First Contest Winner Announced!

Big thanks to everyone who entered the contest predicting the sixteen 2020 MLB Postseason teams. I probably couldn't have picked a worse time to center a contest around MLB games... hopefully MLB can get it together and we'll be able to complete the baseball season, and the contest, as planned. 

In total, 16 different contestants entered. Adding in new subscribers and blog pimps, there were a total of 28 entries. I popped those 28 entires into random.org and randomized the list 21 times!

Without further ado...

And there we have it! Congratulations to John at John's Big League Baseball Blog for being randomly selected to win one jumbo pack of 2020 Topps Series 2! John, please get in touch so I can get your address!

Thanks again to all of those who entered. Remember, this is only phase one of the contest. Phase two will be announced in early October when the regular season concludes. Whoever wins that aspect of the contest will be taking home a fat pack of 2020 Bowman baseball!

If for some reason the baseball season gets shut down, I'll randomize the list 21 times again to raffle off the Bowman pack. 

Let's hope it doesn't come to that!

LAST CALL For the Contest - Win Some 2020 Bowman and Series 2!

Happy Saturday everyone! Hope everyone is enjoying some nice weather and some baseball on TV.

Entries for the contest that I'm hosting will close tomorrow at 11:59 PM EST. So if you haven't entered yet, DO IT! There are some cool prizes on the line:

Thanks to those that have entered, and thanks for your patience while resubmitting your predictions after MLB switched up the format. 

To see the original contest post, click HERE. I posted the contest a few days before MLB made the announcement of the 16-team playoff - so I had to amend the rules. To read the revised rules and submit your picks - USE THIS LINK. 

If you're curious, here's what we have for entries:

Thanks all! Good luck!

CALLING ALL CONTEST ENTRANTS: Win Some 2020 Bowman or 2020 Series 2!

Good evening everyone. As most of you have already heard, MLB has announced that the 2020 Postseason will include 16 teams rather than the traditional 10. Personally, I'm pretty pumped for the new format, and I'm hoping it goes well and could spur some playoff reform for future seasons.

However, this has thrown quite the wrench into my contest, which I'm excited to say has been very well received! Because of the new format, I need all bloggers to resubmit their predictions with the 16 team format. For a refresher on the contest - here is the original post.

So, in the comments on this post, please resubmit your new predictions using the format below. All other contest rules stay the same. The contest is open until 11:59 on Sunday, 7/26, so new entrants are still welcome and encouraged!

Explanation of New Postseason Format:

All division winners are in. This gives us 6 teams.

All second-place teams in the six divisions qualify - for the sake of this contest, we'll call title those "Runner Up." This gives us 6 more teams, totaling 12.

Finally, the 7th and 8th teams in each division, the wild card teams, will be chosen by best record among other teams remaining teams. This gives us 4 more teams, totaling 16.

Format to use to submit your predictions (drop as a comment on this post):

AL East Champion:
AL East Runner Up:
AL Central Champion:
AL Central Runner Up:
AL West Campion:
AL West Runner Up:
AL Wild Card #1:
AL Wild Card #2:

NL East Champion:
NL East Runner Up:
NL Central Champion:
NL Central Runner Up:
NL West Campion:
NL West Runner Up:
NL Wild Card #1:
NL Wild Card #2:


Thanks everyone! 

CONTEST! Win Some 2020 Bowman or 2020 Series 2!

**THE CONTEST HAS BEEN EDITED TO REFLECT THE NEW 16-TEAM PLAYOFF FORMAT**

PLEASE VISIT THIS LINK to see the amendments to the contest and resubmit your new predictions!

Original Post:

Welcome back baseball! We've missed you!

I've read a lot about the scarcity of 2020 Topps Series 2 and 2020 Bowman in the wild.  I too was having trouble finding any until I finally caught some luck on my most recent Target run. I grabbed some of each, and I'd like to share my luck with the blog world. If you haven't found any, this is your chance to grab some at no cost! 

I'm excited for the start of baseball season. Plus, this blog is long overdue for a contest, so let's get this going! There will be two separate components to this. One involves *some* skill and lots of luck, and one simply asks for participation. BOTH win prizes!

For the first part, all you to need to do is correctly predict as many of the 10 playoff teams that you can for the 2020 MLB Postseason. It's that simple. Whoever has the most correct predictions will win. If a tie breaker is needed, I will look to see which participant has the most teams in their correct playoff spot. With this in play, there is value to correctly picking who will win the division and who will get the first and second wildcard spots. If, for some reason we need another tie breaker, I'll randomize it. 

In order to enter, just submit your predictions on the comments section in the format below:

AL East Champion:

AL Central Champion:

AL West Campion:

AL Wild Card #1:

AL Wild Card #2:

NL East Champion:

NL Central Champion:

NL West Campion:

NL Wild Card #1:

NL Wild Card #2:

The last day of regular season games is September 28th, and I'll announce the winner shortly thereafter. Make sure to fill in your blog name with your submission so I know how to find you!

The person with the most correct answers will win themselves a factory sealed fat pack of 2020 Bowman baseball!

Now for those of you who suck at predicting the future, like me, don't worry. I'll also be entering ALL participants into a drawing to win one 2020 Topps Series 2 Jumbo pack!

As long as you submit your predictions in the comments before the end of the day on Sunday 7/26, you've earned yourself (1) entry into the drawing. 

There are two ways you can earn additional entries:

1. "Pimp" the contest on your blog - in order to qualify for this, please drop a comment on this post letting me know that you did so. 
2. Subscribe to the blog! This one is for newcomers only. If you've already subscribed, sorry! I'd really like to add some new followers. If you don't currently follow me, please do so! 

So, everyone has the opportunity to get up to two submissions, and new subscribers can get three.

The contest will close on Sunday, Sunday, July 26th at 11:59 PM EST. I will use random.org and randomize the list of entrants 21 times. The winner will be announced on 7/27.

Thanks for checking it out. I hope this adds some fun to the start of the 2020 season and hooks some great people up with some great cards. 

This is Blog is Now a Bryan Reyolds Fanpage

For someone who has never considered himself a collector of one specific player, I'm definitely starting to look like a Bryan Reynolds superfan. As I was preparing this post, I realized that four of the seven cards that I'm planning to show are from one player.

It got me curious to check some stats on my Reynolds collection. According to TCDB, which I update religiously, I have 23 unique Bryan Reynolds cards. I also learned that my collection ranks as the fourth largest quantity on the site. There are two other collectors with 24, and the largest collection sits at 31. As I continue to seek Reynolds cards through trade and the occasional purchase, I might be gunning for that #1 spot. 

Here are some pickups from the week, starting with TCDB trades:

Bryan Reynolds - 2016 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects

This came in from California, where a SF Giants send me this card in return for two Giants cards. This is actually the first copy the "1st Bowman" I've gotten my hands on in the "paper" version. Topps used the same image on his autograph card in the set, which I have a few of. 

(L) Mitch Keller - 2019 Topps Gallery

(R) Bryan Reynolds - 2019 Topps Gallery

For someone who buys a decent amount of retail cards, I'm a little surprised that I've never picked up any Topps Gallery. These are the first Galley cards in my collection. The artwork truly is impressive and they look great in-hand. I swapped these two cards with a Braves collector in Georgia.

Chris Archer - 2020 Topps Rainbow Foil

Stephen Strasburg - 2020 Topps Gold Parallel #/2020

These two cards have a cool story behind them. A collector in Pittsburgh contacted me on TCDB and offered the Archer rainbow foil in exchange for a handful of random basketball and baseball cards. It turns out that he's working on a project where he's putting together packs of cards of athletes from Pennsylvania. He then donates the packs to his local Ronald McDonald House, where they are added to a prize locker for teenagers. Inside the pack you'll find the cards and you'll be encouraged to log onto a website associated with the cards where you can learn about your home-state legends. 

Once I learned about the project, I offered up several more cards of PA-born athletes - names like Neil Walker and Marvin Harrison. The trader was gracious enough allow me to add in the Strasburg parallel. I feel like this card encapsulates the 2019 World Series very well. 

(L) Bryan Reynolds - 2019 Topps Gallery Autograph

(R) Bryan Reynolds - 2019 Topps Now Rookie Cup

We'll wrap up with my two eBay purchases on the week. The Topps Gallery auto is... the base card with an autographed sticker on it. Very on-brand for Topps!

The Topps Now card is the first I've ever purchased. I've never been too interested in the set although I think it's a cool idea. This particular card drew me in for a few reasons - it has print run of just 376 and it has both the RC stamp and the gold cup. Lots to love. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Mailday Roundup: A Superfractor, Some Bucs and a Trout

Welcome to this week's mailday roundup!

I usually try to start these posts a little slower and work my way up to the big guys. This week is a little different. Let's start off with a bang.

Chris Archer - 2019 Topps Chrome Sapphire Superfractor #1/1

You are looking at my first-ever Superfractor. It only took me seven years of collecting but I have finally added one to my collection. I've wanted one for a long time and this was the first one that really made sense to purchase. Although I'll probably never open a box of Tops Chrome Sapphire, it's the cousin of Topps Chrome - my favorite set. 

When Archer was traded to the Pirates at the deadline in 2018 it was a really, really big deal. The Pirates had a reputation for protecting prospects and not trading for proven vets. The trade was received very positively by Pirates fans. From our end, we were giving up a bust of a pitcher (Tyler Glasnow) a Single-A Prospect (Shane Baz) and potential MLB starter (Austin Meadows). Two years later, 95% of Pirates fans will tell you they hated the trade back then. They're lying.

I was able to get this at a really reasonable price. Due to extreme underperformance, the value of Archer's cards have absolutely plummeted. I watch his cards pretty closely. Last night an auction for his first Bowman Chrome autograph went for $6.00 and change. For a guy that's made the All-Star twice in the last five years, that's brutal. I haven't lost hope just yet - He's still only 31, he was playing through injury last season and I don't think the now-ousted coaching staff was doing him any favors. 

I hope the best for Archer... but I have my doubts too. Either way, he's a good man who's easy to root for and I'm ecstatic to add this card to my collection.

(L) Josh Bell - 2017 Topps Chrome RC Gold #/50

(R) Josh Bell - 2017 Topps RC Gold #/2017

The Chrome Josh Bell on the left has been on my target list for a very long time. Due to JB's great season last year, it's way over-valued. One finally popped up on eBay at .99 cent auction. I watched it throughout and swooped in at the last minute with a winning bid. I ended up paying about 1/3 of what most BIN sales are asking but what I paid is probably about what it's actually worth. Nothing like a .99 cent auction to prove the true value of a card!

The card on the right came my way via a TCDB PWE swap. The same over-value effect was in play, and I had to send my trade partner a nice Manny Machado rookie as well as a Hunter Pence rookie, both of which I pulled from packs many years ago. I was sad to see them go but they went to a great home and I was able to add another JB rookie to the PC. A gold serial numbered rookie, nonetheless.

(Clockwise)

Tyler Glasnow - 2017 Topps Silver Pack

Tyler Glasnow - 2017 Topps Chrome Refractor 

Cole Tucker - 2019 Topps Update

Josj Bell - 2017 Bowman Chrome

Some more goodies from TCDB trades. The Glasnow silver pack card is super shiny and it looks stunning with the Sunday alternate 1979 throwback jersey.

Bryan Reynolds - 2020 Topps Rainbow Foil

(L) Giancarlo Stanton - 2017 Topps Gold Label Class 2 Blue #/99

(R) Stephen Strasburg Gold Label Class 1 Blue #/150

The three card above came my way via Alex and Chavez Ravining. The Gold Label blue parallels were part of a recent contest in which I was fortunate enough to finish in the prize pool. Alex was also kind enough to throw in the Reynolds rainbow foil card as well as few other Pirates. I'm still chasing down his rookie cards, and now his second year cards are showing up in every set. It will feel overwhelming, but it's more to chase! The rookie cup cards are always cool.

Mike Torut - 2013 Topps Chrome Update

We finish up with a random yet rare non-Pirate. I'm not a Trout collector, but of course I'd love to own some cards of the greatest player of this generation and undoubtedly one of the best ever. I don't own any of his rookie cards, and I've more or less written that off as a possibility. 

His third-year cards are in my all-time favorite set, 2013 Topps Chrome. I'm not entirely sure how the Topps All-Star Rookie Gold Cup works, but it shows up on his 2013 Topps Chrome card making it more valuable. I'm more or less obsessed with the set. So much so that I built a set of the blue parallels #/199 over the course of six years. Through that project, as well as opening several 2013 Topps Chrome hobby boxes, I own several Trout third-year cards. The card above appeared in Update and I didn't own a copy. I grabbed the card above for just $9. It's a great addition to a tiny Trout collection.

Thanks for stopping by.