Trading Jordan for Justin

After posting the sweet Michael Jordan bat card I got from a pack of 2001 SP Top Prospects, I received a pair of trade inquiries.  One was from reader Craig, who offered to put together a football package centered around a Ryan Williams Patch/Auto Booklet from Panini Playbook (WOW!).  I was extremely interested.  The other offer was a little more open-ended with Brad asking what it would take to get the Jordan from me.  Upon viewing his trade bait list, I saw something that I remembered seeing before.  I remember seeing it around Christmas and thinking, "yeah, I'll never have anything to offer for that."  I follow a couple of eBay auctions for the same card, but just couldn't land it.  Now, I had a Jordan bat on my side of the table.  I knew it wasn't going to be a 1-for-1 trade, so I put together a couple of other items Brad would be interested in, and we came to a deal.  I was really sad to have to turn down Craig's offer, but Brad was offering up a card that I had wanted for a long time and was something at the top of my wish list from the day I started collecting again.

I'll save the big card for last, of course.

Brad filled out the package with a handful of Nats:

including Ryan Zimmerman:

He also sent a trio of 2012 A&G needs:

My second favorite card in the package was this awesome Justin Upton Xfractor:

There aren't many Justin Upton cards that are better looking than that. 

I do know of one card that is better looking:

2012 Topps Five Star Autograph Relic #95/97

It's absolutely incredible to want a specific card this nice and to be able to trade for it.  I've wanted a Justin Upton auto for a very long time, and I finally have this beauty.  In fact, I've wanted this specific card ever since I saw it here.  Justin has a pretty nice signature, and the fact that it is on-card is icing on the cake.

The timing couldn't have been any better, either.  Justin has been destroying the ball this year, and his cards are going back up in price.  I'm really glad I landed an auto through a trade. 

Back in January, I posted my collecting goals for this year.  For each player, I set a realistic goal, and then said what my optimistic/hopeful goal was.  For Justin, I said my real goal was 150 cards, and my hopeful goal was 150 with an auto.  Well, the Xfractor above was #149, which means this sweet 2012 Five Star auto-relic is #150, satisfying my hopeful goal just 4 months into the year. 

Thanks, Brad!