A Treasure From The Lost Collector!

It's always a great day when a package arrives from my friend, AJ.   He was one of my first trading partners when I joined the blogosphere (as a reader) back in early 2011.   He gave a lot of great encouragement as I mulled over the idea of Ryan's Pitch and he inspires me to always strive to be a better Yankees fan.   He runs one of the finest blogs in our community and maintains a TTM success rate that exceeds the hobby average by about 1,000%!

Off the collecting field, we also compare notes from time to time as fellow dads and I'm always on the lookout for new HOF cards I can send to him for his son's collection.   A little while ago, I sent over an old beat up Red Schoendienst that I thought might plug a hole in a page.   I was happy to assist!

Well, that rascal went and returned the favor with a Don Mattingly card that I've been wanting since......well, since the lovely thing was created - HELLO, gorgeous:

Rainbow! Mustache! Pinstripes! Stars! Foil! Eye Black! DONNIE!

I mean....LOOK AT IT!

Amazing to go from a single '93 Topps Finest in my childhood collection ( a Jeff Bagwell that I ought to share on here pretty soon....) to a full hat trick in a matter of weeks!   I fawned over the early 90's wholesomeness of Nolan Ryan's Finest card in a previous post - but this Mattingly, my favorite player of all time, take the cake.   It MUST be the finest Finest card I will ever own!

Here's the back:

Drafted a couple of months after another epic event.....my arrival on earth.

AJ - thank you!   Thank you very much!   This card will be treasured always.

Thanks for reading!

Hobby Flashback! Nolan Ryan 1993 Topps Baseball's Finest #107

Here's a fun one!

I came across this Nolan Ryan the other day and for a few bucks, I couldn't turn it down.   I hadn't seen one of these original (is it the first Finest set?) Topps Finest cards since my collecting childhood - and man, I gotta say that I think they are just as cool now as they were back then!   I don't think I could afford any of the Finest packs when they came out.   So...I guess some things don't change :)

Yes, it's a rainbow of color with two stars exploding towards you out of a Nick Jr-worthy hexagon.....

  
....but I think it's awesome!   It's shiny and reflective and was a trailblazer for things to come in the hobby.   So perhaps I am a bit biased as this card serves as a  tiny hobby time machine for me....but, I think it's pretty cool.   Not to mention that it IS Nolan Ryan.

The back of the card (eeeek):

Whoa.   Not sure I can add to much to this....

So, there you go.   Some '93 Finest, Ryan Express style.   Do you guys have any of these older Finest cards  in your collections?   Does anybody have a Mattingly up for trade?

Thanks for reading!