The Latest Grabs

     I went to the LCS a couple weeks ago for the first time in months. It was nice to be able to get down there again. 

    The format of the store is much different than the last time I went. I've mentioned in an earlier post that they've expanded to two buildings now, one of which houses sport cards and the other game cards such as Pokemon and the like. 

    Since the last time I've been, they've added some fun cards like Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Legos are being sold there too, which is cool (but expensive). They also added a dozen or so boxes full of just one player (Mike Trout, Dirk Nowitzki, Patrick Mahomes, and the like). More on that a little bit later though....

    Though the store has changed a little bit, I don't mind it at all and felt right at home going through quarter, dollar, and autograph boxes, and pulling out a number of cool cards.

    Why not start with the first card I pulled? To be honest, I had no idea who Houston Jimenez is, but there are two reasons I ended up grabbing this card. The first is that I found his first name interesting and also strongly Texan. The second reason is that we share last names. The day of my writing this paragraph (October 30th) is Houston's 68th birthday, so happy birthday to him!

    Perhaps it's from a lack of my looking, but I'd never seen the little stamp certifying the authenticity of an on-card autograph before. 

    I had never heard of Anthony Seigler before, but he had a nice autograph and the cards were cheap, so I picked these two up. I was also not familiar with Josh Breaux. 

    Seigler is a 26-year old catcher and infielder. He actually broke the majors this year with the Brewers and hit .194 in 62 at-bats. 

    Josh Breaux is 28 years of age and with the Phillies farm system. So it turns out none of them became franchise futures with the Yankees.

    This is the last autographed card I picked up, and my favorite card of the bunch, which is why it's unfortunate that the camera doesn't do it justice. Y'all probably know my affinity for shiny cards, and this certainly doesn't disappoint. There's a lot going on with the colors in the background of the card, but I'm cool with it. Harris is such a talented player -- I hope he can make an impact for the Rangers in 2026.

    The design of this card is really interesting....it looks as though Jared Jones is about to get sucked into a black hole. The top left corner is dinged just a little bit, but it's still a great-looking card. I'm a big fan of Jared Jones, and thought he and Skenes would make a dominating duo. I was so sad when that didn't happen this season. But, they're both young, so there's plenty of time for them both to assert their dominance in the league.

    Sometimes I love the way lighting affects my pictures. I also didn't notice until uploading this card onto the blog that the words 'Hometown Heroes' continue through Strider's body. He's another young pitcher who had to battle injuries this year, but I have a feeling he'll be just fine in 2026. I also bet that the Braves are headed back to the playoffs.

    I needed a little bit of help from TCDB to identify this card. The kind folks down there helped me to find out it's from 1947-1966 Exhibits. After asking on the TCDB which year the photo is from, users Musclebeech and BuccaneersDen hypothesize it would likely have been from 1948. If this is indeed the case, it would be one of my oldest cards. I made the picture larger to emphasize the dimensions of this card. At 3 3/8 inches by 5 3/8, it's a behemoth compared with the average 2.5 by 3.5 inch cards.

    For anybody (like myself) who isn't familiar with Eddie Waitkus, he was a left-handed first baseman who played with the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, and Baltimore Orioles from 1941-1955. In that time he collected 1,214 hits, 24 home runs and 528 runs. He was a two-time all-star, in 1948 and 1949. He was shot in the lung by a stalker in 1949 and almost killed. Thankfully he survived and ended up playing six seasons afterward. Wild. 

    I don't typically collect graded cards, but this one was priced so well that I couldn't resist. This is one of two graded cards I own. Mike Trout has a history of popularity among my family, which is definitely what induced me to purchase this card. We were pleased to see him play 130 games for the first time since his 2019 MVP season, even if it wasn't an amazing season.

    That'll wrap up my additions from the most recent LCS visit. I can't wait for 2025-2026 Upper Deck hockey to hit the store so I can get a few packs and hopefully pull a Macklin Celebrini card (he's my guy when it comes to hockey). Well, that's for a future post. For now, I shall leave you with this question: is it annoying when they stamp those price stickers onto a top loader or penny sleeve so that it leaves that streaky and sticky residue on the card protection? Just wondering.

    Until next time, have a wonderful rest of the weekend, and happy collecting!

Monday's Featured Card(s)

      Today we actually have two cards living, or should I say squatting, in the 2021 binder. These particular cards are from the year 2020, and are the first two cards in the binder.

    I have to say, I have no recollection getting these cards, but here they are. Gosh, seeing superstars all dressed up is slightly weird.

    I must say, Pete Alonso cleans up better than Trout. That mohawk; bad decision. Meh, who cares? Doesn't look bad on him. Anyway, these 2020 Topps Big League Award Winners are the first thing you'd see if you were to look into my 2021 binder. Maybe a bad first-impression? 

    The thing that is driving me crazy is the slant that appears from when I took the picture. I need to start scanning cards.

    Back to the cards. Mike Trout is winning the 2019 MVP Award. In 2019, Trout most definitely impressed, slashing .291/.438/.645 (leading the league in OBP and SLG). He hit 45 homers, scored 110 runs, and played in only 134 games. Trout is currently injured (as always), and I just traded him away in one of my fantasy leagues in a giant 5 for 2 deal for Juan Soto.

    Pete Alonso won the 2019 Rookie of the Year award, setting the record for most home runs by a rookie with 53. This beat Aaron Judge's 2017 record of 52, which I'm sure he wasn't too pleased about. He also drove in 120 runs for the Mets.

    That'll do it for this Monday's post. I will not be featuring cards on Mondays for the next seven weeks because my drafts are starting to fill up on the blog. However, I will continue featuring my out-of-place cards once I've finished with the seven posts that need to be shipped out. For now I think I'll stick with Monday and Friday post dates until I'm through with my binders and features.

    As always, thank you for reading, Happy Collecting, and have an amazing week!

Best Topps Sets of the 21st Century

    I don't know about you, but I really like to collect modern day Topps cards. I first got into collecting cards in 2019, so a lot of the cards I own are from the last several years. I am currently working on collections for each coming season, and though not really a set collector, I have a good two to three hundred cards for each season 2021-2023. I only have about 40 2024 cards, but as they trend to get cheaper part-way through the season, I'll pick up a few hundred more.

    Since I specialize in the cards from the 21st century, the point of this post will be to show what my five favorite Topps base sets from 2000-2024 are. I say five because I think y'all can guess what at least three of them are. So then, let's get started with number 5.

#5: 2015 Topps

    I really like the dual-colored border for the 2015 Topps cards, which seems to give them a bit of a futuristic touch. I also think the design at the bottom of the card is neat, though I can't quite make out what it's supposed to be. Do I own any of these cards? Unfortunately, no I don't. Gotta get some sometime.

#4: 2010 Topps

    I also really like the borders on the 2010 cards. Though it looks slightly sloppy with the colorful blotches on the side of the card, it gives them a definitive touch. I also really like the team logo on the front of the card, and appreciate that it isn't in a tiny little designated box over on the side. Do I own any of these cards? I don't think so, though I have a whole bunch of baseball card boxes in which I may have some that I didn't notice. I'll need to check that eventually.

#3: 2016 Topps

    2016 Topps really came out with a solid design. I'm partial to the bottom of each card, which has the team logo in a sort of slanted box with the player name and position next to it in a creative design. The stats on the back are also easy to read, which is good because they are often difficult to see. This specific card is awesome too; cards of players robbing home runs are spectacular, and I feel that Mike Trout has more of them than anybody else. Do I own any of these cards? Yes. I own quite a few of them, and have used them for posts before.

#2: 2007 Topps

    Anyone who reads my blog knows that I praise 2007 Topps. But why? I can't really say I have a great answer for that myself. They do look pretty sharp, and I like the green color scheme on the back of the cards. Fake autographs are nice too, I guess... '07 Topps is really unique in itself in that it caught my eye right away, and I haven't seen any other sets that look quite like this one. Ha, unlike 2016 Topps. The 2017 and 2018 sets looked very similar to 2016, which bores me greatly. And yes, I have a lot of 2007 cards, don't you worry.

#1: 2024 Topps

    Yes, Topps' youngest set is my favorite. I have a whole post dedicated to the 2024 set, so you know why I like it. But I'll give a quick recap anyway. The neon colors and team name look really sharp, and the cards have a metallic sheen to them, a nice addition that I didn't notice until I bought some. The dual-colored border looks plain awesome, and the team logo and player name look great where they are. I'm also just really excited about this set because it came out so recently. Like I said at the start of the post, I have about 40 2024 Topps cards, but there should be many more to come in the near future. This particular card is my favorite of the 40, hence the reason it's shown here.

    

Now, for one honorable mention:

2019 Topps

    I don't love this set, mostly because the last name is on the top and the first name on the bottom, which I think gives it a worse look, but otherwise the card looks pretty good. I've heard a lot of good things about the 2019 set, and the first pack of cards I bought was part of this set. I still remember many of the cards I got in that fateful pack off the top of my head (Rowdy Tellez, Luis Urias, Kyle Tucker, Paul Goldschmidt, Kenley Jansen, Edwin Diaz, Rhys Hoskins, Michael Lorenzen, Dylan Bundy and more). 

    The oldest set that made the list was the '07 set. I guess I'm more into the newer Topps cards, which isn't really a surprise. It's easier (for me, at least) to come across the newer cards, especially from the year immediately before the current one. However, when I can make it to the card store, which isn't very often anymore, I can get good deals on late 1990s and early 2000s Topps cards, and usually leave with a fat stack of them, or a 600-card box with a potpourri of cards.

    Well, there you have it, my five favorite Topps sets from the 2000s. Please tell me what your favorite sets are and how I did. Happy collecting!