A little post-Christmas red & green

I hope everyone was able to have a safe and healthy Christmas. Mine was extremely quiet compared to what was planned. I was supposed to travel a few hours away to spend the holiday with my parents and siblings. However, a few tested positive for COVID-19 a few days prior, causing us to stay home and have a small little family Christmas. While it was nice and slow, I did miss being with my larger family.

As for the big day, I didn't get any cards for Christmas, although to be fair, I didn't ask for any either. There's just nothing out there I really want or care to open right now.

I haven't been buying or trading much the last few months. It's not uncommon for me lately to spend less than $10 a month on cards on Ebay. For example, in November I spent $6.66 total on cards on eBay, including shipping. It's kind of liberating.

However, in December my total jumped to $18.44, as I bought three cards during the month. Only one of them was a baseball card:

A nice 2012 Elite Extra autograph of Ty Hensley with green ink. This card is numbered 05/10, and set me back $7.88 including shipping. While I probably paid more on shipping than on the card, it was a Hensley I didn't have, which don't pop up much any more. Therefore, I'm likely to overspend, even if I'm the only market for such a card.

The green autograph looks nice against the red background, forming an inadvertent Christmas-colored card. This card brings me to 126 unique Hensley cards. I'll always pick up his cards when a new one arises.

It'll be quiet around here over the next few weeks, so I'll take this moment to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Something stinks...

...but it's not these cards. 

Sure they have an odor to them. But that's because Johnny's Trading Spot sent them.

No, no. It's not about Johnny. I assume he smells fine. In fact, he sent me my very first card of Roughned Odor as a Yankee. If you told me this guy would be a Yankee a few years ago, I thought that would have been cool. But last year he was a no-cost pickup. Fun player, not very effective. He has since been released by the Yanks, but I'll always have this card from Johnny.

Speaking of firsts, Johnny also sent me my first non-on-demand Joey Gallo card. I like Gallo. He struggled quite a bit, but he's a cool player. Awesome power, good OFer. I think people get tired with the true three outcome-ness of his game, but I think he'll have a good second season in NY.

Johnny also sent a few more Topps Holiday cards, which is welcome because I didn't open any of these and they are always one of my favorite releases of the year.

Thanks for the PWE, Johnny. I keep saying it, but I owe you some Braves and will send them soon.

As for the rest of ya, Merry Christmas!

The upside down & a birthday

This is my second day in a row posting. I feel like I'm living in the upside down! This isn't something that's happened since last spring. Don't get used to it!

Speaking of the upside down, I recently purchased a new Tino Martinez card that has a few upside down qualities:

This is a weird printing error where Tino's name is nowhere to be found. The card state's Rich Amaral's name and team upside down, above Tino's head. The Studio logo is also upside down in the lower right.

Normally I don't care about printing errors and don't chase them. Many people find miscuts and misprints and errors to be more fun or even more valuable. I have never really been in that camp, nor have I actively gone out of my way to pick them up.

However, I though this one was pretty cool, and for a buck or so, found it to be a unique addition to my Tino collection.

Speaking of Tino, today is his 54th birthday! I have trouble remembering my family members' birthdays, yet every year December 7th shows up and I remember it's Tino's day. Did you know he was also acquired by the Yankees on December 7th, 1995? Must've been quite a day!

A TTM success trickles in

For the most part, I have stopped sending out TTM requests. While I enjoyed this aspect for the hobby for many years, I no longer feel the same about it like I once did for a multitude of reasons.

However, I have hundreds of unanswered TTM requests still out in the world, and every so often one finds its way back.

The most recent was sent in February, 2020, a few weeks before the pandemic changed the landscape of the 2020 baseball season. I was already sending out fewer TTM requests due to absolutely dwindling response rates over the past few years, but that didn't stop me from sending a handful to spring training just to give it a whirl.

Twenty two months later, former Yankee and most currently Red Sox Adam Ottavino returned two cards signed. Back when he was a Rockie, Adam used to sign with purple sharpie. It looks like he has traded that in for a more traditional blue marker.

Both came out great. The Heritage is fairly cool.

Ottavino was sent to the Red Sox for virtually nothing so that the Yankees had some wiggle room under their self-imposed fake salary cap. For the most part, he was a dependable arm for Boston. He appeared in 69 games, throwing 62 innings and striking out 71, and saving 11 games. I didn't agree that the Yanks should send a veteran reliever to their rival, but what do I know?

I'm sure another TTM or two will pop up in my mailbox at some point, but for now, it's always fun when a surprise return comes back.

Monsters Inc

As the days of this blog wind down (more to come on that), I've still got a few things to show off here and there. 

Overall, I think Topps Project 70 is utterly exhausting. Sooz did a good job getting a pulse on these on recent CardChat, and between acts of plagiarism to Topps shutting it down for a few days with little communication, the project was overly ambitious and is now tired.

Therefore, I fully expect a Project 2022 of some sort. This is Topps we're talking about.

The Project 70 checklist has been overloaded with Yankees, Dodgers, Trout, Ohtani. Once in a while a random player is featured, but for the most part it hasn't been as expansive as initially hoped. I thought I might even get a Tino at some point, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

And while I appreciate the freedom the artists have to connect their designs to a certain year of Topps cards, many times it's hard to tell and even Topps' website doesn't list the year of correlation. 

I've only bought two so far. I did acquire an early Dock Ellis, and recently, my second arrived:

I do think Alex Pardee has been the star of Topps Project 70. His monster/alien/creature mashups have been a fun change and a lot more creative than some of the other photoshop filter efforts. While they may not be for everyone, after seeing his early Ronald Acuna, I always said that I'd buy any Yankee he decided to contribute.

Obviously, he chose Aaron Judge. The 1972 Topps design remains mainly unchanged, but we've got Judge exhibiting some cool monster-like features. I love the massive Judgian hand come at you. And apparently he's in some sort of bubble bath?

His face looks like it's got a few layers of skin overlapping one another, and he has about a hundred teeth showing. Terrifying, indeed. Pitchers, beware.

My only real regret is not buying this from Topps and even giving myself a chance at a foil parallel. I bought this during en eBay pre-sale to save a few bucks.

Cool card, tired project. That's probably the last one I'll buy...unless we get a Tino somewhere.

Greed

For someone who isn't too into the hobby right now, I sure acted greedy recently.

No, I didn't go clean out a retail shelf. I'm not that greedy. But during Wes' recent trade-a-thon on Twitter, I was admittedly more greedy than I should have been.

For those who don't know about Wes' annual event, he basically posts a bunch of cards on Twitter. The first person to respond "take" gets the card. Participants are limited to claiming five cards. Wes simply asks for a surprise package in return that he waits until Christmas to open. For this round, he asked for wrestling cards in return.

I claimed three cards this time around, and as mentioned, was a bit greedy in my claims. But I do feel that what I sent back was fair, for whenever he does open his package.

The first card I claimed was an early Derek Jeter Upper Deck card. I didn't have this one, and figured it was a good one too claim. If nothing else popped up, I was happy.

Something else did pop up. This:

Oops, I claimed it. This card isn't super rare and can be had for about the price of a blaster. But I still took it. It's one of those cards I've never gone out of my way to buy, and maybe wouldn't do it if not for Wes' event. It's place in cardboard lore is well established, and I felt like I should own one to put in my "money box"...aka the box my wife knows to look for in case something ever happens to me.

Speaking of cardboard lore going into the money box, this was my third and final greedy claim:

Whoops. Yeah, pure greed. And I felt guilty as I hit claim. This was a wantlist card for me for a long time though. I even had a saved eBay search for a PSA 8, but right when I was looking to buy one a year ago the prices when up quite a bit. I never trusted to buy a raw, so the saved search just sort of sat there.

And then it popped up on Wes' timeline and I pounced.

Afterward I felt little icky, and hope I didn't take the fun out of it for others. As mentioned, I do feel that my package to Wes will be reflective of the cards he sent me. While I don't know a ton about wrestling cards, I made sure to pick out a few for Wes that had a story behind them.

Thanks, Wes. And sorry for being a greedy bastard.

Atomic holds up

Personally, it feels like Chrome products have been lackluster the past few years. Pricy, hard to find, and when one does find it, it feels like a dud. Buyer's remorse happens almost instantly. There have even been a few Topps Chrome group breaks I have passed on because I just didn't feel like the product was worth it.

That's not just Topps Chrome, either. Bowman Chrome seems to be in the same boat.

But that's why we have eBay and the ability to go back and purchase cards from better years and better efforts. If today's shiny doesn't do it for you, there's always a surplus of something from the golden era of cardboard.

For example, 24 years ago, Topps rolled out this:

Atomic Refractors were still fairly new, but man, is this Bowman's Best nice. The background textures add a depth and dimension that makes the grid-like refractor pattern just pop off the card. It's crazy we had this in 1997, yet don't get much new in 2021. 

Plus, this card set me back less than $2. I'd rather spend my money on that than today's unimagined Chrome products.

I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams

One of my favorite scenes in The Shawshank Redemption is within the last few minutes of the film. Red decides to cross the border to reunite with Andy breaking his parole in the process. One line always sticks out to me:

"I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams." 

I'm not sure why that line is memorable for me. I have connection or love for the Pacific Ocean. Sure, I've seen it and been in it a few times, but it looks just like he ocean over here on the East Coast.

However, that line once again popped into my head when my newest Tino Martinez card arrived, a 1998 Pacific Platinum Blue.

Nice card. The window behind Tino is translucent, and the blue is fairly striking in person. It's not a bright blue, but more of a Carolina-blue with some metallic flair to boot.

Pacific churned out some great cards, and Invincible was always one of those sub-brands that looked great each year. I look back with nothing but fondness on Pacific, and wish they were still making cards today.

Until then, even 20 years later, I'm still picking up cards from them that I didn't have, so I guess it's not all that bad.

Jeter and Mick...no, not that Mick

Similar to my blogging, my card-related pickups having really been coming to a halt. In both August and September, I sold more on eBay than I spent. Let's hear it for positive cash flow!

October is likely trending in this direction as well. Candidly, there's just nothing I want right now. No product excites me, no player excites me, no potential pick up excites me. Maybe that'll change, and I hope it does.

That doesn't mean I don't have envelopes coming in every now and then. Once in a while, when it feels like the right thing to do, I'll still pick up a Topps NOW card. I never buy directly from Topps. While that takes me out of the running for parallels and such, it keeps me in the $5 per card range. Sometimes, that can even be steep, but I don't buy these like I once did back in 2017 when Aaron Judge had one come out every day.

The first I picked up was an easy choice: Derek Jeter holding his plaque from Cooperstown. I'm not sure how many more cards will feature Jeter in this fashion. There will be probably a 30-card Target set in next year's Series One or something. But still, it was a no-brainer for me to pick up a card featuring Jeter holding his likeness that will hang in Cooperstown forever.

The next is a bit more of an off-the-path card for me, but I snagged a Mick Schumacher Topps NOW rookie card commemorating his appearance in the Belgian Grand Prix. I've actually bought a few F1 Topps Now card, including the first Lewis Hamilton last year...a card that cost me $5 at the time and now fetches toward $1K. It seemed logical to buy at the time since he's one of the most popular athletes in the world.

Similarly, Mick's father, Michael Schumacher, was one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time. He was just the subject of a Netflix documentary about his life on the track, which was an enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes. I recommend it if you haven't seen it. It was definitely a puff piece, but reminded me of how great he truly was. Mick is young and has shown a good ability, so I figured it was wise to snag a RC.

I know F1 cards have gotten very popular, although I don't plan on collecting or buying them frequently. Although I am a racing fan, I don't love F1. It's basically a glorified time trial and the cars are a bit too tech-advanced for me. It doesn't really feel like racing as much as it does space travel. I have a family member who races F4, and that's more my speed. Still, there is no denying how popular it is, and the drivers are some of the biggest international stars in the world. 

Two vastly different subjects, but from the same card concept. And to me, a decent way to spend $10.

A pink card for October

As per October tradition, Collecting Cutch is once again showing off pink cards to raise awareness for breast cancer.

While he also shows some very attractive subject matter, I'm going to stick to cards here. My newest Tino Martinez card, as luck would have it, is nothing but pink:

This is from 2020 Topps Chrome Update. Obviously this was a disaster of a set, but with the inclusion of Tino Martinez, gave me many parallels and refractors to chase down. This is the pink refractor, not to be confused with the pink wave refractor.

While my card-buying, collecting habits, and desire to run a blog all but vanish, once in a while I still surf eBay and this card was a minimal price, so I snagged it. I have a stack of about 20 Tinos I have yet to add my to my 'have' list, both on my blog and on TCDB. This is one of them, but I'll be sure to update that in the near future.

My October posting will likely continue to be sporadic, but I strongly encourage you to go check out Collecting Cutch's blog for his excellent cause all month long.

Too Many Tinos

Just a short post today. It's been 10 days since I've done so, but I'm too busy to play with baseball cards and blogs right now. Pretty recurring theme. Maybe the end of the blog is near...

Some of my favorite DMs or emails are when a fellow collector comes across a Tino they think I don't have. This happened a few weeks back when Dennis of Too Many Verlanders was going through a big lot he bought on Facebook. Usually the answer is "thanks, but I have it." But in this case, Dennis indeed found one I didn't have!

There we go! Nice little 1997 Donruss Gold Press Proof. There's a little bit of a diecut to it too, which is easy to miss. I think 1997 Donruss holds up pretty well. It's not the best Donruss design, but far from the worst.

Dennis also flanked the card with two gems.

While I have tons of these, they are still so fun. What a great set.

Thanks for thinking of me, Dennis!

Derek Jeter - The full Project 2020 rundown

After over a year of waiting, Derek Jeter will finally be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday.

Sadly, I am traveling during this time and will probably miss most of the ceremony. I'm sure I'll catch the replay of his speech.

Jeter was a special player for me as a kid. I feel like we are up together. I was in the 6th grade when Jeter took over as the everyday shortstop on Opening Day of 1996.  I was in seventh grade when the Yankees won the World Series later that season. I was in ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade when they three-peated from 1998-2000. I was an annoying Luis Gonzalez single away from seeing the Yanks win the World Series every year I was in high school.

He wouldn't win another until 2009. By that time, I was a young professional living and working in NYC. College had come and gone, with Jeter still entrenched on the left side of the Yankees infield. I was at Game 6 of the 2009 World Series when the Yankees clinched the title. My date for the game was the woman who would soon become my wife.

Derek Jeter was the Yankees shortstop from the time I was in junior high through the time I was married with two kids. That's pretty insane, any way you look at it. So while it'll be trendy over these few days to knock him as being a overrated slap hitter or that he couldn't play defense, that's going to fall on deaf ears on this blog. It's rare to grow up with a player and have them being linked to nearly every baseball memory you have.

I have that with Jeter.

While he has always been a more secondary part of my collection compared to Tino Martinez, I have about 1,000 different Jeters, give or take. But in 2020, Jeter was the focus for me during Covid-fueled trading card boom.

Why?

Because I completed the Topps Project 2020 full run of Jeters.

It was expensive, but I don't regret it one bit. The funds were there. The retail cards weren't on the shelves. So this took the place of what I might have normally spent on cards. 

All together, they create quite the masterpiece:

Just look at those! Maybe by themselves they don't equate to much, but when viewed as a collection, it's an incredibly unique piece.

Over the last couple days, I went back and looked at these for the first time in months. They had been stored away, but it was fun to go back and enjoy them with Project 2020 a distant memory. And while Project 70 is doing it's best to beat artist renderings of cards into the ground, these will always hold a special place.

And do you know what? My tastes changed over time. Some I loved at the time, I found myself perhaps not feeling the same now. Some I barely remembered now really popped for some reason. So with that, here a few categories of the Project 2020 cards after I revisiting my collection:

Favorite card: Tyson Beck

This one was always one of my favorites, but I feel it holds up. There's a lot going on, but I like how the full piece comes together. The iconic Draft Pick text from the back of the card is there. Jeter's RC image is there on the right, although he's holding Lady Liberty's torch. The colors are vibrant, the card is busy, yet captures Jeter well with his smile and his swing.

Card that I like more now than before: Jacob Rochester

I don't know why, but I kept coming back to this one. I think the sea foam green is what has attracted me to the card. I don't know if it'll ever be my favorite, but when I saw it I definitely felt more attracted to the simplicity of the design than I had remembered.

Least Favorite: Keith Shore

Oof. Moving on.

Missed the mark the most: Oldmanalan

I shouldn't be THAT surprised by this, as this artist was often out to lunch on most of his cards. And while this was definitely not his worst card, I found it odd that he didn't use the image from Jeter's RC at all.

Most surprising: Don C

This was another polarizing card, but I liked it immediately and still do. It's obviously a homage to Seinfeld, where Jeter made an appearance on the show after the 1996 season. What was most surprising about it to me was how different it felt from Don C's other cards, which were a bit more artistic.

I could take a look at these again next year and feel completely different. Regardless, the full run is now a cornerstone of my entire card collection, and something I'm grateful I decided to follow through on.

Congratulations to Derek Jeter!

Fairfield Repacks change with the times

I've always like Fairfield repacks, more for their entertainment value than anything else. I would pick one up here and there from Walgreen's for $4.99. Would I get $5 worth of cards? Sometimes. Would I enjoy the way I spent my $5? Almost always.

You're never going to strike gold with these things. Once in a while someone on Twitter will claim they got a Bryce Harper RC or something, but I don't believe most of that. Those types of posts are fake and just for likes.

Still, I never really considered myself to be a sucker when I bought these. I knew what I was getting. A year or two ago, you'd get 100 cards, an unopened pack, a few hall of famers, and maybe a little bit of trade bait. 

Now? Not so much.

For the first time in months, I came across one of these on Saturday at Walgreen's. There were three total, but I bought just one. Very non-flipper of me, eh? The packaging has undergone a few changes over the last few years. The preview window of the hero card is gone. I always liked that. It would help me choose which to buy.

You know what else is gone? It doesn't say how many cards are in the box. It used to advertise 100 cards. Then sometime last year it dropped to 80. Now? No mention.

Hits have gone from 1:4 to 1:8 over the last few years. The hits were never very good anyhow, but still fun to snag a random auto or relic at those odds.

For years these were $4.99, but when I rang them up at the counter, they were $5.49. The $.49 isn't a big deal, but still, there's price increase of 10% off the bat.

When I opened the box, the first thing I noticed? A lot of free space! The boxes are still big enough for 100 cards, but nooope. Guess how many?

80? Nope. 75? No.

51 cards!

That is a drastic decrease. Over the past year or two, these have gone from 100 cards to 51. Something tells me it's supposed to be 50 and I ended up with a bonus card by accident.

That's an enormous drop, if you ask me.

When you get 51 cards, do you know what else you get? More junk. I know, I know. These have always had junk. But I would say, what, maybe 50% was junk wax, and the rest were maybe cards from the last few years, or some oddballs?

I only got two cards that I would call recent:

Now to be fair, I was surprised to see a card from 1957 pop out. That is different. Usually the oldest card would be something from the late 70s. That was a welcome surprise. No creases, either!

Outside of the three above, the other 48 cards were all junk wax. And there were ZERO oddballs.

The pack was 2021 Opening Day, which shows that this was packed very recently. While I'd rather have this than a pack of 1990 Donruss, it still doesn't really make up for the emptiness that the box provided.

So that's that. Again, I know these repacks are often fairly lackluster, but now this feels like it's on a completely new level of rip-off. If that's how all these are from now on, I won't be rolling the dice anymore with Fairfield repacks. I'll keep my $5, happily.

These are a lot more 2021 than they are 2019, and that's sad.

The future, but now

Although I was out in Colorado for MLB All-Star Festivities, I decided not to attend the Futures Game.

It wasn't for lack of interest. I just had better things to do in Denver that afternoon, including visiting one of my old college roommates.

One of the most surprising storylines of the game was that Jasson Dominguez was selected to the AL squad. At the time, he had less than 10 games to his credit, so it was definitely a leap.

Still, it's an exhibition game, and he's one of the game's top prospects. Maybe some guys deserved it more, but to me, if baseball has a chance to showcase young players who might be household names one day, they should do it. The game means nothing, so bring your big guns and show them off.

Dominguez hit a 100mph+ rocket for an out, but otherwise the game was uneventful for him. Still, it gave him a chance to be around other top prospects, many who are right on the doorstep of the majors. Hopefully he noticed how they prepared for the game, and took some notes. One note I hope he didn't take was letting the NL win. We all know that doesn't happen in the big boys game.

As expected, Topps put out a few cards to commemorate the game via Topps Now. Dominguez received one, so I headed to eBay and scooped it up for half the price that it goes for on Topps website. Dominguez cards are still rare enough to me that I don't mind spending a couple bucks for them here and there.

It's not first Bowman Chrome, but it's still pretty cool.

Flying up the rankings

Prospect rankings can often be inconsistent and arbitrary. Many in the Top 100 at any given time won't have an impact in the Major Leagues.

Still, wouldn't you rather your team have a few high-ranking prospects?

The Yankees haven't gotten a ton out of their most recent first round draft picks. Outside of Aaron Judge, many either didn't make it, were traded, or are still finding their way in the minors. There have been short bursts of success, but by and large their picks have underwhelmed over the past decade. That happens when you frequently pick in the late 20s and don't have access to top five talent.

In 2019, the Yankees selected a local product, high school short stop Anthony Volpe from Watchung, NJ. He was committed to Vanderbilt, but the Yanks signed him away. Many felt the pick was fine, maybe a slight reach, and perhaps not the most exciting prospect.

They were wrong.

In 2019, he played in a few games and his season was cut short by mono.

Then 2020 was a throwaway year for lower level minor leaguers.

But in 2021, the Yankees look like they may have struck gold with their 2019 first rounder. Volpe has been nothing short of amazing. In MLB Pipeline's most recent Top 100 mid-season rankings, Volpe comes in at number 15 overall. Even more impressive, he did this from not being ranked at the start of the season. That is a massive jump.

And for good reason.

Just 20 years old, he has played at A and A+ levels this year, hitting .302/.436/.609 with 21 HRs in 90 games. He has swiped 28 bases, and has walked about as much as he has K'd. He's doing all this at shortstop, while be a few years below the average age of his competition.

A lot can happen between A+ and AA and AAA. But for now, it appears the Yankees have something special brewing, and what a story it would be to see a local kid man SS for the Yankees. With all due respect to Andrew Velazquez, of course.

Volpe cards used to be fairly easy to pluck on TCDB, but now not so much. Still, I managed to get quite a few before he burst onto the scene.

Here's to hoping he continues to flourish and climb the rankings as one of the best prospects in baseball.

The first of...a couple?

Yesterday, I received my first Anthony Rizzo card that depicts him as a New York Yankee.

Rizzo is a likable player, and I'm glad the Yankees acquired him. It's been too long since they've had a good power bat from the left side who plays an above average 1B, as well.

The move was sweet because it was unexpected, but also quickly balanced the Yankees lineup with two power lefty bats, since Joey Gallo was also brought on board.

Rizzo quickly endured himself to Yankee fans with a big HR in in his first game, and went on a small tear with RBIs in his first six games with the new squad. While he's struggled a touch since then, plus had a bout with Covid-19, I'm not worried about him in the slightest and think he'll be a really important player down the stretch run. He's settled into the number 2 spot in the lineup.

I decided to buy the first Topps NOW card that depicted Rizzo in a Yankees uniform, since I'm not sure how many Yankee cards he'll get. He's a pending free agent (I hope the Yankees re-sign him), and usually trade deadline acquisitions don't make it into Update, which is pretty weird. I'd rather Update print a month later and include the deadline deals versus waiting until Series One.

There was a previous Topps NOW card that featured the "TRADED" mark, but Rizzo was still in a Cubs jersey. That's an overlooked benefit of Topps NOW - being able to acquire cards of guys in new uniforms and not having to wait months.

Sadly, I missed the first Joey Gallo Yankees card, but since he's under contract next year, I'm not too worried about it, and expect him to have 500 Yankee cards next year.

All's Wells

I've been going through a busy time at work right.

It doesn't make me different or special. Many of us feel a bit overworked and tired. I'm glad to be working, when I know some aren't that fortunate over the past year and half.

But still, I've found myself to be getting worn out easier, a tad more irritable towards my staff, and wishing the days away. And despite entering our busy season in a couple weeks, I'm set to leave for a week-long beach vacation later today with my wife and kids.

It's coming at a good time, as I plan to recharge my batteries a bit. As parents can attest, a vacation with kids often is not a vacation at all, however, I'll do my best to settle down for a few days without much of an agenda.

So for now, all is well in my world.

And speaking of 'well', Yankees 2020 first rounder Austin Wells is off to a strong pro start, hitting .260/.388/.471 with 10 HRs between two levels of A ball. Wells was one of the better collegiate hitters in the 2020 draft, so it's not surprising to see him doing well, and have the power start to show up.

I only have a few cards of him, but this really pretty Bowman Sapphire recently arrived via a TCDB trade, if you're into that sort of thing. While we don't need Sapphire for every single product, it really does look nice and enhance nearly any card design.

Between Wells and 2019 first rounder Anthony Volpe, the Yankees have made what looks to be two really strong picks in a row. People will say it's the hype machine, but these two are very legitimate prospects who are fun to follow.

And with that, I'm off to go sit in traffic on the Garden State Parkway.

On demand

'On demand' means a lot in today's world. 

It's become a part of everyday speech, often referring to some sort of instant gratification. To me, it's mostly commonly associated with television. There's even a button on my TV remote with a star on it, with the button's label reading "On demand."

Baseball cards too are now printed on demand, something that started with Topps Now and has evolved into many, many forms of cards released online and printed to order. There are so many of these types of sets now, that it's impossible to keep up. I rarely know what sort of sets are out there at any given time.

It's easy to not pay attention. I have no need to go Topps' website just to browse around. Every so often I'll open one of their emails and notice a set that's currently available on demand. I might even buy one once in a while, such as Derek Jeter-curated set.

Recently on TCDB, someone offered me two Gleyber Torres cards that were printed on demand. I had no idea either card existed.

The first is a 2020 Topps Attax. I don't think the brand every resonated with baseball collectors. I've gotten tons from 2010ish in trade packages. I see the brand seemingly do well for some other sports, like soccer, but in baseball it never made much of a splash. Still, it's neat to see some of today's current players on an Attax design.

The next was a 52-card set created by Kenny Mayne. I love Kenny Mayne. I know there are a lot of cool people who like to brag about not liking ESPN, but Mayne was one of the best SportsCenter anchors and talents to land on air, and his catch phrases and features were always outstanding. While this looks more like a playing card of course, I didn't know this set was even a thing until the card was proposed to me in a swap.

That's all for today. Off to work...where my time is IN demand.

PWE prizes from bloggers

In my small corner of the hobby, not much beats a PWE from other bloggers.

I recently received two of them on the same day, which was surprising, as most PWEs nowadays are from the TCDB (a great place to trade if that's your sort of thing). While both appeared out of the blue, neither were necessarily 'just because.'

The first I opened was from Chris at The Collector. He held a PWE swap meet, where I sent him a random batch of basketball cards. In return, he sent me a Yankees themed PWE:

Very nice assortment. Older X-fractors still hold up. I also like the Goodwin Champions of Paul O'Neill and his big head. But my favorite card, not pictured above, was a cloth sticker from 2011 Lineage of A-Rod. Man, I really liked that set. If the cards had stats on the back it could have been an all-timer.

Thanks, Chris! Fun cards.

The other PWE was from Elliptical Man over at View From The Third Floor. I won his NFL Draft contest, and was awarded some auction points. He sent a note saying that he decided against an auction, so sent me a PWE of Yanks. No problem there!

Another really fun batch. A 1972 Topps Ron Blomberg?! Great card from a great set. That one takes the cake for me, although I liked the Gleyber inserts a lot too, as I'm still finishing that set.

Two excellent PWEs from two excellent bloggers. Thanks, guys!

2021 Topps Yankees Project entry...for now

While I no longer actively send TTM autograph requests, I don't want my Topps Yankees Project to go by the wayside. 

The Series One checklist offered no real opportunities to check off 2021 in my quest to have a signed Topps Yankees card from each year. Series Two offered some slightly better options.

The first, and easiest, was a card featuring third base coach Phil Nevin and Giancarlo Stanton. Of course, Stanton doesn't answer fan mail, but Nevin is an outstanding signer. So while I'd prefer a traditional card being my entry for the 2021 season, this will be a solid placeholder in the binder for now:

I certainly hope to upgrade, both this card, and hopefully from a rostered player. The signature bubbled pretty badly. I definitely ran an eraser over the card prior to sending, but must not have done it enough if the marker tried so badly to evaporate.

However, I do like the card itself. Stanton's HR handoff is a pretty cool celebration when he is rounding the bases. Sadly, it just doesn't happen much anymore. Apparently he started this isn Miami and brought it to NY.

As for the Project, there's still a couple of other guys who might return a card, so hopefully I'll have another addition to this collection.

If you're interested in seeing past entries to the project, check this out here.

200 TCDB trades!

Without realizing it, I just went past 200 completed trades on the Trading Card Database (TCDB). 

I was surprised the number was this high, actually. However, most trades are quick PWE swaps, so they tend to add up quickly if you have three or four going at once.

I don't spend a ton of time with the hobby these days, so it's also a testament to show that the site isn't as time consuming as some would like to think.

Additionally, I'm likely not the easiest trade partner on the site. I don't have a ton of cards available for trade. I usually add the extras from recent products, which is when most trades happen. For example, when I busted those two excellent Stadium Club blasters, all the cards I didn't want I added to TCDB. Then, team and set collectors usually reach out with a few offers, or vice versa.

My wantlists are fairly light, as well. I obviously have added all Tino's I don't have, but I've probably only traded for about 25 of his cards all-time on the site. Most trades have centered around guys like Gleyber Torres or Clarke Schmidt.

I actually have added all Gleyber cards I don't have to my wantlist. While I don't really want to pursue his cards as a player collection, it does help me trade match with more people. As a result, I've got nearly 200 Gleyber cards now.

Some of my recent trades have netted me some nice cards of his, in fact. These are the types that roll in a weekly basis:

200 trades without it feeling like it is pretty cool. The TCDB continues to be a great place to trade, if that's your sort of thing. It's been an excellent way to trade away commons of cards that might otherwise just sit in boxes. And as a result, I've really built up a solid collection of Torres card.

On to trades 201, 202, and 203...