At this point I don't "trade". I don't like going through lists and seeing if anything on it tickles my fancy, nor do I have lists of my own for people to look through. Such things take time and effort, neither of which I am willing to put in for this hobby.
But the nice thing is that every now and then it's good to have friends who you can ask for small things.
Case in point, I actually reached out to The Lost Collector and got the base card of Kyle Freeland from 2024 Topps. It's spiffy and really nice thanks to a combination of the 2024 Topps design and Freeland rocking the City Connects jersey. A jersey I'm on record previously saying I think is so bad it's great.
Technically TLC's son pulled the Freeland, TLC mentioned he traded his son a Jazz Chisholm card for it but I later sent a Francisco Cervelli autograph just to be make sure. I still stay up at night worried that it wasn't good enough.
In a lot of ways this was as ideal a transaction as I could hope for. Saved me so much time and money compared to going on eBay and seeing if anyone is selling base cards anymore at $1 with free shipping. Plus it was with an old friend who I've traded with since, well, basically the beginning.
But as nice as it was to get the Freeland base, in 2024 it's no longer just about the base. There's another reason I wanted that.
Yup, got the "Golden Mirror" image variation shortprint too.
So I'm going to go a little bit on a tangent here but we'll come back to this card.
Freeland's shortprint in 2023 Topps is one of my favorite Freeland cards in my collection. It's so great that I've proudly placed it on my blog when viewed on browser mode as the replacement for what used to be the signed Luis Torrens superfractor. That's how much I like it.
The 2024 shortprint is not nearly as good to me for some reason. It's a unique pre-game shot of Freeland chilling in the sunlight for sure, but it's just not hitting the same. Maybe it's the way this card looks like more an Xfinity ad, maybe it's the empty stands, maybe the 2023 SP just raised the bar that much higher because that was a good shot taking inside the dugout and not on the railing next to it. Whatever the reason this card is one of those gray areas where I'm glad I have it but it's more just because I wanted to say I have it as opposed to really wanting it.
Edit: TLC pointed out in the comments that this variation is actually likely a picture of Freeland in an airbrushed Denver Nuggets jersey (maybe Nikola Jokic). Pretty interesting factoid, the way there's just this airbrushed void left is kind of a good reflection of how I'm feeling towards seeing this.
Which is to say that if there ever comes a time when I pull the plug on the Freeland collection, this card is definitely going out the door.
But right now I have both the base and variation from 2024 Topps flagship. As someone who's built rainbows before I feel like this is a lot better (and feasible) as a compromise than trying to assemble a giant lot of cards that all look the same but just come in different colors.
I'm not sure if Topps will continue to do these short print image shenanigans in 2025 and beyond for Freeland's cards, but I may have just set myself up to obligate myself to continue assembling them for as long as they continue. Maybe thinking I have to do this is why I wasn't thrilled with this 2024 SP in the first place.
Then again I might not do it anyway given how I'm, well, me.
Maybe I'll realize the idea of owning these cards appeals to me more than actually owning them for real and I lose interest as I tend to do with 90% of stuff that enters my possession.
Either way thanks to TLC and his son for the assist :).
As always thanks for stopping by and take care.
Thank YOU...trust me, the return was more than enough.
ReplyDeleteSo Freeland in the blank basketball jersey confused me...like you said, he looks like he's in an ad where they don't have the rights to IP. And that's kind of true. I couldn't tell what the jersey was because I didn't recognize the trim, but upon googling "Kyle Freeland basketball jersey", there are a bunch of images of him in a matching jersey...but with "Denver 15" on the front. So he's actually wearing a Jokic jersey that Topps had to airbrush out.
Oh wow that's actually incredible information, thanks TLC. I'm not sure if that changes my perception of this card but thanks for explaining what the void was. Makes so much more sense now.
DeleteI'm not a fan of that 2024 Topps variant photo either... for all the reasons you listed. Hard to imagine Topps couldn't come up with another "unique" photo of him from the 2023 season. Anyways... at least his base card photograph is nice
ReplyDeleteIf the original NBA jersey was kept I could've seen it being something really cool. But as is a void being all that remains and front and center is kind of a good metaphor for my feelings towards this.
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