BFG winnings from June

Back in June, Johnny was kind enough to host another Big Fun Game. I selected a door, my prize was revealed, and no one took it. I came away with 75 cards of start players from the past 20 years or so!

It was a really fun lot to go through, and I came away with some nice Yankee cards of Jeter, Mo, and Clemens.

While many of the players aren't guys I collect, they will find a nice place in my son's HOF binder. I'm always down for that!

I enjoyed finding a low-numbered Ichiro!

And a cool oddball Clemens.

And I'll never turn away a Fleer Metal card of a HOFer.

Johnny, this was a really fun group of cards. Thank you!

Luckily others have a better memory than I do

My memory stinks.

I'm only in my mid-30s, but seriously, it's shot. My wife tells me things and I completely forget. Constantly, I run an errand, and forget to pick up what I actually went for. I'm not sure if it's just age creeping on me, inattentiveness, or what, but I really stink at remembering simple things. Luckily I'm much more focused at work, but likely because I am a notorious note-taker.

Lucky for me, others are far better when it comes to the memory department. I recently received a package from Tim over at I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning. Back when Series One first came out, Tim mentioned he could help me with some of the Derek Jeter Target-exclusive set. I totally forgot, but luckily Tim didn't, and an unexpected package landed on my doorstep.

Here is the Jeter that got it started:

Tim was kind enough to throw in a bunch more awesome cards, including a Tino I didn't have:

Sweet! Numbered to just 76 copies, this is one of the rarer Tino cards I now own. This marks Tino #852 for me.

And a Tino from his USA Baseball days.

I love this card! Jorge Posada 1994 Bowman rookie card.

I had never seen this Topps Chrome Roger Clemens. It's pretty cool and I think it scanned decently for what it us. Neat looking effect with the years and text on the card.

There was some other nice shiny too!

These Ring Masters cards are neat. I was duped into one before thinking there was a fabric material within the text, but it's just an image. Still a neat card though.

And I'll end the way I started, with a great looking Jeter from Topps Hertiage.

Tim, thanks for having a much better memory than me!

Who you callin' a Squirt?

Matt from Doc Holoday is one of the best blogging dudes out there.

First off, his customs are true works of art...even when they have Red Sox players on them.

Some of my best blogging buddies are Red Sox fans, so it just goes to show what a great group of collectors we've got around these parts. Matt is no exception, and this trade package meant a lot because I know he's been dealing with a lot since late summer when Hurricane Harvey affected him and millions others in Texas and the southeastern US.

Matt sent me a message that I had 2 lbs of Yankees headed by way, and right away I was greeted with a card I had always wanted:

Squirt! I love this card. And I love squirt. Full disclosure - on New Year's Eve this past year I was shopping for food to make that night, and wandered down the soda aisle and my eyes immediately went to Squirt. The colors are so catchy! I bought a 2 liter and drank the whole thing that day. It's delicious! And I'm really happy to have this card.

He wasn't joking about the 2 lbs of cards either. Holy moly was their great stuff, including this Dellin Betances holiday relic.

And some really, really shiny Yankees. I don't know much about Topps Finest these days other than knowing the Refractors still look awesome.

Roger Clemens was represented well in this box. I really like the Double Play insert with Greg Maddux on the flip side.

Derek Jeter cards are always welcome in my collection:

At the time, this was probably a stretch. Now, even more so! Ruben Rivera sharing a card with The Big Hurt? Not a great look.

Oddballs besides the Squirt Reggie were found too. Sweet Woolworth card of Mattingly!

I keep saying it, but Severino is criminally under-priced right now.

Some nice cards of Yankees legends from some newer products - Reggie, Gehrig, and The Mick finding his way into Donruss.

I had no idea that Steve Sax's brother, Dave Sax, played in the majors!

Two trippy ARods. The old Fleer Ultra inserts really hold up today. This was a Diamond Mine insert.

Big Mike /499! Good luck in Minnesota, my friend.

Look how young Jorge looks! I collected a ton of Collector's Choice growing up, but I don't think I have this card. The base card designs were always pretty tastefully done.

Trust me, there were many, many more great cards. Matt, I really appreciate you thinking of me. Keep up the amazing work with the customs!

Unofficial Blog Bat Around: Cards from A Cracked Bat

I think equally as popular as the current blog bat around are collectors showing off cards from Julie over at A Cracked Bat. She must’ve really held up the line at the post office. I guess I should get in on the fun and show the spoils of a great package she sent me as well.

First off, Julie’s filler cards to protect the actual intended cards were 2017 Donruss Optic cards. Those might be the most high-end fillers I’ve seen. 

The reason for the package, as Julie said in an email, was that she had some leftover Yankees from 2018 Heritage. I was really happy to get my first Giancarlo Stanton card depicting him as a Yankee.

While I enjoyed the three-box break from Nachos Grande, the collation wasn’t great. In three boxes, I didn’t get either of these guys. And I’m still looking for the Judge base.

The purple Chrome refractors look incredible!

In all, there were four other team bags filled with Yankees. I LOVED this ARod from the National Convention. Definitely wasn’t expecting anything like this.

A few other cards that caught my eye were from 1995 Score Summit edition. They are striking in person. Cards like this make me feel like we haven’t progressed that much with card technology from 1995-2018, at least when you think about the progression we would’ve seen in the previous 23 year period.

Although I guess that’s not completely fair since we now have cards that have freakin’ jerseys baked into them.

And autographs galore!

The “oddest” card was more of a promotional paper, but I hadn’t see it. Very cool!

Although unrelated to the above, there were some cool discs.

Lastly, a few others that caught my eye.

Julie, this was a fantastic trade package. Thank you! I’ll be sure to send some cards your way soon!