Returning from Coors and opening some Stadium Club

Late last night, I returned home from Denver. I had a good trip, taking in the HR Derby, MLB All-Star Game, and everything in between. It was a busy few days, but I was happy to return home. I'm too old to gallivanting around a city during the work week.

A couple observations:

• Literally don't care if it's BP. Guys hitting the ball 500 feet is awesome to see. It doesn't make sense seeing a ball go that far from where it started, even if it started 30 feet from him and was being thrown 40 MPH by an old guy.
• The new HR Derby format is much better than any of the old formats. I hope it stays for a while and MLB doesn't tinker.
• Coors Field has horrible concessions and had no idea how to handle a full capacity crowd. Their urinals are also small and close together.
• MLB doesn't care if you don't like the jerseys. At all. A LOT of people were wearing them and spent good money on them. They were the most common piece of game merchandise for the thousands of people walking around. Your Twitter complaint means nothing. And no, I didn't buy one. I got my son a hat and my daughter a stuffed bear.
• Once the game started, the jerseys were easy to forget about. Blue was away. White was home. Baseball was being played, despite what someone was wearing. It felt normal, especially because the AL once again won.

Moving on. One benefit to returning home - you know, besides seeing my wife and kids - is that my two blaster boxes of Stadium Club were waiting for me. It was super easy to order them from Target.com. I don't mind ordering cards to open online at all. Saves me the trip of going to the store.

I actually crushed it with Yankees. My two boxes were packed from them, from inserts to base cards to parallels to special box toppers.

I don't have much to say about Stadium Club. They are excellent looking cards with a minimalist design and exciting photos. Although some of the photos are a bit dull featuring just running or swinging, they still look sharp and crisp.

The horizontal cards are my favorite, and I would be fine if the whole set was like these. They all seemed a bit more interesting than the verticals.

And of course, there's always a mixture of legends.

As for the aforementioned Yankees, it felt like every pack I opened had a card from my favorite team. The rarest was a Giancarlo Stanton Red Triumvirate, which fall 1:192. Not bad. What's disappointing about these is how flat they are. They need some color, shine, or texture!

Beyond that, three inserts I was lucky enough to get were Superstar Duos of Aaron Judge and Stanton, a reprint of Mariano Rivera, and a Virtual Reality of Luke Voit. According to the fancy metrics on the back, over 162 games Voit would have hit 59 homers. Sure.

Here are a few more Yanks base cards. I like the Mattingly quite a bit. I received THREE base card of Clint Frazier. And then also got a black parallel of Urhsela, but not showing it. Just imagine what it looks like with a black logo.

Speaking of parallels, I got several. I don't really get the point of just changing the foil color, but there they are.

The rarest card I got was a 30th Anniversary parallel of Kenta Maeda, a 1:318 pull! Always sad when you beat the odds and pull a dud. That's a Napkin Doon quote.

Here's a few more fancy cards.

Last but not least, each blaster comes with a loose Master Photo. I didn't even know this before purchasing, so that was cool to get them. I did well with a Bellinger and a Deivi Garcia RC,

I don't regret the $40 I spend on these at all. They were fun to open, and should provide me with some great fodder for TCDB. 

Oh, and go AL.

A buck buck buck for #1,100

I'm ripping off Collecting Cutch's post today, where he won a sweet Andrew McCutchen Panini relic /5 for just a buck.

I too won a cool card for just a buck, and it has the double bonus of being unique Tino #1,100 for me! 

Last August, I hit 1,000 Tino cards, so it took me about 9 months to secure 100 more. Not too bad at all.

Anyhow, the card is from 2000 Stadium Club Chrome, and is the Refractor. I wouldn't say this is an overly rare card. It's not numbered to /5 or anything. However, I don't recall seeing it pop up on eBay, so I quickly snagged it for $.99 plus $.99 shipping.

This was actually a pretty sweet Stadium Club design. Fairly minimalist with a lot of room for the photo. Name within a pennant with the team logo just to the right. Very sound design and very baseball-y. I also like how Tino is seen rounding second base after what appears to be a homer.

I was glad to get this card for a buck, and nice to have another round number for my Tino collection.

A Surprise from Sunrise

One of my oldest trading buddies from around here is Robert from $30 A Week Habit. He and I started blogging around the same time, and have exchanged many packages and envelopes over the years.

While the envelopes have slowed a bit - mostly on my end because I haven't been good about sending out cards - Robert was kind enough to shoot me a PWE recently.

The highlight for me was a Holo Red 2020 Donruss Gleyber Torres. This is one of the variations, as well. The holofoil looks nice, I admit.

I also think Donruss slander has gone overboard. The set is super weird, and the variations are silly. But the foils are really nice, and buying Donruss provides good value for the buck. In fact, at the beginning of the Pandemic, I found two hanger boxes of Donruss at Walgreen's and I was ecstatic, and they were fun to open.

I won't hold Donruss base set against Panini. I still think if they had a license they'd be kicking the shit out of Topps, from Optic to Prism to everything in between. And I don't think it'd be close, either.

I won't let a turd like Donruss speak for all Panini products, just like I won't let a turd like flagship speak for all of Topps.

The red foil really does stand out, and I'm happy that Robert thought of me when he came across this card.

I had seen this 2019 Topps Gallery a few times and have admired it. The shot of the Empire State Building in the background, with the stars flanked by other buildings, gives this card plenty of Big Apple flair.

I haven't been to NYC since March 9. That is unfathomable, especially after going into the city for work everyday since May of 2006.

The final card was a 2019 Topps Stadium Club of Gary Sanchez. Definitely a cool shot. Gary is such an enigma. The talent is endless. When he is hot, there is no better hitter in baseball. But the problem is when he is cold, he is basically a pitcher at the plate. There is no in-between. It does not make sense how extreme the extremes are.

Still, the pose on his card is pretty cool. A catcher making his way to the dugout, likely after a bullpen session. Gatorade towel soaking up sweat. Just a very cool card.

Robert, thanks for the surprise. Appreciate it, and glad we're still pals after all these years.

The Croatian Sensation

I knew it was coming. Episode 5 of The Last Dance on ESPN featured quite a bit of Toni Kukoc, mostly while he was playing in international basketball competitions. He was the star of the 1992 Olympic Silver Medalist Croatia National Team, but it's been pretty well-documented that Jordan and Pippen chose to shut him down defensively to send a message to their GM, Jerry Krause, who had visions of Kukoc one day playing alongside of, and perhaps eventually replacing, the two.

For me, it's always been hard to not feel bad for Kukoc. By all measures, he was a good dude, and it wasn't his fault Krause wanted him. He was a very good player. This was before much of an influx of international talent into the NBA, so for years he was a mysterious draft pick who had never made it stateside.

The documentary showed that he had chosen to stay overseas because of the political turmoil in his home. He was also making more money than he would as an NBA rookie.

He also had no real way of knowing that Jordan and Pippen were annoyed by management's view of him. That wasn't his fault. He didn't ask for it.

Eventually, he did make it to the U.S. after Jordan retired the first time, and was a critical part of the second Bulls 3-peat. I hope future episodes show that instead of just him getting dunked on in the Olympics.

Being that I collected basketball mostly while MJ was retired, I ended up with a few Kukoc cards over the years. It felt like he has a lot of RCs in '93-94.

I hope the remaining episodes help shed some light on his time as an NBA player. He was a good one, albeit under appreciated.

Catching up with A Cracked Bat

I am close to finally cleaning out my scanned folder, and here's a post I've been meaning to get to. Over the summer, Julie from A Cracked Bat was kind enough to send me a great bubble mailer full of Yankees. Julie's packages are always great and are always full of cards I didn't have - new and old!

I was most surprised by the 1994 O-Pee-Chee cards in there. I honestly have never seen this set! I'm not surprised at all they exist, just for whatever reason I never came across them. Probably because Tino wasn't included in 1994 for some reason?

Gary Sanchez cards were plentiful too. I really like this Museum Collection card, as Julie is known to include cards from some of the higher end products. The Refractor looks great as well! For whatever reason, I feel like 2018 Refractors looked a lot better than years past.

Another card I really enjoyed was Yankees Old Timers Day insert. I mean, just look at Matsui's flow in the picture! It's amazing!

I think I've gotten some Tips Fire in about three or four of the last packages I've received. Since I found zero Fire this year, I'm very cool with this development.

Stadium Club was pretty nice this year, and these were two great Yankees to snag from the set.

Lastly, this was a fun card: a Jose Campos ONYX autograph. I actually couldn't tell if the silver was a real or pre-printed autograph, but I found a few copies of the card online and the signature differed in each one, so indeed, it'a an autograph! Neat looking card!

Julie, thanks for always keeping me on your list of trading partners!

Beam me up, Steiny

A few weeks back, Peter of Baseball Every Night reached out asking if I needed some Yankees from Stadium Club. I have found ZERO Stadium Club where I live, so of course I was more than willing to take them off his hands.

The highlights for me were the Beam Team cards. I don't think I ever pulled one back in the day - baseball or basketball - so they still feel exclusive to me. The "beams" this year feel more like a building going up under construction, but can't argue with the two players:

I only have a couple of Clint Frazier cards, so always glad to add those to my collection. I hope he gets healthy down the stretch, as concussion symptoms are no joke.

I like the Power Zone inserts a lot as well, although I always knew these to be a Topps Finest insert set.

Peter also sent a few base and parallels, including a Matsui base and black foil.

A red foil parallel of Don Mattingly rounded out the package. I've always loved Mattingly's post-swing pose.

Earlier that week, Peter also sent me a PWE with an early Tino Martinez card. I always get a kick out of Tino wearing #53 early in his career.

Thanks for all of the great cards, Peter!

Surprise mail is the best mail

Yesterday, I had a long day at work.

Part of it was my fault for refreshing Twitter non-stop from about 1pm-4pm leading up to the trade deadline. I definitely could have used that time more productively and done actual work.

When I finally got around to a stopping point around 7:15, I headed to Port Authority, hopped on my commuter bus, and walked in my front door at around 8:25. Thank goodness for Fox Sports Go, as I was able to watch the first few Yankees innings on my phone on the bus.

Side note - 2017 really is amazing. I can watch a baseball game live (well, with a slight delay) in HD on my telephone as I commute home from work.

Once I walked in, the dog attacked me, jumping all over me as a way to say hello. He needs to stop that.

I went upstairs and gave the kids a kiss, then made my way back downstairs to eat dinner and turn the game on. On the counter was a welcome site - a bubble mailer I wasn't expecting!

It was from my good buddy Robert of $30 A Week Habit. He sent me four cards, and it definitely was welcome when I was feeling pretty fatigued from a long day.

Apparently I commented on this Aaron Hicks card before. I'm glad Robert remembered, because I definitely did not.

This is my first in-hand 2017 Stadium Club. I've liked this Whitey since I saw it.

Jeter! What a great card. I liked how Series 2 showed All-Stars MVPs and HR Derby champs, although mad that Tino wasn't included. I don't think he has a current deal with Topps.

I'll end the package with this guy. Love getting cards of him!

Thanks, Robert!

Jersey swatches from France

Last week, I was pleasantly surprised to see an international package arrive in my mailbox. Kevin from The Card Papoy was kind enough to send me a return package for a few cards I sent him earlier this spring.

The package and postage look so much different than what I'm used to, which makes it feel very exotic and special. Oh, what it must've seen on it's way to me!

Kevin was kind enough to send two cards featuring jersey swatches, both from 2002, and both featuring Jason Giambi.

Giambi joined the Yankees in '02, so both of these jersey pieces were of him with the A's. The gray one was a good choice for the dual-relic with Bernie, as it feels like a Yankees away jersey. It might have looked odd if a green one, like the card below, was included on there.

And man, Giambi was a monster his first year in pinstripes: .313/.435/.598 with 41 HRs and 122 RBIs. That was good for a 7.1 WAR. And that was considered a worse year than his previous two.

I very much appreciated this Stadium Club Gary Sanchez RC, which I didn't have. It's a little odd to see Stadium Club use a studio shot, although I guess they didn't have much to choose from for Sanchez. I expect a cooler shot in 2017.

Here are a few more cards I especially liked.

Thanks so much for the package, Kevin!