I've got cards coming out the wazoo!

*If cards continue out the wazoo for more than four hours, please consult your physician.

But seriously, people out there have been really generous lately. Like, shockingly generous (if that is possible).  Stuff is just showing up out of nowhere.  I needed to acknowledge them and figured I would combine them into a mega-generosity post (as is the style of the time). 

First cards up, Jon from Pennysleeves hit me up with these two -- I had requested the Stenerud from him, but he knew of my collection of (and affection for) Korver and tossed in the Prizm parallel.  Mega props to Jon!

Next up is Madding from Cards on Cards.  He had offered up spots in his recent break of "Topps of the Class", and I was happy to get the Ryan O'Hearn from that set.  However, his envelope included several other awesome (and shiny!) Royals cards for me.  Merci!

Third up is a completely unexpected envelope from an awesome guy on TDCB, avsbruins65.  He sent me a FAT PWE and inside was a nice letter thanking me for being part of the card community and a whole bunch of Random cards from my wantlist -- a full page, double-sided.  I loved all of these, but I'd have to say my favorites were Buck O'Neil and the Tim Blackwell minor league manager card.  That is a mustache for the ages, ladies and gentlemen.  Major thanks to avsbruins65 for his kind words and generosity.

I also have a page of scanned pictures (space cards, Salvador Perez, MLK) that were sent to me some time ago that I intended to turn into a post, then never did.  I think they might have been from Night Owl or Colbey, but I honestly can't remember.  Sorry. Thank you to whoever it was.  The coronatide months have not been great for me -- my work this spring was more stressful than it has ever been in my 10+ years at my company.  Luckily, the worst of that is over and I am starting a new job in two weeks.  Hopefully my energy for blogging and card trades will improve from here on out.

For those still reading this, and not just scanning through for pretty pictures, here's a little easter egg for you.  The rest of the cards below here in the post are up for grabs.  A true pile of randoms.  It's free stuff Thursday (yes, that's a thing).  Claim in the comments.  I will send these out as PWE, so please email me your address if you make a claim.  I'll set the max at six cards apiece (or four cards + one jersey) just so I know they'll travel on one stamp. Hopefully there is something in this stack you need.   I still owe some of you cards I've promised, and I'm working on those, too.  So long, until we meet again!

Top 10 Countdown - Cards I Won't Throw Out

I recently got a stuffed mailer from JP at Cards My Mom Didn't Throw Out.  If you have Diamondbacks cards to spare (especially Steve Finley, Paul Goldschmidt, and Luis Gonzalez) make sure you drop him a line and get a trade going! 

Anyway, 4 full team bags later, I pulled out some favorites to show off here (in descending order).

Honorable Mention:  The Absolute Memorabilia Sweeney shown above.  Any new Sweeney will make me a happy camper.  However, there were even BETTER Sweeneys in this very package, so keep your eyes peeled.

#10) I already have this Bo Jackson card, but it's the "Grand Slammers" version of 1990 Donruss, showing Bo ready to crush one. 

#9)  Just an unassuming Kevin Seitzer, right?  Non!  It is the O-Pee-Chee version. 

#8)  I sent CMMDTO a few Goldschmidt "Chipz", and he returned the favor with a Salvy chip I didn't have! 

#7)  Gil Meche -- the only guy who would retire and forego $11 million on the last year of his contract because he didn't feel like he had earned it.

#6)  I don't know if any non-Royals-fans remember Mark Teahen, but he was a bit of a fan favorite during the lean years.  Which "lean years" am I talking about (there were so many)?  He was worth 6.0 WAR between 2006 and 2007, but never had another good season in the majors after that, despite hanging around in MLB through 2011.  Here's a chrome Bowman of his.  Maybe he has some of these on display in the new wine bar that he owns in Arizona. 

#5) An auto of Royals farmhand Nolan Watson...originally was a high draft pick, but has not progressed much.  He's was recently promoted to High-A Ball at the end of June.

#4)  Just a cool-looking Mondesi here. 

#3)  I can't believe a Sweeney memorabilia card only made it to #3, but that's how the cookie crumbles sometime.  This "Leather and Lumber" Sweeney is numbered only to 100.  When I pulled it from the package I thought I already had it since it looked so familiar.  But upon checking, what I actually had was the base version with no jersey swatch. 

#2)  The penultimate card is a 2016 Chrome prism refractor of Lo Cain with a very prominent Russell Martin.  Wonder what makes this play special?  Oh, it was only Cain scoring from 1st on a single in the Playoffs.  The Royals coaches KNEW that Bautista would sometimes throw to 2nd on a play like this, so they were ready for it when it actually happened. 

#1)  And, the #1 card in this countdown is....

So graceful.  It's like a ballet..."Sweeney Lake," perhaps?  👦

And with that, I extend one final "Thank you" for all these cards.  Much appreciated!!!

Did any of you have a favorite out of these cards?  Did I get the order wrong?

This Post Is Immaculate

 

The best-looking product this year that I have seen was Panini Immaculate.  It came out in the summer and people immediately started pulling out some amazing cards from it (that Brett went for $460).  There were quite a few case breaks happening for it, but the prices for a slot were going for more than I wanted to pay, and I just kept getting outbid on them.  Instead, I decided to take the money that would have gone for a slot in the case break and just pick up a few singles on Ebay...creating my own cheaper break.  I watched several breaks that I had bid on (and lost), and there were no Royals cards in there that were better than these (and about half of them were shutouts for the Royals), so I don't feel like I missed out on them. 

The card at the top was a great value -- Raul Mondesi /99 - Immaculate Materials - 5 swatches.  The fabric is blurry in the scan since it is so thick.  The Royals have rushed Mondesi before...hopefully they are patient with him and he will develop into a solid player.

The second card I picked up was Alex Gordon /99 - Immaculate Duals.   It shows the Alex Gordon low follow-through...best exemplified here. 

 

While I was on the site, I looked for any other cool, cheap Royals cards I could snag.  The first card I picked up was this "Zebra" from 2016 Donruss.  I believe they called these "Holoflow" parallels.  They are numbered /199 and are very shiny/refractory (you can pick that up in the bottom of the scan).  LoCain is showing a little of his "lean-back" follow-through on this beauty.  

 

Another quick pick-up was this Danny Duffy 2017 Chrome in the 1987 Topps style.  It was free shipping and the seller likely had a negative profit on this one.   It's a beautiful glossy card and I'm glad to have it.

All in all, these cards cost me WAY less than a case-break slot would have, and I am pleased with what I got. 

If you are looking for what's still available from that set, you can check COMC or the 'Bay.

What is your favorite Panini Immaculate card that you have seen?

Night Owl Confuses Me

Well, it's more like Topps confuses me.

All of these cards came from the one, the only, Mr. Night Owl in two packages -- one last summer, and one recent one.  He included the above monstrosity.  This flips the traditional traded-player display of "new logo/old uniform" on its head, by showing James Shields in his new uniform (KC), but with his old logo (TB).  Chalk this one up to a mistake -- whoever was maintaining the player database at Topps never updated it with the correct logo.

Night Owl sent a bunch of other good stuff, too.

And he finished it out with a #/99 double-jersey card of Raul (Adalberto) Mondesi.  This will definitely be Mondesi's year to show what he can do in the big leagues.  He's got to start hitting better if he is going to stick around.

Thank you, Night Owl -- all of these were needed and are very much appreciated!

-Josh D.

Royals Rookies Roster

There was an announcement this week that the Royals had added Raul Adalberto Mondesi to their World Series roster, even though he had never played in a Major League game before.  That's all well and good, but the big impact is going to come from these two rookies here:

Those are my two little guys, repping the Royals with their new shirts from Grandma and Grandpa.  One of the helmets was my souvenir from going to my first Royals game in 1986.

This is an exciting time to be a Royals fan.  We stole Game 1, and then Cueto dominated in Game 2 to put us up 2-0.  Tenets of Wilson's projections have us at an 82% chance of taking the series now.

My little guy is almost two...He has never seen a World Series that didn't have the Royals in it -- what a charmed life.

Bonus points to anyone who recognizes the trading-card-related item that's seen in one of the pictures of my sons.  Can you spot it?