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

More busy-ness

 It's been a busy week or two, and things aren't going to slow down for another week or so. 

Karen's birthday was a little over a week ago, and I was off work, so I decided to drive out to her work and pick up some lunch before I came. We tentatively had plans to go out with some friends when she got off, and the plan was to leave from her work. She had some work stuff to attend to, so she suggested that I hit up K n T's Sportscards in Ormond, and who was I to say no to her?

I dug mostly through the 10 cent bin, but did pull some mainly Tigers and Rays out of the dollar boxes. A 2022 Chrome Torkelson rookie, 2023 Chrome PrismFractor rookie of Jonathan Aranda, a Bryce Ranier rookie, and a 1968 Topps Red Sox rookie combo were some of the rookies I pulled. I found some numbered parallels of Rays from 2024 Topps, and with any luck, maybe I can find enough to finish the team sets for one of them. The Brujan was a mini that I believe was numbered to 100. 

I managed to find a few Topps needs to add to my collection. They were mainly 1953 reprints, and surprisingly, some late '70's cards, which I didn't expect since I had that load of '70's cards from John a few weeks before. 

I managed to find a bunch of Tigers in the dime bins. The Willie Hernandez was a fun card. I'll explain why in a little bit. The '94 Bowman Tony Clark rookie would've been a hot card in the late '90's. There were a number of '95 Collector's Choice Silver Signature parallels in the bins. Some random sets from the late '90's, mid '00's, and 2020's finish out the haul. 

The 1985 Leaf Willie Hernandez card was interesting, because it mentions his Cy Young and MVP awards on the back behind the statistics. The only other time I have seen this was on a 1989 Donruss All-Star card of Ozzie Smith that notates that he received the most All-Star votes in 1988. I wonder if there are any other Donruss/Leaf cards like them. 

I picked up the Selig card from the 2025 Prism set from a dime box. That marked my 3rd different Seig card, along with the Chronicles dupe. The dupe went to my friend Jim in DeLand, who is hoping to get a ttm autograph of the former commissioner. I have an autographed photo of Bud, but if Jim is successful, I might try the cards. 

The Rays section was a bit more modern with some 2024 Heritage, and both 2024 and 2025 Prism making the majority of the bunch. 

I found some cool cards of random guys I collect. Aardsma is the first MLB player alphabetically, and its a rare find to get one of his that I don't have. The Phil Clark minor league issue was very cool. I don't care what anyone thinks of Carl Everett, but he has some darn cool cards. I'll have to do a post with some of the cool photos and poses that are on his cards. Some people think he's a little nuts and a hothead, but I've got his autograph in person, and he was a great guy, and I can name you dozens of guys who are 'fan favorites' like Nelson Cruz and Yadier Molina who are more hot-headed than Carl. I found some 2025 Chrome cards of guys I collect like Bogaerts, Gilbert, Miller, Scherzer, and Taillon. The Andruw Jones card was the first one of its kind that I've seen, and I opened enough packs of 2006 Topps to where I would've pulled one. I was excited to get the Brooks Kieschnick card. He doesn't have many Brewers issues. I have a parallel of the Waechter card, but not the base, so I was glad it was sitting in the dime box for me to find. 

Some random cool cards in the dime box included an SSP Golden Mirror Ryan Feltner card, the aforementioned Selig, a sticker of the Senior Professional Baseball League logo, and a few old Topps cards that didn't make it into sets with the Dykes and Craig cards. I thought the Brian Hunter card was a Tigers one, but it isn't, and will go into my Astros binder, as will the Roy Oswalt sticker. It was sticking to a Rocco Baldelli card from the same set. A few months ago, I traded with Tom from The Angels in Order, and gave him the 1995 Collector's Choice Trade-In Marquis Grissom to help complete his set. I managed to find the Grissom, and 3 of the 4 other cards needed to finish the trade-in redemption cards. Just need the Fernando Valenzuela. This won't be the only Collector's Choice card needed to complete a set. Stay tuned. 

There is the back of the Feltner card. That marks the 2nd Golden Mirror card I've pulled from the dime boxes, as well as a true photo variation card. 

After hitting up K n T's, Karen wasn't feeling well, so we both just headed home. She enjoyed her birthday, though. 

On Thursday the 30th, DeLand High had a football game, and during halftime, they were honoring people elected into the DeLand High School Hall of Fame. Among those elected was Yankees reliever Luke Weaver. Jim's wife Paula was his 3rd grade teacher, and Luke's mother goes to their church, so Jim was almost positive I could get an autograph at some point. Kyler and I went to the game armed with some Weaver cards and a black sharpie. We found Jim and Paula before the game, and waited around to see if Weaver would come by. I was pointing out something on the scoreboard to Kyler, and Jim spotted Luke about 15 minutes before the game started. Paula got a picture with Luke, and then Jim introduced me, and Luke was kind enough to sign all of my cards. Kyler was distracted and more interested in the scoreboard, and after Luke left, was like 'who was that?', thinking I just handed my Luke Weaver cards to some random guy to draw on with marker. I told Kyler that it was Luke, and that it had happened so fast that I thought he realized what was going on. We'll have a chance to get some more autographs in a few days, so hopefully it will be a little more fun for him then.

Luke signed a USA jersey card, a 2017 Topps rookie, a 2018 Chrome Pink Refractor, a 2019 Topps Update, 2022 Topps, and 2025 Topps card. I'll have to go through my collection and try to see what year I am missing from having an autograph on a Topps card. It was nice to get a 2025 card done. 

We stayed through halftime and watched Luke get his Hall of Fame plaque. DeLand won by almost 50, and stayed undefeated. 

On Thursday, Stetson baseball has a fall game, and we hope to attend. Jim will be there as well. Kyler and I need 2 more autographs to complete the 2025 Stetson team set, just missing Angel Gomez and James Hays. Hays is on the roster, but the jury is still out on Gomez. When the card was issued, he had already left campus for the summer, and we're not sure if he transferred or what. Jim got me the 2 cards of Christian Pregent, who is now coaching for Stetson. A good guy to ask about Gomez would be Steve Trimper, Stetson's head coach. I made the custom of Trimper, and hope to get it signed on Thursday, as well as give Steve a few. Lastly, Don Robinson is a pitching coach for their opponent, so maybe we'll get a few of his signed. I really want to ask him if he ever received a 'Stargell Star' and what it was like being a teammate of Dave Dravecky in 1989 during his comeback season. 

I recently got a complete 1998 Collector's Choice set on eBay. Not much to show as far as rookies or anything. I just really like the design, as well as getting more cards of players I followed in the late '90's and first cards of Rays and Diamondbacks. 

The rookies are really just Millwood, Magglio Ordonez, Jason Varitek, and Kerry Wood. The Ordonez card for some reason pictures him in his minor league Louisville uniform instead of White Sox gear. I believe it is the only card in the set like this. The Wood card was issued in complete sets, and is numbered 202B. Card 202A is Philadelphia Phillie Tony Baron, and I need that card to complete the set, since the Wood card took it's place in my set. 

The latest card purchases I made were 2 boxes? of 2025 Topps Holiday. Just to warn you, between my boxes and the one my brother-in-law got, many cards were off centered, had blurry names, and some chipping on the edges. I pulled a decent amount of Tigers, including big names like Jobe, Jung, and Skubal. The Rays were great, with a guy Kyler says we always pull, Junior Caminero, Yandy Diaz, Chandler Simpson in what his 2025 Update card will probably look like, and a Silver parallel of Shane McClanahan. 

Many of the rookies were new guys who will be in 2025 Update. Guys like Drake Baldwin, Kristian Campbell, Cade Horton, Nick Kurtz, Marcelo Mayer, Cam Smith, and others. 

The only Chrome I pulled was a Blue Wave of Zeby Matthews. Not sure if he is any good or not, but as a Tiger fan, I hope he isn't. If any bubble blowing collectors need that parallel of McCray, it is up for grabs. 

The parallels were nice. A Light Blue Trout, holiday versions of Judge, Soto, 2 of Skenes (!), and back variations of Seager and Chisholm. 

Those ones have snowflakes on the back instead of a logo. 

The Suzuki relic was neat, since I got an Imanaga one a few months ago. 

It was definitely a Skenes hot 2 boxes with a base and 2 holiday parallels. Hopefully he still stays hot.

We finally got a date for hopefully the final surgery for Karen. December 8 (our anniversary). The date works out well for me, since the doctors want us to stay up in NJ for 2-3 weeks after in case any problems. That should put my return past Christmas, and with 2-3 days driving, it could put it past New Years. That just leaves 1 crazy holiday that I have to work during, and I'm ok with that. I might actually be in the Christmas spirit this year instead of the normal Scrooge I am dealing with all of the insane amount of bread/cookies/etc I have to bake. For me, it will be a time first, to help Karen out as she recovers from the surgery. Secondly, I’ll have some good time to relax and regain energy after a long tough year. I’ll have a good chance to make a bunch of customs. Maybe finish the 1976 set, go from the 2010 Topps set and see how close I can come to finishing a Topps Rays missing player run. Karen mentioned maybe going to New York City a few days before the surgery and celebrating our anniversary early, and that would be so exiting getting to take my girl to the biggest city in the world and seeing it with her. Hopefully the next 2 months will include lots of healing, favor, and baseball cards. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy

Latest update

It’s been a little bit since the last post. Not much has happened, but there have been some fun moments since then. Really, it’s mostly been kind of normal stuff. Work, routines, and the like, which can be good, and is what I really thrive in. 

I can’t remember if I had posted about our trip up to NJ to meet with Karens surgical team up there. We basically went up for 3 days, met with the surgeon, cardio doctor, and asthma doctor, and discussed the upcoming surgery. Plan is to have her heart oblation surgery in about 2 weeks on the 28th, and if the recovery goes well, try to schedule the mesh surgery during the first week of December. We’ll spend 3 or so weeks up there while she is recovering, and then drive back to Florida. This could end up being the perfect storm for me, as it could get me out of working the Christmas holidays, and I could actually get in the Christmas spirit for the first time in about 15 years, and I won’t have to dread working long hours the week or so before Christmas and then have relatives over or having to go to relatives houses, just to endure an hour drive back and 3 hours of sleep just to fill up the shelves on December 26. Even if we don’t do anything like go to NY city for Christmas, I’ll be happy to relax in NJ somewhere. 

We may not be able to do much while up there as it will all depend on Karens recovery, and that’s really going to be the focus while we are there after the surgery. That won’t be a big deal to me, as long as her breathing gets better. Plus, as strange as it sounds, I’m excited about the tap water. Take it from me and Johnny’s Trading Spot. Florida tap water is bad. Kind of tastes like sulfur, and as Karen described NJ water compared to FL water, NJ water tastes more ‘clean’ and not as heavy. I just think it’s a good amount sweeter than whatever they are giving us in DeLand.  As an avid Diet soda drinker with a tendency to lean toward sweeter versions of diet soda like diet Mountain Dew, diet Sunkist, and Diet Pepsi over Diet Coke, I despise drinking water, and only do it if it’s the only thing available. When I’m in NJ, I’m going to be sure to have a water with every mean just in case I decide I want it more than whatever else I get to drink. 

A few weeks ago, I met up with my friend Jim, who lives about 5 minutes away and collects autographs and Cardinals. We spent a good amount of the day talking baseball and life. His stepson recently passed away, and he was a card collector as well. Jim went through most of his collection, and had a bunch of the boxed Fleer and Topps sets from the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s that he figured I would enjoy. When I say a bunch, I mean a 500 count box full. 

Surprisingly, out of all of the sets, really the only ones I had were 2 ones from 1999. I may have had 1 or 2 cards from a few sets, but really the minimum amount of doubles. There was also a 1986 set of Indiana University basketball cards which had an early Bobby Kinght. 

It was funny how Night Owl posted about getting an Indiana Keith Hernandez from a boxed set a few weeks ago, because I found not one, but two Hernandez Indians cards. Both of the cards show airbrushed images, but Indians cards none the less. 

The boxed sets were nice, but the real fun from the trip was just talking and catching up. While chatting, Jim mentioned that Patrick Mazeika, who played at Stetson University in DeLand and 2 years for the Mets, runs a batting cage/training facility called 386 MVP in Port Orange. I went on their website, and emailed them, asking if I could come up sometime with Kyler and get so cards autographed. They replied very quickly with hours I could come by that week, and I drove up on Columbus Day, stopped at Karen’s work to see her (it’s like 5 minutes away), and made my way to 386 MVP HQ. It was a warehouse type building with a dirt parking lot, and reminded me of a place I worked at for a few weeks putting cardboard boxes together to make displays. A guy that looked like he might be Patrick was throwing bp to a kid, and they were talking about hydrating practices like what to drink after a particular type of practice. There were monitors showing Fenway Park, and they had spray charts of where the player was hitting the throws. After they were done, the guy throwing bp asked if I needed anything, and I explained that I emailed them and they said to come by to get the cards signed. He said he was Patrick and that he would quickly sign them in between sessions.  He seemed a tad annoyed, but signed the cards I had and 1 I got for Jim. 

Just about 99% of Patrick’s cards come from 2022 issues, and while I busted a good amount of flagship and Opening Day, I believe the 2 Chronicles cards came from dime box pulls, and the Mosaic was Jim’s. I’ll still keep a look out for more Mazeika’s, as even if I get doubles, I know where to bring them. I’ve got autographs at odd places before. Lou Whitaker on my porch, Wade Rowdon on a table at my church, Brody Koerner in a Dave & Busters parking lot, and now Patrick Mazeika in a training facility. I still don’t think I can top Jim getting a minor leaguer at a car dealership, but I’ll keep trying. 

I’ve been doing a few trades on TCDB, nothing big, but I got an email from a guy wanting to trade some ‘70’s Topps cards for some Heritage needs. I told him I needed to dig through the box of ‘70’s cards John from Johnny’s Trading Spot had for me, so I knew I had to figure out a way to get up to Ocala. A few days ago, Karens mom had an early day at work, and I was off, so I was able to meet up with John for a few hours. 

It was a pretty productive meetup. John had some Rays and Tigers set aside for me, as well as the box of ‘70’s cards he got from K n T Sportscards in Ormond. After chatting some, we drove out to Grand Slam Collectibles and I took a look at their 5 for $1 boxes. They had mixed sports, and your usual blocks of Bowman and Topps commons on repeat with the inserts and stars picked out. But they also had some kickers. By kickers, I mean something I have pulled only twice in my life, and never purchased at a card shop, let alone from a dime box, a 1 of 1. I pulled this 1/1 straight out of the 5 for $1 box. It was just sitting there in a top loader, with the 1/1 and Topps verification sticker on the back. Baseball Card Pedia says it was a 1 in 26,000 hobby pack pull and a 1 in 3,200 HTA jumbo pack pull. It was a nice looking card, and while it was a player I don’t necessarily feel one way or the other about, I would’ve loved to keep it, but when John said he collects him, I had to let him have it, especially after he got me the 100 or so cards I pulled from the box for free, and same with the ‘70’s Topps box he had for me at the house. I’ll let John show off the card and tell more about it. Stay tuned for that post. 

I pulled the usual Rays and Tigers from the 5 for $1 boxes. A few nice 2025 Topps parallels, plus others. I found a ‘97 Bowman Jose Cruz, Jr. rookie card that would’ve been a big hit in 1997 or 1998.  The biggest money card other than the 1/1 was a 2007 Bowman Draft Clayton Kershaw. I really want to drive up again and finish off the rest of the boxes. The Karim Garcia Rocket to Stardom card was kind of cool with the embossing and die cut design, and I found a 2020 Heritage card of Jose Altuve to help celebrate a belated Yankee$ elimination day!

I looked through the ‘priced as marked’ box, and found 4 cards I wanted. I want to say 2 were 5 bucks, and 2 were 3, and so talked them down to 10. I knew the Arozarena jersey was a rookie one as the red indicates it was a Cardinals one and not a Rays one. The Gold Skubal rookie was worth 5, and now I just have to pick up a gold version of the regular one. I haven’t got any Rays cards of Jake Mangum, and after seeing how he played early in 2025, he could be the next Ray to step up big in 2026. I would’ve payed 5 dollars for the David Wright rookie without the autograph, but for one with, I couldn’t say ‘yes’ fast enough. If not for injuries, he could be HOF material. I got a selfie with him when he was on a rehab assignment in the minors in 2010 or so. 

He was always a nice, friendly guy. 

We got some lunch and headed back to John’s for a few hours before I needed to get back to DeLand. I dug through a few boxes and found some Topps cards that I needed, knocking off a number of 2014 Traded cards. I went through the Rays/Tigers stack when I got home, and it was loaded with good stuff, as always. 2 RC parallels of the Lowe’s (Josh and Brandon), a Josh Chrome Refractor RC, a rainbow 2025 DeLuca, and a Mojo Casey Mize RC. If only Mize could’ve been a little more clutch for Detroit, they might be the team LA will sweep for a ring. Or perhaps if Scott Harris would’ve dealt the next 2 guys, Rainer and Clark, Detroit could’ve got Gallen and Suarez from AZ and maybe got the jolt they needed to give LA a fight in the Series. Maybe next year. The Torkelsons are different, but I can’t figure out what class each one is. One has a number on the front of the jersey on the photo on the left, the other doesn’t. There wasn’t an image on TCDB to help me confirm. The Price Bowman was numbered, and might be the 3rd Orange parallel of Price I have from that era. The Skubal Chrome rookie was a double, but I’ll definitely put it in my rookie card binder. I need to chase down a jersey and autograph card of Skubal before the prices go through the roof. Or maybe just wait a year and see if he signs with the Yankee$ or Dodger$ and I’ll just instinctively want to avoid his cards altogether for a while, kind of like I did when Arozarena got traded. 

The ‘70’s box had a majority of ‘70’s cards, with a few 2022-2025 cards thrown in. Wouldn’t you know it, I pulled 2 2022 Topps Mazeika’s from the box. The ‘76 Traded Oscar Gamble was in the box, as well as a favorite of mine for his name, Dick Pole. Most of it was from 1977, then 1979, then 1978, then 1976, then 1974, 1975, with about 10 1972 sprinkled in. There were also about 20 Kellogg’s and Hostess cards as well. Most cards were commons, but I found some Hall of Famers like Fisk, Rice, Gossage, and Sutter, and knocked my wantlists down a good amount. It was a nice trip to Ocala. Thanks, John for the ‘70’s box, Rays & Tigers, discount on my 5 for $1 cards, and a great day in Ocala. 

I’ve been doing a few customs lately. Some for a player that I need to send out, a few for my collection, and one of Stetson University’s baseball coach, which I hope to get signed the next time I go to a game. They play 2 fall games, but I just have so much coming up that whether I go is up in the air. Karen’s surgery is the 28th, and I believe game 1 is the 29th, and Kyler’s birthday is on the 6th, and game 2 is on the 7th. I may just have to wait until the spring when the full season starts. I could probably just give them to Jim to get them signed, but it’s always fun getting a guaranteed one in person. We’ll probably go to a hoops game with Jim at some point, as well. I found out Reggie Theus is the basketball coach at Bethune-Cookman, which is about 30 minutes away in Daytona. In 2026, I believe one of the first games of the new year is against Florida A & M, who has former Heisman Trophy winner, FSU football and basketball star, and New York Knick Charlie Ward as a basketball coach. I would love to get autographs of both players, as Theus was an original Orlando Magic, and was on the ‘90’s basketball sitcom ‘Hang Time’, and as I had a poster of Ward in my room as a teenager. I also want to ask him what it was like having Charles Oakley as a teammate. I played power forward as a middle schooler and tried to model my game after Oakley, working the paint, getting rebounds, and scoring down low. Going to that game will depend on the recovery time of surgery #2 in NJ. 

Karens birthday is tomorrow, and I plan to drive out to her work, bring her some lunch and flowers, and we will possibly go out drinking with one of her friends from work. It will be a busy next few weeks, but it helps the time go by, and time going by means it’s closer to hopefully a normal life again and a healthy wife. 

I almost forgot to mention that I redid my 1976 Topps page in the custom area of the blog. The set is almost complete with the numerous ones I found online from When Topps had Balls, and I’ve worked at getting the rest done myself. I only have the White Sox, Indians, Brewers, Royals, Twins, A’s, Rangers, and Yankee$ left in the regular set. The Traded set isn’t as big, and I will work on that when I complete the ‘76 main set. I also have the 1998-2009 missing Rays cards completed, and I’ll use some of the free time during the next 2 surgeries to work on those if the ‘76 set is finished. I’ll do a post on that set when it is. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy