Contest winnings from Padrographs

I've been a bit slow to post about some great card packages that came this spring, and my sincerest apologies to those who sent, namely Rod and Kerry!

The first I'll get to is Rod's from Padrographs, so Kerry's cards will have to wait for another day, although they are finally scanned. Rod held a contest, which ended up being a card draft of sorts. Here's the card I chose from the list:

There was no huge reason I chose this card. I picked towards the end of the list, and out of what was available, a numbered card of a team's Top 30 prospect seemed the way to go. According to MLB.com pipeline, Pavin Smith is Arizona's 15th best prospect, and is currently in AA ball.

Rod, being the generous dude he is, also sent some awesome Yankees.

This is the first 2019 Topps Total card I've received. This is a red parallel (I assume!), numbered to just 10. Luckily this card didn't have surface peeling like a lot of the ones I've seen.

Probably the coolest card - if you can call it that - is this card/coin combo of Aaron Judge from Baseball Treasure. It's cool, and puts those old Pinnacle Coin cards to shame. The Judge replica is pretty good, as well. What a unique card!

Speaking of Judge, here are a couple others that were new to me, both from last year's Big League.

While I've made it known I'm not the biggest Big League fan, I am happy to have these two Gleyber Torres cards anyways, especially with the 2018 being his rookie. He gets overshadowed a lot, but he's a special player and I'll take any of his RCs.

And another RC:

I liked this Grapefruit League insert as well. I thought the 2019 Series One Spring Training inserts were some of the better inserts this year, you know, for a 2019 set since none of them have good inserts anymore. I thought the designs were nice, but I wish they were less flat and could have used some shiny or sparkles or foil. But the concept was decent and the cards looked pretty great compared to the other inserts.

I think, although am not certain, that this is my first Paxton card as a Yankee. He's been pretty "meh" this season, but better as of late. The potential is there, but his control hasn't been good. He has a bad knee and that could be affecting him. Still, I like that he has the ability to shut down a lineup on any given night, I just hope we see it more!

Lastly, this is one of my very favorite Yankee cards, and I always smile when I get one.

Rod also included a 1986 Fleer pack. In addition to having the wrapper, which I still use for my various arts and crafts, here was the best card:

Thanks for the awesome package, Rod!

Three I needed? I'll take it

As anyone who has a large player collection knows, it's hard to get a big lot of cards and find ones you've needed. I've bought large lots on eBay just hoping for one or two I needed.

Other bloggers are always well-intentioned and include cards of one's favorite player in trade packages, although in most instances it ends up being a dupe. I just sent PK Steinberg about 1,000 Kruks, and I'm sure he had them all.

Earlier this week, John of Johnny's Trading Spot sent me two team bags of Tino Martinez cards.  I certainly appreciated the package, and John included a note hoping that I might find a few I needed, knowing most would likely be dupes.

Well, I found three! I'd call that a success.

They were all from 2003 while Tino was with the Cardinals. Admittedly my Tino collection is a bit light from 2002-2004 while he was a Cardinal and Ray. I just haven't been too diligent with those years, but always willing to add them to my collection.

John, thanks for thinking of me, and for adding three new Tinos to my collection!

TTM Success: John Flaherty

This is one I was hoping to get back! (and also a reason why Topps Total was awesome...when else would a backup catcher be in a set?)

John "Flash" Flaherty signed my card in 25 days c/o Yankees. He spent three seasons in the Bronx as the team's backup catcher, and even became Randy Johnson's personal catcher for a while in NY.

Flaherty is now currently a broadcaster on YES, and I find him to be very good. While he isn't necessarily funny or the most personable guy, his analysis tends to be very good and straightforward. He brings the catcher's perspective to the game, and always makes solid points.

For his career, he spent 14 season in the Majors, mostly with the expansion Devil Rays. He was primarily a backup, although had a few solid seasons as a starter for the Tigers, Padres, and D-Rays.