"I found a Tino for you"

"I found a Tino for you."

Music to my ears. Given my Tino Martinez collection, I know I can be hard to shop for. More often than not, someone shoots me a batch of Tinos, and they end up being dupes..or trips...or quadrupes.

And I always appreciate the thought!

But then there are times when someone checks my 'have' list, notices one they have isn't there, and sends it my way.

This just happened with good-guy Daniel of It's Like Having My Own Card Shop. He shot me a DM on Twitter and said that he found a 2002 Topps Gold Label Tino Martinez. Sure enough, I didn't have it. And no sooner did I say that that he sent it over in a PWE.

These are some of the best kind to me. There are always going to be big-time autographs from current products I don't have. But a random card from 2002, when Tino was a Cardinal? I've missed a lot of these in my collection.

It arrived safely and is a beauty. Thanks, Daniel!

Luuuuuke

Recently, I realized Luke Voit was the subject in some 2019 autograph sets. Voit's a pretty awesome player and I didn't have an autograph of him, so I decided to browse to see what I could find.

One of the first cards that popped up, with a very reasonable BIN, was a 2019 Topps Gold Label framed autograph. While I wasn't sure if I wanted a framed card, I ended up pulling trigger, as I don't have any other framed cards like this in my collection. Plus, the autograph was on-card, which appealed to me.

When I finally had the card in hand, I was pleased. It looks really nice, although his signature isn't particularly good.

Still, I was happy!

As luck would have, just a few days later, I would have the chance to meet Mr. Luke Voit!

I was at the NHL All-Star Skills night in St. Louis last night, and by chance I bumped into the man himself. I wasn't expecting to see him, but then I remembered he was a St. Louis guy, so that made a little more sense.

I spoke to him for a moment, and he was as nice as could be. Introduced himself (which many athletes don't), and I told him I was a big Yankees fan, and to bring it back this year. He said he was ready to go and excited for the season. And then he said, "and hopefully we don't have to worry about cheating anymore."

Here we are! I look good.

Love it. What a pleasant dude, and enjoyed the quick chat. I'm even gladder I bought the autograph last week!

Only the (Bowman's) Best to start off 2016

I had no idea that 2015 Bowman's Best was released...or that it was even going to exist. I feel like after the Topps flagship release, I don't really pay attention to what releases are next. I just wait for new cards to pop up on blogs or on eBay.

That's what happened with this Michael Pineda, a green Refractor from 2015 Bowman's Best. It's numbered 78/99. I'm not sure what the set entails or how many parallels there are, but I liked how it looked.

When I got the card in the mail yesterday, the front really reminded me of 1999 Topps Gold Label. Check out the logo placement in the back. Pretty close, eh? Gold Label felt a little classier with the script font and fancy product name, but the design is definitely re-used. Topps kept it to single player shots instead of two front photos, as well.

I'll probably pick up a few more of these if I see them for good deals, but this set certainly doesn't feel unique at all.

On another note, Happy New Year to you and your families. I hope 2016 holds nothing but the Best - Bowman or otherwise - for you!