Appreciating Without Taking Part

There are many, many, many hobbies outside of the baseball card hobby. I've dabbled in some, I've heard of others, I can't even imagine many of them because the number of things humans do in their leisure time is... infinite.

That said wasting time on YouTube (which is a hobby in and of itself sometimes) has exposed me to a lot of different hobbies that exist outside the realm of collecting trading cards. The appeal, to me at least, is how I don't have to personally get involved. Just watching people make things happen for themselves on YouTube just for the sake of their hobby is great.

Case in point, toy car restoration. On YouTube there is an entire genre of people just restoring old toy cars to look almost as good as new and it's wonderful.

My favorite out of all of them is a YouTuber named baremetalHW. Reason being that their delivery is so chill and deep that it's relaxing. It's somewhat soothing. I'll never do half of the things discussed in these videos but it's incredibly inviting and keeps me invested.

Here's an early but very good example of them at their best. They take a car that's been destroyed to a point where the wheels are pretty much gone, then they manage to turn it into something.

This is a more recent video and shows that they got better with more time and experience making videos (as well as in regards to toy car repair in general).

Of course baremetalHW's videos aren't limited to just these specific kinds of videos.

They also do custom cars for the purposes of making dioramas or replicas Often based on a theme like recreating Mad Max vehicles.

It's all gold in my opinion.

I think part of the appeal for me is that they are getting things done with their hands. You can see the progress happening as the magic of editing lets us know that hours upon hours of painstaking work was put into these little DIY projects.

I'm a sucker for these artsy, craftsy, DIY stuff focused on toys. I don't have the experience, tools, supplies or the drive to do it myself, but seeing people who have all of the above go out and do it is great to me.

FWIW there are other YouTubers who do similar things like Marty's Matchbox Makeovers who do wonders with Matchbox brand cars specifically.

Also somehow I ended up going down the rabbithole that is DIY art project YouTube and I stumbled upon Black Magic Craft.

This is less about fixing toy cars but more about creating buildings (often with a fantasy or D&D twist) to life using things like styrofoam and cardboard. Pretty cool.

What all of these have in common is that I don't feel the need to partake in any of this myself. I can appreciate this as a neutral observer just watching people who really love their hobby do their stuff. Of course sometimes I feel like I want to, but I know that these aren't hobbies one just jumps into and expects to nail right away. They can't all be as simple as spending money on parts of cardboard.

So yeah. Check all of these folks out if you ever have the time. I found myself managing to kill some spare time just watching their videos and letting what was happening wash over me.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

Strange Things Happen

A while ago I was talking with Once A Cub about NPN's. Nothing too comprehensive, it was mostly just me lamenting how I'd yet to get any NPN's from baseball products. Not for a lack of trying though. Over the years I've bugged friends and strangers alike who had access to products earlier than others for NPN addresses.

In the baseball department I'm 0-for-∞. I lost count after my eighth failure so I just decided to turn it on its side and make it infinity since I'm sure that's just as accurate.

Meanwhile with non-sports, I was 3-for-8 as of September 19th, 2019. I blogged about my NPN successes a few months ago. It was from Topps Stranger Things Season 1.

Well on September 20th, 2019, that average changed.

I went from 3-for-8 to 7-for-16!

I immediately knew what was inside these and I think the rest of you all can tell too.

Yup, NPN swag from Topps Stranger Things Season 2!

See, back in early April this set came out and I had asked a user named Goalie29 on a trading card forum pass along the NPN address to me. They generously did and I immediately sent out eight requests within the next 12 hours. Five months later, half of them worked!

I think a huge part of the reason my success rate is greater with Stranger Things is because I've been able to send out eight requests each time. Meanwhile with baseball products they're all strictly one-per-household. I don't know how LV managed to luck into the successes they've had over the years.

Just last week I sent out two requests, one for 2019 Topps Archives Snapshots and another for 2019 Bowman Chrome. I have zero expectations that the BoChro request is going to land but I'm hoping the online exclusivity factor reduces my competition for Archives Snapshots. Fingers crossed!

Based on the timing of both these and the last NPNs I got, I won't know until five months from now (NEXT FEBRUARY!), but it's a fun little thing to come home to long after you've forgotten about it.

Anyway back to the NPNs from this time.

As you can see these are all stickers. All pretty great characters at that. Two main characters is always a plus, and I loved Bob too *sobs*.

Unfortunately I never saw any packs or blasters at my local Target so I never bothered picking up any cards. Honestly I'm okay with that because while building the Season 1 set was fun, it's taking up a whole lot of space and I'm regretting it. I really didn't want to do it with Season 2, which is a season I personally enjoyed a little less than 1 to begin with, so I didn't.

That said, I am aware that there are only 20 of these character stickers. So if I were to collect anything from this set, it'd be this specific insert set. I already have one-fifth of the set, the rest shouldn't be that hard to get. I hope. Please. I put up a want list anyway.

Anyway while that happens (will it?), now begins the countdown to Topps Stranger Things Season 3. Ooh boy...

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

3 Cards (Vol 50)

So after my trip to Japan I brought back a big stack of cards. There were so many cards in that stack that I had no idea where to start when blogging about them. So instead of condensing them all into a big post (which most of you will only read a quarter of), I decided to blog about them at a rate of three cards at a time. Maybe some of them will make for interesting material, maybe they won't. Let's find out.

Card #1

Leading off is my first ever J. League card.
The J. League is basically the Japanese Professional Football (soccer) League. Or Japan's version of MLS. My understanding of soccer and the J. League is woefully dismal but as far as I can tell there are two key divisions, J1 and J2. J1 is the better division to be in because it means you're good and you have a shot at winning it all. J2 is the worse division to be in because it means you're not even in the top 18. Even though I'm not much of a soccer guy I have wanted a Nagoya Grampus card in my collection for a while.

I managed to make it happen with this Naoshi Nakamura autograph numbered 15 of 20. Nakamura was a midfielder who spent his entire career with the Nagoya Grampus from 2001 to 2014. Unfortunately he was never much of a superstar outside of Nagoya (he only played in a friendly game for Team Japan once at that), but he was a consistent performer for the club for a very long time and I'm glad to have him be the subject of the first Grampus card in my collection.

Card #2

Next up is an Unparalleled rookie card of Giants rookie QB, Daniel Jones.

Poor Jones. Dude's getting a ton of heat and unnecessary shit for what is ultimately Dave Gettleman's gaffes. Maybe Jones really is the answer to how the Giants plan to survive in the post-Eli Manning era, but that doesn't change how he's definitely not the answer for how the Giants survive in the post-Odell Beckham Jr. era, which is right fucking now and not 2-3 years from now.

Also, obligatory "lmao Daniel Jones and Eli Manning are the same person!" meme/pic.

Card #3

Finishing off is SHINO, the only Dragons cheerleader card I picked up. Because all of these were overpriced in Nagoya (no shit).

The back of the card starts that miss SHINO is a Aries, they hail from Gifu (which is Dragons, and Giants, territory), she stands at 155 cm (which is 5'0853"), she's a freshman cheerleader, her favorite foods are ajillo/raw ham and mint chocolate (all of which are delicious), and that her special abilities include shopping/baton twirling and waking up early.

The message at the end is her basically saying that she's going to put her all into her performances so that the audience can smile and cheer. Also that she hopes this is the year for the Dragons.

And that was another edition of three cards.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

A Neutral Game

It is now the 2019 New York-Penn League playoffs. Unfortunately the Staten Island Yankees were bounced from contention during the penultimate game of the regular season, but fortunately the Brooklyn Cyclones stayed in it until the end as they took the McNamara Division.

Yesterday was the rubber game in the best-of-three semi-finals round between the Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets) and the Hudson Valley Renegades (Rays). Because it's September that means that the Cyclones are practically begging people to come to games by making tickets $5. $5 baseball games in New York City? Sure I'll stop by! Especially since it gave me a great opportunity to nab some autographs.

Autographs

First up was the Renegades' starter, John Doxakis.
Doxakis was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the second round of the 2019 MLB Player Draft out of Texas A&M. The 6'4 southpaw is armed with a low-90's fastball, a slider and changeup. All of which he uses to get strikes or generate (at best) weak contact. Whether or not he stays a starter long-term or switches into more of a relief role remains to be seen, but what is clear is that the Rays will turn him into a bonafide major leaguer, because they always do.

Next up is Renegades' shortstop, Greg Jones.
Jones was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the first round of the 2019 MLB Player Draft out of UNC Wilmington. The 6'2 is, at the moment, a speed demon. He's got legitimate 80-grade speed and it shows. He's also hits for contact and could be an absolute threat on the basepaths. He's got some power but it's yet to come. I'm sure that as he fills out his frame that power will come in with due time. There are questions about whether he can stay at shortstop long term, but that speed can play just as well in center if need be. Jones is part of an incredibly deep line of shortstops in the Rays org along with Wander Franco, Vidal Brujan, Jake Cronenworth, Taylor Walls, Lucius Fox, Tyler Frank and the beleaguered Willy Adames. They'll likely keep Jones at short until they deem that his talents aren't being utilized to their fullest potential there.

Going over to the Cyclones' side, here's Jake Mangum.
Mangum was drafted by the New York Mets in the fourth round of the 2019 MLB Player Draft out of Mississippi State University. Mangum is an outfielder with lots of speed at his disposal. He also has some solid on-base skills that pair well with his speed and make him a potential threat on the basepaths. Mangum kind of projects to be the speedy fourth outfielder type with a good glove and solid arm to handle the late innings, but if some of that power can come through he could grow to be so much more.

My last autograph yesterday came courtesy of Joe Genord.
Genord was drafted by the New York Mets in the ninth round of the 2019 MLB Player Draft out of the University of South Florida. Prior to turning pro, Genord was well regarded for his power. Immediately after turning pro he proved everyone right by socking three dingers in 12 games in June. He'd go on to hit five in his first 18 pro games. Unfortunately Genord's got a massive roadblock ahead of him in the form of Pete Alonso, another first baseman who can hit dingers, so the hope is that Genord can possibly shift to another position.

And those were my autographs. Miraculously all four of the Renegades and Cyclones representatives in the 2019 NYPL Top Prospects set were still with their teams. Even more miraculously I got all four of them in one night. Woof!

The Game Itself

Unfortunately I didn't stay throughout the whole game because it was cold, wet (stupid rain), windy and above all I was finally just getting over my cold. But what little I did get to see was rather good. I stayed for first inning of the game and got a lot more action happened than I expected. The Renegades got off to an early 1-0 lead thanks to a dinger. Then the bottom of the first happened and the Cyclones tied it 1-1.

Lost in all of that exciting madness was a very good match-up between top pitching prospect John Doxakis and rehabbing major leaguer Jed Lowrie. I'll never get tired of seeing what low-A prospects can do against big leaguers. The Doxakis-Lowrie at-bat was quite fun. Doxakis threw a little bit of everything in his arsenal and Lowrie worked him to a full count. Eventually Doxakis managed to get Lowrie to ground out to shortstop Greg Jones, but I was impressed. The autographs more than justified the $5 ticket but that at-bat alone was worth the price of admission.

After I left the game would go on to have a few more scoring plays happen. Eventually the Cyclones walked off on the Renegades and won the game 4-3 (BOX). Sucks for the Renegades that their season came to an end, but now the Cyclones are headed to the 2019 New York-Penn League finals. They'll be going up against the Lowell Spinners (Red Sox) who won their semi-final match against the Batavia Muckdogs (Marlins). Here's the BOX for that game. The finals will be played across two (three if necessary) games next week. Should be fun.

2019 IP Auto Count: 60

Before The Challenge, You Had To Dig

A few days ago I blogged about the Home Run Challenge cards. I noted that it was an interesting concept where card distribution was based on luck rather than how big your wallets were. Originally that post was also supposed to include another online giveaway that was sorta based on chance, but I decided to separate that into this post.

Back in 2011, Topps went pretty hard with its 60th anniversary celebration. Especially on the online front in the form of codes you could input to "dig up" cards, virtual rings and various other prizes. If memory serves, the virtual rings (once you collected all 45 rings) helped you get free shipping on the cards you wanted shipped to you straight from Topps.

As far as the cards themselves went, you'd usually ended up with run of the mill base cards and inserts. Every now and then you'd run into vintage cards from the 60's and 70's (Night Owl even pulled a '52 Saul Rogovin!) but it was better to expect nothing. For a somewhat good idea of what you could've expected, here's a post from Ryan of This Card Is Cool and one from Play At The Plate, both illustrating what a few codes could get you.

Of course, if you were curious about the more interesting prizes, there were two (that I know of) online-exclusives. You might've been able to win these based on how lucky you were (or how many codes you bought).

The first, and the one lives up to the Diamond Giveaway billing, were the 1/1 Diamond embedded cards. These were thick pieces of cardboard that were 1/1's and featured a little Diamond in the place of where the baseball on the 2011 Topps design was supposed to go.

P-Town Tom lucked into a Nyjer Morgan version of this then later sold it.

One day I'd like to add one of these cards to my collection, but when the lowest price I can find on eBay is $400, that day isn't coming anytime soon.

Anyway these die-cuts were pretty hot commodities. Night Owl managed to turn a Roy Halladay (RIP) die-cut into two vintage 1954 Topps Brooklyn Dodgers, and three vintage 1955 Topps Brooklyn Dodgers. N.O. also mentions how they got swamped with trade requests for his Reggie Jackson die-cut. And that's just for the base die-cuts. Imagine how insane the requests for the serial numbered die-cuts must've been. And no, I can't remember the requests I got for the Maris since I ignored all of them.

Sidenote: For a fun little ride on how one flipped stuff they didn't want for a die-cut they did want, The Lost Collector turned a few cards into a (future Yankee) Brian McCann die-cut, then they traded it for a CC Sabathia die-cut, and though TLC wanted to flip it for a Nick Swisher or Mark Teixeira they got tired of the lowball offers and just had the CC shipped (took 10 days to arrive apparently). Though TLC never got the Swisher, they did get the Tex later.

Both the diamond-embedded 1/1 and the die-cut concept would be brought over into 2012 as part of the Golden Giveaway where you could win either a 1/1 1 karat gold embedded card, or a die-cut (that also had serial numbered variations and even a 1/1 gold embedded variant). Unfortunately the part where you could win any card from Topps' past didn't survive, leading many people to hold the opinion that the Golden Giveaway sucks. Which, yeah it totally did. There's a reason I'm writing a retrospective on the Diamond Giveaway and not the Golden Giveaway here in 2019.

One last note on the "less notable" cards you'd dig up during the Diamond Giveaway. I have to confess that it was through this promotion that I got my hands on what was once the "oldest card in my collection", and not just that but it was of somebody too.

Boom, an insert of Rollie Fingers from 1982 Topps. Not vintage, not even that rare, and I'm 99.9% sure I've thumbed through another copy of this at a dime box or even a nickel box at a card show at some point. But back in 2011/12 when I was still new to the hobby (and baseball in general), this seemed like the coolest thing ever to me. An old card from when a HoF player was still active. I wanted it. This was the other card that was part of my first trade with Ryan.

If I ever have a chance to get a reasonably priced IP auto of Rollie Fingers, you can bet that it'll be on this one. Through all of the weird twists and turns my collection took in order to get to where it is now, it's survived all of it. It'll continue to survive despite being worth less than the virtual dirt I dug it up from.

So there was a trip down memory lane for those of you who were around in 2011. For many of you it was just something that happened eight (YES, EIGHT!) years ago. For me it was part of a very fun first year in the hobby. It all seemed so new, fresh and exciting. Even though those feelings have long since eroded, I do still look back fondly on what happened back then. Though I often curse at myself for the bad purchases I made in the time between 2013-2017 when I had zero clue what I wanted to do collection-wise.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

3 Cards (Vol 48)

So after my trip to Japan I brought back a big stack of cards. There were so many cards in that stack that I had no idea where to start when blogging about them. So instead of condensing them all into a big post (which most of you will only read a quarter of), I decided to blog about them at a rate of three cards at a time. Maybe some of them will make for interesting material, maybe they won't. Let's find out.

For today's post there's going to be a key theme. That being, promo cards.

Card #1

My trip to Japan happened to coincide with (Inter)National Baseball Card Day. Because the shop keepers and I are on good terms/because I just happened to be at the right place at the right time, I got about four of those special cello packs. As well as the guaranteed Bryce Harper and Vlad Guerrero Jr. cards. I'm never going to turn down free cards (though I'm struggling to figure out what to do with these other than regift them).

Card #2

Next up is a promo "pack" of EPOCH 2019 NPB Baseball Cards.

These promo packs featured one promo card per pack and were given out for free with the purchase of a box of an EPOCH product. The shop owner of Match-Up was really cool and let me have a pack even though all I bought were two packs of 2019 EPOCH Chunichi Dragons Rookies & Stars. 

Inside the promo pack I got a Shuta Tonosaki. Tonosaki was a third round pick by the Seibu Lions in 2014 and has been with the team since 2015. After a few middling seasons to start his career he broke out in a big way in 2018, earning his first NPB All Star Game appearance in the process.

Even though he's an infielder who can man second, short and third, he's seen a lot of time in the outfield too. Making him a Ben Zobrist-type utility guy who can actually hit.

 

And because I know I'm never going to have a chance to talk about them again, here's what I got in the two Chunichi Dragons Rookies & Stars packs.

I'm only able to show nine of the 10 total cards I got because one of them was a Raidel Martinez that I left with my collecting friend (the same one who took part in the Home Run Challenge) to see if they could get a Martinez TTM return on my behalf next year.

Card #3

This last promo is merely a card I brought back with me. This shiny Mickey Mantle that I remember getting at a card shop in my current area back in 2012. At the time I thought this promo was cool because it was exclusive to US-based card shops. Back then Topps didn't really let the Japanese card shops in on the fun regarding promos/giveaways, so anything like this that I could get when I came stateside was a bit of a treat. Of course that quickly changed (I consider that a good thing BTW). But more than that, my outlook on these promos probably changed drastically when I managed to secure all four of the special refractors (Babe Ruth, Alex Rodriguez, Reggie Jackson and Mickey Mantle) from the same NY-based shop I got the Mantle above from for like a dollar. Made the thing a lot less fun for me real quick.

And that was another edition of three cards.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care.