Has it really been 5 years?

Recently, I placed a SportLots order. Not a big deal. A lot of people do.

What was significant for me is that when I was looking at my account, it was the first order that I had placed on the site in five years! I had not ordered anything there since 2016. That's a pretty long time ago.

I really don't know why. It's a site I enjoy and have had only good experiences. But for whatever reason it just hasn't surfaced to the top for me in the last few years.

There wasn't a single instance that caused me to return or think "hey, I should go place an order." More than anything, it's rare when I come across a Tino I need on eBay. Even if it's low-end, it usually runs me $3-5 after shipping. And I'd pay it without blinking because it was a card that wasn't in my collection.

Then recently I was on TCDB looking at my Tino 'wants', which are essentially all cards of his I don't have. I realized a lot of them were readily available on SportLots, so I went looking and put about 22 or so in my cart. After a few days, I checked out, and the envelopes started pouring in.

I usually try to find a seller who has three or four cards and offers budget shipping. I try not to jump into the padded envelope territory unless I can get a bunch, or that they are a bit rarer.

Here's a sampling of what came in. Lots of shine.

Very solid order, and I plan on making the site a more regular part of my card shopping.

Especially as I get closer to 1,100 Tinos...which I happen to be 15 away from now.

Oops. Wrong guy.

Oops. On Sportlots, I picked up all of the Yankees in Topps Pro Debut Series One. And one Indian.

See, I saw Jose Ramirez on the checklist, and figured it was the Jose Ramirez in the Yankees system who was featured in 2010 Pro Debut. It wasn’t.

Oops.

My two favorite NFL Rookies (and their cards!)

Well, it's a Sunday Funday, and I'll be watching the Bengals vs Seahawks while I pack for a work trip (L.A. for a few days). Yes, I'm a Bengals fan. I was born into it. And yes, they always suck. However, this year they are 4-2 with a pretty favorable match-up vs Seattle. Can the newly exciting Bungals possibly move to 5-2?!

Anyhow, I love Andy Dalton and AJ Green, and I hope this is a formidable combo for many years to come. I decided to pick up their Topps Rookie Cards on SportLots. The whole transaction cost less than a $1, so I'd hardly call this a Doonboggle like the time I went out and stocked up on Carson Palmer and Chad Johnson cards.

I still have no intention of collecting football cards, but I just wanted to own these two.

TTM Success: Doc Brown...Bobby Brown, that is

I got a cool TTM success from Dr. Bobby Brown, former Yankee and AL President. I sent two of the same cards from this Ted Williams set and asked him to keep one (I put a post-it note on the card with the request). He ended up signing both. I now have two of the same card signed, which is ok, but I really did wish he had kept one.

I looked at a lot of his cards online, but decided on this Ted Williams issue to send because I liked it so much. It's got a great classic pose and I like how prominent the Yankee logo looks. I ordered two of the same card from the same seller on SportLots. I might look for an early '50s Bowman to send to Brown, but in the meantime, I really like this success. His signature is very neat, especially for a man his age.

Gary Sanchez Tristar Pursuit

Normally I don't just order a single card on SportLots, but I recently found this Gary Sanchez 2011 Tristar Pursuit Copper (or Bronze?) card #'d to 99. It was actually listed as "Orange" - either way I wanted it because it was only $.18 + $.70 shipping. So I quickly pulled the trigger on a single card. Total transaction = $.88. The same card is on eBay right now with a $4.99 BIN listing.  This is a nice addition to my small Gary Sanchez collection.

He's had a bit of a slow start for Charleston, but he's only 18 years old playing in A ball. He's playing against guys three and four years older than him. Gary is currently ranked as Baseball America's 30th best prospect in the game.

SportLots credits burning a hole in my pocket

Due to a recent order snafu, I had a few bucks worth of credits to SportLots burning a hole in my pocket. I decided to grab a few Tinos and a few Yankee prospect cards.

There was no rhyme or reason choosing these Tinos other than the fact that I didn't have them and wanted my purchase to come from the same seller. I grabbed a 2004 Lost Years card of Tino on the Rays - a 2004 Heritage. I swear I'm missing a stack of Tinos somewhere because I think I have this. However, when I went through what I had, this apparently wasn't there. I also grabbed a 1993 Flair that had eluded me. These were about the nicest cards ever when they came out, not to mention the most expensive. They game in tiny boxes for crying out loud. The 1998 Topps Gallery Impressions card definitely isn't my favorite of the Gallery sets. Too much foil for Gallery. I also grabbed two Fleer cards - a 2001 Premium (I already had the Ruby version) and the '02 Maximum. Fleer put out a lot of sets in the early 2000's...Maximum, Platinum, Focus, Mystique, Tradition, etc. Yikes.

I also grabbed a bunch of prospect cards...Jesus, Slade, and Manny.

Happy NFL Draft!

Although it's only day one of three, and there isn't really a season (sort of), I'm still excited for the NFL draft to begin tonight. My team - the Bengals - are picking fourth. I hate being a Bengals fan, but I was born into it. It's the only non-NY team I follow, as my other allegiances are to the Yankees, Knicks, and NY Rangers. And the Liberty. Just kidding.

Anyhow, my money is on the Bengs picking WR AJ Green from Georgia, although who knows, they may trade down to try and grab WR Julio Jones AND a QB like Andy Dalton. They had a solid draft last year, picking up Jermaine Gresham, Carlos Dunlap, and Jordan Shipley among others. Although I don't collect football cards, I grabbed this Dunlap rookie for like .25 as part of a SportLots order. It's always weird to see players from another sport in the same card design used for the baseball set.

A little SportLots pick-up

I grabbed a few more cards on SportLots and they came yesterday. Actually, I was missing seven cards from my purchase. They are all Topps Pro Debut cards, so I have to get to the bottom of that. Here is what I grabbed:

Both of these will be used for TTM. I need the Downing for my Topps Yankees Project. This may be my last time trying Montero. I believe I am 0 for 3 trying him, so this might be one last attempt. Hopefully I'll be able to grab his auto.

A nice little assortment here. A few are for TTM. A few are just because I wanted them. I think Betances is going to be a star, so I wanted to grab his regular Bowman RC since I already have the Chrome.

And here are five more Tino's that I didn't have! The '02 Flair is pretty cool. I didn't even know that set existed still in 2002.

Hopefully I'll get the seven cards I am missing. I want to send a few of them for TTM.

My second Gary Sanchez card + some other pickups

I placed a small order on SportLots to pick up a few shiny Yankees prospects cards. I'm happy to grab my second Gary Sanchez card - a 2010 Donruss Elite Extra Edition. This is a really cool looking card - very shiny and mirror-like. It's still weird for me to see "Panini" on the back instead of the Donruss logo, but I don't mind at all because I feel like Panini is bringing a lot to the table and are a very fan-friendly company.

I also grabbed six other cards - a Slade Heathcott Bowman Platinum (already had it but it was only .18), a Cito Culver Bowman Draft Pick, a 2010 Bowman Chrome Graham Stoneburner (sweet name) Bowman Chrome, a Dellin Betances 2007 Donruss Elite extra Edition (really cool card), and two more 2010 Donruss Elite Extra Editions - Rob Segedin and DeAngelo Mack. Both of those will probably be used for TTM.

Purchase Review: A smattering of Yankees

I like that word. Smattering. Anyways, a few days ago I made a purchase on SportLots to for about 50 Yankee cards. If you don't know SportLots, it's a great resource for player collectors and set builders. Anyways, a lot of these are older cards that I am going to send out for my Topps Yankees Project. I also picked up a few Tinos for my personal collection, and a few Yankees prospects simply because I didn't have cards of these guys yet. I'm talking about you, Cito Culver, Adam Warren and Slade Heathcott.

Anyways, here are a few of the highlights from my lot. I won't list out every card, that would be boring. But a few cards stand out.

1973 Topps Fritz Peterson. I love this design. I actually think it's my first and only 1973 Topps card. It's a cool action shot of him having just finished delivering a pitch. He is wearing old school stirrups, and you can just tell that the field is so dusty. The grass looks like my old little league field. I like seeing old videos where the infields just aren't as well kept as they are today. The dirt was powdery and flew everywhere.

1981 Topps Bob Watson. Dwight Schrute called. He wants his glasses back.

1961 Topps Joe DeMaestri. Check out that collar under the jersey. Is that denim??

Otherwise, I got a bunch of old Yankees cards - assorted named like Hegan, Reniff, Downing, Womack. Some of the prospects I got include David Phelps, Hector Noesi, JR Murphy, and David Adams.

The Tinos I bought are all ones from his second and final stint with the Yankees: 2005 Topps #655, 2005 Topps Chrome #464, 2006 Topps Heritage #199 (sweet card), and 2006 Fleer #400 (I had never seen this set. Yuck.). I have a bunch of free time this weekend, so I'll do my best to update my Tino collection on this site.