Yesterday, I got a pwe in the mail from John of Johnny's Trading Spot. I recently sent him some Braves that I thought he would like. He sent me some Rays, and I was excited to add them to my Rays box (where I put my loose cards that need to be put into my binders).
He sent me a 2009 Topps Triple Threads Sepia BJ Upton card. This is my first card of any kind from that set, as the most expensive box I’ve purchased was probably either a 2011 Allen & Ginter hobby box or a 2011 Topps Chrome hobby box. Next up are 3 cards of a guy I hope can defeat the injury bug, Brendan McKay. He might be able to contribute this year, and if not, he could be a guy who can be a fill-in guy in a rotation behind Tyler Glasnow, Shane McClanahan, Shane Baz (hopefully), Drew Rasmussen, and Luis Patino. If he wows, maybe a front end guy. Or he could always be in the bullpen. Plus, he can hit. If the Rays can stay clear of injuries, catch some breaks, and get a few free agents, 2023 could be a fun year for the Rays. The last 2 cards are from the 2021 Topps Chrome set. Willy Adames was traded for Rasmussen and others. Tough to see at the time, but Adames was expendable with Taylor Walls waiting in the wings and Wander Franco right behind him. With Isaac Paredes aboard now, their infield is looking solid. It hurt to trade Austin Meadows, but with Paredes, and hopefully some outfielders coming through the minors it won’t sting as much. I’d rather have someone more powerful than Manuel Margot, but I am happy with Randy Arozarena, and I’m still ok with Kevin Kiermaier. I really hope KK stays with Tampa next year. Same thing for Glasnow.
Back to the cards, Ryan Yarbrough is from my hometown, and I collect him. This is my 8th card with the standard ‘21 Topps design of Yarbrough.
John has been running contests on his blog each time he posts, and I stupidly forgot to take a picture of the 9 cards I won a few days ago. Sometimes I just get so excited to put new cards in my Rays box that I forget to take a pic, and if my box is on the full side (as it is now with my 2022 Topps set inside it), if I don’t remember what I recieved, it will take forever to pull every card back out. I do know there was a Max Scherzer Topps Fire card, a 2009 OPC BJ Upton, 2 ‘65 Topps Embossed cards, including a Tim McCarver, and a Laughlin World Series card of the 1948 World Series between the Indians and Braves.
Thanks, John, for the cool cards.
On Tuesday, Kyler had the day off from school and I was off as well. He helped me organize my 2022 Topps set. He surprised me by knowing exactly where just about all of the teams went, and then helped me with the process of putting each card in its team stack. While going through the cards, I realized that I had 2 Ohtani cards, #1, and #660, kind of like the ‘54 Ted Williams cards. What got my attention was the fact that it was the last card of the set. A week or so ago when I pulled the Torkelson out of the set, I figured Topps went ahead and replaced the final 3 cards, but apparently after looking up the other 2 cards I thought I was missing, I had those as well. I guess the 3 rookie cards were bonuses (and I’m assuming the Vlad Jr. one from a few years back was as well). I guess I freaked out for nothing. Now I just need to wait for the Update set, and I’ll get to clearing out the Rays box and putting the cards in my team binders. I still have most teams with cards from my complete 2021 Topps set in it, along with whatever I pulled from other sets from the last 18 months or so. That will be kind of fun to update most of my binders.
I’ve also been working on customs in 2 sets. Most of you know I am working on the 1995 Topps Traded set, but recently some friends of Facebook have been getting guys together to play their ‘As Real as it Gets’ (ARAIG) simulation league. They are doing the 1958 and 1987 MLB seasons. The goal of the league is to have each player have as close to the exact number of ABs and IP in the simulations as they had in the regular season. The moderators had me do cards for the ‘83 and ‘84 seasons, so I figured the ‘87 Topps set would be easy to do, and they were up for it. I’ve finished 4 teams, so it should go by pretty quickly. No telling which one will get finished first, 1995 or 1987, but with only 1 font and just a basic picture needed for the 1987 set, I have a feeling it could be ‘87.
That’s about it for me.
Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy
Glad you liked the cards.
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