card show covfefe

I missed May's card show this past Saturday, an aftereffect of my wife's car being totaled earlier in the month, but it was ok since I've had so many new cards to go through thanks to that big lot from Rod I posted about already, plus a few recent incoming maildays which I'll feature here today.

Ok, first up.. I've been Zippy Zapped! This brick of cards unexpectedly arrived on the day of the show, so it was soothing comfort when I needed it most.

The highlight has to be this glorious hunk of clear acetate autographed by Luis Torrens. The sticky-note from Zippy stated he was giving this to me on the condition that I keep it in the case as-is (complete with tampered-with tamper-proof seal). Ha, you got it, man. Thanks! I finally caught a game on TV where Torrens got the start behind the dish. He looks like he can hold his own, despite being rushed into the big leagues via Rule 5. Hopefully his bat comes around. I like how this 2014 Leaf Trinity card doesn't mention New York anywhere, so I can try fooling myself into thinking it's a Padres card.

Here are some keepers from the ample selection of Padres cardboard included.

Incredible lot of sparkly 2011 Topps parallels, featuring some favorites such as Jim Thome and Derrek Lee. Some dupes for me here, but plenty of needs too. I'm now over 2/5 complete (40%) with this crazy frankenset idea of mine.

It's not often you can send someone a 1992 Upper Deck card and a 1991 Topps card and have that person actually need/want them, but thanks to my recently rekindled Kevin Maas PC, Zippy pulls off the improbable. Also a couple other one-time Yanks I collect, Xavier Nady and Arod.

I got a laugh at that Steve Cummings, which I gotta assume was in response to my recent Dick Cummings pickup. I gotta stress, guys, please don't dump all your Cummings on me! I don't want to end up drowning in Cummings.
Also here is a Gary Sanchez (I guess his cards have cooled off a bit since last year?) and a couple Trevor Stories.

Shiny!

Some cool black border parallels. I think the 1962 design looks silly with black borders since you've still got that woodgrain corner. They should have made that all black and then changed the black text to light brown or something.

Some more Heritage Minors.. I believe these are parallels with various tints.

Some more cards that caught my eye.

Oh man, I love black refractors!

While not shiny, these Asian exclusive black boarder Bowman cards are pretty neat too.

Back to the shiny! More black refractors. Did you catch Hunter Renfroe's grand slam to beat the Cubs yesterday? As a Padres fan, it's nice to see them win once in a while.

Wave refractors! Love these! I wish Topps/Bowman would ditch that tired "transformers logo" refractor pattern they've been overusing this year and instead go nuts with wave refractors. Perhaps they could do a whole set.. like, Topps Wave consisting of nothing but various wave refractors! If that sells well, do Bowman Wave too. Eventually they'll get to Topps Wave Heritage and Bowman Wave Heritage. Five Star Wave. Wave Archives. Bunt Wave. Opening Day Wave... nah, scratch that last one.. not even making every card a wave refractor could save Opening Day from the redundant afterthought it's become.

Some shiny Star Wars cards, too.

Wrapping things up with a random game card (Magic?) and a couple hotties. Yuki is my favorite here. In fact, here's the back of that one...

Thumbs up!

Thanks a lot, Zippy! I'll do my best to round up some cards you might like.

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Commishbob was already on my list of "guys I owe cards" thanks to a great '64 Eddie Mathews he sent me a few weeks back, but before I had a chance to hit him back for that, he surprised me with a nice half-dozen 1957 needs he kindly scored for me at a recent card show...

Awesome.. thanks, Bob! Now I'm at 52/417 cards, good for 12.47% complete.

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Next is my first time trading with Jason's Sports Card Blog, a new blog started this past March.

Here we have the only two Gavins to ever play in the MLB. Unfortunately, 2017 hasn't been a good year for Gavins in baseball so far. Floyd was released by the Jays in spring training and doesn't seem to have caught on with another team, so his career might be finished. Cecchini is down in AAA, learning to play second base to make way for hot Mets shortstop prospect, Amed Rosario. After a slow start with the bat, Gavin's starting to heat up a bit, though we'll see if he gets called back up any time soon.

Some favorite players of mine.

A couple more needs for my 2011 Topps parallels frankenset.

Thanks a lot, Jason! I'll scrounge up some cards to return the favor soon.

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Finally for today, here's a quick one-card PWE from reader mr. haverkamp...

...knocking off a need for my 1964 Topps setbuild. The star of the show here is Jim Ray Hart, who put up several solid seasons in San Francisco.

Thanks for the trade, man!

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To wrap up, May 2017 will go down as one of the worst months of my entire life. Let's see, there was the nastiest car accident I've ever been involved in, a heartbreaking incident where a scared lost dog slipped away from me as I was trying to help get her home, gruesome stabbings by a white extremist in my neighborhood, plus serious health problems emerging for some beloved members of my extended family. In light of all that, having to miss the card show is no big deal, but just piling on the shitshow of a month.

Thankfully, I've got the cardsphere to raise my spirits with thoughtful mailings of cards here and there. Big thanks again to everyone who's sent me cards. Thanks also to everyone who reads/comments on my blog. Always appreciated! BTW, this was post #999 for me.. expect a big contest next post.