Dropping a Deuce

Look, I considered using "Deuces Are Wild" - the actual name of the card above - but how many times in one's blogging career can you use a poop term in the title? NOT MANY. So I did. And you clicked. So you came for the poops, but you might as well stick around for Topps Chrome.

As a Tino Martinez collector, I'm aware of mostly every Tino out there, whether I have it or not. I'm definitely not an expect on the subject matter. I don't know how many versions of 1996 Select Certified Mirrors there are (and I don't care), and I have no clue which of a his minor league cards exist, although I did receive an email with some excellent minor league info from a friendly collector named Alex.

But I do enough eBay and COMC surfing to know what cards are out there and (usually) whether or not I have them, and which are hard to find. There are the standard relics which pop up on a daily basis, but then there are the ones you see only a handful of times per year. This 2002 Topps Chrome 4 Card Stud Deuces Are Wild card is one of the rare ones.

It's a fantastic looking card and features bat pieces from Tino and Bernie Williams. I guess two relics is where the "deuces" come from. There are several versions of the 5 Card Stud set, and this card fell at 1:428. I was pleasantly surprised by how great looking this card is in hand. The refractor shine was unexpected, and the card really does glow and feel premium.

It's always nice to check off another sought after Tino, and I certainly don't regret picking this one up.