Sob Rock and Cards

I'm a man with more than one hobby, one of which is listening to music, attempting to learn guitar, and collecting vinyl records. One of the best guitar players out there, John Mayer, released a new album recently, and it was one I knew I would end up picking up. I like the 80s vibe and comedy in the marketing around this release. 

How does this record relate to a card blog, you ask? Well, what came to mind from listening to 'Sob Rock' while going through cards over the weekend was all the negativity around the hobby. 

Prices too high, can't find cards, the bubble's bursting, it's such a bummer. 

Ebay fees too high, buyer returned my item, grading takes too long, what's going on this Summer? 

Look at the lyrics and listen to I Guess I Just Feel Like while you're scrolling through hobby twitter and you might get what I'm talking about.

Well I'm here to tell you that the low-end collector over here is looking at the hobby in a different light, a New Light, even. 

While I'm enjoying the guitar riffs, the 80s sounds on the keys, the can't get it out of my head tune in 'New Light' and the retro look of this John Mayer album, I’m looking at everything that’s great about the hobby.

1) The blogging community is not going away. My involvement often comes in waves, but quality content from the baseball card blogging community is always there, and it’s awesome to see the friendships and support among collectors in this space.

2) I'm finding packs and boxes again, even if it's not in stores. I've been able to snag a few blasters recently from Target (box breaks to come) at normal prices, and while on vacation I even ventured to a local card shop that had some Stadium Club hobby packs in stock. 

This seems like an excellent progression for everyone, and especially the lower end collectors out there.

3) A few examples of cards I'm enjoying picking up these days:

Cards of my favorite players in sweet insert sets like this one, a Betts Warp Speed insert from 2019 Stadium Club. The good thing about returning to the hobby after a few years away is there's plenty of great stuff to see for the first time. And better yet, I picked this one up for a dollar. 

Cards of my favorite players on classic card designs. I never get tired of these types of cards. While we see them fairly often in flagship Topps, Archives and Heritage, I'm always happy to see current cards on iconic designs like this one.

What are your favorite things about the hobby? What keeps you collecting (and blogging)? 

Also, do you have other hobbies besides cards? I want to hear about them!

First pack of 2018

It's been awhile since my last card activity. Adding a baby, now toddler to the mix can have that effect. I'm sure a good many of you can attest.

I've followed the card blogs a bit, but seeing Stadium Club on the shelves at my local target finally led me to spend my first dollars on cardboard in 2018.

I asked my son to pick up a 36 card pack of Topps Series 1 and a 12 card pack of Stadium Club (there were four Stadium Club packs on the shelves. Next time I went to target they were all gone). I opened the Topps Series 1 pack first, and since my favorite player in the game today showed up in the pack, I'm calling it my first card of 2018.

Doesn't get much better in this hobby than opening up a pack and finding your favorite player.

You've seen plenty of base cards by this point, so here's one of the highlights of the pack for me. A World Series highlight, in fact. This is one of Springer's five home runs in the 2017 World Series.

This looks like a gold parallel, and it is. The window threw me off. The serial number on this one was 1812, which made me think, wouldn't it be cool to pull a team card with a serial number of the year of the team's first season or the team's founding? Anyone out there with a Dodgers card with a serial number of 1883? Anyone need this Justin Turner card?

And the interests from the pack. I guess Machado will make himself into a legend on another team here shortly. To all the Orioles fans out there, I feel for you and hope that the players coming back end up making a difference down the road.

The D-Backs just took two of three from the Braves before the All-Star break and Goldschmidt is a big part of the success they are seeing. With all the player movement these days, I appreciate seeing a guy stay with a team for the long term.

I would like the Superstar Sensations insert set better if the colors matched the team colors rather than seeing purple on every card.

Since Stadium Club is always my favorite set each year, I'll have to devote an entire post to that pack. Hopefully it's not another 11 months before the next post!

I'll be watching the All-Star game tonight. Mookie, Freddie Freeman, and Nick Markakis in his first AS game and starting - a lot to get excited about!

My First Look at Stadium Club

By now you've seen most if not all of these cards on other blogs, but who doesn't like recaps of pack/box breaks? Here's what I pulled from my 12 card pack of 2017 Stadium Club. Plus two inserts I picked up off ebay.

Some of my favorite vertical shots from the pack. Look at all those Ks behind Johnson. Looks like he was havinga good night here. Saying Lester has been a great pickup for the Cubs would be an understatement. Hard not to cheer for the guy. And lastly a bat toss from the rival Phillies.

Another Cub with a cool shot of Kendricks walking to the dugout. 

And my favorite photo from the pack, and one of the more memorable cards from the set, I would think.

I opened a Chrome parallel of Astros rookie Gurriel. He's having a nice season batting .295 with 13 home runs and he just picked up July AL rookie of the month honors.

And one of the reasons for the Diamondbacks success this season. Wish the Braves had a consistent ace like Greinke. Maybe one of the prospects in the system will turn into one. Hard to believe Greinke is 33 years old.

For those who are interested, the full contents of the pack:

Randy Johnson 21

Michael Conforto 110

Jon Lester 120

Kyle Hendricks 123

Luis Severino 128

Kenta Maeda 164

Max Scherzer 214

Odubel Herrera 216

Martin Prado 276

Jon Gray 290

Yulieski Gurriel SCC-51

Zack Greinke SS-ZG

These two inserts were actually the first two 2017 Stadium Club cards added to my collection. Big fan of the Beam Team insert set over the years, and glad that the Braves are represented. 

The Red Sox are on an eight game winning streak and Betts is always a big contributor both at the plate and in the field.

Dodger-centric Stack from the Night Owl

After Greg, aka the 'Night Owl' lost his want list (tragic) and worked on recreating it starting with 2017, I figured this was an opportunity to send out a handful of recent cards that might make it there before others beat me to it. A few days ago I found a package in my mailbox with the note below.

By the way, a handwritten note is appreciated in any circumstance. And yes, these cards put a dent in several areas of my want list.

While a good number of the cards in this stack were Dodgers, I'm going to start by sharing the non-Dodgers. A trio of Braves Heritage cards means I'm about halfway through collecting the team set for 2017. Vizcaino is having a strong season in relief so far. Jace Peterson went down to AAA for a little while but is back with the big-league club after straightening some things out. Wisler's spent most of his season in AAA but has appeared in seven games for Atlanta.

A program is a neat idea for an insert, and I appreciate Teheran appearing in an insert set, regardless of design. I couldn't have imagined Kemp playing as well as he has since coming over from the Padres. He's become one of my favorite Braves.

So much Green on this Freeman from Opening Day. Even one of few doubles for me was still a need, as one goes towards the team set while the other goes in the Freeman player collection.

And the last of the Braves cards I'll share... You'd think a Braves fan and collector would have cards from the early 90s of stars like Glavine already in my collection. But I wasn't collecting baseball cards at this time. Until I started this blog, basketball cards were my main collecting interest. I'm playing some major catch-up and I'm glad to add this Glavine to my binder.

Now we move into the Dodger part of the package. Three Kershaws, all from 2011 Topps products. Opening Day, Series 1, and Update series are all represented. They also instantly become the oldest Kershaws in my collection, a product of getting into baseball card collecting in 2014. Kershaw may be the best pitcher in the game, but his teammate, former Brave Alex Wood, surprisingly has a lower ERA so far this season. I'm sure the Night Owl is pleased with that development.

Sharp design on this 2013 Bowman Kershaw. I prefer this one to designs of the last several years. The Topps 72 mini is from 2013 as well and is the second mini Kershaw in my collection. Would be a fun set to put together.

I was so excited to see Cesar Izturis as the most represented player in this stack. I have around 20 or so cards of Izturis, a key player on Dodger teams from 2003-2005. He won a gold glove in 2004 and made the only All-Star game of his career in 2005. Unfortunately that season was cut short by injuries in the second half.

One of my favorite memories is from going to a game at Dodger Stadium with my Dad in 2003 as part of a family trip out West. The Dodgers beat the Cardinals, with Rickey Henderson hitting a home run. When that happened the place just exploded. Really neat moment. Pujols, Jim Edmonds and Edgar Renteria all homered off Kaz Ishii, but the Dodgers prevailed 8-5. For several years after that I followed that group of Dodgers pretty closely, but the only one that's remained in my list of player collections is Izturis.

What happened to the Bowman Heritage brand? Did they run out of old sets to copy the design of? If so, who would oppose picking that up again starting with '89?

I'll wrap this up with the 7th Betts card added to my collection featuring this design. The one is the Holiday edition. Looks like there's a metallic snowflake parallel as well, because of course. 

Thanks Greg- really enjoyed going through the package. I'm glad to be a landing spot for duplicate Kershaw and Izturis cards!

Hitting the Gaps Part 2

Another round of hitting the gaps, where I try to track down cards I've missed from recent years and add them to my player collections. This round is for Mookie Betts.

Betts has three cards in The Future is Now set from 2014 Topps. I received the 3rd one in a recent trade but was missing the first two in the set. These are sharp looking cards, really like the glare effect in the bottom left, with the blurred background. 

These two from 2016 Allen & Ginter are the rare cards where the backs are more interesting to me than the fronts, although the fronts look sharp.

Really neat to see the list of Red Sox to wear #50 as well as other notable MLB players to wear the number.

Also neat to see 'The World's Champions Boston Red Sox' on the back. Others may disagree but I think it's a neat callout on the back of the card, regardless of which team is the champ in the current year.

I had the Topps Series 1 card, Opening Day, Opening Day blue, but had not picked up the Chrome, the mini version, or the card from Update. Still missing plenty of parallels of these cards.

Sweet group of cards from 2016. My favorite of the three is by far the Future Stars Topps Chrome insert. Love the stained glass look. This would be an insert set I would try to complete if I were to choose one. The card also scanned surprisingly well.

My second 2017 Betts card to appear on the blog, with many, many more to go. I have fond memories of the Gold Label brand from the 90s. Sadly the 2016 version doesn't stack up to those cards in look or feel but it's still nice that the brand saw a return.

The Rainbow parallel of the 2017 card above, and two other cards from 2017 Topps put me off to a solid start for picking up Betts cards from Series 1. I wouldn't really consider 2017 cards 'gaps' yet since they are pretty new but still glad to add them to the binder.

I'm now caught up on getting new Betts additions in my binder and up on my player collection page.

Stack from Cards On Cards Hits Every Part of Collection

Back in September, Kerry from Cards on Cards sent me a large stack of cards that hit just about every part of my wantlist and player collections, including a bunch of Indiana Pacer cards that fit nicely into my basketball collection, which I am starting to get back into and document here. While I opened the package from Kerry back in the Fall, life dictated that I am just getting around to sharing it now. More on that soon. What a stack of cards it is! And below are just the highlights!

I love getting new cards of Cesar Izturis. While I mainly followed him when he was playing for the Dodgers, he ended up on a number of different teams in his career, and these are the first post-Dodgers Izturis cards that go into my binder. Known for his work in the field, these two cards from 2012 Topps Update and 2008 Upper Deck show him at work there.

The Andruw Jones is from another one of the Ultra sets that I'm a big fan of. Will look to pick up the other Braves to complete a team set.

I wonder if we'll have any cards in Pizza products this year? These are the first two that go into my binder. I did open a few packs of these but didn't hit any of my guys. I'm still looking for the Freeman and then I'll have the ones I want.

  

Can't go wrong with a Heritage insert of one of my favorite players. Already a 3-time All-Star at age 24, what a career Manny could have if this level of play continues.

A trio of Ripken inserts. Almost any Ripken card is going to be new to me, so every package with Cal is like Christmas morning. Really digging the Gypsy Queen N174 insert. Would be a pretty set to display in a binder. The third card is from 2012 Panini Triple Play and is a neat design despite any logos. The second card from 1994 Stadium Club is so cool, I had to research to find out more about it.

Here is the card back. This is a Dugout Dirt insert from 1994 Stadium Club. All aboard the Ripken Express! This has to be one of my favorite cards, and especially card backs. Look out Lou Gehrig!

Yoan Moncada's time with the local Greenville Drive was fun and I'm glad I made it out to a game to see him play. Dirt was kept, player t-shirts were sold, there was lots of excitement around the team when he came to town. Even though he's since been traded to the White Sox in the deal for Chris Sale, I'm still glad to have cards of former Drive players in my collection. 

A trio of cards from the best pitcher in baseball? (Actually 4, an Opening Day card like the one in the middle was also included). Can't beat that. Right? Well it keeps getting better. Particularly like this Power Players insert from 2014 Topps, by the way.

Lastly we have a trio of Mookie cards that weren't already on my have list. Mookie has three cards from The Future is Now insert set from 2014 Topps, and now I can cross this one off.

Another Mookie from 2014 Topps, this time from the Update set showing his MLB Debut. I love cards like these. Nice shot of Yankee Stadium in the background. Mookie went 1-3 with a walk, a hit, and a run scored. His first hit was a single to center in the top of the 4th inning.

Last card I'm showing- I thought this was a base card from 2015 Topps...

Turns out it is a Boston Red Sox version of the card. So I can cross that off my list as well! This stack of cards was full of surprises.

Thanks again Kerry- I've got a stack of Trail Blazers to send your way soon!

Diving Catch Tops This Stadium Club Stack

While I'm still missing a few Braves from 2016 Stadium Club, I'm off to a good start.

Love these Braves uniforms. This is the second card of Ender with the stars on the Braves script on the front of the jersey. The other is 2016 Gypsy Queen. Anyone seen any other cards with this uniform?

Speaking of Ender Inciarte, I hope he's in the team's long-term plans. He's been fun to watch in center field this season. I know the Braves suddenly have too many outfielders with Mallex Smith in the mix next year and the newly acquired Kemp. I also know the Braves are trying to extract as much value from every player, but please hold on to Ender!

Speaking of getting value, the Braves were able to unload Aybar on the Tigers, essentially in return for a catching prospect. This is fine with me as we get a first look at Dansby Swanson in Atlanta.

Nice angle on this card of the Mad Dog. 

Julio returned from the disabled list the other night for a tough assignment against the Nationals. He has a potentially better match-up against the Diamondbacks this week to get back on track.

Unique shot of Freeman here going after a foul ball. 

And the best of the bunch of course is not a Brave. It seems more and more likely that Mookie will get good consideration for the AL MVP. He and Altuve seem to be the front-runners.

The two best photos here are the horizontal shots. This tends to be the case for these sets in general, from what I've seen.

What is your favorite card from 2016 Stadium Club?

Logo-less Chrome, I mean Optic

What's one way to make Donruss better? Chrome it up. 2016 Donruss is a set I haven't picked up too many cards from. I'm not likely to bust many packs of Donruss Optic with some other new sets being available, but picking up singles of the Braves and a few others definitely interests me. I picked up a half dozen from Just Commons recently. 

Some base cards of the heart of the Braves order right now, who are suddenly playing much better and have won 10 out of 14 games as of Tuesday night. I will have to settle for a San Diego Kemp for now until he gets some Braves issues. Mookie was recently named AL player of the month for July.

And a few refractors, I mean Holos, the regular versions for Freeman and Betts, and an Orange parallel of Freeman #'d out of 199. The Orange Freeman is pretty sharp, although I wouldn't have identified it as Orange out of the pack necessarily.

Based on seeing these in person, I would imagine the Diamond King cards from Optic would look great. The Markakis will go on my wantlist.