Finishing Lineage by cheating 9 years later

Back in 2011, eleven days before my son was born, I said I was going to collect the 2011 Topps Lineage set as his "birth year" set. My rationale was simple. It was an attractive 200-card set, featuring Hall of Famers, retired players, current (at the time) stars, and a few rookies. It would serve as an education for him, of sorts. Here's how the game looked the year you were born.

Turns out I probably should have collected 2011 Topps Update for him.

It also turns out that I don't set collect, so I probably got about 90% of the way there and never saw it through.

Recently, I had the opportunity to fix that.

Nachos Grande ran a big, bracket style Ultimate Allen & Ginter mini set bracket. Somehow, I ended up with the winning bracket. I really finished second but the winner didn't identify themselves. In full disclosure, I felt a little guilty about winning. I don't like A&G and I sure as heck don't like A&G minis. So I 1. didn't expect to win and 2. felt a bit hesitant to claim my prize as the bracket winner.

However, I didn't just fill out the bracket to be a prize hound. Chris put a lot of work into it, and I appreciate that. He's also been sharing his love for A&G, and specifically A&G minis, since I started blogging. He even has a signed custom mini of himself! I wanted to participate because Chris is a great dude, has always been generous to me, and filling out a bracket is a small thing to support someone I consider to be a hobby friend.

Back to Lineage. So as mentioned, I was crowned champion of picking the winners. I wish I had a method to my madness, but this is definitely like Janice in accounting winning March Madness by blinding picking schools to win. Chris listed some very generous prizes, but one immediately stood out:

A complete set of 2011 Topps Lineage.

Fate! So I jumped at that, and now can say I (cheated) and collected the set for my son. Maybe I'll binder it up for him and stuff it away. But happy to have that one officially done, even if it's nine years later!

Chris, thanks for the prizes and congrats on successfully running the bracket!

Cards from Bloggers!

I know I've teen tooting the horn of the Trading Card Database. Honestly, the site is easier to make quick, pointed card swaps. If you're into it, it's a great place to trade.

However, bloggers decided to make a comeback and bomb my mailbox this past week, as three packages (plus Secret Santa -- more on that later) arrived. Good stuff!

The first was a quick PWE from Peter over at Baseball Every Night. He said this was a bumper card in a package he received, and offered it to me. Of course I'd take it! Very nice looking card from 1995 Leaf. I feel like there were a lot of "fielding" cards/inserts in the mid-90s.

Next up, Tim from I Love The Smell Of Cardboard In The Morning sent me a surprise package. Tim was my Secret Santa last year, and he always has a knack for finding Tinos I don't have. I don't know how he does it. It's like he knows my wantlist better than I do! Plus this one was diecut, which makes it even better! I'm now up to 920 Tinos, although the number is a bit less on TCDB because they missed a few.

Tim also sent three much-appreciated Gleybers. I absolutely love the Blue Chips!

Lastly, Chris from Nachos Grande was kind enough to send a team bag of Yanks. I won a Barry Larkin card in one of Collecting Cutch's October giveaways, and it was one Chris needed, so I had Cutch send it his way. I had forgotten about it until Chris sent this package, highlighted by a Bye Bye Balboni autograph!

Three great mail days from three great bloggers! Thanks, Gents!

PSA: How to get back blog comment email notifications

A quick PSA, as I know this has irked many of us.

Total hat tip goes out to the sound advice Stubby provided on a great thread started by Chris over at Nachos Grande. Here is what Stubby wrote:

On Blogger (never used the platform myself), I'm told that, if you remove your email for notification of comments (and perhaps some other of the information you've previously provided as well) and then re-enter THE SAME information, the notifications will start up again (possibly preceded by a "do you wish to subscribe" email). When they updated something in the system, it rendered all the notification emails as inactive or something, so you have to act as though you're providing updated info, even if the info is the same as it ever was.

I tried it and voila! It worked like a charm (so far).

So essentially:

1. Go to your blogger dashboard
2. Select Settings (it's in a left hand menu for me)
3. Select Email
4. In the box for comment notification email, I removed my email address and selected "save" so that no email address was in the box
5. I then typed in my email address and hit "save"
6. I got an email from blogger asking me to "subscribe" to comments on my blog
7. I tested it and it worked!

Thanks to Stubby for the sound advice, and Chris for posting a really interesting topic about blog readership habits as of late. Go check it out and provide your thoughts.

Hertiage breakin'

I was fortunate enough to buy a lot in Nachos Grande's three-box Heritage break. I'm glad I did too, since my Target has been bone dry when it comes to Heritage.

Gavin mentioned it, but the collation on the three boxes didn't seem great. Although not SPs, I was unable to land base cards of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez, Chad Green, or Clint Frazier. Not quite what you'd expect. I was still really happy with my haul below, but I definitely expected at least one of those guys.

I got on the board early with a Chrome Refractor of Didi Gregorius #'d to 569. These fall 1:61, so that was a good start for me. It's a great looking card too.

In the very last pack, there was a black border card. Although not serially numbered, it looks like these are limited to 50 cards of each and fall 1:51. Chris did a great reveal where we knew it was a Yankee, and I was praying for Judge, Stanton, or Sanchez as he slowly showed the card. It ended up being this guy. Not bad!

While I didn't get a Sanchez base, I still did pretty well with him, including two inserts and a couple of The Topps News All-Star cards.

I wasn't completely shut out on Judge!

I found the back of this card interesting, as it mentions that Cooper is no longer on the Yankees.

And there's Big Mike's (likely) last Yankees card. Good luck, sir.

As part of the break, we also got a random team. I was assigned the D-Backs, so I was hoping for a cool Goldy. And I got one!

Chris, you ran a great break - from the organization to the live stream to the shipping. Thank you!

A Grande box of cards

I believe Chris at Nachos Grande was the first blogger I ever traded with. I think we swapped cards before I had a blog up and running.

While we don’t swap nearly as much (maybe every year or two), Chris was kind enough to shoot me a big box of Yankees he was ridding himself of. I look forward to returning the favor and sending him some Reds in return.

This box was particularly fun due to the amount of 90s and early 00s cards in it. While I do appreciate the newer stuff, seeing cards of El Duque and Scott Brosius that I didn’t have really makes my day.

Sandwiched in between was this cool Bernie Williams figure from 2004 MLB SportClix game. I hadn’t heard of this game, but looks like it would be pretty cool, although games like this tend to not do very well. Damn kids and their damn video games.

 Of course, there are usually a few Tino cards in boxes like this. I always liked this Pinnacle Swing for the Fences promo card. The royal blue back always appealed to me.

This is a sweet Jeter I didn’t have from Topps Total. I know many of us wish Total would make a comeback at some point. It seems we’ve seen most Topps sets from the past 15-20 years make a comeback at some point, so hopefully Total isn’t far off. Side note – I totally forgot about those Blue Jays uniforms. I’m glad they didn’t last for too long.

There were a couple of Jeters total. An upcoming project of mine is to finally sort, count, and catalogue my Jeter cards.

Speaking of not lasting too long, Travis Lee was a Yankee for a short time in 2004. I actually remember being thrilled when the Yankees signed him, but he got hurt after just 7 games. Interestingly, he went to Tampa Bay the next year and Tino came back to NY, so they were sort of (but not) traded for each other.

Topps Stars! 1997 Topps Stars is – to me – an all-time classic set. I never quite found any of the follow-ups to be as appealing, but I still enjoy seeing all years of the brand. What a great Alfonso Soriano prospect card from spring training. This one is from 2000 Topps Stars.

A truly classic Bowman’s Best design. I might have to send this to Tartabull for a TTM signature.

Ty! I really hope he makes it back to the mound this year.

Chris included an unopened Upper Deck fan pack of Yankees – 25 cards from a few different Upper Deck sets. I wasn’t collecting at this time, but I’ve seen these a few different times. Still, does anyone know the story behind them? Where were they offered?

Lastly, a Topps RC of a 23-year-old who just finished 3^rd in the Cy Young voting. People seem to think the Yankees don’t have much starting pitching, but between Severino, Sonny Gray, and Tanaka, that’s a pretty formidable front three.

Chris, thanks so much for the very generous box of cards. I’ll be sure to send Reds your war soon.

How do you eat your nachos?

I like my nachos to have some liquid gold in the form of nacho cheese. Lots of it. In fact, last Monday we took the kids to Disney on Ice, and I definitely downed some nachos. I don't like to go crazy with toppings. I just got nachos with one compartment of salsa, and the other compartment of the aforementioned liquid gold.

I also love to put a nacho chip in the hot liquid cheese and let it sit there for a few minutes, then take it out when it's a bit mushy and cheesy. It's the simple pleasures.

I prefer some jalapeños on there as well, but just a few. And in a setting where I have more control of the situation, I like some buffalo chicken or ground beef and chili on there. No sour cream. Ever. No guac. Ever.

So I'm pretty simple when it comes to my nachos.

Speaking of gold and nachos, Chris over at Nachos Grande has been breaking a product near and dear to my heart - 1996 Collector's Choice. I grew up on Collector's Choice, so I've been enjoying each post as he takes us pack-by-pack through his box.

I was surprised when he pulled a usually-one-per-box gold signature of this guy:

Yeah, Tino! Before he was a Yankee, but still, Tino! Popping out in a spring training game! I quickly checked my Tino list and sure enough, this card was not on there. I needed it!

I left a comment, and Chris was kind enough to send the card my way in a PWE packed with a few other Yankees. Not a bad way to get Tino #779!

Thanks, Chris! Enjoy the rest of the box.

I want to be a Nacho man!

In a long overdue trade post, a few months back I completed a trade with Chris over at Nachos Grande.  He pulled a nice Andy Pettitte Heritage relic that caught my eye, and I swapped it for a Reds relic.

Pretty nice card! Simple. Not the best nor worst relic I've ever seen. Still, it was new (at the time), and I wanted it.

Chris also sent some truly awesome A&G customs made by Ryan Rodd of the Munnatawket bat company. These are super cool. Chris even included his autographed copy!

 

 

 

Chris, thanks for the trade!

Gypsy Queen group break winnings + wantlist

I participated in the Nachos Grande Gypsy Queen group break, and came away with a whole heap of Yankee cards. It was my first group break and it was a lot of fun. I joined in hopes of getting a Yankee hit, and while I missed out on that fun, I get a TON of base cards, a SP, and a few inserts and minis. I'd like to collect the Yankees team set, as well as a few of the insert cards, so if you can help me out, let me know. My want list will be posted below.

I like the cards a lot. The cardboard has a great feel, and I think the cards are just very classy looking. I haven't seen any of the Bronze or other framed paper cards, so I'll have to reserve judgement on those.

First up, the base cards. I got 15 of the 20 Yankees. Not bad at all. I also have a Burnett coming from Napkin Doon's Big Fun Game, so I really only need about four cards to complete the non-SP base card team set. I'd say out of these base cards, my favorite is the Thurman Munson. The dude always looks like a bad ass. Check out his Great Ones insert as well (above). I never got to see him play, but you can just tell he was a warrior.

 Next up are the minis. I'm indifferent on minis (all minis) - don't love 'em or hate 'em. I probably won't try and collect all these, but I like having a few.

Here are the SP and the inserts. The Gerhig is cool, but why are no people at the game behind him? I love both the Mantle and the Munson The Great Ones. The action shot of Thurm is sweet. Don't even think about running on him. I like the Mantle because of the old sack bases and the soft, puffy dirt. It looks like a sandlot. It's just not like that anymore.

Finally, here are the dupes. I'm well on my way to a second team set!

As for my wantlist, here is what I still need:

Base Set:
17 Teixeria
48 Maris
65 Ruth
199 Andruw Jones

Great Ones:
2 Ruth
13 Gehrig

Home Run Heroes:
9 A Rod
21 Gehrig
23 Mantle

Future Stars:
10 Hughes

Sticky Fingers:
1 Jeter
6 Teixeira

Wall Climbers:
3 Swisher

Trade Review: Nachos Muy Grande

For the second time this month, Chris from Nachos Grande and I agreed to a small trade. I had three shinys for Chris and a few 2011 Series 1 Topps base cards that he needed.

I claimed Trade Stack 7, and Chris also agreed to send me a stack of Yankees, my usual request. He sent me a very generous lot of 25 Yankee cards, with stars such as Mattingly, Winfield, ARod, and Rivera. There were also two Tino cards, and I am 99% sure that one of them was one I didn't have - a 2000 Pacific Paramount. There were some cool common singles as well - a 2007 Topps Doug Mientkiewicz and a 1986 Topps Paul Zuvella. I'm pretty sure Paul is a good TTM signer, and if that's the case I'll probably send him a request.

Trade Stack 7 included a Derek Holland 2009 Topps Heritage Chrome Rookie, #'d 831/1960. I'm not too high on the Rangers these days, so if anyone is interested in this card let me know.

(sorry about the glare)

Thanks again, Chris!

Trade Review: Shiny cards for some Yanks

One of the first trades I made since joining the card blogging world was with Chris from Nachos Grande. Not only are those my favorite stadium snack, but Chris needed two of the Diamond Anniversary shinys that I had. I sent him Omar Infante and Chris Young, and asked for a few Yankee cards in return.

He was nice enough to send me 11 Yankee cards. I've been using some of these trades as a quick way to educate myself on some of the sets that I have missed since I've been out of the hobby, and I figure no better way than leave it up to you guys to send me a random sample of Yanks.

In this lot, Chris sent me the following:

1987 Topps Ron Guidry #375
1991 Score Jim Leyritz #65
1997 Collector's Choice Darryl Strawberry #399
1997 Collector's Choice Bernie Williams #175
2005 UD All Star Classics Hideki Matsui #18
2010 Topps ARod, Gardner, Burnett, Rivera, Yanks team card, Arod Topps Attax

My favorite cards are the Strawberry and the Yanks team card. Straw was always a favorite of mine, and he played some good baseball when he had the chance. He played a big role in the 1998 team that won 114 regular season games. The 2010 team card is cool because they are holding up the World Series trophy. I was at the game, so this card is obviously special to me.

Chris, thanks for a great trade. Glad the shinys were able to help you and your quest of collecting the set!