Something stinks...

...but it's not these cards. 

Sure they have an odor to them. But that's because Johnny's Trading Spot sent them.

No, no. It's not about Johnny. I assume he smells fine. In fact, he sent me my very first card of Roughned Odor as a Yankee. If you told me this guy would be a Yankee a few years ago, I thought that would have been cool. But last year he was a no-cost pickup. Fun player, not very effective. He has since been released by the Yanks, but I'll always have this card from Johnny.

Speaking of firsts, Johnny also sent me my first non-on-demand Joey Gallo card. I like Gallo. He struggled quite a bit, but he's a cool player. Awesome power, good OFer. I think people get tired with the true three outcome-ness of his game, but I think he'll have a good second season in NY.

Johnny also sent a few more Topps Holiday cards, which is welcome because I didn't open any of these and they are always one of my favorite releases of the year.

Thanks for the PWE, Johnny. I keep saying it, but I owe you some Braves and will send them soon.

As for the rest of ya, Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Blogford Falls!

Merry Christmas to all celebrating today! I hope Santa brought you some cards...if he could find any.

Wishing you all a joyous and peaceful day!

Christmas cards

Usually, Christmas comes and goes without me getting any cards from my family. I can't say I don't get any cards because there is usually a blogger Secret Santa gift or another random act of kindness.

And I don't blame my family. I never ask for cards, and I try to imagine my wife at Target looking at the boxes and having no clue what to get. It's like if she told me "go pick up some eyeliner" without any direction, I'd have zero clue where to begin.

This year I was pleasantly surprised to find a nice little hanger of 2019 Heritage High Number in my stocking! That's only happened once or twice before, so it was a nice little treat, and I appreciate the effort.

The first card out was a Yankee, JA Happ. Nice start.

None of the big base RCs fell out, although there was a Pete Alonso Rookie Performers insert. I'm not sure why these don't have the "RC" logo on them, as I thought inserts of rookies usually do?

And I did flip the cards over to check out the codes, which revealed a SP photo variation or something?

The cards in the rear were more of the same, as the highlights were Manny Machado and Zack Britton. I thought the pose on the Machado was cool.

The Alonso was a nice card to grab, and I'm not upset at no big RC hit. I'm thankful that my wife even attempted to whether the card aisle, and a hanger of Heritage High Number is definitely not a bad pick it all. It was just fun to open a couple cards on Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you and your family! I hope everyone has a great holiday, and that you get more cards than me (which will be zero).

Merry Christmas to you as well, Topps

This afternoon, I received an unexpected envelope from Topps. I recently got a replacement redemption from them (write-up to come), and still have another outstanding. However, this wasn't a bubble mailer. My first thought was that this was probably a letter apologizing for the delay.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to find a holiday card from Topps NOW. What a nice gesture!

The best part is, a free card fell out! Check this out - a four-player Topps NOW card. Very cool! It looks and feels like the same product from this past season. I could have done without Ortiz on it, but at least he's on the back. Love that Gary Sanchez made the front. He had a Topps NOW card about every other day.

We give Topps a lot of shit, but this was something they didn't have to do, and I appreciate the surprise. I was pretty happy when the card fell out. Topps, nice job doing a little thing to bring a smile to the face of a collector.

Cards for Christmas!

I can't remember, but this may be the first time I've ever gotten cards for Christmas an adult.

My wife, bless her, picked me up one of those 4-pack + 50 card repacks from Target. I know she had no clue what she was doing, so I appreciate the effort. She said "I couldn't find ones that said Topps and I was worried they were all knock-offs." I get it. It's no obvious that Heritage or Stadium Club are Topps. If I had to go pick her out eyeliner or some other beauty product, I'd have no clue. So while these repacks aren't the greatest thing in the world, I really appreciate the effort because I know she was out of her comfort zone.

Plus, it made for a fun stocking stuffer. The four packs were 2015 Gypsy Queen, 2015 Topps Series One, 2013 Panini Cooperstown, and 2015 Leaf Heroes of Baseball.

In the 50 loose repack cards, I was surprised to see this fall out:

This is a red foil parallel #'d 22/50 of the new Yanks' 2B. Pretty cool card to be dangling loosely. The rest of the 50 bonus cards are what you'd expect, although there was a 2011 Topps Jeter, so that's cool. The rest was mostly a mix of junk wax and a few newer cards.

Here are the best cards from the 2015 Series One pack. I had the Tanaka, and the Puig is up for grabs if you Dodger fans don't have it yet.

The Baseball Heroes pack was sort of cool, although the cards feels like bad minor league promo cards. I got a Whitey Ford, two Musials, Ripken, Piazza, and a Campanella disk (one per pack). Dodger fans, interested?

The Cooperstown cards were cool too. I like the Marichal, and the Jackie Robinson Monarchs card is pretty awesome. Again, Dodger fans, interested?

I didn't buy any GQ this year but have received some in trade packages. Nothing much of note in that pack worth scanning.

It was fun to open a few packs on Christmas, and I really appreciate my wife trying to get me cards. I think she did just fine!

Pacific dominated Christmas-time...and more.

I'm not sure how many collectors actually miss Pacific, but I do. I certainly didn't when I was growing up. I remember they had some flashy cards and those cool crown diecuts, but I was always disappointed when pickings were slim at CVS and I had to settle on a pack of Pacific Omega or something.

As I grow older, I can't help but notice some of my favorite cards are from Pacific. Some I just remember so well from flipping through Beckett as a kid. Flashy pictures. Sex sells, card companies.

In terms of Christmas, they issued those cool ornament cards in the early 2000s. I snagged a couple on COMC (Clemens was the cheapest Yank). In 2000, they came complete with a string for hanging on a tree. In 2001, they simply had a hole to punch out.

The designs are similar...and similarly awesome. These are just so much fun. Diecut to no end, they look like they may have been made with Christmas cookie cutters by card-making elves in The North Pole. There is a faint foil "Merry Christmas" patterned in the background (taboo in 2015!!!!). The cards just make me very happy. I love them.

You feeling me on the Pacific? Not yet? Ok. Well, I've already showed this sweet Tino "In the Cage: insert. Fun, right?

How about this? In 1999 Pacific Revolution, these Net-Fusion cards had pieces of mesh netting because...why not? They had the technology to it, and they did.

Cards that looked like the Aggro Crag from Guts? Yep, they had those too.

I could go on and on, but here are a few more cards from Pacific I really liked. Next time you're browsing COMC, sort by Pacific for your favorite team. I bet you'll find some cool stuff.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Have a great day with your loved ones.

Merry Christmas!

Yeah, I love July 4th. Hot dogs, baseball, fireworks, The Sandlot, Saved By The Bell Miss Liberty Pageant. But I love Christmas more.

I saw this on Listia and had to have it. I definitely overpaid, but it’s so damn cool. It’s a Topps Gold Label Holiday Match-ups, highlighting games on/around Christmas that year. The card is diecut and the wreath is very refractory. Now that's what I call a "Christmas card." I wish the players were a bit better, but damn, this card is freaking awesome.

Happy 4th, and Merry Christmas! And a very special thanks to all our troops and veterans. 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you and your families! May your stockings be stuffed with blasters and rack packs, and may your hits be plentiful. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!

Did I really buy a Mark Sanchez Relic?

Yes, yes I did. I’m not a fan of Sanchez or the Jets. I’m not a fan of Rex Ryan. But my oldest niece is. And while I didn’t draw her name in “Secret Santa” this year, I still wanted to get her a small present. She doesn’t collect or anything, buy as someone who is gaga over mark Sanchez, I thought she might like a little swatch of his jersey. I picked this up for $.99 + $2.50 shipping, and sent it to her in a Christmas card.