Double stacked

The other day, the King of Kindness, Wes, decided to send out a giant stack of PWEs. I was lucky enough to be the recipient of not one, but two of these!

The first came in about two weeks ago, and it was from a set I've long admired, 2002 Upper Deck Yankees Dynasty Game-Used:

What a cool card. The Tino and Paul O'Neill combo is one of my favorites. This issue features coach Willie Randolph alongside Chuck Knoblauch. It's a set I might think about chasing sometime, outside of the fact that guys like DiMaggio and Mantle are included. Oof. The card itself is really attractive, and the jersey pieces inside the interlocking NY is a nice touch.

I would have been happy there, but then ANOTHER PWE arrived earlier this week.

Look at that! A Topps Gallery RC autograph of Clint Frazier.

Frazier needs to play. He's an impact bat. I like Brett Gardner. He's been a good Yankee for over a decade. But it's hard to watch him up there while Frazier is wasting away at an alternate site (cue Gardner hitting two HRs tonight).

Wes, thanks for thinking of me!

Delayed season - helpful or hurtful?

With the season being pushed back until who knows when, the Coronavirus has the chance to help certain Yankees players, while hurting some others.

Helpful

The layoff is going to help some ailing guys the Yankees had. Giancarlo Stanton was going to be questionable for Opening Day with a strained calf, but now he has the opportunity to fully heal before baseball resumes. Of course, he'll probably get hurt again, but if he stays the course he'll be ready for Opening Day...whenever that is. This red foil Stadium Club came courtesy of DyeHardFan on TCDB.

Hurtful

The development of prospects! A lot of young players need reps reps reps. They layoff doesn't help them. The Yankees 2019 First Rounder, Anthony Volpe, was probably ticketed for extended spring training anyways, but in general, the more baseball these super young guys are playing, the better.

This card also came from DyeHardFan on TCDB.

Helpful

Another injured Yankees outfielder! Aaron Judge has been suffering from a fractured rib. He should have extra of time to heal now, as it was recommended he rest and not undergo surgery. He was looking at a June-is return. I actually thought he might get surgery once the season was suspended, but it looks like the option was still rest, rest, rest. This '85 Topps Anniversary card came from SawedOffBaldrick on TCDB.

Hurtful

Clint Frazier was likely going to start in the Yankees outfield on Opening Day. Now with the possibility of Judge and Stanton being ready, Frazier may once again be the odd man out. Obviously a lot can happen between now and then, but this doesn't help a guy like him. This card came from woodmangb on TCDB.

Helpful

I guess this could go either way, but I think Gleyber Torres will benefit from the time off. He was making a bit too many errors in spring training, so perhaps now he can regroup on his defense. After all, he's the primary shortstop right now. This sexy RC came from user SShifflett on TCDB.

So while it sucks to have no baseball, and we'll be faced with a likely condensed scheduled, the Yankees should be closer to full strength when the season does fire up.

Oh there's no place like Doon for the holidays

Blogging legend Napkin Doon recently went on a Topps Holiday binge, and he was kind enough to send me an early holiday package.

Last I knew, he was building the 2019 Topps Holiday set, but was closing in on completion. I'm not sure if he's 100% there or not. To help his cause, he joined Trading Card Database. You can find him here.

Santa Doon's package consisted of a few items, including two broken down blaster boxes of the product itself. Doon has noticed I'm a crafting geek and make some coasters out of old blasters, so he helped send me some supplies. These will go to good use.

And if you're wondering, here was my first dabble at coasters. More to come.

I saw a lot of critics of this set from the whiney card collecting community on Twitter. Me? I think it's great. The design is a lot better than the snowflake pattern of the last few years. I don't even mind the gimmicky present and candy cane short prints and all that. To me, this is the perfect time to be gimmicky in a fun product like this.

Doon sent me my first sampling of them, and I like them in person as much as I hoped I would. Well done here, Topps.

While I remember the pattern of the last few years, I didn't remember this one from 2017. The snowflakes are embossed and sparkly. I thought that was cool. 

Nap also sent me a nice team bag of cards, included some Clint Fraziers. I still like Frazier a lot and seems like he always get a raw deal. He'll hit 40 HRs for the Pirates one of these years.

A nice numbered card of Yankees HOFer Mike Mussina! No logo on his cap if fitting!

And here's a lazy photo of a stack of cards. There was a nice Judge Bowman, and a vintage Bobby Richardson.

Thanks, Nap. As for everyone else, feel free to flood his TCDB was trade offers and pleas to come back to blogging.

Thank you, Wes

I've been wanting to post this for awhile, but the scanned cards in my folder have just been very daunting. Yes, I'm talking about my haul from Wes "You'll Always Be JBF To Me" of Area 40's final cardboard giveaway this past holiday season.

For whatever reason, Wes decided that I would be an often recipient of his generous "bombs." The first package came in May, 2011. I had started blogging in February of that same year, so for basically as long as this blog has existed, JBF has been a constant source of blog fodder, usually the result of his ridiculous card packages he'd send at any given moment.

I tried to think of a favorite card he sent, but I couldn't possibly. I've got over 65 posts dedicated to him, and he's really one of the main reasons my collection is as large as it is, and has as many amazing cards as it does. I appreciate each and every bombing, as they were always well thought out and personalized. You could make one small comment at some point, and Wes stored that information for future card packages.

So with that, I'll show a few of the amazing cards he sent my way as part of his incredible final giveaway.

The most interesting item was easily this jumbo memorabilia swatch of Mariano Rivera. The card is massive (and has a regular sized card embedded, with a truly enormous piece of jersey included. It's obviously a swatch of a mesh spring training jersey, with some elastic either from a sleeve or collar. It's so large really pops out of the card. I have never seen anything like it! Plus, this was pulled right around the time of Mariano gaining election to the Hall of Fame. Someday I'll probably frame this.

Probably the other most interesting card is a cut autograph from 2018 Leaf History of Baseball. Hall of Fame Hill Dickey is the subject of this card, with a cut HOF post card embedded within the plastic case. I know many are not big fans of cut signatures, but I'm very thankful to own a signature of a Yankee Hall of Famer.

There were plenty of more memorabilia cards pulled, including several from Topps Clubhouse Collection. Sorry these scanned so dark:

I really like relics of bases as well (why doesn't Topps do this nowadays?), and this Posada from the 2003 All-Star Game is definitely cool looking.

here were plenty of autographs too, including a Clint Frazier, who has gotten off to a torrid start this season. The Enos Slaughter IP/TTM is really beautiful as well.

When I saw this Winfield, I was definitely confused since I hadn't seen it. Turns out it was a Topps on demand issue.

Here's a few more cards that jumped out to me as scan-worthy.

Wes, all I can really say is thank you. Thank you for this card package. Thank you for the countless others over the last 8 years. And thank you for choosing me as one of the many recipients of your generosity.

Secret Santa pays me a visit

I've been traveling since December 23rd, and won't be home until December 30th. I usually schedule a few blog posts during this time, yet this year, December got away from me. I figured I'd have lots of time to blog from my various family destinations, such as after the kids went to bed and all was quiet. Ha! That's not how it works out. I should know better.

But I didn't want to get too far past Christmas without showing my Secret Santa package, which came from none other than Tim over at I Love The Smell Of Cardboard In The Morning. I've traded with Tim here and there, so we're certainly familiar with one another.

Tim sent me a great package that was really catered to what I like. He even had my Tino Martinez "have list" on his phone when he went to a card show. That's dedication!

This one is definitely the most unique. While it might like a regular 2001 Topps, there is a portion of it that is embossed.

It's still hard to see, but the embossed surface shows that it's a Topps Employee Issue. Very cool! Hope Sooz doesn't mind me owning this.

Next up, a silver signature parallel from 2000 Upper Deck MVP. It's nice to see Tino's name scrawled across this one.

When I saw this card, I originally thought it might be a dupe, but turns our it's the unordered refractor version of 1998 Topps Mystery Finest. This set was pretty confusing with the bordered and unbordered cards.

Tim also sent some cool Yankees, including this 1996 World Series card /500. I'll always love the 1996 World Series.

There were a lot of current Yanks as well, many from the Walmart holiday boxes. I was thrilled to get this Miguel Andujar rookie.

And I think this alone doubled my Clint Frazier collection!

Tim, thanks so much for the thought and effort you put into this. It's much appreciated!

And a BIG THANKS to Jon at Penny Sleeves for organizing this year's program!

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.

Cards on Cards saves me a lot of time

First off, before getting into the post below, I have seen a few bloggers do this so I'll join the party. I've admittedly been less than stellar over the past year about sending out cards and return packages. My collection is a little unorganized, and instead of diving in, some nights I just ignore it. It feels daunting to go and pull cards for people from the heaping piles of cards I need to find a place for.

So if I owe you cards, or feel you haven't gotten a return package from me, please feel free to shoot me an email or Twitter DM. I try to keep up and make mental notes, but I'm sure I've missed a few. This would never be intentional, so if you're waiting on something or just feel like I should reciprocate a package or two, please drop me a line!

--------------------------------------

Someone who I always feel like I owe cards to is Kerry from Cards on Cards. He always sends me a ton of Yankees and Knicks, and I can never keep up. I do have a large stack of Blazers and Cardinals set aside for him, but I have to get my act together and send before the holidays.

A few weeks back, I got an unexpected mailer from Kerry. I didn't buy many new cards over the summer, as the releases were happening faster than I could keep up. Plus, my Target never restocked cards.

So out of nowhere, this package showed up with a ton of Yankees needs from 2018 sets I didn't buy. It saved me a ton of time (and $) not having to hunt down many of these cards and sets. Where to begin?

I'll start with a <fire emoji> set: Topps Fire. These cards are cool, but I've never seen them at Target. Happy to have a few!

Next I'll go with Big League. I'm still torn on this set. Overall, I liked it, but would have rather had year 3 of Bunt. The Severino is a numbered parallel to just 100.

I got some Topps Chrome Update last week, but didn't get any regular ol' Chrome. The Judge pink (or purple?) is so cool. And I can't say enough about how much I love the 1983 Chrome Refractors. Holy crap are these nice. Nicest cards of 2018. Don't @ me.

There was a healthy stack of Heritage as well. The Stanton/Judge card is a 2018 favorite of mine.

I love this card, as I have fond memories of collecting the '93 set. I do wish they made actual gold name versions of these (as far as I know they didn't).

Here are a few more cards that stuck out to me. The Dellin diecut is too cool.

There was plenty more, but as you can see, Kerry really helped me check off a ton of 2018 Yanks I didn't have. Thanks, Kerry!