Oops, sorry Gavin

I knew it was going to happen.

A few weeks ago, I posted that I was officially calling itquits on my Michael Pineda collection. The problem with publicly doing something like that is that we have all these amazing people in our collecting community who are always picking up cards for each other to hold to for future trades.

In this instance, Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown proves the point. He commented the following on my post:

I've been sitting on a Pineda 1/1 (just a "blank back" gimmick), waiting for an excuse to send it to you. I guess I was waiting for him to turn things around first, but looks like I waited too long. Lol

Shut up, Lost Collector. I definitely felt a bit guilty. I’m sure Gavin was pumped to snag this card to send my way at some point, and then I ended up raining on the parade a bit.

But of course I still wanted to the card! It’s a 1/1 of Yankee, and I will never get tired of such things. Even the gimmicky ones! And I will never turn down a Pineda card in a Yankees uniform. I have an excellent collection of his that ranges from autographs to printing plates to other 1 of 1s. I’m just going to turn away my focus, that’s all. But I will never say no. 

As luck would have it, just a few days later I pulled a Rhys Hoskins manu-relic from 2018 Topps, a card that piqued Gavin’s interest, and a very fair trade was made for the Pineda. That made me feel good and a bit redeemed.

And as he has been known to do, Gavin sent a few of his dominant custom cards. He really creates some of the best out there that I’ve seen, so much so that I’ve actually flipped past them in trade packages only to later realize they were customs.

Respect for taking the time on the card backs too. In the few times I've made cards on the Rookies app (which is total cheating compared to Gavin's originals), I was too lazy to do card backs and just used the generic logo one they have.

Gavin also sent a Tino insert. I love this card! I think it looks great, and commemorates Tino's 3-HR day in 1997, which I actually remember very well. That set the stage for his 44-HR season.

Lastly, a surfer dude! And one named AJ!

Thanks, Gavin!