Look how far we haven't come

Last night, Sooz ran a #chadchat about '90s inserts. It was great to see the engagement and excitement, as many, including myself, find the '90s to be the greatest era of baseball cards.

They aren't for everyone, and that's fine. Enjoy your own opinion. You won't change mine.

But for me, give me a beautiful shiny card with a fun theme and some asymmetrical features any day over a vintage card of a guy at spring training in a fake pitching pose rocking a porn 'stache.

The most common answer to "what made '90s inserts the best ever?" had a fairly common theme: creativity and innovation. While some don't feel innovation is needed at all in baseball cards, I find it staggering at the lack of progress over the last 30 years.

Think about cards from the late '60s to '90s, then think about the same time period from the '90s to the 2020s. We have stalled in our tracks, or in some cases, we've gone backwards.

I attribute much of this to Topps and their lack of competition. With a few exceptions, inserts were never their thing. And now, they can save money by printing inserts on the same cardstock as base cards. They can give the illusion of shine without having to actual give the card shine. Mostly, they are lazy.

They'd rather have 150 card insert sets spread across three series than they would a 10-card Hot Gloves set.

They'd rather just give us another 1987 homage or 70 card reprint sets we've seen a thousand times. To them, they'll call those an insert set and be done with it.

Just this past Tuesday, I had two separate insert cards roll up to my house. Neither were crazy Jordan/Kobe/Griffeys that costs hundred of bucks. But each was special to me and cards I had wanted for some time:

Look at those beauties. It's a coincidence that they are diecut, which is not a requirement for a great insert. But boy at they pretty.

Hot Gloves were those cards I saw on the pages of card magazines and as a kid and dreamed one day I could have. Packs of Flair at CVS were out of the question. $4.99 for a pack in a little box? Nope. Grab a pack of Score for $.89 and be on our way.

Pacific was wacky and zany and felt like a brand you settled on, yet over time the efforts have become much more appreciated.

Was it the competition that drove this? Insane designers looking to give their brand an edge? Companies open to fun and not just "you get what you get" because we have no other choices?

It's sad what Topps has done to inserts in their focus on parallels, autographs, SPs, and RCs. 

Long live the '90s, the undisputed greatest era of baseball cards.

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.

Welcome, eBay standard envelope

One of my favorite developments over the last few weeks as been the arrival of the eBay standard envelope. This provides the seller and buyer with the option of what is generally a trackable PWE shipping envelope.

I couldn't be more on board.

As a Tino Martinez collector, I often see his cards listed for $1 or $2, with $3.99 shipping. Unless it's a card I rarely come across, I generally refrain. Once in a while I'll check out other items for combined shipping, but for the most part I HATE paying more for shipping than the card itself.

And as someone who is firmly in the camp of #TeamPWE, I would gladly pay for non-bubble mailer shipping.

I'm not 100% how it works as a seller yet. I know there are three pricing options: $.51, $.71, and $.91. What I'm not sure of yet is if they are enforced, what sort of envelope qualifies for which option, etc. It's still unclear to me.

And I fully expect to see sellers still charging $4 for shipping and using this option. That won't be ok.

Additionally, if I dabble in selling and using this method, I am unsure if I can just drop these envelopes in a normal blue mailbox like I have at my corner, or if I need to make the trek to the post office to have the clerk scan these envelopes like they would a larger package. If the latter, that loses some appeal for me, as a seller.

Regardless, it has helped land me cards like these two for $2 shipped (each). To me, that is much more palatable than $.99 + $3.50.

Welcome, eBay standard envelope. I hope you're here for good.

Not a time for haggling over pennies

I use the "Make An Offer" feature on eBay frequently. I try not to low ball, as most of the cards I'm making offer are only a few bucks anyways. But if someone has a card for $4.99, why not see if I can get it for $3? At worst, I can usually get it for a few cents cheaper after seller counteroffer.

However, there are times when cards pop up that are rarely seen, and out of fear of missing out on the card, I immediately choose "Buy It Now" instead of hoping I can get it for $.75 less. The opportunity cost of missing out is too great.

That recently happened with two Tino Martinez cards that I rarely see pop up, so naturally they would within a week of each other. These are not high end. But they are cards I have been keenly aware of, yet rarely see.

The first is from a brand that keeps aging like a fine wine. Pacific! For years, Pacific had a "Latinos of the Major League" insert set. I was always a little confused by this set, as I felt it was unfair to peg these particular players because of their heritage. However, Pacific was geared toward a Spanish-speaking population for years, so perhaps it wasn't odd at all. I'd be curious as to what others think.

The other "Latinos of the Majors" cards from other years pop up a lot, but not this one from 1999 Pacific Crown. When I saw it for $2.99 or best offer, there was no time to haggle. I chucked it in my cart and checked out as fast as I could, although I still had time to got through Acorns to make sure I got my $.03 invested!

It's a beautiful card. A nice, textured foil with colors that really pop. Once again, Pacific designed a card that gets better in time.

The next is a rare card only in the sense that I never see it. I have plenty of the non-shiny base versions, but the Museum Collection never finds its way into my eBay feed. I finally snagged it for just over a buck, and again, no time to haggle over pennies.

This card has always been special to me, both from the HR Derby he won to the fact that it was the first card Tino ever signed TTM for me.

Sometimes you gotta jump at the chance and not hold out for a sale or a better price. It's not worth the agony over missing rare cards to get a slightly better price.

Pacific even had a strong checklist game

I've mentioned a bunch how much I love the Pacific brand of cards. More so the late '90s Pacific versus the early '90s stuff, bit it's all good stuff in my book.

Growing up, I sort of looked at them as a second-tier brand. Most probably did as well. Most still do. For me, that started to change with some of their incredible looking insert sets later in the decade.

One that was really hard for me to chase down for some reason was the 1998 Pacific Invincible Checklist. This was an insert card that featured five(!) players, with Tino front and center. He's joined on the front by Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams, although Tino is the focal point after coming off his 1997 AL MVP runner up campaign.

The back has shots of staff ace Andy Pettitte, as well as Mariano Rivera. I'm surprised Paul O'Neill or Hideki Irabu didn't make it on this card, but there's only so much space.

What's cool about this checklist is that it's a full team checklist, from base cards to insert cards. They pack a lot of punch onto one card between five players and the full team checklist. It's a pretty great idea, if you ask me. I've never been one to like checklists, so something like this appeals to me more than a standard card listing names with check boxes. 

I'm not sure why this card was hard to pick up. I think I actually have it somewhere but didn't have it marked as a "have", so I snagged it (again) when it popped up for a low price.

Single Digits

My quest for 1,000 unique Tino Martinez cards has hit another milestone. I'm down to needing just 9 more.

Sometimes I think that 1K isn't that impressive. Other collectors often have a few thousand of their designated guy. But then I tell myself to shut up because 1. it is impressive and 2. Tino just doesn't have that many cards.

According to TCDB, I only have 38.9% of Tino cards. But that number is crap when you consider the hundreds of cards that consistent of Yankee Stadium Legacy and Topps Tek's 900 patterns in the late 90s.

The latest two came from Tim over Cardpocolypse. Tim was kind enough to match his Tino collection with my want list and send me two. So generous and cool, and he pushed me into single digits! The International Chrome Refractor is so pretty!

I also have snagged a few serial numbered shiny recently. I'm not sure why, but some uncommon Tino's have been popping up on eBay. People selling their old stuff during quarantine, maybe? The Revolution is a Shadow Series #'d to 99.

Several gold cards have come my way, as well. I have several of the 1992 Topps Gold Winners, but never had the plain old gold by itself. The Bowman is also a gold foil version.

A couple of oddballs made their way in as well!

Last but not least, I had totally forgotten to pick up 2019 Allen and Ginter X. I'm not a big A&G fan, but the all black version is pretty cool.

I still haven't decided what I'm going to do for #1000. Maybe I'll splurge. Maybe it'll just be a run of the mill base card I missed.

Time will tell. But I'm getting close. And it's getting very real.

30 to go

Just last Tuesday, I did a post titled "40 to go." That was my start of the countdown until I hit 1,000 unique Tino Martinez cards.

Here were are, just eight days later, and I've already cut that number by 10. All due to some TCDB trades. Pretty great site, if you're into that kind of thing.

One trader had six Tinos I needed! That never happens. I traded him 10 random cards on his list for these six. It's entirely possible I already have the 1991 Topps with the dark logo, but I don't have record of it. The 1992 O-Pee-Chee is pretty sweet. Never seen it in the wild. Plus, three of these cards were Pacific?! I love Pacific.

In this trade, I was only supposed to get the SI card, but the trader told me he didn't like the edge (it looked fine to me), so he threw in a Yankee Stadium Legacy. Yes, I do count those ones as unique Tinos. They are different cards.

The last card that came in was courtesy of Paul of Scribbled Ink, also by way of TCDB. Nice one for one swap. Tino as a Cardinal. Meh. But I needed it, darn it!

So there we are. Just a handful left. It's getting harder and harder to find the ones I don't have, but I'm going to keep trying like heck to get there. I've got nothing else to do!

Easter basket cards

I distinctly remember getting cards in my easter basket four different times.

In fact, each were essentially a blaster box before they were called "blaster boxes." They were the Target boxes that costs $10 or $20, but I sort of looked down on them because they weren't "hobby boxes." I dunno, I was middle-school aged and it felt like getting a cheaper thing than the real thing. Well, dummy, because it was.

It was also a time when the boxes were basically the same size as a hobby box, but had a ton of foam padding inside.

The first year I can remember, I actually got basketball cards. It would have been a blaster of 1996-97 Upper Deck Collector's Choice basketball series 2. Not only was Collector's Choice my favorite baseball brand, but I loved their basketball cards too. Maybe even more. Looking back, this was a solid choice because it had rookies of Kobe, Nash, Ray Allen, and Allen Iverson. I still have most of those. It looked something like this:

Pretty solid rookie class, and I'm glad I never got rid of them. Especially happy to still have the Kobe!

I believe it was 1998 that would have brought baseball card under my Easter basket. Yes, not in, but under. I distinctly remember my basked being placed on top of a 4-pack of Pinnacle Inside cans. They looked a little something like this:

Maybe no better card product represents the quirky 90s than these.

Moving on to 1999, I'm pretty sure I got a box of 1998 cards in the form of Pacific Online. These were odd cards that had a massive url at the top. You know, because players now had web pages on the world wide internet. Only instead of something like a vanity URL, you were expected to type in this a long web address to look up stats on your favorite player!

The last box I got, which I still have, was again getting cards from the year before, this time in the year 2000 getting cards from '99. In this instance, it was a blaster box of 1999 Score Rookie Traded with Chipper on the front.

It's funny how I can barely remember yesterday, but cards in Easter baskets 20+ years ago? No problem.

Happy Easter!

The march to 900 Tinos

Over the last 4-6 weeks, I've managed to add a decent amount of new Tino Martinez cards to my collection. An eBay seller popped up who keeps listing Tinos - most of which are serially numbered - for $.99. In many cases, I've been the lone bidder, re-affirming that I don't have much competition for Tino cards outside of really rare cards and autographs.

I keep considering messaging the seller to see if he has more and wrap them up in a single purchase, but I feel like I've been doing well bidding on them.

My favorites of the bunch are probably these Pacific Paramounts parallels. There's no real reason, other than I just like Pacific a lot, and I like the foil shine.

Speaking if shine, Donruss Stat Lines fit the bill. These are both season and career versions:

There were a bunch of Tino from his lost years with the Cardinals:

And one from the dreaded time where he was in a Yankees uniform, but featured the logo of another team.

This wasn't from the same seller, but it's one I needed from Collector's Choice. I paid more than I wanted because I didn't notice the $3.99 shipping charge. Oops.

All in all, this leaves me at 898 different Tinos. 900 is so close! With Tino popping up in so many 2019 products, I'll be there in no time!

You're fooling' me, that's not Tino!

A few days ago while browsing eBay, I came across a listing for a Tino Martinez card I didn't have.

The only problem was, it wasn't Tino who was shown!

The description was for Tino, but pictured was former Mariner Carlos Guillen. I wasn't sure if this was meant to be a Tino card, or a Guillen card.

Luckily, it ended up being a Tino card once I notified the seller and he updated the listing, and for $2 I was able to secure a Tino #'d to 99 that I didn't have!

I liked Pacific Private Stock a lot. I believe it was Pacific's answer to Topps Gallery. While the set wasn't around for long, it did look pretty nice. Plus, I have a soft spot in my heart for Pacific.

I'm glad that in the end, the bogus listing ended up being for a card I needed!

Sometimes, the simplest cards can elude you

It always makes me laugh when I think about simple cards missing from my Tino Martinez collection. I always feel like there aren’t many early 1990s cards I haven’t unearthed, but then all the sudden I’m like, “wait, I don’t have the 1994 Donruss base card?”

This happened recently when all-around nice guy Kin reached out with this 1993 Pacific.

I was sure I had it, but still checked my “have” list. Would you look at that? It wasn’t there. Somehow, in my 20+ years of collecting Tino, and in all the times when I’ve bought 100-card lots for the two I didn’t have, this card wasn’t there.

Kin sent me two copies and apologized because each had a little paper loss. That’s what happens to 25 year old cards. They stick together! It doesn’t matter to me. I’m just happy to add it the 1993 section of my Tino collection.

It’s Tino #23 for 1993 and #846 overall.

Thanks, Kin!