A Questioned Answered

Last month, I wondered aloud why Aroldis Chapman was featured as a Yankee on his 2017 Heritage base card, but as a Cub on his Chrome and mini parallels. 

Well, fear not: the blogosphere's most loved Sooz came to the rescue and gave a reason. 

According to her,

"It's the timing of when the cards are due to the printer. The chrome and parallels have to be there much sooner than the base cards. There is essentially a late form that goes out for the base to get free agent signings and offseason trades. So Topps tries to capture it when they can."

Sooz is definitely an authority on the subject, so this answer is good as gold for me.

Thank you, ma'am, for your insight!

Something I Just Noticed

In all the excitement around my hot hand with 2017 Heritage, I missed something. I make no bones about my distaste for most things Topps - I'm no fan of the exclusive licensing with MLB because I think it makes Topps lazy. I've pointed out easily correctable problems in the past to support this. However, in my excitement, I gave Topps too much slack. I found something that makes no sense.

Below is the base card (a short print) of Aroldis Chapman:

In the card, Chapman is featured in a Yankees uniform, very clearly from 2016. No problem there. But let's take a look at the Chapman Chrome card:

What? Why the heck is he in a Cubs uniform? I spent some time thinking and came to the conclusion that the Chrome cards most likely require more time to manufacture. This could have meant that the card design had to be submitted before Chapman re-signed with the Yanks (December 6th, if I'm not mistaken). That still seems like more than enough time to get him in the proper uniform, but I'm willing to give Topps the benefit of the doubt.

Until I saw this:

This is the mini parallel for Chapman, printing on normal stock, just smaller. Again, Chapman is sporting a Cubs uni, rather than the pinstripes of New York. So what in the actual hell gives?

My guess: Topps is trying to milk the Cubs' World Series championship for all it's worth. They want to feature him Cubbies blue to sell more cards. I mean, there is no other explanation, is there?

I guess my last question is this: why didn't Topps just feature him in a Cubs uniform on the base card also and wait until High Number came out to put him in pinstripes? That's their normal procedure, so what gives?

My First Twitter Trade: I Now Have A 2016 Allen & Ginter Unannounced Mini!!!

A couple weeks back, I took my search for the 2016 Allen & Ginter "Skippers" mini insert of Rangers manager Jeff Banister. I've been watching on eBay and have even made a few bid, but all cards were out of my price range. So I asked the Twittersphere to help me out. 

@CRyden33 came to the rescue. A few messages back and forth and we agreed on a trade that was more than fair. I went home for the holiday, and when I returned this guy was in my mailbox:

That's one handsome card!

I super stoked to have this in my collection. The SSP unannounced minis always seem really hard to get, so I am glad I found someone willing to make a trade.

I hope everyone have a relaxing Thanksgiving!

A Nice eBay Mailday

Recently, Topps Heritage High Number hit the market. I love the Heritage products, so I knew I needed to grab a box or two. I did just that, but in the excitement of getting everything organized and put away (more on this in a later post), I forgot to create a post about what I pulled. In short: nothing terribly exciting.

So I decided to hit up eBay for some of the cards I did want. A couple came in a few days ago, and since I am in Iowa City, Iowa, for a wedding, I have a bit of free time on my hands to share with you what I bought.

First up, this guy:

You can't tell from the front....

...but this is actually the mini parallel version of the card. Only Desmond and Nomar Mazara had mini parallels in the set. Speaking of Mazara...

...I was able to grab this redemption for his Real One Auto. Topps hasn't indicated whether or not Mazara has signed these, so I am assuming that means that he hasn't. However, if the way the Rangers are playing the Blue Jays is any indication, he may have a few months of free time pretty soon.

That's it for now. I hope everyone is doing well!