Trade with Sports Cards and Memories

A week ago, I saw a post on Sports Cards and Memories that featured Chris breaking a box of Tier One. One of the cards in the box was a Ranger. I left a comment and asked Chris if he would be interested in moving it. Later that evening, Chris emailed me and we quickly worked out a deal!

Without further adieu, here's the card:

This relic auto numbered to 75 of Nomar Mazara! The Big Chill's signature has really gone down hill, but I think that is fairly common with players that sign for Topps, since they are required to sign a million different cards. Either way, I am stoked to have this card in my collection!

Chris also mentioned that he had a couple Pudge cards that I might be interested in, so I obliged and took them off his hands! Along with a few set needs, these were in the package as well:

This is the '59 Bazooka insert from 2017 Topps Archives! I have another copy of this card coming my way in the future from The Lost Collector, but I will never complain about a beautiful Pudge in my collection!

The second Pudge that Chris sent also came from the 2017 Archives set:

This is the blue parallel, numbered to 75! It's the first blue parallel from the set in my collection. 

Thanks a ton Chris! Think of me whenever you pull any Rangers in the future!

PS - I posted earlier today about my want of some 2017 Allen & Ginter inserts. Please take a look and let me know if you pull any of these and want to trade them!

Gypsy Queen Box #2

Following up on my post from yesterday, I have a second box of Gypsy Queen to share. I did pretty well in Heritage earlier this year, but this box may have topped it. 

For the past three weeks, I have been toiling away at finishing a couple research papers. The big academic conference in my field, AEJMC, has an April 1 deadline for paper submissions, so I was trying to get my papers in. I finished around 3 p.m. and decided to stop by my LCS to grab a box to "reward" myself for, essentially, doing my job.

I was beat, so I took my box back to my apartment to open rather than opening it in the shop. I got home and sat down at my desk to dig in.

Right of the top, I pulled a purple GlassWorks boxtopper of Nomar Mazara! These are numbered to 125 and they are absolutely stunning. Good start! More after the jump!

Topps Redemption Update and A Plea For Your Help!

I've been waiting for an eternity for a Nomar Mazara base auto from 2016 Stadium Club. This was his first MLB auto, though he had a few minor league autos. Regardless, I grew tired of waiting and requested a replacement.

Recently, the Topps redemption processed was supposed to be sped up by merging the redemption website with the primary site. That was not the case with my replacement this time; it took more than two months (maybe even three) before I received the replacement.

As has been the case recently, Topps did go out of their way to send an additional card as a "sorry" for the delay. This is what I received:

This is a base auto of Erik Johnson from 2014 Bowman Inception. If I'm not mistaken, Johnson is with the Padres now. Not a bad card, but definitely no complaints as it was free.

The card that Topps sent to replace the Mazara auto is...well, you decide:

Nomar Garciaparra red ink auto numbered 45 of 65 from 2014 Topps Heritage. I have a love/hate relationship with this card. I love it because it's from Heritage, my favorite set. However, the red ink signed over the dark ink of the jersey makes the signature very hard to see. It is what it is, and I have to say that I think it is probably better than the card it replaced.

Now on to my question. Next month (March 16 to be exact), I will be flying in to Boston for a conference. The conference is in New Hampshire, so I will be there the morning of evening of March 17 through the evening of March 18. However, I am traveling alone. I'm one of those people that don't like to do things alone. Is there anyone in the Boston area that would like to meet up and show me around a bit? I want to see as many of the historical sites as possible, and getting a tour of Fenway is a must. If you are interested and available, let me know!

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!