Saturday, December 5, 2020

cardboard catchup

I've received some cool cards in the mail from cardsphere folks over the past couple weeks. Time to catch up and give them their spotlight. So here are several cards I got from a pair of Dodgers fans and a pair of Yankees fans.


Over the summer, I won this sharp Mookie Betts 2017 Bowman's Best blue refractor in a big multi-winner contest at the Chavez Ravining blog. I had pretty much forgotten about it, so it was a nice surprise when it showed up forwarded from my old address. Alex kindly threw in a bonus Pete Alonso 206 as well.

Thanks again for the contest, Alex!

-  -  - ---o



Here's another unexpected PWE that recently blessed my mailslot (the new house doesn't have a mailbox): gcrl sent me over a housewarming Gwynn.


Surprise, it's a blank back. Trying to find more info, I saw one of these listed on COMC as "1996 Topps Finest - League Leaders - Bronze Blank Back". Not sure if it's a proof card or was actually packed-out, but regardless, it's a neat one to add to my Gwynn PC.

Thanks, gcrl! i'll try to find something good to return the favor with soon.

-   -  - --o


Bo of the blog Bo's Bonanza of Baseballers got me to the cusp of completion with 1990 Donruss. Now I'm just down to the Bosio Diamond King, the MVP insert of HoJo, and one more puzzle piece. (plus all the Grand Slammers and the many error cards, but I doubt I'll end up going hard after those.) [UPDATE: heads up that I'm getting many of these in a forthcoming Sportlots order, so no need to try to find them for me.] 


Can't blame you if the '90D doesn't excite you, but come on, these candidates for my Vintage Frankenset are a fun bunch! Expect to get a closer look at them in forthcoming posts about that project.

Thanks, Bo! I feel bad I've been owing you cards for a while even before this, so it's a priority to hit you back with something good soon.

-  - - --o

And biggest for last is a surprise zapping from the Luis Torrens Fan Club. Kinda like a repack blaster with all the repurposed wrappers. Nice to get a pseudo rip in!


Among the highlights were some 2020 Padres I can use.


I'm always a sucker for a shiny refractor.


A few more various highlights.

And a pair of hits! A Jorge Mateo auto and an Anthony Davis relic managed to sneak out of Kenny's collection and into mine. Awesome! Originally signed by the Yankees out of the DR, Mateo made his big league debut with the Padres last season. And I don't follow basketball very closely, but I know he's one of the best in the game and teamed up with LeBron to win the 2020 NBA championship with the Lakers. Happy to give my little basketball collection a bump with this jersey card.

Thanks, Zippy! Very cool. I'll have to return the favor one of these days.

4 comments:

  1. Here's what I was able to figure out about the 1996 Finest blank backs (hint, not much): http://fanofreds.blogspot.com/2017/10/barry-larkin-collection-558-1996-topps.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. I recently received that mystery Gwynn too. Our blank back cards resemble the 1995 Finest Bronze cards (League Leaders) that were sold directly from Topps, but not sure if they're proof cards or not.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Now I might have to change my blog name! No rush on the return. If it helps you, I am finding myself more and more drawn to vintage footballers lately . . .

    ReplyDelete
  4. Leaf sure went all out on the top and bottom of that Mateo card!

    ReplyDelete