Thank you for stepping in (except for you, Napkin Doon)

Yesterday, I encountered a Twitter troll of the worst kind. It ended up being fun, but just wanted to throw a quick thank you to those of you who came to my defense. Except for Napkin Doon, who tried to feed the troll.

I woke up to a hilarious Twitter reply from someone I had no idea who it was. I had previously simply showed a Kirby Puckett RC I had unearthed in a random box of cards, which was part of a larger lot I recently bought from a local guy.

Apparently, unless I am giving this card away, Darrell has no interest in following me. And if I deleted this post, he had taken the measures of screenshotting it so it would live forever.

I came back with a cheeky response that he had in fact won the card, and then he said, "You can keep it. And unfollowed." Oh no!

I gave him the simple emoji wave and was done with it, amused for my commute into work. But then you guys all saw the interaction and sprang to life. It was awesome and very amusing.

Again, except for you, Napkin Doon.

This was some Twitter fun a boring Monday at work, so thanks to everyone for the nice things you said, and for giving Darrell a little piece of your minds.

Except for you, Napkin Doon.

Walgreens yellow parallels

A month or so ago, there was rage around 2019 Topps Walgreens yellow parallels. Collectors were driving all over and visiting various Walgreens stores in hope of finding these mysterious $9.99 hanger boxes that made no mention of yellow parallels, yet contained six of them in each box.

I think the buzz around these has cooled down considerably, but it was an exciting chase for a while. Larry from Twitter was kind enough to offer up a few extras he has pulled, and sent a couple my way:

The Chance Adams is cool, and as a great TTM signer, I may need to send his way for an autograph. Plus, any card with Judge on it is awesome!

He was also kind enough to send along a few Yankees that came from these boxes.

Gleyber Torres is a phenomenal player. He really is. This 35th anniversary card of him looks great!

Speaking of "great", I missed these "Greatness Returns" inserts when Topps first game out. Overall, I think they are one of the better looking insert cards found in Topps flagship this year. Stanton has sort of been forgotten this year, but I think he'll play an important part for the Yanks over the summer.

Larry, thanks for your generosity! Make sure to give him a follow here if you haven't yet.

A rare easy Twitter trade

I tend to not trade on Twitter very much. While I (sometimes) enjoy discussing and viewing cards on the site, trading just hasn't been something I've found very satisfying. Via retweets and whatever other algorithms Twitter users, it exposes me to many more collectors. Sometimes this is a good thing, often times it is not.

I've had countless interactions that go something like this:

"Yo, whatchu want for X card?" or "No thanks. What else u got?" or "I PC Harper, Trout, Judge, Bellinger, Lindor,  and Vlad Jr."

Many conversations aren't even worth the effort. Other people collect differently than me, and that's fine. But I feel like many can't grasp that I just don't have a buttload of sick hitz and mOjO laying around to swap.

Anyhow, I'm thankful for nice, easy, and efficient transactions like the one below. I posted a few cards I pulled from my Heritage blaster, and a follower by the name of Thomas was interested in an Edwin Diaz SP I pulled. He offered up a Stanton Stadium Club insert, and a quick PWE trade was agreed upon.

So simple! No annoying back and forth. We each got something we wanted.

Thomas was also kind enough to send a card of $70-million-man Aaron Hicks.

Will this make me trade more on Twitter? Unlikely. But it's nice to know there are collectors like Thomas who can make trading so simple.

Jeter progress!

A few of you have sent me some of the 2018 Topps Jeter Highlights. Thanks for help me piece together this set!

I now need:
1, 7, 11, 17, 18, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 30

First up, Twitter user @billy2580 sent me #10, a nice shot of Jeter's last game:

A second Twitterer, Matt at @mj_dub80 was gracious enough to send three my way, including a blue parallel. I didn't know these existed until he told me.

 

He also tossed in a Deion Sanders and spring training MVP Miguel Andujar RC.

Last but not least, blogger Bryan of Golden Rainbow Cards sent me a few. Admittedly I hadn't stumbled upon his blog, and gladly added it to my blog roll. Please do the same.

 

Side note - Bryan, I still owe you a return package.

Thanks for everyone's help!

Cards from Twitter

It's always surprising when someone reaches out via email or Twitter and wants to send me (or my son) some cards. This happened recently on Twitter, when Jonathan from @ABucnCaniac sent me a DM offering to send a few HOFers for Joey.

It was very generous and appreciated. Here are the cards I've added to Joey's HOF binder. I still have to ingrain it in my brain that Biggio is a HOFer.

 

Jonathan also included a few Yankees for me, including this Jeter insert. I better snag it for myself before I have to add a bunch of Jeters to the HOF binder in a few years.

Thanks so much, Jonathan. Go give him a follow at @ABucnCaniac.

Twitter brings a new trade partner

I've probably traded with four or five new people on Twitter. I don't actively seek out new traders on this medium, but it's easy to get connected to new collectors through familiar collectors. That's exactly what happened this past week. Gavin from Breakdown Cards has a connection, @Stetsonaw, who posted about a 2015 Bowman Purple Ice Michael Pineda he was looking to unload. Gavin tagged me, and the connection was made!

Originally I thought I needed the Pineda. I have no clue what I have. Stetson was actually the one who pointed out that I have it on my "have" list on my blog. Derrrp.

Regardless, we still agreed to a blind trade, because hey, why not? Stetson sent me a great team bag full of Yanks, including my first 2016 Heritage cards. I've always been a fan of the '67 set. If I ever chase down a vintage set, I feel like '67 would be the one. Plus I already have the Mantle. That's a nice head start.

This is is also my first Starlin Castro Yankees card. Is that the first-ever photo-shopped sweatshirt?

This card also caught my eye! While it's from 2008 Topps, it's stamped with a 2008 All-Star wordmark. I did minimal searching and can't find much about it. I wonder if it was given out at All-Star fanfest or something? The back says 2 of 4, so there are three other cards in the set.

I can never have enough of Robert Refsnyder's first Bowman card.

These got little fanfare, but I think they are one of the nicest insert sets Topps has put out in the last few years.

Old school Bowman Chrome don't pop up in trade packages much!

There was a bunch of other goodies as well. Stetson, I owe you. Thanks!

New Pinedas from @PorterMan20

 

One cool thing about Twitter is that I've met a lot of collectors I might not have otherwise met. One of those is Kevin aka @PorterMan20. He knows I post about and show Pineda cards from time to time on Twitter, and was nice enough to send me a few he had laying around.

Luckily, I needed a whopping five of them! There are still so many Pinedas from 2011-2012 - mostly because of parallels - that I still need. Kevin checked off a a nice chunk of those.

Thanks again, sir!

PCs and Tweets

I haven’t been shy around these parts on how awesome Ty Hensley is. From his TTM generosity, to his mother answering a few questions on my blog, Ty has quickly become my favorite player in baseball. Add that to the fact that he’s a former first round pick of the Yankees with massive potential to be a rotation anchor, and it’s a no-brainer for me to collect his cards.

In one of my Twitter show and tells, I featured three new Hensley cards that all arrived on Halloween. As he has been known to do, Ty replied to one of my Tweets, which was cool, even despite my bad Halloween joke which should have turned him off.

Hey, if making his big league dream come true wasn’t enough motivation, he now has the added pressure of making it so that my card collection can continue to flourish. I’m sure that will drive him all off-season.

Oh yeah, the cards. Here are the other two brand new Hensleys (the Red Ice above is new as well), bringing my total to 43 unique cards, not counting dupes and whatnot. I’m hoping to hit 50 before the end of the calendar year.

It's a major award! I won it!

Fra-gi-le. It must be Italian!

It's a baseball, you nincompoop! It's a major award. I won it!

Ok, so I didn't win a sexy leg lamp that will light up my neighborhood this holiday season. However, a few weeks back, MLB Fan Cave had one of those Twitter giveaways where all you had to do was RT to be entered to win something. I usually participate when I see such an offering, as a RT takes about one second. I never expect to win.

Then, one day, I receive a DM from MLB Fan Cave saying I had one a Josh Donaldson autographed baseball! Sweet! A few days later, it showed up at my door.

I have no connection to Donaldson, other than knowing he has become a hell of a player and his WAR has been really high the past couple of years. Still, it was free, so I am very thankful that I am such a good retweeter that I won.

Have you ever won a Twitter contest? If so, share in the comments! I'd love to hear about it.

Twitter trade with Dano

I recently swapped some card packages with Twitter friend and fellow collector Dano. He reached out with a few Pinedas, two that I needed. He was also kind enough to send along some other Yanks that I enjoyed.

I've met a lot of great collectors through Twitter. They may or may not have blogs, but it's cool to trade cards with random strangers who share an interest in collecting. While I've gotten to be friends with a few bloggers, it's also cool to have Twitter around to open up even more avenues for trades and acquiring new cards.

Here are the Pinedas, as well as a few other goodies from Dano. Feel free to follow him here: @danolaurel.