A custom card contest victory

March was not been a great posting month, but hopefully I can get back to my daily posting shortly. I intend to within the next week or two.

Anyhow, I recently received a great contest package from Jeff at 2x3 Heroes last week. The contest was from several months ago, when we had to create a custom of our younger selves. Mine was this bad boy, which happened to receive the most votes.

I actually forgot about the contest, so Jeff would have been off the hook due to my increasingly faulty memory, but he’s a good dude and ended up sending it my way.

Here are the prizes he showed off that headlined the package. While none are guys I collect, there are some sweet cards and I appreciate Jeff's generosity. The Randy Johnson GQ relic is very cool, and numbered to 50. Not a bad card of a HOFer. The Springer is one of those camo SPs which I would have never seen if I hadn’t known from his post. My bro-in-law is a huge Mets fan, and while not a collector, will likely get a kick out of the John Franco auto.

 

There were some very cool Yankee cards included as well.

This Gary Sheffield is pretty cool. The fireworks are an awesome touch. I think UD First Pitch is similar to Topps Opening Day.

A couple of really cool Mantles.

I love Turkey Red. Those cards always look so awesome. I’d love Godzilla to sign this one day.

Refsnyder! I feel a little bad for him. He’s been jerked around a bit by the Yanks and really had to play out of position the last few years to get a few big league ABs. He was the best offensive prospect the Yankees had until some legit prospects made the upper levels. With that being said, he doesn’t have a true position and has little power, so it’s not hard to see why he’s been passed over. It seems like a breakup is inevitable soon, as his 40-man spot is valuable.

I’ll end with a sweet Rivera. I feel like it’s rare to get an action shot like this in an A&G. 

Jeff, thanks for the great contest!

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!

Congrats, Randall.

Congrats to former Yankee Randy Johnson for his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Also, congrats to Pedro, Smoltz, and Biggio. All well-deserved.

Randy's Yankees career was pretty underwhelming, mostly due to his poor playoffs performance. However, his first year in NY was actually pretty good. He went 17-8 with a 3.79 ERA and 211 SOs. Not bad for a 41-year-old.

I didn't like Pedro because of his Red Sox years, but it was because he was so damn good. Really, he was. It was always scary to face him. That night he 1-hit the yanks (Chili Davis HR) was one of the best pitching performances I've ever seen.

Smoltz was damn good, and very deserving. I do have to say that his bullpen stint being an important factor to his induction was a bit silly. Many starters could be dominant relievers. I'm pretty sure Felix or Kershaw could save 50 games if put into the closer role. Regardless, I refuse to argue with his overall ability as a pitcher during the era in which he played. He is worthy.

Biggio was a cool little dude. Yeah, many of his stats are the result of longevity and compilation, but he played C, 2B, and OF for the same club for a long time. He was a gamer, and I'm happy to see him in there. There's always room for the good guys. I hope his buddy Bagwell joins him one day.

Most of all, I look forward to adding cards of these guys into my son's HOF binder.

O Napkin Doon, O Napkin Doon! Wherefore art thou Napkin Doon?

Remember Napkin Doon? Of course you do. He only hung up his blogging boots a little over a month ago. It’s been a dark month, but the blog world keeps spinning.

Napkin sent me a package in his last days, and I’m just getting around to showing it now. But the goods are worth the wait. Nap has been a devout eTopps fan. He put a lot of time and effort into his portfolio of cards, only for Topps to neglect the concept and stop maintaining the site. Nap, sensing his cards may be gone forever, took delivery of his cards before they were gone forever.

He was nice enough to snag three cards for me – Michael Pineda, Manny Banuelos, and a 2005 Yankees team card highlighted by Randolph Johnson. The Pineda is a great addition to my PC…one of those annoying cards that would have been difficult to pick up.

 

Nap also threw in so Mo’s. I seriously need to get these cards framed.

Last but not least, some unopened junk wax that I’m going to save for my son to open one day.

Thanks, Nap. We miss you, buddy.