Secret Santa Has Arrived!

First off, let’s all take a minute to say a big thank you to Jon at A Penny Sleeve for Your Thoughts for hosting another successful Secret Santa. This was probably my personal highlight in terms of collecting in 2019. Waiting for my Secret Santa package to arrive admittedly gave me a the good old kid-on-Christmas feeling. I also had tons of fun putting together a package for my Secret Santa, Henry at Cardboard Greats. He recently posted a recap of what I sent him if you’re interested in checking it out.

I received my secret Santa package last week in the form of a bubble mailer. I didn’t recognize the return address, so I had a feeling this was the surprise that I had been waiting for. Upon opening the mailer I was greeted by a nice typed letter revealing my Secret Santa as Jim, who joined the fun via The Trading Card Database. Jim mentioned in his letter that our collecting habits didn’t exactly align so he didn’t have a lot to send my way. So what did he do?

Jim went out and bought something that he knew I’d love. HOW COOL! This really resonates with me. If you’re going to join a Secret Santa to voluntarily send a stranger a gift, I’d say you’re a kind and generous person. But Jim took it to the next level by going out of his way and spending some money to get send something that he knew I’d enjoy. No matter what was in the packs, I was already overjoyed.

I’ve opened several packs of 2019 Topps Chrome Update and I have yet to pull a base card from “THE guy” of 2019 baseball collecting. You know who I’m talking about:

There he is. 

I for one am not a believer of the Vlad Jr. hype – or least the level of hype that he’s getting. I think he’s going to be very good in the MLB, but I haven’t seen enough to merit the first ballot HOF acclaim that he’s been garnering and I certainly wouldn’t pay the sky high prices for his rookie cards. But to pull one out of a pack that was a gift? Now we’re talking! This will be archived with my other rookies and revisited someday.

Out of all the Topps Chrome Update that I’ve ripped, it’s been exclusively Mega Boxes which do not include the Pink Parallel packs. Those are exclusive to hanger packs.

This could have gone a whole lot worse! Chavis is an exciting rookie on a promising team. I don’t know much about this other dude – but it’s a chrome rookie parallel, and I’ll never complain about that.

Aside the packs, Jim also threw in a few Pirates and one awesome Steelers card:

I’ll be honest – These two names are new to me and I had to hop on Google to learn who these guys are... and wow, I'm glad I did. Both of these guys have some cool stories:

Dick Stuart enjoyed a 10 year career in the majors after serving briefly in the military. He had a handful of nicknames due to his subpar fielding abilities, such as "Dr. Strangeglove" and "Stonefingers," which was given to him by none other than Hank Aaron. At the plate, it was a different story. The slugger finished his career with 228 home runs. In 1963 on the Red Sox, he hit 42 home runs and led the majors with 118 RBI. 

On the topic of nicknames, Richard "Ducky" Schofield also enjoyed a great career. While his statistics wouldn't indicate anything special (career .221 hitter, 21 HR and 211 RBI in 19 seasons), he played for nineteen damn years! He must have been doing something right. In 1960, he took over at shortstop in September after the legendary Dick Groat broke his wrist, and Ducky batted .403 for the rest of the season. He was instrumental in the playoff run, any Pirates fan and most baseball fans can tell you how the 1960 ended. He's also got one pretty autograph.

To wrap it up, a beautiful 2007 Topps Chrome Hines Ward Refractor. I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it again – Pirates and Steelers cards look sensational with black, yellow, and gold borders. This card is no exception. The black border matching with the black jersey is such a smooth combination.

Thanks again to Jim for this awesome Secret Santa package, and thanks to Jon for hosting. Until next year!

Minkah Fitzpatrick is Really Good

And I'm happy he's on my team. For the first time in a long time the Steelers have a respectful defense. This is due to a variety of factors. Bud Dupree is emerging as a viable starter, T.J. Watt continues to look like a perennial Pro-Bowler, and the secondary has quietly done their part.

Most importantly the addition of Minkah Fitzpatrick has really boosted the defensive unit. Simply put, Fitzpatrick has been a total game changer since his arrival. In just eight games he has: Forced a fumble. Recovered a fumble. Snagged five picks. 

Oh, AND he's scored TWO touchdowns. 

Upon hearing of the trade back in mid-September I was immediately looking to add a Minkah auto to my collection. Considering that he's only one year removed from being drafted #11 overall and has been a consistently good pro, I was pleasantly surprised to see that his autos were pretty affordable. 

I'm always hunting for numbered parallels so I was hoping find one for a decent price. The highest number out there for 2018 Prizm is #/199. This is for red parallels which were running $15+ and that's just too steep for me.

I settled for a Pink parallel for less than $10. Not numbered, but it's some variety past just the silver base card so I'll take it!

While we're here, I'll show off a Pirates PC pickup. Bryan reynolds had an incredible breakout season in 2019. His cards were few and far between until 2019 Topps Update. I'm still looking for his base cards (both Update and Chrome Update) and I'll wait to get those through trade. 

I can wait for the base cards, but I couldn't wait any longer to grab an auto. This is my second auto of his and the first one in a Pirates uniform. This cards also goes against a few of my collecting principles: It's not numbered, and it's a sticker auto. But this is the first Reynolds autograph card as a Pirate and I just couldn't wait.

Thanks for reading!

Trade with Topps Cards that Never Were

In mid-September, Jeremy from Topps Cards that Never Were shot me an email about sending over some spare Pirates cards. This is the first time Jeremy and I have traded, and I’m really excited about this partnership. Jeremy sent me some great cards, but the best part about the partnership is that Jeremy collects the Rays. I’m excited to have a home for my unwanted Rays cards in the future.

First up is two pink parallels of formers Pirates, both of whom are participating in the Postseason (of course). One could/should win the Cy Young. You’ve probably heard of him by now.

Jose Guillen is one of very very few notable Pirates from the 90’s, so he shows up often in late 90s cardboard. This insert is awesome. He was 21 when he broke into the majors, hence the “Baby Boomers.”

As for Liriano, he’s one of my favorite recent Pirates. And while he was good for the Pirates, he was really nasty on the Twins. Really cool orange chrome parallel from 2010 Topps Chrome.

My favorite card of the lot. 2008 Topps Heritage High Number #/559. I don’t collect much Heritage, but maybe I should. Heritage refractors are so sweet. Maholm was pretty bad, maybe average at best over his 10 year career. He was a serviceable back-of-the-rotation starting pitcher who probably could of benefitted from some run support. Sadly, “run support” was not in the Pirates vocabulary in the mid 2000s.

And yet, this is still a great card. There’s just something different about the shine on Heritage refractors, which I tried my best to capture in the image above.

Thanks for the trade, Jeremy! Cheers to many more.