Who Doesn't Love Surprises?

Surprise card packages?

Love them.

Who wouldn't?

Asking for nothing in return, these two great fellow collector kept me in mind as they came across random Yanks and some sets NEEDS that I had listed on my blog.

And I couldn't be more grateful - to Darren and Jeff at Potch Wheeler & the Cardboard Heroes and Cardboard Catastrophes, respectively.

Darren sent over a couple of base cards from '11 Lineage and 1991 Fleer that I had needed towards my set completion quests:

Cy and Andujar - brought together for the 1st time by Ryan's Pitch.

  
And who could go wrong with a blue Yankee parallel from 2012?   Particularly this one of Mr. Chavez.   Anybody have a translation for those tats on Eric's arm?

Finally, here are a couple of recreations of a card that was and a card that wasn't.   These 60 YOT's from last year's offering are a great way to pick up copies of legendary cardboard for next to nothing.   I am actually very fortunate and have this actual Rizzuto card in my Yankees collection.   This reprint is a great addition and will be a nice comparison opportunity in a future post.   The Mantle never existed, but it sure is a sharp card now!   When it comes to card designs, '54 through '56 are often at the top of the list.   I hadn't noticed before but the write-ups on the backs are kind of interesting.   In these cases, a couple of tidbits describing the Topps and Bowman relationship from the 50's is provided and make for some interesting suppositions.   Enough chatter - here's Mick and Scooter:

 

"Watch as I slide FOR you whilst making the out."

1956 - When Topps Ate Bowman for Dinner

 Jeff sent over a lot of help for my 2011 Heritage set quest.   I think he had been chasing this one himself, so I really appreciate him sorting out a few to send my way!   Here's what we had along with a couple of my favorites:

The surreal blue sky behind David Price makes the blue in his Rays uniform pop really nicely.   Plus......he's a stud hurler.   The Manager's Dream card was a great capture of the cards from '62.   Pujols and Braun were awesome last year.   Albert has been anything BUT a dream for me as a fantasy manager this year.

I know......we're 7 21 days in.   I'm just jaded.

Great cards.   Great collector friends.   Great surprises.   Thank you, Darren and Jeff!

Thanks for reading, you guys.

CC: Last of the Lineage

Nick from "Dime Boxes: The Low-End Baseball Card Collector's Journey" came through in a big way a couple of weeks ago.

He quickly RSVP's to my S.O.S. for CC.

Yeah.....I'm proud of that one.   Anyways, as I was saying, Nick really answered the call from my post a few weeks back describing how I was one card away from completing the 2011 Lineage offering from Topps.   He quickly found the Sabathia I needed:

           



















Done and.....DONE!   This is the 2nd set I've completed this year, both of which are a part of my son's birth year "sampling" that will be waiting for him if and when he begins his own love affair with cardboard.  

Re-Hash ALERT!----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lineage was a tidy little set that consisted of current stars and rookies along with legends of the game.   I liked the front design alright but the back could use some improvement.   The picture selection, particularly for the retired stars, was pretty good - all in color.   The inserts were a lot of fun (pop-ups, 3-D, cloth stickers, etc.).   I'm not sure the price-point matched up with the end result for me, though.   We'll see how it goes this year!

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Nick wasn't done there, though.   He also knew that I needed some help with my 2012 Series 1 NEEDS List so he sent over some base cards that I needed.

Did I say "some"?   Try DOUBLE STACK:

Oh, sorry......it's almost lunch time.   I meant this DOUBLE STACK:

Way too generous, Nick, THANK YOU!   It wasn't just a bunch of commons, either.   You may have heard of a couple of these guys:

Finally allowed to play at his friends' houses

All Hail to the High Socks!

                                  

                                                                                                                                                                     

Can Matt keep it going this year?


Thanks for the great package, Nick.   I would also encourage everyone to take a stroll over to Nick's blog.   It's always, ALWAYS a great read and he recently had a tremendous, what I like to call 'vicarious collecting' post series on a recent card show he attended.   He does a great job of walking you through his day at the tables where, as you might guess from his blog name, he searches (and FINDS!) the lower-priced boxes for cardboard treasure.

Thanks for reading!