1st Edition

I don't know much about 2020 Bowman 1st Edition.

I don't pay close enough attention to Topps' website to know what's coming out and what's all the rage.

I do know from Twitter that it was hard to get these packs. Like trying to get concert tickets. Log on too late, and you're out of the luck.

The big draw in this set is Yankees top prospect Jasson Dominguez, the 17-year-old from the Dominican Republic. Dubbed as one of the next big things, The Martian has taken the prospecting world my storm. It's definitely early. Too early? The tools are there, but a lot can happen between now and whenever - if ever - he finds himself on the doorstep of NY.

One guy already on that doorstep is top pitching prospect Clarke Schmidt, the Yankees 2017 1st Rounder, selected 16th overall. They selected Schmidt right after he had had TJ surgery, knowing patience with him was going to be key.

It's paid off, as his 2019 season was largely a success. His 2020 spring training showed massive glimpses of promise, and put Schmidt firmly on track for a 2020 debut in the Yankees rotation. If that happens now, who knows?

So while the world was focused on Dominguez, I decided to snag the Schmidt for a buck. And for good measure, I got the yellow for a few bucks more, numbered to 75 copies.

It'd be cool to have a Dominguez card, but that can wait. For now I'd rather focus on the guy who is right there, not 4 years away.

One of my favorite collectibles

Back in 2008, the Sports Museum of America opened in New York City. It only lasted until February of 2009, as the number of visitors were vastly over-projected. Frankly, the museum had an awareness problem. Not a lot of people knew about it.

I visited with a co-worker during that quiet time between Christmas and New Years in December of 2008.

While 12 years ago, I do remember it being cool, and it's sad more people didn't visit it. It's before I had a smart phone, so I have no photos. I do remember there being a lot of cards and memorabilia on display.

I guess that was one problem. It had a lot of cool stuff, sure. But no real direction. Just a collection of stuff and they called it a museum.

One other item I remember seeing was boxed Kenner Starting Lineup set of then 1992 Olympic Dream Team. Well, at least 10 of the players. I remember how cool I thought the set was back when it came out, and the trip down memory lane at the museum really hit home.

I wanted to have that set.

The one on display wasn't even in good condition, as I remember the box being pretty beat up.

I went home and search eBay, and to my surprise there were a lot available, for fairly modest prices as well. I believe I paid somewhere between $20-25 for mine:

I still have it to this day, and it remains surprisingly affordable as a boxed set. Many are in the $75 range. Not bad.

Some of the figures are great, and MJ is front and center, of course.

To my knowledge, these didn't come with loose cards like the individuals, but had cards you could cut off the back. That never goes well.

Such a cool set. Now if I could only find an affordable set of the McDonald's Dream Team cups...

30 to go

Just last Tuesday, I did a post titled "40 to go." That was my start of the countdown until I hit 1,000 unique Tino Martinez cards.

Here were are, just eight days later, and I've already cut that number by 10. All due to some TCDB trades. Pretty great site, if you're into that kind of thing.

One trader had six Tinos I needed! That never happens. I traded him 10 random cards on his list for these six. It's entirely possible I already have the 1991 Topps with the dark logo, but I don't have record of it. The 1992 O-Pee-Chee is pretty sweet. Never seen it in the wild. Plus, three of these cards were Pacific?! I love Pacific.

In this trade, I was only supposed to get the SI card, but the trader told me he didn't like the edge (it looked fine to me), so he threw in a Yankee Stadium Legacy. Yes, I do count those ones as unique Tinos. They are different cards.

The last card that came in was courtesy of Paul of Scribbled Ink, also by way of TCDB. Nice one for one swap. Tino as a Cardinal. Meh. But I needed it, darn it!

So there we are. Just a handful left. It's getting harder and harder to find the ones I don't have, but I'm going to keep trying like heck to get there. I've got nothing else to do!

NBA RCs I missed

I've made an interesting foray back into basketball cards over the last month. I still feel very uninformed. I didn't collect basketball cards from about 1998 onward. 

And I'm not going to start, really. I'm not going to buy packs or boxes. I am very uninformed on the current market. Outside of a bunch of much-appreciated Knicks from Cards on Cards, I have no idea really what is what over the last 20 years.

But I've admired many careers of basketball players that have started since I no longer collected basketball. My enjoyment of the NBA never went away. I just put my focus on baseball cards.

So while bored over the last few weeks, I've decided to pick up some basketball rookie cards, just to keep in my rookie card stash. In most cases, it's the low end brand. I'm not looking at these as an investment or anything. There is no Stadium Club Beam Team Shaq here. Just a few lower end RCs of guys I wanted to own.

In no particular order:

Donovan Mitchell is a great player. Playing in Utah doesn't really help his card appeal (uninformed opinion). But he's really good. And so are the Jazz. He was the Rookie of the Year in 2017-18 and made his first All-Star game this past year. He's averaging over 24 PPG this year. 

Kevin Durant! I'm not his biggest fan. He's so good, but so sensitive. And he seems really irritable. But he's one of the best players the league has ever seen, and it's awesome that his RCs are Sonics cards. I wanted a regular Topps, but got a better deal on whatever that card above is.

This sweet Shaq was actually acquired in a trade from Vrooomed. I sent him a newer Brendan McKay, and he shot me this Shaq. I have fond memories of this card. My friend and I used to sneak into his Dad's bedroom to oogle this card, which was kept in his desk drawer. We also found some magazines there, which were not Becketts.

Anthony Davis! ZZ's main basketball squeeze. This dude is an amazing player. Part of me hopes the Lakers make it to the Finals so the world can appreciate AD on the main stage. I wanted his regular old Hoops RC, but I found this in a lot of Davis cards that was cheaper than if I had bought this card on its own. I don't know why that is sometimes, but it's true.

A couple T-Macs! He's a Hall of Famer. Did you know that?

A couple of Jason Kidds. He's a Hall of Famer too. Blocking Muggsy Bogues is mean.

I chuckled when I bought this Duncan RC. It's one of the most affordable ones he has, and everything about the design of this card is so un-Duncan.

I do not like Paul Pierce. The whole Boston thing. And he's a giant faker, like when he got wheeled off the court in a wheelchair and then came back 5 minutes later. But he will be a HOFer. And this card cost $1. So I bought it. He and Vince Carter have some pretty cool RCs in Topps flagship.

I'm not sure who I'll pick up next. Maybe Beal and John Wall? I have a Zion, luckily. And I doubt I'll ever snag a LeBron or Curry. Those are in Trout territory. 

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.

Waiting on Cole

I miss a lot about the baseball season right now. I know there are bigger things at play, but it's ok to miss things we like.

I'd like to see what Gleyber Torres would have done in the first month of his age-23 season, and first as a full-time short stop. Would he have been on a tear at the plate? Struggled defensively? Would he already have 20 HRs against the Orioles?

How would DJ LeMahieu be doing? Hitting .330 again in a contract year?

Would Miguel Andujar be back to hitting bombs?

Would Giancarlo Stanton be ready to go? How would Aaron Judge's broken rib have been healing?

Would Clarke Schmidt be close to the Majors?

But I think what I feel most disappointed to be missing is Gerrit Cole's start to the season. This is his age-29 season. The Yankees are paying him $36M this year for that season. He is in his prime. While I expect him to be elite for several more years, he's still in his 20s. I want to see Cole pitch for the Yankees in his 20s.

I've gotten a few Cole cards, but recently splurged on this autograph. A fellow Twitterer was selling a few cards, and this was one. It seemed like a good time to add an autograph of his, while most weren't thinking of baseball.

I still think I'll see Gerrit Cole pitch as a 29-year-old. I just hope it's soon.

PWEs keep me going

One thing I really look forward to during my quarantine days of working from home is going to the mailbox each day.

I have set up shop in my dining room as my work from home space. As anyone who has stepped foot in a center hall colonial knows, the dining room usually sits at the front of the house, either on the left or right side once one walks into the main entry way. In mine, the dining room is to the left.

The mailbox on the outside of the house, to the left of the front door, remains from the previous owner. It is heavy, brass mailbox. The clank when the lid is lifted then shut is very loud. It always makes the dog bark. And usually, even if I'm on a Zoom call (all day), I can hear the clank and know something might be waiting for me there.

Whether it's a PWE from TCDB (still alive and kickin'!) or cards from another blogger, I usually get a little something each day.

For instance, Phungo and I made a quick swap on Twitter. I couldn't find. copy of Gleyber's Topps Update RC (even though I swear I had it), and he offered it to me. I sent him a Topps Legend variation of Mike Schmidt. Nice, easy trade.

He also included some homemade cards from photos he took at games!

Johnny also sent me recent winnings from one of his Big Fun Games. I ended with some vintage, which is never a bad prize.

I struck up a quick trade with Bru for these two Donruss cards. I sent him an ugly Altuve card.

The Luis Torrens Fan Club got in on the action and sent a fun PWE. A sweet Judge insert, a low-numbered Frazier, and a Sevy RC? Yes please. Plus a very random collection of basketball cards!

Thanks for all the fruitful trips to the mailbox and giving me something fun to look forward to each day!