The blurbs on the back

A few days ago, a nice PYE from Julie over at A Cracked Bat showed up. PYE is plain yellow envelope, FYI.

At some point Julie reached out to me about this cool lot of Don Mattingly cards she had. Or maybe I reached out to her about them. I actually don't remember. And that's why I was surprised when they showed up. Because I just don't remember!

These cards are incredibly cool, from 1991 Impel Line Drive. From what I can tell, this was a 20-card set. I'm a few short, but will track down the rest.

It's a fun set, with the design reeking of 1991 off-brand. But it fits.

A lot of the photography is refreshingly new, as it wasn't seen in 80s Topps or Donruss issues.

Beyond the range of photos, what impresses me most is how the write-up on the back the cards tries to tie in to the image on the front. When does that happen now? Mostly never, unless it's a World Series or AS Game subset. Usually the modern blurbs feel thoughtless and disconnected, so much so that I rarely read them.

That is right. I rarely read the backs of current cards.

But these cards are great. For instance, here we have Mattingly in a fairly unexciting spring training shot. But I like it! Feels behind-the-scenesy.

The back fo the discusses Don's performance in 1983 spring training as he battled to make the team.

Or look at this one. Don coming off the base likely as a pitch is being delivered.

The back of the card talks about Don's fielding being overshadowed by his bat. I don't fully buy that, even in 1991. He was always known as an excellent fielder. So maybe I don't believe the story, but hey it's a 20-card set. Gotta find some content.

I love this one, with Donnie peppering a practice net while hitting off a tee.

The back of the card talks about his dedication and work ethic.

Check out Donnie here. During BP just causally pumping so iron by the cage at Yankee Stadium. Lifting weights leads to more homers!

And the back talks about not knowing if Mattingly would develop any power. Young Donnie must not have hit the gym enough, but he obviously did develop into one of the games premier power hitters for a time in the mid-80s.

What a cool set. It's probably a lot to ask for nowadays, with card backs referencing the front.

But it sure is cool, and leads to some really interesting card backs.

Catching up with A Cracked Bat

I am close to finally cleaning out my scanned folder, and here's a post I've been meaning to get to. Over the summer, Julie from A Cracked Bat was kind enough to send me a great bubble mailer full of Yankees. Julie's packages are always great and are always full of cards I didn't have - new and old!

I was most surprised by the 1994 O-Pee-Chee cards in there. I honestly have never seen this set! I'm not surprised at all they exist, just for whatever reason I never came across them. Probably because Tino wasn't included in 1994 for some reason?

Gary Sanchez cards were plentiful too. I really like this Museum Collection card, as Julie is known to include cards from some of the higher end products. The Refractor looks great as well! For whatever reason, I feel like 2018 Refractors looked a lot better than years past.

Another card I really enjoyed was Yankees Old Timers Day insert. I mean, just look at Matsui's flow in the picture! It's amazing!

I think I've gotten some Tips Fire in about three or four of the last packages I've received. Since I found zero Fire this year, I'm very cool with this development.

Stadium Club was pretty nice this year, and these were two great Yankees to snag from the set.

Lastly, this was a fun card: a Jose Campos ONYX autograph. I actually couldn't tell if the silver was a real or pre-printed autograph, but I found a few copies of the card online and the signature differed in each one, so indeed, it'a an autograph! Neat looking card!

Julie, thanks for always keeping me on your list of trading partners!

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!

SuperTraders #28: A Cracked Bat

Rarely does a blogger re-enter the blogging world with such a fury of trade packages, but that’s what Julie of A Cracked Bat recently did. Hey Napkin Doon, take notice.

I was one of the lucky recipients of Julie’s #SuperTrader packages, and it was certainly packed with some great stuff.

I’ll start with an EBAY 1/1. Julie, I don’t think you knew you had an EBAY ONE OF ONE on your hands. You could have retired! In all seriousness, a sweet CC mini #’d 1/50. There were a couple of other cool minis too – Greg Bird and Tanaka. I can’t wait for Greg Bird’s return this season.

A couple of PC guys in Sanchez and Big Mike. The Big Mike is the green back of the Heritage ’51, which I did not have. The Sanchez card is blurry – not sure why. It’s not the scan. I think Topps just used a low res image. If anyone ever forgets Gary’s last name, SANCHEZ is tattooed across his arm. FYI. 

I have no recollection of this Fleer Tradition set. Randy Johnson’s tenure in NY seems to be looked at as a failure, but his first season was pretty good: 17-11, 3.79 ERA, 211 Ks, and a 5.7 WAR. As a 41-year-old! I guess compared to other seasons, that was pretty subpar for him. Admittedly, he was not good in the playoffs. 

Diamond Kings! Including a Diamond Kings Optic. This actually looks pretty sweet, I won’t lie.

National Baseball Card Day! These cards look great as well.

I’ll finish off with a couple high-end base cards. These have graced past packages from Julie as well. I never get these products, so appreciate receiving them.

Awesome stuff, Julie. Thank you!