Birthday Cards

Last week I celebrated a birthday. My mother-in-law has always been a good gift giver and has supported my cardboard addiction habit collecting over the years as long as I can give her a specific item I want. I usually ask for a pack of 9 pocket pages but this year since she has a Costco membership,  I decided to ask for the 2023 Topps flagship collection. These particular packages are Costco exclusive.

Here's a good shot of the front of the package after I had opened the top lid.  I do like the presentation.  It has the curb appeal.  But man, I think I may have to buy some carbon credits to make up for the amount of cardboard and plastic this package contains.

The main attraction for me is the three packs of The Flagship Collection cards.  More on those later. I was also hopefully going to find an All Aces insert out of the series 1, 2, or Update packs or a Black Gold out of Update.  I got totally shut out on any of those inserts.  I'll spare you all the gory details of the regular packs.  Nothing really earth-shattering or terribly notable except for a select few.  I don't think I could cobble together another batch of oddball Christmas songs right now so consider yourselves off the hook this time.

I did pull this pretty rare card out of one of the Update packs.  I was pretty delighted to pull this card since I really enjoyed watching Seager make Rays, Orioles, Astros, and Diamondbacks pitching look silly this past postseason. I had no I idea that there were even parallels of the much maligned Stars of MLB inserts until this past spring when I pulled this:

This card has not left my desk since I pulled it.  I had some extreeeemely good luck with Series One this year.  I joined Nachos Grande's case break and got the Home Team Advantage Adley and I only opened three hanger boxes and got pulled this gem.  Also the one lose pack a few weeks back that yielded the blue bordered Gunnar. 

Pulling a card from a pack of Cal always makes the hair on my neck stand up whether it is a card I already owned or one I had never seen before.  I might have a crazy idea for this card so we'll see what happens in the future.

So the Trout card is the oversized card and the Alonso is the "companion card".  I'm pretty happy with the Trout since he's a player I kinda collect.  Nothing really special about the Alonso other than the numbering on the back.

So onto the three packs of The Flagship Collection.  I got a couple of cheaters, a two time beater, and a bunch of Mets.  I would say these are the best out of the fifteen cards from the packs.  I was hoping for a Gunnar, Adley, or Grayson.  I'm still happy with Mountcastle though.  These cards are on thick stock.  Think Triple Threads or Tribute base card thickness. The design is decent enough.  One thing I noticed is that the Acuna, Kershaw and the beater were all about a 1/32nd of an inch shorter and slimmer than the other 12 cards.  It doesn't really affect the cards much but I though it was worth noting.

Would I buy a box of these for myself?  Probably not because by now I'd pretty much seen everything I needed to see of the flagship design this year.  (Still looking for All Aces, Black Golds and most Orioles though). Getting this product as a gift was a fun rip  but the value is not quite there for me.  Flagship is produced like crazy right now so the base cards aren't hardly worth much anymore. We're not quite at the level of 1990 Topps but there's a ton of recent years of flagship just gathering dust in the back of most peoples closets.
 

October 2023 Chantilly Card Show

So, according to my immaculate record keeping, this post looks like the first real baseball card post I've done in this space in the past 8 or 9 years so here goes nothing.

I recently had the pleasure of heading up to the October Chantilly card show with my nephew Blayke, my good buddy William (he writes foul bunt), and William's friend  Jesse.  My nephew is somewhat new to the world of collecting.  He's mostly into football cards and specifically the Bears.  Justin Fields is the player he's taken a liking to collecting.  I know next to nothing about football cards and football in general.  I grew up playing baseball and in the fall during football season, I was on a travel team.  The Chantilly show was the first big show he'd ever been to and my sister probably hates my guts even more now that he was able to spend all but 10 bucks of the budget she gave him. We'll see if I get a Christmas gift this year....

William had Steve Carlton and Cal and Billy Ripken autograph tickets and Jesse was going to meet Wille Roaf.

I've gotten everything I wanted signed by Cal so I didn't set aside budget to do so.  I was on the search for bargains this particular show.  The Chantilly show is a bit weird these days.  Bargains are still available to those who seek them out (me) but most vendors have their tables chock full 'o showcases, chock full o' graded cards that I choose to not spend my money on.  I get it, the vendors need to make money because the cost to set up is sky high and they need to make that money back.  They aren't making that money back by having a bunch of dime and quarter boxes.  That's what my local hotel and moose lodge shows are for. Plus, those shows don't require me to wake up at the crack of dawn to drive 2 and a half hours to get there.  I digress, minor rant over.

I spent a lot of time walking the floor searching for deals and I found a few.  

Early at a table where I talked to a gentleman about minor league ball I found this camo parallel of Jordan Westburg from 2021 Bowman ( I think).  Westburg made his debut this past season acquitted himself well enough.  I don't think the Orioles brass trust him enough because he never played any shortstop (that I know of) but he's been sharp with the glove at third and second.  He hit well enough so hopefully next season he has a break out.  I met him at a Baysox game last year and he seems like a good person so he's easy to root for.

At the same table, I picked up this autograph of Silas Ardoin from this year's Pro Debut.  I actually like the design of Pro Debut better than I like the design of this year's flagship.  There isn't an awkward headshot of the player taking up space down on the left of the card.  Anyways, I saw Ardoin play last season while with Delmarva and again this season while he was with the Baysox.  He's gunning for a back up job in Baltimore with eyes on taking the starting job when the O's inevitably trade Adley to the Yankees for a bag of baseballs and a scorebook.

Trevor Bauer may not be everyone's favorite player but I find him interesting in how he prepares for games and his youtube channel that gives us a look into the behind the scenes of Japanese baseball.  William was able to buy this one for me for 5 bucks.

I found a couple of Topps Chrome Cosmic Mike Trout cards in a 12 for $10 box so I was happy to grab 'em, I grabbed a bunch of other Orioles from this years Bowman Chrome to round out that purchase. I didn't snap a picture of 'em

These 5 Orioles card will go into my "One Card of Every Oriole" Collection, they came out of a bulk purchase I made for 15 bucks.  

Included in this purchase was these 3 Cal Ripken Cards.  As we were leaving the show, I lamented to William that I didn't buy a single new Cal Ripken.  I was wrong when I got home and started digging thru my spoils.  I'm closing in on 2100 unique Ripken cards.  There's still plenty I don't have but it doesn't stop me from tryin' to collect 'em all!  

I didn't even spend half of my budget at the show.  I couldn't find some of the stuff I was specifically looking for and printing out my set wantlist was pretty much a waste of paper.  I realized while reflecting on the days events that driving to the show, being at the show and dinner afterward with Blayke, William, and Jesse was more fulfilling than filling my binders with pieces of cardboard.

Recent Pack Breaks

On some of my recent Lowe's runs, I've slipped into Target (which is in the same shopping center, conveniently!) to pick up a few packs to rip.  I have gotten some funny looks from Target associates since I've been walking into their store looking like a bum.   Imagine some (almost) 30 year old dude walking in to the card section with muddy Red Wings, dirt crusted work pants and a grimy, sweaty t-shirt.  I think I've either scared the kids away with either my unkempt appearance or the stench of sunblock and sweat!  More cards for me!

So I've decided to go ahead and collect Bowman this year after much debate.  I've picked up a few (3) blasters and several of the value packs.  I had past success with the blasters which you can read about in my archives but the only real card of interest that I've gotten recently is this Gold LJ Hoes.  Hehe, Gold Hoes....  Still, out of all of the Bowman I've busted, I've yet to get any other Oriole card besides this one, a regular and chrome version of Jonathan Schoop.  No Crush Davis, No Adam Jones, No Bundy, No Manny...  Luckily I've gotten a few in trades.

Here's my updated list of 2013 Bowman I have for trade:

2013 Bowman:
Gold Parallel: 4 Jackson, 48 Sale, 49 Price, 50 Pujols(2), 51 Longoria, 55 Lynn, 92 Wright(2), 94 Heyward(2), 99 M. Montero, 109 Phillips, 131 Hechavarria,  132 Beltre, 133 Gose, 134 Beachy(2), 145 Motte, 151 C. Santana, 153 Beltran, 173 Cingrani, 182 Stanton(2), 184 J. Santana, 200 Posey
Hometown Parallel: 90 Butler, 102 Halladay, 124 Shields, 178 Belt
Prospects International Parallel: BP6 Salazar, BP7 Hahn, BP28 Muno, BP31 Robles
Silver Ice Parallel: 98 Holliday
Orange Parallel: 129 Maronde 112/250
Prospects Purple Parallel: BP29 Diaz, 35 Cisnero, 48 Sanborn
Cream of the Crop Mini Refractors: CC-NYM1 d'Arnaud, CC-MM-2 Yelich, CC-MB3
Chrome Refractor Parallel: BCP15 Gelalich #d160/500
Bowman Top 100: 60 Rosenthal 73 Webster
Bowman Prospect Autograph: BPA JC Ji-Man Choi

My 2013 Topps Series 2 breaks have been pretty good.  I've gotten some decently rare cards out of the 2 hanger boxes and the 2 jumbo packs I've broken.  I've had some crap collation in the Hanger boxes though. Except for the inserts, both boxes had almost the same base cards in them.  Out of the 65 so base cards, there were only about 6 different cards between them.  The Rack packs haven't been as bad but out of the 222 total cards out of the breaks, I've only got 93 towards the entire series 2 set.  I guess these cards make up for it (but not really).

I got the Bryce Harper sunglasses SP out of the first hanger box.  While I don't really care for his Nattitude, I do respect the way that he plays the game hard.  I guess that's why I decided to start a mini PC of him.  Don't send me a ton of his cards though, I'll just add to the binder when I pull his cards from packs.

Also, from hanger box #1 I got this red screaming Trout.  The red Target borders really look good with the Angels uniforms.  Shouldn't the 2012 awards be in series 1 instead of series 2?  Either way, this card is headed to my Trout PC Binder.

From hanger box #2 I got some more Nats-jo.  Jordan Zimmerman seems to follow me around since I pulled his mini auto from my box of Allen & Ginter last summer.  Now I get this Chasing History relic card #'d 42 out of 99.  

I think this one came out of the first rack pack I opened.  This is the first digital Camo parallel that I've seen in person and I have to admit, the look pretty sharp.  More than I can say for those pink border abominations.  I think the pick just reminds me to much of the Justin Beaver and Moonlight vampire sissy cards that lurk next to the sports cards at Target.  Beaver will eventually kill himself in high speed car wreck and I've soaked up enough sunshine this year that I probably would kill any vampires that would come into my presence.

Here's a list of my available trade bait that I have:

2013 Topps Series 2:
Desert Camo Parallel: 601 Brandon Moss #d 81/99
Chasing History Gold Relic: CHR-JZ Jordan Zimmerman #d 42/99
Blue Walmart Parallel: 416 Lyles, 452 Ibanez, 417 Forsythe
Red Target Parallel: 335 Hermann, 384 McGee, 483 Valdespin, 521 Scribner, 540 Bourn, 589 Fernandez, 602 Sanchez, 610 Beachy, 614 Upton, 630 Dirks, 635 Gyorko
Chase It Down: CD-2 Sandoval
World Baseball Classic: WBC-9 Beltran
Making Their Mark: MM-4 Kipnis, 9 Skaggs
1972 Minis: TM-52 Freese, 63 Berra, 86 Brett
Chasing History (Silver Foil): CH-76 Gwynn, 77 Clemente, 100 Niekro
Chasing History (Silver Foil/Holofoil): 56 Holliday, 59 Lynn, 95 Cain, 98 Crawford
Chasing History (Gold Foil/Holofoil): CH-53 Weaver, 62 McCovey, 76 Gwynn, 82 Hernandez, 94 Cobb, 95 Cain

2012 Bowman Platinum: My First Impression

I got my first taste of 2012 Bowman Platinum on the way home from work the other day.  I stopped by Target, which is becoming a more rare occurrence lately, and picked up 2 packs of the newest product on the shelves.  Target is no longer on my direct route home anymore so stopping by to browse the shiny foil packs isn't as convenient anymore.  Here's nearly half of the cards I got for my money:

I believe this is a ruby parallel of Justin Morneau.  Well, I know it's Justin Morneau but the parallels in Bowman Platinum are almost as difficult to discern as they were last year.  The ruby background works well with the Twins uniform color scheme.

I'm pretty thrilled to pull this Mike Trout card considering that I only bought 2 packs.  I'm thinking about adding Trout as a PC since I already pulled at Bowman Chrome Refractor, Bowman Draft Picks Chrome Refractor, Diamond sparkly, and Cognac Diamond sparkly rookie cards from last years packs.  He's been great for my joint fantasy team this year and he's only going to get better!

Now this is a sweet card.  I'm glad that die cut cards are working their way back into products over the last year or so.  I think it just makes the card so much more interesting when it has neat geometric designs for borders.

I like the product so far and I wish I had the funds to buy a blaster or 2 of it.  I think the design is nice, the inclusion of diecut cards and a decent chance (1:33) of pulling an autograph makes this a winner.  There is a drawback for me being an Orioles fan.  Topps seems to hate the Orioles this year, only putting a minimal number of O's cards in their sets.  Adam Jones in the only player in the Paltinum base set.  Though they did put Manny Machado, Dylan Bundy, and Jonathan Schoop in the prospects set it's still a bummer to not have a base card and related parallels of Nick Markakis or JJ Hardy to chase.  I think this is going to be one of the deciding factors in purchasing more Platinum.  I love ripping open packs and pulling a card of my favorite team.  I only have a 1% (from the base set at least) chance of pulling the only one.  I have a 15 percent chance of pulling a Yankee (8 cards) or a  Red Sox player (7 cards). I actually got 3 in my 2 packs in Cano, A-Roid, and Teixeira.  I guess I'll just have to start saving my pennies for Chrome to come out in a few weeks!