2 surprise packages and Wander Franco's

 In the past 2 days, I got a few surprise packages and I thought I would show them off. 

John from Johnny's Trading Spot sent me a surprise package with some Rays as well as 2 guys I collect. He must have ESP or something, because while I wasn't expecting anything from him and haven't sent anything his way in a while, I had a few cards I was planning to send to Georgia this next week.John was kind enough to send some 2002 Fleer Tradition cards I needed, some 2003 Topps 205 mini parallels (with a few different backs), a cool thick, shiny, and die cut David Price which I believe is from 2012 Topps, a few Brandon McKay Stadium Club cards (maybe he will be healthy and produce for us next season), my first card from 2022 Diamond Kings (Randy Arozarena), and then in the favorite player department, 2 shiny Paul DeJongs (including a Prizm rookie), and 3 2003 Topps 205 mini's of Aubrey Huff, all with different backs. I'm excited to put these in my binders. Thanks for the cool cards, John. I should get your cards out the beginning of next week. 

Then today, I got a package from CJ of Brainiac Baseball. CJ runs an online shop where he breaks boxes and sells cards, but the reason I got to know him was that he also does a simulation season of the Detroit Tigers. When he was doing the 1981 season, he contacted me to make cards in the 1981 Topps style of the players on the Tigers roster who didn't have a card, as well as opponents. At first, it was easy, as trades hadn't been made. A few months into the season, stuff started happening, and before you knew it, Reggie Jackson was a Tiger, Cal Ripken, Jr. was a Red, Robin Yount was a Ranger, and I had to get resoursful to get some of these players into different uniforms. CJ is now on the 1983 season, and I have done some work for him using the 1983 Topps design. As soon as I get them done, I will also be sending him a 15 or so card set of his 1983 Tigers that I am printing out and signing on the back. There will be 3 copies of the set (and they are #d to 3), 1 for CJ, 1 for myself, and 1 set that he will be giving away to viewers of his YouTube channel (where he posts the sims of the games). If you are into that kind of thing (or just want to try to win a signed an numbered custom that I made, check out his channel. He also posts his box breaks on it, and for good measure, here is the link to his Mercari page with cards he has for sale. I am really happy with the cards he sent me in exchange for the customs I have made him. The Chris Archer relic is the 2nd one I have of him. The 2018 Topps Chrome Anthony Banda Refractor is also the 2nd one I have (1st is an X-Fractor). I have the base of the 2020 Bowman Jhon Diaz and Niko Hulsizer, and now thanks to CJ, I have the Chrome version. the Shane Baz is the silver pack refractor to go along with the base and Chrome versions of that card. I don't have much Gypsy Queen at all in my collection, so this Kevin Kiermaier is a new one. The Casey Mize is one I surprisingly don't have, and it will go in my favorite player binder, and the Austin Meadows is one I think I already have, but one copy will go in my rookie card binder, the other will go in my team USA binder. Thanks for the cool cards, CJ. 

This won't stop the packages either. I actually have an order from a new website I found, collectorstore.com . I stumbled upon the site while looking to see how much a Topps complete set would go for. While there, I found a 2022 Rays team set for only $6.50. The Franco card alone makes it worth that, and if I were a flipper brah I would totally flip it for 15 bucks and some spare bitcoin. Along with the Rays set, I found a Corey Kluber autographed card for 5 bucks (I think it's #d to 50 as well). I figured that would be around 10 dollars at least. Lastly, I've been wanting a Casey Mize autograph for a while, and I found one for 20 bucks. It might not be the best deal I could get, but I figure I'm even since I got a Rays set for a good deal and a Kluber autograph for what I think is under fair market value. That package should get here today, and I also have a 2022 Topps Opening Day Wander Franco card coming from eBay sometime next week probably. 

Wander Franco is kind of making me feel like it is 2020 again with Randy Arozarena. I remember I was stumbling upon cards of him just from picking up packs (Donruss, Topps, Stadium Club, and the Update one later in the year) and going to card shops (Bowman, Heritage, Optic, Prizm, Topps Chrome). I wasn't really collecting him, but I was so close to having all of his rookies, that I decided to try to get most of the major low-mid end ones. After picking up the Archives and Bowman Chrome ones, I accomplished my quest, and also ended up finding a ton of parallels since most of his rookies showed him as a Cardinal and all of the flipper brahs were looking for him in a Rays uni or the '21 Topps Update one. I still don't collect Randy, but I probably have at least 40 cards of him, and close to 15 or more rookies. With Franco, I don't think the rookies or parallels will slip under the radar, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm just missing the Bowman, Bowman Chrome, and Donruss rookies if we're talking about ones that have been released, and maybe just Topps Archives with ones that will be released in the future (along with a photo variation one in the 2022 Topps complete retail set. As I did in 2020 when I was scoring a ton of Arozarena's, I figured I would show off all of the Wander Franco cards I have. 

A decent selection, including his first Bowman, first Bowman Platinum, a jersey card, a few refractors, the '20 Topps #1 prospect insert, all of his base Topps cards (I believe), and that 2022 Heritage insert that only had 200 cards made. Regardless of how Franco's cards do on the market and how much they are, I would rather have him contribute to the Rays and get them a title. People were scooping up Evan Longoria, David Price, and even Matt Moore cards back in the day, and look at the prices now. While I would've payed those crazy prices back then and been happy, I would've rather had one of them help the Rays to a championship. Now I have most of those guys' rookies and multiple jersey cards of them, and an autograph or two, but still no ring for the Rays. Maybe in a year if we can shore up a healthy pitching staff with the big names we have and add a nice free agent slugger (maybe Judge?? That would tick Yankee$ fans off!). I'd actually rather have a guy who hits less HRs and has a higher batting average. Maybe a decent catcher or a slugging 1st baseman. We'll see. 

That's about it for me. Yesterday was pretty busy so I wasn't able to look through my binders like I wanted to, but I got a chance today, so I think I should be able to drop some packages off at the post office on Tuesday. If you are interested in any Heritage SPs from various years, check out one of my previous posts, and I have them listed. I would love to make a trade and help some Heritage collectors out if I can. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy