Today, my dad and I returned to our go-to card shop Baystate Sports Cards specifically to go through the dime bins that have delivered some very impressive cards in past visits to the store. The dime bins seem to be restocked with new cards every month or so, and since we hadn't been to the shop since the beginning of January, we decided to take the trip to the shop and see what the dime bins had in store for us this time.
The first card we got was the 2012 Topps Allen & Ginter Craig Kimbrel card shown above. This was the sole Kimbrel card in the bin and it brought my Kimbrel Collection total up to 91 different cards.
In addition to the Kimbrel card, there were a lot of other dime cards that were grouped together by either set, player, or brand. The first example of this came in the form of 2014 Bowman and the 4 players whose cards I picked up (Pujols, Mauer, Sabathia, and Jones). Even though I collect all of these players, I wouldn't have chosen each and every one of these cards if they didn't stand out to me. The Pujols had a nice action shot. The Mauer card for whatever reason reminded me of his glory days. The Sabathia included the iconic pinstripes standing out in an image taken at night. Finally, the Jones has the bright orange jersey that helps it stand out more than any of the other 3 card.
There were also a plethora of Cubs cards that I needed for player shrines, including some cards that I never knew existed like Schwarber's 2017 Topps Archives card and the great image choice for Rizzo's 2017 Bowman card. The Baez from 2017 Salute Series 2 includes a photo from the 2016 NLDS directly after Baez hit a home run that ended up winning that playoff game for the Cubs. Finally, the 2016 Bowman Jon Lester provides yet another card from Lester's time with the Cubs, and the 20th card I have of Lester on the Cubs.
The final 2 cards in this group of Cubs cards are 2 2016 Topps cards of Future Stars Javier Baez and Addison Russell who, I think it's safe to say have lived up to that title after leading the Cubs to 3 straight NLCS appearances, and the iconic and meaningful 2016 World Series win.
The next group of cards was all from Topps Heritage, and every single one of them in that part of the bin was of players I collect. The trio from 2014 Heritage includes Alex Gordon, Buster Posey, and Andrew McCutchen while the lone 2015 Heritage card was of A-Rod. 2014 Heritage is based on the 1965 design that I ranked at #4 on my top 10 Topps sets list. Despite the set being one of my all-time favorites, I never collected any of it when it was released in Heritage, so I'm appreciative that I'm able to pick up a few cards from the set for my player collections.
The rest of the Topps Heritage was all from 2016 Heritage which is modeled after the 1967 design. Obviously, there weren't any short prints in the bin due to how expensive they can be, but that didn't stop players like Chris Sale from being available for a dime each. It's pretty surprising that players of the caliber of Adam Jones and Justin Verlander weren't included as short prints in the set, a sign that there are either 75 players in baseball better than Verlander, Jones, Sale, and Lester at the time the set was released, or Topps decided to include some player's who didn't deserve to be included as short prints despite that part of the set being reserved for the best of the best. However, I have to say I'm glad they made these players non-short prints so collectors can acquire cards of these players in a much easier way.
Moving on to the most prominent players in the dime bins and we see Felix Hernandez, a player who exhibited such consistency during the late 2000's and early 2010's. He's been one of the best pitchers of this generation, and he's still just 31 years old, which means he could still put together some very good seasons in the years to come. If he is able to do that for a few more years, we could be looking at a possible future Hall of Fame pitcher.
The next player I found who I was able to find a good amount of cards of was Paul Goldschmidt who has established himself as one of baseball's best over the last few seasons. He may be 30 years old and will turn 31 this year, but he shows no signs of slowing down after being voted onto the all-star team in each of his last 5 seasons and finishing in the top 3 of MVP voting in 3 of those years.
Towards the end of the dime bin, I began to find multiple cards of the 2 players who were dedicated to their respective teams for a combined total of 19 years before both being traded to the Giants in the offseason. The players are obviously former Rays 3rd baseman Evan Longoria
And former Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen. I have to say I was thoroughly disappointed to see both of these guys leave their respective teams, because of how many years and how much effort they put in over the last 9-10 years for their teams. It'll be interesting to see this Giants team take the field in a little under 2 months, but that doesn't mean it doesn't still suck for Longoria and McCutchen.
Speaking of McCutchen...
The cards I found of him were not limited to the cards shown above as I found 2 cards from the 2016 Spring Fever set. One of them was of Cutch, and the other was of his new teammate Madison Bumgarner. I have to say, calling Bumgarner a teammate of Andrew McCutchen feels weird. That line should only be stated when referring to an All-Star team.
But no matter what, there are still hundreds of McCutchen cards out there on the Pirates just like there are hundreds Longoria cards out there on the Rays, like the 2016 National Baseball Card Day card above. I chose the Longoria because I collect him and I don't have many cards from 2016 NBCD. I also picked up one of Ryan Braun because it was a dime. That's absolutely the only reason, I really don't like Braun that much.
I have to say, when Longoria and Cutch take the field as members of the Giants on March 29th, it will seem a bit odd. But I know the fans of Tampa and Pittsburgh will not forget what each of those players did for their teams, and they will understand the team chose to trade them, not the players. Plus, as weird as it will be, we're going to see 2 superstar players play on the same team together along with Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner, so there's that to look forward to.
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