Coming Tomorrow...

 

CC: I Blue Myself

2020 Topps Archives AUTO #76TA-CCS Blue Parallel (03/50)

Just a better-looking version of the one I posted earlier.  Blue.  A very gentle blue.  Not powder blue, but a very good shade of blue nonetheless.

Trade Me Anything XIV #5

 Another longtime trader ponies up in 2020 today.  This time it's Kerry, my baseball enemy but soccer compatriot.

Giving:

#CPC-1 Yordan Alvarez

Getting:

NBA Teenymates Blind Bag

I think this will go into someone's stocking next weekend.

1980 Topps Tigers Future Stars

None of these guys lasted very long, with Robbins being the only guy with a positive career WAR.  And Al Greene couldn't sing for shit.

2008 Upper Deck Lot

There must be piles of these in people's monster boxes.

1994 Topps Kurt Stillwell, Freddie Benavides, and Terry Mulholland

The backs of these have some pretty good factoids.  Mulholland's: "Terry's grandfather, who used to work for Honus Wagner, gave him one of 24 balls he owned that were signed by the 1927 Yankees."

2009 UD O-Pee-Chee Willie Harris

One card closer to finishing the base set.

Thanks, Kerry!  Good stuff all around.

Trade Me Anything XIV: #4

 This quick and easy trade came from Andy (aka @bbcardz).  Let's check it out.

Giving:

85TB-10 Jackie Robinson 1985 Topps 35th Anniversary

Getting:

2020 Topps #251 A.J. Puk, #133 Michael Brosseau, #289 Yuli Gurriel

Well, I was actually looking for the Update Series cards of these particular numbers, not those from series one.  That's okay, I still appreciate the effort, Andy, and you're still welcome back next year.

Trade Me Anything XIV: #3

 I got a box of stuff in the mail from Jon, the latest participant in this year's Trade Me Anything.

 

Giving:

#85TB-3 Yoshi Tsutsugo and #85TB-48 Austin Meadows 1985 Topps 35th Anniversary

Getting:

SNL: The Best of Christopher Walken DVD

Really looking forward to watching this one.  The making of The Continental has piqued my interest.

1989 Donruss #368 Danny Heep, #374 Carmen Castillo

A little while back I bought a large lot of cards.  In this lot was a nearly-complete 1989 Donruss set, missing just these two cards.  Perhaps now I can sell it off at the neighborhood rummage this spring, should the event be able to proceed as planned.

Atlantic Book Warehouse Bookmark

Had to do a little research on this one.  The ABW looks to have closed the last of its stores around the end of 2011.  It specialized in acquiring library books that were going out of circulation.  With most of the stores in eastern seaboard resort towns, they sold mainly to tourists looking to do a little beach reading.  I'd be interested to hear memories of the place if anyone's been to one before.

2008 Upper Deck Lot

Great to make more progress on this set.

SkyBox Sandman Promo Card

I must admit, I've never read an issue.  Seems like kind of a commitment at this point.

Cookie Fortune

I don't think this one will come true, my lucky number is not one of those listed on the back.

Some Hockey Cards

Hockey cards always look so cool.  It must be the ice. 

Thanks for a really excellent trade, Jon!

Trade Me Anything XIV: #2

 Alright, getting back on track with the trade posts now that I'm officially on Thanksgiving break.  This one comes from long-timer gcrl.

 

Giving:

#P-3 Wander Franco 1989 Topps #1 Prospect, #U-234 Gavin Lux, #NG-8 Jeff Bagwell A Numbers Game

 Getting:

2020 Topps Update #U-133 Chris Iannetta, #U-258 Todd Frazier

Nice, two of the four cards I need to finish the set.

2019 Opening Day Orioles Mascot

No name, like some of the others.  I had to check, and it's just "The Oriole Bird"?

2008 Upper Deck Lot

A nice stack to help me make some progress on an older set.

Some Brewers

My five favorites in this bunch:

2014 Topps Chrome Purple Jonathan Lucroy

2020 Heritage Yelich/Hiura Master & Apprentice

2019 Topps Yasmai Grandal Yellow Parallel

We really missed this guy this season.  Too bad we only had him for a year.

2019 Topps Eric "I Got a Lot of Blood, and a Lot of Urine" Thames 1984 Topps 35th Anniversary

2020 Gypsy Queen Lorenzo Cain Green Parallel

I always like green.

Thanks, gcrl, your anything is always welcome here!

Trade Me Anything XIV: #1

Looking back to last year, we are a bit behind schedule, as is the rest of the sporting world.  The first TMA XIII post was written on 11/9/19.  Ten days isn't too bad, all things considered.  Here's the trade from JW to kick things off in 2020.

 

Giving:

#U-280 Albert Pujols, #U-165 Kyle Wright, #DB-46 John Smoltz Decade's Best 

Getting:

Thorzul Sketch from JW's Daughter

I appreciate the effort put into trying to capture the essence of such a mysterious figure as myself.  It's cool that I appear to be on stage.  It's been a few years, but I did dabble in some stand-up comedy for a little while.  Looking good in retrospect that I didn't give up the stable job to chase a dream.  I absolutely love the yellow shoes, good brands tend not to make enough of their styles available in yellow.

The rest of the stuff came in this Pokemon Tin.

 

 Nate Wolters National Treasure Jersey (78/99)

Very little memory of this guy.  Part of the same NBA Draft as Giannis, picked by Washington in the second round, then traded to the 76ers, then finally the Bucks the next day.

 

Viceroy Cards Poker Chips

In IB Biology in high school, out teacher brought in some live axolotls.  We pumped super-oxygenated water into their tank and they started going nuts.  Their external gills were so happy.

Prince Fielder Silver Slugger 2007

These things are so thick, they're hard to put anywhere.  I usually throw them in a side snap case and then into a shoebox.

 

2009 Topps Unique Mat Gamel Base and Red Parallel

I have a weird little Mat Gamel collection started, but for some reason, neither of these were in my binder.  I already have these both, having completed the 2009 Unique base set and red set.  These will go in the Gamel binder. 

More creatures cards

This is a nasty looking bunch.

Three Deadpool Cards and One Golden Mushroom

I really like Deadpool, but he's much better in comic form than the movies.  You can crack open any issue and have a good time.

2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Robin Yount Black Mini (094/199)

Back when I lost access to the old Thorzul blog, the same account was attached to my Google Docs, so everything I kept in there was gone, too, including my Yount database.  One day I will have to rebuild that thing, probably during the summer.  Probably not this summer.  Maybe next summer.  Not feeling it this year.

Thanks for the great trade, JW!  I have to say it hurts a little to let that Smoltz go, I love the Seinfeld/Saved by the Bell-style  header so much on that card.

Trade Me Anything XIV: The Keepers

 This year's box of Update yielded much less bounty than in previous years.  Last year I got a 1/1 letter patch, and this year got stiffed on the hit.  Ordinarily I'd keep more than two cards, but I wanted to make sure traders had something good to pick from.  Here are the ones I'm holding on to.

#P-12 Alec Bohm 1989 Topps #1 Prospect

This one is staying with me only because of the name.  He pronounces his last name the way telemarketers do mine when they call.

#U-208 Randy Arozarena

The one saving grace of this box was getting two Arozerena base cards.  I will hold on to this one for awhile to see if he can come out of the gate hot in 2021.  Great photo, too.

Stay tuned for the first TMA trades to start rolling in.

Ein Deutscher Regenbogen (A German Rainbow)

Seeing the skyrocketing prices of some cards, especially key unopened products, it feels good to remind yourself of the times you got in on the ground floor.  I have been holding back part of my collection for some time now, waiting for just the right moment to show it off.  Today might be the best opportunity.

I have a close friend who, in the past, tagged me in a lot of pictures and news stories about now-retired German defender Philipp Lahm.  Lahm was both a mainstay on the German national team and Bayern Munich, two teams he captained for quite some time.  Yesterday was Lahm's 37th birthday, so naturally I was inundated with Facebook memories from long ago.  The reason for these memories is that my friend, also a huge soccer fan, would always claim that he was my double.  I would never remotely be mistaken for him, but we are both of German descent, play soccer well (Philipp is a little bit better than me), and are usually the smallest player on the field.

When 2014 Panini Prizm World Cup came out, I jumped in with both feet.  It was the first quality international soccer release that had been on the market during this era.  I picked up a few boxes and decided to complete as much of the set as possible.  Around the time of release, I also made the decision to get my hands on as many of the Lahm parallel cards as possible.  Within a few months, I had collected a good portion of the available parallels, and for a very reasonable price.  It helped that I chose a player who I personally liked, but whose cards were affordable, unlike the Messis and Ronaldos of the world.

Aside from Lahm's base set card, there were also two inserts, Cup Captains and World Cup Stars, that featured the superstar right back.  So it was settled that I would try for all three and their colored parallels.  There was an other insert featuring Lahm with Dutch striker Arjen Robben, but I decided against chasing these, going for solo Lahm only.  Here are the results.

Base Card and Base Inserts

Prizm Parallel

Yellow & Red Pulsar

Red, White & Blue Power Plaid

Blue & Red Wave

Blue Prizm (#/199)

Red Prizm (#/149)

Purple Prizm (#/99)

Green Crystal (#/25)

There were also gold (#/10) and black (1/1) parallels for each, but I can't recall having seen any that were affordable.  No real desire to drive myself crazy looking for them, either.  The green ones were tough enough, but I lucked out and didn't have to lay out too much cash for any of them.  Today the greens, if you can find them, go north of $500 each.  A couple of special cards also exist that I've been able to acquire.

Autograph Card

NSCC Blue Pulsar (base only, unnumbered but limited to 55 copies)

Well, that's the whole rainbow for me.  I'd consider hunting down the parallel that came out of Panini Father's Day packs later that year, but there are only seven of those, and the one on eBay right now is asking for well over $500.  It doesn't look much different from the normal base card, so I'm not about to spend that kind of money on it.

Overall, it was a fun rainbow to chase, and has definitely appreciated in value over the years.  Would I do it again?  Maybe.