More Help With the PC (and some mystery items)

     I've been working on the Evan Carter PC for about a year now, and while I can't say it's big (yet), I've gotten some sweet new additions for it, including two more from the biggest contributor of the PC, Johnny's Trading Spot. He sent me a package that arrived several days ago, full with lovely cards.

    

    I really like both of these cards. My LCS doesn't carry very many A&G cards that I know of, so I don't get my hands on very many. 

    The picture for the left-hand card really doesn't do it justice. It's a wonderfully vivid card, and of course, it's very shiny. These two cards are going straight into top loaders and then the PC box. Thank you!

    Now, this may have been the end of the post is John hadn't sent me a smorgasbord of other Rangers cards.

    Four more Rangers from the 2024 Topps Big League set. I'm really glad that the team kept Eovaldi around for the next three years. Hopefully he and Jacob deGrom can throw a pretty one-two punch. I hope Jonah Heim can rebound also after an abysmal 2024 season. 

    I'm remaining in 2024 with Topps Chrome Justin Foscue. Chrome and 2024 Topps looks like they were meant to be. They look so good together. I'm gonna miss the 2024 design. 

    Next we have a tiny little Josh Jung. I didn't mess with the size of the image to bring the point across. Though the card is small, I actually really like it; it looks old. I hope that Josh Jung can have a fully healthy season in 2025 that includes no hand breaking.

    I didn't know this at first, but this is a member of Topps Big League, so I probably should have put it with his quartet of friends earlier. Oh well. Die cut cards are so interesting to me. The first one I got was Steve Carlton from 2022 Topps, and my reaction was, 'It looks like they gave a two-year old scissors!' This card doesn't quite look like that. I like this one a lot, with the baseball directing the cutting on the card. It looks really nice.

    This is a last of the 2024 Cards(?). I think we all agree (from reading other blogs) that Topps did a really good job on their 2024 Holiday design. The Corey Seager ornament is fantastic. Besides just looking amazing, it also has a glorious shine to it, which makes it even more appealing. 

    This is 10 wonderful cards. And yet we're not done with this package! The generosity is really quite unbelievable. 

    This card looks like it came straight out of the '90s.....which would make sense since it's 2022 Bowman Heritiage -- based on the 1994 Bowman design. I wonder who the catcher is.

    The Lone Not-Ranger. I had to do my research on Spook Jacobs, because I did not know who he was. Jacobs was a second-baseman who played from 1954-1956 with the Athletics and Pirates (he played with both the Philadelphia and Kansas City Athletics). Before he played in the Majors, spook was a sergeant in World War II. Apparently a sportswriter gave him the nickname. Spook played 14 seasons and 1735 games in the minor leagues, where he slashed .300/.383/.364 with 1162 runs. He hit 9 home runs in the minors.

    Well that was a fun three minutes of research. Spook seemed to be a pretty cool guy. He died in 2011 at the age of 85.

    This is a cool little box full of near 35-year old bubblegum. I've chewed 1990s gum before (in the 2020s), but I don't think I'll be chewing this one any time soon. The box is really cool; that's my favorite Rangers logo. I actually really like this. I would not complain if this were a thing again. However, there's probably some law regarding food-borne illness which wouldn't let it slide.

    A huge thank you to John for all the amazing new cards! His generosity is shocking. I had never seen some of these before, but I really like each and every item inside this package. 

    Thank you all for reading, have a great rest of the week, and happy collecting! I'll catch y'all later.

    This post featured almost completely Rangers cards. While I'm on the subject of the Rangers (which it seems I almost always am), I have started yet another new blog. This one was the result of being turned down from a writing job. In my hopes of one day reapplying for that job, I've started Rangers Nation. This blog will feature bi-weekly posts on the Rangers upcoming 2025 season. I'm trying to keep the quality of writing on that blog to a peak, although it probably won't stay that way very long (once I get into rants and the like). If there are Rangers fans among us, you can go ahead and check it out. Or, if you're just interested, I won't turn you away.

A PWE From Angels in Order

     I've been getting a lot of PWEs recently. It's surprising me, but I'll never complain about getting cards. Just yesterday I received two packages of cards from fellow card bloggers, and will devote a post to each of them.

    About a week ago, The Angels in Order held a giveaway on his blog. I was glad to see that he had plenty of Rangers cards to give away, and so I claimed a couple of those, as well as a few other cards that peaked my interest. 

    For reference, the beige spot on Pudge's card is the table I set the card while photographing it. I guess there was a sort of token on the card (for lack of a better word) which is no longer with us. Still a cool card.

    This is a really nice looking card from 2013 Topps Archives. Joe Nathan is one of the better closers of the last 30 years. In his 16-year career he racked up 377 saves while pitching to a 2.87 ERA. He was an all-star seven times, and finished fourth in Cy Young Award voting in 2004 when he saved 44 games with a 1.62 ERA. Nathan played three seasons with the Rangers, from 2012-2014, and the year this card is from was arguably the best of his career (1.39 ERA, 43 saves).

    I saw the Choo Choo Coleman card on somebody's blog (I don't remember which one), and it instantly grew on me. When I saw it in the giveaway, I was absolutely stoked and claimed it. Coleman played four years in the big leagues (1961-1963, 1966). The catcher batted .197 in 462 at-bats. 

    Come on, you have to claim an Angel from Angels in Order. And who better than soon-to-be Hall of Fame member Albert Pujols? And a gold parallel. This guy was extraordinary. It's still crazy to think that he hit more home runs than Willie Mays. If he's not a unanimous first-ballot Hall of Fame vote, they're gonna have to keep me (and probably an army of people) away from whoever didn't vote for him.

    Next we've got a pair of poorly-cropped braves. I think I had seen the Glavine before, and it's a really nice card. Ledezma's card is also interesting. The uneven white bordering on the bottom made it such a pain to photograph (which is why scanners are nice). At first I thought Ledezma's revenge had to do with a comeback season, but no it was this instead: 

    Ouch Detroit. That stings a little bit.

    And finally, things are finished with a new member of Cooperstown in Ichiro. 2007 Topps is one of my favorite designs, and the white design on the Opening Day set  actually looks really nice. I was wondering how the bright green back of the card fares with the white...

    Not quite as well.

    That'll do it for the cards I got. Thank you Tom of The Angels in Order for the great cards! And thank you all for reading my blog. Have a great weekend, and happy collecting!

Bad Reviews

     I've referred to a friend before (named Bobby) who sold me an Evan Carter rookie card. Well, he did it again just over a week ago, this time a pair of cards costing only a dollar.

    I really like the designs of this card. Topps did well on their Holiday design for 2024, which is usually a design I kinda ignore because they look the same every year. They did a good job making it different and appealing.

      I had no idea what the right-hand card was, and a couple minutes of research led me to figure out that it's set is Topps Chrome Cosmic Stars in the Night (a bit of a mouth full). It's a great-looking card in hand with very good artwork. One of the corners is just slightly beaten up, but still a great deal in my eyes.

    The post is titled the way it is because the night after I got the cards, I emailed him and jokingly said that I wasn't satisfied with my purchase. 

    I don't particularly like ordering cards online, so it's nice to get a good deal on cards from a friend who knows what I like. For just a dollar, I'm more than happy to add these to my growing Evan Carter PC. Hopefully I can continue adding to it and make it pretty large (right now it's my third largest PC, and not that big, to be frank). Thanks for the cards Bobby! They are much appreciated.

    While I'm on the topic of Carter, I have all the marbles on a breakout 2025 campaign. I really hope this happens; we've seen what he can do and it would be a shame to see all that talent go down the drain. Also, the Rangers might be in a little bit of trouble regardless of whether we have a performing Carter or not, so they could use him if they want a chance at a playoff run. The seasons starts in March -- it isn't too far away. We'll just have to wait and see what becomes of him.

    Y'all have a great rest of the week, thank you for reading, and happy collecting!

Paul Skenes and a Set Build

    If you wanna know who won the first annual blogoversary contest, you have to sit through this post and wait until the end :)

    A few weeks ago The Diamond King generously gave away 2024 Bowman Paul Skenes cards. So I claimed one. I got his PWE a little over a week ago and checked out the goodies inside. 

    This is the first Paul Skenes card I've ever owned. It's a sharp-looking card, and with my affinity for shininess, it doesn't disappoint. I wonder how Paul is going to fare in 2025; the league has already seen him once, but his stuff is other-worldly. What do y'all think?

    Now, in addition to this awesome card, The Diamond king also threw in a few cards for my extremely slowly progressing 2024 Topps Chrome Strokes build -- very generous.

    I now have five of the 25 cards, and all of them have come from The Diamond King. I'm trying to complete as much of the set as possible without buying cards online, and that proves to be an extremely slow process. But here I have received over 15% of the entire thing! Quite a nice and unexpected gift.

    So thank you to The Diamond King for the awesome cards! I feel like I've been thanking him a lot lately (this is the third post in a month where I've thanked him for cards). I still need to do my countdown the serial-numbered cards he gave me, but I keep forgetting. That'll be a project for the next week or two.

    Thank y'all for reading, have a great weekend, and happy collecting!

    Don't forget, I must announce the winner of my first Blogoversary's contest. I'm hoping to do a giveaway every year for the blog's birthday. Anyway, the winner, the first to have his name landed upon three times by the spinny wheel is.....

    Now John, if you could email me your shipping address, you can send it to doncardwellblog AT gmail DOT com, and I will get the cards sent out to you soon.

My First Blogoversary!

    127 posts ago, I had no idea that I'd still be around. But it's been a year, and we're still alive, so I guess that's victory number one.

    In my twelve months of blogging, I've posted 127 times, have 13,865 views, 16 followers, and 482 comments. Not too shabby by my standards.

    I never thought I'd still be posting on the blog a whole year after starting it up, but boy, am I glad I'm still here. Card-blogging has been a very pleasant hobby thus far, and I'm looking forward to year two!

    This first year has been eventful for me. I've made a few trades, sent out a few PWEs, received a few, won a couple contests, had computer problems, made excuses about them, and figured out how to fix them for good. I've also written some extremely corny posts in the process.

    Hopefully year two will have some better posts. I know that my collection is very small compared to y'all, and it won't help that I probably won't be buying up as many cards this year, due to life; there are some foreseeable events in the near future that will be taking up a lot of what would usually be my card money (there'll be a post on one of those events in a few weeks). 

    Also, rather than over 120 posts, I think I'll lower my standard a little bit this year. Things will be getting busier, and I want to take more time to write quality posts (takes a short time to scoff at myself, like that'll ever happen). Twice a week is still over 100, so I'll shoot for somewhere around 70-100.

    When I first started up the card blog, I knew very little about cards in general. I was just a guy who liked collecting them (especially the shiny ones) and trading. Then, after making a joke on my old blog, I started Don Cardwell with no idea of what I was doing. I also had some inspiration from The Diamond King and The Lost Collector, who I had read before starting my blog. I had actually emailed AJ of The Lost Collector when I first started Don Cardwell, and he sent me a really nice welcome email.

    I wasn't planning to keep my blog around for too long (if I were, I would've given it a better name). But the day I made my first post, I got a comment and a follower. And then a torrent more came. And then I decided to stay (to make the story brief)  Thank you to all who took the time to read and comment on my blog. 

    Thank you also to those who made trades with me. I don't usually trade by mail, but I've made a few since starting the blog, and expect to continue making them. I've also received some generous gifts, as well as trades that have seemed like generous gifts. The card-blogging community is a great one, I've learned. Y'all are so generous.

    Anyway, I'm keeping Don Cardwell around until I can't anymore. And hopefully that doesn't happen for a while. Of course, with fewer cards coming in in 2025, I'll have to improvise a little bit, but it can be done. Once more, thank y'all for the support and generosity over year one, and I'm looking forward to year two!

    

THE CONTEST

    Alright, now for the fun part. I've got a few cards to be given away as a prize to one winner. It's probably not the greatest of giveaways, but all things in time.

    Firstly, this contest is open to anybody who wants to comment on this post. It doesn't matter even if this is the first post of mine you've ever read. I'm not discounting you for waiting a year to read my blog :)

    Secondly, you have to comment. After all, how else will I be able to tell that you've entered? And also, you have to comment by noon (central time) on Sunday the 26th if you'd like to enter (I will not post again until then).

    Thirdly, in your comment I would like to know a favorite sports memory of yours. It could be anything -- from a great hot dog you had at Wrigley Field, to the time when you coughed up your popcorn laughing at the demise of your rival team, to the time you met your wife in the stands of a Brewers game (I haven't the slightest idea if that happened, but what the heck?). This is not obligatory, but I would be interested anyway.

    And finally, using the Whimsical Spinny Wheel (as provided by Wheel of Names), the winner will be decided, him being the one whose name is chosen thrice.

    And now, I shall show off all the junk-- I mean, prizes, of course, to be dumped (awarded) upon the winner of this contest. 

Two lovely 2024 Topps Chrome Cosmic cards of players on my rival team...

A couple other miscellaneous chrome cards (2024 Bowman 1st & 2023 Topps Anniversary)...

A couple autos of former Rangers prospects (pardon the blurs: they are Anderson Tejeda and A.J. Alexy)...

A few beautiful 2022 Panini Mosaic cards...

And finally....

An un-opened pack of 2024 Topps Update

    And of course, all penny sleeves and top loaders are part of the prize.

    Well, that about wraps up all I intended to cover today. Thanks for everything in year one, and here's to year two! And of course, have a great rest of the week, and....

Happy Collecting!!!

Although I didn't coin the term (who was the first card-blogger to use that?)...

Pete Crow-Armstrong in 200 Words

The first thing that you notice when you watch Pete Crow-Armstrong is his ridiculous speed. He hit an inside-the-park home run in 2024, taking just 14 seconds to round the bases. But besides being a formidable baserunner, PCA also sports an elite glove in centerfield and can provide pop with the bat. Crow-Armstrong is the son of two Hollywood Actors in Matthew John Armstrong and Ashley Crow, but instead of making national television in a sitcom, he did it on a ball field. Crow-Armstrong was born on March 25, 2002 in Sherman Oaks, California. He was drafted 19th overall by the Mets in the 2020 MLB June Amateur Draft. He showed talent in the minor leagues, and after being traded to the Cubs in exchange for Javier Baez, Trevor Williams and cash, made his big-league debut in 2023; he struggled mightily, going 0-for-14 in his first games. In 2024, PCA slashed .237/.286/.384 with 10 home runs in 123 games (372 ABs). In that time he had a hot streak that saw him bat .330 with 5 home runs from August 21st through September 20th. With more big-league experience, Pete Crow-Armstrong can become a superstar in the near future.

A Tribute to Bob Uecker

     I just found out a few moments ago that Bob Uecke passed away at the age of 90. 

    Uecker played in the MLB for parts of six seasons as a catcher, batting .200/.293/.287 in 731 At-Bats. He won the World Series with the Cardinals in 1964.

    Uecker then moved to color commentary with the Brewers in 1971. He was known for his phrase, "Get up! Get up! Get outta here! Gone!" He provided commentary for the Brewers for over 50 years, and was inducted to the National Radio Hall of Fame over 20 years ago.

    Bob Uecker also had a career in television, appearing in multiple commercials and TV shows, and even received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

    Uecker had some amazing quotes about the game of baseball, one of my favorites being, "The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling and then pick it up."

    Bob Uecker was so essential to the game of baseball. He deserves the nickname Mr. Baseball in the fullest.

    I'm afraid that I don't know very much about Bob Uecker and his career and legacy, due to being a little bit too young. But I do know that he helped shape baseball across his years in the league, as a player, broadcaster, and friendly personality. Rest in peace Bob. We'll miss you.

The First Card Shop Trip of 2025

     Due to some forseeable expenses coming up this year, I'm not really going to be able to spend as much money on cards. That doesn't mean that I'm going to hit the card shop less than usual -- I'm just going to have to spend less money there.

    The first of my trips to the LCS in 2025 came a couple days ago, on the eleventh. While I didn't spend as much money there as I may usually have, this wasn't really due to expenses; there were errands to be run, which limited time to pick through boxes and really look at cards.

    I had a few objectives with the card store trip, these being a couple birthday gifts. Once presents were through, then I could have some real fun picking through boxes for a few minutes before continuing the rest of the errands on the agenda.

    By now I'm probably boring y'all to death, so I'll just get down to the cards acquired (not including the birthday gifts, of course).

    The quarter boxes did well, yielding some chrome and a few refractors. Could you not tell that I like shiny? The Woodruff is my favorite card in the small stack. If I had more time to spend, I probably would have liked to sit down and find some more goodies, but as they say, tempus fugit.

    Another Merrill for my PC, in the form of a Bowman Chrome rookie. This card was in the dollar box; it may have been a little bit much, but whatever. It's great to get another Merrill pickup, and it's a goal of mine to come away with another Merrill card with each visit to the card store. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get the card out of its penny sleeve yet (which is why the image is blurred), and don't want to damage the actual card.

    This card made me the most happy of them all. I didn't actually buy the card - in fact, it had been sitting on a shelf since my last birthday, which was forever ago. I've been waiting to post it on the blog until I got the proper protection for it, which was found with this trip to the LCS. The card is from the 2024 Topps -  Postseason Performance Relic Gold set (thank you TCDB), and is numbered 16/25. I considered getting it graded, but opted not to. The grading process costs too much money, and the card probably wouldn't get an amazing grade, having been pulled from a hanger box from Amazon. Nonetheless, it remains a favorite in my collection.

    I got the pack of Comic Ball cards for 50 cents. I liked the 1990 Comic Ball set I received for Christmas a year or two back, so it was worth less than a dollar to pick up this 12-card pack from the 1992 set. 

         

    I love the use of major-leaguers on these cards -- Ken Griffey Jr. and Jim Abbott are visible on these ones. These are always fun cards to have. However, there were three dupes in this pack (cards 22, 128, and 134) which I am happy to give away to whoever wants to claim one in the comments.

    And, as promised, I finished out the trip with a pack of hockey cards (Upper Deck MVP). My collection has gotten a few nice little boosts these past few weeks, and I was hoping to get a few more here. The pack wasn't opened until the night before the publication of this post.

    I was surprised that I recognized more than half the names on the cards. Most notably was Brent Burns, who was once described to me as 'Santa Claus without teeth.' The other big name for me was Thatcher Demko. I think the design and coloration of the cards goes really well with the sport they represent. This was a nice eight-card addition to my still slowly progressing hockey collection.

    That'll wrap up the entirity of the first LCS visit of the new year! The whole deal cost me $10, which I'm more than happy to pay with my new card budget. 

    It was crowded in the store, which is good because I like to see small businesses succeed. It looks like they'll be expanding pretty soon, which is awesome.

    Thank y'all for reading, have a great start to the week, and happy collecting!

2025 Topps is out: A Breakdown

     Well, I'm a day late. Thanks to Topps Cards That Never Were for bringing this to my attention yesterday.

    

    The 2025 Topps flagship design has officially been publicized. Let's take a look, shall we?

    My first thought is 'Confound it, I shouldn't have had a white background for this post!' All cosmetics aside, this design is very interesting.

    The team name coming across the left-hand side of the card looks pretty nice, but when you acquire a few hundred of them, I think it might get a little bit annoying and difficult to read. The bottom of the card looks good, with everything you need, except the position. Now, there is a little circle on the diamond showing what posisiton the player is, but I never would have noticed that had Night Owl not pointed it out. I think I can live with it, even though there's plenty of space for a written-out position.

    The color scheme is perfect. By far the best part of the card. Topps literally could not have done better on that.

    Overall, it's not my favorite design, but it's pretty good. I think that behind 2024 Topps, this is probably the best design since at least 2018 Topps. 

    I'll do a better analysis once I get a first-hand taste of 2025 Topps. Perhaps I was being too hard on the design just because its predecessor was legendary. It's really a decent design, most definitely one not to complain about. Topps has picked up the slack on decent designs the past two years (I wish they'd slow down the pace on the near 20 parallels and the ton of inserts coming out this year). 

    Well, thanks for reading my analysis, have a great rest of the week (hold on just one more day) and happy collecting.

Personal Thoughts on a Prospect

     I wrote his scouting report on another blog about a week ago, and I liked it, so I'm doing it again.

    This is Brandon Sproat, a minor league starting pitcher in the New York Mets organization. He was drafted in 2022 at the age of 21. The end of the 2024 season saw a brief stint of his in AAA.

    My first intrigue of this player came from a YouTube video I had seen claiming that he threw a pitch 135 miles an hour. What they did to that video I don't know, but my brief research led me to the discovery that he throws in the upper-90s, occasionally hitting 100. It's not to say that 100 is unimpressive, but 135? Come on guys.

    

    Brandon Sproat was born on September 17th, 2000, in Pensacola, Florida. He pitched for the Florida Gators (obviously), and went 19-8 with a 4.27 ERA in his four seasons with the team. 

    Sproat made his professional debut in 2024, starting in high-A. He needed only 25 1/3 innings with a 1.07 ERA to gain a promotion. Sproat didn't slow down in AA either, posting a 2.45 ERA across 62 1/3 innings and striking out 11.1 batters per nine innings.

    

    He finally reached trouble with his promotion to AAA. In seven starts and 28 2/3 innings in Syracuse, Brandon Sproat went 1-2 with an ERA of 7.53. 

    All in all, Sproat's first minor league season looked pretty good - in 116 1/3 innings his record was 7-4, and he had a 3.40 ERA. Obviously he'll need to prove himself in AAA before being able to move on to the majors, but he looks like he can be a threat to major league hitters in the future.

    Research on how effecitve Sproat's secondary pitches are took me to Baseball Savant:

The 6-foot-3 right-hander can touch triple-digits, as he's done a few times on the pro side, and he'll typically sit in the 95-97 mph range. He'll get some armside run on the heater too, so batters have to worry about more than just the velocity. His upper-80s changeup shows decent enough separation and good fade to give him another weapon that's worked in both college and the pros. He'll show a mid-80s slider and an upper-80s cutter -- two different pitches with varying amounts of horizontal break that have given upper-level hitters fits. There is also a 78-81 mph curveball that ranks behind the rest of the group in usage.

    The scouting report also speaks of Sproat's high walk rate, something that absolutely must be dialed down a bit in order for him to be good at the next level. 

    He'll be in his age 24 season in 2025, so he has time. However, I would like to see him pitch either in 2025 or 2026, while he's still young and fresh. Sproat is ranked #40 on MLB's top prospect list. According to the website, his estimated time of arrival in the big leagues is this coming season, so maybe we will get a taste of Sproat in the near future.

    The whole reason I first found interest in Brandon Sproat is due to the ridiculous video I saw, but in the end, it caused me to learn about a prospect I had never heard of, so it's a pretty good outcome.

    I'm definitely paying attention to Brandon Sproat as 2025 progresses, and would be stoked to see a call-up sometime early in the year. After all, these young prospects always interest me.

    Thank y'all for reading my little scouting report, have a great rest of the week, and happy collecting! 

I've Been Attacked by Sharks!

     No, I wasn't swimming in the Pacific Ocean; or the Atlantic. No, I was getting a PWE from Fuji. I opened it on January 2nd (much too cold to be swimming). 

    

    Things are starting well with a 2019 Topps Jacob deGrom card. I really hope that he has a healthy 2025 season, so the Rangers can make another playoff run. I think they'll be in trouble if Deggy can't stay healthy (pardon the odd nickname). Fun fact: 2019 was the year I started collecting baseball cards. I had some before, but that year really got me started.

    Fuji gives me a boost to my recently-started hockey collection by adding 17 cards from my favorite team (and an 18th of a guy who played for my favorite team). He added in a bunch of OPCs as well, which is great. 
    Fuji informed me that Pat Falloon was the early 1990s version of my favorite player, Macklin Celebrini. Falloon was the first player to be drafted by the Sharks, in 1992. He was drafted second overall in San Jose's maiden season.

    I really like the backs of the O-Pee-Chee cards. The color scheme is perfect. I also like Paul Fenton's facial expression -- also perfect, as if the puck is flying at his face at 120 mph.

    I don't know very much about hockey, but my hockey-fanatic friends started a fantasy hockey league and needed an extra player; and they played fantasy baseball with us, so why not? Since fantasy started I've been paying attention to the Sharks and Macklin Celebrini (who I just traded for), and learning more about the game, which is just so fun to watch. While I can't say the team (neither mine nor San Jose's) is doing all too well, Macklin has been just fine.

    Thank you for the cards Fuji! deGrom will go into my PC, and maybe Falloon will find himself in the PC in the near future (depending on how many of his cards I can get my hands on).

    Thank you all for reading, have a great start to the week and stay warm out there, and happy collecting!