Serial Card Countdown (#10-6) and the Return of Shiny

     Thanks again to The Diamond King for 100 awesome serial-numbered cards as well as some sweet post material. This the third of four posts where I count down my top 20 of the cards sent to me. After today's post we will be narrowed down to the top five (although you won't know what they are). I'm happy to announce that shiny is back and better than ever for this post, so if that's you're thing you may well enjoy it!

#10: 2021 Topps Update - Fast Friends Green Foil (326/499)

    It's really quite strange to see the word 'jell' on a baseball card. It doesn't remind me of team bonding, but more of desserts. Anyway, this card looks so much better in hand then on computer. Hopefully Bo Bichette and Vladdy can be a force once more this year. I'm not even a Jays fan -- it's plain sad to see flops like Bichette's 2024 season.

#9: 2022 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary Red Atomic Jacob deGrom (014/100)

    It's Jacob deGrom, which will explain partly why he's ranked so high. I like the design of the card, even though the 'Red Atomic' background doesn't fit amazingly with the orange and blue color scheme of the Mets. It looks good even so. I've already stressed how much I would like for deGrom to be healthy for 2025, so I won't go into detail right now :)

#8: 2020 Topps Big League Award Winners Rainbow Foil Jacob deGrom (077/100)

    Two deGroms in a row! I really like the Award Winners from 2020 Topps Big League (Mike Trout and Pete Alonso were featured on an earlier post). It's entertaining to see how these guys clean up after dirtying themselves up on the diamond. I think deGrom cleans up best out of the Award Winners I have.

#7: 2015 Bowman Purple Ice Troy Tulowitzki (39/50)

    This is a really nice card, and of one of my favorites. The Purple Ice design is perfect on the card for so many different reasons. This is easily one of the best cards in the box. 
    I'm a little bummed about Tulo getting kicked off the ballot this year, but it was inevitable.

#6: 2024 Topps Chrome Sonar Purple Refractor Esteury Ruiz (051/275)

    'Whoa!' describes my reaction perfectly when I laid eyes on this card. It's truly eye-popping. There is so much going on in this card. I don't think this would work well with any design other than the already neon design of 2024 Topps. The photo taken for this card was perfect too. Overall just a solid one.

    

    That's it for the penultimate countdown post. I hope you enjoyed the post, and next Wednesday will see the finale of the serial card countdown. Thank you to The Diamond King for the amazing cards which get better every week, and thank y'all for reading! 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!

I Got Humpty Dumpty!

    I never thought I'd be so intrigued by an egg. This card came to me in a package from The Diamond King. And I have to say, I really like it, though it surprised me a little bit. 

    I got the package from Diamond King's last Serial Number Guessing Contest. Along with Humpy Dumpty and the 100 serial-numbered cards, he also gave me a bunch of filler cards. Diamond King warned me beforehand no to get too excited, but the 'fillers' he gave me were full of PC players. Here are all the guys in my PC that were added to the box:

    These nine Ripkens further advance my most-collected player (all were needs). There was also a bunch of shiny, which is always appreciated. The nasty glare messes with the picture, but I took pics about a month ago, so won't bother changing it now.

    Posey's the second-most collected player, and so adding these three was great too. And still more shiny for my collection. Love it!

    And another Pete Crow-Armstrong for the collection. I have high hopes for this kid going forward. (I need to stop photographing cards in their penny sleeves)

    Also some great Corey Seager cards. I also have hopes for the Rangers come next year. I still have my doubts with their pitching staff, but being able to extend Nathan Eovaldi is big, and trading for Jake Burger......I don't know how that will effect their offense. I can do nothing but hope for now.

    I really like the see-through card. I didn't notice it until the picture showed the table I had the card on in the background. And the addition of a parallel will always be appreciated.

    Six amazing deGrom cards. The 2015 Topps design is great, and it's a little bit funny to see deGrom as a 'Future Star.' I sure hope that he can make some magic for the Rangers. Magic mostly meaning that he starts more than ten games. Boy, we could sure use a full season outta him.

    And I'll round things out with a Troy Tulowitzki mini. He'll be getting his first shot on the ballot this year. We'll see how that one goes.

    Apologies for the lack of decent photos. I need to redo them, but all the cards are in a box now, and I don't want to mess with them too much for the time being.

    I think I'll do a top 20 countdown for the serial-numbered cards sometime in January. Thank you to the Diamond King for the awesome cards, and thank you for reading. Happy collecting!

Player of the Week 3

     This Player of the Week thing really hasn't worked out the way I thought it would. I mean, there was a particular list of players that I expected to win, and not one of them got the title. After this week, there will be two more Players of the Week, and I can't award them to all the six or seven guys I originally thought would win. But that's the fun in it, right? My own bias has been unable to sway me (except for the part about Walter Pennington; that's on me).

    Before we get down to it, I'd like to announce that both of my fantasy baseball teams are fighting like dogs in this first round of the fantasy playoffs. My worse team is currently losing 10-5, but have made it as close as 8-7, and my other team, boy my other team! I'm playing the third place squad, and it is an all-out nuclear war. Currently I'm up 7-5, but that one could still go either way.

    I bring this up for two reasons. A) I like to share about fantasy baseball to those who both understand it all and who I won't drive insane with it (hence the reason I've done it so many times), and B) well, you'll see.

    There is one prejudice that stops me from keeping this, well, as fair as it could be. Not like it matters, considering it's my personal opinions. Heck, like Walt Pennington would've been the best player in the MLB for the whole of last week! Not even in that one game. 

    Anyway, that prejudice is my team. Since I can sometimes hit a few games and see my guys up close, they tend to grow on me. We'll call that reason C. I didn't go to another Rangers game, but I think y'all know who my next Player of the Week is. Any guesses? I'll give you a moment.....

    Alright. If you've had enough time, you may continue to read.

    

    Of course, as a Rangers fan and a huge fan of this guy, my third Player of the Week is.....

    Okay, here we go. deGrom finally made his 2024 debut yesterday, tossing 3 2/3 scoreless innings and striking out four. My friend actually went to (GTT, please correct me on this when I'm wrong) his last rehab outing with AA Frisco.

    And now for the illusive reason B, why sharing about my fantasy playoffs is at all relevant to this. Well, I don't know how many enemies are out there, so I should probably share this tomorrow.......

    

    Well, I won't. Somebody in my fantasy league (the one I'm barely winning in) dropped deGrom literally the day before his long-awaited season debut. I have higher waiver priority than any playoff member in that league, except for my current opponent. While his addition of him wouldn't hurt my team this week, I really want him on my team as we make a push for the championship. But the waiver period ends tomorrow, so we'll see if I get him.

    Well, now that I'm done rambling about fantasy baseball (and I will most certainly not start on fantasy football), I guess I should go. After all, I've got to be somewhere in half an hour. As for y'all, thanks for reading, happy collecting and I'll see who wins my penultimate Player of the Week title next Saturday. Y'all enjoy your weekend! 

Shiny deGrom

     I was at the good ol' grocery store, when I saw a package of 29 2023 Topps cards for $7 by the checkout. While certainly not the greatest price in the world, the thing that jumped out at me was the headliner; Silver Pattern Foilboard #48 Jacob deGrom. I couldn't pass up that deal and made the purchase.
    The company selling these cards is able to sell Topps cards for less money than the company itself sells them for, which I found both interesting and economically helpful.

    And here's the foilboard deGrom. Beautiful, isn't it? When I first saw it I thought 'Shiny deGrom,' but I guess theSilver-Pattern Foilboard is more accurate. deGrom should be returning to the Rangers rotation soon, but it seems to be too little too late. Hopefully he'll be healthy for next year as we try to clean things up a bit. 

    I like the Alec Burleson rookie. The 25-year old is having a great season with the Cardinals, slashing .280/.320/.453 with 21 home runs and 72 RBI. 
    Those Athletics uniforms (top right) are......interesting. Not really sure that they got the colors right, but oh well. It doesn't look bad. 
    Also, the highlight of this page, the Topps Update purple foil Dominic Smith numbered 095/799. It's a nice card, but I'm putting it on my trade bait list. If any of y'all want it, go for it. 

    Not much coming out of this page. The Aaron Nola card is nice. I kinda like the Stars of MLB cards as a whole, though I miss reading the stats on the back. Hey, at least it's not Stars of LMB! Otherwise, just a few base card 'needs,' though I don't really try to collect the full sets.

    I like this page a bit more. I got another deGrom card, as well as a Corey Seager parallel. I like the Max Fried card, though I have like fifteen of that same base card. Stars of MLB Shohei Ohtani is cool too. And boy is he having a year in 2024 with the Dodgers. Though unable to pitch until next year, he's currently batting .292 with 44 homers, 109 runs (both league-leading), 98 RBI, and a .993 OPS in 135 games.  

    And these two guys. 

    I notice that I said I got 29 cards, but only 28 are shown. It seems evident that I traded one of these cards before writing the post, most likely a base card dupe, but I don't know for sure. That's on me.

    All in all I'm happy about this purchase. Though most of it was pretty boring, there were a few good points; the deGrom foilboard, of course, as well as Dominic Smith and Corey Seager. I will never complain about some Stars of MLB cards either. I like the 2023 design on them a lot. 

    That'll about do it for this post. Y'all have an amazing week, and happy collecting!

    

    P.S. I know I promised Fuji a post focused on Jackson Merrill, but I'm gonna take a little bit longer than intended because I have been really busy lately and need to do more research (as of right now I only have some stats, but for a post centered on one guy I want more information), but it's definitely going to happen.

The Results of my First Trade by Mail and Some Other Stuff

    I just finished my first trade-by-mail on February 24th (today). This trade occurred with my friend over at Johnny's Trading Spot. I traded him a Braves triple card from 2022 (not sure what it's actually called), and got this guy:

    Evan Carter is one of my favorite players, so it was nice to cross him off my Want List. And an autograph too!  You may have seen this exact card on his post for Texas Rangers trade night.

    In addition to the trade, John also sent me a welcome package to welcome me to the card-blogging universe. It was very generous gift that also came today.

    I really like these 2023 Topps Heritage cards. I especially like the photo taken for the Nathan Eovaldi card.

    John also gave me this 2022 Topps Heritage Kole Calhoun card.

    These Chrome 2023 cards are so cool.

    Ah yes, the wonderful Rangers middle infield captured in the glory of Topps Stadium Club. I really like the picture they got for the Seager card.

    And we see another Stadium Club Marcus Semien.

    Again, two more really good snapshots for the Topps Stadium Club.

    A good way to finish with a card of Jacob deGrom, my favorite pitcher. I think it's evident that my favorite team is the Rangers.

    So, thank you John for all the neat cards. And thanks for the trade and the Evan Carter auto. It was quite the gift, and like I said in my second post, Don Cardwell is here to stay.

The Big Pitcher Post, Part 2

     Okay now. Time to finish my week-long post about my favorite pitcher cards. I realize that it's probably boring to just take pictures of my cards and make you look at them with no good and interesting commentary, so we'll give this a shot. Let's start with my favorite pitcher of all time. 

    Guess who this is? Jacob deGrom is my favorite pitcher ever. He has a high-octane fastball that touches 100 MPH, with filthy off-speed, and he doesn't walk people. But he's hurt all the time, which means I almost never get to see him pitch. When he is healthy though, deGrom pitches to a 84-57 record and 2.53 ERA. Hopefully he'll be able to pitch the last half of the 2024 season for my favorite team, the Rangers.        

    It's funny, I got this card and some others (Bob Locker and John Morris included) when I went to Cooperstown to see the Hall of Fame. The owner of a batting cage saw me and my four brothers and gave us a fat stack of baseball cards. And lo and behold, I was able to get this one and many others not mentioned here.

    This card is very interesting because Corey Kluber pitched one game and one inning for the Rangers his entire career, and I have the card of him on the team. It's interesting, and I thought it was worth sharing. Besides that characteristic, it's just a boring old 2020 Topps card.

    And this is just a regular boring old 2020 Topps card. But I have practically the whole 2023 Rangers starting staff. 

    This 2010 Topps 206 Zack Greinke card came taped to the top of one of those card boxes at the card store. But it's neat. He looks so youthful, unlike the Greinke that we see pitching now. Well, he should hit 3000 K's this coming season.

    Again, I really like these 2007 Topps cards. And the card on the right; apparently Weaver isn't scared to shake off his catcher, so that's nice I guess. Until he shakes him off and gives up a 450 foot home run...

    Again with these glorious 2007 Topps cards, and this one features should-be Hall-of-Famer Curt Schilling. I wonder who I could trick into thinking that's a real autograph... 

And the Fleer is okay too, although I don't like the Fleer cards as much.

    This is a nice 2007 Topps Chrome card of Pedro Martinez. The Hall-of-Famer is often considered the best pitcher of all time. Sporting 3154 strikeouts and a 2.93 ERA while pitching in Fenway, it's possible. Not sure, but possible.

    You may be wondering what the deal with this card is. He's in the middle of his follow-through, but his face is zoomed in. That's because this Topps Decade Greats Best of the '40s Hal Newhouser is a lenticular card; the images change when you tilt them a certain way. I had no idea what the name for the imaging was until I looked it up. I tried to get the other two images as best as possible, so here they are:

    And finally, my Sidelines cards:

    If you want to know who these are, the top left is Randy Johnson (Photographer), the top right is Tom Glavine (Hockey Player), the mid left is Orel Hershiser (Golfer), the mid right is John Wetteland (Musician), and the bottom we have seen before on Shall we Dance? He is Jim Gott, the Karate black belt.

    That will finish the Big Pitcher Post. I'm sorry if this whole thing was slightly boring. I'll try to make my posts more interesting, but I wanted to show my favorite cards of pitchers. Thank you for reading.

Flagship Collection Box

     For Christmas, my uncle gave me the 2023 Flagship Collection Box of Topps baseball cards. It is a hefty set, with 10 regular card packs, 3 flagship collection packs, and an oversized base card. Here's some of the cards that I liked from it.

The oversize card I got was Riley Greene; that was pretty cool because I really like him.

The Blue Foil Freddy Furmin is probably my favorite card I got.

It's cool to see Paul Goldschmidt surviving an explosion.

Those old-school looking cards are neat too.

Yes, the one on the right is Felix Bautista, not Adley Rutschman.

They call Nolan Arenado the favorite son. I feel bad for his brothers. 

And now for all 15 of my flagship cards:

Out of all of these, the Jacob deGrom is easily my favorite.

Well, that about wraps it up. Thanks for reading my first post, and I hoped you liked it. If you'd like to read more baseball stuff (not card related), check out talkinprobaseball.blogspot.com or thebaseballpessimist.blogspot.com (you may need to copy and paste the links.)

Thanks for reading!