Men of letters

Much of my joy in life comes from real, tangible items.

I've long believed there's something beautiful in the actual feel of an object. This is why I cannot read on Kindles - I need the physical book. This is also why I'll never understand how people can "collect" on digital apps like Topps Bunt or whatever else - what fun is a card you can't touch? It makes no sense to me. The words "virtual" and "collecting" are oxymorons in my world.

I guess it explains why I find mail so sacred, too. While there's a lot I love about instant communication, I think we're missing something in the demise of written letters. It's why I try to include a little notes in the cards I send out, and why I always enjoy finding similar little blurbs in the packages I receive from fellow bloggers/readers. It conveys personal thought, a human stamp.

In the world of blogger notes, however, I can't imagine it gets much better than the cards I received wrapped in Steve Garvey Jr. High School stationary(!) from Jim (aka gcrl) of "cards as i see them" recently.

Count me among the masses who never knew Steve Garvey had a high school named after him - though I suppose it makes sense I'd learn it from Jim, considering he's the blogosphere's premier Garvey fanatic.

I've actually received quite a few masterful envelopes from gcrl HQ lately, including one that knocked out a treasured Dime Box Dozen need with this Bowman Pat Neshek that seems like it's been sitting on my list for decades.

A couple Zobrists here - the Bowman was yet another Dime Box Dozen need, which is starting to bring up the question of why I'm missing so many damned Bowman cards.

Always appreciate people combing through my want lists - have to admit 2020 A&G is starting to grow on me the more I see it.

Another PWE from gcrl resulted in yet another Dime Box Dozen takedown with that Dontrelle Willis - the only downside of starting a new player collection is seeing all the painfully obvious cards I'm missing of said player.

I don't have a huge obsession with serial-numbered cards anymore, but I admit I'm a sucker for a good, solid Topps Gold parallel (especially a Konerko!).

More want list help, and a new throwback hit with that Koskie (bring back all the powder blues!).

How about another Dime Box Dozen hit with the Boggs, and a Jerry Hairston Jr. Heritage SP I specifically claimed from Jim's blog since it hits an Obscure Guy I Kinda Collect need (not to mention Heritage SPs are like Bigfoot sightings after a while).

Another couple cards I claimed from the blog a while back - because WOW does '91 Topps look spiffy with blue borders.

The best stuff I get combines cards I know I need with cards I don't know I need, and Jim's envelopes always seem to do that.

The most recent PWE I received from him started out with a spectacular card I thought I already had...

...until I flipped it over!

I love Cookie Rojas, I love double dips, and I REALLY love '71 OPC backs!

Jim also threw in two more Dime Box Dozen needs with the Yount and Quisenberry - I've received that Quiz from three different people already & have had a few others offer to send it to me, which I suppose I should've expected putting a '90 Donruss card up there.

That Finley is an excellent "at the wall" shot, and I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Big League parallels - once again, Topps, I ask: WHEN THE HELL IS 2021 BIG LEAUGE COMING OUT?!

The note Jim included with this batch said something along the lines of Here's a Hoyt I KNOW you don't have - which, of course, immediately intrigued me.

And it was no lie - here's Hoyt's standard '69 Topps issue with a ghostly '69 Decal hanging out in the corner. I have a couple similar cards in my collection (though mine are '68s) but nothing approaching the immortal Hoyt! It's cool to think there was a time some kid would slap a sticker on top of a card without a second thought.

Now there's a very personal piece of history you'd never get in the virtual world.

Ten years, The Eighth

I'm starting to realize that the big difference between collecting cards as a teenager and an adult is that I seem to fall behind on literally every facet of card collecting as an adult.

I'm hopelessly behind in filing cards away, mailing cards out, writing trade posts (or heck, writing any posts) - just one big uphill climb. Never really happened with my gobs of teenage time and energy. I've enjoyed these giveaway posts for many reasons, one of them being that they've forced me out of completely neglecting the blog and getting something up here at least once a week. And it hasn't felt like work - I've genuinely enjoyed picking cards to post, and seeing what people claim/don't claim. Giving cards away is a lot of fun.

Which is all just a long lead-in to this week's giveaway, complete with the above Gary Sanchez jersey card (#ed to 500, if that's something that sways you), as well as everything you'll find below.

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Claim away, my friends!

Ten years, The Seventh

Last night, I found out a card I have - and one I'm not particularly attached to - is worth a small fortune.

I've been a fan of Max Scherzer since he broke into the bigs, and at some point I either pulled or traded for a gold parallel of his 2008 Topps Update rookie. It's sat in my binders ever since, and with card prices the way they are I decided to check and see what it's going for these days...and needless to say I almost ran to my binders to throw mine on there in hopes of scoring a major windfall to my card budget. (If/when I sell the gold parallel, I've still got the base version which is all that matters to me.)

Anywho, that Chicago Tribune card page I posted in my last giveaway is still up for grabs if anyone wants it, as well as this Rennie Stennett disc (with a small crease on the right side that didn't show up in the scan) and everything you'll find below.

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Ten years, The Sixth

It seems like every other post on my Twitter feed lately involves people debating about whether or not the Bowman's Best Wander Franco is his TRUE ROOKIE CARD.

My gut reaction - and forgive me if this sounds crass and/or curmudgeonly - is WHO CARES? I really can't understand why people are spending large portions of their day thinking & arguing about this when there's so many other fun topics to be addressed in the card world. And not to mention when literally hundreds of thousands of other (and mostly better) cards out there begging for attention. 

No Wanders in this week's giveaway, but I do have this sheet of Chicago Tribune oddballs up for grabs (note the corner damage to poor Henry Blanco) that's been sitting in the deepest depths of my closet for the last 13 years, as well as everything else below.

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We're not from here

It seems to me that most collectors have at least a passing interest in cards from foreign lands.

I think a lot of it has to do with scarcity - many foreign oddballs had to cross borders or even oceans to get to us here in the US of A, which means they're not readily available. The simple rarity makes them interesting. But for me I think there's something more - call it exoticism, but I take a special pleasure in creating a collection that features cards from all around the globe. They mark baseball as a world sport, and not just an American one.

I suppose that's why I took a special pleasure in this card I recently received from a reader named Michael R. - nope, it's not the standard '94 Topps Olerud I've been sent many times...

...but a '94 Topps Spanish Olerud!

From what I can tell, these were issued in factory sets at the time, and while I've known about 'em for a while, this is the first one that's actually found its way into my collection - I'm often surprised that there haven't been more Spanish-themed cards over the years given how big baseball is in the Mexican/Latin communities.

I never quite know what to expect when I receive an I've-got-cards-for-you email from a reader, but it's always exciting.

Little did I know there'd be a whole heap of Broder-ish and generally excellent Olerud oddballs in this package from Michael, though.

More fantastic cards of a few top-tier dudes - not every package I get has new Hoyts or Kenny Lofton Astros cards I've never seen before!

I've also been on a huge stadium-giveaway kick lately, so that Keebler's Ichiro (from his rookie year, no less!) was an incredibly special treat.

I don't know whether it's part of the Mike Trout Effect or not, but I've had a hard time finding Allen Craig's standard base card from 2011 Update (yes, I still collect Allen Craig).

It'd been sitting on my Dime Box Dozen list for many moons before Michael finally came along and speared it.

But that wasn't all - Michael hit three more Dime Box Dozen needs (how great is that Eric Davis?), and even a Keep Dreaming card with the '82 Topps Traded Ozzie!

The Ozzie isn't super rare, but it's always been priced just a bit more than I've wanted to pay - my next big Ozzie need is his '79 Hostess, but it'll probably be a while because have you seen how much that card goes for?

With oddballs and Dime Box Dozens out of the way, the next logical step was minis.

The Mo & Molitor are neat, but I haven't been able to find a shred of information on 'em, which I suppose is the mark of a really good oddball.

I like food-issue cards way more than manu-patches, but a Roberto Clemente card is cool no matter how you slice it.

And two more are even better!

The first thought I had when this slid out of the package from Michael was something like wow, I guess my collection has come a long way when I'm getting DOUBLES of vintage Clementes.

It's true - I've had this '70 Clemente in my collection since I was a kid (one of the first "big" cards I ever owned), but in the end I guess it's a good thing I flipped it over...

...BECAUSE IT'S AN OPC CLEMENTE!

OPCs are the prime example of the baseball-card exoticism I was talking about - very little distinguishes these from their Topps counterparts aside from the simple and excellent fact that they feature French on the back. Regular Topps vintage of huge stars is hard enough to find, and it should come as no surprise that this mic-drop from Michael is the very first OPC Clemente I own (and actually the first one I've ever seen, now that I think of it).

Adding a vintage Clemente to my binders is a banner day, but a foreign one makes it a truly watershed event, yes?