End of an Era

The past three years, P-town Tom over at Waiting 'til Next Year... has held a Favorite Card of the Year Contest... which was pretty awesome, because it motivated me to dig through my collection and look at cards.

In 2016, I went with this Rickey Henderson autograph:

2016 Topps Strata Signature Patch #SSP-RH

This card reminded me of those cool shadow box cards that Upper Deck produced, which utilized multiple layers to provide depth to the card.  Three years later, this is still one of my favorite Henderson autographs in the collection.

The following year, I was super excited when I heard that Topps inserted autographs of Krazy George into packs of Allen and Ginter:

2017 Allen and Ginter Autograph #MA-KG

This guy is a Bay Area legend.  I vividly remember him back when I was a kid... standing on the dugout banging his drum and getting people fired up.

Last year, I went with another autograph as my favorite card of the year:

2018 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autographs #FFA-BJ

My love for baseball and baseball cards have always been based on my fascination for statistics.  And when it comes to baseball statisticians, Bill James is one of the most famous.  At the time of his contest, I hadn't actually found a copy for my collection.  However I did manage to grab the card you see above at the very end of the year on eBay for $11.50 (+ $3.50 shipping).

Well this year, P-town Tom decided against holding his Favorite Card of the Year Contest... which I completely understand.  Running contests can be a lot of work and when blogging isn't as enjoyable as it once was... it could even become a burden.

I'm not saying that's the reason he stopped running this contest, but it is why I stopped running my Olympic style contest from back in the day.

Anyways... in spirit of his contest... I thought I'd share three cards that really stood out to me in 2019.  But this year... to honor the end of an era... I'm going to switch gears and focus on cards that aren't autographed.

2019 Topps Allen and Ginter Collectible Canines #CC-18

I love dogs and Bernese Mountain Dogs are hands down my favorite breed.  Here's a photo of my best friend's Berner:

That's Mika.  She's super happy laying on the brand new bed she received for Christmas.

Next up is another Ginter insert card...

2019 Topps Allen and Ginter History of Flight #HOF-12

I've been fascinated with the SR-71 Blackbird since I was a little kid when I discovered that my father worked on the top secret project back in the 60's.

And finally there's this beautiful base card of the Oakland Coliseum...

2019 Topps #126

Topps has struck out a lot with me in regards to the excessive parallels and overproduced inserts they've been flooding our hobby with the past few years.  But they absolutely hit a home run with their 2019 Topps team cards.

I realize that this place is the laughing stock of MLB stadiums, but it's the setting of many fond memories from my childhood.

Before I wrap up this post, I wanted to do a quick response to our blogosphere's latest Blog Bat-Around.  Billy over at Cardboard History has asked his readers to write about their favorite set of the decade.

My response?  2015 Topps.

In an effort to kill two birds with one stone... I decided to use the Derek Jeter card from that set to demonstrate the beauty of that year's flagship design as well as show of my favorite card of 2015.

2015 Topps Chrome Refractor #1

Unfortunately, my 2015 Topps set is buried in a box somewhere, so Jeter's Chrome refractor will have to suffice.

Okay... I can't have an end of the year post, without a question of the day.  Here's yours...

What is you favorite animal?

What is you favorite stadium to attend a sporting event?

Well that wraps up another year of blogging.  Thank you Tom for inspiring this post... and for hosting that contest the past three years.  Thank you Billy for starting another interesting Blog Bat-Around.  And thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read any of my blog posts over the years.

I hope all of you enjoy a safe New Year's Eve.  Happy New Years and sayonara!