Random things I have found on Cards Part 3

 I have done not one, but two posts like this, and both have gotten surprisingly great response, so why not do a 3rd version of Random things I have found on Cards?  

As is the case with the previous two posts, if it is an object on a card, I will attempt to find the card with the first mention or use of the object. 

FALSE TEETH: 1994 Topps #23 Mark Lemke (back)

1994 and 1995 Topps are littered with great info on the backs of the cards. Mark Lemke's 1994 Topps card mentions a game in 1987 where Mark got into a collision and his false teeth popped out and got stuck in an umpire's mask. While that would be wacky enough as it is, I ask myself: If the card is correct, and Lemke was born in 1965, that would make him 22 when he played that game. How many 22 year olds do you know with false teeth?  Even weirder than that, isn't there a Braves team issue card or something where Mark is pictured with a whole orange in his mouth? 

How the heck is he doing that, or does he just not have his teeth in, creating more area in his mouth to fit the orange into?  Do any Braves fans have more info on this? 

YAWN: 1996 Topps Gallery #49 Pete Schourek

I just recently purchased a 1996 Gallery complete set, and had I not done so, I wouldn't have known about this card. I have gotten up at 3AM enough to know what a yawn looks like, and I'm pretty sure that this card of Pete Schourek is the first one to picture a player yawning. 

SODA CAN: 1988 Topps #212 Greg Brock

If you look behind Greg's left ear, you can spot a can of Pepsi. As a Pepsi brand connoisseur, I can say I totally agree with Greg's (or the Brewer's) drink choices. 

TATTOO: 1993 Topps #745 Eric Davis

While I might be wrong on this one, this is one of the first cards that I have noticed a tattoo on a player. While we are talking about Davis, I don't think he is remembered enough in baseball circles. I feel like everybody whines (or whined) about Gil Hodges, Ted Simmons, Vada Pinson, Ron Santo, Dale Murphy, etc. needing to be in the Hall of Fame, and they don't look back at Eric's career. He had a monster 1987 season, almost going 40/40, led the Reds to a title in 1990, beat cancer, had some decent seasons for the Reds, Cardinals, and Orioles after that, but nobody talks about him. 

KEYCHAIN/STEVE URKEL: 1995/1996 Collector's Choice #114 Anthony Bowie (back)

I'm going to switch to basketball really quick. I collected basketball cards from about 1996-1998, as I played middle school hoops during those years. Unfortunately for me, I didn't pull any Kobe Bryant rookies. I did, however, pull this Anthony Bowie, with him pictured holding a keychain (I think) of Steve Urkel (I think). It may also be a pen, as he has some paper next to him. Need to find someone who knows Anthony so they can ask him. 

BALLOON HAT: 1996/1997 Collector's Choice #112 Dennis Scott (back)

On the back of 3D's '96/'97 Collector's Choice issue, he is pictured giving an interview with a balloon hat on. I loved watching Dennis hit 3's for the Magic in the late '90's. That lineup of him, Shaq, Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson, and Horace Grant was scary, and they should've won a NBA Finals, especially with Jordan basically retired for 2 years. There was no way that Rockets team was better than them in 1995/1996. 

EARRING: 1984 Donruss #288 Dave Parker

There may be an earlier occurrance, but I belive this 1984 Donruss Dave Parker is the first card picturing a player with an earring. I think it became more common a few years later when Bonds debuted. 

CHEESE HEAD: 1996/1997 Collector's Choice #28 Bulls Victory Tour

In this subset, Upper Deck chronicles the Chicago Bulls race to 70 wins in 1995/1996. On the back of this card, Dennis Rodman is pictured wearing a cheesehead that became popular in football in the '90's with the rise of the Green Bay Packers. Not sure why a Chicago player wouldn't be supporting the Bears, but Rodman is special, and probably didn't care. 

PLASTIC BAG: 2009 Topps Update #320 Mark/Daniel Schlereth

This one features Daniel Schlereth, with his Dad Mark, who played football in the NFL. It also has Mark holding a piece of paper and a plastic bag with something in it. I may be able to find out the answer, as Daniel is the pitching coach for USF, and will be coming to DeLand to take on Stetson University in a few weeks. I will definitely try to ask Daniel, and maybe tell him about this post. 

RING: 2003 Upper Deck #326 Carl Everett

I love me some Carl Everett. He speaks what is on his mind, and has some flashy cards. I got his autograph when he was with the Montreal/Washington, and he was a class act. On his 2003 UD card, Carl is pictured wearing a big ring. Carl has some cool photos on cards, including a bat hug, one showing muscles, a HR celebration, pointing at the camera, and a teammate giving him moose horns. Check out some of his late '90's and early '00's cards on TCDB. You will be glad you did. 

WATER BOTTLE: 1992 Upper Deck #255 Cecil Fielder

This card is great just because it has The Famous Chicken on it. It also has a folding beach chair (probably another first), and a water bottle. So much fun on one card. 

HOSE: 1992 Upper Deck #484 Roger McDowell

Roger is another one with crazy photos on cards. On his 1992 UD issue, Roger is giving the bleacher fans at Wrigley Field a shower with a hose that he got ahold of. I think the guy on the left with no shirt probably needs one. 

STREET SIGN: 1992 Upper Deck #51 Mark Newfield/Rondell White checklist

While is is a fake street sign, this is the first card to feature one on it. It's kind of funny that Newfield ended up playing just a season or two for Seattle before getting traded to the Padres. White spent a decent amount of time with the Expos, but I remember him being the first big free agent signing for Detroit after they were rebuilding in the early '00's. Between him, Troy Percival, Fernando Vina, Dmitri Young, Kenny Rogers, Carlos Guillen, and Ivan Rodriguez, those signings gave Detroit its' core to build around with young rookies, and they should've won the 2006 World Series with that crew over an obviously weaker Cardinals team. 

VILLAGE: 1992 Topps Stadium Club #387 Ruben Sierra

I have no idea where this was taken (probably Ruben's offseason home), but this has to be the first card with a balcony, front door, curb, street light, and most anything that you can spot in the card. Kind of makes me want to hunt one down. 

SOME TYPE OF SKI HAT: 1998 Score #107 Doug Drabek

Doug lives in Texas, so it's not surprising that he is cold. This photo was probably taken in Chicago, and the long sleeves suggest it is a cold spring day. I wear a beanie just about 100% of the time when I am not at work, so I could totally relate with Doug wanting to stay warm. 

MALLET: 1993 Triple Play #129 Equipment

This card shows Curt Schilling beating his glove with a mallet, I guess trying to break it in. The back might have a first, as it shows Kenny Lofton with some tape trying to tape a bat. 

DOG: 1993 Triple Play #164 Mascots

This card (which features the Pirate Parrot on the front) talks about the current team mascots in 1992. The Reds had owner Marge Schott's dog Schotzie pictured on the back with Bip Roberts. I know there are some Bip Roberts super collectors out there, and make sure you don't miss out on this one that sometimes slips through the cracks.#

PLAYER WITH ANOTHER TEAM'S HAT: 2003 Upper Deck 40 Man #278 Doug Mientkiewicz

I have always wanted to know the story behind this card. Doug has an Oakland A's helmet. Not sure if it has ear flaps, but it is definitely some player's hat, and I want to know how he got it.

3-TEAM TRIFECTA: 2008 Upper Deck First Pitch #469 Brad Wilkerson

I rediscovered this card a few weeks ago when we saw Stetson University play the University of North Florida, where Brad is a coach. I went through his cards and picked a few to try to get autographed. Should've done this one, but maybe next year or earlier if they come to Stetson for the ASUN tournament. 
This card features a player that is mentioned with 3 teams in the same year on the same card. He played for the Rangers in 2007, signed to play with Mariners during the 2007 offseason, played with them for a little while in 2008, then was traded to Toronto in midseason of 2008. It would've been even worse had he got traded in 2007, then it could've been possibly 4 teams. It is just a little confusing where you have a card with a player in a Mariners uniform on the front that says he plays for the Blue Jays on the same photo, and has his stats for the Rangers the previous year on the back. Which team do you put the card with when you are organizing? I feel like this is the type of card Nick from Dime Boxes would collect, and I am going to be on the lookout for more. 

COFFEE MACHINE/COFFEE CUP/TONS OF OTHER STUFF: 2026 Topps #302 Bronx Buddies

The fun doesn't stop in 2026. I've mentioned this card before, but it has some great stuff on it. A coffee/drink machine, a desk, a coffee cup, some artwork, perhaps a light switch, just tons of stuff and a photo that you would think would make it an SP. While it does have the evil empire, I think all of the fun things on it can make me overlook that. 

Things have been nonstop but good here at my place. I have a SportLots order that is about 5 sellers away from being filled. Once it is, I will have it shipped, and barring any gremlins, it will complete my 1980-2025 Topps complete set run. It also has fun cards of guys I collect and a few Stetson guys to hopefully get autographed before the season is finished. 

One reason it has been nonstop is that we got a new puppy. Our last dog passed late last year, and while enjoying no dogs, Karen has been asking me to get one, and we went to a pet store to look at fish, and one thing led to another, and somehow we ended up with a 4 week old boxer/pit mix named Finn. He is a handful, likes to chew things, and barks a lot, but we love him. 

I also finally got an autographed CD from one of my top 3 favorite bands, PfR. They were a popular Christian rock band in the '90's, and this CD was actually released in 2001, and I think I had the original at some point. They recently did a Kickstarter project to get this CD remastered, and on the first day, I signed up to get an autographed copy. I have never seen them live, and I really hope they decide to tour again, because I love their chord progressions and sick guitar solos. 

Work will be crazy this week, but with the boss gone for 2 days, and a day off on Wednesday, I really will just have Thursday, Friday, and Saturday filled with chaos, and then get to take out my frustration on the piano at our Easter service at church. Monday will be a little hairy, but then just a smooth schedule for a while and a nice routine. I'll probably post again when I get the SportLots box. It might take a week or two to get logged into TCDB and organized, but it will be a fun week. Stay tuned.

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

Recent additions

 It’s been a bit since I’ve posted last, and I have a pile of photos of cards I need to post. Incoming cards have come from trades, eBay, and good old packs. 

Fuji, from The Chronicles of Fuji, sent an envelope in the early part of 2026. It included a 2013 Topps Chrome Orange Refracror of my one of my favorite players, Ben Zobrist. There was a 2011 Bowman International parallel of Jeremy Hellickson, a 2019 Bowman Chrome John Doxakis autograph, and a 2025 Topps Holiday parallel of Shane McClanahan. Some nice additions to my Rays binder, and it is always great to add a new favorite player card, an autograph you don’t have, and some parallels. Thanks, Fuji!

Around the same time, I got a nice package of Rays and Marlins from Rod of Padrographs. There were a few team bags filled with cards. I expected some new stuff, but also got some stuff from the past 10 years with some big power. Starting with the older end of the package, Rod gets off with a bang with. 2011 Bowman Gold Blake Snell rookie. I always figured Snell was drafted in 2014 or 2015, as I opened a ton of ‘11 Bowman trying to pull a Bryce Harper rookie (never did), and never pulled a Snell. Next up are 2 autographed cards of Snell. It’s not very often when you get gifted 2 autographs of a 2 time Cy Young winner. I was really wanting a Snell auto a while back, and ended getting one off of eBay, so now I have 3. Moving on to newer stuff, Rod included a 2021 Topps Montgomery Club parallel of Snell. Some 2025 Bowman are next, and are really cool in my book. A Red RC logo parallel of Jake Mangum. I really wished the Rays wouldn’t have thrown him away and given him a starting OF spot instead of signing Cedric Mullins. We will see how that pans out, but I’m stating for the record that Mullins will regress, Caminero will be the lone all-star, and the Rays will go 70-92. Speaking of Caminero, Rod pulled a Green Mojo 2025 Bowman of Junior and passed it along to me. I swear most of my low numbered parallels of Caminero have been sent to me by Rod. The last card I picked to show off is a 2025 Topps Chrome Logofractor of Pete Fairbanks, another Ray who was one of the best guys on the team that they just dumped. If the Tigers don’t extend Skubal, I’m accepting applications to be fans for other teams. At any rate, I got some really cool cards from Rod, and I’m happy for that even if none of my teams attempt to compete. Thanks for the great cards, Rod!

The last card from bloggers was a 2023 Leaf Vivid Andruw Jones card from Kevin of The Diamond King. He held a giveaway, and I nabbed the Jones card. I loved watching Jones play defense in the ‘90’s and ‘00’s, and I’ve been collecting anyone on the Dutch national team, since both sets of my grandparents came from the Netherlands. I was happy to see Jones finally get elected into the Hall of Fame and join Bert Blyleven as the only Dutch guys to get into the Hall. Thanks, Kevin, for the great card of one of the newest Hall of Famers!

While not all of my eBay purchases, these are 2 of my favorites. I collect guys who have played baseball for Stetson University, and while I have a few autographs of Stetson alum Logan Gilbert, I don’t have a jersey card. I found a cheap Heritage one, and snagged it. I was wanting to find an autograph of future Rays starter Carson Williams, and found a cheap one. There was also a Bowman Chrome rookie that was for a good price, and I jumped on it. 

My friend Jim, who has season tickets to Stetson (like we now do), attended an Opening Day baseball banquet for Stetson, and was able to meet special guests Doc Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, and Jeremy Pena. He got autographs from them all, and since he already had a Gooden, he gave me the one he got at the banquet. I’ve given him a few nice cards, but nothing like a Gooden autograph. I’ll probably go to a Stetson game in the next week or two and thank Jim in person and give him a stack of cards I’ve been gathering for him. 

About a month ago, I made a trade with a collector on a set collectors group on Facebook. I got rid of about a 500 count box of Topps doubles, and got back a similar box with Topps needs, Rays and Tigers. After the trade, I got an envelope with some more Rays and Tigers. It was the first time I got a bonus envelope a few weeks after a trade from a collector on a Facebook group. He collects Phillies, so I have some set aside to send back. The second envelope contained some cool ‘90’s cards, including 2 of Cecil Fielder, one of my all time favorite Detroit Tigers. I opened about a box worth of 1996 Upper Deck packs, but never pulled a Power Driven insert. I now have one of Big Daddy. I’ve only opened 1 pack of Pinnacle Aficionado, and if I remember correctly, it had a Roger Cedeno, Edgardo Alfonso, Andy Benes, and an Albert Belle checklist. It is a heck of a nice looking set, and Panini needs to bring it back. I’m happy I got the Cecil from the set. 

As far as packs, I’ve opened a few from 2026 Topps. 

The first 2026 Topps card I pulled was some Padre rookie I have never heard of from a jumbo pack. 

That pack also produced a James Wood jersey card. 

I did get a few cool parallels from packs lately. The Nolan Schanuel was from 2025 Archives and is numbered to 50. From 2026 Topps, I pulled a Holiday Ohtani and a Purple Logan Webb. 

There were also some rookie parallels that I was proud to pull. I actually pulled 2 Black parallels of Nick Kurtz from 2025 Archives. I pulled a Raywave Refractor of Marcelo Mayer from 2025 Topps Chrome Update. There were 4 parallels from 2026 Topps that I thought were nice ones. 2 different Holiday parallels of Cam Schlitter. If he does well, it will be good cause the value of them will go up, and if he bombs, I’m ok with that too, since he’s a Yankee. After looking at the back of the Holo Owen Caissie card, I think he has the potential to be a 30-40 HR guy. The Marlins have some nice hitters they’ve been collecting, and with the Cubs getting Cabrera for him, they are looking like a decent team in the NL. I think Roman Anthony is one of the key cards to pull from 2026 Topps, and I pulled a Pink and Green parallel. 

I’ve ordered a few other cards from eBay. A few guys who are coaches that will be at Stetson games, and some guys to finish Topps sets off. I actually have a Sportlots order that will probably be over 1,000 cards when it is filled, but as long as there aren’t any accounting errors by myself, it will give me a run of complete Topps and Topps Traded/Update sets from 1980-2025. A word of advice: if there is a guy who has the potential to make the Hall of Fame and they change teams, get their first card of them in that new uniform as soon as possible. Between the 2003 Topps Traded Rickey Henderson (Dodgers), 2003 Topps Traded David Ortiz (Red Sox), and 2004 Topps Traded Terry Francona (Red Sox), I think the cheapest one anywhere was 15 bucks. Cards that should be 20 cents to a dollar. Card prices and the reason some cards are priced what they are is insane. The 2014 Topps complete set which only has a 2nd year Machado, 4th  year Trout, and only has rookies of Jose Ramirez and Marcus Semien, the cheapest I can find one anywhere is around 150 bucks, with most being around the 200 dollar range. I feel like it should be closer to 100. I didn’t have to spend that much by finishing it from Sportlots, but I still think prices need to really reflect the card. In any Topps set, a major star should be 3-5 bucks, commons should be 10 cents or so, and stars should be .50 to $1. Rookies should reflect who they are and how long it has been since they played. Wishful thinking. 

On the 10th Karen has a broncoscophy at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. I’ll have 4 days in a row off work because of that. Might fool with some custom cards then. The scope should show how much space her airway has gained since the operation in December. On the 12th, Stetson has a game, and former Pirate Shane Youman is a coach for their opponent. I have 2 cards of his, so we’ll try to get them signed, and a few days later, an opposing coach is Daniel Schlereth, a former Diamondback and Tiger. Schlereth has a 2009 Topps Update card that pictures him and his Dad, former NFL player Mark Schlereth. 

This card is going to appear in a future blog post. The card shows Mark holding a plastic bag. I hope at the Stetson game to ask Daniel what is in the bag. Besides what’s in the bag, I think this one is the first card picturing a plastic bag on it. I plan to do a 3rd post of ‘strange things I’ve found on cards’. A few I plan to highlight include the ‘88 Topps Greg Brock (Pepsi cup), ‘88 Topps Tom Lasorda (golf cart), ‘03 UD 40 Man Doug Mientkiewicz (wearing opposing team helmet), the Schlereth card, and whatever else I can find. I also plan to highlight a few of the backs, including one that mentions dentures. If you have opened any 2026 Topps, be sure to check out card #302, Bronx Buddies. 

I see some ceramic coffee cups, perhaps a Kuerig machine, and some picture frames, all firsts if I am correct. Stay tuned for that post, and feel free to send me some ideas. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post.  

-Jeremy

Last post of 2025

 It’s been a long December, but we finally got back to Florida a few days ago. Thanks to everyone who has sent me well wishes and for everyone who has kept me in their thoughts.  The doctors were happy with how the surgery went, and Karen has seen some improvements with breathing, but the site where she had the chest tube got an infection, so we are trying our best to take care of that so it heals. She should start seeing the full effects in 6-9 months, so for now, it’s just taking it easy, making sure she doesn’t lift more than 5 pounds, and hopefully getting better every day. 

I had an unexpected bonus check from work, so before we left, I ordered some sets, and had a ton of boxes waiting for me when we got back. The sets included 1996 Bowman, 1997 Bowman, 1998 Bowman, 1998 Topps Gallery, 2010 Topps, and a 1998 Topps Finest no-protector series 1 set. With the 1997 Bowman’s Best, 1998 Bowman’s Best, 1996 Collector’s Choice, 1998 Collector’s Choice, and 1998 Upper Deck sets I purchased a few months ago, I had a nice representation of favorite players, Tigers, and Rays in my boxes of cards that need to go into binders. 

I almost got a 95% complete 2014 Topps set, but that started going south pretty quick. It was priced under 100 bucks, which is what I think it should be, as really the only rookies are Marcus Semien and Jose Ramirez. Most ones online are priced at 200-300 bucks, and I have no clue why. Any thoughts?  After seeing the price, I asked the seller on eBay if it included the Jose Ramirez rookie. He responded that it had a bunch of cards and sounded like he really didn’t want to dig through them. That was fine. I asked once more if he could look through them, and got no response. I saw a few decent priced Ramirez rookies if it didn’t have them, so I went ahead and purchased the set. A few days went by, and it still hadn’t shipped. I messaged him, and he claimed he was moving and they would be out soon. A week went by and he said he was almost done and it would be shipped soon. Another week, and I asked how it was going, and he said it would be soon again. Then last week, I get an email that I’m getting a refund. I just really wanted the set as it was a great price. Makes me wonder if he really had the set at all or if he is going to relist it for a higher price. I guess it doesn’t matter. I’ve never been one to list negative feedback, but I felt like I had no other choice just because of the bad communication and radio silence when I asked about the Ramirez and at first when I asked about shipping. Again, thoughts?  One day I’ll complete the 2014 Topps set, even if I have to purchase every missing one from SportLots. 

In addition to the sets, I had a huge box of rookies that Kevin from The Diamond King sent me. I forgot about it, and let me tell you, that box was huge!!!

Just a huge box stuffed to the brim with rookies!

Don’t let the 2 pictures I am going to show fool you, because this box was filled to the brim with GOOD stuff!  I would’ve had another picture, but there were just so many cards that another pile I had got misplaced. I had many more Tigers, and 3-4 more Logan Gilbert’s. But just some great stuff. Torkelson rookies, Riley Greene rookies, just about any hot Tigers prospect like Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle. Gilbert and Big Papi’s son were the only guys I collect that were represented, but I didn’t watch much baseball this year, and that’s not to say that guys like Caminero, Skenes, and others won’t become favorites that I collect in the future. I got a nice Black Ice parallel of Brayan Bello, and I just highlighted some of the ‘big name’ guys in the box. 

I don’t really follow milb too much, although I know most of the Tigers and Rays top minor leaguers, but many of these guys are guys I’ve heard of from Top 100 prospect lists and from their picture being on packs of Bowman. While I would love to get cards of these guys, I just don’t have the money to buy tons of Bowman, and if I have to spend 5 bucks on a single, I would rather it being a Topps card I need or a Ray or Tiger. Now I have rookies of many of these uber prospect guys. Not just any card, but 1st Bowman or 1st Bowman Chrome cards, as you can see with the Travis Bazzana, Charlie Condon, and Dylan Crews. 

Kevin included a ton of Elly De La Cruz, there was a photo variation of Jarren Duran’s 2022 Heritage rookie, and rookies of Walker Jenkins and Jesus Made. The River Ryan was a red rookie logo variation, and it took forever for me to find it on TCDB. I got rookies of the Dodger duo of Sasaki and Yamamoto, a ton of new Paul Skenes cards, Cam Smith rookies, Spencer Strider rookies, and rookies of JJ Wetherholt and James Woods. Just some incredible rookies of some guys who could be big names in the future. Thanks so much, Kevin for the giveaway! I will have hours of fun putting these into albums. 

I didn’t get shut out of cards while in NJ either. I may have picked up a few blasters of things like Holiday, Allen & Ginter, Archives, Donruss, and Chrome Update. 

The Donruss blaster got me a green & red Sparky parallel. The Archives ones hit great with the Tigers, as I am just a Ty Cobb away from finishing the team set. I also pulled a few Tork parallels. Not very many Rays, but I pulled a Donruss star parallel of Junior numbered to 250, and a blue parallel of McClanahan from Holiday. The base McClanahan is actually one of about 10 cards I need to finish the Holiday set. 

The rookies and parallels were some great finds. I pulled a Black parallel of Nick Kurtz from Archives, a Santa Hat SP of Jacob Wilson from Holiday, but the best was probably a Pink refractor of Spencer Schellenbeck from Chrome Update numbered to 299. I got a Chrome Refractor of Ozzie from A/G. There was a nice Optic parallel I pulled of Roger Clemens, I just don’t know what it is called. Archives gave me me a green parallel of George Brett numbered to 99. I pulled an Ohtani parallel from Holiday, as well as one of Bryce Harper. 

I go back to work tomorrow. I really hope muscle memory does me well, as I haven’t thought about work since I hit ‘end shift’ almost a month ago. I’ll probably do a post with collecting goals in the next week or so, and I’ll definitely be on the lookout for 2026 Topps sneak peeks. 

Everyone have a happy new year. I hope it goes better than 2025 and that lots of cards you can use are in your future. Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy

Incoming cards, another 1/1, and some changes

This will probably be the last post I get to before heading up to New Jersey for the rest of the year. 

I’ll start off with the cards first. I’ve been getting a few packages in the mail from bloggers, and that is always a good thing. First up, are some cards that Kerry from Cards on Cards was giving away. 

I will always add new Rays cards to the collection. I don’t know what set thesw cards are from, as I couldn’t find any listing on TCDB, but they hold the amount of foil that I feel should be normal for a standard base card. I want to say the Kiermaier card has a photo of Hunter Renfroe, but I’m not positive. I just know KK is a lefty. Mike Simms is a favorite here at Topps Cards that Never Were. He signed some cards ttm one time, and added a note, so I attempted to draw his 1992 Topps card with colored pencils and sent it back to him. He wrote back that he enjoyed it and threw in another card. I now (basically) have his 1992 Topps rainbow finished, with the base, Gold, and Gold Winners card, but could branch out and try to get the 1992 O-Pee-Chee and 1992 Topps Micro card to really corner the market. Kerry threw in the Klu-Bot card, as he knows I collect him, which was a nice touch. While I don’t collect ad Komminsk per se, I am a fan. In 2004 or so, one of the youth leaders at my church worked for a phosphate company. They were having a golf tournament in March, and many players and coaches from the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers were going to participate in it, as Detroit held spring training in Lakeland (where the tournament was held), and Cleveland was in nearby Winter Haven. Well, my youth leader was an exec with his work, and got to be on a team, and he picked me and one of his friends from church to be on a foursome, and we would get a pro to be the 4th member. Brad was a minor league coach with Cleveland during that time, and he ended up being our 4th member. We finished near the middle of the pack, I didn’t contribute much, other than making the last putt to finish out our round, but everyone there knew it was a big deal for me to be there and took it in stride. Brad told some stories about Pascual Perez getting lost on the way to the ballpark, said Garry Maddox was a great centerfielder, and signed some cards for me after the last hole. Somewhere, I have a picture of our foursome. Next year, I went to Winter Haven to get some Indians autographs in Spring Training, and Brad recognized me and introduced me to pitcher Jason Davis, who was walking with him. Wish I would’ve had that Komminsk rookie back in 2004. Thanks, Kerry for the nice package. 

Stuart, from SR75 Cards, who affectionately calls me his ‘little brother’ since I never had one, reached out to me a while back about what Heritage cards I needed from 2025. I gave him a list, and my older brother delivered. 

I needed all of these, and I think I just need SPs to finish my 2 favorite teams sets. I usually don’t chase hard after them, so the sets are complete in my books. I feel like I have been getting parallels of just about all of the Tiger rookies this year. I have 2 or 3 of Jung, about 4 of Jobe, and 1 each of Dingler and Malloy. The Green Bradley marked my 2nd one of that parallel for the Rays as I pulled a Yandy Diaz from a pack. Thanks, Stuart, for the package. I’ll dig through your list first thing next year and see what I can send up to Michigan. 

John from Johnny’s Trading Spot held a giveaway, and it must’ve been like he could read minds or something. Night Owl got his winnings and posted them recently, and got the exact page he wanted. I would’ve been happy with any Topps card I needed, but I’ve always held a little fascination with guys who have barely any cards or guys I don’t acquire many cards of. I saw the page with Astros prospect Cameron Drew, and thought ‘I wouldn’t be upset if I won that page’. Look what appeared in my mailbox a few days ago. 

Of course it was the one with the Cameron Drew card. I appreciate the Greg Blosser card as well, because it has a photo that is different than his 1993 Topps card. Have you ever seen that one?  It traumatized me a little as a 10-year old when I pulled it in 1993. Why, you ask? I’ll spare you posting one, but just google 1993 Topps Greg Blosser. There’s just an unhealthy amount of chest hair sticking out from his jersey. Not Austin Powers territory, but a lot. It was cool that I could actually add all of these cards to TCDB as well. Thanks, John, for the contest and for your esp. 

 Last Saturday, we went to the outlets in Daytona to get some clothes for our New Jersey trip, and stopped at Books A Million. I checked the magazine section, and sure enough, they had the Beckett Vintage magazine with Night Owl’s article in it. I picked it up, and will probably check out the rest of the articles while we are driving up. 

Speaking of the famous Night Owl, I recently picked up some 2025 Topps Holiday boxes that I think were meant for him. 

My apologies. The first one was some pretty decent luck, and if I were a flipper, I would be happy, but the second one was probably one of my top 10 pulls from a pack, which could be another post entirely. (Top 3 might be 2005 Bowman’s Best 1994 A-Rod autograph, 2017 Bowman Blue Ronald Acuna, Jr, and maybe a 2007 Upper Deck Jose Contreras printing plate). 

This was really a Dodgers hot box. I pulled a Sasaki SP, an Ohtani snowflake back, and an Ohtani silver. The Gold Chrome Henderson wasn’t bad either, but I can’t stand the Orioles, and I’m more excited about the silver of Stetson alum Logan Gilbert to be honest. Besides the inserts, I pulled Sasaki and Ohtani’s base cards, as well as Blake Snell, Teoscar Hernandez, and Dalton Rushing. As with the next card I’m going to show, I’m torn on if I should keep them or send them away. 

2 days ago, we went to Target to get a few things before the trip, and I got another Holiday blaster. There was some flipper/scalper in front of the cards almost blocking my way to them. As I inched closer, he finally scattered, and if he was a flipper, I got the last good card from that product in that particular Target. The cashier who rang us up was friendly, and saw the cards and said that he collects Pokemon, and wished us good luck with our packs. I don’t know if what he said worked, but man, I almost want to come back and thank him. 

We got home and I had planned on getting to bed around 6 cause I had to be to work at 2AM, so I figured I would open the packs quick and log them in to TCDB the next day. With a few packs left, I felt a really thick card. I figured a manu patch of some sort or a dual jersey maybe. I flipped the card over and found this. 

Apparently it is a gold sparkle parallel. 1/1. 3rd 1/1 I’ve pulled from a pack, and 2nd one I’ve found in a month with that Matt Holiday one from the dime box in Ocala. I have a conundrum on my hands. Do I keep it, send it to Greg, send it to John, send it to someone else, sell it?  I don’t know. I’m going to hold on for now and let it settle for a while. I’ll have plenty of time to think about it when I’m in NJ. 

 

I have 6 shifts left, and then we’ll be driving up Wednesday, taking 2-3 days to get there. We might do something in NYC or Philly for our early anniversary depending on how Karen is feeling. Between now and then, we need to pack for a month, Saturday is basically wasted as family is coming up to do an early Christmas, and I am going to spend a good couple hours cleaning our fish tank on Tuesday and hopefully Karens mom won’t kill them or over feed them and I’ll have fish left when we get back in January. 

There are some changes and potential changes going on right now through all this that kind of scare me, but I am pretty confident they will work out. Karens boss has been riding her ass all year and are just about putting residents in the rooms, cutting staff, and having her do 3 management positions for the salary of 1. She has been on the fence for a while, but the put in her resignation, so she will be jobless when we are in NJ as she recovers. She will probably apply to some places and I’m sure she can get work as a nurse. I’m just nervous there will be a huge salary discrepancy and it’s going to enable her mom to have an excuse to stay here longer. We’re going to be in a hotel for a month, but I feel like we can survive for a few months. Karens brother set up a Go Fund Me page, and it has already had the goal met, and many people at our church have reached out as well. I got a bonus check at work, and wasn’t really expecting that. 

I’ve had some issues at my work with my boss, and I’ve dealt with them for 7 years, and I’m 75% leaning to tell our store manager to transfer me if he isn’t going to go. Wish me favor in that conversation. 

If 

When we get back, I’ll have some cards to go through. I ordered a few complete sets on eBay, and I should have a 1997 Bowman’s Best, 1998 Bowman’s Best, almost complete 2014 Topps, and 2025 Topps Update set in hand, as well as a 2025 Topps Rays team set. If anyone comes across a 2025 Tigers team set, let me know. Only one on eBay is going for 30 bucks, when the Pirates one with Skenes is 15. Maybe NJ will have one in WalMart. 

We will hopefully be getting back on the 31st of December if Karen meets all the recovery goals, and sometime during that first week of January is that Bethune Cookman-FAMU basketball game that my buddy Jim and I hope to go to. I knew I had some cards of FAMU coach Charlie Ward, and I just didn’t know where. I found about 5 boxes of my basketball card when looking for Christmas stuff, and I dug through every single one and found 7 different Ward cards, plus another one of Reggie Theus, Bethune’s Coach. 

Found a bunch of Jordans, but must not have taken pictures. 

I didn’t think I had the Hoops Mark Jackson, but apparently, I did. I also found a card of Andrew DeClercq. He had some central FL connections, and coaches a high school team and attends a church maybe 45 minutes away from me. I might have to try to arrange a way to get an autograph, kind of like I did with Patrick Mazeika earlier this year. 

Well, that is probably it for now. I’ll probably post something at some point in NJ. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, and please, support striking Starbucks workers and boycott them, shop local, boycott any company that goes against what you believe in or who doesn’t pay their employees a living wage. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy