Doon Swoon

Over the 11-year history of this blog, a guy like Napkin Doon has been here basically for all of it. I remember our first trade was in May, 2011. Previously, I had won a few cards of him from the Big Fun Game that he used to run, a Yankee swap type of blog contest.

That first trade included a handful of Tino cards, and two autographs: Ramiro Pena and Mark Melancon.  Names from the past! He also threw in a bunch of Flair cards of Paul O'Neill and Bernie Williams. I remember being surprised by the package because we had only agreed on a portion of the cards, but he sent them all to me. That's just the kind of guy he is!

As he has started to reduce the size of his collection a bit, he's been setting aside non-keepers for me, especially of guys like Jeter and Rivera. He sent me a big old box of cards just a few weeks ago, and the contents definitely delivered.

See, that's a lot of cards.

But it wasn't all cards. He sent me three packing peanut NFTs of Jeter, Gallo, and Odor. If anyone tries to steal this image of my NFTs, then I will be pressing charges.

Right on top is my first Topps Holiday ornament. Fun cards. I mean, no Pacific ornament from back in the day, but I appreciate the concept.

The next card I pulled out was a Dave Winfield Kellogg's 3D stars. I don't really get these cards. They've never done anything for me at all. At least it's not curled to all hell.

The second card in the box might have been my favorite, a Bowman Platinum ice parallel of Yankees 2020 first rounder, Austin Wells. Well, that was my favorite until a Hope Diamond Curtis Granderson popped out! Numbered to 60, Topps just did so much right in 2011 with their parallels. 

Stacks of current Yankees included Gleyber, Judge, and Stanton.

I'm not surprised Napkin had a lot of spare Alfonso Sorianos, as he was the centerpiece of the haul that brought Alex Rodriguez to NY. Doon probably thought he was going to get rich of this guy.

As for Yanks of the past, there were plenty of Rivera, and Mattingly.

Poor Doon even decided to send me a few Rangers who called the Bronx home in 2021. Odor is no longer with the Yanks, but I now have an ungodly amount of his RCs. That's my first Gallo rookie, as well. I am betting he will once again hit .190 with 40 HRs. Baseball!

The bottom of the box had some odd-sized Mattinglys to top - or bottom - it all off. Man, that crouched batting stance is so cool.

This is the 45th post of mine where you're tagged, Nap. Thanks for all the fodder over the years.

A real Bru-haha

Right around Christmas, Marc aka Bru from the old school Remember The Astrodome and I made a nice swap on TCDB. It's really nice having someone to send crummy Astros to, and in turn, get Yankees I want.

It was around a 20 for 20 card swap, give or take. I helped him with a few Astros and set needs, he sent me some assorted Yankees from a bunch of brands. It was actually a really fun mixture of cards, especially because there were a bunch of Panini products I don't see a lot. I kind of hope Fanatics buys Panini as well, since they've been kicking Topps' butt with better designs and products the last few years. Although I guess it wouldn't be true competition if they all rolled up to the same mothership. 

Still, seeing Donruss and Prizm with official marks would be cool.

Regardless, back to the variety. I was able to add five Gleybers to the collection, including a couple with the RC logo...which apparently doesn't really mean what it used to a few years ago.

I also got my second card of Odor as a Yankees, and this one is pretty great at highlighting his fiery personality.

I won't lie, I laughed when I saw this mugshot. What a dopey card.

I still have hope for Clarke Schmidt being an impactful Yankees pitcher. It would be nice if a first rounder not named Judge panned out.

A few more Stantons. I need to do a count on his cards, but I must be approaching 175 or so. I like the Fire red foil a lot. Maybe my favorite card of the trade.

And here are the rest of the goodies.

Marc, thanks for the trade, and please enjoy your time with the beautiful baby girl you just had.

On demand

'On demand' means a lot in today's world. 

It's become a part of everyday speech, often referring to some sort of instant gratification. To me, it's mostly commonly associated with television. There's even a button on my TV remote with a star on it, with the button's label reading "On demand."

Baseball cards too are now printed on demand, something that started with Topps Now and has evolved into many, many forms of cards released online and printed to order. There are so many of these types of sets now, that it's impossible to keep up. I rarely know what sort of sets are out there at any given time.

It's easy to not pay attention. I have no need to go Topps' website just to browse around. Every so often I'll open one of their emails and notice a set that's currently available on demand. I might even buy one once in a while, such as Derek Jeter-curated set.

Recently on TCDB, someone offered me two Gleyber Torres cards that were printed on demand. I had no idea either card existed.

The first is a 2020 Topps Attax. I don't think the brand every resonated with baseball collectors. I've gotten tons from 2010ish in trade packages. I see the brand seemingly do well for some other sports, like soccer, but in baseball it never made much of a splash. Still, it's neat to see some of today's current players on an Attax design.

The next was a 52-card set created by Kenny Mayne. I love Kenny Mayne. I know there are a lot of cool people who like to brag about not liking ESPN, but Mayne was one of the best SportsCenter anchors and talents to land on air, and his catch phrases and features were always outstanding. While this looks more like a playing card of course, I didn't know this set was even a thing until the card was proposed to me in a swap.

That's all for today. Off to work...where my time is IN demand.

200 TCDB trades!

Without realizing it, I just went past 200 completed trades on the Trading Card Database (TCDB). 

I was surprised the number was this high, actually. However, most trades are quick PWE swaps, so they tend to add up quickly if you have three or four going at once.

I don't spend a ton of time with the hobby these days, so it's also a testament to show that the site isn't as time consuming as some would like to think.

Additionally, I'm likely not the easiest trade partner on the site. I don't have a ton of cards available for trade. I usually add the extras from recent products, which is when most trades happen. For example, when I busted those two excellent Stadium Club blasters, all the cards I didn't want I added to TCDB. Then, team and set collectors usually reach out with a few offers, or vice versa.

My wantlists are fairly light, as well. I obviously have added all Tino's I don't have, but I've probably only traded for about 25 of his cards all-time on the site. Most trades have centered around guys like Gleyber Torres or Clarke Schmidt.

I actually have added all Gleyber cards I don't have to my wantlist. While I don't really want to pursue his cards as a player collection, it does help me trade match with more people. As a result, I've got nearly 200 Gleyber cards now.

Some of my recent trades have netted me some nice cards of his, in fact. These are the types that roll in a weekly basis:

200 trades without it feeling like it is pretty cool. The TCDB continues to be a great place to trade, if that's your sort of thing. It's been an excellent way to trade away commons of cards that might otherwise just sit in boxes. And as a result, I've really built up a solid collection of Torres card.

On to trades 201, 202, and 203...

Orange you glad you use TCDB?

The TCDB trades have been rolling in, as many other forms of trading and acquiring new cards dry up. I don't post all of my swaps here, but one of my recents was a fun one.

I rarely add or peruse the basketball section of the site, but from time to time I do add a few cards of Syracuse Orange basketball cards just to keep my want a bit diverse. Luckily, it worked out in my favor for a trade with jrad1973, as I sent him a few Astros for the following cards.

While I absolutely hate baseball mascot cards (looking at you, Opening Day), I thought a card of Otto the Orange was cool to have. Typically Syracuse has four students play Otto each year, and during football they alternate each quarter. One of the best mascots in college sports!

A couple of Syracuse one-and-dones! The Carmelo is cool, especially with Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery in the back. Feels like a big event game!

It wasn't just Syracuse cards! Three Yankees were included in the package, as well. I don't hate Contenders baseball. I have no idea when or they were released. Retail blasters, I guess? But I would have never come across them if not for TCDB.

Pretty cool what resorting to TCDB can net you, especially for unwanted Astros cards!

The rest of the Bru-haha

A few days ago I showed off a Tino Martinez A&G mini that Bru sent in a "fancy little holder."

That card was actually a throw-in within a TCDB trade we made. TCDB is a great place to trade if you're into that sort of thing.

Bru is always down to take Astros off my hand, and thank god. That team really is hated. The Yanks just took two of the three from them, which I appreciate. But losing the last game, one pitched by Gerrit Cole, and letting that little shell of himself turd Altuve beat them with a homer leaves a sour taste despite winning the series.

The two actual cards in the trade were those two unlicensed beauties. The Cole is very cool and colorful, while the Torres has a nice, embossed glove in the background. His glove work has actually been very good the last few weeks at short. Now if he could remember how to hit for power.

Now for a few of the extras. I almost missed that this is an Artist's Proof. I can effectively say I've never opened a pack of Gallery, so I always appreciate when I get some in a trade.

Giancarlo Stanton is the hottest hitter on the planet right now, which means I refuse to check Twitter because I know the Tweet that "he's experiencing soreness" or "he's being sent for an MRI" is coming. It's sad, but you have to know it's coming. I am a big fan of his, I hate the unnecessary expectations, and he seems like a good dude. I'd love for him to stay on the field and have a massive season.

I do appreciate this relic, with a nice pinstripe.

Topps Stickers have been pretty nice lately. I have no desire to have an album and put the stickers inside. But treating them as cards, they are nice looking, albeit flimsy.

Lastly, I'm not quite sure where this comes from, and my Google search is coming too empty, but it looks like a custom set from GOAT cards using the Rookies app card templates. The Ruth artwork is pretty cool, although I hope used with permission. The painting is a neat balance of realism with almost of hint of cartoon in Ruth's face. The card is glossy as well, which was never an option when I previously used the Rookies app. Perhaps this person printed these himself.

Bru also threw in some nice Heritage cards from the last two years.

Good trade. I've already got a stack of Astros building up for you, Bru.

Gleyber, you ok?

 Over the past year, Gleyber Torres has not been a good baseball player.

After All-Star seasons in his age 21 and 22 season in which he hit 24 and 38 HRs, respectively, he's struggled a bit. He never looked good in last year's fake season, and he's off to a slow start this year. While that can be said for the entire Yankees team, Gleyber really has not been good.

Just twenty three days into the season, I'm not worried. I think he'll find his stride and hit .250 with 25+ HRs. Fine numbers for a shortstop. But why the sudden struggles after the game looked so easy for him just a few years ago?

One theory is that he was moved over to shortstop, and the defensive pressure of the position is weighing on him. I don't know if that's true. It might be. As a rookie, he was inserted into second base and asked to really be a bat-first player. But since Didi Gregorius left, the keys to the left side of the infield were passed to him. A lot of pressure? Yes. And perhaps it's affecting his offense.

I think he'll be fine. He's too talented not to be. Games are a lot more fun for me to watch when he's a threat at the plate. Right now, he's not scary in the box. He did have a 3-hit game last night after his hustle was called into question the previous night, so perhaps he's on his way to finding his stroke.

I write about Gleyber today because I just received two of his Chrome rookie cards from Shane of @shanekatz73 on Twitter. I sent him a single card of Jazz Chisolm, and he reciprocated with two Gleyber RCs. I felt like I came out a bit too far ahead here.

Shane also included a few others, including a nice looking holo from 2020 Donruss.

Thanks for the trade, Shane! And hey Gleyber, get it together. 

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!