My Latest Mbappe

Just a quick post tonight featuring three new soccer cards for my humble collection of the sport.

The first two cards were throw-ins that came packaged along with the third card, an eBay purchase.  This is my first card of mid-fielder Andreas Samaris, and also my first card from the 2016 Topps UEFA Champions League Showcase set.  Not a bad looking design at all I have to say.

I also received this Hyper Prizm parallel from the 2018 Panini Prizm World Cup set that I've been rabidly collecting.  This one is much appreciated given that I may try to attempt a parallel franken-set of this 300-card release.

Here's the card that the first two came packaged along with.  Kylian Mbappe has been continuing his captivating play post-World Cup with Paris St Germain of France's Ligue 1.  In just two games with the team so far this season, he's already found the back of the net three times, despite the fact that in one of those two games he wasn't even subbed in until halftime!

Still just 19 years old, Kylian has already established himself as one of the best players on the planet.  This is my fourth card of his, and I think it might be my favorite so far as the Red & Blue Wave parallel matches France's country colors so well.  This one also pairs nicely with the Green & Orange Wave parallel that I posted on the day France won the World Cup.

Well, that's all for now, thanks for stopping by!

Buyback Franken-set: Dime Box Nick Edition

It wasn't all Red Sox cards in the last package I received from my friend Nick.  He tossed in a nice small lot of 7 buyback cards as well.  A good size lot for a post on an evening where I'm not feeling all that well, especially after a day of hauling furniture.  Let's crank through these and see how they fare when it comes to my buyback projects...

2012 Topps #646 - Francisco Cervelli

This one might be my favorite buyback from the grouping Nick sent this time around.  I like the shot of Cervelli in full catcher's gear during what I assume to be a post-game celebration.  Certainly looks much more aesthetically pleasing than the buyback I had in slot 646 prior:

A boring checklist card!  I do like how the 1990 Topps checklists broke the set out by team, then alphabetically by player last name within each team.  You know what's happening here...

...Cervelli bumps the checklist from the franken-set, and over into the dedicated 1990 Topps buyback binder.

1979 Topps #616 - Billy Almon

Billy Almon looks a little dejected on his 1979 release here, almost as though he just struck out.  I'm not all that familiar with Billy as a player to be honest.

Brian Holman, who went 11-11 as a starter for the Mariners in 1990, sits in slot 616 of the franken-set binder.  Same deal here, Almon takes up residence in that binder...

...bumping Holman over to the 1990 Topps set.  Really starting to pick up some steam with that secondary buyback project, even though I'm unsure whether completing this set in buyback format is even possible.

1978 Topps #449 - Tim Blackwell

Here's a nice Expos buyback, featuring catcher Tim Blackwell from 1978 Topps.  Blackwell actually spent 1978 with the Cubs though, having signed with them as a free agent in February of that year.  Does this one make the cut?

Well, I put this 1989 Carmelo Martinez buyback from Gavin into the franken-set binder just this past week.

Carmelo gets the bump already.  The franken-set binder is a tough place to take up residence, and this is certainly a prime example of that.  Just a few short days in the sun and Carmelo is off to the rejected buyback box.

1990 Topps #335 - Andy Hawkins

1990 was basically Andy Hawkins' last full season as a starter.  In 26 starts that year he went just 5-12 with an ERA on the wrong side of 5.00.  Still, a very cool buyback for me as it's my first #335, and as such fills an open pocket in the binder!

1990 Topps #202 - Mike MacFarlane

Keeping it rolling with the 1990 buybacks, next we've got Mike MacFarlane of the Royals.  Mike hit 24 doubles and drove in 58 runs for Kansas City in 1990.  He's got a tough match-up for the Buyback Franken-set though...

...in the form of a Ron Guidry 1978 Record Breaker subset card from 1979 Topps.  Easy choice here...

...as Guidry stays put and MacFarlane strengthens my 1990 buyback set even further.

1990 Topps #455 - Jeffrey Leonard

Next up, outfielder Jeffrey Leonard relaxing on a cool day by the batting cage.  1990 was the final year of Jeffrey's 14-season MLB career.  I like the casual pose here, as well as that interesting jacket.

The great Dontrelle Willis already calls pocket 455 of the franken-set binder home.  This one's got some good sentimental value for me, I remember Willis being a pretty big deal early in his career with his unique delivery to the plate.

Makes it an easy choice to leave Dontrelle in place and shift Leonard over to the 1990 binder.

1990 Topps #423 - Fred Toliver

Last card for tonight, pitcher Fred Toliver of the Padres.  Freddie actually didn't pitch in the Majors in 1990, 1991 or 1992.  He did make a brief return in 1993 for 12 games, the last of his MLB career.  Toliver has some competition for the franken-set project in the form of...

...Fred Toliver?!?!  Some collectors may find this frustrating, but I think it's ideal.  I'll leave this silver foil version in place in the franken-set binder...

...and shift the rarer blue foil version over into the 1990 Topps buyback set.

What a great and much-appreciated batch from Nick.  The franken-set was improved for sure thanks to these, but what I'm most excited about is the whopping five additions to my 1990 buyback set from this lot!  That puts me past 10% complete on that crazy quest, thanks Nick!!!

Franken-set Progress: 619/792 (78%)
1990 Topps Buyback Set: 83/792 (10%)
"Rejected" Buybacks: 481
Total Buybacks in Collection: 1,183

Dime Box Dozen - So Long PawSox

Finally starting to make some headway with my incoming trade package backlog after many months.  Let's keep the momentum going with another dozen cards from the last delivery I received from my good friend Dimebox Nick.

There aren't a lot of people just giving away Mookie Betts cards these days, so I truly appreciate this one from the 2017 Topps "American League Standouts" set.  Basically the same as Mookie's 2017 Topps flagship card, just numbered AL-3.  Great photograph here with the giant "This Bud's for You" advertisement on the outfield wall.

Yikes!  This 2018 Donruss Jackie Bradley Junior is apparently a short-printed variation.  Just "JBJ" for a player name, and an alternate photo.  I watch the Red Sox pretty religiously and I don't ever recall the team wearing batting helmets of that color.  Possibly one of the ugliest Red Sox cards of 2018?  Hey, I'll take it!

This one confused me.  Despite the fact that the foil in the upper left clearly says "Donruss 2000", it turns out Donruss didn't release a set in 2000.  I found out this is an insert from the 2001 Donruss set called Retro 2000 that shows what 2000 Donruss may have looked like had it been produced.  The turn of the century sure seems like it was a confusing time to be a baseball card collector.

Another new Nomah card, keeping him cemented within the top 10 in my baseball collection in terms of sheer number of cards.

This Jon Lester is a fine looking Allen & Ginter card if you ask me.  Made even nicer by the fact that it's a short-print.

I could have sworn that I had a card or two from 2017 Topps Gallery prior to this, but it turns out this David Price is my first.  If you ask me Topps did a fine job with this set.

While not a card strictly speaking, I appreciate the inclusion of this 1990 Pawtucket Red Sox schedule.  I figured tonight was an appropriate time to show it after last week's announcement that the team will be relocating to Worcester, MA for the 2021 season.

It's a shame, the AAA team for the Red Sox has called Pawtucket, RI home since 1973.  That leaves the small state where I live with the Providence Bruins, and that's about it for professional sports teams.  Ah well, Worcester is only about a 35 minute drive for me so maybe I'll check out the new ballpark when it opens in a few years.

I was certainly not expecting a '70s Hostess card in Nick's package!  The scissor job removing this from the snack food box decades ago wasn't exactly top notch, but that doesn't bother me in the least.  I'm just thrilled to finally own a copy of this fantastic oddball.

2009 Goodwin Champions was a polarizing set for me.  I thought some cards looked great, others somewhat terrible.  This Carlton Fisk would fall into the former category, great looking card for sure.

Happy to score another new Xander Bogaerts card, and in fact this is my first card from the 2018 Topps Series 2 set, period.  Xander has been my favorite player on the club since he debuted late in 2013, and he's really enjoying a very successful and under-rated 2018 season.  This is the 69th Bogaerts card I've entered into my collection on The Trading Card Database so far, though I have many more still to process.

Here's a very busy insert from 2010 Upper Deck.  I'm pretty sure they weren't supposed to be showing logos at this stage, but they clearly made no effort whatsoever to obscure anything here.

Last card for tonight, and it's certainly the loudest in this post.  I've heard differing opinions on the Topps Fire set, but I have to say I kind of enjoy the cards.  The design is super busy, but at least it's something a little different, and they're extremely bright and colorful.

A nice batch tonight, but I've got plenty more interesting cards from Nick still to come!  Thanks for swinging by.

Buyback Franken-set: Baseball Card Breakdown Edition

Tonight's Buyback Franken-set post comes courtesy of Gavin, writer of the great blog Baseball Card Breakdown and Twitter's king of baseball card-related GIFs.  The batch I'm posting tonight actually came in a PWE from Gavin many months ago, I'm just embarrassingly far behind in proper trade posts.

Of course Gavin, being the custom card creating wizard that he is, included one of his very own works along with the buybacks.  Love this one, a perfect blend of my two favorite sports with Yaz featured on the 1988-89 OPC/Topps hockey "push pin" design.  A really cool card, even if Gavin did include an extra 'e' in Yastrzemski's last name (I'm not being a jerk in pointing that out by the way, as Gavin mentioned this himself a while back).

This one's even got a proper card back, as most of the customs I've received from Gavin over time do.

Alright, on with it!

1988 Topps #568 - Chris Brown

I received 9 buybacks in the PWE, beginning with this '88 Topps Chris Brown.  Brown was impressive enough in his rookie season of 1985 to garner a few Rookie of the Year votes, and was named a National League All-Star the following season.  He declined fairly rapidly after that though, and played his final MLB games only five years later.

This is my first #568 buyback, so it makes the franken-set binder by default.  Just one question...what the hell is Chris wearing under his uniform there?  A black garbage bag?

1988 Topps #536 - John Morris

John Morris appeared in just 20 games for the Cardinals in 1988, but hit a respectable .289.  I'm curious as to why he didn't get more at-bats that year.  Injury maybe?  No time to look it up.  In any event he makes the franken-set binder as my first #536 buyback, and Gavin is 2-for-2 to start this post!

1987 Topps #730 - Eric Show

Always love getting a buyback with a card number that's a multiple of ten, given that those tended to be reserved for star players for many years there and thus tend to be more difficult to find in buyback form.  Eric Show was a solid pitcher for what was generally a very, very bad Padres team throughout the '80s.  He makes the binder as well, as I'd yet to acquire a #730 buyback.

1989 Topps #449 - Carmelo Martinez

Noticing a pattern?  Most of these buybacks feature Padres.  Not all that surprising given that Padres cards seem to gravitate to Gavin.  1989 was Carmelo Martinez's final season in San Diego, and it was certainly a forgettable one as he hit just .221 in 111 games with the club.  Once again though, this card fills and empty slot in the binder and gets me one step closer to franken-set completion!

1985 Topps #789 - Luis Salazar

Luis Salazar's tenure with the Padres actually wrapped up at the end of the 1984 season, he moved on to the White Sox for the 1985 campaign.  Love the uniform here.  And those sunglasses.  In what's becoming a trend for this post this is yet another new number for the project.  Feels especially significant that it's a nice high number, landing on the final page of the binder in fact.

1975 Topps #355 - Chris Cannizzaro

Holy air-brushing!  This is actually a "sunset card", as Chris Cannizzaro played the final 26 games of his Major League career with the Padres in '74.  For the first time in this batch we have a conflict as far as the franken-set is concerned...

...as Marty Barrett's 1990 Topps issue currently resides in slot 355.  You know what I'm going to do here, right?

Off to the dedicated 1990 Topps buyback binder for Marty, welcome to the franken-set Chris Cannizzaro.

1990 Topps #749 - Mark Parent

It's always a case of conflicting emotions when I get a new 1990 Topps buyback.  On the one hand I hope I don't yet have its number represented in the franken-set, since that's my primary buyback project.  On the other hand, I almost find myself hoping I do have another buyback already in its slot, allowing me to bump the '90 buyback to that set like I just did with the Marty Barrett.

Well, this is a case of the former.  As my first #749 buyback Mark Parent takes up residence in the franken-set binder, at least for now.

1990 Topps #525 - Wally Joyner

I think anyone who collected baseball cards in the late '80s remembers just how big a deal Wally Joyner was at the outset of his career.  I'd love to grab a buyback version of his '87 Topps Rookie Cup card at some point down the line.  As for this '90 Topps Joyner, it faces some competition for the franken-set...

...in this 1989 Chili Davis.  My bias in moving '90 Topps cards over to my other dedicated '90 Topps binder aside, I've always really liked the image (and photo cropping!) that Topps went with on Chili's 1989 flagship card.

Definitely sticking with Chili Davis in the franken-set, and shifting Wally over to the '90 Topps buyback binder.

1990 Topps #485 - John Candelaria

I've always liked this candid shot of pitcher John Candelaria in that incredibly blue Expos warm-up jacket.  John was nearing the end of his very lengthy MLB career in 1990, but you wouldn't know it based on that smile!  This is the last card in Gavin's shipment, and what do you know, it's yet another new number for the franken-set.

Gavin clearly looked over my buyback inventory before sending these, as he absolutely knocked it out of the park with 7 new numbers for the franken-set out of 9 total buybacks.  The two that had conflicts allowed me to, in both cases, shift another card over to my 1990 Topps buyback project as well.  That was quite literally about as successful a buyback PWE as you could have possibly assembled, thank you Gavin!!!

Franken-set Progress: 618/792 (78%)
1990 Topps Buyback Set: 78/792 (9%)
"Rejected" Buybacks: 480
Total Buybacks in Collection: 1,176

The Sandlot!

As just about everyone in the hobby who doesn't live under a rock is already aware, Topps included inserts in this year's Archives set to pay tribute to the 25th anniversary of the movie The Sandlot.

Like many, I was intrigued, although I do know quite a few collectors who aren't interested in these whatsoever.  I think it comes down to your age maybe.  I was 10 years old when this movie came out, just about the perfect age to really enjoy it.

The thing is, outside of these inserts I don't really have any interest in 2018 Topps Archives.  The solution was obvious.  For about the price of a single retail blaster of Archives, I just picked up the complete 11-card The Sandlot set from eBay!  They hit my mailbox earlier today, let's check 'em out...

I'll try to keep the commentary to a minimum and just let the cards do the talking.  These are done in the 1962 Topps design, an obvious choice given that the movie is set in the summer of '62.

The backs do have a unique write-up for each character, and a generic congratulatory message below the cartoon.

With 11 cards on the checklist, you're getting all nine players from the Sandlot squad plus two bonus cards.

These are fun for a fan of the movie like myself, but if I could offer a criticism on the back it would be that unique cartoons would have really put these over the top.  It's great that the write-ups are unique, but the same exact cartoon and Congratulations message taking up half of the back does get repetitive.

As for the fronts, maybe it's me but it seems like the photograph quality leaves a bit to be desired.  I'm not sure if Topps just made poor selections, or if they used some digital effect to try to "age" these, but either way it seems like there must have been a better picture of Bertram Grover Weeks available if you ask me.

Here's one of the two non-player cards, featuring the "ferocious" canine from over the outfield wall, Hercules.

Hamilton Porter has always been one of the more adored characters from the film, based largely on the fact that his character provided a lot of comic relief.  I'd say he ended up with one of the better looking cards in this set as well, calling his shot.

As far as other negatives, the card stock is a bit glossy.  It's not awful, but it's certainly a long way from the card stock used on the original '62s.  I'd already read that before picking up my set, and it didn't stop me from doing so, but vintage stock would have been nice.

I can't decide how I feel about the large foil "The Sandlot" scribble in the lower left of each card.  It seems to me they could have gotten by without it.  In fact, I wonder if they'd look a bit better without it.  But that's just me.

Here's the main character of the film, new-to-the-neighborhood Scotty Smalls.

Timmy Timmons' card is another case where the photograph just doesn't seem all that clear/focused to me.

Tommy Timmons looks a bit better.

Closing out the checklist is the other non-player in the set, dream lifeguard of 10-year-olds everywhere, Wendy Peffercorn.

Well, this set is a unique addition to my collection for sure.  Obviously not perfectly executed in the opinion of this blogger, but I don't find myself wanting my $20 back either.  I don't think these cards will change any opinions, chances are if you enjoyed the movie you'll enjoy the cards.  Conversely, if the film wasn't your thing, then I doubt you'll be clamoring for these.

How about you?  Did you enjoy The Sandlot?  Any plans to chase the cards?  I'd love to pick up a couple of autographs, but not at the prices they're selling for at the moment, that's for sure.