Look who Flew in

A great recent development in the card blogging world was the return of Rockies fan and blogger Johnny aka Hiflew, who runs Cards from the Quarry. His blog is very purply, and it's nice to see him come back into the fold. He's still been collecting and keeping his want lists up to date, and has found a lot of success selling on SportLots.

No matter, seeing him come back has been fun, and we've stirred up a few minor trades when we posts his PWE trade bait. It's always fun because he includes cards from mostly every team that are up for grabs.

Hiflew and I go way back, to the point where when he confirmed my address for our latest trade, it was an address I had THREE addresses and a lifetime ago. 

I sent him a few Rockies he didn't have, and in return, these cool numbered Yanks showed up:

That's Hall of Famer Mike Mussina /50, as well as a super shiny Miguel Andujar from Donruss. Perfect cards for some cards I has laying around, including a hard-to-find 2011 red parallel that Hiflew needed. Simple, effective trade. Everyone wins.

Good to see you back in these parts, Johnny. And thanks for the trade. If you haven't checked out Cards from the Quarry, do so here.

Oh there's no place like Doon for the holidays

Blogging legend Napkin Doon recently went on a Topps Holiday binge, and he was kind enough to send me an early holiday package.

Last I knew, he was building the 2019 Topps Holiday set, but was closing in on completion. I'm not sure if he's 100% there or not. To help his cause, he joined Trading Card Database. You can find him here.

Santa Doon's package consisted of a few items, including two broken down blaster boxes of the product itself. Doon has noticed I'm a crafting geek and make some coasters out of old blasters, so he helped send me some supplies. These will go to good use.

And if you're wondering, here was my first dabble at coasters. More to come.

I saw a lot of critics of this set from the whiney card collecting community on Twitter. Me? I think it's great. The design is a lot better than the snowflake pattern of the last few years. I don't even mind the gimmicky present and candy cane short prints and all that. To me, this is the perfect time to be gimmicky in a fun product like this.

Doon sent me my first sampling of them, and I like them in person as much as I hoped I would. Well done here, Topps.

While I remember the pattern of the last few years, I didn't remember this one from 2017. The snowflakes are embossed and sparkly. I thought that was cool. 

Nap also sent me a nice team bag of cards, included some Clint Fraziers. I still like Frazier a lot and seems like he always get a raw deal. He'll hit 40 HRs for the Pirates one of these years.

A nice numbered card of Yankees HOFer Mike Mussina! No logo on his cap if fitting!

And here's a lazy photo of a stack of cards. There was a nice Judge Bowman, and a vintage Bobby Richardson.

Thanks, Nap. As for everyone else, feel free to flood his TCDB was trade offers and pleas to come back to blogging.

Call to the Hall

This weekend, three former Yankees will enter the Hall of Fame. While I don't anticipate sitting and watching the ceremony, I do look forward to seeing video recaps of the speeches and all the pageantry. I've enjoyed seeing photos of each player's Hall display as well.

After he was unanimously selected as a HOFer, I did pick up these two Topps NOW issues, with the latter celebrating the feat. I need more Rivera cards like I need a hole in the head, but these were two I was very happy to add.

I never owned many Mike Mussina cards during his playing days, as his Yankees years coincided with mostly my non-collecting years. Still, I've amassed quite a collection of his through trade packages, and his TTM autos are some of the best I own.

I actually do remember the Yankees getting Lee Smith via trade, even though I was nine at the time. I remember watching a game on WPIX where they zoomed to him sitting in the bullpen. I can't say I remember any of his Yankees pitching appearances, but it's always fun when a guy like this wears pinstripes for a short time.

Congrats to these three guys, as well as the other elected players.

Mo + Moose

I was quite happy with the results of yesterday's HOF ballot reveal.

It was obvious Rivera was going to get in. I think it's great he got 100% of the vote, and I agree with many others that it's sad it was even a thing. Many HOFers before him deserved to be voted in unanimously. I think social media and the fear of being attacked on Twitter helped sway some voters who might have been the fence to "not be that guy." Regardless, we can put to bed the "will he get 100% of the vote" storyline each year. I won't miss it.

One guy who had a long climb and finally made it was Mike Mussina. I hoped that his quiet excellence would one day land him a spot, and I'm glad that day finally arrived. While he may not have had many of the individual accolades that most HOFers do, he was a terrific pitcher for a very long time. I saw him in person many times, and always enjoyed going to a game when he was on the mound.

And it's cool that Mo and Moose are heading in together, as Mo saved 49 of Mussina's wins. Very fitting.

Both guys were extremely generous TTM signers. I have been lucky enough to get Rivera on a few occasions. He was a great signer early in his career, and then again toward the tail end. My favorite is easy this UD Masterpieces, as it came out great.

Mussina was always a great signer in the off-season. For many years, he signed for free. Now I think there is a $5 or $10 fee.

While I rarely have anything but cards signed, I did send him this ticket stub from 2008. That was the season he won 20 games for the first time (in his final season!), and this ticket was from a game I attended. He won his first game of the season that day, and he was kind enough to sign my ticket #1 of 20 to signify the win number.

Two great Yankees. Two Hall of Famers. Congrats, Mo and Moose.

Hall or Nothing

I'm really hoping Mike Mussina gets the Hall of Fame nod this year, although it's looking like it might have to wait until next year. At the time of writing this, he's at 71% of the vote on Ryan Thibodaux's HOF tracker (link here).

While I don't think I'll fill out a ballot like Gavin did, I do appreciate seeing various rationale for why decisions are made. I also appreciate when a writer publishes an article with his or her decisions and why. I may not always agree, but at least appreciate a glimpse into the thought process.

With Mussina trending at 71% and 134 ballots accounted for, I feel like he's going to fall a few votes short.

One guy who didn't fall short was Wade Boggs. One of the greatest hitters of our generation, he also played at a time when he was part of some fantastic insert sets in the late '90s. While I wouldn't call myself a Boggs collector, I do frequently pick up his cards because he was included in some of these aforementioned sets.

A COMC order I recently placed yielded two such Boggs cards. The first is a 1997 EX 2000 Hall or Nothing insert. It's actually both diecut and clearcut. Two of my favorite things! It's a classy-looking design that fell 1:20 packs, although I can't imagine many of us bought these packs. I assume they were pretty much exclusive to hobby shops.

Not quite as rare, but cool in its own right, is the 1996 Fleer Ultra Prime Leather set. I remember pulling a Mark Grace as a kid, and always really feeling like it was a special card. The leather stitches are embossed, as the card has a leather-like texture, althought a little rough.

We really don't get cool-looking cards like this anymore, and I'm thankful I have COMC to go pick up cards like this from my childhood.

SuperTraders #29: Angels In Order

I’ve had quite a few PWEs show up lately, which I love. I need to get back to sending them out! Especially with my extra 2017 Topps cards sitting around.

My latest PWE came from #SuperTrader Tom of Angels In Order. It was a fun one! My favorite card was a 2007 Fleer ARod insert. I won’t lie, with all of these boring 2017 Topps inserts (other than Five Tools), I’d do anything for more of the crazy inserts that were around when there were multiple brands. This one isn’t as crazy as some, but still feels like it compared to 2017 Topps Salutes.

 

I can say I never collected any MLB Showdowns when they were out, and this is one of the shiny ones. It looks better than my scan would indicate.

This Salt Lake Bees set is just so cool!

All-time fan favorites needs to make a comeback…and include Tino! That is my wish for 2017.

Here’s the rest of the PWE. Great assortment of nine cards, Tom. Thank you!

SuperTraders #28: A Cracked Bat

Rarely does a blogger re-enter the blogging world with such a fury of trade packages, but that’s what Julie of A Cracked Bat recently did. Hey Napkin Doon, take notice.

I was one of the lucky recipients of Julie’s #SuperTrader packages, and it was certainly packed with some great stuff.

I’ll start with an EBAY 1/1. Julie, I don’t think you knew you had an EBAY ONE OF ONE on your hands. You could have retired! In all seriousness, a sweet CC mini #’d 1/50. There were a couple of other cool minis too – Greg Bird and Tanaka. I can’t wait for Greg Bird’s return this season.

A couple of PC guys in Sanchez and Big Mike. The Big Mike is the green back of the Heritage ’51, which I did not have. The Sanchez card is blurry – not sure why. It’s not the scan. I think Topps just used a low res image. If anyone ever forgets Gary’s last name, SANCHEZ is tattooed across his arm. FYI. 

I have no recollection of this Fleer Tradition set. Randy Johnson’s tenure in NY seems to be looked at as a failure, but his first season was pretty good: 17-11, 3.79 ERA, 211 Ks, and a 5.7 WAR. As a 41-year-old! I guess compared to other seasons, that was pretty subpar for him. Admittedly, he was not good in the playoffs. 

Diamond Kings! Including a Diamond Kings Optic. This actually looks pretty sweet, I won’t lie.

National Baseball Card Day! These cards look great as well.

I’ll finish off with a couple high-end base cards. These have graced past packages from Julie as well. I never get these products, so appreciate receiving them.

Awesome stuff, Julie. Thank you!