Some of my favorite parallels

 After getting a parallel from the 2025 Topps set that I really liked, I thought I would make a post of some of my favorite parallels of all time. 

For me, a neat parallel would be one that features a unique printing technology showcased, and a rainbow sheet also helps put it over the top. I’m not really concerned about the scarcity of a card, if it is a rare card, it’s a rare one. If not, it’s not. I’m going to not really go in a particular order since it’s kind of hard to judge between favorites, but I’ll definitely save my 2-3 favorite ones until the end. 

SET: 1994 Pinnacle Museum Collection

ODDS: 1 in 3 packs

Pinnacle treated collectors to Dufex technology in 1994, and boy, were these Museum Collection card beautiful!  The only way they could get better is if they had a rainbow sheen on them. While these cards were 1 in 3 retail pack odds, I would rather pull one of these than the rarer Artists Proof cards which just have a gold foil AP logo and are 1 in 22 retail packs. In 1998, I saw a Rays/A’s game at the Trop, and Kenny Rogers’ mom saw my ‘94 Pinnacle Museum card of Kenny, and she wanted it, and traded me his 1990 Upper Deck card for it. The card would’ve been beautiful with an autograph, but I’m still happy I got to trade it to her. 

SET: 2023 Topps Chrome Green Sonic Refractor

ODDS: 1 in 672 retail packs

While these are much tougher to pull, I found one at a LCS in either the $1 or $5 box. All of the shapes, the rainbow sheen, the only thing I wish is that I could’ve found a blue one to match the Rays colors. 

SET: 1998 Score Artists Proofs. 

ODDS: 1 in 35 packs 

In 1998, I was at a friends house, and his dad got the card bug watching the McGwire/Sosa HR race. He busted tons of boxes of product, and had a trade box that he let me pick a few cards from that day. I picked a 1998 Score Artists Proofs Todd Worrell. I loved the rainbow sheen that looked like water, I loved the red AP logo. Just a cool looking card. 

SET: 1995 Topps SpectraLight/Cyberstats

ODDS: 1 per pack

 An easy 1 per pack pull, these cards go by either the Spectra or Cyber name. The set was originally going to be called Spectra Light after the technology, and perhaps replace the ToppsGold series. During the ‘94 season, the MLB players went on strike, and Topps used a computer program to play the remaining games of the season and did the playoffs as well (the Indians beat the Braves in the World Series). They then called the set CyberStats, and added the computer season stats to the regular season stats and printed them on the back. The card front on the left is a normal one and the right is a Spectra, and the top is a regular back, and bottom is a Cyberstats back. I wish Topps added these to the 2021 set and finished out the Covid season. 

SET: 2024 Topps Chrome Ray Wave Refractor

ODDS: 1 in 9

These ‘Wave’ Refractors have been around for a few years now, this was just the first one I found in my binders. I really like the wave pattern that moves when you bend the card. 

*The next 2 sets are confusing, as they have a number of different parallels*

SET: 1998 Leaf Fractal Matrix

ODDS: various

These things are confusing, and I’m still not sure how many different versions there are. The Fractal Matrix parallels have normal cards, X axis die cuts, Y axis die cuts, Z axis die cuts, and Diamond Axis ones. From what I gathered from Baseball Card Pedia, there are 10 different sets, and gold silver and bronze versions as well. Nice looking cards, but confusing. 

SET: 1998 UD3 Die Cuts

ODDS: Various

UD3 was a confusing set as a base set. 90 cards, 3 subsets (power corps, the establishment, and future impact). There were 3 technologies (rainbow foil, embossed, and special fx).  On top of that, there were die cut inserts. I have versions of each technology of each subset, and only have die cuts of each subset. The die cut cards are bad, though. Look some of them up on COMC. They follow the the pattern of the design and are one of the neatest die cut sets I’ve ever seen. 

SET: 1994 Collectors Choice Gold Signature

ODDS: 1 in 36 packs

In my first Collectors Choice pack, I pulled a Gold Signature Robin Ventura. The fact that they were rarer than the Silver versions and feature player autographs make them favorites for me. As an autograph collector, it’s always cool to compare an autograph to a Silver or Gold Signature card. 

SET: 1998 Pinnacle Artists Proofs

ODDS: 1 in 39 packs

I’ve always liked the 1998 Pinnacle set because of the rainbow foil nameplate. I’ve never actually pulled one of these Artists Proofs cards, but darn, do they show off that Dufex technology. 

SET: 1998 Pinnacle Museum Collection

ODDS: 1 in 9 packs

I figured I would keep the ‘98 Pinnacle cards together. A different way to use the Dufex technology, the Museum cards are nothing to sneeze at. 

SET: 2004 Donruss Career Stat Line

ODDS: varies

Donruss parallels just don’t do it for me with the technology. I will give them credit for the Stat Line parallels, which number a card according to either a career or a season stat. 

SET: 2022 Topps Chrome Sonic Purple/Yellow Refractor

ODDS: 1 in 49 packs

This is just a bad looking card with the different colors and shapes on it. 

SET: 2021 Topps Orange Foil

ODDS: not listed

Actually, any of the color parallels are great looking cards, I just found the orange one first. The technology is unique, the colors have a rainbow sheen, and it is on the whole card and not just the border. 

SET: 2021 Topps Complete Set Shimmer Foilboard

ODDS: 5 cards per factory set

Why can’t they put parallels like this in the regular set?

SET: 1998 Topps Minted in Cooperstown

ODDS: 1 in 8 packs

This set was unique because the cards actually had the bronze logo minted on the card in Cooperstown, NY. It wasn’t a piece of cake to pull as they are 1 in 8 packs. 

We are down to the top 4. 

SET: 1998 Bowman’s Best Atomic Refractor

ODDS: 1 in 82 packs

Numbered to 100, these beauties were tough pulls. I love the crackle of the design and the rainbow sheen. They are also serial numbered on the back, an uncommon practice back in the late ‘90’s. 

SET: 1997 Topps Stadium Club Matrix

ODDS: 1 in 12

These cards have it all. A design that mimics Dufex, a cool logo, and rainbow sheens. Wish I could’ve found packs of this set when it was out. 

SET: 2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary Platinum

ODDS: 1 in 4

These cards wowed when they first came out. Just a beautiful technology over the whole card. If only it would have a rainbow sheen on the whole card. Some people have tried to build a complete set. 

SET: 2025 Topps Diamonte

ODDS: 1 per hanger box

When I first saw these on a blog, I was impressed. They were even better in hand. The technology with the triangles looks very cool. If only it had a rainbow sheen on the card. It still looks like some cool ice kind of thing. I really hope Topps keeps this technology in the future. 

That does it for my favorite parallels. I’m sure there are a few that I’ve missed, but hopefully it gives you some ideas for some new cards to add to your collection. I might stop at K n T’s Sportscards tomorrow and hunt for more. At the very least, hopefully they will have the missing 2025 Topps base cards and I can finish up the set. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy 

Recent Rays and Tigers luck

 After  my last post about Wander Franco , I thought I’d do the post I was originally planning to do. It is much brighter, as it includes a trip to a new card shop, and some good Rays and Tigers luck. 

I had a doctor appointment on Tuesday, and ended up about a half an hour south of DeLand. I am switching to a Omnipod insulin delivery device instead of an insulin pump, and a Dexcom continuous glucose monitoring sensor instead of the Medtronic version. My endocrinologist is in Lake Mary, and it’s a pain to drive to, but I needed to take a training class for the new stuff, so it was worth it. No more tubes to get caught on drawer handles or pumps to worry about being in my pocket. 

Lake Mary had 1 or 2 shops nearby, and both looked like they would be wastes of time. Layton Sports Cards was the nearest one. They seemed like a flipper paradise from the pictures, and I actuallyI made fun of them on a previous post, featuring them on a mock insert called ‘Breaker Mojo Hitz’. The other shop looked like they dealt in Pokémon, so Layton it was. 

I called them to make sure they had boxes of loose cards from years I needed, and they said yes. I got there, and they only had 1 box of ‘80’s stuff. Each box was less of a cardboard box, and more of a plastic vault. I had trouble figuring out how to open them, and almost called someone over to ask for the password, and finally figured out how to slide the tab over to open them

  I didn’t find too much, but was able to get 2 cards I needed for the 1980 Topps set, leaving me needing just card #710 Graig Nettles to complete the set. I went back and asked for the Rays and Tigers vaults, and dug through them. 

Those had more to my liking, but most of them were priced a little high. I did dig out some that I thought were at or below market value, including a 2021 Topps Chrome rookie refractor of Casey Mize. The Greene and Skubal rookies were 3 bucks, and the Leyland was a pull from a 2025 Donruss pack that I purchased. The guy working that side of the store was an idiot. I asked him if they had 2025 Donruss, he said no, and then I searched the wall and found it and pointed them out. Back to the Rays and Tigers vaults, I found a Shane McClanahan Bowman rookie, and a Josh Fleming auto. Getting closer and closer to having autographs and jersey cards of everyone on the ‘20 AL championship team. The shimmer reflector Bowman Caminiero is a rookie even though it doesn’t say it is. 

A few more Caminiero rookies, and the purchase of the day for me, a 2005 Topps Update complete set, which included a Justin Verlander rookie. That set will (basically) give me complete Topps/Update sets from 2005-2007. Once I purchase some cards to fill in some holes, I will basically have 1980-2002 done, leaving me with only 2003 and 2004 Update to give me a run from 1980-2007. If you have anything from those sets that I need, please reach out. Speaking of trading, that Verlander is a dupe, so I’d be happy to include that in a trade. 

The whole atmosphere of Layton screamed flippers/scalpers. Guys were asking employees about product and they responded with the names of key rookies. They barely had any dime boxes, and a number of stuff was overpriced. What did it for me was the guy not knowing that they had the 2025 Donruss. Sure, he could’ve been a Pokémon expert, but still, at least know what the latest inventory is for sports. I probably won’t be back, but at least so came away with some cool cards. 

Im going to hit the rewind button and go back to June 12, when I recieved a package from Dennis of Too Many Verlanders. Dennis sent some Rays and Tigers that filled some needs, and also sent some cut up vintage that I claimed. Let’s take a look.

That McClanahan relic is my first of his, as are the 2 EEE autographs. Strangely, I have another copy of the Toby Hall relic, but I will take as many as I can. Here’s why. Check out the date of the game that the bat relic is from.  If you don’t feel like zooming in, it’s September 24, 2001. If you were around back then, you remember the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. MLB stopped playing games for a little while, and then started playing again around the 20th or so (not quite sure without checking).  That means this bat relic was used during the 1st or 2nd series after the 9-11 attacks. I kind of have a 9-11 collection of random things pertaining to the dates, and this could be added. Some things include a jersey card of John Finn, a firefighter who helped rescue victims, a few autographs of former Lakeland Tiger Marty Boryczewski, who became a stockbroker after retiring, and was in the towers and passed away during the attacks. Lastly, I visited the site when the monument was getting built in 2008, and picked up a piece of cynder block, which very likely could’ve been part of the twin towers. 

Back to the package, Dennis was giving away some cut up vintage cards, and I claimed a few. The Catfish Hunter is a pretty early card of him. I liked the Dave Adlesh and Johnny Romano cards, because I have a book showing every Topps St. Louis Cardinals card from 1952-1988, and both Romano and Adlesh appear in the book I figured the Hodges and Palmer World Series cards might be toughies later, so I eagerly claimed them. 

The Baz and Bradley cards were All-Star Game parallels. I could’ve sworn I had the Arozarena card, but it was a need. 

Thanks, Dennis, for the great cards. I have a stack I’m working on to send back to you. 

I actually have a few stacks I’m adding to, as well as stacks that are in the mail to Night Owl and Fuji. People say buying retail is a waste of money, but most of what are in my trade piles are pulls from packs, including this one I pulled from a Series 2 2025 Topps blaster. 

This one is in the stack for Johnny’s Trading Spot, and will be hand delivered the next time I can make it up to Ocala. 

Don’t worry. I’ve pulled plenty of stuff for my collection, too, including some Rays and Tigers hits from 2025 Bowman and 2025 Topps. 

I found a blaster of ‘25 Bowman in the wild, and I got Jesus’ autograph. Jesus Lopez, that is. It was a green parallel, as well. The Kumar Rocker card is kind of cool looking, and I pulled a ‘peanut refractor’ (I’m not kidding, that’s what they call it) of Tigers prospect Josue Briceno. 

My birthday was on June 14, and let me tell you, I made out.mu brother-in-law sent me a Series 1 hanging box of 2025 Topps and a hanging pack of 2025 Heritage. 

I pulled a Casey Mize, and  Yankee$ Diamonte card. Not the best inset to pull, but at least I can probably trade it. I’m also counting the Rainbow Kim card as a Rays pull, since he signed with them in the offseason and should really be pictured as a Ray. 

 The Heritage pack gave me a Yandy Diaz, and 2 parallels. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t Dime Box Nick collect Salvador Perez?  

That leads me to the latest trip to Wal-Mart. I picked up a blaster and hanging box of 2025 Topps Series 2. The cards didn’t disappoint, as most of the hits were either Tigers or Rays. 

Diamonte Flaherty and J Lowe, rainbow Tigers team card, OPS Leaders Riley Greene, Stars of MLB of Jobe and Caminiero. 

It is funny that I pulled Junior, because my mother-in-law got me a value box of 2025 Bowman, and Kyler was like ‘we’re going to get a Junior Caminiero. We pulled this Mojo refractor, as well as the Mojo Carson Williams and the Jung. 

Sometime inbetween the birthday Bowman and the last Wally World trip, I found some Bowman at Target, got a blaster, and pulled the card on the right. 

2 great Tigers hits in 2 Bowman rips. 

Counting last year, when I pulled a Carson Rucker auto from 2024 Bowman, this is the 2nd year in a row that I’ve had luck pulling a Tiger autograph.  2026 better be ready.  

Lastly, are some Caminiero cards I pulled. I believe the last 2 are from the birthday Topps packs Karen got me. Kyler is expecting to get Junior in every pack now, and while we have been for about a month or so, it can’t continue, can it?

I don’t know when the Rays and Tigers luck will run out, but hopefully it won’t be for a while. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy 

Another bad Ray

 I had planned on posting about some Rays/Tigers luck I’ve had at a shop and packs, but unfortunately, some breaking Rays news came out, and that post will have to wait. 

I was hoping I wouldn’t have to make this post, but I knew deep down that it would’ve been too good to be true for the situation to turn out different. Many of you heard the news that Wander Franco was found guilty today. 

With the news of Franco, I can’t help and look back at some of the guys the Rays have signed and wonder ‘why are they drafting such crooks?’  I have my theories, but I’ll leave that till the end. 

*Just a note, a majority of this post was written in 2023, so some info might be dated, and I could’ve linked a number of the stories of the players mentioned, but a google search will get you the info should you want to dig deeper.*

I realize that other teams have their troubled players. The Dodgers had Urias and Bauer. The whole ‘90’s and ‘00’s Yankee$ were littered with crackheads (Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Steve Howe), ‘roiders (Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, A-Rod, etc), alcoholics (Chuck Knoblauch and CC Sabathia), thieves (Ruben Rivera), wife-beaters (Chapman and German), and pedophiles (John Wetteland, Chad Curtis, Luis Polonia, and Mel Hall). I still feel like the Rays have had players with worse transgressions over the years. 

The most known guy was one of the first guys they drafted, Josh Hamilton. He was drafted in 1999 their 2nd season. A few years after that, I was a big Rays fan. I went to fan fest in 2003, and he signed my 2003 Topps and 2002 Bowman Chrome cards and seemed really nice. Myself and other Rays fans expected him to perhaps get called up that year, but he was battling drug and alcohol addiction, and was later released. While it should be noted that he overcame his problems for a time and put together a decent career, he has also had some issues with anger and violence after his career. 

Greg ‘Toe’ Nash was signed out of a semi-pro league in Louisiana in 2000. He came from a rough early life, being abandoned by his mother, getting into fights at school, and ultimately dropped out to work in sugar cane fields with his dad. Nash had legendary power but was very raw and couldn’t read or write. 

He was nonetheless signed by Tampa, and was shortly after arrested for felony robbery. During the 2001 offseason, he was arrested for having relations with a 15-year old. The Rays released him after he got out of prison, and he was signed by the Reds, but was later arrested in a bar fight. He was released by them, and never played pro ball again. His life never really turned the corner, as he has multiple drug arrests on his record in addition to the ones mentioned earlier. 

Next is Delmon Young. He was drafted in 2003, and was supposed to be a 1-2 punch with 2002 1st rounder BJ Upton. Young bumped an umpire  in a 2005 game, and in 2006 he hurled a bat at an ump, hitting him and earning Young a 50-game suspension. He also was arrested in 2012 for using an anti-Semitic slur, and after retiring was arrested for choking a valet and making anti-Hispanic comments. His older brother Dmitri is a noted card collector, and a saint compared to his brother, only having a post-playing career drug arrest. 

Where do I start with Elijah Dukes? Dukes’ father was arrested for murder in 1996, and Dukes himself was arrested for the first time a year later. Among the many charges he incurred during and after his career are assault, battery, and  assaulting a pregnant ex. What I remember most were the many kids he fathered. According to Wikipedia, 5 with 4 women in 3 years. I went to a Rays game 1 year, and I believe they were playing Washington, and a guy kept heckling Dukes in the outfield, repeating ‘That baby don’t look like me’ numerous times, even getting a chant of it going. I think Dukes was classy about it, though. 

In 2010, the Rays signed former 1st overall pick Matt Bush. Bush had many alcohol related arrests at the time. I actually met him that season during a minor league game. He signed a card for me and I wished him best of luck at his newest opportunity to make the Majors. He seemed like a nice guy. Then in 2012, he ran over a motorcyclist while fleeing the scene of an accident while intoxicated. He appears to have conquered his demons and is still in pro ball, pitching for the Rangers in 2023. 

Josh Sale was the Rays 1st round pick in 2010. He is probably the most holy out of these guys, with his transgressions only being a post on FB about a strip club visit and 2 banned substance violations and suspensions. 

Brandon Martin was drafted by the Rays in 2011. He had drug problems, and had resentments towards his parents because he comes from a mixed race family. After many drug offenses and mental issues, he ultimately murdered his father, uncle, and an alarm installation employee in 2015. He is currently serving a life sentence. 

That seems like it is all of the Rays who have had issues, but while it looks like things have been under control for almost a decade, let’s not forget that MLB investigated Randy Arozarena in the 2020 offseason for an incident where he tried to kidnap his daughter and allegedly assault her grandfather. 

I haven’t even mentioned guys like David Price (verbally went off of Dennis Eckersley on a plane when he was with Boston), Tim Beckham (substance abuce and steroids), Yuniel Escobar (wrote a bad word on his cap), Charlie Haeger (involved in a murder/suicide), Bubba Trammell (struggles with mental issues), Mickey Callaway (harassed a female while with the Indians). Alex Sanchez (first guy busted for steroids under the new agreement), and Aubrey Huff (posts a little too much info on Twitter).  There may have been others that have fallen through the cracks, but I feel like I’m knowledgeable enough about the Rays that I didn’t miss any big ones. 

Now Franco is the latest. It hurts that he was a mega prospect, but big picture, it doesn’t matter is he was a mop up reliever, he deserves whatever punishment he gets. 

I wonder why the Rays keep signing guys with such questionable character when other teams only have like 1 or 2 guys getting arrested over the past decade. I think it comes down to 1 thing. Money. The Rays have only had 1 or 2 off seasons when they tried to sign some big name free agents, and that was when they signed Jose Canseco, Greg Vaughn, and Vinny Castilla during their first few years. When that didn’t work, they essentially quit signing anyone who could help the team quickly. That led to some crappy teams for the next decade, bad attendance because of it, while a team who entered 1998 with them (Arizona) signed free agents from year 1, and while admittedly got lucky with some, they still won a World Series. They were able to trade for Schilling because the owners were willing to pay to resign him and Philly wasn’t. Schilling would’ve been traded to New York or Boston had Arizona not signed Randy Johnson/Matt Williams/Steve Finley/Luis Gonzalez in an attempt to contend and get fans in the seats from day 1. With the Rays pinching pennies, they needed to look for players that had potential but that most other clubs would’ve passed on. That led to them drafting guys with arrest records like Dukes, and acquiring ones who were cast off from other clubs due to issues (Bush), and taking chances on guys with huge talent but tons of hurdles to overcome (Nash). With all of the tools out there, who knows if some of the other ones like Hamilton, Young, Sale, and Martin had psychological tests with red flags that the Rays just ignored and hoped would go away once they were ranking in the Majors? Had they spent money on free agency, yeah they would’ve lost some bets, but they would’ve signed some good players and been able to keep some as well. Imagine Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, David Price, Ben Zobrist, Blake Snell finishing out their career in Tampa. I am a Rays fan with Rays-colored glasses, but maybe they would have a title by now. They surely would’ve had more fans show up to games. Many Rays fans I know don’t buy any jerseys of Rays players because they always leave in free agency. I’m not a jersey guy and they are expensive, but I would’ve probably got a Longo, Zobrist, or a jersey of someone who I like who would stay for a while. 

Analytics has a place in baseball whether I like it or not, but when you have an owner that won’t spend on top tier free agents, you are never going to get past the final round in the playoffs. Rays are exhibit A. The team has the money to build a brand new stadium in the parking lot of the old one, but without top tier players to go along with players who are analytics acquisitions, nobody will attend games just like they didn’t attend them at the Trop. I have hope that this new ownership group will build a new stadium in the Tampa area should the sale go through. If only they will spend more money than penny-pinching Stu. Just spend some money to get the pitchers and get off the spin rate bandwagon so the pitchers won’t need Tommy John surgery every other year. Go all-in at the Trade Deadline with a few relievers and injury replacements and I guarantee the Rays would have a World Series title and fans would pack the new stadium in Tampa. 

If they can’t do all that, at least do mental inquiries on players before you draft or sign them. Tampa fans don’t want another situation like this and more importantly, the victims deserved not to have had this happen. Perhaps if the Rays knew Wander had a problem they could’ve got him help and stopped the issue before it got to where it has now. If he wasn’t an athlete, he still deserves justice. My heart goes out to the victims, Wanders family, and Wander himself. I hope he can get help and live a productive life while justice is served. Let’s do better, $ternberg, and (hopefully) the new ownership group. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy

Long overdue post

 It has been a good while since I blogged. Not because I haven’t acquired cards, but more just because I’ve just been busy with life and other things. 

First off, there has just been a lot of back and forth with the NJ doctor who is trying to get Karen some kind of solution to help her trachea stay open and have her breathe better. I can’t really remember what all went on since my last post, but the latest news is that he wants to do a stent trial with a metal stent, and if that helps, he would feel confident enough to do the mesh surgery. Metal ones have worked for her in the past, and the previous silicone one that we tried just had her coughing for a few weeks and gave her a fever for a few days. Not sure on the date for that surgery yet, but it should be in the next few weeks, and if it goes well, they will take it out after a few days and then schedule the mesh surgery after that. Fingers crossed. 

Work has me just zipping my lips and going with what corporate wants. We had 2 working ovens that could hold 2 racks with 15 trays and 20 additional trays total. They are doing a complete remodel on the store, and replacing the ovens, which are perfectly fine. They tore my deck oven out, so I have just been down to the 2 rack 30 tray oven for the past month. In about a week, they are going to tear down that oven, and replace them with 2 ovens that can only hold 1 rack with 15 trays each. I could get so much more produced with 2 2-rack ovens or just having them leave things like they were, and it is stressing me out. It is what it is and there’s nothing I can do about it, just a headache I don’t need. 

Kyler and I have been going to lots of Stetson University baseball games this year. I hadn’t really planned on going to any this year, but my buddy Jim lured me out for one of the first games of the season to try to get a few autographs of coaches, then one thing led to another. The team was giving away a baseball card set, so we went to the first date of the giveaway, and they ended up not giving away cards that night. We went to another game with a group from church, and then the 4 nights they gave away the team set. I purchased a scorebook and have been trying to teach Kyler how to keep score of a game. As far as autographs, we’ve got most of the team set done. We have also got Brad Wilkerson, Nick Ungs, and a jersey card signed of Pablo Torres from a few of the visiting teams. 

Those are the final 4 left from the team set. We might have to go to one of the games of the league tournament and try to finish them off. Stetson’s batboy has been really helpful at identifying players who are wearing jackets that cover the jersey numbers, and I think we have a decent shot at finishing the set if we go. It’s just the 95 degree weather and most likely having to work the next day that makes me want to stay home. If we do end up going to another game, I might try to make a custom of the manager to add to the set. The design looks simple enough to recreate. Next year we are getting season tickets. 

I’ve been receiving cards in various trades. Rod from Padrographs has sent a few packages of Rays and Marlins. 

I may have posted these a while back, but not sure. My favorite is the 

2025 Topps Brandon Lowe Grapefruit League parallel. I am probably 90% of the way to completing the 2025 Topps set, so at some point when me life is a little smoother and money is good, I’ll probably order the 2025 Topps singles to finish that one, as well as the 10 or so cards I need to finish the 1980-2002 Topps/Topps Traded run I have going. 

Greg from Night Owl cards sent me some Dodgers extras that he had of guys I collect, and got me a few cards of Rafael Bournigal, a nice guy who I ran into at the YMCA in Lakeland, FL, during the 1997 offseason. I lived a few blocks away and always walked there, so I asked if I had time to run home and get his cards so he could sign them. Rafael and his brother Sean had me hop in his car, and they drove me home, and Rafael signed some cards for me and posed for a picture. 

It’s always nice to get new cards of Mr. Bournigal. Other Dodgers Mr. Night Owl included were Darren Dreifort, Karim Garcia, and Billy Ashley. An elite closer prospect and 2 big time power hitters. That’s about all you needed to have in order for me to want to collect you in the late ‘90’s. Thanks, Rod and Greg, for the nice cards. 

I’ve also been hitting the retail shelves when I can. Mostly 2025 Topps and Heritage. I’ve been saving cards for the usual suspects that I trade with, so eventually I’ll send out some stuff as life gets a little more routine. Haven’t seen 2025 Bowman, but I have a feeling the flippers are breeding like crazy. I went to Wal-Mart after work today, and while looking for Bowman, some guy with no uniform or name tag tells me I have to pay for the cards at this specific self checkout register. I’m still not sure if they really worked for Wally World or not. From what I saw, it was a bunch of Japanese looking people and a few flipper bro’s, and they all had Pokémon crap. I just found a discounted blaster of ‘22 Prizm Draft Picks and a hanging pack of ‘25 Heritage. 

You won’t see those, as I didn’t find anything earth shattering, and as I put them away into my monster boxes, but I figured a camera dump of some recent pickups was in order. 

I guess when I say camera dump, I mean 2 photos, but that’s what I have. The first one is from a Heritage blaster. I did pretty well with my Tigers, and rookies, as I pulled a Chrome James Wood.  I don’t understand why the Heritage Anniversary card of Witt has the RC logo. It’s not a rookie, and I believe I pulled a Skenes from the same set without the logo. The QC gets worse and worse with these companies. 

I must be on a Shota lucky streak, as I pulled his ‘25 Heritage Chrome refractor and his ‘25 Topps ‘90 redux jersey card. 

I should have a few trades coming in over the next week or so, and that should be a nice end to May and then bring me into my birthday month. 

I finally have the majority of my loose cards put into binders. Just have the Yankee$, Rays, favorite player, and parallel cards left. I probably need a box or two of pages and a couple binders, but nothing that will break the bank.  I have all of my loose cards condensed into 1 monster box of all teams, and a smaller one with favorite players, Tigers, Rays, rookies, parallels, and game used cards. I’m slowly trying to organize my doubles into numerical order and categorizing them by year, and I’ll probably log them into TCDB and see what I can’t turn them into. Aside from all that, I still have projects of customs I’m working on, as well as recording music that needs to get done as well. Maybe I can make a little progress with each of these by the end of the year. 

Well, that marks the end of a long overdue post. 

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. 

-Jeremy

Break from routine

 I’m a big routine guy. I’ve probably shared it before, but I just thrive on routine and having a ‘normal’ kind of schedule day to day and week to week. I generally try to drive the same route to work. I bake each type of baked goods at work in the same order and try to keep it the same. On days I work, I generally have the same breakfast (4 Nature Valley crunchy oats and honey granola bars with a diet Mt. Dew) and the same lunch (either 2 ham and swiss sandwiches on 12 grain whole wheat bread or 1/2 of a leftover meat lovers thin crust pizza). When things get out of routine, it just doesn’t work well for me and I get anxious and irritable. Just extra trouble that I don’t really want or need. 

These last few weeks have been out of routine for me. Karen hasn’t been breathing well and thought about going into the hospital a few days ago. She has some oxygen ordered, so hopefully that will keep her out and she can ride it out until the 2nd week of April when we go to Mayo Clinic.

 My stepfather passed away about 2 weeks ago, so we’ve been dealing with trying to help my mom get things planned for the service. 

At work, the store has been doing a remodel. I used to have a big oven that could fit 2 racks of bread in it, and a rotisserie oven that could fit 20 pans of stuff in it. Worked perfectly for me during holidays where I could run 20 pans of rolls and 2 racks of bread at once. Some idiot in corporate decided we need to take the rotisserie oven out, take the 2 rack big oven out, and replace them with 2 1-rack ovens. They say the rotisserie oven was a dinosaur and they wouldn’t be able to order parts for it anymore, but it has broken down maybe once in my 13 years there. 

Our family dog is also probably on her last leg, but in all honesty, I feel like things are going to start getting better and maybe get back into a routine again. 

Karen has the Mayo stuff in 2 weeks, and that could open up a world of good possibilities if it works for her. 

While my stepdad is gone, talking to people at the service showed me that my mom has a good group of friends that are there for her that can be there sometimes since we are about 2 hours away. 

I have been learning how to get rocks to bleed with these new ovens, and still have a few weeks to work out the kinks before Easter. My boss said that if there is a big backlog of stuff to bake, that they may just send me home after 10 or so hours during the holidays. Seems better than the 12 hour or so shifts during the last few holidays. 

While I’ll be a little sad to see our dog go, I have been ready to be dog free for about 8 years. I’m just sick of the responsibility, messed to clean up, the money you have to put into them, and the damage they do to the house and furniture. The fish tank is more my style, and I’ve been getting the tank close to where I wanted it. Got a few more guppies, and hopefully I’ll get some babies soon. That’s when the fun starts. On top of all that, Karen’s mom is out of town for the weekend!

With all of the extra stuff going on, I’ve just put the post writing on the back burner. That doesn’t mean I haven’t got any cards lately. 

Greg of Night Owl Cards sent me a package about 2 weeks ago filled with Topps needs. 

The 1974 Traded cards were the oldest ones. I’m probably 20 or so cards away from completing that set. It’s always cool to get some 1975 Topps cards from the king of 1975 Topps. I think 2024 Topps Heritage High Number is out, so I’ll have to see if I can get my hands on some and send Greg something he needs. 

Most of the package was Dodgers, and they helped fill in holes in many Topps sets. 2009 and 2011 Topps Update are pretty close to being complete for me, but he still found some holes. 2012-2015 or so were years I didn’t really purchase any packs, so those have many cards I need, especially 2014. 

2017 Topps is a set that I bought some packs of, but just don’t have much of the set. The early Bellinger was a cool find, but the real pull from the package was the 2nd year Mike Trout!  I know rookies are generally the most valuable cards of a player, especially before everything was mass produced, but 2nd year cards can surprisingly be worth a lot and be much easier to find. 

Thanks for the nice additions to my collection, Greg!

I also had the chance to visit John of Johnny’s Trading Spot during Spring Break, as he mentioned in a recent post. 

He had a nice stack of Rays and Tigers for me, which were mainly recent parallels that I’m sure he found in those boxes he gets from K n T Sportscards in Ormond. 

On top of that, I found a ton of stuff I needed in his trade boxes. 

Those 2 stacks were Topps needs. 

Next are favorite players, Tigers, Rays, rookies, and some parallels. 

Some of the highlights include a 2001 Bowman Chrome Jack Cust. I always liked the power that Cust had, and it is always cool to add a 2001 Bowman Chrome card to my collection. The Paul DeJong is a Montgomery parallel. I must’ve went through a box or 2 from when he was getting his player collections in order, because I found a number of guys it looks like we both collect like Xander Bogaerts, Jacob deGrom, and Cecil Fielder. I love those 2025 Topps Diamonte parallels, and to get one of Casey Mize was awesome. 

There were so many Rays from sets I haven’t got my hands on. 2015 Finest, 2022 Archives Snapshots, and 2025 Bowmans Best. I miss Randy Arozarena on the Rays. I almost want to throw away the Mariners cards I pull of him, but might just save them and mail them to $ternberg when he wins MVP this year and brings the Mariners a title. Another Diamonte appearance with the Rays team card.  

I’ve always been a fan of John Lipon. I moved to Lakeland, Florida in 1990, so the Lakeland Tigers were one of the first baseball teams I saw play. Lipon was the manager, and I may have even been to a game he managed. He was a great manager for the club, skippering them for like 20 years and winning at least 1 league title. John picked up a few minor league sets, and I was lucky enough to score a few early ‘90’s Lakeland sets. The 1990 Topps Lynn is a box bottom. The Rudy Pemberton and Warren Sawkiw bring back memories. In 1993 or so, I was trading cards with my friend Paul after school. He had that Lakeland Tigers set that Rudy and Warren were on, and he must’ve got them to sign the cards. I think I traded some ‘93 Topps Braves for the whole set, including the signed ones. Don’t know if I traded them away or what, but it was nice to get the set again (minus the autograph), and strangely enough, I basically traded Braves for them. The 1996 Leaf Signature Series Extended sets have some nice unknown guys, like former Braves/Padres/Tigers/Japansese Leaguer Melvin Nieves. There were tons of Prism parallels, and a cool 2025 Topps Rainbow parallel of Dillon Dingler, a guy I hope has a great season for Detroit. 

None of the rookies I found were anybody high, but nobody can deny that 1995 Nomar Garciaparra cards were very hot in the late ‘90’s. That Jeff Francouer was on the top of Beckett hot lists in the early to mind ‘00’s. I’m not necessarily a fan of any of the next guys, but a rookie of a well known guy that I don’t have is always a good pickup. 

Lastly, the parallels. Nothing earth shattering, but I always am a sucker for 1998 Topps Minted in Cooperstown cards, as well as refractors. The 2007 Heritage Zimmerman is a yellow name parallel. 

Thanks, John for the great pickups!  I’ll hopefully make it out to your place again sometime this summer with some more Braves. 

A few days before my stepdads funeral, my brother in law picked up an Easter Egg box of 2025 Topps and pulled the pastel color Skenes parallel, and sent me the pic. 

The night before the funeral, we drove down to Lakeland, and stopped at Target before going to the hotel. I picked up an Easter Egg box, and guess who I pulled? 

See?  I think my luck is turning around and things are going to get back to normal soon. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy