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

Upper Deck Documentary

 No, don’t let the title fool you. I didn’t get cards from a boring and horribly done set from 2008. I am rather going through some fun Upper Deck rookie subsets and giving my thoughts. 

In 1989, collectors were introduced to the Upper Deck set. Not only were they introduced to the premium set, but they were also introduced to the Star Rookies subset. 

The subset came and went during the 1989-2010 tenure of Upper Deck, really only taking the 2006-2009 seasons off. We were also given rookie subsets like Diamond Debuts and Top Prospects as well. Let’s take a look at the rookie subsets starting with 1989. 

In '89, we were given the Star Rookies subset starting with card #1, Ken Griffey, Jr. it was a decent play on the base design, and the long write up on the back gave you vital info on players who you may not have heard of since they played most of the season in the minors. 1990 was basically the same as 1989. A play off of the base design and more write ups on the back.

1991 gave us 2 subsets, Star Rookies and Top Prospects. I always thought the '91 Top Prospect design looked like a bullseye. I prefered the Star Rookie design just because of the batter in the background.

1992 was the start of the 3 subset rookie design. We had our first Diamond Debut cards. While the Star Rookie and Top Prospect designs were similar, UD kind of helped us distinguish the two by putting one logo on the left, and one on the right, doing the same with the Upper Deck logo, and finishing it off with 3 different color bars to distinguish the 3 sets. Flip the cards over, and aside from color changes and background changes, they are the same cards. 

1993 gave us another dose of 3 rookie subsets (4 if you include Draft Picks). While Star Rookies and Top Prospects were similar designs on the front and backs, Diamond Debuts was totally different. 

1994 gave us designs that had a number of horizontal layouts. If not for the Chris Turner Star Rookie card, I would not have any cards from that subset. I think I enjoy the Diamond Debuts design more. This was the first year that Upper Deck did a 1-per-pack parallel set, and each of these subsets are available in Electric Diamond versions. 

1995 was the last of the 3 subset years, as Top Prospects was the one that wouldn't make it to 1996. If it were me, I feel like the Diamond Debut theme should've been the one to go. I probably favor the Top Prospects design for 1995. For the '95 set, each card came with an Electric Diamond 1-per-pack parallel, and a tougher Electric Diamond Gold parallel, which off of the top of my head was like a 1-36 pack pull.

1996 is probably my favorite Star Rookie design. Diamond Debuts was ok, but I just like the angles and colors of the SR subset. I really love the silver crest with the debut dates. Upper Deck should've ran that element into the ground until 2010. 

The crest appears again in 1997,  as does a ton of gold foil in the Diamond Debut subset. I don't know if any other collectors are like me, but on cards like the Diamond Debut one, I have a bad habit of running my fingers over the foil areas and feeling the different levels of gold foil and regular card surface. Same thing with embossed cards. It tends to make the foil rub off, so I try not to do it very often. The Star Rookie subset for 1997 is almost a 1A as my favorite Star Rookie design of all time. 

From 1998 to the rest of Upper Deck's baseball run, they only had the Star Rookie design, as they did away with the Diamond Debut subset in 1998. I think out of all Upper Deck sets, 1996 and 1998 are my top 2 favorite sets. The Star Rookie design for 1998 is another one that is high up on the list, probably #3 for me. 1999 and 2000 are towards the bottom. Just too much foil and you can't really read anything. 

From 2001-2005, the subset played off of the base design. 2001 and 2002 only got the Star Rookie mention by the team logo and the UD logo. The subset was scrapped from 2006 to 2009, and brought back for the final Upper Deck issue in 2010. The Star Rookie logo appeared where the second player photo would be, and played off of the base design. 

I figured I would go ahead and highlight the Collector's Choice version of Star Rookies, which was Rookie Class cards. The subset appeared in all 6 of the company's issues, from 1994-1999. My favorites in order are 1997, 1998, 1994, 1996, 1995, and 1999. 

1994 has a nice borderless photo with a huge position icon and the Rookie Class logo. I could've used a smaller logo, but it was a nice looking design. 1995 went all weird on us, as most designs in 1995 did. All lower case font, different shapes, random curved writing, and words on top of other words. You should really check out some 1995 subsets. 1996 was almost like a flag design. The name could be hard to read at the top with the small font and the red on blue color. Not bad, but definitely needed improvements. My favorite Rookie Class design was 1997 without a doubt. It almost looked like a picture frame, and my only knock on it is that some of the photos covered up the Rookie Class logo, and they could've maybe done colors that matched the team instead of the weird red color. Still, a great design for a card. It just screams classy and high-end. 1998 was different, but I like what they did with the squares, the debut logo, and the colors. 1999 is just a big mess. Half brown, half black and white. Words written on top of other words. Almost giving us too much information with a player name, team, position, and number, but the number is written over the black position bar, and  you almost can't read it. Maybe the design was the reason why we didn't have a 2000 UD Choice Collector's Choice set. 

And that is a brief history on some fun Upper Deck rookie subsets. Most of the guys appearing on it were flops, but there were some who made it big, like ol' Star Rookie #1, Ken Griffey, Jr. 

There is a lot going on with life right now. Dr. Luzzaro, the surgeon who is going to be doing the mesh surgery on Karen, kind of gave us a plan on how he wants to do things. A few months ago when Karen went to the ER with a weird heart rhythm, the heart Dr. wanted to do an oblation surgery that will correct the abnormal rhythm. That is scheduled for the last week of October. Luzzaro wants to wait a few weeks after the oblation is done because he wants her body to be strong for the mesh surgery, which will require a decent amount of time for recovery. Plus, he doesn't want her heart going crazy during the surgery. We have an appointment with 2 or 3 different doctors in NJ (including Luzzaro) scheduled for September 24-25. I have to try to get those days off from work and will figure out tomorrow if I can. If I do, I'll fly up to NJ with Karen for those appointments, probably just using those 2 days as my normal days off, and possibly taking 1 more in case we can't get a late afternoon flight back. After that, the next thing is the oblation surgery in Daytona for the last week of October, and then going up to NJ to do the mesh surgery maybe mid-November, early December, or just waiting until the new year. It is just rough trying to figure out what days I can take off of work, especially with the holidays coming up. It would be better to get the mesh surgery done this year just so Karen's breathing can get better, but also because I have enough vacation time for it. I can only roll 10 days over into 2026, and I have to start accruing them before I can use more than what I roll over. For the actual mesh surgery, I'll probably have to take 2-3 weeks off, as he wants us to stay in the NJ area in case something goes wrong in the week or 2 after the surgery. There are just alot of dates to remember, things to process, and sometimes I feel overwhelmed. Her blood sugars are still dropping, but she has an appointment with endocrynology in about a week where they will go over blood work and maybe give us some answers. Thats all we want is a few answers. We will get the answers for the heart with the oblation surgery.  Possibly some for the low sugars at the next appointment. The breathing will hopefully get some with the mesh surgery, whenever it will be. The headaches will probably get pushed to the forefront after all of this is done, and who knows, maybe we can get the shunt setting perfect, and things will get to where we can have a somewhat normal life. I heard this song called 'Flowers' by Samantha Ebert a few months ago, and I am the type of person who doesn't cry during a song. I cry at some stuff that makes me emotional, but never during a song. This one did. It had the perfect storm. A great chord progression in the opening with a minor 4 that drew my ears to it. Vocals that made you feel the pain and emotion. Lyrics that made you think. Basically the song is about how she got Lyme disease, and was in such pain that she was bed-bound in the hospital for months. She was down, and saw the flowers that someone had brought her, and realized that flowers have to get rain in order to grow. I've heard that message in a song tons of times before, but this one is the only one that tells the truth almost from God's point of view. 

VERSE 1

Well, blue skies and hillsides feel so far away

And I wrote in my notebook that I've seen better days

than the ones as of late

I can't bear the weight.

The rain won't stop pouring out my windowpane

and I haven't left my bedroom in 76 days

I wish something would change

'cause I'm losing faith.

CHORUS

So I brought it up in a desperate prayer

Lord, why are You keeping me here?

Then He said to me

'Child I'm planting seeds.'

'I'm a good God, and I have a good plan.

So trust that I'm holding a watering can

And someday you'll see that flowers grow in the valley'

VERSE 2

So whatever the reason I'm barely getting by

I'll trust it's a season knowing that you're by my side

every step of the way

and I'll be ok.

CHORUS 2

'Cause I brought it up in a desperate prayer

Lord, why are You keeping me here?

Then He said to me

'Child I'm planting seeds.'

'I'm a good God, and I have a good plan.

So trust that I'm holding a watering can

And someday you'll see that flowers grow in the valley'

VERSE 3

When I'm on the mountain and looking down below

I'll see a valley of flowers that needed time to grow

and I'll thank You for the rain. 

The hurt and days of pain.

CHORUS 3

And I'll bring it up in a grateful prayer.

Thank You, Jesus, for keeping me here.

You know just what I need, and You've planted seeds.

'Cause You're a good God with a real good plan

and You hold my world in a watering can

so I can have peace, 'cause flowers grow in the valley.

Here's the video for it. 

Just an amazing song that makes me cry every time I hear it. I feel like I'm in the valley right now, but I'm holding out hope that one day I will be on the mountain. Sometimes we need that little reminder that things might turn out fine, and that song does that for me.

Enough with the mushy stuff. I got that 1998 Upper Deck lot a few days ago, and it was about what I expected. I cautiously hoped for most of the Eminent Prestige SPs and maybe the Mike Piazza Marlins SP, but of course, the lot was picked through pretty good. I ended up with most of the Star Rookies, most of the Hall of Famers, Rays and Diamondbacks team sets, and a good 70% of the set when added to what I already had, but no SP cards, so I'm stuck with a set that will probably never be complete, but it still was a fun time digging through the cards and finding random guys you remember watching in 1997 and 1998. Unfortunately, Stuart, nothing that you needed for your set, but if I come across any in dime boxes, I'll pull them for you. 

Speaking of dime boxes, does anyone know of any good card shops in NJ, or for that matter, any bloggers I might know of who live there? We will probably be staying in the Toms River area. Should Karen be doing well after the mesh surgery, we might venture off to New York City, or maybe Philadelphia, since we are going to be driving up there. I'm hoping the trip will be a preview of a future road trip we will take, because we will be going through some good cities. Probably Charlotte/Concord, NC where many of Karen's relatives are, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and then New York City is near NJ, so I could knock off Philly, and both NY ballparks should we do a trip next summer. Possibly a mountaintop moment in 2026. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

Hidden Bowman Gems and the FB groups

 It has been a while since my last post. It’s been busy. Karen had the metal stent trial about 3 weeks ago. It seems like it helped her take in more air during the 2 days it was in, and it sounds like the doctor in NJ will proceed with the mesh surgery. She has a video appointment with him on Wednesday. She has had some breathing difficulty the last week. We’re just kind of taking that day by day. 

The real difficulty is her blood sugar levels. They just drop unexpectedly and she get lethargic and we’re just trying to get her to eat and she has difficulty understanding what we are trying to do, and she can eat a huge bowl of pasta with bread, 2 glasses of sweet tea, and fries, and it might get above 130, and 15 minutes later be in the 50s. I’m a Type 1 diabetic, and mine can get in the 50s and I can barely think or make coherent sentences. Karen had a reading of 18 before the last surgery, and one of 24 when she was in recovery. They gave her a few IV bags of glucose and it helped, but sometimes at home, it’s impossible to get her to eat enough and we don’t know what to do. She saw her endocrinologist on Thursday, and she prescribed a continuous glucose monitor for Karen, and they are going to try to find patterns of when the sugars crash and also do some blood work to try to get answers as to how much insulin her body is making and when. I don’t know if that will help anything, but we will see and have a follow up appointment in 2 weeks. She also has a heart oblation surgery scheduled for October to help correct the abnormal rhythm her heart has been having. So while some of these health issues are complicated, at least we have some answers and solutions coming up. 

I’ve been doing a bunch of purchasing on eBay just trying to pick off some of the more difficult rookie singles from Topps sets in the past 10 years or so. I think I knocked out all of the really big ones, as I believe these 5 will be Hall of Famers one day, with Acuna really being the only question mark with his injury history.

The Judge and Betts both came in plain white envelopes with very little protection. If I’m paying 5 dollars shipping for a key card in the set, I need it to come in a bubble mailer with tracking. I left positive feedback, but did mention the fail with the shipping. I feel like the cards I purchased gave me a realistic shot at now completing a Topps run from 1980-2025, as the key rookies are basically done. The only tough rookie cards I see from those years that are on my wantlist are Gerrit Cole, Nolan Arenado, and Christian Yelich from  2013 Update, Xander Bogaerts and  Jose Ramirez from 2014, a Carlos Correia Rookie Debut from 2015 Update , a Matt Chapman rookie and a few random Judge All-Star cards from 2017 Update, and a Rafael Devers from 2018. But to have the Ohtani cards from 2018 crossed off of my list is HUGE!  Same with the Betts card. 

That’s not all of the eBay stuff. I randomly was thinking about the 1991 Bowman set and how fun it was, and decided to see if I could find a cheap set. I found a listing for a 1991 set along with a 1990 set at a decent price, so I bit and now have those 2 sets. 

The set didn’t offer many favorite player additions, and I knew it would t. I was just looking forward to the random names, random minor leaguers, and some of the sleeper rookie cards. The 5 favorite player additions included 2 Brady Anderson cards. 

While not high-dollar rookies, Bowman had a decent crop of rookies in 1991. Guys like Jeromy Burnitz, Eric Karros, Kenny Lofton, Mike Mussina, Tim Salmon, and Jim Thome missed out on 1991 Topps cards, and Chipper Jones and Dan Wilson had draft pick cards in the 1991 Topps sets, but the Bowman cards were more scarce, so they were good pickups in my book. 

I consider myself to be a ‘90’s baseball guru, with 1995-2000 being my strong suit. Tell me a team, year, and position, and I can name the player, along with a few backups. While many of these guys appearing in ‘91 Bowman never made the Majors, most did, and there were 1 or 2 I had never heard of. Out of this page, I had never heard of Carmona or Smith. Funny thing is now I have 2 Willie Smith cards. A few of these guys have 1992 Topps Debut cards and maybe a Stadium Club card and that’s it other than minor league issues. Elvira had a 1991 Upper Deck card. I want to say I recognize Howard from being a replacement player in 1995 for the Padres. Gary Eave is a fun pickup for me. He has a 1990 Donruss card and a 1990 Score card besides the ‘90 Bowman. Do yourself a favor, and if you have a card of him, look up his address on an autograph collecting site, and if he has any recent successes, send him a TTM autograph request. You won’t regret it. 

The other thing I like about 1991 Bowman are the random cards with the gold foil on them. Let’s go to the bottom 3 first. I guess all 3 of these cards you can justify putting in the set as it was the 40th anniversary or the Thomson HR and Reese was celebrating his 75th year in baseball, and as Colin Powell helped the US during the war. Then again, there is no mention of the anniversary of the shot on either the front or back of the card, the last time a coach appeared in a Topps set was 1974, and why Powell but not Norman Schwarzkopf or George Bush? With that being said, all of the random cards with the gold foil are cool and I almost wanted more. 

Now let’s look at the ones on the top. Really zoom in if you want nightmares tonight. I can tell that the hats and uniforms are airbrushed, but are the faces as well? The Tim Howard card on the photo before also looks weird. Others from the same subset look normal, but there is something on those 3 in particular that just don’t look real, and it’s not the airbrushed hats. 

In 2010 or so, I purchased a box of 1990 Bowman from my LCS, and it came with a poster inside of the box. It is hanging up in my garage along with some random stuff. I’ll have to figure out some way to display the poster along with the complete set box. 

I also had a trade on TCDB that gave me a collecting milestone. I traded some Heritage Tigers for a ‘61 Topps Charlie Maxwell, a ‘62 Topps Rocky Colavito All-Star, and a 2025 Topps Stars of MLB Corbin Carroll. Why the Carroll, you ask?  I have never completed an insert set to my knowledge. I guess the 1995 Topps Cyberstats Season in Review set counts, but I have never had a desire to finish an insert set. Unfortunately for my wallet, I opened enough packs of 2025 Topps that I was just 3 cards away from finishing the Stars of MLB insert set. From BOTH series!  After a trade a few weeks ago, I was down to the Carroll, so I put it on my wantlist, and got it in the last trade. I probably won’t go after any other insert sets, but complete base sets are another story. 

I’ve kind of been fascinated with mid ‘90’s Upper Deck sets lately. 1996 Upper Deck is a severely underrated set, and so is 1998. Same with 1996-1998 Collectors Choice. I almost want to do a future post on my favorite Star Rookie and Rookie Class subset designs over the years. 

Well, I recently found a cheap ‘96 Collectors Choice set on eBay, and am in the process of a deal on FB to acquire 635 1998 Upper Deck cards. I’m trying to watch the budget for the next week or so, but there is a 1998 Collectors Choice set calling my name on eBay, and if I can find a cheap 1996 Upper Deck set, I might have to jump on it. There are also some decent priced 1996 and 1997 Bowman’s Best sets, so why not jump on them and get some early Rays and Diamondbacks cards as well as some cards of random ‘90’s guys?  

Jafronius asked me about the FB group that I’ve been trading cards on. The first one I joined is called Junk Era- All Sports- Keep it Real- 1980-1998. The group does have a bunch of guys that seem like flippers, but I’ve found some deals on sets and it was where I found the ‘98 Upper Deck lot. The other one with set builders is called Baseball Card Set Builders Unite- Trade Only. I’ve made some trades and have helped people get close to finishing 2025 Topps sets mainly, and helped one guy finish 2 1992 Donruss sets. It’s just more of a flipper free group, and although it probably has some guys that buy out the blasters and are just trying to make sets to sell, since it is a trade only group, you are at least getting cards back and the profit is kept off of the site. I know FB is a cesspool, but these 2 groups make it worth staying on for now. Speaking of FB trading groups, I had the idea to make a trading group where it is more team-based trading. I am trying to compile a group of guys who collect certain teams with the hopes of having every team represented, so when members get a pesky Marlins refractor or another darn Jeter card they don’t want that they can go on the group and trade with someone who actually collects those teams. If you feel so inclined, please join the group and post what teams you collect and what you want to get rid of, and maybe we can help other collectors out and find out exactly who collects the Marlins, White Sox, and Royals. 

I hope everyone has a good Labor Day, and if you do end up having to work, try to give it just 70 % instead of 100. Remember, if you give 40%, but all you have to give is 40%, you gave 100%. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy