Saturday Night Five: Past & Present, Brown & Gold

I'm more of an early bird than a night owl... but right now a busy schedule dictates when I can blog.  And sometimes you gotta push through if you want to get things done.

That's why for the first time in the history of this blog... you're getting back to back evening posts.

I was hoping to join in on the current Blog Bat-Around that has been circling the blogosphere... but I need more time to get my list together.  I also have Flea Market Finds post sitting in my draft folder that's waiting to be completed, but I only have about an hour to hammer out this post and publish it.   Plus there's a partially written post ranking my all-time favorite Oakland Athletics that I'd like to work on too.  The list is almost ready to go... but I still need to scan cards for the post.  You gotta trust me when I say... that's more of an morning activity... than a right before bedtime thing.

So tonight's post is going to revolve around five cards I scanned this afternoon while tidying up my office.  It features five different San Diego Padres with three of them currently with the team, one who was traded during the off-season, and the final one being the greatest player in franchise history.

Let's start with the current guys...

2023 Topps Major League Material #MLM-FT

Let's kick things off with Fernando Tatis Jr., who currently leads the team in home runs and total bases.  He looks like he starting to regain that pre-suspension form.  This jersey card was part of a care package I received from Woody over at Sports Card Forum back in December and it represents only the second Tatis Jr. memorabilia card in my Padres PC.

Next up are a pair of hits from Reader X...

2022 Topps Commemorative Batting Helmet #BH-MM

This manufactured relic might just be the thickest card in my collection... and it has some weight to it as well.  So far... Machado has only been used as a DH this season... so the batting helmet fits his current contribution to the team.

The other hit Xavier sent my way is the Padres starting catcher's signature:

2022 Topps Gypsy Queen Autograph #GQA-LC

This is my first autograph of Campusano... and I love the fact that it's on-card.

Next up is a former Padre and current Yankee:

2023 Stadium Club Box Topper #205

This card recently arrived in the mail from Rod (Padrographs).  You can't tell by this scan, but this is one of those oversized box toppers.  Outside of a handful of base cards and inserts, I don't have a ton of Soto's Padres cards... especially one as gorgeous and big as this one.

Speaking of big, he also sent this oddball issue:

1984 Lite Beer #NNO

Not sure how it was distributed back in 1984, but it's a great looking card.  This is actually my second copy.  The first one is sitting in one of my Gwynn binders.  I'll be adding this card to my San Diego Padres shelf in the office.

Thank you Woody, Xavier, and Rod for these additions to the San Diego Padres collection.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!