2023 Donruss

 Yesterday I had a pretty decent day. It was the last day off with Kyler on vacation before school, so now that he will need to be picked up at 2:30 after school, no more weekdays of having the hours from 8AM-5PM to myself when I am off work. 2:30 ain't bad either, though. This final one, I basically had the morning free because Kyler had testing for entrance into the gifted program at school at 2. I was able to go through my last 3 teams worth of NL binders and pull out doubles, so I have the entire NL of loose cards sorted and ready to go into binders. Came out to just a little over 2 moster boxes full. 

Karen was able to get off work early, so we drove Kyler to the testing, got an early dinner when he was done, and then went to Wally World to get Karen's oil changed in her car and get groceries. 

I had recieved a unexpected refund check in the mail from one of the companies that handles my insulin pump supplies the day before, and that was nice surprise. I did what any red blooded card collector would, and headed straight towards the card aisle when we walked in the store. I was half hoping the 2023 Topps complete sets would be out, but Wal-Mart surprised me and had blasters of 2023 Donruss among other things. I got one and opened it when I got home.

I was happy with the blaster. Only 1 Ray and no Tigers, but not many Yankee$ or Padre$ either. It seemed like if you got one player in the pack as a parallel, Rated Rookie/Prospect, or 1990 variation, that you would get their other base card in the pack as well.  Good thing I pulled some decent names in the box. 

                                     

The stack on the left is just normal old base cards, and the one on the left are parallels, rookies, and Rays. Not bad at all when the 'special card' pile is as big as the other one. Probably happens maybe twice a year for me. 

                                               

These are the Rays, rookies, and the start of some of the parallel rookies I got. Kyle Manzardo is no longer a Ray, as he was traded to Cleveland in the Aaron Civale deal. A decent 1B prospect gone, and another pitcher for the Rays to ruin getting him to buy into the 'spin rate=good' philosophy. We'll be seeing him starring in 'Tommy John surgery' in 2024, I guarantee it. I kind of wish Donruss would invent their own '1st Donruss card' logo that they could place on cards. There are guys like Soderstrom and others who I know aren't rookies or have even appeared on a Donruss card in seasons past (like Andy Peges), but then others like Eury Perez who appear on the base or 1990 Donruss design, and I don't know if it's a legit rookie card or not. Kind of like someone having a binder full of 2nd year Bowman cards and thinking they are rookie cards. 

I pulled a jersey card of Mariners prospect Gabriel Gonzalez. I thought one of the packs looked a little bigger. I think Griffey must've been a hot pack, because out of 2 packs, I pulled his 1990 base card, the Bomb Squad Rapture card, the Holo Purple Diamond King card, and the Independance Day base card. Like I said earlier, a nice break, and lots of cool parallels. 

With that being said, I had to take a picture of the side of the blaster to remember what the Rapture parallel cards were called and to figure out the exact name of the Purple parallels (Holo Purple). While I am far from having close to every parallel Donruss offers, I have been wanting for some time to list out every parallel (that I have) and naming them along with a picture to go with it in order to help myself and other collectors. Almost want to do the same thing with Bowman, Optic, Mosaic, and Pri(Z/S?)m, but for now, I'll just stick to old fashioned Donruss. I will use TCDB to help me figure some of these out, so if I mislabel any, it's their fault. I will also be using various different year to do this, since I have some parallels only in certain years. 

This Brandon Lowe card is called a 'RED & WHITE STRIPES' parallel. It is numbered to 2021 (the year of the set), but might have just been a 1 and done parallel, as I haven't seen it in the 2023 set listings. 

This Yandy Diaz is called an 'ON FIRE' parallel, and is numbered to 75 every year.

This Adam Frazier is called a 'HOLO RED' parallel, and is numbered to whatever year the set is. 

With the printing technology on this Taylor Walls card, I figured it would be some kind of parallel. It isn't. Go figure. 

This Ken Griffey, Jr. is called an 'INDEPENDENCE DAY' parallel. 

This Eury Perez card is called a 'HOLO CAROLINA BLUE' parallel. There are 'HOLO BLUE' parallels, but they are a darker blue color. 

This Robert Puason card is called a 'RAPTURE' parallel. 

This Craig Biggio card is called a 'HOLO PINK' parallel. They look like red to me, but the 'HOLO RED' parallels are serial #d to the sets year. 

This Ryan McMahon card is called a 'HOLO BLUE' parallel.  They are darker than the 'HOLO CAROLINA BLUE' parallels. 

I guess the Elite Series cards all have this technology on them, the difference is the color behind (or maybe on top) of it. This one is a 'BLUE' parallel. I have a Mike Trout from a different year, which must be just the most common Elite Series version, and it is more silver and #d to 999, I believe. 

The Ozzie Albies card is called a 'VECTOR' parallel card. In my opinion out of all of the unnumbered parallels I've seen, I think it is the nicest looking. 

The Keith Hernandez card is called a 'HOLO ORANGE' parallel. 

The Ronald Acuna, Jr. card is called a 'DIAMOND' parallel. 

The Justin Verlander card is called a 'CRYSTAL' parallel. Not sure if it is a one year only parallel, but I don't think I've seen it in other years. 

I hope this has helped you figure out just what the heck you've pulled from your last box of Donruss cards or what you've got from your last trip to the LCS or card show. This is far from an all-encompasing list, but I hope it has answered a few questions. 

My next 2 posts are almost ready to be written now. The next will be the final winnings from Johnny's Trading Spot's year-long contest. The next one might take a little longer. 

I have always wanted to start a Blog Bat-Around. I've tried a few times, but nobody really cared for the idea or whatever, and it never got anybody else to write a post besides me. I had an idea the other day that I'm going to put out there, and it might not get any love, but at least I can show off some Rays cards. 

Before Shane McClanahan got injured, I had an idea to post my best card of each Rays guy from the 2023 team's starting lineup. For most guys, it was a jersey card or parallel or autographed one. Other guys, it was a card that had sentimental value. Still others, it could've been a rookie card. Heck, a few of them weren't Rays cards. Basically, have a C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, 3 OF, a DH, 5 SP, 2-3 Relievers, and maybe the Manager and some utility guys from this year's team, and show my favorite or best card of them. With the Rays having 4 starters (Baz, Springs, Rasmussen, and now McClanahan) on the DL until 2024 sometime, I figured it would be best to make it be current roster including Disabled List. That might take a little work to write out the Rays position guys and making cuts, but eventually I can have the list done, and I have a general idea of my best card of everyone. Might even do it with the Tigers eventually, too. I figured it might be a fun exercise for guys who collect teams, and maybe for someone into vintage stuff, they could do it for their favorite team (say 2000 Yankee$, 2004 Yankee$, 2003 Yankee$, 1960 Yankee$, you get my drift...). Anyways, that post might take a few weeks to do, but be on a lookout for those 2 posts in the future. 

Thanks for taking the time to check out my latest post.

-Jeremy

2023 Topps Chrome Blaster

 Yesterday we went to a dinosaur themed kids event in Daytona after work. It was cool and Kyler enjoyed it. Before going home, we needed a few things so we stopped at Target. They didn’t have the 2023 Topps complete sets, but they had Heritage, Series 2, and Chrome. I chose a box of Chrome, and hoped it wouldn’t break the bank. 

It was 30 bucks or so, which is probably expensive enough to have me rethink getting another blaster. 

The blaster was pretty good for me as far as teams I collect. Pulled a card of Shane McClanahan (who I wish I could get an update on. If he’s out for the season, just tell us Rays fan so we can start printing the Wild Card Champion banner), and a Sepia Refractor of Drew Rasmussen (another Ray on the injured list. Stop focusing on spin rate!!!!!). The Tigers were nice as well, as I got a card of Javier Baez and a Riley Greene rookie. The refractors were nice. I found what I believe is a Negative Refractor of Anthony Rendon, Pink ones of Nick Castellanos and Manny Machado (ewww!  That will be trade bait!). The Prism-Fractor is former Ray prospect Joe Ryan (who was traded for a 2-month rental of ‘roider Nelson Cruz). I got 2 regular Refractors, those being Christian Yelich and Jose Miranda. The 2nd of my 2 promised Sepia-Fractor was Edwin Diaz. I did get a noteable rookie card (Michael Harris), but forgot to take a picture. 

Overall, I’m happy with it. I was wondering what the design would look like all Chromed out. I think it emphasizes the design elements on the white borders. 

Hopefully I’ll find the complete set on the shelves soon and get that into my box of cards to put into binders soon. If any of the refractors look interesting to you, let me know. 

Thanks for taking the time to read my latest post. 

-Jeremy

Cards from Johnny and a big project

 So a few days ago Night Owl posted about being busy with things and I can relate. Between a doctor appointment, the weekly shopping, yard work, and unplanned things, it feels like I’ve had things to do every day this week. This week should be a bit slower, and with it being the last week with a few hours of the house to myself before Kyler goes back to school, I hope to take advantage of it. 

It’s been a good with with everything. My doctors appointment went fairly well and I think I am going to make some good ground with getting my diabetes under tighter control. Today I helped my friend John paint a stairwell at a building our church owns, and it was nice talking with him and it will be nice to see something that I helped paint every Sunday. 

I also got to scan some cards into TCDB thanks to John from Johnny’s Trading Spot. I won last Fridays daily giveaway I believe, and got some cards in the mail this week. 

I got 4 Paul DeJong’s from 2018 Topps High Tek. Not knowing much about that set, I learned that there are 4 patterns from TCDB, so I completed the base patterns for Paul, who is now a Blue Jay. While I wish him well, I hope Tampa gets past the Jays if they end up facing them in the playoffs. Speaking of Tampa, I got 2 Rays from this years Heritage set, Luis Patino and David Peralta. I think I’m just missing the SPs from the set as far as the Rays team set. The last 3 cards are Tigers from 2017 Topps High Tek, and there was also a 1983 Tigers team schedule thrown in. I have a few different schedules in my collection, and I try to get them any time I’m at a stadium. Since I organize my binders by year, I put the schedule in the front of that years cards. Thanks John for all of the cards. Your contests have been an innovative thing for blogs, something many people including myself have looked forward to, and just showcase your generosity and how good of a person you are. 

I managed to go through 1 or 2 more teams and pull the doubles out of my monster boxes, and just have the Padre$, Giants, and Nationals to go through, and that will finish out the NL. After that, I might take a break from sorting for a month or two (although I plan on getting the 2023 Topps complete set and at least pulling out pc guys, Tigers, Rays, rookies, highlights, and sunset cards).  There was a new Sunset card added to the list today as Cole Hamels called it a career, making his 2021 Topps card a Sunset card. 

The reason I am taking a little bit of a break from the much needed sorting is that I’ve been commissioned to make a ton of customs. While I can’t go n to much detail, it’s basically 40-50 40 card sets (2,000 or so cards) front and back. I’ve been working on this project for over a year, but after not getting an email from my contact about half a year, I just figured they went in another direction. So I got an email a month or so ago, and the project was back on, and that would’ve been great, but my laptop crashed like 6 months ago. I made the entire 40 card set, and saved it on that laptop, and had templates that allowed me to print 6 cards at 2.5 by 3.5 inches, the standard card size. I would’ve just had to edit maybe 10 cards and I could’ve been on the printing process right now. With my new laptop, I have to recreate all the templates (did it), make the set (finished the first 1 cards), and make a good template that will allow me to print a standard sized card (got one going right now, but it makes them a tad short). Seems like this laptop and the version of MS Paint that it had just doesn’t want to let me copy something from an email or website and keep it the same size. 

I should have a halfway easy time finishing the final 30 cards, but I’m a little nervous at the process after that.  I need to print basically 4,000 cards (2,000 fronts and 2,000 backs), cut them out, glue them together, and then probably cut off any excess paper. I don’t know how long the process will take, and I kind of have a deadline in the next month or so. I’m also a tad nervous on how many times I’m going to have to replace the ink cartridge. While not going into specifics on what I’m being paid, I’m not sure if it will cover the ink and glue. Let’s say I can print 50 cards front and back with 1 ink cartridge, that’s still 40 times I have to buy ink. I might have to do some math when I start printing and see what I come up with but I hope I’m wrong. 

This is a big project, and it’s something I really want to be a part of, it would be something I would love to put on my resume, and it
could open doors for other projects. I’ve done a few noteable things in life that I’m proud of. I played keyboard for Kim Grieves at a Battle of he Bands at Wet & Wild waterpark, and the music was broadcast all over the entire park (probably the most people who have ever heard me play). 

I’ve performed 3 of my original songs with a band while opening for a band called Thalon in 2008.

 I played on the same stage as one of my favorite bands, MuteMath in 2010. 

I wrote a short devotional passage for a Christmas devotional for our church 2 years ago, which also contained one written by Gigi Graham (one of Billy Graham’s kids). I guess she has been to our church at various times of her life, and who knows, if she wrote for it, she probably read it, and perhaps something I tried to make a message out of could’ve touched her life. Back to the noteable things, I dated a girl who was hot and talented enough to be a backup dancer in the ‘Step Up 2’ movie. There are many other things that I’m proud of, I need to remember to write them all down. Better than all of those, I married Karen, and had a son. Other than the last 2, doing this project is big enough to maybe top those. I’ll update everyone on how it goes, and eventually I’m going to do a big post and let the cat out of the bag. I will also soon be able to get back to sorting, and it will get back to normal. 

Life has the ebbs and flows of being busy and having free time, and you just have to go with it and not freak out during the busy times. I’ll still get cards and make a little time for them, then soon enough it will be slow again, and I’ll be organizing my butt off again. Then holidays will come, it will be crazy, and by the middle of January, it will be slow. The only constants will be family and baseball cards. 

Where I’m at with the sorting and cards from Johnny

 Today I was finally able to finish organizing the NL cards from the huge lot the Johnny gifted me. I went through all of the Topps cards and uploaded new ones to TCDB and set aside dupes. I still want to go through my binders and pull out non-Topps dupes in order to conserve space for the forthcoming AL sorting, but other than that, the NL is all sorted and combined with my box of cards I’ve acquired in the last few years that needs to go into binders. 

Those cards from the last few years include a number of complete sets (‘85-‘95 Topps Traded, ‘99 Topps Traded, 1991 Topps, 1993-1995 Topps, 1997-1999 Topps, 2021 and 2022 Topps, 2021-2022 Topps Update, 1990-1992 Topps Debut, and 1991 Score Traded. A number of those sets have doubles that I have in binders, so that’s another reason why I want to go through my binders and weed everything out. The NL boxes stand at 3 monster boxes, maybe I can get it down to 2 or 2 and 1/2. 

Next step in my master plan is to separate all the AL cards from Johnny by team. After that, I’ll organize them by year, and then enter all of the Oriole and Red Sox Topps cards into TCDB. That will catch me up as far as all of the AL teams that I’ve entered Topps cards into the site for. Stay with me as the next step is tricky. I’ll take the next AL team (Chicago White Sox, as I organize them alphabetically by city) and go through my binder and enter all the Topps cards into TCDB, while also going through my organized AL box and culling out all of the dupes and entering Topps cards that I find in there. I’ll do that with the rest of the AL teams, and then the last step before putting some the loose cards into binders. 

I’ve done a pretty good job of pulling out multi player/multi team cards and sorting them by years and number. The plan is to put those cards in whatever team the best player is with. If I have multiple cards, I’ll put it with the next best players team. I also want to make a physical typed out list of all of my Topps needs by then as well so I can highlight a card once I’ve acquired it. Probably add the lists on this site as well. By that time, I’ll probably start entering my non-Topps cards into TCDB. It will also be easier for me once the non-Topps stuff is entered because if I get a random pack of cards, as long as I enter everything on the site, everything will be current. Might make this long, arduous process worth it. Almost forgot to mention some sets that are coming out that I might have to add to the boxes soon. For one, the 2023 Topps set was scheduled to release on August 2 last time I checked. I’ll sort those by teams and input them once I get my hands on a set. I also noticed that 2023 Topps Chrome is either out now or by the end of the month. Is Topps Chrome out that early every year?  I always thought it came out in like September or October around the time when Update comes out. I’m ok with it coming out earlier, but just hope it doesn’t mean that Topps just killed Opening Day and other issues just to get higher end stuff out earlier. I want Opening Day back in 2024 and not a SP filled version of Big League geared towards flippers. I guess we’ll see in 2024. 

Living so close to Johnny means that if I am lucky enough to win one of his daily contests, that I receive the cards relatively fast, sometimes before the next post is up if I win on a Friday. That was the case this week as I won last Friday and had an envelope of cards in my mailbox on Monday before the post was up that said I won. 

A bunch of Rays and a Tiger card, which was my first dose of the 2023 Bowman Mojo Mega Box refractors or whatever they are calling those refractor cards that have the almost Diamond plate pattern. The Glasnow card might have completed my 2021 Topps Chrome Sonic Rays set. Once my Topps cards are input, I’m going to input my Rays binders non-Topps stuff first. I’ll be real interested in how many sets I’ve completed and what players I have the most cards of. The Boggs is my first 2023 Donruss card, and the rest are nice Rays cards I believe I have but will be able to throw in my rookie card binder. I’m especially happy with the KK Update rookie and the Baz Bowmans Best rookie. 

Thanks for the nice cards, Johnny. 

That’s about it for me. Now I have to just figure out a way to balance all of the organizing, sorting, and list making along with all of the daily chores and hanging out with family. With this, I just need to enjoy the process and not rush it. It will eventually get finished and I’ll have something new to chase and I will be able to know my Topps needs. 

Thanks for taking the time to read my latest post. 

-Jeremy

Lessons learned

 A few days before leaving for vacation, John from Johnny’s Trading Spot contacted me and let me know that he just acquired a huge junk wax lot and I could have it since he knew I was collecting a number of Topps sets, including junk era ones. All I had to do was drive to Ocala and pick them up. My first off day during the week we got back, I was able to head up there, and I was blown away with the sheer amount of cards. 5-6 monster boxes, 3 other boxes packed full of cards, and about 15 albums full of cards. 

We’ve been back for a month, and Ive been sorting cards for about an hour a day after work on weekdays and most of the days during off days, and Ive separated the AL from NL cards, separated all the NL teams, separated the D-Backs, Braves, Cubs, Reds, Rockies, Marlins, and Astros into years, and took out duplicates and added to my ‘ready to put into binders box’ with the D-Backs, Braves, Cubs, Reds, Rockies, and Astros. I expect it to take another month or 2 to have all the new cards added to my ready for binder box, and then it’s back to inputting Topps cards to TCDB for the last 9 or so AL teams. 

Kyler has had fun helping me sort cards into teams, but he enjoys looking at the backs and finding funny player names, finding birthdays close to his, and finding cities where players were born that he has been to a lot more than actually sorting the cards into teams. 

John mentioned that these cards would be a lesson to me to always look for a better deal and not to jump on the first thing I could find. As many of you know, I’ve purchased a few junk wax sets on eBay and Goodwill Finds. The eBay ones were mostly good deals, I think, but the 1991 and 1993  Topps sets I got on Goodwill finds was probably a bad deal. While they had a low price, the shipping cost me. With the price that John paid for the lot, I would’ve got a lot more. 

Among the cards in the lot were a partial 1981 Topps set, a number of 1982 and 1983 Topps cards, a partial 1993 Topps set, a complete 1994 Topps set, a partial 1988 Topps set, and that was just the Topps stuff. Among partial non-Topps sets, were 1994 Stadium Club, 1993 Fleer, 1991 Score Traded, 1994 Flair, 1994 Select, 1995 Studio, 1995 Summit, 1994 Leaf, 1994 Donruss, 1995 Collectors Choice, 1995 Upper Deck, 1995 Upper Deck Special Edition, and I’m sure I’m missing 1 or 2 others. That was just stuff in binders. The stuff in boxes was also everything you could think of. I found a 1969 Topps Ron Santo and stuff as current as 2022 Bowman. A few rookies, a handful of serial numbered cards, and a good amount of parallels were included. 

Let me just stop right here and show you how whomever originally got these cards out of packs sorted them in his binders. It was very thought provoking for me, and if I didn’t already double bag my cards, this might be the way to go for me. 

Here is a standard page from one of the binders. Your standard 1995 Collectors Choice page, not double bagged, so you would expect to see the backs on the reverse side, but on some you don’t. Why could this be?

Well, whomever got these cards out of packs stored them in numerical order, and if he pulled a parallel of a card, he put them on the reverse side of the card. A really cool idea on how to store parallels, especially if you are going for a parallel set. This guy actually did me a favor by not double bagging, as I’ll have a number of pages (and binders) to store cards in when I get everything sorted out in the coming months. 

There were so many cool cards, too many to show, but just know I have a bunch of new Tigers, at least 1 or 2 new cards for just about everyone in my Favorite Player Collection, and only in a year or 2 when I get all of my cards uploaded to COMC will I be able to finally close the book on this massive haul, and I suspect I will have many junk wax sets (not just Topps) completed or missing just a handful of cards. I would venture to say that my favorite card from the group was this 2009 Topps Pirates team set card of PNC Park. It came just days after seeing a game at the beautiful stadium, and you can bet I’m going to put the date and Karen, Kyler, and the Dickenson’s names on the card. 

These are just a taste of some of the parallels and noteable cards. I had never pulled the Smoltz MVP error after at least 3 boxes worth of ‘90 Donruss packs opened. Now I have at least 3. I found some ‘98 Score Platinum Team cards, and a low #d 2003 Donruss Classics card. Not at all what I expected from a junk wax lot. 

While on the subject of ‘giveaways’ from Johnny’s Trading Spot, I figured this would be a good chance to show the 2 envelopes I got for winning 2 days of his giveaways. 

Some shiny Tigers and a spattering of Bowman Rays. I wish the Rays would call up Mead and install him somewhere in the lineup. Maybe have him DH and put Ramirez, Lowe, or whoever would normally DH in RF and trade Margot away for pitching. God knows with the Rays obsession with spin rate that we will lose at least 1 more starter this year. Here’s hoping Shane Baz can come back before October. 

Well, with all of those sets I acquired, I easily ended up with close to a few duplicate sets. Ones I wouldn’t have had to pay money for if I had been patient. That wasn’t the only lesson I learned. 

While I was at John’s hanging out after picking up the cards, I’m not gonna lie, I got he urge to dig through some of his trade card boxes like I had the last time I came over. Not just being content with the huge lot of cards he generously purchased and gave to me for free, I asked him if he would mind if I dug through any of his trade boxes if he had any accessible. He told me it probably wouldn’t be possible, but kindly let me dig through some Rays he has in the trade box for winners of the blog contest. I want to apologize to you, John, for being greedy and taking advantage of your generosity. I should’ve been happy with what you gave me and not pushed the issue. You taught me a lesson to be patient with card prices, especially junk era, and I hope I can learn another lesson and not be so greedy with cards and be happy with what I have, especially if I get them for nothing. 

I expect as soon as I can update the rest of my AL teams Topps cards, that I will make lists of what I am missing just so I can know if I am close to finishing any sets. Maybe a Just Commons order will be in my future in a year or so. Then I will start with every binder I have and upload my non-Topps cards into TCDB. It will be fun to look at the stats when I am done to see which player I have the most cards of and things like that. It will be cool to do some trades as well. Be sure I’m pulling cards as I see them to trade to some of you bloggers. Not sure when I’ll send stuff out, but I do have some stacks going. 

Thanks John, for the great hoard of cards that you so graciously bestowed on me. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. 

Thanks for taking the time to read my latest post. 

-Jeremy

Vacation part 2

 We got to DC on a Wednesday night I believe, and the next day we went to tour the White House. I thought it was going to be a nice tour where you get some time to look at everything and see some stuff up close, but it seemed like they just wanted to get people in and get them out. Secret service was everywhere, which I figured would be the case. Karen said the tours before 9-11 and the 2021 riots were a lot more friendly, so I can understand why it was like it was. We got to the White House visitor center first and the info person there told us where to go for the tour.  While there, I found a place that had stamps you could stamp paper with that had different White House things and the date. As many of you know, any time I go to a historical place or a baseball stadium, if I have a card of the place, I write the date that I visited the place on it, and note who I was with. I have an Allen & Ginter mini insert of the White House which I took with me on the trip, and I figured why not stamp it on the back, as well as mark it with the date and Karen & Kylers names on the front. I haven’t got around to marking the front, but here’s how it looks now. 

The stamp didn’t come out as clear as I had hoped, but if you squint, you can see the date and White House info on it. I also found a cool card relating to my trip to the Pirates game from the big junk wax lot that John for Johnny’s Trading Spot so graciously let me have. You will have to wait for that as I am doing that bunch of cards in at least its own post, maybe 2-3. 

Before the tour, we waited in line to go through security, and we saw the Presidents Motorcade leave the White House. That was kind of cool. While close to the security area, Karen mentioned that the building next to the White House was the Treasury building or something. She lived in DC for a few years in high school. Later, during the tour, there was a picture of a president on a wall, and Kyler had been fascinated with presidents for a while and has a placemat with all of them on it. Kyler said he thought the painting was on McKinley, and the secret service agent in the room said he was correct. Kind of cool to have secret service tell my wife and son that they were right. I hang out with cool company. 

At the first part of the tour, we saw a garden through a window. There was a guy in a suit talking on the phone, and he had a leash and was kind of watching the dog (who was off the leash).  We think it might have been the presidents dog, but still aren’t sure. 

We got a picture near the exit before leaving. 

Before we went back to the hotel, we stopped by Karens old church and toured the building. 

The next day, we were just tired, and stayed in the room most of the day and hung out. 

Saturday we went to the National Zoo. It was pretty hot, and we got off to a late start, so we only spent a few hours there. 

Sunday was Fathers Day, and we took the Metro to the Nats-Marlins game. Riding the Metro, we ran into some bums, tourists, and just your normal subway riders. 

I think he was looking for some Jedi, but fortunately for us, we didn’t see any there. 

We got to the game as the doors opened, and I was impressed with the stadium. A block or 2 away from the park, it was just like a block party. Streets were blocked off, people were selling snacks and Nats stuff from tables on the steeet, and Nats gear was everywhere. Why can’t the Rays do this in St. Pete? Inside the park, it almost looked like some outside features were on the inside. Ticket sales had a few windows and looked like something you could see outside a ballpark. 

We rushed to our seat area and I got down to business, which was to try to meet DeLand native and Marlins catcher Nick Fortes. We made a sign that said we drove from DeLand to see him play, and luckily for us, he was the first person out of the dugout. He saw our sign and came over. I mentioned I live in DeLand and he asked what we were doing in DC. I told him we were on vacation and he signed a card for us. 

He was a really nice guy, and I think he would’ve signed without us having the sign, as he stopped for a few other fans. Needless to say, I am collecting him and hope he gets in some 2023 sets. I got a few pictures of him warning up and playing. He went 2-4 with 2 hits, an RBI, and a run. 

We left the game in the 4th or so. It was just so freaking hot in our section. I got a shot of the field on the way out. 

After the game, we were tired, but decided to see the Lincoln Memorial since we were in DC for just the rest of Sunday and were leaving Monday. 

We ended up parking closer to the Washington Monument, so went over to it first. Karen had seen all of the touristy things multiple times, so she took pictures of me and Kyler and stayed back for some of the places. Here is me and Ky at the Washington Monument. 

After that, we walked the length of the reflecting pool and went to the Lincoln Memorial. We probably walked 3 miles that day between the historic sites and the ballgame, but it was worth it. 

That wraps up our vacation. We drove home Monday and I spent Tuesday unpacking and mowing our front yard as it was so long it was starting to attract cows. Wednesday I was off, and that gave me the chance to head over to Ocala and pick up that huge lot of junk wax cards from John. Words cannot express how lucky and grateful I am that John not only got the cards for me, but also let me rummage through his trade box for some Rays cards. That will be the subject of the next post or three. It’s a ton of cards, but I just want to do it justice. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy

Vacation Part 1

 I have been back from vacation for a few days, and we did a lot, but had a great time. There were a number of baseball things during the trip, and of course, baseball cards. 

We left DeLand on a Friday after I got off work, and stopped somewhere in North Carolina for the night. The next day, we drove to West Virginia and saw 2 of Karens cousins before going in for the night. That Sunday was a Pirates-Mets game at PNC Park. I have so many great things to say about not only PNC Park, but also the city of Pittsburgh. I would almost think about moving there if it weren’t so cold in the winter. A pro-union city, a beautiful park, a beautiful city, rivers, bridges, hills…it just seemed great. Driving into the city, we went through a tunnel that went under a mountain. Coming out of it, you are met with the beautiful city skyline, rivers, a few bridges, the other side of the hill, and it was just spectacular. We got to the park, and it was also spectacular. Every seat was angled to the mound so you had a great view of the game, and seeing the other seats angle from our view in LF was different. 

I wanted to see the Pirate Parrot and try to get Manny Sanguillen’s autograph, so before the game started, I took Kyler to walk around the park. We never did find the Parrot, but found Manny’s BBQ stand after walking around the outfield area. It was a nice area. There were some playground areas and toys for the kids, you could see the Allegheny River from the entire OF area, and there were tables where you could sit and watch the river/game, some food and bar areas, and some statues, just a great way to have a park layed out. 

By the time we found the BBQ stand, I was hungry and the game had started. I got in line and spotted Manny getting out of a walker and going to a table with markers. I got a 15 dollar macaroni and while I was paying, Andrew McCutchen came up. He was somehow still at 1,999 hits. I should’ve looked for a TV or just got out of line and walked the 6 feet past the stand so I could watch his AB, but I didn’t, and of course, he got the hit right then. Karen got some video of him running to 2nd and I believe she got a pic of him before the AB, but I would’ve loved to have seen it. 

After I paid, I noticed a TV at the BBQ stand where I could’ve seen it, and also noticed that Manny was gone. There was a line by his table, so I just decided to wait. He came back after 30 minutes and signed my cards.  

My first Topps sunset card signed since I started collecting them. 

We had some friends, the Dickinson’s, that we have known for a little over 10 years. They went to our church in DeLand, and moved back to Pittsburgh, where they are from, about 6 years ago.  Karen Dickinson played guitar in our band at church, and her husband John is hilariously funny. They have a son Calvin, who just had a baby, and a younger daughter Gracie, who couldn’t make the trip. They met up with us at the game, and took us up to a nice lookout point in the city, and then to a local restaurant. I spent most of the day talking sports with John and Calvin, and also got some nice facts about the city. Karen caught up with Karen (lol), and Kyler entertained the whole crew. 

The crew at PNC Park 

At the lookout point. 

The next day, we drove to Niagara Falls, and had a chill day. We stopped at a Target, and I got a blaster of Heritage. I was a little disappointed with the collation (between 2 blasters and a 10 pack box, I got triples of a few cards, and doubles of 2 inserts), and noticed that SPs were a little tougher to pull and that every 4th or 5th pack didn’t have an insert of any kind. I’ll cut to the chase and post the highlights of the Heritage cards. 

I got 3 of the Blue Sparkle cards, but those are going in trades, so I just shown the 1. I pulled a Brandon Crawford relic, which was kind of meh for me. He was on that overrated Giants team that beat my Tigers in the World Series. There was a guy with a Crawford jersey at the Nats game I went to. I wish I would’ve had it with me, cause I would’ve just given it to the guy. I pulled a few flashback cards, and like 3 of whatever the rookie inserts were called. Those are the SPs, which are probably going to go to Night Owl if he is going for the complete set. 

The Falls were incredible up close. We got soaked while riding the Maid of the Mist. 

After 3 days in Niagara, we drove to Washington DC on the 14th, which also was my 40th birthday. We arrived in DC, and met up with Karens old plaster from Virginia and his wife. They took us out on their boat. They lived in this nice community which featured many empty nesters and had nice little restaurants and shops in it. I would love to move to a place like that later in life. It had everything you needed in the village within walking distance, and was along a beautiful lake. 

There was a little outside stage area and it had a big ‘LOVE’ sign and we got our picture in it. 

The next day, we went to see the White House. I will stop here as it was a long trip and so many things, so I don’t want to drag this on. 

It’s good to be back home and in a routine, even if it does include work. I think all of us are refreshed and with some great memories. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy