2024 Goals

I did not make any goals for 2023, so I am just going to review a few of my postives from this past year and then make a few collecting goals for the new year. 

1. Blake Snell Autographs 

I added 15 new Blake Snell autographs to my collection in 2023, which has brought total up to almost 90. I have had better years in terms of quantity, but I was happy with 15 given there were several months where I did not add any new Snell autographs and I also so few new Snell autographs to add to the collection that I am looping back to find cards that I missed in previous years. 

There will be a Blake Snell goal for 2024, but it will be more than just autographs.  

2. Around the Card Room 

I have spent time sharing stories about items in my collection that are displayed in my baseball card room. From bats to bobbleheads to autographed baseballs, there is a ton of stuff in my collection and so many of the items have really good stories. 

My story about the Stan Musial autographed baseball was the most read post on my blog during the past year.  I will continue to write about the items in my baseball card room in 2024, but I am not sure if I have another 15 items with a good story. Some of the bobbleheads are just bobbleheads........

3. New Ray Lankford Cards 

This was the best surprise of the year. There has not been a new Ray Lankford card made in more than a decade, so I was not expecting to see anything new from my favorite 1990s Cardinals player.  In all, Panini made a total of 4 serial numbered Ray Lankford autographs this year and I was able to find a copy of all 4 cards.  

That brings me to my goals for 2024.........

1. More Blake Snell Inserts. 

Once upon a time, I was much better about collecting Blake Snell insert and serial numbered cards. At some point, I blame the COVID pandemic, I stopped collecting his inserts and only worked on autographs. It's really a shame, because he has some nice looking insert cards out that I have added to my collection......

With the autographs of Blake Snell drying up, I need to go back to collecting his inserts. I am going to avoid putting an exact quantity on it, but I should be able to top my previous autograph totals, which peaked at 30 cards a few years back.  

2. 100 Blake Snell Autographs 

I am right around 90 Blake Snell autographs at the moment, so with a decent 2024 I should be able to cross 100. This was my first Blake Snell autograph from more than a decade ago.  

Snell is currently a free agent, so I am a little nervous about where he signs for next season. Could I still be a die-hard Blake Snell collector if he was on the Yankees or Cubs? Not sure. Right now, there are a lot of rumors about him signing with the Giants, which means I would continue my collection. Regardless, there are 10 Blake Snell autographs I can add to my collection from his time with the Rays and Padres that will get me to the 100 mark.  

3. The 1952 Red Man Tobacco Set 

A few years ago, I put together a 1964 Topps Giants set. It was so much fun putting together a vintage set and have decided to take on another project with older cards.  I already have a few of the Cardianls cards from the set, included the Musial, so I have a place to start. I will make a post about these cards and this project at some point in early January.  

That's it for my 2024 collecting goals. I am sure these will keep me busy. What are your collecting goals for 2024?  

Around the Card Room, Take 14

I have been on one of my breaks from school over the past two weeks, which has signaled a bit of a slow down on blog writing. I have tried to explain year-round school schedules on here before and failed miserably, so I am not going to try again outside of saying that I am not going to work at the moment. I am getting some time to rest and relax around my house, but I am also trying to get out and do stuff around town.  

Driving my kids to school and chaperoning their field trips.  

Going to basketball games.  

Hiking.......

and like that, I have dropped all three local ACC universities in a post.

Bonus points and maybe a care package to the first person who can name all three locations and corresponding university in the comments. Two are easy, one is difficult.  

Today, I actually had to stop by work. I try to avoid doing that during these little breaks, but some times it's necessary. In this case, I ended up with a great item for my card room.

This is getting framed.        

My co-teacher works part-time for the Bulls and picked this item up for me. 

I owe him, something.   

This is the Charlotte Knights lineup card from the August 30, 2015 game against the Durham Bulls. The Knights are the Triple A team for the Chicago White Sox. While several of their players on the lineup card reached the Majors, I am a huge fan of several of the players who appeared on the Bulls side of the lineup card.  

A closer look at the Bulls lineup......

Mikie Mahtook, Ryan Brett, Richie Shaffer, Joey Rickard, and Luke Maile have all appeared on at least one post on this blog over the past decade. Taylor Motter, Hak Ju Lee, and Blake Snell have all appeared on multiple posts and are players I collect.  

Snell is obviously the most important player on this lineup card and also the winning pitcher in this game, as the Bulls beat the Knights 4-2.  This was Snell's fifth Triple A victory of 2015 and his 14th overall between Triple and Double A.  

Snell would end up winning both the Baseball America and USA Today Minor League Player of the Year Award for 2015. It was the last full year Snell played in the Minors.  

After I get this framed and hung up in the card room, I will post an update as a part of a future card room post. While I will eventually run out of interesting items and stories about the things in my card room, but I think I can squeeze another year out of these posts. 

Random Ray - 1994 Topps Gold

Last week, I spent some time sorting out some 1990s sets and ran across a stack of 1994 Topps Gold cards. These per-pack-parallels were so much better than the one-per-box Topps Gold cards that current populate the Topps flagship product. 

Let's take a look at the 1994 Topps Gold Ray Lankford card.  

 

The difference between the Topps Gold and base cards in the 1994 flagship set are simple. There is the logo on the top left corner of the card and the player name in the bottom left. On the base card, both are white, while they are Gold Foil on the Topps Gold card. Simple changes, but they make for a nice looking baseball card.  

I don't want to take away from this great looking Ray Lankford card, so I am not going to post a modern Topps Gold card, but if you have never seen one, the border of the card is gold foil. It's a bit much. 

Beyond the gold foil, I love the action photograph of Ray Lankford on the front of this card. Almost positive that this is in Wrigley based on the dark green background. I wish it were a little less blurry, but I cannot think of another mid 1990s baseball stadium with dark green walls and grass.  

Back of the card.  

Standard Topps baseball card stats and biographical information. I like the little photo on the side and the little write-up on the bottom. Any time you get a write-up that compares Ray Lankford to one of the all-time franchise greats, or a Hall of Famer, I am going to be a fan. Lou Brock and Ray Lankford sound good in the same sentence.  

I know this is one of the Topps least popular base sets of all-time, but I honestly don't mind. It's not the 1983 or 1984 Topps set, but it's also not 2001.  

Blake Snell Pink Card Count: 1

I am starting to run out of "normal" Blake Snell autographs to collect. Normal meaning that the card is not serial serial numbered to 5 or costs $300 on Ebay, because it has some crazy patch piece. If you collect a player, it's one of the worst feelings. I have been there before with my Ray Lankford collection. However, there are other places I can go with my Blake Snell cards, especially when I consider how I have not really done anything to collect his base or relic cards.  

I am likely going to spend a good chunk of time working on Snell's base cards in 2024 and will be posting that as one of my collection/blog goals for the new year in the coming weeks. I will dabble with relic cards, but the majority just don't really do anything for me as a collector.  

There are a few exceptions and I found one earlier this week on Ebay.  

A pink Blake Snell card.  

The card is not actually pink, it's the green parallel from the uber expensive Topps Definitive product. This is one of those three hundred dollar boxes of cards where you get two autographs, two relics, and a parallel card.  This green relic parallel is numbered to 15 copies. Someone pulled this card and was probably really pissed off they only got a $20 card out of the pack. The large pink object on the card is actually a patch piece from a Padres jersey.  

I know, the Padres wear brown, but their Nike City Connect jerseys are pink, teal, and yellow. Here is a photo of Blake Snell pitching in one of these uniforms.  

The pink piece on the card is a patch piece, so it's from the word "SAN DIEGO" on the front of the uniform, as the pink sleeves are just pink fabric. 

If this had been some piece of white or gray jersey, there is zero chance that I buy this card. I just could not pass up a pink jersey swatch with a low serial number. This is a unique card that will look great in my Blake Snell collection.  

Back of the card.  

The standard back. Nothing too interesting.  

Overall, a great looking card.  

2023 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 15

Sunday afternoon was relaxing. My son and I attended our first NC State basketball game of the year. The women's team defeated two-time Missouri Valley Champions Illinois State by roughly 20 points. 

 

We spent a little time walking around campus after the game. Went by the College of Education, which has the worst building on campus. The building is currently closed due to high levels of metals and toxins found in the building.  

I blame the smokestack in the neighboring parking lot.  

Sunday evening also marked the end of an Ebay auction on my latest Blake Snell autograph.  I am really excited this card. I honestly did not expect to land this autograph when it came up for auction on Ebay during the past week. There have been several copies that have been listed as "Buy It Now" for prices north of $50. I was not willing to spend north of $50 for this card and I figured that number would be the ceiling used as people were bidding for the auction this past Sunday. 

I was wrong.   

The card landed well short of $50, not even half that amount for a 2023 Topps Update 1988 Topps Silver Pack Autograph of the former Padres and Rays pitcher. 

Here is the front of the card......

  

I love the Silver Pack cards, so shiny. I also love the 1988 Topps design. The photo leaves a little to be desired. However, I am really interested in the placement of the sticker autograph on this card. Typically, the sticker autographs run parallel to the top and bottom of the card. Someone at Topps decided to place this sticker autograph at an angle where it is parallel to the name plate.  

I really like the change here and it looks like Topps made this change on all the Silver Pack autographs in Topps Update.  The regular 1988 Topps autograph inserts have the typical sticker alignment.  

Back of the card.  

We've got the 1988 Topps back with the serial number in the top right-hand corner of the card. 

Where do you think Blake Snell will play next year?  

A New Card Shop.

My track out from school started this past Friday. I really want to be productive with my time and accomplish a lot of stuff around my house, which includes getting some cards sorted out and boxed up. I recently finished putting together a few sets, so those are the top priority. However, in attempting to purchase boxes for my completed sets I got a little aggravated at the card shop that is near my house.  

I am not going to name names, but they are now stamping their boxes with their store name, contact information, and a QR code, which leads to their website. My collection is my collection, not an advertisement for your card shop, so I took a pass on buying the boxes. I figured I was going to have to order boxes online, but just in case I did a quick Google search looking to see if any new shops had popped up in the area.  

I was in luck.  

Triangle Area Sports Cards is located in Cary, North Carolina, which is about a fifteen minute drive from my house. If you're a local, it's off of Tryon Road and Buck Jones. It has been a minute since I have had a favorite local card shop, but this one won me over in a single visit. 

Here is the inside of Triangle Area Sports Cards.  

The owner is a nice guy. We talked off and on during my time in the store. Really helpful, but low pressure on buying and very friendly. He shared his vision for the store, this is going to be a good store.  

There were tons of cards to look through and things were clearly and fairly priced. I was able to walk away with my boxes for my sets, plus I ended up with a huge stack of cards. There are wax boxes behind the counter, but I was not in the market for wax. I also don't want to spend my entire morning scanning, so I am giving you the highlights.  

There were single cards everywhere in the store with a wide variety of price ranges. I decided to flip through the single cards of Blake Snell, Paul Goldschmidt, and Nolan Arenado. Again, just the highlights, but these were all either fifty cents or a quarter.  

All those Snell autographs, figured I should probably start trying to collect some of his base cards. I am sure he has a ton, but it's a project I am thinking about taking up for 2024. More on that later this month.  

Here are the highlights of the Goldschmidt cards.  

Love that Stadium Club card in the top row on the left with the Arch in the background.  

The highlights from my Arenado stack......

The $1 is one of those wavy refractors. I actually found a bunch of parallel cards from Topps Platinum Anniversary set in various boxes around the store. The Arenado is probably my favorite, but I also found a Juan Gonzalez numbered out of 25 and an Edgar Renteria numbered out of 150.  

I also picked up a handful of Jordan Walker singles, but I did not scan those.  

Next up is a relic card of Ozzie Smith. My scan flipped out here, it's not the card.  

This is a Jersey Fusion card. I did not know much about them, but I rolled the dice. Basically the company has authentic game-used jerseys and they attach them to existing sports cards by encasing them. The back has a QR code wear you can go see the actual jersey that was used to make your card.  

These two pieces come from a 1994 Cardinals road uniform.  Here are the pictures from the company website.......

There are a bunch of these on Ebay, some pretty crazy patch pieces too.  

The remainder of the cards I am going to post are autographs that fit into my collection for various reasons. Three were pretty inexpensive, the last was the big card I purchased on this shopping venture.  

First up, Cooper Criswell.  

Cooper Criswell went to the local light blue school, but spent last year pitching for the Durham Bulls. He was a solid starting pitcher in Triple A, but really struggled during his time in the Majors with the Rays. I believe he is a Minor League Free Agent at the moment, but he still played for the Bulls, so for a few dollars I now own his autograph.  

A.J. Puk is now on the Marlins. I dabble in his cards since I saw him throw a no-hitter while he was in college playing for the USA Baseball College Summer team.  I cannot even remember the last time I ran into one of his cards.  Anyway, for a few dollars, this one has a new home.  

Alec Burleson is a local kid, went to East Carolina. The Cardinals drafted him and used him as an outfielder last year. Probably more of a first baseman or DH in the long-run. Since I finally bought his autograph, I am sure the Cardinals will trade him within the next two weeks.  Book it.  

Last card and my big purchase for this card shop visit.  

It's been a minute since I have added a Scott Rolen card. He's been signing like crazy the past few years and I have missed more than a few good looking Rolen autographs. Figured this one kind of made up for a few of those missed opportunities. 

Overall, this was a really good card shop experience. If you are a local reader, I highly recommend you visit this Triangle Area Sportscards. I know you will enjoy it.  

I Have Never Written A Post About Hideki Matsui

Matsui-Mania was a thing for a few weeks in Durham back in 2012. I am not quite sure how I have never sat down and typed a few words about the long-time Yomiuri Giants and New York Yankees star. He was far from his prime and clinging to his professional career, but it was still fun to see him a few times in-person. One of those games was against Daisuke Matsuzaka (Dice K) who was on an injury rehab assignment for the Red Sox.  

Here is a grainy video of him launching a ball out to centerfield at the DBAP, only to get robbed of a home run. It's a tough park to hit a home run.  

Hideki Matsui only played stateside for a few years, but I think one of the biggest reasons I have never written about him is the fact that his cards were always seemingly out of my price range. It's hard to justify a three digit number for an autograph of a player who was only on the Bulls for a month at the end of his career.

I was surprised recently in an uptick in Matsui cards on social media, blogger, etc. Matsui has signed a lot of cards for Topps in 2023 and they are a fraction of the price they used to be. When you factor in his profile as a Japanese player and the fact that he was a World Series MVP for the Yankees, it's a pretty reasonable number.  

First Matsui post, first Matsui autograph.  

Hideki Matsui was easily the biggest name missing from my collection of Durham Bulls autographs. This card feels really satisfying.  

I Have Never Written A Post About Chris Richard

Who is the Durham Bulls all-time home run leader? 

My Chris Richard collection started while he was in the Minors with the Cardinals. I was at my local card shop and bought a pack of Royal Rookies. It was an inexpensive per-pack-autograph product that was generally not worth your time or money. You also never know when you buy an autograph of a Minor Leaguer. It's like buying a lottery ticket.  

Here is my Chris Richard lottery ticket.  

Almost 5,000 copies sold for $5 each, but worth $2 on COMC.  

I'd have been better off buying an actual lottery ticket.  

Anyway, this was in 2000 and the Cardinals had Mark McGwire and later Will Clark. Chris Richard was traded to the Orioles for relief pitcher Mike Timlin. I got more Chris Richard cards all from packs. At the time I was not really excited about Chris Richard. He was a first baseman on the Orioles who could only hit 15 home runs in one of the best hitters parks in the league.  

"WHERE ARE THE ICHIRO ROOKIES??????" 

Would have likely been my reaction to pulling a Chris Richard Prospect card in 2001.  

Although, this is his Fleer Tradition card, so more likely.....

"HOW THE HELL DID THEY LEAVE ALBERT PUJOLS OFF THE CHECKLIST FOR THIS GUY?" 

I even got the short-printed, serial numbered Chris Richard cards, like this Fleer Focus.  

Fast forward a few years to 2007 and Chris Richard is a 4A player on the Durham Bulls. 

The 2006 season was a disaster for the Bulls, a rarity in these parts, in large part due to several younger, high-end prospects who go off the rails in every way imaginable. Delmon Young hits an umpire with a bat, BJ Upton thinks Triple A parks are beneath him and gets a DUI drinking with UNC students, and Elijah Dukes literally tries to strangle Ryan Knox while the team is waiting for their bus at a hotel. 

Chris Richard was 30 and going to provide a calming presence to the team. 

The Bulls finish first, Richard hits 14 home runs, and nothing crazy happens while the team is waiting for the bus. Success brought Richard back in 2008, 2009, and 2010.  He hit at least 20 home runs each of the three seasons and ended his Durham Bulls career with 84. A record that is unlikely to be broken soon.  

I have actually willingly collected Chris Richard cards since his stint in Durham.  

Love seeing him as a Durham Bull on baseball cards......

but there are not very many of them. 

Chris Richard still has some nice cards for a guy with a short Major League career.  

My favorite being his 2001 Topps Golden Anniversary Autograph, which is short-printed and a tough find.

Pujols Post - 2023 Topps Archives 1989 Doubleheader

Pack fresh from the local Target.  

The 1989 Topps set might be completely worthless and one of the junkiest junk wax products of all-time, but I do love it's design. It has long been one of my favorite Topps sets from my childhood. I was excited the other day when I checked out a few packs of Archives and landed a Pujols insert on a 1989 Topps designed card.  

Here is the front.....

I love this photograph Topps used of Pujols standing in Busch Stadium II. All the important elements of the Cardinals former home stadium are present in the photograph. The arches at the top of the stadium, which set it apart from other concrete bowls from the 1960s and 1970s, an advertisement for an Anheuser-Busch product, and the giant outfield scoreboard that was installed in the late 1990s. Obviously, I don't count the giant scoreboard on all Busch II baseball cards, but it's a must on anything from the final years of the stadium. 

You can see the leg of the Arch in the arch just below Pujols' right ear. While the Arch is easy to see from the current rendition of Busch Stadium, it was hard to see at Busch II with the upper deck extending all the way around the stadium.  

Well done, Topps.

Back of the card.......

It's Paul Goldschmidt.  

He's at Spring Training and there is some website on the side of the card where you can view some legal disclaimers about the 2023 Topps Archives product.  

I want to see all 20 years of Albert Pujols statistics, nothing against Paul Goldschmidt.  

Around The Card Room, Take 13

The end of the school year can be hard on elementary school students. There are plenty of happy children on the final day of school who are ready for summer vacation and the challenges of a new grade level. However, there are also plenty who are sad and disregulated at the thought of having to learn a whole new set of rules and routines the next year. 

Others are sad for different reasons........

At the end of the 2004 school year, I had a student experience what he perceived to be the worst day of his school career. The reason? He found the perfect end of year gift for me and he forgot it at home. After an hour of crying, we tried calling mom and dad, but his parents both worked and could not leave to bring a gift to school. He spent the day in tears and kept telling me, "I got your gift from my grandma's neighbor. It's the best gift ever"

He was tight-lipped with the details about grandma's neighbor.  

Dad emailed me that afternoon and assured me they had found me the most incredible end of year gift, repeated the part about finding it at his grandmother's house, and that they would drop it off at school the next day while the teachers were having their end of year work days.  

I was not overly worried about the gift.  

End of year workdays are so boring. Lots of papers to file, cleaning, and everyone just wants to finish as quickly as possible to start summer break. I can do paperwork so long, but I eventually need a break. In the middle of the morning I walked through the office and saw a brown paper bag stuffed into my mailbox. 

It was crisp and had my name written on it in black marker.  

I pulled it out of my mailbox and I knew it was the gift from the student. Knowing it came from his grandma's neighbor, I figured it was a trinket of some sort or vegetables from their garden. Obviously neither, because I don't blog about vegetable gardens. When I picked up the bag and looked inside, I could it was a baseball, but I couldn't see the writing. 

I picked it up and turned it over..........

Nobody has ever given me a better end of year gift from their grandmother's neighbor.