2022 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 5

Another Blake Snell autograph card that I did not buy when it was first released.

Today's card is from the 2020 Topps Tribute set and features one of those jersey swatches with a sticker. These are always intriguing and I love looking up the authentication sticker to see what happened during the game.  When I see authentication stickers, I always expect to type in the number and end up getting a game where the player is sitting on the bench.  

Congratulations! 

Blake Snell sat on the bench for a few hours while he was wearing this jersey!  

Here is the card....

The overall design of the card is fine. It's a decent effort by Topps. Kind of what you expect out of a card from this type of product. It's not like I avoided this card due to design back in 2020. I am certain that it was more a matter of price. However, I found this copy for less than $10. 

Now to the swatch.  

I typed in the authentication number and ended up with a jersey from the 2019 season worn during a Yankees and Rays game.  Snell actually started the game, pitched into the sixth inning, and struck out 12 Yankees batters.  I found a wire news service photo of Snell from the game.  

The Rays only scored 1 run, Snell allowed 2, and ended up taking the loss in the game.  The Yankees ended up scoring 7 runs, with 5 of the runs coming in the last two innings against Ryne Stanek and Austin Pruitt.  

Not Snell's fault that the Rays lost the game. 

Back of the game.  

The standard card back.  

Overall, quality card and I was pleasantly surprised by the results of the authentication sticker.  

Pujols Parade - 2002 Donruss Studio

Flags and baseball cards generally make a really good combination. For example, Topps used city flags on an insert set in 2022 Topps, which look really sharp.  This Arenado is easily one of my favorite Cardinals cards that I have picked up this year.  

Great looking card.  

My Pujols card for this week uses the American flag as part of its design.

You are probably expecting to see something classy, but think again. These cards were likely inspired by the pants of the Tae Kwon Do instructor from Napoleon Dynamite.  

It's not a very good card.  

Here is the front. 

Large American Flag. 

School film strip of the Gateway Arch, sorry no play-along cassette tape. 

Donruss Studio ended up using city skylines in 2004, but with no American flag.  

 

Back to the 2002.  

Where is the effort? 

Where is the love? 

The Blue Jays and Expos players also have American flags, so do non-American players.  

This is the type of set that would slap an American flag on a card of Joey Votto.  

Personally, if I was designing the 2002 Donruss Studio cards, I would have gone Jasper Johns American flag.  

Something a little classier.  

Back of the card. 

What is going on with the filmstrip?  

What an odd choice.  

The write-up about Pujols is decent.  

Flags and baseball cards are just generally a slam dunk. I feel let down, so I am going to share a few cards that did a better job with flags, outside of the one I did in 2 minutes.  

First, we have Trevor Rosenthal and Missouri.  

Trevor is from Lee's Summitt, so we are going to pronounce that "Missour-ee", not "uh". 

Next up is Ryan Zimmerman with a North Carolina flag.   

Ryan is from Washington, North Carolina.  

Last up, we've got Shelby Miller and a giant Texas flag.  

See, flags and baseball cards make a good combination, unless we are talking about the 2002 Donruss Studio set. I did not even post any 1997 Bowman cards. I should have just made a post about flags and baseball cards.  

I Am So Sick Of 1952 Topps Remakes, Right?

We are all tired of 1952 Topps remakes, which is why I am really enjoying the 2021 Topps Chrome Anniversary set. I featured a few cards from the set a couple of posts ago. The cards came out a year late and are the latest in a seemingly endless carousel of 1952 Topps remakes/rehashes.  

When I see the 2021 Topps Chrome Anniversary cards on Ebay, COMC, or Facebook trade groups, I want to be mad that this is the 20th time (seemingly) used this design for a modern baseball card set. I just can't do it.  The cards look too nice.  

This Scott Rolen card is tremendous and I apologize for nothing.  

First, it's Chrome, so it's a shiny object. 

Second, it's signed by Scott Rolen, who should be in the Hall of Fame.  

Maybe I am drawing a blank here, but this is my favorite Cardinals card I have added to my collection in 2022.  I might as well go out and find a bunch of other autographs from this set.  

Random Ray - 1999 Topps Finest Refractor

Do you know how many late 1990s and early 2000s Topps products have the same photo of Ray Lankford? Several others are similar enough that you have to wonder if they came from the same game, maybe even the same at-bat.  

It's worthy of its own Random Ray post one of these days.  

This is the picture, which is on a Topps Finest Refractor for today's post.  

Did Topps only have one or two photos of Ray Lankford available for their 1999 baseball cards?  

The answer appears to be yes.  

Give me a photo of Ray Lankford wearing a gray Cardinals road uniform in the follow-through of his swing and I will guess 1999 or 2000 Topps (insert the name of product). Given where his head and eyes are looking, I am guessing he hit the ball somewhere.  The astroturf around the home plate area leads me to believe this photo was likely taken in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, or Cincinnati. The number of stadiums with artificial turf in 1998 was limited to a few remaining cookie-cutter parks.  

The design is fine. I am happy it is minimal and the main focus of the card is the photograph of the player. We have got the protective coating thing on this card. I left this one on the card.  

Back of the card.  

I like the small photograph of Ray clapping in the top corner.  It's something different from the front of the card, always a positive.  

The Finest Moment and Finest Career Achievement both have nice write-ups. As a person who saw Ray Lankford hit for the cycle in-person, I love all the baseball cards that mention that game.  As a person who enjoyed watching Ray Lankford as a player, I am going to have to disagree for the Finest Moment from 1998. 

I would have actually picked out Lankford's eighth inning home run against the Cubs on the night of Mark McGwire's 62nd home run. Lankford was the lone left-handed batter stuck in the middle of McGwire, Ron Gant, and Brian Jordan. McGwire walked frequently, Lankford did a great job of making teams pay for putting Big Mac on base. 

The night of McGwire's 62nd home run, the Cubs walked McGwire to pitch to Ray Lankford with the score tied at 2 in the 8th inning. The result.....

The McGwire years were also Lankford's best years.  He set career highs in a lot of offensive categories outside of stolen bases. Ray stopped running after the Cardinals dropped him into the middle of the lineup. This moment felt a lot more emblematic of Ray Lankford's 1998 season than some random game against the Expos where he went 4-4.  

The home run was even on a low fastball over the middle of the plate. Ray Lankford did not miss low fastballs.  

Overall, a solid effort here by Topps. I just wish we could have more than one photo of Ray Lankford on their 1999 baseball cards.  

2022 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 4

I found a Blake Snell autograph from 2022 Gypsy Queen. 

It's an on-card autograph. 

I was really excited that there was an inexpensive, current-year Blake Snell autograph available on Ebay.  

It has the dumbest design of any Blake Snell autograph that I have posted on here the past few years. Well, it is actually in the running for worst design I have ever seen on autograph card. I have wasted a portion of my baseball card budget buying a Blake Snell autograph. It's the first time, hopefully the last, that you will hear me say that phrase. 

This is the card. It is terrible.  

The picture is fine. I am not a fan of camo uniforms, but I can handle them. The border is fine too. Let's get to the "GQ Gems" wheel with the astrological signs and giant gem in the middle. This is the really terrible part. I am not into horoscopes, zodiac signs, gems or minerals. I could care less. 

Remember those Miss Cleo commercials during the 1990s?

Did she end up in prison for fraud?  

I actually knew that Blake Snell's birthday was in December and I see the centaur, but I am sad that Topps did not use the Country Music Centaur from Trolls World Tour. My knowledge of centaurs is limited.  

The gem is a blue Topaz or Turquoise.  

Back of the card.  

Thank goodness this card has a limited print run of 50 copies. I would hate for other Blake Snell collectors to make the same mistake that I made in purchasing this card. 

2022 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 3

Another new Blake Snell autograph that it is not all that new.  Similar to the last Blake Snell autograph I posted, this card is a parallel of one that I already own. Today's card comes out of the 2018 Topps Inception set. It's one of those pricy Topps products, but they give you sticker autographs. Even if they had on-card autographs, I would still be buying single cards.  

Here is the newest Snell autograph. 

It's obviously the red parallel and serial numbered to 25 copies. The lower serial numbered parallels in this set just come with more interesting patch pieces. Since I am not really all that interested in patch pieces, I guess it gave me a good excuse to skip this card back in the day. My first copy of this card was serial numbered to 249 and had a piece of the blue trim from his pants or sleeve. Now, I own a piece of a letter from the "RAYS" script on the front of Snell's jersey.

Well, a jersey that was possibly sitting in his locker at some point.  

Back of the card.  

Congratulations! 

Someone from Topps watched Blake Snell sign that sticker and he also once wore the jersey.

Maybe.  

The Never-Ending School Year and Retail Baseball Cards

My last school year ended midday on a Thursday afternoon last month. It was my last day at the school I have worked at for the past ten years. It was time for something different and new challenges. More importantly, something a little closer to my house. 

After moving a minivan load of books over to my new school, I went home to start my summer vacation. I was really tired at the end of the day, so I think I ended up going to bed around 9. A few hours later my alarm went off. I woke up, took a shower and got dressed, and drove into work. 

It was Friday. The first day of my new school year and my new school.  

My summer vacation was measured in hours this year rather than days or weeks. My last actual vacation day was on April 14th, which is a long time ago for someone who has worked the same schedule for the past 15 years. I teach for roughly nine weeks starting at the end of July and take three weeks off at the end. Multiply the schedule times four and you've got a complete school year.  

I am about to enter my fifth straight month of teaching with no significant break, which is a lot in my world. Even if you are on a traditional calendar, it's only four months between the beginning of the first day and Thanksgiving break.  

It has been a long time.    

There are a lot of little things I have been doing to cope with the extended workload. I have been trying to get more sleep, packing some good lunches, and getting extra fresh air. In addition, I have also been trying to be intentional about setting aside time to work on my baseball cards. Some of that time has been spent sorting out cards......

I am mostly trying to organize my single cards that are not attached to a set, or find the last few cards needed to complete some of the more recent near-sets that I have assembled. I have also been working on building a few new sets, and also opening up some retail packs. My most recent goal has been to complete the Topps Series 2 set.  It feels like a throwback to childhood when I bought a few packs of cards and spent a chunk of the spring and summer trying to assemble a complete set of Topps cards. 

I have been helped out along the way by a few Target gift cards which I received at the end of last year. It also doesn't hurt that my new school is located in the middle of a large retail area. Think of a large box store and there is probably one within five to ten minutes of my classroom.  

Here are two of the retail blaster boxes that I have picked up over the past few months.  

 

I thought I would share out a few of my favorite cards I picked up along the way.  

I had originally set out to collect Topps Series 2 with retail packs slowly over the first quarter of the year. I reached the goal in half a quarter, but was greatly aided by having two students at my previous school gift me retail blasters on the way out the door.  I used my gift certificates to buy two more Series 2 retail boxes. I have purchased one Topps Series 2 Blaster with my own money.  

Five boxes of Topps Series 2, one small COMC order, and I am done.  

My favorite card out of the base set is the Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina combo card. 

They have only been playing together since 2006. Not sure why it took this long for Wainwright and Molina to appear on a baseball card together before this year. I know I am really bias, but I hate that there is a checklist on the back. 

Yes, Blake Snell is card 414, but give me some information about Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright. If nothing else, just give me a photo of the Carlos Beltran strikeout at the end of the 2006 National League Championship Series.  

Moving on.

The Topps Series 2 boxes all come with a batting helmet card. They look a lot like the 2007 Sweet Spot autograph cards, but the helmet is made out of metal rather than plastic.  I pulled two different Cubs batting helmets.  

These are actually really nice for manufactured relics. There is a Goldschmidt and Arenado card in this set, so I am going to go ahead and add those to my Ebay watch list. They will be sitting there until I can find them for a few dollars.  

I also pulled a Joey Votto Home Field Advantage card.  

I love the plate of chili in the bottom corner. I don't eat chili, but it's the sort of local food reference that Topps should have put onto the Yadier Molina card. I needed some toasted raviolis or cans of mass-produced beer.  

More cards, but only the highlights.    

I bought a few packs of Donruss. Please, do not repeat my mistake. They are terrible, but I did get a Matt Manning autograph. If Matt Manning's arm does not fall off, I think he will be a good pitcher. Unfortunately, Matt Manning's arm is half-way off already.  

That's quite the signature.  

I also bought a few packs of Topps Gallery.  

This set is not nearly as good as it was in the 1990s, but I did land an autograph of Giants catching prospect Joey Bart. Pretty good pull for a retail pack of cards.  

Next up, a box of USA Baseball cards. I do not love the regular MLB cards of Panini, but ruining the USA Baseball card set is too far.  

Athlete Development Program?

National Team Development Program?  

What happened to the College National Team?  

According to the internet, the guy on the left is a freshman in high school. Not college, high school. Pretty wild having baseball cards, but not being able to drive.  The guy on the right is a senior in high school and committed to play college baseball at Alabama. At least he can drive himself to school.  

My two relic cards.

Yes, they are both in high school as well. 

The player on the left is a sophomore in high school.  

The player on the right is a junior in high school and committed to play at UCLA in college.  

Still wild to think that Panini is making baseball cards of high school kids.  

In ten years, one of these guys is going to be working an office job and give out his Panini baseball cards rather than a business card. 

Did I mention that my new classroom has a view of a Walgreens?

It came in handy the one day. Horrible headache. I just walked across the street and picked up some Advil and a few packs of Gypsy Queen. Felt much better afterwards.  

Gypsy Queen was decent. Similar to Gallery, this product has seen better days. I pulled a Jose Devers autograph out of a pack. Any retail autograph is a win.  

That brings me to my last retail product, which is easily the best.  

This is from the 2021 Topps Chrome Anniversary set. Which was it released in the middle of 2022?  I don't know. Do we need another set that borrows the design from the 1952 Topps set? Yes, we do if this is what the cards are going to look like.  

Here are my shiny, wavy, and colored cards I pulled out of my box.  

This is where my post veers from a bunch of cards that I pulled out of retail packs and into a future project.  

I really like this set and had contemplated printing off a checklist and tracking down all the cards. However, it has 700 cards and feels like it would take a ton of time and money to assemble. Instead, I am going to track down some of the Cardinals and Durham Bulls players in the set.  

My first former Bulls player arrived in the mail a few days back...... 

The autographs are not exactly cheap, but there are only three Cardinals and three Rays autographs. Well, I am now down to two Rays autographs. I think that Dylan Carlson and Scott Rolen are the two most difficult and expensive.  

Anyway, that was a fun post on retail baseball cards. I still have a few more weeks until I get a few weeks off. Maybe there will be another retail baseball card post or two along the way.  

Pujols Parade - 2004 UD Diamond Pro Sigs

If you were looking for a really bad early 2000s box of baseball cards, look no further than the Upper Deck Pro Sigs set. The boxes were dirt cheap and came with a bunch of overly busy baseball cards and one really bad autograph.

Why would I post such a card?

We all need a good disaster movie every once in awhile.  

I opened a box of Pro Sigs, but it was in 2007 when one of the many failed cards shops in the greater Raleigh-Durham metro area went belly up. Specifically, the baseball card shop that was overrun by high school Pokemon collectors on Duke Street in Durham.  I don't even remember the name of the place these days. I believe the box cost me $20 and I pulled a Luis Rivas autograph. At least Luis was on the Durham Bulls at one point during his long and winding career. People are crazy for old wax boxes online these days, but apparently people still know that UD Pro Sigs is terrible.  

Probably $25 too much considering you could just go buy one of the autographs from this set on COMC or Ebay for less than $5 and the complete set is sitting at someone's flea market booth for $3.  

Back to Albert Pujols and the Pro Sigs cards.

Here is the front.  

I like the photo of Pujols on the front of this card and I also like the silver background. The bottom half of the card is just a complete disaster. First, Albert Pujols did not sign any cards for this product. We don't need a shaded in red box with a gigantic faux-signature of Albert. Second, the Diamond Pro + Sigs Collection logo is far too big and looks ridiculous being stamped in the middle of the card.  Those two design elements take up roughly 50% of the front of the card. 

That's not good. 

If you left the picture, the silver background, and the small name and team plate at the bottom, you'd have a winner on your hands. We can't go back now, so the front of Pro Sigs is a trainwreck.  

Back of the card. 

The back of the card is much better than the front. Sure, the small picture at the top is recycled from the front of the card, but it's generally solid. You've got the standard Upper Deck stat box, which was always somewhat limited. I can still live with it. Decent sentence/write-up about Albert's 2003 season underneath the stats.  I like the red, gray, and white color scheme.  

2022 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 2

Once upon a time, I posted 30 different Blake Snell autographs in a single calendar year. This year, I am hoping that I might be able to add another one before the end of the year. Snell is signing fewer cards as a Padre, but I am just having trouble getting excited about collecting his newer autographs. For my latest Blake Snell autograph I am looping back to add an autograph of the pitcher with the Rays. 

I actually have the base version of this card, which is a 1986 insert out of the 2021 Topps set. This is the black parallel, which is serial numbered to 150 copies. Not a very expensive autograph and it has been on my radar for some time.  

Here is the card.

I love the black borders on the 1986 Topps design. The on-card signature is nice touch too. Really not much to say here. It's a good looking card. 

Here is the back.  

The standard CONGRATULATIONS message from Topps with the serial number at the bottom of the card. Overall, I am really happy to add this Snell autograph to my collection.