Hypocrite

I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I can often be a hypocrite when it comes to my baseball cards.

I eat my own words a lot. Chasing stuff I said I wouldn't chase, buying stuff I said I didn't like, frowning upon stuff I've done myself. Etc., etc. I like to think we've all done it. But yet another example of hypocrisy to add to my laundry list attached itself to a mega-mailer I recently received from Tim of "I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning."

This, on the surface, seems to be a standard copy of Munenori Kawasaki's only card as a Cub from 2016 Heritage High Numbers -- a great card, yes, but one I already have.

But when I turned it over, I found gum stains -- or at least the version of what computers interpret gum stains to be.

You might already know that Topps has been inserting these "gum damage" backs into Heritage for a while now. I always thought it was a stupid concept, one of the most facepalm-worthy gimmicks from a company that specializes in them. But I'd never actually owned one before Tim sent this Muni over. Perhaps it's the simple fact that I get to add a second Kawasaki card to my Cubs binder when I thought I'd forever have just one, but I must admit, I kinda...like it. It might've even been my favorite card of the whole package.

God I'm a hypocrite.

This isn't to sell anything else Tom sent short, though, because he packed quite a wallop with the rest of the mega-mailer (seriously, I think I counted seven team bags crammed in there).

These mini-collection hits are all needs -- and the Wainwright is another example of my hypocrisy given that Topps has lazily recycled that photo many times over, and yet I'm thrilled to add it to my throwbacks list, again and again.

Me: There's too many inserts in the hobby these days!

Also me: Creates lengthy want lists for said inserts and gets oddly giddy when able to cross some out.

No hypocrisy here: Vlad rules and always has.

I don't often get to add cards to my RA Dickey and Adam Greenberg collections, so these were certainly a thrill.

I love my 1,027 different Vlads (seriously, I just finished cataloging them), but sometimes a card of a dude like Greenberg (of whom I might own 10 cards, at most) can be just as exciting.

A little shiny always wins my heart.

Oddball time, including an excellent minor league Junior Ortiz which features just about every piece of baseball equipment possible.

My reaction when '70s and early '80s oddballs fall out of a trade package is always pretty much the same: COOOOOOOOOOOOOL.

I'm no hypocrite when it comes to Dudes: send me all of them!

Yet I do often wonder if I'm kicking myself a bit too hard for having to eat my words so often. Reactions to something from afar can often differ from reactions to something in-hand. It's natural. But never in my life did I think I'd be so excited to see card that's supposed to look like it has a gum stain. Or a photo I've seen repeated on too many cards to count. The list goes on and on.

So I guess I might as well say it now: my name is Nick, and I'm a hypocrite.