Holiday PWEs > Holiday Cards

Over the past few weeks, holiday cards have been flooding in. Relatives and neighbors send family photos printed from Snapfish or Shutterfly, usually of photos taken from the fall at our local park. Some even include those letters about what the family has been up to this past year, which admittedly we usually mock. "Jim has taken up jigsaw puzzles during quarantine. Janie finally opened her Etsy shop. Suzie went to competitive cheer camp. Billy continues to play Fortnite and takes tuba lessons."

Each day, three or four cards grace our mailbox, but lately between the holiday greetings, I've found something even better.

PWEs!

I recently got four of them over the past few days, and I'll take those any day over the standard Christmas greetings.

The first is from Cards on Cards. I claimed a sweet Tee Higgins rookie card, which Kerry graciously set aside for me during one of his free card postings. Higgins has had a really good rookie year and developed a great rapport with Joe Burrow. He had a good shot at 1,000 yards before Burrow got hurt. He might still get there, but it'll be tougher now without a competent QB.

He also sent a few Yanks, my favorites which were some PINK cards of Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres. Panini would be kicking Topps butt with a license.

Next up was a very unique gift from Tom of Angels In Order, a long-time trading friend. Tom sent me a bunch of what I assume are TTMs from some very random mid-80s Yankees!

There was also a great Don Zimmer signed index card, and a small piece of paper with signatures from Scott Proctor and Kyle Farnsworth!

Very cool stuff, Tom.

Third, Chris from The Collector and I exchanged PWEs. He was looking for some new football cards, so I shot him a random assortment. He hit me back with some Yankees, and some cards for my son's HOF binder! I always appreciate when people do that!

Lastly, Jay of Card Hemorrhage sent me a VERY packed PWE with all sorts of goodies. In addition to Yanks, Jay is always good for a surprise or two, whether it's other star players, cards from other sports, and more. 

The highlight for me was this Thurman Munson from 2020 Heritage:

This Jackie Robinson from 1986 Larry Fritsch Cards is very cool!

Here's a random assortment of what else Jay chucked my way.

Four really great PWEs from four really great bloggers. I'll take that any day over people I barely know!

A B-Met lands me a lot more

Growing up with a Double-A team in my backyard was pretty cool.

I want to a handful of games each year. Looking back, I should have gone to more. But I certainly went to my fair share from the time the Binghamton Mets opened their doors in 1992, until I graduated high school ten years later. 

Plus, I got to play my high school baseball games in the stadium, and often snagged something left behind by the big clubs, such as lineup cards like this one:

I saw some amazing players come through the system, and the fact that the team won the title in their first year of existence was very cool. For Christmas that year, my grandma bought me and my cousins (who were all from out of town) commemorative t-shirts. I remember that well.

So when Jay of Card Hemorrhage posted a few cards he pulled in a re-pack, and one was a Binghamton Met autograph with the old "B" logo on the hat and original team logo in the lower right, I asked if it was available because it stirred up memories of the team I grew up with.

Jay was kind enough to send this along, plus a bunch of other great stuff.

My favorite of the others were these bad boys from esteemed grader Snaggle Tooth Grading. Fuji has shown these off a few times. Definitely a cool keepsake. Not to be overlooked b the hilarity, the cards are gorgeous refractors from 2001 Archives Reserve. As tired as I get of reprinting designs, they do look cool as refractors.

Jay also sent me some really cool John Antonelli collectibles as well:

There was also a handful of basketball cards, and I was psyched to get this Devin Booker rookie card!

Here is a random sampling of some others.

Jay, this was awesome stuff. Thank you!

Hemorrhage in my mailbox

I think the first time I heard the word "Hemorrhage" was back in 1995, when Billy Madison hit theaters.

There's a part in the movie where Billy is down the in the dumps, and he sings his redemption song. A clown that had previously fallen off of his stilts then perks up and says, "Hey kids, it's me. I bet you thought that I was a dead. But when I fell over I just broke my leg and got a hemorrhage in my head."

Graphic, I know.

These days, the word hemorrhage is now, thankfully, more closely associated with a newer blogger, Jay over at Card Hemorrhage.

Jay recently sent me his second PWE, which was funny because it came while I also had one out in the mail to him. This was a fun one full of random cards of all sorts.

There were some very unexpected hits, like a Brook Lopez jersey and a Cleanthony Early autograph.

Or a low-numbered Reggie Jackson. A close friend of mine when to Boston College, so I may hand this off to him.

I have very few LeBron James cards, so this was a cool surprise.

A couple of rookies. Randy Moss will go into my RC collection of guys from other sports. He's a HOFer, you know. And Chris Jackson...he later became Mahmoud Abdul Rauf. Great old Skybox design!

Billy Martin vintage?! Sign me up.

A few more from the late '80s as well. With the recent boom on 1987 Topps, this Pete Rose might command a pretty penny now. Just kidding.

What a fun and diverse PWE. Thanks, Jay...not only for the cards, but hopefully for the new word association of cards instead of clowns.