The future, but now

Although I was out in Colorado for MLB All-Star Festivities, I decided not to attend the Futures Game.

It wasn't for lack of interest. I just had better things to do in Denver that afternoon, including visiting one of my old college roommates.

One of the most surprising storylines of the game was that Jasson Dominguez was selected to the AL squad. At the time, he had less than 10 games to his credit, so it was definitely a leap.

Still, it's an exhibition game, and he's one of the game's top prospects. Maybe some guys deserved it more, but to me, if baseball has a chance to showcase young players who might be household names one day, they should do it. The game means nothing, so bring your big guns and show them off.

Dominguez hit a 100mph+ rocket for an out, but otherwise the game was uneventful for him. Still, it gave him a chance to be around other top prospects, many who are right on the doorstep of the majors. Hopefully he noticed how they prepared for the game, and took some notes. One note I hope he didn't take was letting the NL win. We all know that doesn't happen in the big boys game.

As expected, Topps put out a few cards to commemorate the game via Topps Now. Dominguez received one, so I headed to eBay and scooped it up for half the price that it goes for on Topps website. Dominguez cards are still rare enough to me that I don't mind spending a couple bucks for them here and there.

It's not first Bowman Chrome, but it's still pretty cool.

After a quick stop in Alaska, The Martian has landed

The USPS does some crazy things sometimes. 

I recently bought a two card lot of Jasson Dominguez 2021 Bowman Futurists inserts. One was the regular, and one was the Mega Box version. I haven't been going crazy on Dominguez cards, but now that there are a few more and the prices are reasonable, I've picked up a couple here and there.

I bought them and didn't think twice, then I got a message for the seller. He had tracked the package, and noticed that they went from Illinois to Anchorage, Alaska. He was positive he addressed them to New Jersey.

I appreciated him reaching out. I knew it wasn't his fault.

Eventually, tracking picked back up again, and the cards made it safely to NJ. Were they actually in Alaska? I assume so, but who knows.

Dominguez, known as The Martian for his out-of-this-world skillset, is the Yankees top prospect, and their current best hope for an exciting young star in the mold of an Acuna, Tatis, or Guerrero. Will he be? Who knows. He's only 18, and obviously didn't have a minor league season last year. A lot can happen between now and then.

He did finally making his US debut yesterday, going 0 for 2 with a walk. He'll be exciting to follow these next few years, and I hope he stays healthy and on the path to NY...with as few detours along the way as possible.

Five Below to the rescue

I spent the large portion of the spring coaching my son's 9 & 10-year-old little league team.

We had a great season, and were one of the strongest teams in the league. More importantly, these guys truly became a team. It was fun to see them grow, improve, and compete each week. My son forged new friendships, even walking into school with his teammates who he might not have otherwise socialized previously. Man, youth sports are important, especially after being robbed of them for a year.

It's cliche, but from start to finish the boys really did improve. Some kids couldn't touch the ball early on, but as the season went on, became valuable contributors to the team. 

Unfortunately, we made it to the semifinals and lost just this past Thursday. It was a really intense game, actually. Well-played. No errors (which is saying something). Timely hitting. Strong pitching. Intense crowd. Anyone who says that 9 & 10-year-old little league can't be exciting is flat out wrong. Parents came up to us after stating it was the game of the year. Imagine that.

With the season coming to a close, we booked a room in a restaurant to have an end-of-season party later this week. I decided to make goodie bags for the kids, with a few items inside:

I picked up these materials at the discount store Five Below, mostly because I know they have a lot of small toys and candy, notably Big League Chew. The popular shredded gum is a bit of a team joke, as we had to ban it a few games ago because the kids were shoving so much of it in their mouths, it became a distraction. Plus I had to clean up gobs of it all over the dugout. 

You'll also see a pack of 2021 Bowman. That was an unexpected turn. You see, I had wanted to put a pack of cards in each goodie bag. But here's a funny thing about cards: you can't find them. You cannot just drive to a store and get a few packs. In an ideal world, I would have found a pack of Opening Day or Topps, as opposed to Bowman. Kids barely know Mike Trout. How are they going to know Blaze Jordan or Wander Franco?

When I went to purchase the materials for the goodie bags, it was Sunday evening, so the one local card shop around me was not open.  It's not like the pack prices would be affordable, anyhow. So I basically came to terms with not having cards in the bags, and I would just add extra candy or a toy or something.

After I put thirteen packs of Big League Chew in my hand basket, I went over to the sports section to buy my son another whiffle ball launcher toy since his broke. It's a small gadget that pops a ball up so he can hit it into a net. And lo and behold, I couldn't believe my eyes. There was a box with loose packs of Bowman!

They were overpriced, but I wanted the kids to have cards, so I bought the remaining packs - 16 of them. I kept 13 for the goodie bags, and treated myself to three of the remaining packs. I like Bowman, so it was fine. Two of my packs were fairly loaded, so I can only hope the kids find some luck, and maybe it spurns on some sort of collecting interest. Here were my best two cards from the three packs:

Not bad!

I doubt it'll have much affect. Kids don't really like cards. They all talked about Fortnite a lot more than Major League Baseball. They talked about NBA more than MLB too. But for one day, they'll open a pack, see an array of cards of stars and prospects and maybe some shine or ink, and enjoy a big wad of Big League Chew.

That's a pretty cool outcome and a great way to put a cap on the season.

Breaking a Bowman Blaster

Well, indeed it has been an awful start to the summer. It literally rained from Friday evening right up through last night. Plus, temperatures were in the high 40s. What a mess! I did use some time to organize my disaster of a card area, including deciding to order a BCW card bin to house my Tino collection. I am saying goodbye to binders.

Yesterday I needed a pick me up, and got it while watching the Indy 500. I got an email ping on my phone that a blaster of 2021 that I had ordered from Target had been delivered. I went outside and quickly rescued the box, which was getting poured on. Luckily, the box held up and the cards were fine.

I know it's fun around these parts to crap on Bowman, but I am not one of these people. I like Bowman more than most. In fact, I would rather open Bowman than:

• Allen & Ginter
• Gypsy Queen
• Heritage
• Stadium Club
• Big League
• Opening Day
• Donruss

I like the mix of current players, rookies, and prospects, including a draftee's first Bowman card. I like the inserts, which usually are very shiny. I like the chance at a prospect autograph.

Let's start with the RCs. I was glad to get Clarke Schmidt, as well as a few others like Alec Bohm and Jo Adell. Schmidt just started a throwing program in hopes of coming back later this year. He's got a world of talent, but it is starting to feel like he'll never be one who is healthy. I hope I am wrong.

I did land one parallel as well, a blue pApEr of Rockies catching prospect Drew Romo.

On to the Chromes, where the highlight was Blaze Jordan of the Red Sox. Sweet name. Not sweet team. I hope he doesn't torment the Yankees for years. This card alone will pay for at least half the price of the blaster.

I did ok with the inserts, although in pack 2 my day was made when I pulled a Jasson Dominguez Scouts Top 100. I have a couple Dominguez cards already, but this is the first time I pulled one for myself from a pack.

Here's the rest of my inserts. They always pack a lot of shine.

The weather looks better today to salvage some of the weekend, but overall, I'm happy with my blaster, as it helped save a rainy day.

TCDB brings the heat

Some of the most exciting times for me on Trading Card Database are when I am able to add some new cards in my "for trade" inventory. 

This is usually a ritual I have if I'm able to get my paws on some current product. Thats when the trade offers fly in. Mostly on current card releases and people trying to finish off sets.

The other day I was able to bust two blasters of 2020 Topps Series 2 via an Amazon Prime purchase. I know that may sound outrageous for some of you, but it's actually quote convenient and simple. I don't have to go to the Target cesspool just to find the shelves completely wiped. And for around the same cost, the boxes show up on my doorstep. I'd rather spend $23 in a blaster that showed up at my door than $21+ and going to Target.

I don't want to not open some new stuff because it's not available to me. I just had to change my purchasing habits. So far, it's worked for me for Bowman, Big League, and Series 2. Easy peasy.

Anyhow, for those of you having trouble making trades on TCDB, that's the best advice I can give. Add some new stuff if you've got it. And add some cards to your wantlist. When I only had Tino on my wantlist, I got few to no offers. When I added Gleyber and a few Yanks from current sets, I had a lot more luck.

Back to Series 2. It was nice to open a few packs, although I have to say the checklist is one of the worst I've ever seen. Just putrid. I know there is Luis Robert and the Cutch SP, but it's a very uninspiring checklist. I wasn't even that excited for my first Gerrit Cole since there was an easy-to-acquire SP in Series 1. Made it less exciting for Series, that's for sure.

Each blaster comes with Manu-coin relic thingies. I pulled a Fernando Tatis /199 and a Eloy Jimenez. Two solid pulls.

I put them both on the site to see if they attracted any offers. If not, no biggie. I'd sit on them and put them away for a box at a later date.

One offer came in for Eloy, and it was this:

Now we're cookin'.

I actually did wrestle with it. I do think Eloy is going to be a major star. But that's sort of the point of pulling cards like this. Not to sit on it and hope it goes from and $8 card to a $15 card on the open market. The point, for me, is to trade it for something I'd rather have.

And at this moment in time, I'd rather have a Jasson Dominguez card.

So I pulled the trigger and accepted. I like that most TCDB are done via PWE, but the Eloy was too thick. So off it went in a bubble mailer. The seller was kind of enough to also send the Jasson in a bubble mailer as well.

Honestly, I'll be thrilled one day if Dominguez is half the player Eloy Jiminez is. Maybe he'll be better. Maybe he won't. But this was a good trade for me. And just like a good baseball trade, each side gave up something of value.

I wasn't expecting to get a recent Dominguez on TCDB, but you never know unless you put yourself out there. I';m happy with how it ended.

  

A 2020 Bowman Blaster

From what I understand, Bowman in the wild is quite rare.

We're still relatively locked down in here in NJ. While Targets and Walmarts are indeed open, I'm not going to risk it by going hunting for baseball cards. That's silly.

What I did do, back in April, was pre-order a blaster of 2020 Bowman on Amazon. I paid $22 for it, which is $2 more than the price tag in store, but much less than you can find them on eBay from retail flippers who fill their cards and take a picture of it for Twitter. Ever notice how these flood your timelines, even when you don't follow 99.9% of the people posting them?

Since the product was still a month away, and prices went crazy, I figured I'd end up getting an order cancelation. That's apparently happening with the big box stores, unable to fulfill online orders.

However, in a true credit to this Amazon seller, I recently received a notification that my order had shipped.

I did hope to pull a Jasson Dominguez card. He's the prospect rage right now, and surely many of you consider him an overhyped Yankees prospect. Maybe he is. But he would be this hyped on any team. That's what happens when you sign for $5.1Mil and are nicked The Martian. His tools are that good. Remember, last year it was a Rays prospect who was the rage. The Rays. Whether or not he puts it all together in a few years, obviously we won't know.

Spoiler alert: of my 72 cards, he was not one of them. Bummer.

Still, it was nice to open a few packs, and I was still in disbelief the vendor came through for me.

In a rare occurrence, I pulled an autograph. First pack too. This is Reds 3B prospect Rece Hinds. He's their #8 prospect according to MLB Pipeline. These fall 1:62 in a blaster.

I also pulled a shimmer blue refractor. These are awesome looking, and actually fall 1:256, so actually a pretty rare pull from a blaster. I don't know much about him, but hopefully will recoup a couple bucks back on eBay with this card. It's numbered /150.

In terms of Yankees, I did come away with two decent ones.

I am a big Clarke Schmidt fan, so I'm happy to get his base card here. Yep, not calling this a "paper" version because that is dumb.

As for major leaguers, the only ones in the set are Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres. I was able to snag the Gleyber. Fun to see him officially listed as "SS."

Otherwise, I got a few solid RCs and prospects, which is to be expected in Bowman. I know Luis Robert is well regarded, although nit sure why this is a RC? I guess because he was expected to be in the Majors by this time when planning was underway?

And the inserts - while no keepers (these are available on TCDB) - are all nice looking and very refractory. The 1990 Reprints look cool as Refractors, that's for sure.

It was fun to open some cards. I haven't done that in quite a while, and more than anything, appreciated the seller here honoring the original price.