Topps Now Mailday (Still on the Fence)

I am still undecided on what to think of Topps Now. I love "Moment in Time" when a base card has a iconic moment it or even mid 1990s Upper Deck that captioned the photo on the card. I also like that it occasionally spotlight a lesser known player who doesn't get much cardboard love. Take this card, the second Topps Now card to make it into my collection. This is Ryan Raburn's only 2016 card and only card with the Rockies. The only thing that sets me back is the cost, it was around $10. I have a hard time spending a tenner on a base card of Ryan Raburn, but I did, and it's here, and I can cross one more name off the "One of Every Rockies" list.

TCBD Trade #9

I can't think of a clever title or opening sentence, so right down to business. TCDB, still not in love with it, but it keeps some trades coming in, like this one, that had a Green Jon Gray parallel. I still don't like 2017 Gypsy Queen (BRING BACK THE MINIS), but I will probably be adding some in trades.

LCS Trip ends in disappointment (aka Series 2)

My LCS is lacking in a few things, first off it's about a 90 minute drive away (more my fault than theirs obviously), everything is super expensive (mostly due to the Canadian dollar being so weak), for a variety of reasons their selection is very poor. It's located in a mall and about 90% of the store is shirt, signed photos, pucks and anything else you could dream of slapping a team logo on, so I don't think cardboard really pays the bills. My missing this trip was to get some packs. My first choice, Topps Archives was sold out, so was Heritage (thanks Aaron Judge). I don't think they ever got Diamond Kings or Donruss in, and I am not opening any more Gypsy Queen out of protest for ditching minis. I looked at the football and all there was for 2017 was Score. So Series 2 it was. I had not planned on opening and flagship this year because I hate the design and the parallels are weak, but my will was even weaker as I picked up and 20 bucks with of loose packs.

Budget Blown Basketball Edition

If you want been following along here, you might have noticed a lot more basketball. I finally landed the one basketball card that I wanted, A Jason Williams on-card autograph. Williams still has a strong hobby following, so this cost me a little more than I would like to spend on a single card, but it was totally worth it to add to my collection. Nothing better than getting a great card and not having to deal with buyers remorse. 

Custom Card: 2005 Team Heroes Jose Acevedo

A weird custom of a weird player from a weird set. After 4 years with the Reds, Jose Acevedo was traded to the Rockies in April of 2005 for Allan Simpson (another weird player). He bounced between the rotation and the bullpen, but mostly bullpen, and earned his only career save pitching the final 3 innings in a September 11-3 win over the Dodgers in a game that featured such great names as Choo Freeman, Sun-Woo Kim. Hee-Seop Choi, Hung-Chik Kuo and Steve Schmoll (my personal favorite by the way), all real people, you can look it up if you want.

After looking through some 2005s, I can honestly say it was not a banner year for cards, Topps Total was the obvious choice for a player like Acevedo, but there is something about Donruss Team Heroes other than the overly cumbersome name that I like. And why Jose "Don't call me Juan" Acevedo? He is the first alphabetically in the list of Rockies who never got a card with the team.

TCDB Trade #7

It is always nice when a trade doesn't have to cross international borders or go through customs as was the case with a small recent trade from tcdb. It even has a little Canadian theme, starting with what was probably a big deal when it came out. Eric Lindros was going to be the next great player and Score pumped out cards of him like crazy, even including him in their 1990 Score Rookie & traded set. 

COMC Spring Cleaning 3: Everything Else

On to part 3, everything else. I have been looking for a Yogi Berra bat card for a while and this is one of the nicest ones I have seen design-wise. The relic is very small, but I am still very happy to add this card to my catcher bat card collection.

COMC Spring Cleaning 2: Redskins

On to the Redskins, and more credit to Panini, they are the current kings of crazy parallels. This one is from Spectra and I was surprised at how thick this card is, I honestly can't keep up with Panini's many releases, but I guess this is a high end product? Whatever, crazy parallel and my first Josh Norman are enough for me.

COMC Spring Cleaning Sale 1: Rockies

A recent sale over at COMC led to a few purchases which led to a shipment coming my way which led to a stack of cards to scan and post. Starting with one of my top 2 favorite cards from 2016. There were a lot of Trevor Story cards covering his rookie year, but this one really stood out, not an action shot, but a different look with a dugout shot. The high socks and the black vests really sell it for me.

Not quite Bowman Black Collection, but it's close.

One card mailday from 2017 Topps Inception. My love for the Bowman Black Collection series spanning multiple brands and years is no secret here, so I was pretty choked when it disappeared. This is the closest Topps has come to bringing it back and it's pretty damn sweet. There is something about a black card with silver ink that is just straight classy.