Inbound and Down #10: Baseball Card Breakdown

I actually received this envelope last week from Gavin who runs the Baseball Card Breakdown blog.  I did show off the piece de resistance last week on the PC blog here, but actually took my time deciding whether I wanted to do one or two posts with the bounty I received.

One post won out...

A big winner so far for Topps has been the inclusion of past cards with the Rediscover Topps stamp on them.  Gavin was kind enough to send a couple my way, including the legendary '87 Topps Rance Mulliniks card on the left.

A little bit of vintage came way, totally unexpected!  The master of the unibrow and his high numbered '59 Topps card was a welcome find for sure, and the handful of '74 Topps cards put another dent into that want list.  I wonder if Bill Greif was any good.....

Pairs of Blue Jays cards came off of various want lists.  This also reminds me that I really need to update my Jays want lists for 2016 and 2017, as the Smoak and Cecil cards came from last year's flagship series 2 release, which I've never made a want list for.

Shiny stuff.  Don't know if the Jeff Hoffman cards are duplicates, or some kind of crazy variation that I don't know about. 

Donruss, another set that I've never bothered making want lists for.  Damn I'm behind on the time.  Love the retro variations though, which I see that Donruss brought back again this year. 

Some guys just don't like the fact that you brag about being in the warm weather all the time and have to throw a bunch of snow your way just to bring you back to earth.

 Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssssssssss (registered trademark of the Night Owl, used with permission).

When you find success with a card, what do you do?  You print some more of it as part of a separate  release.  Why not, right?

Whomever said that Pompey was destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius better think again, as Gavin hit me up with quite a few of the young Canadian's cards.

Finally to top off the package, here's a '15 Heritage Chrome refractor card of Roberto Osuna, along with a '15 Archives Dalton Pompey auto!!  On card no less, great stuff!!

Gavin, thank you very much for the envelope, it's very much appreciated!!!

Thanks for reading, Robert

Maybe a bit of boredom has set in

I really haven't written a lot lately.  To be honest, I haven't been in the mood to write.  Naturally, I'm compelled to ensure that the blogosphere is aware that someone has generously sent me some Blue Jays or other various want list staples.  It's the right thing to do.

Card show scores have also been a writing staple over the past few months.  Vintage this and vintage that.  Those of you that follow me regularly know the increased love I've shown for anything old over the past couple of years.

However, it's not all about the vintage in my mind.  I'd like to dabble in more modern sets as well.  2015 Topps base is an absolute must finish this year.  But there's nothing else that really makes me jump out and want to run to the store.

Opening Day has never been something that I want to chase.  One version of the base set is enough.

Gypsy Queen is OK, but each time I go to grab it on the shelf, I think to myself that my $$ can be better spent on something that's more interesting. 

So, to pass some time until Series 2 comes out, I've dabbled here and there with Heritage.  Even after saying that I'd pass on it a few weeks ago, the boredom that has set in to my collecting lately has pushed me towards this year's Heritage release.

Poor scan, there is no damage to either of these cards...

My gain is also Tony L.'s gain, if he's so inclined...

The two scans above highlight the best cards from the 2 rack packs I bought on the weekend. 

What worries me about 2015 Heritage and my somewhat increasing desire to chase the set can be summed up in 3 quick bullet points.

1. I still haven't finished 2011 Heritage yet.  I've needed 28 SPs for the better part of the past 18 months.
2. 2 years ago, I passed on completing the entire homage to '64 Topps, opting instead to just pick up cards 1-425.  How can I consider completing this year's set when I couldn't even chase the set that pays tribute to the vintage set I've slaved over for 3+ years now.
3. I didn't even bother with last years Heritage set, the '65 set being far superior in design.  Some kind of sense has to prevail.

There are times where I need to sit down and write posts like these, to help talk myself out of building sets such as 2015 Heritage.

It's not that 2015 Heritage is bad.   It's just that I don't need to collect it. 

LOL, not yet anyways....

thanks for reading, Robert

Heritage? Well gee, I don't know...

It looks as if Heritage is going to be the same exercise for me this year as it was last year.   Buy a few packs, and search the blogosphere for people who are collecting the set to see if I have something I can send them.

If you ask me, I wouldn't be upset if the designers at Topps decided to fast forward the next few years of Topps designs for Heritage, and use the '71 set for the 2016 Heritage product.  The only design that I even care about at all between 1967-1970 is the '68 set, and even that year gets a lot of mixed reviews from collectors.

I've bought a hanger box and a handful of rack packs so far, and while the set is OK, it doesn't provide the urge to run to the store and grab more. 

I saw these guys in the new uniforms, and I thought that there's some progress going on this year!

Then I see this

and this

and I wonder what gives, especially with the Samardzija. 

How this guy got a card this year is beyond me. 

If it were me, I wouldn't have Rodriguez in any card sets this year.  He sat out a season of baseball, I believe that should be matched in the card world.

I've done all right with the Blue Jays so far, picking up these three to go along with the Rasmus.  It was disappointing to look up the team set and find that there are 2 versions of Josh Donaldson's card (traded line in the bio section), along with 3 versions of Jose Bautista (regular, color swap and action pose).  Not to mention that Bautista is a SP this year, and I no longer wonder why I don't chase after sets like Heritage.

I guess after all self-reflection, if you asked me if am collecting Heritage this year, it's not a "well gee, I don't know", it's "sorry, I'll pass again this year".

I'm hoping that there's at least one other set besides the flagship this year that I will want to collect.  Maybe Gint-A-Cuffs VII will be the impetus to chase down A&G in '15.

thanks for reading, Robert