Ever since I made that post about those baseball cards that come with Utz chips I've come to learn that Utz appears to be a regional brand. More specifically one limited to the east coast. In some ways I was shocked because for as long as I can remember Utz has always been a brand that's just been on shelves but I never checked it out. I'm more of a Cape Cod chips guy. There's even been big ads for it on Yankee Stadium (both old and new) for years. But apparently it's not a thing for other parts of the country. Oh well.
In the weeks since I posted about these I've bought three more bags, which is to say I've acquired nine more cards. I know I said I wouldn't bother but my local Stop & Shop reduced the prices down to $4 (plus tax) per bag. That's not a bad deal relative to other snacks I would buy and definitely a good deal compared to loose packs of cards I could buy at big box stores that don't even come with food. So I thought I might as well.
Last time the cards greeting me in packs one and two were Rockies. A truly disheartening experience that made me cold, bitter and resentful towards the world. Rounds three and four went a lot smoother.
The cards greeting me this time were Dustin May (LAD) and Dylan Cease (CWS). Followed by Austin Meadows (TB), Fernando Tatis Jr. (SD), Trey Mancini (BAL) and Shohei Ohtani (LAA).
May, Tatis and Ohtani would've made for an incredible trio so I'm pretty psyched to have gotten them over most of the other players in the set. Meadows and Mancini represent awful unpopular and unwanted teams but at least they're decent names so I can dump them onto Gavin or someone like him at some point. Cease is someone I have zero strong feelings about but since he's got that White Sox logo I do have places to send him to. Which is good.
If you're wondering why round five/the last three cards weren't scanned above. Well.
They were duplicates!
Now to be clear, getting Shohei Ohtani twice in a food-issue exclusive is far from a bad thing. I'm a huge Ohtani fan and as a dude with Japanese ancestry in me I'll always support Shobae.
Getting two Rays is always a terrible thing but again, these are bound for Gavin or to a Pirates fan who still likes Meadows even as he turns into a forgettable semi-star in Tampa who eventually gets traded to some contending team in the midwest (or Texas) where his performance is slightly recognized more but nowhere near where it would be if he were in New York or Los Angeles.
Getting two Dodgers rookies is far from terrible though. Especially since I like Dustin May a lot. If I ever have the opportunity I'm probably gonna ask him to sign one of those two food issues for me.
My feelings on Bowman can be described as, mixed at best. I guess some could describe it as a love-hate relationship but both of those words are too strong for me to use. I don't love a product because I believe that brand loyalty is dumb. Nor do I hate a product because if I didn't like something I just wouldn't buy it.
No my issue with Bowman comes down to how there are always some things about it that I care about and other things about that I don't care about. Usually putting me in a spot where I just ignore it entirely because my preference leans towards IPs/TTMs anyway.
Caring: Players I Like
Alright so the kind of stuff I care about is quite simple. The prospects. It's the only reason anyone should care about Bowman.
But when I say I care about the prospects, I don't mean it in a "I'm going to take out a mortgage to buy this player's BoChro autos!". What I really mean is that I'm happy that some of my favorite prospects are getting paid to have their likenesses, names and autographs used on cardboard. It's no secret that minor leaguers are very underpaid, if they can earn even a little bit more to help them in their pursuit to the big leagues that's very good in my book. Obviously a Topps contract isn't going to make anyone rich but I'm sure every little bit helps.
That's why when I see that my favorite prospects are getting Topps/Bowman cards, I get a little happy. The Jasson Dominguezes/Adley Rutschmans of the world will always get these deals but guys on my radar like Ezequiel Duran are a whole other thing entirely. I want "Zeke" to reap some benefits of being a really intriguing prospect. Seeing him get a Bowman Chrome autograph signals to me that he got a check from Topps, that makes me very happy for him. To most of you this name probably isn't much outside of "cool, his name Ezequiel is pretty unique.". But to me he's someone I've seen in person and left me impressed. It's players like Ezequiel who make Bowman a good brand to me.
Of course they can't all be Duran. Duran is unique in that he's actually good. So what about the rest?
Not Caring: Players I Don't Like As Much
This is probably more of a problem I have since I'm an extreme player collector who focuses on select few individuals with immense precision, but seeing the names in a checklist filled with people who don't mean anything to me is what makes me not care about the Bowman offerings, and really most card offerings in general.
Looking at the autograph checklist (because that's all that matters), the key thing to note is that most of the checklist is meh. Unless you pull someone with a Yankees logo, Bobby Witt Jr., Xavier Edwards, Vidal Brujan and maybe Brennan Davis the rest of the prospects in the product are mediocre and won't make you back any money.
And even if I didn't care about money, on a pure personal basis the non-Yanks don't mean anything to me. Am I going to root for them and become a superfan because I pulled their cards? No, I'm going to denounce the product and myself for being dumb enough to buy it instead of putting my money into a savings account that accrues interest (if such a thing exists anymore) so that by the time the Duran superfractor auto shows up I could just buy that instead.
When people say Bowman isn't for them, I know where they're coming from. It's tough to care about a developing player in a sport where development is anything but linear and success isn't guaranteed at all. And a product filled with players like that isn't going to work for everyone. It barely works for me half of the time.
And this is to say nothing of how I firmly believe Bowman and Bowman Chrome continuing to put in MLB players is bad. Established MLB players do not belong in a prospect oriented set. Putting in rookies is as far as a Bowman offering should go. Maybe have an insert set dedicated to former prospects or draft picks or something if they're so inclined, but not the base set. We're already drowning in millions of base cards made for the likes of Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw, we don't need more.
These prices will drastically drop in a few months
Now if you'll excuse me I need to be on the hunt for Ezequiel Duran.
Also if any of you pulls a paper autograph of Ken Waldichuk from Bowman retail let me know. I'm on the prowl for that too.
There are certain characters in Star Wars that hold a special place for many fans of the franchise. The reasons why they're special may differ, but that doesn't change their uniqueness and charm.
For example, Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Thrawn, aka Mitth'raw'nurudo was an military leader who notably played a part as one of the Empire's most cunning admirals and tacticians. Noted for his unique methods of combat that centered on making careful moves after spending time studying and researching his opponents and their habits. He's also one of the few non-humans to play a significant role within the predominantly human Empire.
Thrawn's introduction to Star Wars lore dates back to 1991 when author Timothy Zahn published the book Heir to the Empire. A book detailing the aftermath of the fall of the Empire five years after the events in Return of the Jedi, as well as the first in the "Thrawn Trilogy" novels with Dark Force Rising and The Last Command also coming out in 1992 and 1993 respectively.
Although these books aren't canon anymore in Star Wars lore post-Disney acquisition, they were instrumental in starting what would go on to be the Star Wars Expanded Universe. A huge jumbled mess of different storylines, predominantly focused on events after Episode VI or far before Episode I. Outside of this trilogy and the KOTOR video game most of these expanded universe things were honestly terrible and Disney giving them the axe was very welcome.
Thrawn is significant in that he's one of the best things to come from that EU. As such there were few characters that rivaled him in popularity in terms of who fans have been waiting to see in a medium other than novels or comic books. Maybe he could've shown up in the prequels? Or the Clone Wars cartoon? Neither of that happened but he did finally join the new Star Wars canon thanks to the Disney cartoon Star Wars Rebels.
The character wasted no time making an impact when he did finally show up.
Thrawn's noted features of being very cunning, calculating and patient carried over into the cartoon version. Complete with a calm yet sinister voice provided by Lars Mikkelsen (brother of Mads Mikkelsen who played Galen Erso in Rogue One), and an incredible haunting theme produced by Kevin Kiner.
He is ruthlessly efficient and strives to take every single battle he's a part of as a learning experience. Win or lose the key for him is always knowledge. Knowledge about the very opponents he's going up against and using their characteristics, culture and tactics against them to destroy them in the long run.
In a way Thrawn's character was a welcome sight and yet somewhat underwhelming. Not because of Thrawn himself but because he's the type of threat who, by all rights, should be more than plenty to bring down Ezra Bridger and the early Rebel Alliance. And yet the Rebels portrayal of him showed him losing small battles and the only real major victory shown on screen was nearly destroying the Rebel Alliance but just having to settle for making them flee their secret base.
The other military leaders around him often set him back more than the rebels themselves did. In a way the one thing he couldn't comprehend, the nature of The Force, is what technically led to his downfall but the Empire's inability to get anything meaningful done kinda set things up to go bad for him. Not like Disney would allow a scenario where the bad guys wins anyway.
Personally Admiral Thrawn getting bested by Bridger and his band of rebels was something I kinda saw coming anyway and accepted. I know some hardcore Thrawn stans were super pissed but luckily for me I didn't care.
No, what made me care was that Thrawn (and his species the Chiss in general) are tied to a much more interesting concept/potential threat, the Yuuzhan Vong. An outside threat to the Republic/Empire/galaxy as a whole due to how they were essentially invaders from another galaxy with advanced weapons and tactics that the galaxy had never fought against.
The new Disney canon does not have the Vong (although it has been confirmed that there were ideas to bring them into the picture in The Clone Wars), but instead it has the "Grysks" now. This is all written in Zahn's Thrawn book from 2018, Thrawn: Alliances. Thrawn vs the rebel alliance doesn't interest me nearly as much as Thrawn vs the Vong/Grysks. A true external threat that is neither Jedi or Sith that will give the galaxy a huge shakeup is extremely my shit (it's why I was a huge fan of the Eternal Empire in The Old Republic MMO).
Thrawn's fate following the liberation of Lothal in Rebels remains to be seen but Filoni has confirmed that the character is still alive. What he did afterwards is a story for another time and I just hope the Thrawn vs Grysks conflict takes precedence over whatever the Empire does because the Empire vs Rebel Alliance stuff bores me. I'm also low-key hoping it comes in the form of a movie or TV show rather than a book. Thrawn's such an interesting character that it's fun to read about him, but it's even more fun to see him fully realized as an on-screen character brought to life.
Anyway I bought the Lars Mikkelson autograph seen a few times in this post on eBay a while ago. Mainly while I was in a huge Star Wars mode while watching the final season of The Clone Wars (which I will talk about in a future post). Originally I was looking for either Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano) or Sam Witwer (Darth Maul) for obvious reasons, but when I saw the Thrawn autograph for fairly cheap it was a no-brainer.
Star Wars High Tek has slowly but surely become my favorite brand of Star Wars collectible cards. The thin card stock suits me and my binder pages just fine and considering how all of my favorite Star Wars autographs are in Tek format, at this point this has stuck.
I'm still looking for Steve Blum (Zeb Orrelios), Eckstein and Witwer, and also Sarah Michelle Gellar (Seventh Sister) in Tek auto form but I'm willing to be patient with them. Eckstein and Witwer will inevitably fall back down to reasonable prices after the Clone Wars finale hype has come and gone. Buffy the Jedi Slayer might be tougher by virtue of who she is, but considering how I already have her husband Freddie Prinze Jr. in my Star Wars autograph collection I might as well.
As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).
For the past four years (at least) I've had a quasi-goal of obtaining a vintage card of Shigeru Sugishita. Preferably from his playing days. Because while the modern cards featuring cards of him from his prime are cool and everything, I do admit that the charm of vintage is that nothing can really beat something that was made in the moment.
This is something that was pretty difficult to do in Japan. For whatever reason baseball card shops don't really deal with vintage too much and even longtime card dealers say they never saw Sugishita's vintage stuff in the flesh in all of their years in the profession. And they live in Nagoya! I've got my own theories on why but that doesn't matter.
Instead they're a lot easier to find in America apparently. I don't know why or how, but they are. Or rather they must be because, well, look!
Yes friends, that is a vintage Shigeru Sugishita card from 1950. Sent to me by NPBCardGuy who runs Japanese Baseball Cards.
The card in question is from the 1950 JBR set (according to NPBCG's blog). A name I have to assume some gaijin collector bestowed upon the set (probably an acronym or something) because none of my Japanese sources recollected any type of name of that nature. Also looking it un in Japanese produced bupkis.
The design reminds me of 1947 Bowman, what with the black and white photography and the white border around it. Also the two are pretty much the same in terms of size.
NPBCardGuy didn't stop there. There was also this second vintage Sugishita card. One I like even more because the full-bleed, no border-ness of it is absolutely fantastic to me.
Trying to look up information on this card was tough. I couldn't just ask NPBCG what it was because that'd be too easy and convenient. I had to do stupid roundabout shit like spending well north of two hours looking far and wide throughout the internet in both English and Japanese. Which produced bupkis too. My educated guess is that this is something along the lines of a bromide from the 1950s because a lot of vintage bromides at that time were done in this black and white photography format with the players' name and/or the team name (and/or occasionally the position) written somewhere around the player.
I didn't scan the backs of these because they were both blanks (a sure sign that both of these are bromides for sure). But rest assured that they also reek of vintage character.
Accompanying the two cards were a crisp $20 bill that I only meant as a joke but NPBCG actually followed through on it. As well as a business card.
NPBCG alerted me to this package/PWE a few days before it actually arrived and by that point I had all but forgotten that he even owed me anything. Mainly because the biggest benefit I got from our trade (which you can read here, here and here) is that I got to dump a bunch of stuff on him. In return he sends back two vintage bromides of a Japanese baseball God and cold hard cash before a recession. Now that's nothing short of awesome.
Of course now the issue is "I have the vintage stuff, do I dare attempt a TTM?".
I want to but currently I've got three issues.
1). I lost Sugishita's address
Back in 2017 I got Sugishita's address through a Japanese TTM collector. That collector has been offline for years now and I never properly recorded the address. I did manage to find another address for Mr. Sugishita but I'm not 100% sure it's accurate.
2). Japan Post isn't accepting any international mail
I'm not sure if Japan isn't taking any mail that's been sent from overseas (aka outside Japan), but as of right now it isn't accepting any mail headed overseas (aka from Japan to elsewhere). Which is to say that even if I were to get my letter to Mr. Sugishita (assuming the address I found is correct), there's no guarantee it's coming back until the Japan Post decides to ship things outside of Japan again.
3). Sugishita is 94 years old
The last thing I want to do is absentmindedly transmit the virus to Mr. Sugishita through something as stupid as a TTM request. On one hand I'm not super knowledgable on if the virus is transmittable through mail (doesn't look like it's likely but it's not entirely impossible either), on the other hand it's much better to be safe than sorry.
We'll see what happens here I guess. It'd be a shame if the bromides went unsigned for the rest of their existences, but if nothing else I absolutely love that I'm in a position to wonder about the optics of possibly doing something.
So big thanks to NPB Card Guy for the two awesome bromides in exchange for taking a huge load of stuff off of my hands.
As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).
