Lucky #2

Today marks my 2-year blogging anniversary, a milestone that I've grown to celebrate alongside National Baseball Card Day and my recap posts from The National.

NBCD and my blogging milestones have always gone hand-in-hand. My first ever blog post consisted of my packs from the 2017 event, and I celebrated 1-year with 2018 NBCD packs.

This time, I'm celebrating 2 full years of blogging, something I didn't think I'd ever reach. Before August 12th, 2017, I considered starting a Baseball card blog for a while, but I was apprehensive about it.

I feared that I would be getting into the Baseball card blogging scene too late or that I wouldn't have enough content to post. There was always some reason lingering in my mind, but National Baseball Card Day in 2017 was my best chance to get things started.

Now, 2 years and almost 600 posts later, I couldn't be happier with my decision.

So far, 2019 hasn't been easy on my blogging schedule. I've missed far more posting days this year than I did in 2018, and I expect that to resume once the Fall rolls around.

I'm still going to make time for blogging to the best of my ability. I just expect that my posting schedule will have to change. Last year, I averaged 25 posts per month. In the future, I expect that number to be around 21 or 22.

Although I've had to change my posting schedule throughout the year, I'm still finding as much joy in blogging now as I did back in August of 2017.

To commemorate my 2-year blogging anniversary, I found cards of guys who wore #2 across their careers. I also tried to find cards that displayed the #2 on the back of the player's jersey.

More so than #2, the number 247 is incredibly significant to Oakland Athletics' slugger Khris Davis. From 2015-2018, the power hitter hit .247 each season, but his disappointing 2019 performance has caused his career average to drop down to .246. 

Topps took major steps to improve Gypsy Queen in 2019 following a couple of lackluster sets. This year's design, in particular, is stunning, and it pairs exceptionally well with the golden A's uniform.

Along with Davis, I didn't know that Astros 3rd baseman wears #2 until I began doing research for this post. Bregman's worn #2 since his major league debut back in 2016, but the only card I could find that clearly shows his jersey number is his Future Stars insert from 2018 Topps Chrome.

In the midst of another fantastic season with the Astros, Bregman is just 3 homers away from matching his 2018 total. Along with several other young players, I intend to start collecting cards of the 2-time All-Star now that I'm back from The National.

It's been 3 years since the 2016 Topps Archives set was released, and I still can't get over how sensational Xander Bogaerts' card is. I've yet to see any other Baseball card, no matter the set, match this unusual angle.

Bogaerts has worn #2 since Jacoby Ellsbury left for the Yankees following the 2013 season. If he continues to perform at the level he's been at throughout the 2019 season, he may very well be the last Red Sox player to wear this number.

Referred to as the #1 #2, Derek Jeter's the most well-known player to wear #2 in MLB history. Love him or hate him, Jeter established himself as one of the most iconic players to ever down the Yankee pinstripes, and that's not easy given their rich history.

I found a couple Jeter cards that clearly display his retired #2, but the best option to display on the blog was definitely his 2013 Topps card. Consisting of just 3 colors (blue, black, and white), it's as simple as modern cards get, and I love it.

Though I couldn't find cards with the players' jersey numbers on display, both Red Schoendienst and Jean Segura wore #2 at some point in their career. 

For Red, he had his number retired after wearing it for nearly 2 decades as a player and manager for the St. Louis Cardinals. 

Segura, on the other hand, has worn #2 since being traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Even upon arriving in new cities (Seattle and Philadelphia), he was able to continue wearing that number.

To anyone that's taken time from their busy day to read posts on this little Baseball card blog, I appreciate you. Having this blog has allowed me to connect with many other collectors from all over the country and even Canada. 

Whether it's trading, blog bat around posts, or a simple comment, this blog has connected me in more ways than I could've ever expected, and it's certainly expanded my interest in the hobby.

The last 2 years have been incredible, and I owe it all to each and every one of you. 

Thank you for taking the time to check out my blog. I'm excited to see what the next 2 years will bring.

Old-Time Players and Modern-Day Inserts; Card Show Recap #14 Part #2

As fabulous as yesterday's dime boxes ended up being, I knew I couldn't spend all my time and money searching through those bins all afternoon. Not that I was opposed to doing so, but because I knew there were many other options to be explored at this particular show, and I was ready to take full advantage of them.

I allotted myself around 10 minutes to walk around the show just to have an idea of what was available, and there sure was no shortage of options. There were likely over 100 vendors at this show, some with items far and beyond my budget. Display cases loaded with graded vintage, stacks of brand new hobby boxes and old-school pennants made up just a fraction of what was available.

Eventually, my searching brought me to a 50 cent box that I looked through after meeting up with my Dad who presented a couple stacks of cards that he had bought for around $1 each. This post serves as a combination of what we collectively picked up from a couple of different dealers.

I already forgot what year these Draft History inserts are from as soon as I scanned them, though I know for certain they're not from 2017. Not that I necessarily needed to know the exact year these cards are from in order to pick up new cards of Nolan Ryan, my largest player collection, and Ken Griffey Jr. who officially reached 200 cards thanks in part to yesterday's dime boxes.

As far as 2017 silver pack 1987 cards go, 50 cents each is a heck off a good deal, especially when the players are both guys I have over 100 cards of. Though I have a few 2018 silver pack cards and picked up more of them yesterday, my only 2017 silver pack card before grabbing these 2 was of David Price, a card I picked up at the Mansfield show earlier this year.

Considering that the 2001 UD Decade 1970's set was made to, well, honor the 1970's, the greatest decade in baseball history, it's pretty much expected that the base and insert cards would embrace the colors and designs synonymous with the 1970's decade. Indeed, Upper Deck accomplished that, especially with the Decade Dynasties inserts that I grabbed of Catfish Hunter and Mike Schmidt.

All the cards up until now were cards that we collectively decided on at the 50 cent bins, but beforehand, my Dad had just purchased a nice selection of cards from another vendor, including a wide range of cards of the legendary Ted Williams. Ranging from Upper Deck Play Ball to Panini Golden Age, the 4 cards shown above represent not even half of the selection of cards my Dad picked up of Ted Terrific. 

Probably one of my favorite parts of the way I collect cards is discovering brand new sets that I had never seen before, even if the sets are part of a brand I'm fairly familiar with, like Topps Tribute. For example, I had never seen the 2002 Topps Tribute design before in my life until my Dad picked up a few singles for our player collections. Ah, the endless wonders of card collecting.

As far as Topps Tribute goes, my Dad wasn't done and went on to pick up 2 different cards of Roberto Clemente, his favorite player, from this high-end brand. As I elaborated on yesterday, Clemente is one of my favorite players to collect just due to how amazing of a human being he was. 

Given that there's no shortage of incredible cards of Clemente with the 2 above falling right into that category, it's evident why he's been near the top of my list of player collections despite him not being at 100 cards quite yet.

Back to the 50 cent bins for a brief moment, I have to say I've become more and more fond of Rhys Hoskins throughout the 2018 season, especially after his Home Run Derby performance. Sure, he didn't have the best 2nd half with September being a particularly bad month, but this rookie power hitter has a lot to show for someone who's still just 25. A simple rise in his batting average could for sure catapult him to one of baseball's superstars as early as next season.

I love these 70's Padres uniforms. I love fun parallel cards. That is all.

Every so often, certain cards come along that I have absolutely no clue what they're called. With absolutely no information on the card backs, I can't know for sure what these cards are from. Honestly, I don't even have a clue, but that's what the blog is for. 

Like the majority of the cards he picked up, my Dad grabbed these cards for our player collections and given the players he found, I'd say it's from the late 60's or so.

1 week later and my hype for the World Champion Boston Red Sox has settled, albeit barely. Anytime I see cards of these guys, I not only get excited about 2018, but I get hyped for the 2019 season as well. With their young players on the rise after successful 2018 seasons, any chance I have at picking up cards of them is one I'm going to take, especially when it's numbered 13/25 like this Xander Boagerts 2017 Bowman insert is.

Topps always makes their orange refractors very low-numbered which is contrary to what I've seen Panini do. I must say I'm very glad the orange doesn't take up the whole card as I feel just the borders is the perfect amount of color for something like this. For 1/4 of the price of a blaster, this low-numbered parallel of a World Series champion shortstop is an incredible deal.