Look how far we haven't come

Last night, Sooz ran a #chadchat about '90s inserts. It was great to see the engagement and excitement, as many, including myself, find the '90s to be the greatest era of baseball cards.

They aren't for everyone, and that's fine. Enjoy your own opinion. You won't change mine.

But for me, give me a beautiful shiny card with a fun theme and some asymmetrical features any day over a vintage card of a guy at spring training in a fake pitching pose rocking a porn 'stache.

The most common answer to "what made '90s inserts the best ever?" had a fairly common theme: creativity and innovation. While some don't feel innovation is needed at all in baseball cards, I find it staggering at the lack of progress over the last 30 years.

Think about cards from the late '60s to '90s, then think about the same time period from the '90s to the 2020s. We have stalled in our tracks, or in some cases, we've gone backwards.

I attribute much of this to Topps and their lack of competition. With a few exceptions, inserts were never their thing. And now, they can save money by printing inserts on the same cardstock as base cards. They can give the illusion of shine without having to actual give the card shine. Mostly, they are lazy.

They'd rather have 150 card insert sets spread across three series than they would a 10-card Hot Gloves set.

They'd rather just give us another 1987 homage or 70 card reprint sets we've seen a thousand times. To them, they'll call those an insert set and be done with it.

Just this past Tuesday, I had two separate insert cards roll up to my house. Neither were crazy Jordan/Kobe/Griffeys that costs hundred of bucks. But each was special to me and cards I had wanted for some time:

Look at those beauties. It's a coincidence that they are diecut, which is not a requirement for a great insert. But boy at they pretty.

Hot Gloves were those cards I saw on the pages of card magazines and as a kid and dreamed one day I could have. Packs of Flair at CVS were out of the question. $4.99 for a pack in a little box? Nope. Grab a pack of Score for $.89 and be on our way.

Pacific was wacky and zany and felt like a brand you settled on, yet over time the efforts have become much more appreciated.

Was it the competition that drove this? Insane designers looking to give their brand an edge? Companies open to fun and not just "you get what you get" because we have no other choices?

It's sad what Topps has done to inserts in their focus on parallels, autographs, SPs, and RCs. 

Long live the '90s, the undisputed greatest era of baseball cards.

Greed

For someone who isn't too into the hobby right now, I sure acted greedy recently.

No, I didn't go clean out a retail shelf. I'm not that greedy. But during Wes' recent trade-a-thon on Twitter, I was admittedly more greedy than I should have been.

For those who don't know about Wes' annual event, he basically posts a bunch of cards on Twitter. The first person to respond "take" gets the card. Participants are limited to claiming five cards. Wes simply asks for a surprise package in return that he waits until Christmas to open. For this round, he asked for wrestling cards in return.

I claimed three cards this time around, and as mentioned, was a bit greedy in my claims. But I do feel that what I sent back was fair, for whenever he does open his package.

The first card I claimed was an early Derek Jeter Upper Deck card. I didn't have this one, and figured it was a good one too claim. If nothing else popped up, I was happy.

Something else did pop up. This:

Oops, I claimed it. This card isn't super rare and can be had for about the price of a blaster. But I still took it. It's one of those cards I've never gone out of my way to buy, and maybe wouldn't do it if not for Wes' event. It's place in cardboard lore is well established, and I felt like I should own one to put in my "money box"...aka the box my wife knows to look for in case something ever happens to me.

Speaking of cardboard lore going into the money box, this was my third and final greedy claim:

Whoops. Yeah, pure greed. And I felt guilty as I hit claim. This was a wantlist card for me for a long time though. I even had a saved eBay search for a PSA 8, but right when I was looking to buy one a year ago the prices when up quite a bit. I never trusted to buy a raw, so the saved search just sort of sat there.

And then it popped up on Wes' timeline and I pounced.

Afterward I felt little icky, and hope I didn't take the fun out of it for others. As mentioned, I do feel that my package to Wes will be reflective of the cards he sent me. While I don't know a ton about wrestling cards, I made sure to pick out a few for Wes that had a story behind them.

Thanks, Wes. And sorry for being a greedy bastard.

Jeter and Mick...no, not that Mick

Similar to my blogging, my card-related pickups having really been coming to a halt. In both August and September, I sold more on eBay than I spent. Let's hear it for positive cash flow!

October is likely trending in this direction as well. Candidly, there's just nothing I want right now. No product excites me, no player excites me, no potential pick up excites me. Maybe that'll change, and I hope it does.

That doesn't mean I don't have envelopes coming in every now and then. Once in a while, when it feels like the right thing to do, I'll still pick up a Topps NOW card. I never buy directly from Topps. While that takes me out of the running for parallels and such, it keeps me in the $5 per card range. Sometimes, that can even be steep, but I don't buy these like I once did back in 2017 when Aaron Judge had one come out every day.

The first I picked up was an easy choice: Derek Jeter holding his plaque from Cooperstown. I'm not sure how many more cards will feature Jeter in this fashion. There will be probably a 30-card Target set in next year's Series One or something. But still, it was a no-brainer for me to pick up a card featuring Jeter holding his likeness that will hang in Cooperstown forever.

The next is a bit more of an off-the-path card for me, but I snagged a Mick Schumacher Topps NOW rookie card commemorating his appearance in the Belgian Grand Prix. I've actually bought a few F1 Topps Now card, including the first Lewis Hamilton last year...a card that cost me $5 at the time and now fetches toward $1K. It seemed logical to buy at the time since he's one of the most popular athletes in the world.

Similarly, Mick's father, Michael Schumacher, was one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time. He was just the subject of a Netflix documentary about his life on the track, which was an enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes. I recommend it if you haven't seen it. It was definitely a puff piece, but reminded me of how great he truly was. Mick is young and has shown a good ability, so I figured it was wise to snag a RC.

I know F1 cards have gotten very popular, although I don't plan on collecting or buying them frequently. Although I am a racing fan, I don't love F1. It's basically a glorified time trial and the cars are a bit too tech-advanced for me. It doesn't really feel like racing as much as it does space travel. I have a family member who races F4, and that's more my speed. Still, there is no denying how popular it is, and the drivers are some of the biggest international stars in the world. 

Two vastly different subjects, but from the same card concept. And to me, a decent way to spend $10.

Derek Jeter - The full Project 2020 rundown

After over a year of waiting, Derek Jeter will finally be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday.

Sadly, I am traveling during this time and will probably miss most of the ceremony. I'm sure I'll catch the replay of his speech.

Jeter was a special player for me as a kid. I feel like we are up together. I was in the 6th grade when Jeter took over as the everyday shortstop on Opening Day of 1996.  I was in seventh grade when the Yankees won the World Series later that season. I was in ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade when they three-peated from 1998-2000. I was an annoying Luis Gonzalez single away from seeing the Yanks win the World Series every year I was in high school.

He wouldn't win another until 2009. By that time, I was a young professional living and working in NYC. College had come and gone, with Jeter still entrenched on the left side of the Yankees infield. I was at Game 6 of the 2009 World Series when the Yankees clinched the title. My date for the game was the woman who would soon become my wife.

Derek Jeter was the Yankees shortstop from the time I was in junior high through the time I was married with two kids. That's pretty insane, any way you look at it. So while it'll be trendy over these few days to knock him as being a overrated slap hitter or that he couldn't play defense, that's going to fall on deaf ears on this blog. It's rare to grow up with a player and have them being linked to nearly every baseball memory you have.

I have that with Jeter.

While he has always been a more secondary part of my collection compared to Tino Martinez, I have about 1,000 different Jeters, give or take. But in 2020, Jeter was the focus for me during Covid-fueled trading card boom.

Why?

Because I completed the Topps Project 2020 full run of Jeters.

It was expensive, but I don't regret it one bit. The funds were there. The retail cards weren't on the shelves. So this took the place of what I might have normally spent on cards. 

All together, they create quite the masterpiece:

Just look at those! Maybe by themselves they don't equate to much, but when viewed as a collection, it's an incredibly unique piece.

Over the last couple days, I went back and looked at these for the first time in months. They had been stored away, but it was fun to go back and enjoy them with Project 2020 a distant memory. And while Project 70 is doing it's best to beat artist renderings of cards into the ground, these will always hold a special place.

And do you know what? My tastes changed over time. Some I loved at the time, I found myself perhaps not feeling the same now. Some I barely remembered now really popped for some reason. So with that, here a few categories of the Project 2020 cards after I revisiting my collection:

Favorite card: Tyson Beck

This one was always one of my favorites, but I feel it holds up. There's a lot going on, but I like how the full piece comes together. The iconic Draft Pick text from the back of the card is there. Jeter's RC image is there on the right, although he's holding Lady Liberty's torch. The colors are vibrant, the card is busy, yet captures Jeter well with his smile and his swing.

Card that I like more now than before: Jacob Rochester

I don't know why, but I kept coming back to this one. I think the sea foam green is what has attracted me to the card. I don't know if it'll ever be my favorite, but when I saw it I definitely felt more attracted to the simplicity of the design than I had remembered.

Least Favorite: Keith Shore

Oof. Moving on.

Missed the mark the most: Oldmanalan

I shouldn't be THAT surprised by this, as this artist was often out to lunch on most of his cards. And while this was definitely not his worst card, I found it odd that he didn't use the image from Jeter's RC at all.

Most surprising: Don C

This was another polarizing card, but I liked it immediately and still do. It's obviously a homage to Seinfeld, where Jeter made an appearance on the show after the 1996 season. What was most surprising about it to me was how different it felt from Don C's other cards, which were a bit more artistic.

I could take a look at these again next year and feel completely different. Regardless, the full run is now a cornerstone of my entire card collection, and something I'm grateful I decided to follow through on.

Congratulations to Derek Jeter!

Breakin' with Colbey

While I'm not into the high end group breaking scene, I do really enjoy the Affordable Group Breaks that Colbey from Cardboard Collections runs. 

He's always busting a range of products, from some long-forgotten '90s releases to current day cards, and even throwing in some basketball or football here and there. While I've got large boxes of the stacks of cards I've accumulated from his breaks, I wanted to highlight a few that I just got from him, as I requested shipment since the poor guy is moving and has a ton of cards and toys to schlep with him.

Colbey busted a box of Series 2, so I got most of the Yankees I needed, with a nice Jeter insert to boot. The Florial RC is timely since he just hit his for big league HR. I was at the game but left before the homer. What a terrible fan.

One of the more unique products to have been broken was a 2003 Topps Shoe Box collection. Now, each box comes with the full set, so there are no surprises other than than four vintage cards that are included, but I struck out on that one.

Oh, and Colbey threw in some gum. He is trying to poison me.

Lastly, he busted some 2020-21 Donruss basketball. I snagged the Knicks, and somehow the Lakers weren't taken so I got them as well. The RJ Barrett is a very cool parallel:

As for the Lakers, I happened to get three LeBron cards, which feels like it's never a bad outcome.

Colbey, good luck with the move, and looking forward to breaking some more once you're settled into the new place.

eBay Bucks for the win

With my buying habits, I usually only have a couple dollars of eBay Bucks.

Sometimes I'll play a game and see what I can buy with my $2.31 credit. Other times I'll just apply it to whatever purchase I'm making and save a buck or two.

This past quarter, I had a bit more eBay Bucks than usual, despite the program changing and eBay Bucks becoming rarer. By far the most I've had. I had purchased two Mickey Mantle cards in March, and did so during an additional 5% eBay Bucks promo. So I had some funny money to play with.

Problem is, I don't have a current project or anything on my wantlist that a high priority. I couldn't get a Griffey RC or a Carmelo Anthony autograph. I could have applied the Bucks toward one, I guess. I thought about maybe getting a Tino autograph I didn't have, but I have a lot of Tino autographs and there isn't an apple of my eye.

Instead I turned my attention toward a Derek Jeter card I had been following for quite some time, and snagged this via auction as opposed to BIN:

It's such a great looking card from 2000 Fleer/Skybox E-X, part of their insert set called E-Xceptional. These come in red /1999, green /999, and blue /250. While this is the most common of the bunch, it's still not an easy card to come across.

The card itself is diecut, yet symmetrical. The background effect is a little hard to explain. It gives the card a lot of depth. I was expecting more of a flat foil from scans, but it's quite different in person.

I still don't fully know why this was the card I settled on, but in the end, I'm happy with my decision. I just wish eBay Bucks were still a regular thing, and not a special promotion.

Bonus card with purchase

I really like when eBay sellers throw extra cards into a package.

Sometimes it's just for extra passing, and included a few base commons. Other times, the seller actually throws something in of the same player or team. Even if I don't need the card, it's always a cool gesture. I once read a Twitter post about someone being mad when they received bonus cards. Weirdos.

The main attraction was an awesome, CD-looking card from 2001 Fleer Ultra of Derek Jeter. This is another one I've wanted for some time. The CD is diecut, and gives a off a metallic, mirror-like finish. It really does look a CD.

While this is from 2001, I'll still lump it in with sweet 90s designs. I'm tired of saying I wish we got cards like this in 2021. Lost cause. We don't and won't.

But wait...there's more!

While the Greatest Hits of Jeter was the only card I ordered, there was a bonus card thrown in...literally:

Very cool of the seller to add a second Jeter, and I chuckled with the penny sleeve being labeled "Bonus Card." He wanted me to know!

I appreciate it. The seller definitely went above and beyond. And I'll always take another Jeter. 

Not a bad pickup at all: a diecut of a great design, and a freebie just for ordering.

Thanks, kind seller!

Balls rule!

One of the fun things I did a few months ago was pick up Derek Jeter diecut cards that I found to be visually appealing. While I have cooled on that, I still have an eBay saved search and enjoy taking a peek every now and then.

A few days ago, I won an auction for a very cool 1997 Fleer Ultra Baseball Rules card of Jeter. The card is diecut, cut along the lines of the baseballs. It makes for a very cool, yet oddly shaped card. That's just the type of '90s weirdness I love.

I actually wasn't that sure when I bought the card what the subject matter even was. Just that it looked cool. That's all I need, sometimes.

Once it arrived, I noticed the back actually does have a "baseball rules" tidbit. I'm usually not a huge fan things like rules or trivia on cards but I like how it's done here:

Simple, clear definition of the a somewhat confusing rule around rookie status, and then a topical note on Jeter's current status and that he's on his way to winning ROY (they were right).What's odd is that the card was made in 1996, but it was for the 1997 product. According to baseballcardpedia, 1997 Fleer Ultra Series One was actually released in November of 1996. That's crazy! So they clearly printed the cards well before the conclusion of the '96 season. They were in Topps Update territory.

It also makes sense as to why I got a 1998 Ultra box for Christmas...in 1997.

Collectors would go nuts now if Topps released flagship or some other brand November for the following year. I don't think it was that odd back then though.

Regardless, this card rules and is a great Jeter diecut addition to my collection.

Cards attached to cards

Recently, Kerry at Cards on Cards held another free card event. 

I feel like every time he does, there's something there that I want. Usually it's a Yankee. But in this instance, it was something else that caught my eye:

Look at that! A full, unperforated set of 1990 McDonald's SI for Kids Michael Jordan cards. I remember seeing these in my friends collection as a kid and being envious of them. The fact that Kerry had two full sets up for grabs was incredibly generous, and I couldn't claim one of them fast enough.

I've been on a bit of an SI for Kids kick lately, as I recently bought and older Jordan and Shaq, as well as a Nastia Liuken and Shawn Johnson. Since around 2014 or so, I've been receiving SI for Kids with unused airline miles. That actually has led to some really great first cards in my collection of people like Collin Morinkawa, Dustin Johnson, Simone Biles, and more. It also led to a recent $700 sale of a Naomi Osaka card from the magazine. Crazy!

However, the Jordans are for me to keep. MJ cards continue to be sought after, and something like this will always have a place in my collection.

Kerry didn't just send the Jordans. He sent me a big brick of Yanks. Along with the Jordans, this was stuck between two pieces of cardboard:

That is cool! It's a box loader card from 2020 Stadium Club. Are we bringing back Fleer Extra Bases?!

There was also a bunch of Yankees Turkey Reds, as well as Allen & Ginter cards, whose set designs are now nearly impossible to tell year over year.

I was happy to find this Jeter from 2020 Topps, as well as a 2021 insert of Gleyber Torres.

Thanks for the awesome package, Kerry!

Sup, JediJeff?!

It has been a few years since we had traded, but JediJeff of 2x3 Heroes dropped back into my DMs asking for my address. The last correspondence I had with him (according to gmail) was 2017, so it was awesome to hear from him this past November. 

And, let's just say Jeff brought it. Not sure if he had just been setting some cards aside or what, but what a great package it was. Two team bags full of goodies.

Where to begin? Let's start with Yankees legend Bert Campaneris. Just kidding, but I always enjoy the opportunity to show Campaneris as a Yankee because I know many find it appalling to see him in pinstripes. Hey, he hit a career high .322 with the Yankees. Like I said, legend. I have the 84 Topps, but the 83 Traded is new.

Ok, on to some more of the traditional hits if I didn't offend you too much. My favorite - easily - was an Aaron Judge rookie card. But not just any RC. Topps Chrome Refractor RC! That is so so pretty, new to my collection, and a really generous card for Jeff to send. That card immediately goes in my "good box."

There were a couple card with pieces of jersey or metal in them. The Yogi coin is really cool. I live about 10 minutes from the Yogi Berra museum and I have never been. That's pretty lame. Once this all clears up I am going to go.

Three A&G jerseys of, sadly, former Yankees. Well, I believe Tanaka will be a former Yankee, as it doesn't look like the Yanks are bringing him back. Jacoby Ellsbury is a free agent...dude doesn't even have a minor league deal anywhere. Is he done?

This is a little but of an odd one, but gladly will add it to my Jeter collection. It's a Sage Sportkings jersey. The card is...of a jersey. The limits of no MLB or MLBPA license! But of course I'll count it as another Jeter relic. It's definitely unique.

Here's a few other cards that really jumped out at me. No one pimps a homer like Aaron Hicks.

Thanks, Jeff! Appreciate reconnecting and appreciate the awesome package!

Pay attention and stick to singles, stupid

For the most part, I don't pay much attention to a lot of the custom sets Topps sells exclusively online. These are mostly the Throwback Thursday or other curated sets, whether from athletes, artists, or influencers.

However, my interest was piqued when I saw that Derek Jeter was curating a 52-card set. I got the email, flipped through the checklist, and saw that there were two Tino Martinez cards. For a $19.99 price tag, I was in.

Or so I thought. I clearly just did not read the product description carefully. I thought my $19.99 purchase was giving me a 52-card boxed set.

It wasn't.

It was getting me one 10-card pack of the Topps x Derek Jeter set. ONE PACK!

By the time the realization was made, it was too late. I had clicked purchase. I should have known from the get-go. Outside of maybe a blaster or a hanger, when can you ever get anything like a full set from Topps for $20? I don't know, I just thought I was getting a small set from them. It was honestly a case of just believing what I wanted without clearly reading the description. A stupid mistake, and I was entirely at fault.

I'm not blaming Topps. I'm blaming me. Another sucker.

So I waited, but I wasn't very excited for it to arrive. My silver lining was that maybe I would get an autograph, which fell 1:12 packs. Not too outlandish. That would ease the sting. Or maybe I'd get a low numbered parallel or something. Maybe fate would give me a Tino 1/1 or something. There are cardboard gods, right?

Maybe this mistake would turn into a happy accident! 

It's didn't.

My pack arrived last week, and this was the fruit of my $20.

First, the box is nice. Props for that. I wish the cards looked like that, actually.

Here's how the pack was wrapped. It looked like a mini pop tart.

And here are ALL ten of my cards at two bucks a pop.

Yeah. 

The first card was a David Ortiz, so I was pretty doomed off the bat. No fancy parallel. No autograph. No Tino.

It's not entirely all bad. The two Jeters are cool. Mattingly is cool. Backwards hat Bernie is cool. Sweet Ichiro too. Even the Tim Raines is pretty cool warming up for a game.

But man, for $20? I could have bought something much better. As many around these parts say, stick to singles and buying exactly what you want.

I know better.

I've already picked up the Tino cards for about $2 a piece, and one has already come:

I should have done that from the start. Read carefully, everyone.

My latest collecting motivation

I get bored with collecting a lot. I think it's because I've been collecting Tino Martinez cards since 1997, and that has been my main focus. After 23 years, while I still do it, it can become a bit repetitive. It's livened up a little with the 9 million 2020 parallels, but still. It can be very rinse and repeat. Wake up, check eBay for anything new, buy it if isn't a rip, card comes in, maybe post about it, document in my collection, move on.

I tend to go on collecting fads that help keep me somewhat inspired. It helps liven things up a little. Earlier in the spring, I chased down a bunch of NBA rookies of guys like Tim Duncan, Paul Pierce, Donovan Mitchell, Anthony Davis, and more. It was just a little something to do, as I missed out on rookie cards of some of the game's greatest during my lifetime. Some I have been priced out of forever, like LeBron and Curry.

I then went on a mini Syracuse legends tear, gobbling up a few Dave Bing and Floyd Little cards. I don't know much about basketball nor football cards from 1970s, so if anything, it was cool to see "new" old card designs.

My latest focus has been on Derek Jeter diecut cards. There are so many out there from the greatest era of cards, the late '90s, that if nothing else, makes for a very fun eBay search. I have picked up a few lower end ones. I say "lower end" because there are a TON of them that go for triple digits. Even if I don't want to buy those, they are awesome to see and hold up over time.

I'd much rather have 1999 Fleer Ultra Diamond Immortals Jeter than a low-numbered 2020 Topps Update parallel.

So I snagged a few, without much agenda other than they look cool and they hold up over time.

I'm sure this too shall pass, but for now, it's fun to see what's out there and add a few Jeters to my collection that have some personality to them.