Doon Swoon

Over the 11-year history of this blog, a guy like Napkin Doon has been here basically for all of it. I remember our first trade was in May, 2011. Previously, I had won a few cards of him from the Big Fun Game that he used to run, a Yankee swap type of blog contest.

That first trade included a handful of Tino cards, and two autographs: Ramiro Pena and Mark Melancon.  Names from the past! He also threw in a bunch of Flair cards of Paul O'Neill and Bernie Williams. I remember being surprised by the package because we had only agreed on a portion of the cards, but he sent them all to me. That's just the kind of guy he is!

As he has started to reduce the size of his collection a bit, he's been setting aside non-keepers for me, especially of guys like Jeter and Rivera. He sent me a big old box of cards just a few weeks ago, and the contents definitely delivered.

See, that's a lot of cards.

But it wasn't all cards. He sent me three packing peanut NFTs of Jeter, Gallo, and Odor. If anyone tries to steal this image of my NFTs, then I will be pressing charges.

Right on top is my first Topps Holiday ornament. Fun cards. I mean, no Pacific ornament from back in the day, but I appreciate the concept.

The next card I pulled out was a Dave Winfield Kellogg's 3D stars. I don't really get these cards. They've never done anything for me at all. At least it's not curled to all hell.

The second card in the box might have been my favorite, a Bowman Platinum ice parallel of Yankees 2020 first rounder, Austin Wells. Well, that was my favorite until a Hope Diamond Curtis Granderson popped out! Numbered to 60, Topps just did so much right in 2011 with their parallels. 

Stacks of current Yankees included Gleyber, Judge, and Stanton.

I'm not surprised Napkin had a lot of spare Alfonso Sorianos, as he was the centerpiece of the haul that brought Alex Rodriguez to NY. Doon probably thought he was going to get rich of this guy.

As for Yanks of the past, there were plenty of Rivera, and Mattingly.

Poor Doon even decided to send me a few Rangers who called the Bronx home in 2021. Odor is no longer with the Yanks, but I now have an ungodly amount of his RCs. That's my first Gallo rookie, as well. I am betting he will once again hit .190 with 40 HRs. Baseball!

The bottom of the box had some odd-sized Mattinglys to top - or bottom - it all off. Man, that crouched batting stance is so cool.

This is the 45th post of mine where you're tagged, Nap. Thanks for all the fodder over the years.

TTM Success: Alfonso Soriano

I've had a very empty mailbox lately, both from a lack of purchases, but also from a lack to TTM requests. I haven't been very inspired to send this summer. I go in waves where I get very into it, and then go three months without sending anything.

I hit a mini wave of inspiration a few weeks ago, and sent two cards to Yankee great Alfonso Soriano.

I was thrilled to receive both cards I sent signed yesterday in the mail.

I have wanted a Soriano autograph for a long time, and was even looking at some of his certified autographs recently. Now, I don't feel that pressure.

As Brian mentioned on Twitter, he left room for Jeter to sign the 2013 Topps!

While I admittedly don't love the 2013 design, I was indeed at that game where the photo was taken and saw both Jeter and Soriano homer. Then Soriano won the game with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 9th. So cool to have him sign a card from a game I have a fond memory of during the forgettable 2013 season.

Thanks to Mr. Soriano for graciously signing these cards and making a very happy Yankees fan.

Christmas in May and posting in June

I was also on the receiving end of Johnny's Trading Spot's generous Christmas in May offerings. With Johnny currently running a Big Fun Game, I felt like I should try and post from the great package he sent me before more cards from him show up on my doorstep.

I forgot to get a picture of it, but I enjoy how John wraps his card packages in newsprint.

I'll start with two Tino Martinez cards. I needed both of these. The Topps 2000 is an HTA version...Home Team Advantage, which I guess was exclusive to Hobby. The Upper Deck Amazing Greats is an awesome clearcut. I thought I had it, but I only had the more rare silver diecut version, so this was a very welcome surprise. Plus I love clearcuts.

And these two equal Tino cards #849 and 850! Nice, round number.

I don't even know where to start with the rest of the cards, so I'll show an adorable Pacific Card-supials Alfonso Soriano.

Zippy Zappy showed some of the minor leaguers John sent, so here's the lot included in my package.

Bernie Williams is pretty underrated in the hobby, but he had a LOT of cards in the late 90s and early 00s. John sent no shortage of Bernie cards, many of them very bright and shiny.

The Crown Royale proof card was interesting. It's paper thin!

I had never seen this card from Fleer - a Grassroots insert. The lemon-line green and yellow look awesome in person. Great color combo.

This card stuck out to me as interesting. First, I love that "Flash" Gordon was used. Then Topps photoshopped him into his new Phillies uniform, but then didn't change the team name from Yankees. Oops!

Here is a great minor league Righetti at its finest. Remarkable card!

And a few other fun cards.

John, thanks so very much!

A Grande box of cards

I believe Chris at Nachos Grande was the first blogger I ever traded with. I think we swapped cards before I had a blog up and running.

While we don’t swap nearly as much (maybe every year or two), Chris was kind enough to shoot me a big box of Yankees he was ridding himself of. I look forward to returning the favor and sending him some Reds in return.

This box was particularly fun due to the amount of 90s and early 00s cards in it. While I do appreciate the newer stuff, seeing cards of El Duque and Scott Brosius that I didn’t have really makes my day.

Sandwiched in between was this cool Bernie Williams figure from 2004 MLB SportClix game. I hadn’t heard of this game, but looks like it would be pretty cool, although games like this tend to not do very well. Damn kids and their damn video games.

 Of course, there are usually a few Tino cards in boxes like this. I always liked this Pinnacle Swing for the Fences promo card. The royal blue back always appealed to me.

This is a sweet Jeter I didn’t have from Topps Total. I know many of us wish Total would make a comeback at some point. It seems we’ve seen most Topps sets from the past 15-20 years make a comeback at some point, so hopefully Total isn’t far off. Side note – I totally forgot about those Blue Jays uniforms. I’m glad they didn’t last for too long.

There were a couple of Jeters total. An upcoming project of mine is to finally sort, count, and catalogue my Jeter cards.

Speaking of not lasting too long, Travis Lee was a Yankee for a short time in 2004. I actually remember being thrilled when the Yankees signed him, but he got hurt after just 7 games. Interestingly, he went to Tampa Bay the next year and Tino came back to NY, so they were sort of (but not) traded for each other.

Topps Stars! 1997 Topps Stars is – to me – an all-time classic set. I never quite found any of the follow-ups to be as appealing, but I still enjoy seeing all years of the brand. What a great Alfonso Soriano prospect card from spring training. This one is from 2000 Topps Stars.

A truly classic Bowman’s Best design. I might have to send this to Tartabull for a TTM signature.

Ty! I really hope he makes it back to the mound this year.

Chris included an unopened Upper Deck fan pack of Yankees – 25 cards from a few different Upper Deck sets. I wasn’t collecting at this time, but I’ve seen these a few different times. Still, does anyone know the story behind them? Where were they offered?

Lastly, a Topps RC of a 23-year-old who just finished 3^rd in the Cy Young voting. People seem to think the Yankees don’t have much starting pitching, but between Severino, Sonny Gray, and Tanaka, that’s a pretty formidable front three.

Chris, thanks so much for the very generous box of cards. I’ll be sure to send Reds your war soon.

SuperTraders #25: San Jose Fuji

It's nearing the end as a "SuperTrader" for me. I have a few packages I need to send those I haven't yet, then I'll be stepping away. I don't buy enough cards to replenish inventory to regularly trade with a representative of all teams.

Unexpectedly, San Jose Fuji sent me a great package around the new year. It had a bunch of great relic-type cards.

I really gravitated toward the Jason Giambi base relic. I think game-used bases are some of the coolest out there. This one has some great dimples and dirt (that'd be a good name of an insert set...Dimple & Dirt). Far more interesting than a plain jersey swatch, right? I don't think we've seen a game-used base insert set in a long time - probably at least ten years, right?

Speaking of plain jersey swatches, these are two relics I didn't have. For a time I considered collecting the 2011 Topps 60 relic set of just Yankees, but I couldn't stay dedicated to it. The Cracker Jack of Soriano is cool too, as it's smaller than a standard card.

I always liked these rookie reprints too. I have the Mattingly, and am now happy to have the Cano.

I meant to buy this Jose Pirela autographed card during COMC Black Friday, but I forgot! Luckily, Fuji took care of that for me.

He also snuck in a pretty great vintage card of Bobby Murcer. I have a few Murcers, but this is new to my collection. Tony Oliva was pretty great too. I may be showing my age, but I have no idea who Merv Rettenmund is.

Last, but not least, Fuji was kind enough to send a pack of Sportflics for my son! I haven't given him the pack yet - he got too many 'time outs' at pre-school last week!

Fuji, it's always a pleasure. Thank you!