Not to be glossed over

I don't pay much attention to the Topps TBT online exclusives. Just not really in my wheelhouse. But recently, Jason of The Writer's Journey wanted to grab the 6-card release, as long as he could share the purchase with a few team collectors.

After a little but of deliberation, I decided to chip in for the Luke Voit, as I don't have many cards of him.

The card itself is pretty cool looking, based off of 1970 Topps Glossy football, which I had never heard of. The actual release had rounded corners, which would have been a cool touch, but I'm guessing Topps On-Demand couldn't do something like this quickly.

It was nice to add another card of Voit, who is now popping up in regular releases, like Heritage and Topps Series 2. At least he is a Yankee card I enjoy pulling, unlike a guy like Chapman (who is in every set and I've never seen anyone actually want to pull one of his cards), or Ellsbury, which is a joke that Topps is still including him in sets. He's not liked and hasn't played since he was a pinch runner in 2017. Enough.

Thanks to Jason for the chance to add a new, unique Voit to the collection!

Ice in the snow, fo sho.

It's not often I show cards the same day they arrive. I'm generally behind in blogging about any packages. Yet, I'm trying to catch up so that I can get to long overdue JBF and Zippy Zappy bombs, which will all require multiple posts.

As I'm sure you've heard, we're in the middle of a big snowstorm here in the NYC-area. From my experience, these are usually more hype than anything else, but even if we end up with 10 inches as opposed to 20, it's enough to mess things up for a day or so. I'm anticipating working from home tomorrow. I could definitely get to work, but I can do what I need from my laptop, and my kids will likely be off from daycare.

Anyhow, neither wind, nor rain, nor sleet, nor snow...could keep three new cards out of my mailbox today.

Speaking of ice, Gosuke Katoh! Bowman Ice parallels are some of the most striking cards out there today.

The second is a Ty Hensley Bowman Platinum X-Fractor I needed. It wasn't hard to find, just waited for one that didn't include the unecessary $3 shipping. I believe this came in under a buck overall.

The last is a 2004 Fleer Tino, which I didn't have. Jason from The Writer's Journey reached out asking if I needed any of the Tinos he listed. This was the only one I didn't have, although I also snagged a 1989 Bowman RC from him. Can't say no to that. I don't really remember this Fleer set, as I wasn't collecting then. It does show Tino in between teams, with a Cardinals uniform on but a Rays logo. Sigh. The lost years.

Jason, thanks for thinking of me!

Trade Review: Writer's Journey

A while back I sent Jason from The Writer's Journey about 19 cards he needed off his 2011 Topps Opening Day want list. As usual, I just said "send me a few Yanks." Jason went above and beyond and sent me a nice stack of about 50 Yanks PLUS a stack of 1988 and 1989 Topps Big - all Yanks. Too cool.

It was a great lot to sort through. I had one or two of the Topps Big cards just laying around, but this lot had Tino's USA card, Mattingly, Randolph and Winfield to name a few. These are definitely neat to have. The stack of Yankees was just as fun to go through. There was a 2011 Heritage Brett Gardner and Jeter Double Play (that isn't really a DP) that I didn't have yet, as well as a fun oddball - a Yogi Berra/Don Mattingly Sunoco card. There was 1983 Topps Bert Campaneris (people seem to forget/choose to forget that he ended his career with the Yanks). It was good to get the 2008 Alberto Gonzalez Heritage too. I had used that card for TTM a few years ago, and while he did return it signed, I pulled it out of my team set.

As if that wasn't enough, he also threw in 10 Tino cards! I always appreciate when someone takes the time to dog out a few Tino's for PC. I definitely needed at least two of them.

Jason, thanks again for our second trade!