Career Topps Run: Chris Gwynn

 I haven't done one of these in a while, but I hope to do posts like these more frequently in the future, especially as I get more cards done. The players will be selected as I run across ones I think would be easy to do.

First up today is Chris Gwynn. Chris is the younger brother of the late Tony Gwynn. He attended college at San Diego State University, and played on the 1984 US Olympic baseball team, winning a silver medal. After college, he was drafted by the Dodgers in 1985. He quickly shot through the minors, and got called up to the Bigs in 1987 by the Dodgers, and got into 12 games for the World Champion team in 1988. He stayed with them through 1991, and was traded to the Kansas City Royals in the offseason of '91. He played the 1992 and 1993 season with them, before signing with the Dodgers as a Free Agent. He spent 1994 and 1995 with them, before getting the chance of a lifetime and getting to play with brother Tony and the San Diego Padres in 1996, Chris' final season in the Majors. 

Chris got his first Topps card in the 1989 set, made it into the set in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994 sets, before getting on to his last Topps card in 1995. 

By my count, Chris is missing cards from the 1985 Topps Traded card (Team USA), 1987 Topps Traded, 1988 Topps, 1989 Topps, 1992 Topps Traded, 1993 Topps Traded,  1996 Topps, 1996 Topps Traded, and 1998 Topps cards. 

Now, I will show all of Chris Gwynn's Topps cards, including ones made by Topps, giving you a nice look at his entire career Topps run. 

1985 Topps Team USA custom

1987 Topps Traded custom

1988 Topps custom

1989 Topps custom

1990 Topps

1991 Topps

1992 Topps

1992 Topps Traded custom (with back)

1993 Topps

1994 Topps

1994 Topps Traded custom

1995 Topps

1996 Topps custom

1996 Topps Traded custom

1997 Topps sunset custom

Well, there you have it. I hope you have learned a little bit about Chris Gwynn and have enjoyed seeing his career Topps run. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

2020 Favorites

 I’m sure as 2020 is nearing a close that a ton of these posts will start coming out, but I figured I would get mine out of the way since I don’t really figure to get any more cards before 2021. I would love to see some of your answers to these catergories or perhaps if you feel like posting, we can make this a Blog Bat Around. 

I’m basically going to go with a few different catergories, like pack pulled, purchased on the internet, and purchased at a card show/card shop. Each catergory will have different types of cards, with some not applicable to each catergory. 

First off will be pack pulled cards. These will be cards opened from any pack in 2020, no matter the year of the pack.

Card of 2020- 2020 Topps Stadium Club Randy Arozarena

Got this one from a blaster that my wife purchased me a month or so before he went on a tear in the playoffs. 

Favorite memorabilia card- 2020 Topps Update Lance McCullers, Jr.

This card was pulled recently from a blaster. I love jersey cards, and I love the ones with the All-Star game workout jerseys. The only issue I have from this one is that it says it was from 2017. Shouldn’t this card have been in ‘17 Topps Update? Did Topps have leftover all-star jerseys pieces of McCullers that they just had in a warehouse waiting for a season where the game was cancelled so they could put it in the Update Series?

Favorite autographed card- 2020 Topps Big League Sandy Alomar

It is one of only 2 autographed cards I pulled this year from a pack, but even if not, this one would rank pretty high. Sandy has always had a nice autograph, and I remember him being very fan friendly during his career. Glad I was able to pull a sig of his this year. 

Card from a Favorite Team-2020 Topps Advanced Stat Niko Goodrum

This card was pulled from my first packs of 2020, and it was just a surprise because I have never pulled an advanced stat card like this ever, and it was so cool to pull one from one of my 2 favorite teams. 

Favorite card of a favorite player- 1994 Stadium Club Rafael Bournigal 

While technically not in a 2020 pack, since I did the majority of them from 2020 product, I figured I’d let this one slide. I purchased a box of ‘94 Stadium Club that I was imagining opening with my 4 year old son and adding the cards to my collection after we were done. My wife thought we were opening the cards and they were going in my sons collection. It didn’t matter because eventually, my cards are probably going to go to him anyways. A few packs in, my kid pulls a Rafael Bournigal. I met Raffy in person, and he is one of my favorite players ever. My wife told me that any doubles from the box were fair game, and sure enough, about 10 packs later, my son pulled a Raffy for me. 

Next are cards from online purchases. These won't have any pictures, but you will see them once my COMC order gets here sometime in March of next year.

Favorite card- this could change at any moment, but I guess I’ll go with a 2001 Topps Prospects Josh Hamilton. I have just about every other version of this card, but the regular Topps one. It was the one card keeping me from finishing the 2001 Topps Rays set, and once COMC delivers it in March, it will be mine. 

Favorite Memorabilia card- 2020 UD Goodwin Champions Casey Mize

I’ve been wanting an autograph of jersey of Mize since he was with Auburn and got drafted #1. After a few years, I finally got one. 

Autographed card- 2018 Bowman’s Best Best of 2018 autographs Logan Gilbert

One of the guys who led Stetson University’s ‘17-‘18 team to the College World Series, I have been collecting him since then. Not a big name, but a cool looking card, and he does have upside

Card from a favorite team- 2005 Donruss Champions Materials Bobby Higginson bat. Higginson was a nice guy during his tenure with Detroit. Always signed autographs even when he was a big name. I had a bat card of him since 2003 or so, he signed it during spring training one year, but I ended up selling with with my autographed cards. I don’t have another autograph of him, but I got the bat card back. 

Card of a favorite player- 2013 Leaf Trinity Patch Autograph Kohl Stewart 

Kohl is a Type 1 diabetic and one of my newest favorite players. This patch/autograph combo was pretty cheap, and a great addition to my collection of him, which is only 3 cards deep including this one. 

Next are cards from card shops/shows. I didn't go to any shows this year, so these are just purchases from my LCS in 2020.

Favorite card- 2020 Topps Chrome X-Fractor Randy Arozarena. 

It’s a refractor, a card of a hot rookie, it only cost me 2 quarters, and the only way it could’ve been better is if it pictured him as a Ray. 

Favorite memorabilia card- 2002 SP Legendary Bat Don Baylor

The Kaz Sasaki Jersey card I pulled from one of the 4 dollar foil packs was nice, but I don’t care for cards that open like books, so Don Baylor (an excellent player, manager, and hitting coach) gets the nod

Autographed card- 2020 Donruss Signature Series Adbert Alzolay

The other autographed card I pulled from a pack this year, it is still a cool card, and who knows how he will do in the future. 

Card from a favorite team- 2020 Donruss Optic Lime Green Randy Arozarena

This card has everything except for a logo, but a card of Randy A. that is a parallel, pictures him as a Ray (or in Rays colors), and one that I basically stole from my LCS at 50 cents is a runaway winner for me. 

Card of a Favorite Player-1991 Line Drive Basilio Cabrera

I found a few cards of favorite players at my LCS, but Cabrera only has minor league cards, so finding one of his at my LCS that is only a year and a half old with limited selection was like finding a needle in a haystack. 

That about covers all of my favorite cards from 2020. Hopefully 2021 will offer us all some great cards, the ability to get cards from retail stores without the cards being double-printed. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

Cards from Angels in Order and finishing the 1992 Topps Traded set

A few days ago, I got some cards in the mail from Tom of  Angels in Order fame.  I sent him some cards around the same time after he initiated the swap.  

Now that I have complete my Topps Rays run, I think I’ll be getting more Upper Deck and parallel Topps flagship/Heritage/non flagship Topps brands in trades, and I’m cool with that.  It would be cool to nail down all of the Upper Deck sets (‘98-‘10) as well. 

Tom helped with the Upper Deck sets as his envelope contained cards from 4 different UD base sets as well as some sets like UD Choice and MVP.  All of these cards are needs and will headed into my Rays binders sometime in March when I get my cards from COMC.  Thanks Tom for the great cards!

 Today I finally finished the 1992 Topps Traded set, making a dream a reality. 5-6 years ago, I came across some custom cards on a blog, and I was fascinated with the idea of creating cards that Topps missed out on. I was a huge fan of the 1992 Topps set, as it was the first set I remember purchasing with my own money. At one point, I had tried to get the entire 792 card set autographed, getting over 500 done. I questioned whether a complete set of missing cards could be possible to be made, and I wondered if backs could be possible. I succeeded with the regular set a few years ago, and while making Traded checklists for each set, I did the 1992 one, not really expecting to work on it. After finishing the '93 set earlier this year, I decided to go after the 1992 Traded set, hoping to get it done by the end of this year. I started going after it pretty hard core during free time on off days, and today, I am happy to say that it is finished. That means that anyone who played a game in the 1991 and 1992 seasons has a 1992 Topps card picturing them with the correct team (either in Topps's main sets, or one of mine). Here is a link to my 1992 Topps behemoth. Here are some of my favorite cards from the Traded set.

Steve Lyons Braves, one of 3 Steve Lyons cards in the Traded set (4 if you include the main set as well)

Steve Lyons card #2

Jeff Kent's rookie, one of 2 in the Traded set (since he was acquired from the Blue Jays in '92)

Tim Salmon rookie (this card would've been RED HOT in 1993!)

Kirk Gibson (from a picture I took in Spring Training in 1992). 

Billy Hatcher that I liked the photo of

John Wathan (I searched far and wide for a photo of John Wathan in an Angels uniform from 1992, finding nothing. When I finally searched 'California Angels 1992 team photo', I came upon a photo from a fight they had against Seattle, with Wathan, albeit not facing forward, right there)

Jackie Brown (note the Donruss logo on the scoreboard)

Mike Fetters acting crazy

Steve Lyons #3

Jose Canseco (a HUGE traded card that missed making the Traded set because he was traded so late in the season)

David Cone (see Canseco reason)

And finally, another Jeff Kent rookie.

This set was fun, but I really don't want to ever make a set with backs again. This took probably 3 times the amout of time as a normal set has. I'll be glad to make regular front-only sets from now on. I believe I'll start on the 1994 & 1998 Topps Traded sets as my main sets, while working on the 1986 set to help the ARAIG guys.

I eventually want to get the Traded sets done and work on the ‘91 Topps main/Traded sets. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy 

I stuck it to the flippers!

 Today, I used up the 2nd to last of my vacation days. Would've loved to have spent it with my wife and son traveling somewhere, but life just got crazy, and the responsibilities with both of our jobs didn't allow for it to work out. Here's hoping for 2021. I basically have today and tomorrow to myself, and I thought it the perfect time to grab my mask and head to my LCS. There have been 3 monster boxes I have been wanting to go through, and they didn't disappoint. 

While I haven't been able to find a steady supply of cards in retail places, the first monster box had a good amount of 2020 Topps Series 1, 2, and a tad of Update and Chrome. I was hoping to find some Randy Arozarena cards and some Tigers to finish up the 2020 set. 

While I'm not much of a flipper, I think they would be proud of me, as all of the following cards were found in a 50 cent box. I never thought Raines should've been in the Hall of Fame, but a rookie of him for 2 quarters still seems like a steal. There were a few each of the Benintendi, Tucker, Swanson, and Riley rookies in the boxes, and I figure I got my money's worth with each of them. I struck gold with Randy A., as I found copies of his 2020 Bowman, Optic, Optic Lime Green, and Topps Chrome X-Fractor card. Pretty sure I dug out the only cards of his in the boxes. It's kind went all downhill with the Rays after Game 6 of the World Series. Charlie Morton is gone, Blake Snell might be traded, Wander Franco is being examined for an injury, and now Arozarena is being investigated for a domestic incident. I think he should serve whatever punishment he gets if he is indeed guilty of anything. It just sucks that the Rays were so close and perhaps 1-2 big free agents from competing again in 2021, and now I doubt they will make the playoffs. They do have a decent pitching staff, but many of them are rookies. Speaking of rookies, I didn't have any Forrest Whitley cards, and I hear a lot about him, so I picked up his Update insert. 

I almost finished my 2020 Topps Tigers set. I'll get to the '85 Topps Traded Tiffany Walt Terrell in a minute. The '15 Bowman Cam Gibson is my first card of his, as is the 2019 and 2020 Bowman Riley Greene's. I liked the shimmer on the Prizm Spencer Turnbull, so I picked it up. The Joe Jimenez card is a Advanced Stat card, and I only knew this by looking at the back and spotting the serial number. Too bad, too, because I didn't find the base version of the card, and I needed it for my set. It's kind of funny, because I pulled a Niko Goodrum Advanced Stat card in Series 1, so I now have 2 of the cards for the Tigers team set out of a pretty difficult set to complete. 

The Casey Mize and Kohl Stewart cards will go into thier parts of my Favorite Player Collection binder. The Vogelbach is a Negative Refractor (or maybe Sepia?), but if P-Town Tom needs it, it is yours. Otherwise, I'll add it to my Refractor binder. 

They have these stacks of cards wrapped in foil at the shop that feature either a relic or autographed card in it, and they are all 4 bucks. I dropped the 4 greenbacks needed to get one, and it must've been a hot pack or something, because I've only opened packs with this many hits in weird dreams. The first card out was a Adbert Alzolay autograph, and the next 3 were the Purple Refractor, Chrome, and Red Border Heritage cards of Hosmer and Shelby Miller. After that, I had the Tim Olson numbered rookie and the Shilling (which happened to be a card serial numbered to 100). It dropped down to earth after that with 3 '85 Topps Traded Tiffany cards (including the Terrell) and a few other random cards, and then got kicking again with the Benintendi, the Kerry Wood '98 Gold Label rookie, the Dominic Smith rookie, and relic cards of Eric Chavez and Don Baylor. I don't know about you, but I think for just under 16 bucks for 4 Randy A. cards, a few '15 Bowman rookies, an Advanced Stat parallel, some Tigers for my sets, a Tim Raines rookie, a few parallel cards, an autographed card, and 2 relic cards, I certainly beat the flippers today. 

My LCS is kind of strange. The only other one I frequented growing up was pretty fair with prices, they had dime boxes, and a huge selection. This one is less than 2 years old, has some cards, but mainly tries to sell replica rings, autographed stuff, and crap that I'm not interested in. They have a few newer packs for sale, but the prices are very high, like 7.50 for a pack of '20 Opening Day. They said they will have 2021 Topps in, but I'm scared to ask how much. They seem to know their stuff on big name cards/players, but I just can't get a read on really how much they know. They had a 2020 Topps Update Randy A. card for 15 bucks, but then I got his Bowman, Optic, an Optic parallel, and the X-Fractor for 2 bucks. Maybe they just don't have time to dig through everything they get in card-wise? It may have took some time to dig through 3 monster boxes, but I'll keep doing it if I can get cards I want for less than market value.

I had mentioned in my last post how I was getting some cards together to sent out, and I'm happy to mention that today I mailed out 3 bubble mailers and 2 PWE's. I wish I would've waited to send them out until I scoured the boxes at the card shop, but I promise I will do that next time and try to help guys I trade with out. I was surprised at what they had, so next time I will be ready. I still hope whoever gets packages from me is happy. They should be there around Monday.

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

Left to my own devices

 My wife was at Target today while I was at work, and she found a hanging box of Update, and got it for me. I have whined a little about Update, but when you're starved for opening packs like most of us have been lately, I was happy for the chance at some new cards. 

One of the cards was of Reds lst Baseman Matt Davidson. What I first noticed about the card was just how the photo looked like a posed shot that almost looked like the background was photoshopped and reminded me of an 8 by 10 that would be sold at a team souvenier store. 

The second thing that I noticed is that he is wearing a smart watch in the photo. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is the first card ever showing someone wearing a smart watch. Has anyone else noticed a smart watch on another card?

This kind of got me thinking about other kinds of technology and devices on cards. I know there have been cellphones on cards ever since the '90's, and that Rob Murphy's '90 Upper Deck card even pictures him on a laptop, but the card that really stood out to me was Jason Johnson's 2006 Topps Heritage card. 

Jason is on my Favorite Player List because both of us are Type 1 Diabetics. I'll try to keep it short, but I do want to explain in short what treatment options a Type 1 has (and if you want to know more about the disease, the last link has some). In order to live with diabetes, both me, Jason, and all other Type 1's need to take injections of insulin in order to help get our blood glucose level in a normal range of 80-150 mg/dl. Some people choose to use shots, and ever since the early/mid '90's, there has been another way to get insulin. A person without diabetes has a pancreas that produces insulin and makes more when you eat food and the blood glucose level goes higher. A diabetic has to check their blood glucose level constantly, and eat food if it is low, and give the correct amout of insulin when it is low. There are different types of insulin, some types that work slower to keep the sugar from raising while resting or sleeping due to inactivity, and other types that are faster acting and help sugars not to get too high immediately after eating. People on shots usually take a slow acting insulin twice a day, and fast acting insulin before they eat. Depending on how many times you eat a day, that can be a ton of shots. In the early '90's, insulin pumps have become popular. It is basically a device that looks like a pager, and holds a few days worth of fast acting insulin. There is a small tube coming from it that is attatched to you via a small injection site that stays in you for up to 5 days. The device is programmable, and it injects insulin in you throughout the day (similar to a long acting insulin), and is also able to give you insulin when you eat and your glucose level is too high. During the last 10 years, a device has come out that can be attatched to you for 5 days like my insulin pump site, and the device measures the glucose level in the top of the fat cells, and is wirelessly transmitted to your insulin pump, and if your sugar goes above where you want it, it will give you enough insulin to get it at a good level again. It does wonders for Type 1's. 

*Update* Here is a picture of my pump. 

Back to the Johnson card, I never realized it, but I was looking through my cards of Jason a while ago, and looked to see if I could spot his pump, and sure enough, just above his glove on the '06 Heritage card, is a black rectangle, which I easily knew was his pump. You can get a real good view of it on his 2004 Topps card, which I think will end up going on my Top 12 list soon. 
The '06 Heritage card will always hold a special place in my heart, and I'm stoked that I found the '20 Update Davidson card, and hope it becomes a card on bloggers want lists, just like the '72 Topps Billy Martin middle finger card, the '93 Upper Deck Mike Perez card, and the 1997 Collector's Choice Omar Vizquel card. 

I also wanted to give a shout out to the bloggers out there who did posts showing what they were thankful for. This year, for me, I'm not going to lie. A ton of it sucked. People went crazy at the store during the start of the pandemic, and I'm still scared I'm going to catch it from a careless customer or co-worker and pass it on to my immune-compromised wife. We have seen a shortage of card product on shelves, and tons of small businesses (like card shops) have closed.

But with all of the crap, there still are things to be thankful for. I still have a job, and will probably come out better financially than the year before due to more overtime and our company giving us gift certificates to the store every month or so. My wife has had 2 surgeries recently, and although they are always challenging and sometimes require me to fulfill the role of parent and guy who cooks/cleans, I think we may have found one of the problems with the excess cerebral spinal fluid, and perhaps we can get it at a level that won't give her the constant nausea and headaches. While there hasn't been much card product on the shelves, I have opened hanging boxes of Donruss, Topps Series 1, 2, Update, Heritage, Stadium Club, Opening Day, and Big League. Not the volume of a normal year, but just about the same number of products as usual. My LCS has also stayed open. Also during this crazy year, my 4-year old son has got into opening packs. When going up to Gainesville for appointments/surgeries, we've found packs of 2020 Topps MLB Stickers, so I got the book, and probably about 20 packs, and he's enjoyed opening the packs and putting them into the book. I might have to make a wantlist for that pretty soon. My wife and I stumbled upon the Nat. Geo. Wild channel a few months back, and have watched some of their zoo documentary programs, and our family has been hooked. We love the one about the Columbus Zoo and the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa (one we've actually been to). It's cool learning about the different types of animals and how the zoos are trying to breed animals and how they are cared for. 

I really hope 2021 will be better for everyone, but even if not, we'll always have stuff to be thankful for. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

Finishing my Topps Rays team sets and some questions

 

It’s funny how things are working in the world right now. I got a nice bonus check from work and I was hoping to try to knock out some of my Rays team sets. I quickly started searching on COMC, and was able to find everything except for a 2000 Topps Traded Greg Vaughn, a 2008 Topps HR leaders Carlos Pena, and most of the 2020 Topps Update set. I didn’t know how long it would take for any 2020 Update cards to hit COMC, and judging by the prices I saw on the Randy Arozarena card (6 bucks plus), I decided to get the Update set as well as the 2 previously mentioned cards, on eBay. 

I found a team set for 8 bucks, which I thought was a good price for having the Randy A. card in it. The other 2 cards I got for like a buck each. I placed my shipment request for the COMC order maybe a day after the eBay orders, and while the COMC cards will be there around March 3, 2021, the eBay cards, as you can see, already made it to my doorstep. 

All of this (mainly the COMC order) leads me to a few questions. First, what do you think the reason for all of the COMC delays?  Are there way more orders than normal?  Are they understaffed?  Is it a combination of both?  Are the idiot millennial flippers going to COMC now to support their “jobs” of buying out every card and selling it for profit?  Is COMC just being cautious and doing a ton of sanitizing?  I just would like to know the reason behind the shipping issues. I’m ok with waiting. It will kind of make the order in March a nice surprise. 

It also gives me another predicament. If the cards don’t arrive until March of next year, I figure 2021 Topps will be out, making my Topps Rays run incomplete. While I hope I will be able to find some packs at retail stores, judging by how idiots have been scooping them up before they even come off of the delivery trucks, we may not even see the cards. I’m a little pessimistic about the whole COVID thing. I think whoever ends up running the country in January, they need to make some changes in how we handle it, perhaps coming up with a different way to get rid of it. Here is a short theory on how to do it. If you don’t care, just skip to the next paragraph. 

I think instead of a stimulus check, each person in the US needs to first register with the government. After registering, they will get 4 weeks worth of food, any medicine/sanitation supplies, and essentials in place of a stimulus check. Once all of the food/etc. are distributed, the country needs to go into a 3-4 week lockdown, with only emergency services, police, and maybe a handful of news stations open. Perhaps have other places like power companies on call in case of emergencies. I.E., the more places not open, the better. Hopefully, everyone will stay in and not co-mingle in places like apartment complexes or neighborhoods. I think this would give us a hell of a chance to get rid of the virus. After the last day of lockdown, everyone gets rapid  tested for COVID. Anyone coming back negative gets another stimulus check. Anyone testing positive will not get a check, and immediately put into quarantine at a local hospital, which will hopefully have room due to the virus hopefully being eliminated. A little harsh, but do we really want to put up with years more of this $hit, or just have 3-4 weeks of being at home, and then a normal life again. 

Back to the 2021 Topps situation, if we still have COVID in March, I’m sure the cards won’t see much time on the shelves. I could probably get the team set on eBay, but I just love the thrill of getting cards right after they are released. These low down $hitheads that hoard the cards are taking that away from us. 

I also wonder if this would lead Topps to overproduce the cards. Nobody would really be able to tell with the non-numbered inserts, so the only way people would really be able to tell is with perhaps the 1 per box numbered inserts. Topps would just have to make enough of them that people would still pull them 1 per box, but not too many that people would figure out that they were overproduced. The only potential for worry would be if these low-numbered cards would appear on eBay and 2 of the same number would be discovered. I'm actually ok with Topps overproducing.  I would still pull whatever I pull, not anything earth-shattering, but that's ok. I don't sell my cards. It would probably thwart these flippers because after everyone discovers that Topps overproduced 2021 Series 1, the cards would lose value. We would find the cards on the shelves, the flippers would find something else to do, MLB would probably slap Topps on the wrist and allow Upper Deck/Donruss to produce cards with logos to punish them, and everyone would win. Topps would probably shrink their production back to normal, and perhaps we would get our hobby back. 

I am almost done with the Detroit Tigers in my 1992 Topps Traded custom set, and although I would like to finish the set by the end of the year, I don't think it will be possible. Work is insane, but you don't want to hear me whine about that. I'm working on some trade packages to sent out. Hopefully I'll get them done withing the next 2 weeks. I don't know if the shipping will be as fast as the stuff I got from eBay, but I'm sure they will be shipped before my COMC order gets here.

What are your opinions on why the COMC shipping issues? Do you have any theories on if we will get our hands on 2021 Topps?

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy

New additions

 

Just wanted to post some of the latest card pickups from various different sources. A little over a week ago, I got a surprise box of cards from Kerry of the Cards on Cards blog. 

Kerry sent me a ton of Tigers cards that were on my wantlist, and helped me complete a number of team sets. 

A number of the cards replaced cards that I've gotten autographed that were sold about 5 years ago, including the 1988 Topps Johnny Grubb, 1988 Topps Matt Nokes All-Star, 1989 Bowman Frank Tanana, 1989 Donruss Ted Power, 1989 Fleer Jim Walewander, 1989 Score Larry Herndon, 1989 Topps Steve Searcy, and 1989 Topps Jim Walewander. 

Others were cards that I have already obtained, but were part of my Favorite Player binder. Guys like Cecil Fielder, Phil Clark, Brandon Inge, and in the Rays portion Quinton McCracken, Aubrey Huff, and Elliot Johnson. 

There were a number of cards from sets that I didn't have many cards of, including '93 Upper Deck, '94 Donruss, '96 Stadium Club, '97 Bowman, and '97 Stadium Club. 

Even some cards from the years when I heavily collected ('00-'06, and '10-'11) helped fill in holes in my wantlist. 

For the years where I didn’t open very many packs at all (‘12-‘14), I was lucky enough to get a number of cards to help me out. 

The last time Kerry sent me cards, it had a ton of Rays, and this batch also had some Rays. The ‘06 Topps Huff was especially appreciate, as it helped me complete that set. 

I haven’t seen much of any 2020 product on store shelves, so I am glad that Kerry participated in a lot of group breaks and gets Rays cards from time to time. All of the recent sets were either ones I haven’t opened packs of or even seen packs in the wild (Bowman Sterling and Archives), or ones I was lucky enough to get a hanging box of before shelves went dry (Stadium Club and Series 2). I’ve never been a fan of manufactured relics, but that McKay card is sweet. 

The guys for my Favorite Player binders finish off Kerry’s box. I love the 1990 Upper Deck Cecil Fielder as it almost completes my run of 1990 Cecil Fielder cards. I have his 1990 Bowman, Donruss Best, Topps Traded, and now Upper Deck cards. Don’t know if Fleer Update or Score Traded have him in their sets, but if they do, they shouldn’t be too difficult to pick up. I’m going to try to place an order of COMC during the Black Friday sale and try to finish off my run of Topps Rays sets. I really don’t care that it will take months to ship. It’s to be expected with things the way they are, and it will just give me something to look forward to 6 months down the road. 

Next up are 2 pics of new cards of players I collect. A few of these are newer guys. Basilio Cabrera was a longtime Tigers minor league coach who I’ve met several times, and Kohl Stewart is a Type 1 diabetic like me. I forgot to pull the Gregg Olson no-hitter card from my highlights binder, so that is a new one. 

The Stadium Club cards came from 2 boxes of ‘94 Stadium Club which I recently purchased. The idea was for me to have my son open the packs and the cards would go in my collection, but my wife thought these could be the start to his collection, so we agreed that if he got any doubles, I could have them. Well, it turns out that every pack from Series 1 contained 2 doubles each, so I ended up with a halfway decent stack of cards. The Series 2 box wasn’t as bad. We have had the boxes for a little over a month and there are still about a dozen packs left. The suspense is killing me. So far, he’s pulled a Matt Nokes 1st Day Issue from Series 1, 2 Dugout Dirt Mike Piazzas (do you need one, Night Owl?), Golden Rainbows of Barry Bonds, Piazza, and Cal Ripken, Jr., and Bowman Previews of Ricky Bottalico and Cliff Floyd. I’m still hoping for a 1st Day Issue from Series 2, and a Super Team card from Series 1. I got lucky, and he pulled doubles of Orel Hershiser and Rafael Bournigal, a guy who once drove me home from the YMCA, took a picture with me, and signed some cards for me. 

Ryan Yarbrough is the newest addition to my Favorite Player binder. I somehow didn’t realize he was born in Lakeland, FL, which is where I’ve lived from 1990-2006, and 2009-2012. It means I need to add his 2018-2020 cards to finish my Rays Topps team sets, but I’ve found an extra 2019 card, and I may have another 2018 with my rookie cards. 

This last photo is just some cards that I picked up at my LCS yesterday. Every time I’ve went I wear a mask and wash my hand and I feel pretty safe since I’m usually the only one there. They had a box with some newer cards for 50 cents each. I would be more comfortable paying 10-25 cents each, but with how hard it’s been to find cards, I think 50 might be a steal. The owner of the shop told me that some of these idiot millennial flippers actually know the delivery drivers and call them before they get to the store, so they don’t even get stocked on the shelves and they are gone. There’s a special place in you-know-where for people like that. Leave some for the rest of us. 

Anyways, I just got some shiny cards of Rays, Tigers, and guys I collect. I found a Randy A. Chrome card, so I immediately scooped it up. If I would’ve had more one, I would’ve spent a few hours going through the 3 boxes they had looking for refractors. I’m sure I could’ve found one of Randy A. and probably other stats. There was also a ‘17 Addison Russell World Series highlight card that I will add to my highlight binder. They do these 20-card mystery packs that contain a relic or autograph, so I got one of them. They usually contain junk wax for the rest, but I did get that Diamond Skills Cecil Fielder card. The hit I got was a Kaz Sasaki relic, which is good. Sasaki was a good pitcher and I wonder what would’ve happened had he stayed in the states past 2002. I’m glad I pulled a relic of him. I love relic cards, so I’d be happy if you want to dump some on me. 

If you didn’t know, the 2020 Topps Update checklist is out. I went ahead and updated my 2020 Topps page, and the 2020 Topps and 2020 Topps Update missing player checklists are now complete. I’ve also started adding a few more cards to the 2021 Topps missing player checklist, including some new managers like AJ Hinch and Tony LaRussa, and a few playoff and season highlights cards. 

As far as customs, I still haven’t finished the NL in my 1992 Topps Traded set due to working on the ‘20 checklists, but I’m only 7 cards away, so if all goes well, the NL should be finished by the end of next week. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy