A TTM From On High

Last year, the Lost Collector posted about his TTM success with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. He simply sent a letter to Manfred and received an autographed ROMLB ball in return.

Since I read that post, I kept telling myself that I was going to try my luck with Manfred. And then, as it usually does, life got in the way. I got busy with school, returned home to be with my dad when he was sick, etc., and I eventually forgot my intention to write Manfred.

Last week, I remembered. Strangely, I remembered while I was giving a lecture on media effects theories - literally, the furthest thing from Manfred and baseball. I returned to my office and wrote the letter, put it in an envelope and stamped it. When I left for the day, I stopped by the post office and dropped it in the mail.

Yesterday, I had a bubble mailer waiting in my mailbox when I got home.

For the price of a stamp, I received an auto of the sitting commissioner of professional baseball. I couldn't be happier. AJ, thanks for the heads-up!

More eBay Pickups

Okay, it's starting to become extremely noticeable that I'm targeting cards for my Yu Darvish collection. I honestly don't go out of my way to grab his stuff, but it is happening. I'm blaming separation anxiety. Darvish needs to just re-sign with the Rangers and stop making me feel this way.

Anyway, I've picked up a few cards over the last couple weeks. Let's take a look.

First up, this is a photo varitaion of Darvish batting from 2015 Topps. When this card came out, it easily sold for $10 or more. Patience paid off - I snagged this guy for less than $2.

While we're on the topic of photo variations, here's the 2016 Topps Update photo variation that features Darvish in a Dodgers uni. This is my second card of him pitching for LA. Still don't care for it. This card was also had for less than $2.

This is a red refractor from the 2017 Update Chrome set. It's numbered to 25. I don't really know what else to say about it.

That's it for now. We'll see if I keep subconsciously snagging Darvish cards in the future. 

Is there a player that you tend to unintentionally collect more than others?

TCDB Trade #2

I recently completed my second trade via The Trading Card Database. Another was interested in a couple of Cardinal parallels that I had and made a really good offer for them, so I jumped. Here's what I received in return:

The first three cards were on my Yu Darvish wantlist. The top card is an amethyst parallel (can't we just say purple?) from 2013 Topps Triple Threads. I really like the Triple Play card. I think Panini does a great job creating cards that are designed (and priced) for kid collectors. It seems that outside of one or two lines, Topps forgot that kids can't afford $100 for a box of cards. Finally, the third card is my first card of Darvish "featured" in a Dodgers uniform. Without logos, I use "featured" loosely. Regardless, I don't like to see/think of the big guy in a uniform that doesn't read "Texas" across the chest.

The final two cards I received were for my Rusty Greer PC.

The top card comes from 2001 Fleer Triple Crown. The second is from 1998 Leaf Rookies & Stars. 

Here's to hoping I can begin to swing more trades on TCDB!

A Trade With Cards on Cards

A while back, I saw a post from Madding on Cards on Cards asking if anyone had any Ginter dupes from 2017. I did (spoiler alert: I still have plenty from Ginter and other sets like Heritage on my trade bait page that I am happy to send away!), so I put together a box to send his way.

I received a padded mailer back and was stoked to see what was inside! Included with a number of my set needs were some pretty incredible Rangers. Here's a look at some of my favorites!

I've really been falling for all the unique oddball sets I come across. I believe this Topps Bazooka set is a bit more "mainstream," but it's still an oddball to me.

Speaking of oddballs, I love these Denny's Grand Slam cards. Juan Gonzalez was a stud for the Rangers. For a while, he had a rocky relationship with the organization after he retired. That relationship seems to have thawed a bit, as the Rangers inducted him into the team's Hall of Fame (though he wasn't present - his son represented him).

These Franchise Flashbacks are a pretty cool Opening Day insert. This one features Adrian Beltre wearing the uniform of the Fort Worth Black Panthers, a team associated with the Texas Negro League of the early Twentieth century.

If not for my Sage Steele autograph from Allen & Ginter, this would have been my vote for Best Card of 2017. Though Lucroy isn't with the Rangers any longer (and though he suppposedly didn't enjoy his stay), this card is beautiful. I can assure you that this was take after a rain delay for two reasons: first, we only get clouds like this after storms; and second; the stands appear to be near empty, suggesting that everyone was taking shelter and hadn't returned to their seats yet. Either way, it's a beautiful card. Kind of shocking that I didn't have it yet.

And here was the big surprise of the package: a Fan Favorite auto of Jeff Burroughs from 2016 Topps Archives. Burroughs spent seven seasons with the organization (two of which were in Washington before the team relocated). He was the 1974 AL MVP, hitting .310 with 25 homers and 118 RBIs. Burroughs would be a two-time All Star ('74, '78) before retiring after the 1985 season. 

Madding, thank you for the cards! I love 'em!

My First Blog Bat-Around

This weekend, I planned on doing two card-related activities: first, going to my first card show since rejoining the hobby back in 2021; second, finish scanning in cards that Madding of Cards on Cards sent my way so that I could get them posted.

I accomplished neither.

The bug that seems to be going around made a not-so-friendly visit to my home, so I have been in bed most of the time.

However, I did make a point to read my blogroll. Fuji posted about his would-be Hall of Fame ballot, and noted that "First Ballot Hall of Famers ≠ Other Hall of Famers." This got my wheels turning, and it left me wondering:

How true is this statement?

Here's why I was wondering. If I counted right, there are 52 first-ballot hall-of-famers in Cooperstown. The most recent is the second Texas Ranger in the Hall of Fame, Ivan Rodriguez (the other Ranger was also a first ballot HOFer, Nolan Ryan). 

Now, I believe that Pudge is a hall of famer and I certainly believe that he deserves to be a first ballot HOFer. However, he received - by far - the lowest percentage of votes (76%) of any other first balloter.  Only three other men to make it on a first ballot received less than 80% of votes to make it in: Robin Yount (1999, 77.5%), Lou Brock (1985, 79.8%), and Jackie Robinson (1962, 77.5%). Now, let's remove Jackie from the conversation - though I wasn't alive, I have to believe that racism still held back his vote total. That leaves Yount and Brock. Both wonderful players, but both fall somewhere in the middle of first-ballot guys in terms of talent.  

My question, then, is this: If first-ballot Hall of Famers are in a class to themselves, is there any other way to examine or compare them? Here's what I mean: as much as I love Pudge, he's not The Kid (who should have been a unanimous pick, by the way). The vote percentages would agree with that statement.

However, that vote percentage can be deceiving, especially when comparing players in different classes. For example, Mike Schmidt (96.52%) was an incredible ball player, but he wasn't better than the Mick, who received only 88.22% of the vote. Ernie Banks made the Hall in 1977 with 83.81% of the vote, while Ozzie Smith made it in 2002 with 91.74%. Ernie hit a career .274 with 512 home runs and 1,636 RBIs. Banks also collected two MVP awards, was a Gold Glover once and an All Star 14 times. Smith hit a career .262 with 28 home runs and 793 RBIs. Ozzie never won an MVP award, but won 13 Gold Gloves and was an All Star 15 times.

I share all of this, ultimately, to say that voting percentages are subjective. While I agree with Fuji that first-ballot hall-of-famers are not equivalent to other hall-of-famers, I do believe there is quite a bit of difference among the first-ballot guys. Some stand head and shoulders above the rest (ahem, Junior). Some guys are definitely Hall of Fame players, but maybe didn't deserve it on the first ballot (Pudge, you're my dude, but I'm lookin' your way). Unfortunately, a lot of this depends on the ballot. Some of the guys like Pudge make it in on a first ballot because they have few other players to "steal" ballots away from them. Others, like Junior, are first-ballot regardless of who else is on the ballot (though that gives some writers to reasoning to not vote for them, since they will make it anyway. Stupid logic.).

So here is my blog bat-around question: Are first-ballot Hall-of-Famers truly set apart from the other Hall-of-Famers? Is there a statistic or statistics that we can use to "rank" Hall-of-Famers?Let me know, and I would definitely appreciate it if you would leave a link back to your post in the comment section below so I can be sure to read your response. 

Thanks for playing, everyone, and I hope you have a great week!

Some Sparkly Gold Darvish!

In my post yesterday, I mentioned my love of the 2012 Topps set. That's the year I began buying cards again, so that set will always be one of my favorites. (Though, I have to say that I love 2013 Topps flagship just a tad more)

At one point, I had the gold sparkle parallel of Yu Darvish's rookie card. However, back then I wasn't terribly interested in keeping parallels. Needless to say, I no longer had it in my collection.

Until earlier this week. I found one on eBay for a reasonable price and decided to pull the trigger:

I love it. It just pops. 

I haven't been doing it intentionally, but it seems that the only cards that I have been picking up are of Darvish. 

I know not everyone is a big fan of parallels, but I know some of you are. If you are, what is your favorite parallel and from what year/set? 

If you aren't a fan of parallels, which ones do you especially dislike?

A Gift from Daniel

Last month, Daniel of It's Like Having My Own Card Shop and I made a deal to fill in a few set needs for each other. I was late sending my end of the trade his way, so I wanted to make up for it by including something for one of his collections.

Last week, I received another package from Daniel as a thanks for the card I sent him. I wasn't expecting anything, certainly not anything this awesome!

First up was this purple refractor from the 2012 Topps Chrome set. The 2012 set gets a lot of flack from collectors, but I loved it!

Next up is this Yu Darvish blue parallel from 2013 Topps Museum Collection! My scanner stinks and didn't do a great job of picking up the numbering, but this guy is numbered 1 of 99!

This may have been the biggest shock. Again from 2012, this is the platinum parallel from the Topps Mini set!

And it's numbered 2 of 5! Sweet!

Daniel also included a handful of other cards, but naturally, I put them away before thinking to scan them.

Thanks again, Daniel! I truly appreciate it!