Twelve new 12/25 cards

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! I've picked up several additions to my collection of 12/25 "Christmas Cards" this year and rounded up 12 to show off on this special day. We're gonna ring the Bell to kick things off...

You can't spell "Jingle Bells" without J. Bell! Number 12 in our countdown is Jay Bell, though it might be hard to read with his name, being xfracted as it is.

Bell was among the game's better middle infielders during the 90s. Kinda weird for me when a guy I remember from when I was a kid in the overproduction era-- a non-star at that-- sticks around long enough to also have Xfractors and the like. Jay got a ring with the '01 D-backs and wrapped up his career in 2003 with the Mets. He didn't get any "final tribute" cards in 2004, so 2003 is his swan song for playing-days cards.

Mixing it up with some non-baseball. I like my Christmas Card Collection to be diverse, after all. Colby Jones and Julian Phillips are the basketball duo. Not familiar with either of them, but I got it for a few bucks in a recent combined-shipping eBay purchase. But the hockey card I targeted because the guy is named Gavin Brindley, and I sure love scoring a double bullseye of a guy named Gavin on a 12/25 card. (A rare triple bullseye is coming up in a moment, so get psyched for that! lol)

Are you ready for some football? I'm not-- haven't given much attention to pigskin for several years now-- but I'm omnivorous when it comes to my card collection. Another couple combined-shipping throw-ins. BJ Ojulari is a kinda fun name and Zach Charbonnet is representing my "local" team up here in the PNW. These are numbered on the back, so let's take a look...

Gah, sorry about the blurry photos. Like I said last post, I'm hoping the light box I asked for got this Christmas helps sharpen up my photos on the blog (elsewise I guess I should maybe try scanning more, but I tend to prefer the quickness of snapping photos.)

Another basketball guy in Villanova's Mark Armstrong, plus a soccer guy named Michele De Gregorio.

 12/25 on the back.

Another Gavin makes it into this year's countdown. A first round pick in 2022, Cross has spent the past couple seasons in Double-A with middling results, so his cards have been more affordable than back when he was a hotter prospect. Might as well pick up a cheap 12/25 auto when the opportunity presents itself.

Here's the triple bullseye I mentioned. Card numbered 12/25, of my favorite team, of a guy who went to the same high school as me.

I've had a big Trenton Brooks post drafting for a while now, but I haven't published it because I keep adding parallels and always seem to have another one in the mail, so I wait for that, but then there's another one also coming, and it goes on like that. LOL But no, sometime soon I'll stick a fork in that post and show off a bunch of modern parallels-- really my first taste of "rainbowing" in the Fanatics era. But for now, here's the lone Christmas Card of Trenton Brooks I've scored so far.

I wanted to kick up my Stephen Strasburg PC with a nice card, and this Ginter refractor fit the bill. He's looking like he just saw mommy kissing Santa Claus underneath the mistletoe, and he's not sure how to process it. The 12/25 serial number is in the lower right. He's another local "went to the same school" guy, but SDSU this time, and a rival high school from my conference. His pro career was hampered by injuries, but he had a few strong seasons including a big 2019 when he helped lead the Nationals to a World Series Championship. 

Pete Alonso brings some star power as we near the end of the post. This 2024 Tier One parallel looks great with Mets colors. I picked this one up over the summer, back when the Mets were in the playoff picture, before things fell apart and the team got dismantled. Best of luck to the Polar Bear in Baltimore.

Last card of the post..

Bobby Witt, Jr. has been putting together an impressive career and he's still just 25 years old. Took me a while to find a nice auto and land it in my price range. Happy with this Five Star Christmas Card featuring enough rainbow foil to help it pop.

There you have it. Again, Merry Christmas and/or enjoy your 12/25 this year!

Incoming birthday/holiday cards

Merry Christmas Eve, everybody! Yep, it's also my b-day, too. 

A while back, there was a Blog Bat-Around about cards numbered with your birthday. With mine so late in the year, it takes an extra large set to include a number 1224 in the checklist. But yeah, I've rounded up 3 of them so far...

A couple minor league sets from the 80s and one from the Conlon Collection.

Gotta love old TCMA, and I do kinda collect this Brian Giles as like quirky side-PC to my big PC of the better-known Brian Giles.

And I ripped a lot of those blue '89 ProCards packs back in the day. I started collecting in 1990, so they were "older" and I was looking for the hot '90 rookies, and yeah, even Mark Gardner had some hype, and went on to a respectable MLB career, sticking around through the 2001 season. 

I don't have much to say about Joe Bowman, but he was probably cool too. I think I threw these cards into my Sportlots cart months ago, and eventually placed orders with the respective sellers. Has anybody ordered from Sportlots lately? The past week or so, it's taken me to new "improved" shopping cart which doesn't let you separate between sellers. Not cool! Is it just me, like maybe I have too many cards in my cart, or did they really F up their cart interface? That'd be a bummer if they took a dump so soon after COMC also took a turn for the worse too. Running out of good, big online card shops to use! :(

The backs. The number on the Giles is in small text after the copyright.

-  - -o 

Now for some incoming cards that some blogger buds sent to brighten up my holidays.

First up is a nice package from Dennis at TMV. Sorry these, photos are dark, by the way. I took them last night, knowing the 24th and 25th would be busy, but I could sneak in some blogging time hanging out with the fam. (Keeping it tight for time.) But yeah, one thing I asked for this year is a light box, so I'm hopeful that I'll kick up my card-photographing game soon. But yeah, here's a sweet quad relic of Marcus Lattimore #'d 12/25 with a Gavin Sheets relic sporting a pinstripe.

Gavins!

More Gavins!

Good stuff. Thanks, Dennis! Very nice of you to keep up the string of holiday mailings that I've been lucky enough to be included in. I'll hit you back with a thank-you soon.

-  --o

Next up are some signed cards from Japan. 2011 Topps is a fav modern design for me, and Neshek is a PC guy.

And some Bowman cards, including a couple former Padres I remember rooting for in years past.

Thank you, Zippy! Merry Christmas, even if this wasn't specifically meant as a holiday surprise. 

-  - -o

Last is Bob from Best Bubble surprising me with a yuletide-timed card package.

Gotta pay the Gavin Tax when you send me cards, lol. Nice variety here.

This trio of neat Tony Gwynns off the beaten path might've been the highlight for me.

More Padres, including some autos.

Attractive ladies!

The backs.

More lovely gals.

Big thanks, Bob! I've been working on a package for you, and hope to get that sent out soon.

Thanks again to these folks for the cards, and happy holidays to everybody reading. I'll be trying to get a Christmas post out tomorrow if I can find the time to type it up.

Christmas Cards 2024

Guys, with this post I've bested my record (set last year) for least number of posts on my blog in a year. Hurray! It's a Christmas miracle; 2024 wasn't my least prolific year as a blogger! We're trending upwards!

Let's count down some cool cards numbered 12/25 that I got this year and haven't featured on the blog yet.

#6 Luis Robert, a.k.a. Lou Bob Jr., had a down year in 2024 with the historically bad White Sox, but he's a guy I've kinda collected since pulling a nice parallel of his back when he first popped onto the scene (1st Bowman mega box parallel). I needed an auto for the PC and eventually landed on this 2022 Topps Definitive card for about the price of a blaster. I'll be interested to see if he gets back on track next season or if his peak is in the rearview now.

#5 Spencer Strider made a big splash a year ago before being sidelined by Tommy John surgery. I landed this nice Five Star auto a few months back. He's another guy I hope is able to bounce back next season.

#4 is a Yogi Berra bat relic from 2005 Topps Pristine Legends. I'm working on a refractor version of the base set, and while I'm not actively trying to complete any of the hits, sometimes they pop up in my searches, and if the price is right, I might take a run at it... especially if it's serial numbered 12/25.

#3 - I had an eye out for a Max Scherzer autograph and landed this solid one from 2014 Topps Five Star. It pairs nicely with a similar Christmas Card I've got of another of the era's top starting pitchers...

Twice the holiday dominance! I was thinking how cool it would be if I could get a Verlander to go with these, but looks like Justin wasn't in Five Star that year, so no chance to match up with these guys. But maybe I'll score a different Verlander auto in 2025. Trying to nab autos of these "no doubters" before they're enshrined.

#2 is a big boy: Albert Pujols! I wanted an autograph as the cherry on top of my Pujols PC and, again, figured I'd better do it now before he's up for Cooperstown and his card prices see a bump. I held out for a Christmas Card, and wound up with this Leaf Pro Set "LFG!" acetate. That must stand for "Let's friggin' go!" as the kids like to say these days to psych themselves up. On the downside, it's an unlicensed stickergraph, but it otherwise looked cool to me and the price was right.

Drum roll for the #1 card in our Christmas Card countdown...

...

...

#1 - Ichiro auto! And it's licensed and on-card. Glad I got him in a Mariners uni, too. It's from 2020 Topps Transcendent, my first ever pickup from this popular high-end set, if I'm not mistaken. The metal frame is a classy touch. "[ OF ]" in the bottom corner nearly looks like "1 OF 1", but no, it's even better than that! It's 12/25!

Have a wonderful December 25th, everyone! And Merry Christmas, too, if that's your thing!

The card show comes to me

Saturday was a first for me, having not one but two fellow cardbloggers hand-deliver boxes of cards to my door. How great is that?! First was Kevin from The Diamond King who was down in my neck of the woods Saturday morning for the local card show. Then in the afternoon, Rod from Padrographs dropped off another box while I was out walking Ruby. Plus I received one eBay pick up in Saturday's mail, one that happens to be a triple-bullseye for my collection: Christmas Card of a PC guy in my #1 set, 2004 Topps Retired refractors (and it was cheap). Oh, happy day!

Starting off the recap with a royal visit from The Diamond King. This came about because I had been working up a few neat Mark McGwire cardart things with the intention of putting them on eBay for my continuing side-hustle trying to generate enough income to where my wife won't hound me to find another real job quite yet, and generate enough walks to the post office to keep my crazy dog tired. Since Kevin is a big McGwire collector, I figured I'd check if he was interested in trading me for any of them. I know cardart ain't for everybody, so I try not to force it on folks if they don't want it, but I feel guilty if I don't at least offer my buddies dibs on anything they might like of their top PC guys.

Anyways, he was agreeable to trade and a few days later brought me over some great stuff. I think the only other time Kevin and I met in person was when he dropped off cards back at my old house, and we moved in 2020, so it's been a few years. Nice to see him again and have a little chat over cards.

The bulk of what he had for me was a nice lot of Kellogg's for my long-term collecting goal of putting together a run of those classic cereal cards. Excited to check these off my wants.

He also had a bunch of supervintage he offered me since he knows I'm into old stuff like that, with the caveat that who knows if this stuff is legit or perhaps reprints or even counterfeits. Sometimes you just find random stuff digging through cards at a card show and you roll the dice on card that might be something or might not. But yeah, regardless, these are neat additions to the pre-war randomness in my collection, hopefully working a few of them into my Vintage Frankenset project.

I've never been hunting and only went fishing a couple times in my youth, but I can still appreciate the interesting artwork on this series. The last card is "Ratting" and features a young lady swinging a stick at a rat.

Nice minicollection hits for me here.. The top cards are both 12/25 and the bottom lucky lady is 1/3. Love the green ink! Ryan Shamrock is a ring name for Alicia Webb, a.k.a. Symphony, who had a brief pro wrestling career around the turn of the millennium.

Some modern cards of my Padres.

I hope Trout has a good comeback season. The first card seems to be an oddball from 2021.

Some favorites of the past. The '75 Thurman was a need for my setbuild Kevin had just picked up for me at the card show. What a guy! I also needed the Reggie image variation for my 2011 Topps parallel frankenset.

Kevin had a big stack of serial numbered cards for a future giveaway and was kind enough to let me go through and cherry-pick out some PC guys of mine, heavy on the Kris Bryant.

Thanks again, Kevin! Great to swing the in-person exchange with you. Hope we can do it again before too long.

-  - --o

While Ruby and I were out on a nice little hike around the local golf course, Rod was popping by with a box of cards to leave at my doorstep. Sorry I missed him, but excited to thumb through the stack of cards he had available for me.

Love to score cards of the various hot young players that don't make it into my collection much these days since I don't rip new stuff or hit the card show anymore.

There were a few hundred cards in the box, mostly from Rod's recent box busting extravaganza probably, with a big chunk of them fitting into my collection like the PC additions above.

Oh buddy.. glow-in-the-dark dinosaur sticker. Rod is a champ always looking out for glowing stuff for me!

Big thanks, Rod! Always a blast getting cards from you. I hope I catch you next time.

-   - - --o

And then here's that sweet eBay win that came in to really round out the day...

Vida Blue! It's a weird photo choice, but still!

This is an "upgrade" to the 22/25 refractor I already had. Lucky for me the seller botched the listing a bit and I ended up getting this one cheaper than I expected.

There are a total of 76 cards in the 2004 Topps Retired autographs. Of those 12/25 "Christmas Cards" in existence, I've now got 11 of them. That's over 14% of the Christmas Cards in 2004 Retired (which is "the set" my collection is built around, basically). So that's kinda cool!

Thanks for reading and have a great week.