Tekky Tino & TJ

I have a bunch of TCDB trades to catch up on, as well as a big old Zapping to share, but for now I need to clean out my non-TCDB scan folder, so he's a bit of a photo dump.

I'll start with two new Tinos I got. I have this crazy idea to go after all 25 copies of this card. I'll never get there, but right now I have 3 of the 25, or 12% of the print run. There are currently two on eBay as well, with one being affordable and one being vastly overpriced.

I won't go hard after this, but I'll definitely keep an eye on them.

I also recently picked up this version. I guess it's the Refractor? I am always a fan of Hi Tek because of how cool they look and I'm a sucker for clearcut cards. The variations and parallels are annoying, but the cards look awesome. No denying that.

And while I recently picked up the "cheaper" Bowman's Best auto, I really wanted a TJ Sikkema Bowman Chrome auto, so was happy to snag this.

Otherwise, card-life is a bit boring now. Series One is out and I've said my piece. My Topps Yankees Project TTMs have been sent. Not much else going on.

The Great Flood of 2019

Prior to 2019, Tino Martinez autographed cards weren't easy to find, nor were they cheap.

He was a part of some cultural autograph sets, like 1997 Donruss Signature Series and 1998 Stadium Club Co-Signers. These cards still hold a premium price.

The more affordable signatures came from Panini USA baseball, but even those ran towards $20. Simply put, he just didn't have a lot of autographs on the market.

Then came 2019, when Tino signed a new deal with Topps. Product after product came out, and autograph after autograph. On one side, it was cool to see. On the other, there were a lot of cards to chase.

I now have seven autographed Tino cards from 2019, but whats interesting now is that with the market flooded, they are more affordable than ever. Many of the base autographs will run under $10 shipped. Many sit unsold on eBay, as sellers still think Tino might command a more premium price.

Will I collect them all? No chance. Too many low parallels. But when both of these come to me for less than $10 shipped, it's pretty telling.

It'll be interesting to see what 2020 holds. Will Tino continue to be featured, or was 2019 just a one-time blip?

I'm a Tek nerd

The year of Tino's re-emergence in the hobby continues.

I don't really run to check out new checklists when they are released on Twitter. Plus, new checklists come out every few days since Topps is releasing about two new sets each week. That number may or may not be fabricated.

I find out about new Tinos when I open my eBay saved searched and all of a sudden there are a bunch of his cards I've never seen. This is happening very often in 2019!

A week or two ago, my search was once again flooded with unfamiliar looking cards. In this instance, Tino was included in 2019 Topps Hi-Tek. I've always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with this particular set. First and foremost, it's confusing, with a million patterns and parallels. Back in the late '90s, there was a home/road version of each card, and then about 30 different patterns of each. Crazy!

On the flip side, they are usually some of the cooler looking cards Topps releases. I'm a sucker for clearcut/acetate cards, going back to the early '90s when I first saw them start to pop up. They've always caught my eye. Something about a see-through card is just very appealing to me. Some of the coolest sets of the '90s included acetate, like 1996 Ultra Season's Crowns, Skybox EX, and Stadium Club Clearcuts.

I still have no idea how many parallels or versions there are, but I did snag the green parallel for what I considered to be a good price. I'm sure I'll find the others as the product newness works off. And of course, there are autographs.

While I'll never fully be on board with this set, I can't deny that it looks great and that I still love clearcut cards. 

I guess I'm just a Tek nerd at heart.

But I still I love Tek-nology

The other day I got a warning from Bob Walk The Plank that a mysterious card was arriving at my house that day. I assume he picked up a card from eBay or another online site and had it sent to me directly to me. He also warned me that it was not the card he purchased for me on our epic wager on the Camping World Bowl, in which Syracuse beat West Virginia.

Instead, I opened the envelope and found this:

Cool, a 1999 Topps Tek Gold Tino Martinez, numbered to just 10!

I think this is my only graded Tino.  I might have one or two others I don't recall. This card didn't grade out too strongly, as the corners and surface dragged it down. I think I might free it at some point.

Topps Tek is both an awesome and stupid/frustrating set at the same time. The cards are really nice - and I loooove clearcuts - but it's super confusing and the concept is pretty maddening. 1999 had both home/away versions as well 30 different patterns. Oh, and the year before had 90 patterns. WTF.

But still, for far too long I treated these cards as a "have" for a single card on my Tino list, but that's silly. They are parallels and different cards. So I need to go back through my collection of these and pull out all the unique ones. It'll inflate my Tino numbers a bit more, but they are different cards, dumb as it may be.

This is definitely my first gold though, so I thank Matt for thinking of me. Any time I can get a super low numbered Tino, I'm very happy. Thanks, Matt!

Finally Frazier!

Clint Frazier is an interesting prospect.

He came to the Yankees in the Andrew Miller trade with the Indians, and has had some success in limited big league action. Poised to play a bigger role in 2018, he was unfortunately sidelined with some scary concussion symptoms. It's too bad, because it may have been his best chance to take a job in the Yankees outfield and run with it. Of course, you can't blame him for the injury.

It just feels like he's never really going to get his chance to shine, at least in NY with a crowded outfield. It's too bad, because he seems like a great dude who the fanbase would really get behind with his style of play.

Still, I hope he finds a way to make a big league impact, and make it with the Yankees versus being another trade chip.

After the trade to NY in 2016, his autograph prices shot up. They remained relatively high until this past season, when both the injury and market saturation drove prices down. I've wanted an autograph of him for quite some time, and was close to picking up an unlicensed Panini version just to have one.

Luckily, I found this card for about the price Donruss autos go for, so I pulled the trigger. I guess it's a RC auto, although I can't say I'd really consider a Topps Tek autograph a rookie card.

Still, the design looks pretty cool and the signature is on-card, and the price felt right.

I'm now very happy to have a Frazier autograph, and I look forward to seeing him back in action in 2019.

SuperTraders #7: Play at the Plate

Sometimes, Twitter helps you get to know some people a little better, or overall, just be a bit friendlier with them than through typical blog comments. Brian from Play at the Plate is a guy I chat with on Twitter a good amount, especially when it comes to TTMs. I always enjoy getting a notification that Brian tagged me in a post, meaning there is likely a new TTM to go check out.

Luckily for me, he is also a SuperTrader. and sent a bunch of sweet cards my way from my heyday - the 90s and early 00s.

But first, he did a generous box break a few weeks ago, and lucky pulled this guy for me. It's a great shot of Pettitte before he delivers a pitch.

Yep, that's a pretty sweet relic #'d to 75.

I gotta say, I don't have any cards from this Topps Tek set. I did have some Tinos from 1998 and 1999, but I don't think I've ever even seen this set from 2000. Man, I love clearcuts.

This card is shiny overload, and I love it. It just reeks of the '90s, right?

I've never seen either of these Jeters either. I am currently putting all my Jeter cards in a pile to see how many I have. I'm going to guess around 500, but I literally have no clue. I can say with certainty that I did not have either of these, as I've never seen them. The Topps Gallery Masters is especially cool.

Fleer also put out a set every week in the late '90s. These are some of the nicer and less forgettable ones, called Fleer Brilliants. The blue is...um, brilliant.

Here's a John Wetteland from a year when Topps Finest decided to confuse everyone.

And a Reggie and Donnie Baseball I enjoyed. I have no clue what the Mattingly is from. Donnie must have more oddballs than any other player.

Brian, thanks my friend. I owe you some sweet Rangers in return.

ITT Tek

My buddy Judson of My Cardboard Habit is always looking out for me. He recently busted some 2015 Topps Tek, and pulled two cards he thought I would enjoy. He sent them my way, and he was damn right. I do enjoy them.

The only Tek card I had up to this point was an Al Leiter auto I splurged on. I didn’t have any base or parallels.

The first card in the toploader was a base card. Just a little guy named Mr. October:

Very cool. But the next card. The next card was very unexpected!

That’s a Dellin Betances gold parallel numbered to just 35! I believe it’s a gold rainbow parallel. Whether or not is has other versions or backgrounds, I have no idea. What I do know is that it’s a very nice card. It’s definitely one of the nicest Dellin cards in my collection. Something about a clear cut acetate card plus gold just makes for a really classy card. Oh, and Dellin is really awesome too.

Judson, thanks my friend!

The Leiter side of Topps Tek

Play on words!

I love Topps Tek. Even though it was super wacky, especially in the 1990s, the cards themselves have always looked really nice. I've always been a sucker for clear cut cards.

I enjoy the Topps Tek Yankee autograph issues of the past two years. I love the El Duque, but I keep missing out on them in eBay auctions. However, I did snag this Al Leiter auto, and I though it was cool he was included as a Yankee. I assume this is him from his 2005 stint, as opposed to when he was a rookie.

This is the base version, as I know there are a few parallels out there. I like Al's simple signature, although you can tell he had been signing hundreds of cards. It's usually a bit neater. Still, I'm glad to finally add one of these bad boys to my collection.