Black & white can also shine

Over the past year, I've cooled a bit on seeking out prospect cards.

I've always enjoyed following the Yankees minor leagues, but with so few prospects panning out, I'm often left with cards of guys who never made it or were dealt to other teams. While I don't collect these guys with the hopes of striking it rich, it does seem to take up unnecessary space in my collection. 

Still, there are a few exciting young prospects in the Yankees system who do seem poised to actually do something other than serve as trade bait. Outside of Aaron Judge, the last decade run of Yankees first rounders has been awfully bad. Still, there are a few right now who are pretty exciting, including bat-first 2020 first rounder Austin Wells.

After a very good 2021 and then a solid Arizona Fall League, his cards got a little noticed. Not Anthony Volpe levels, but still a little more than they had. I decided to see what current stuff he has out there, and saw a Bowman parallel I hasn't seen before:

Pretty neat looking card, and I got it for a low price. While Bowman Chrome has approximately 400 parallels, "black and white mini diamond" refractors were new to me. Perhaps they have existed before, I don't know. The card looks pretty striking with the player's photo in black and white, surrounded by colorful mini diamonds. It's not rare or numbered, but I found it to be an attractive card and to me, that counts for something.

In the same lot I also got the standard "mojo" refractor.

I hope Austin Wells turns out to be a good player for the Yankees. But even if not, I won't be left holding the bag. 

Atomic holds up

Personally, it feels like Chrome products have been lackluster the past few years. Pricy, hard to find, and when one does find it, it feels like a dud. Buyer's remorse happens almost instantly. There have even been a few Topps Chrome group breaks I have passed on because I just didn't feel like the product was worth it.

That's not just Topps Chrome, either. Bowman Chrome seems to be in the same boat.

But that's why we have eBay and the ability to go back and purchase cards from better years and better efforts. If today's shiny doesn't do it for you, there's always a surplus of something from the golden era of cardboard.

For example, 24 years ago, Topps rolled out this:

Atomic Refractors were still fairly new, but man, is this Bowman's Best nice. The background textures add a depth and dimension that makes the grid-like refractor pattern just pop off the card. It's crazy we had this in 1997, yet don't get much new in 2021. 

Plus, this card set me back less than $2. I'd rather spend my money on that than today's unimagined Chrome products.

A pink card for October

As per October tradition, Collecting Cutch is once again showing off pink cards to raise awareness for breast cancer.

While he also shows some very attractive subject matter, I'm going to stick to cards here. My newest Tino Martinez card, as luck would have it, is nothing but pink:

This is from 2020 Topps Chrome Update. Obviously this was a disaster of a set, but with the inclusion of Tino Martinez, gave me many parallels and refractors to chase down. This is the pink refractor, not to be confused with the pink wave refractor.

While my card-buying, collecting habits, and desire to run a blog all but vanish, once in a while I still surf eBay and this card was a minimal price, so I snagged it. I have a stack of about 20 Tinos I have yet to add my to my 'have' list, both on my blog and on TCDB. This is one of them, but I'll be sure to update that in the near future.

My October posting will likely continue to be sporadic, but I strongly encourage you to go check out Collecting Cutch's blog for his excellent cause all month long.

A buck buck buck for #1,100

I'm ripping off Collecting Cutch's post today, where he won a sweet Andrew McCutchen Panini relic /5 for just a buck.

I too won a cool card for just a buck, and it has the double bonus of being unique Tino #1,100 for me! 

Last August, I hit 1,000 Tino cards, so it took me about 9 months to secure 100 more. Not too bad at all.

Anyhow, the card is from 2000 Stadium Club Chrome, and is the Refractor. I wouldn't say this is an overly rare card. It's not numbered to /5 or anything. However, I don't recall seeing it pop up on eBay, so I quickly snagged it for $.99 plus $.99 shipping.

This was actually a pretty sweet Stadium Club design. Fairly minimalist with a lot of room for the photo. Name within a pennant with the team logo just to the right. Very sound design and very baseball-y. I also like how Tino is seen rounding second base after what appears to be a homer.

I was glad to get this card for a buck, and nice to have another round number for my Tino collection.

Orange you a pretty card

Sometimes, I look at a card and think 'that's just a pretty card right there.'

I don't think I could describe what a pretty card is. It differs for everyone. Some might base a card's beauty on shine. Some might base it on rarity or perceived value. But when you see it, you know it.

A recent eBay purchase of mine was for an Orange Sapphire parallel from 2020 Update Chrome. Regular Sapphire cards can often be described as pretty. The bright blue and cracked ice design that dance off the surface of the card. They are pretty cards.

But the orange? Wooo. The orange is all sorts of pretty:

When I opened it and looked at it for the first time, that was my reaction. My, this is a pretty card.

It has the shine. It has a unique color. It has the texture. It has scarcity, numbered to just 25. And it has my favorite player of all time.

Pretty for many reasons, indeed. And now one of the favorite cards in my Tino Martinez collection.

Sup, JediJeff?!

It has been a few years since we had traded, but JediJeff of 2x3 Heroes dropped back into my DMs asking for my address. The last correspondence I had with him (according to gmail) was 2017, so it was awesome to hear from him this past November. 

And, let's just say Jeff brought it. Not sure if he had just been setting some cards aside or what, but what a great package it was. Two team bags full of goodies.

Where to begin? Let's start with Yankees legend Bert Campaneris. Just kidding, but I always enjoy the opportunity to show Campaneris as a Yankee because I know many find it appalling to see him in pinstripes. Hey, he hit a career high .322 with the Yankees. Like I said, legend. I have the 84 Topps, but the 83 Traded is new.

Ok, on to some more of the traditional hits if I didn't offend you too much. My favorite - easily - was an Aaron Judge rookie card. But not just any RC. Topps Chrome Refractor RC! That is so so pretty, new to my collection, and a really generous card for Jeff to send. That card immediately goes in my "good box."

There were a couple card with pieces of jersey or metal in them. The Yogi coin is really cool. I live about 10 minutes from the Yogi Berra museum and I have never been. That's pretty lame. Once this all clears up I am going to go.

Three A&G jerseys of, sadly, former Yankees. Well, I believe Tanaka will be a former Yankee, as it doesn't look like the Yanks are bringing him back. Jacoby Ellsbury is a free agent...dude doesn't even have a minor league deal anywhere. Is he done?

This is a little but of an odd one, but gladly will add it to my Jeter collection. It's a Sage Sportkings jersey. The card is...of a jersey. The limits of no MLB or MLBPA license! But of course I'll count it as another Jeter relic. It's definitely unique.

Here's a few other cards that really jumped out at me. No one pimps a homer like Aaron Hicks.

Thanks, Jeff! Appreciate reconnecting and appreciate the awesome package!

A Ginter I can get on board with

Although it's my least favorite product of the year, I've bough a bunch of Allen & Ginter singles the past two years due to Tino Martinez's inclusion in the set. It's easy: grab the cards I want and move on with my life. No need to harp on the fact that the designs are getting worse or that the checklist is not appealing. 

Recently Topps issued Allen & Ginter Chrome for some unknown reason...to go along with Allen & Ginter X...to go along with plain boring Ginter. Do we need three issues of Ginter? Nope!

But I have to say, out of all three versions, this is by far the prettiest. The Tino cards started popping up over the past week, so I've grabbed a few here. The first arrived, and it's a beauty:

The green refractor (/99) looks great. I'm not sure if it's because it helps elevate the existing bland design, or if it's because green refractors on a fairly blank canvas have an appealing aesthetic. I also like how it fades from green to white. 

I thought it was clever how Topps took the shadow behind "Allen & Ginter" and made it a rainbow foil. I didn't like this shadow on the flagship A&G cards, but I appreciate that they didn't just leave it gray. It was a subtle, yet attractive addition.

I'll have a few more parallels coming in. And while this may be a very unnecessary set, the cards sure do look nice.

2020 Chrome without stalking a card distributor

This past week, I was able to open two hanger boxes of 2020 Topps Chrome.

Contrary to what Napkin Doon tells you, I didn't bring a folding chair to Target and wait for the card distributor. I'm pretty sure we don't even have card distributors here any more. I ordered a few of these hanger boxes on Amazon while the price was still reasonable.

And while it is not my preference to go that route, I don't see any other alternative if I want to open a few packs. So it's been easier for the cards to show up at my door.

I'll give a spoiler alert now: I did not pull a Luis Robert RC. I can feel everyone exiting this post now.

Each hanger box came with 5 packs (4 cards each...which I will never get used to), as well as a pack of Topps Update Preview. I've seen some others have different Topps brand previews, like Gallery and Fire. Mine were Update...so basically more flagship-looking cards.

The boxes themselves were ok, with a a few solid pulls and definitely enough to make my money back if I so choose. So here's a bit of a show and tell. 

I only got one Yankee throughout the two boxes: Gleyber Torres. Good one to get. If anyone has a Gerrit Cole or Aaron Judge for trade, let me know.

The rarest card I got was a green refractor of a Red Sox, of course. These actually fall 1:349, so a pretty good pull and numbered to 99. This is currently on eBay with little to no interest. I'm not sure if that's because the Red Sox stink or because no one really cares for JD Martinez or because it's not a RC.

I did snag four other refractors (1:3) and a prism refractor (1:6). 

While no Luis Robert, I did get a few solid rookies, like Bo Bichette (who may end up being better than Luis Robert), and Dustin May, who has lost his lead of best ginger in baseball to Clint Frazier these past few days. The race is still wide open though.

And while I'm very sick of all the reprints, they do tend to look nice when they are refractory.

My Future Star (1:12) was also a good one, and indeed I agree that he is a future star.

I'm not really sure I get the purpose of Update Previews since most of these guys already have flagship RCs. But hey, different photos? They came 5 to a pack and is an 8 card set, and the only one I didn't get across the two boxes was Jesus Luzardo, which I already ordered on eBay to complete the mini set. Nice to have dupes of Yordan and Lewis, which I'll probably throw on eBay as well to recoup some of the cost of the boxes.

So there it is. No fancy Luis Robert, but still some nice cards. I uploaded most of the common base to TCDB, but if you're looking for a team or player, let me know and I'll see if I have it for you.

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.

40 to go

My Tino Martinez collection now sits at 960 unique cards.

I honestly think I probably have more because of those weird 1991 Donruss variations, and other odd cards that I have not really kept track of, but am now quite aware of due to Trading Card Database.

I feel like 1,000 is really in reach right now. The number feels very legitimate, and really does feel pretty special. Tino cards aren't easy. I have about 600 Jeter card without even trying, just from various card packages and the amount of products he was in.

Tino was in a lot of products in 1997 and 1998, but other than that, I wouldn't say he has a massive run of cards. According to TCDB, he has 2,416 cards total. While that sounds like a lot, consider that Gleyber Torres already has 3,395.

While it might seem like it's only the rarest of the rare left, it's not the case. I constantly find base cards I need. Like this, from 1996 Leaf Signature:

Didn't have it! Came from from TCDB. And similar to Donruss variations, Upper Deck had all these weird hologram variations. This one is a home plate variation? WTF. Now I have to go through all my dupes and look at the backs of them. This came fro TCDB also.

The recent run of Tino ink has added some new blood to the collection, although is also costing me more money than I need to spend. But they look nice, don't they? The first two are both 04/10.

Shiny cards continue to be sexy,  and these three fit that bill.

Last but not least, oversized oddballs sponsored by the local police?! That helps get to 1,000.

The other day, Mario told me he hopes #1,000 isn't a Cardinal. I have no preference. If it happens naturally, so be it. But if I find myself sitting on 999, I might have to splurge for something rare and one I really want.

I'll worry about that in 39 cards.

I like this free card trend

Over the past few weeks, I've noticed a lot of "Free Card Fridays" going on. I like it! I'm going to have post some of my own one day soon.

Last week, Rod of Padrographs posted a few cards from Heritage, and I was happy to claim this:

Nice! The purple looks cool. I'm a weirdo who likes seeing classic designs in different colors.

The back of the card is interesting too. I had no idea DJ was age tallest 2B (6'4") to play 500+ games at 2B. Thanks for this tidbit, Topps.

Also, props to the USPS. I claimed this on Friday and it arrived in a PWE on Tuesday from across the country. Impressive.

Thanks, Rod!

Big @ss Refractors

Refractors are still cool. However, larger than standard cards are not. They are clunky and hard to store.

But when the guy you collects has a big ass card and it's a big ass refractor, sometimes you just gotta pull the trigger.

This is the first time I've ever seen a Topps Superchrome Refractor, and it was listed for a very low price on eBay, so I snagged it storage issues be damned. The seller even threw in a bonus card of Brett Gardner, so you can see how much bigger the SuperChrome is.

I will say this: its a lot of surface area for a refractory shine. It's really pretty looking. I'm glad it was (I think) a one and done set, as it was an interesting concept. Not shocked it didn't work out through.

No idea where I'll put it, but these are minor details. I'll just sit back and enjoy this one, because it's a hell of a card and it's just so shiny.