Still Celebrating the Holidays

While a lot of sports fans are focusing on this year's NBA All-Star Weekend, the Winter Olympics, and pitchers & catchers reporting to Spring Training... I'm still coming down from my Super Bowl high.  But I did open up a padded envelope yesterday that's getting me back into the spirit of baseball.

Pennsylvania Mike left a comment on my 2025 Topps Holiday advent calendar post.  He offered to help me out... and he wasn't joking.  It's probably easier to let this visual do the talking:

After combining the singles from my advent calendar and my buddy's duplicates, I needed 59 cards from the 200 card set.  Mike crossed off thirty-five of them:

That's a jump from 70.5% to 88% complete.  He included some key cards including the Jacob Wilson & Roki Sasaki rookie cards, plus the batting version of Shohei Ohtani and a bunch of other MLB superstars.

My set needs are down to twenty-four cards:

Oh wait, there's more.  He also sent me these three A's parallels:

2025 Topps Holiday Gold Lights #H48

2025 Topps Holiday Light Blue & White Glitter #H80

2025 Topps Holiday Gold Lights #H80

The Topps Holiday advent calendars only came with the holiday green plaid parallels, so these two parallels were new to me.  I haven't been this excited about one of these holiday sets in several years.

Thank you Mike for helping me out.  I have a stack of Tigers from the 2025 Topps Update that I'll be sending your way this week.  I still have this wicked cough, but other than that... I'm pretty much back to normal.  Plus I have this week off from work, so I'll definitely schedule time to hit the post office.

As for the rest of y'all, here is today's question of the day:

Anyone watching the Winter Olympics or NBA All-Star Weekend events?

If so, which ones?

Although I won't be watching any of the Olympic events live, I will definitely watch all of the snowboarding highlights.  I'm also interested in seeing the highlights from both of Team USA men's hockey games.

I hope all of you enjoy your Hallmark holiday!  Happy Valentine's Day and sayonara!

Giving Thanks A Day Late

Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope all of you are enjoy the company of family, friends, and/or cards.  I'm celebrating with two out of three.  Any guesses on which two?  I'll reveal the answer at the end of the post.

In the meantime, let's check out some cards.  First up are some from John over at Johnny's Trading Spot.  He held a 350 card giveaway a few weeks ago where he shipped out thirty PWE's to collectors across the blogosphere.  Thankfully, I was one of the recipients.

My nine pocket page contained the following...

This is pumpkin pie portion of the post.  Pumpkin is one of the most under-appreciated dessert pies out there... just like magazine cards from the 90's are in the hobby.

1992 Topps Magazine #TM79

I might not crave pumpkin pie all the time, but it's an essential part of our Thanksgiving meal... just like 90's magazine cards are an essential part of my collection.

Next up, the stuffing...

These twelve cards were part of a contest prize package from Brendan over at The View from the Third Floor.  He gave the winners a few different options for prizes.   I went with 2023 Topps lot, because I'm building that set.

2023 Topps #437

This Lane Thomas got me one step closer to completing the set:

Stuffing is one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving dinner and it's generally what I fill up on.  The Thomas was a set filler.

Finally, I want to talk about two big surprises from yesterday's Thanksgiving feast.  First was the pumpkin soup, which tasted like split pea soup.

I had never tried it before, but was pleasantly surprised.  

The other surprise was the roasted brussels sprouts.  I've had it before, but only at Thanksgiving.  Every time I eat it, I'm blown away by how something so healthy looking tastes so amazing.

What's not a surprise is that the pumpkin soup and roasted brussels sprouts both featured bacon... which is one of my favorite things to eat.

How do all of these cards relate to pumpkin soup and roasted brussels sprouts?  Well all of them arrived awhile back as part of a care package from a fellow collector on Sports Card Forum.  Woody has sent me a bunch of packages over the years, but this one wasn't one I planned on.

It just showed up in my mailbox and was a complete surprise.  Thank you Woody for all of the Packers, Seahawks, Padres, and Japanese athletes you sent for my personal collections.

I also appreciate you thinking of my students with these stacks and stacks of 49ers, Raiders, Giants, and Warriors.

Thank you John for the generous giveaway on your blog.  And thank you Brendan for your contest and for helping me get one step closer to completing my 2023 Topps set.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  By the way, I started writing this post yesterday.  At the time I was at my brother's house with the rest of my siblings and a few of our friends.  Unfortunately, I didn't have any contact with cards yesterday.  I did however try my hardest to publish this post on Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately... once the football games, food preparation, and family time got started I got distracted and didn't get a chance to complete this post until today.

Happy Friday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

John reached out to me and offered to help me with more of my 2023 Topps.  Here's the updated list of set needs:

Thank you John!

It Takes a Village

Twelve years ago, I purchased two wax boxes of 1986 Donruss baseball for $50.  It was a birthday gift to myself with the hopes of pulling the iconic Jose Canseco rookie card.  That didn't happen, but it did start a set build that continues to this day.

Recently Bo over at Baseball Cards Come to Life! helped me get two steps closer to completing this set:

1986 Donruss #601

I primarily remember Joe from his time with the Houston Astros, but I knew he was a Yankee too.  Sadly he passed away nineteen years ago at the age of sixty-one.  

1986 Donruss #638

Meacham's career was much shorter than Niekro's, but luckily he played during the first half of the Junk Wax Era.  In other words, he was featured on plenty of cards during his six years in the MLB.  That's why I definitely remember his time with the Yankees even though he was only an average fielder and a career .236 hitter.  The power of cardboard and childhood memories is legit.

With these two cards added to the set, I'm now only twenty-five cards away from completing the six hundred sixty card set.

Bo also sent me this 2011 Topps Update card of Cody Eppley:

2011 Topps Update #US97

If you asked me about this guy two months ago, I'd have no idea who he was.  But thanks to him being one of the final cards needed for this set build, he's become a familiar name.

The other card I needed was one of the Brandon Crawford cards in the set, but that arrived last week in a Sportlots order.  Here's a look at the completed set:

Thank you to the following bloggers for helping me complete this set:

Bo @ Baseball Cards Come to Life!

Chris @ The Collector

Greg @ The Collective Mind

AJ @ The Lost Collector

and retired blogger, Tom @ Angels in Order.

I appreciate all of your help with this set.  It feels great to cross this one off.  Honestly... I'm kinda on a roll.  I've got another Sportlots order on the way and a scheduled COMC shipment.  Both contain cards for another set that bloggers have helped me with this year.  I guess the old saying is correct.  It takes a village.

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be receiving the cards from COMC until November, but as soon as it does I'll let you all know.

Don't worry about me not having enough content to write about.  There are three large care packages waiting to be opened... including two from John over at Johnny's Trading Spot.  Plus I made a huge purchase this weekend at the Branham Flea Market.  It helped cross off six sets I needed from the 80's, so stay tuned for those posts.

Until then...

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Memoirs of a Hoarder: Catching Gators

Some athlete's deaths hit harder than others.  When I read about Mike Greenwell passing away on Thursday, it took me back to the late 80's.  There was a brief period in my life when I was opening boxes upon boxes of baseball cards purchased at my local Costco/Price Club.

1987 Topps #259

I was obsessed with mimicking the shops advertising in card magazines and building player lots of rising stars.  One of those guys was Mr. Greenwell.  As long as I can remember, I've had a deep appreciation for guys who hit for average and that's exactly what he did.

The days of hoarding his cardboard ended when I sold off my collection in the early 2000's, but I have a copy of his Topps rookie card sitting in my set.  I also found this card sitting in a box of cards labeled "cheap, cool cards":

1991 Fleer Pro-Vision #8

This single is on the blogosphere's hot list.  Just saw it pop up over at Diamond Jesters in his Greenwell tribute post.

But my favorite card of his is this on-card autograph I purchased back in 2013 when I was putting together the set:

2013 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autograph #FFA-MG

Rest in peace Gator.  Although the bulk of your cards that once resided in my collection have moved on to other collectors or landfills, I still treasure these three cards.  They'll always remind me of that special period on my hobby timeline.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

A few weeks ago, I received a care package from Adam over at Thoughts & 🧦.  Like Matt over at Diamond Jesters, he's a fan of the Boston Red Sox.  I figured since I was honoring Greenwell, I I'd also use this post to thank one of Greenwell's fans.

Adam sent me a variety of cards, but I'm going to stick to the unique items in his care package.  Let's start with some Oakland A's and San Diego Padres cards from the 2000 APBA MLB game:

I feel like I've seen these floating around at card shows or flea markets, but I'm not sure if any have actually landed into my collection.

I definitely needed this card for my Gwynn PC:

2000 APBA MLB #NNO

Here are a pair of 70's Oakland Athletics buybacks:

1977 Topps #261

Phil Garner kicked off his career in Oakland, but I remember him more for his time in Pittsburgh and Houston.  That being said, I absolutely love adding 70's and 80's Oakland A's buybacks to my collection.

1979 Topps #224

I'm definitely familiar with Dave Revering.  His mid-season trade to the New York Yankees in 1981 led to him have a very rare card in the 1981 Granny Goose set.

Moving along, here are a pair of cards for a set I'm building:

2018 Sport Kings #14

2018 Sport Kings #17

Adam actually sent me a fairly fat stack of Sport Kings singles ranging for the 2018 to 2022 sets, but these were the two I was most excited about.

Technically, I only need one more card... but Sport Kings created variations for Cobb and Payton.  The good news is neither of these cards are rare.  It's just about being patient.

He also sent me a stack of Japanese baseball players:

You're looking at almost the entire 2006 Upper Deck World Future Stars Japan team set.  I'm pretty sure I have the Dice-K which is the only card missing from the scan.  It's also nice to add three Japanese pitchers who played on playoff teams this season.  Although Yoshinobu's team is the only one still around.

Let's move along to a galaxy far, far away:

2024 Topps Chrome Star Wars Refractor #4

Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of the most interesting characters in the Star Wars Universe.  Adam included a few of these refractors, but this one was my favorite.

I was also surprised and excited to see this slide out of the padded envelope:

2022 Topps Chrome Black Star Wars Autographs #AB-MBJ

Based on my memory, Ranzar Malk only appeared in one episode of The Mandalorian.  However I am very familiar with the actor who portrayed him.  Mark Boone Jr. played a major role in Sons of Anarchy, which is a top 20 television show for me.  I've also seen him in Momento, Batman Begins, and The Last Man on Earth.

I'll wrap things up with the final three hits from the care package:

2002 Donruss Studio Private Signings #143

I wasn't familiar with Mr. Pena and his tenure in Oakland.  According to his Baseball Reference page, he never pitched for them.  I've added him to the Men of Mystery section in my Oakland A's PC.

2008 SPx Rookie Signatures Silver #131

On the other hand, I'm very familiar with Mr. Blevins.  He played seven seasons in Oakland and was a key piece of their bullpen in the late aught's and early 2010's. 

1994 Signature Rookies Tetrad Autographs #XCII

I just commented on Johnny's post about my history with Signature Rookies back in the 90's.  There's a good chance I pulled a copy of this card at some point back then.  If I did, I would have recognized this name because Adam Hyzdu was with the San Francisco Giants organization and briefly played in San Jose.  Although I haven't dove into collecting every single athlete born in San Jose, if I do this card will be part of it.

Thank you Adam for sending me this very generous care package.  I don't have a ton of Red Sox or Virdon cards, but I will try to dig up some stuff for your collection.