ought to look.
Best Card: Oddly enough I'm going to go with pick #1, the Garrett Mock Auto. I personally thought this was the second nicest auto in the draft and Justin picked it up after 5 others passed it by. Nicely done.
Overall Thoughts: I love Justin's pick style - while most people distinctly switched from hits to non-hits at some point, Justin switched in and out up until the hits went away. For a few rounds he picked some Topps Coins (he ended up with the most total - 6), then an auto, then a few rookie cards, then a relic. It was great to watch - you truly never knew what kind of card he'd go to next!


Picking 5th: Ryan G of This Card is Cool
Hits Acquired: 9 (6 relics, 2 autos, and a 1/1 printing plate)
Best Value: A Larry Walker Hamburger Helper insert in round 11. Johnny was picking ahead of Ryan and really wanted that card given its Rockie nature, but Ryan was trying to pick distinct sets to fill his one card from every set need. That made the Hamburger Helper card a pretty epic card in my mind from the start, and it was intense when Ryan made his choice in round 11.
Best Card: The Miguel Tejada dual relic from round #7. Everyone passed this card up because of the player (once again haha), but really it's a very cool card with two pretty distinct swatches. I think Ryan will be very happy with it.
Overall Thoughts: As I mentioned, Ryan was looking for distinct sets that he didn't have, and I think he did well. I guess I won't know the official count until he posts it up, but he certainly got the most oddballs in my draft, including some minor league cards, a comic, and one of those Topps Coins.


Picking 4th: Johnny of Cards from the Quarry
Hits Acquired: 11 (8 relics, 3 autos)
Best Value: A Topps Finest Asante Samuel /99 in round 20. It's an absolutely terrific looking card of a very good player, and I couldn't believe it stuck around through 20 rounds.
Best Card: The Action Packed Macho Man Randy Savage card in round 18. I was hoping someone would pick this card, and it looks fantastic so hopefully Johnny will show it off on his site!
Overall Thoughts: Johnny always picks some great cards, especially funny ones, so I was happy when his final pick was a Beanie Baby (for the second draft in a row) - Squealer the Pig. Johnny also picked a Moose for the second straight draft (this time the Mariner Moose) and he picked up two relics of Browns QB flops (Derek Anderson and Charlie Frye) to hang out with the Tim Couch relic that he picked last time. All in all some very excellent picks.


Picking 3rd: Sam of The Daily Dimwit
Hits Acquired: 8 (5 autos, 3 relics)
Best Value: Brandon Backe Auto in Round 6. Sam came into the draft hoping to get the one Astro hit, and he was able to wait 5 rounds to pick it up. Backe didn't draw a lot of attention but his crisp auto did, so Sam was lucky to get it!
Best Card: 1978 Topps #679 Buzz Capra. Such an excellent name, especially for a 13th round pick.
Overall Thoughts: Sam was new to the draft and didn't totally realize that I had non hits available at first, so he had much less preparation than a lot of the other drafters (sorry dude!). That said, once he figured it out he hit the ground running and ended up picking some great stuff! I also noticed while linking to his blog that he's a Fleet Foxes fan, and they rule, so he's got that going for him!


Picking 2nd: Kevin of The Diamond King (Not to be confused with the Boom King)
Hits Acquired: 8 (5 autos, 3 relics)
Best Value: His first pick, the Alex Wilson Auto, mostly because it was the prize card that won the unopened box of Upper Deck Series 1. I figured the hints were pretty easy but not two picks in easy, so it was pretty surprising when Kevin won that early!
Best Card: I will go with the Prince Fielder UD Lucky 13 RC in Round 8. That card made it all the way through Trade Bait 1 and 8 rounds of Trade Bait 2 before someone picked it. It's a great rookie card of a really good player, so I'd call that a steal. Honorable mention goes to the Topps Chrome Xfractor that he picked in Round 24, which looks INCREDIBLE in person.
Overall Thoughts: Looking through Kevin's pile, I realized that he drafted almost exactly how I would have drafted in the same situation. Aside from a few Yankees and a Colt, he picked designs I liked and players I liked (Craphonso Thorpe and Isaiah Stanback autos, multiple Rusty Kuntz(es?), a Warren Moon. It was interesting once I realized this to see what he'd pick next. And honestly, if you gave me a year ago his lot of cards, I would've been pretty psyched, so that's cool.


Picking 1st: Anthony of Cheap Card Collecting (His blog is new - check it out!)
Hits Acquired: 9 (3 autos, 6 relics)
Best Value: Absolutely has to be the LT Gold Victory RC in Round 16. Hits aside, this was the most valuable card in the draft, and Anthony snagged it up much later than I figured it would go. Very cool card.
Best Card: As with Justin, I'm gonna say pick #1. The Dennis Martinez Auto was great, my personal favorite auto, and so I saw no fault with Anthony choosing that card #1. Bummer it wasn't tied to the free box of course, but nice job going with the terrific card given the first pick.
Overall Thoughts: The first pick is hard just like the last pick since you have to wait so long, but I think Anthony did a fabulous job. He got some nice rookie cards, an excellent Karl Malone floor piece on the way back around the first time, and even had some fun with odd sets, picking up a few Crunch Crew and Rock the House inserts. And he also got a shiny Ricky Henderson out of the deal, which is always a good day.

And that's my brief recap - nine guys and a summary of the cards they picked! Thanks to everyone who showed up and everyone who drafted, and I hope you like your cards in person as much as you did when you drafted them!