2019 Singles and Red Sox Cards; Card Show Recap #24 Part 2

After I landed a superb deal before I even took a step into the main room of yesterday's Baseball card show, stopped by the booth of the show's case breaker as I do virtually every time I'm there. Per usual, I struck up a conversation about the new releases while shuffling through stacks of 2019 singles.

I haven't had as much time as I would've liked over the last few weeks for any Baseball card organization, but that changed over the weekend thanks to an extra day off today.

This free time allowed me to add 15 new player collections to my tiers list, including many last year's rookie superstars. The last of the PCs were made official on the online inventory earlier today, but I still made some purchases for the new player collections as yesterday's show.

The Juan Soto Obsidian card is going to stay with the collection of 2019 Panini Chronicles that I have amassed, but the Leather & Lumber die-cut above will go straight to the new PC.

Panini revived this release earlier this year, but the price point and the number of cards per box had no appeal to me whatsoever. That said, I've picked up a handful of die-cuts from the various insert sets because of how reasonably priced the singles are.

On a separate note, you can't go wrong with the combination of Yankee pinstripes and a silver border, much less of Miguel Andujar, last year's AL Rookie of the Year runner-up.

Baseball fans have been quick to forget about the 24-year old, who missed most of 2019 due to injuries, but I foresee him coming back strong in 2020.

The 2nd duo of cards is very similar to the first in that there are a Leather & Lumber die-cut and a Topps Archives parallel. The major difference is that I've been collecting cards of Randy Johnson and Starlin Castro for years whereas I only made Soto and Andujar official the other day.

While I admire Panini's boldness in creating a surplus of insert sets for the Leather & Lumber release, sometimes, simplicity rules, and that's exactly the case with the 2 cards above.

Don't get me wrong, I think the Benchmarks die-cut is a great card, but there's something about the purple parallel Starlin Castro card that I love. Maybe, it's the combination of the green background with the dark purple border.

Because the card shows I attend are only 30-45 minutes outside of Boston, vendors usually make an effort to sell Red Sox singles no matter what else they feature at their booths. In addition to selling base sets and singles from all the new releases, this vendor has stacks of Red Sox cards at his table every time I visit the show.

Whether I'm looking for a superstar from today's team (Martinez; please stay) or the past (Garciaparra), I can always count on there being a wide range of inserts, parallels, and numbered cards priced fairly.

Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers were responsible for carrying the Red Sox offense as well as the entire team throughout the 2019 season. As disappointing as they were, who knows how much worse Boston would've been if not for these 2?

Because of their respective stellar seasons, I've been taking virtually every chance I get to boost the Bogaerts and Devers player collections; this includes a fabulous Xander Finest reprint from 2014 or a rookie card of the 22-year old from 2017 Topps Inception.

In addition to a brand new rookie class (no more Ryan O'Hearn or Cedric Mullins!), I'm excited about 2020 Baseball cards in that there will be cards available of guys like Fernando Tatis Jr that aren't rookies.

I've been picking up Tatis Jr singles whenever I can since I firmly believe that he has the most potential out of everyone in this years' rookie class. Once 2020 rolls around, however, I'll be able to add numbered cards to my collection without breaking the bank.

Until then, there are a few more releases in 2019 that I'd like to get my hands on (Update, Gallery, Bowman's Best), so I'm going to get my fair share of O'Hearn's and Mullins' in the meantime.

The light at the end of the tunnel, however, will be the first 2020 product where there won't be an RC symbol next to Tatis' name. Then, I can officially begin "super collecting" the 20-year old phenom.

Finalizing a Few Things

Unsurprisingly, I've left a lot of work for myself to do over the next few days before my Dad and I leave for the 40th NSCC show this coming Tuesday.

If last year was any indication of how many cards I'm going to bring back with me to Massachusetts, I need to tidy up the Baseball card room to the best of my ability before I leave. That way, once I return, everything will be much easier to organize and put away.

While I've cleared off a huge portion of counter space for stacking and cataloging cards, there are still stacks that need to be put into the online inventory, then into player collection boxes.

Furthermore, there are a few decisions regarding what I'll be purchasing at the show that I'd like to finalize before I board my flight for Chicago in fewer than 3 days. Even though I've been anticipating The National for months, I can't shift my attention to the show until I finish up a few things.

As I mentioned, I currently have 4 large stacks of cards, all for my player collections, sitting in my Baseball card room, ready to be put away. To be quite honest, I have no idea how these piles got out of control so quickly. 

They consist of cards from a wide range of products; there are some from the 2019 Topps Stadium Club set as while as Panini Prizm, 2001 Topps Archives (which I recently realized I never organized), and some Baseball card show/shop pickups.

I have 1/4 of the cards cataloged online, but I still need to put them all away before I leave for the show. This, undoubtedly, is going to be the most challenging thing to accomplish over the next 48 odd hours, but I have my eyes on the prize and am hoping it'll all work out.

After all, the last thing I want to do is come home on Sunday, August 4th and have stacks of Baseball cards on the table before I even begin to unpack.

This might not be the greatest timing in the world, but I also decided to start collecting a new wave of players right before I head to Chicago so that I can acquire some of their cards at the show. 

For the most part, this group consists of last year's major rookies. The new PCs include the 4 players above, Rhys Hoskins, and Gleyber Torres, just to name a few. Now that these superstars are no longer in their rookie seasons, it'll be much easier to collect cards of these talented players. 

Last year, you couldn't find an inexpensive Acuna or Ohtani rookie card if you tried, but now that they're in their sophomore seasons, I wouldn't be surprised to find 2019 cards of last year's ROY award winners in the quarter or even dime boxes.

One of my biggest motivations to start collecting cards of the 2018 rookie stars occurred while I was organizing cards from the 2019 Topps Stadium Club set. As you can see, there are 2 cards of Juan Soto; one shows him in the on-deck circle, the other with a bucket of Gatorade about to be dumped on his head.

After placing these 2 cards side-by-side, I learned that the latter of the 2 Soto's is actually an image variation, a fairly rare pull out of Stadium Club and something that I didn't even notice at first glance. 

One this happened, I became motivated to not only collect cards of Soto but many of the other talented rookies from last year. The 2018 rookie class will likely go down in MLB history, so it would be foolish of me to ignore the cards of these players that I already have and not collect cards of guys like Rhys Hoskins and Ozzie Albies.

However, my new wave of player collections isn't limited solely to rookies from the 2018 season. There are a handful of veterans, some of whom have been around for a while now, that I've decided to begin collecting along with some members of last year's rookie class.

In addition to Freddie Freeman and J.D. Martinez, I'm going to start PCs for Javier Baez and Alex Bregman before I head off to The National. The latter 2 players had sensational breakout seasons in 2018, and it looks like they're carrying that momentum into this season as well

Barring any injury, I'm also going to see Javier Baez play in person for the first time in 3 years. He's greatly improved since I visited Wrigley back in July of 2016, and I'm truly excited to see him take the field and showcase his growth.

Not all the things that need finalizing have to do with new player collections. Rather, the next and (hopefully) final thing left to do is to figure out exactly how much 2019 Topps Allen & Ginter my Dad and I are going to purchase at this show.

Admittedly, I caved and purchased a little more A&G to have a stronger sampling of the product before making any major decisions. I must say that Topps has done a phenomenal job, once again, with the set. 

Though I was skeptical of the card backs at first, they are very effective, though they are slightly repetitive. The full-bleed photos are something that we haven't really seen before, and the checklist is filled with retired players, including guys like Phil Niekro and Tony Oliva.

The minis look fabulous this year, whether we're talking about the A&G backs, black-bordered minis, or some of the inserts like New to the Zoo and Lost Languages. The set stays true to the Allen & Ginter brand, and that's something that people who cherish this set, like me, can appreciate.

The sole question left is how much A&G, as well as Topps Chrome, my Dad and I would like to purchase at the show. Hopefully, we can sort this out along with all the other things included in this post.

 I realize that it's going to be a slightly hectic few days, but I'm beyond excited for the show.

Time For Some New PCs

After so long, I can no longer ignore the number of times I see certain players' cards in the dime bins but pass on them because I don't "collect" that player.

Yet.

I always add in the word "yet" as I way to convince myself that I could be collecting this player someday. It seems to buy up time when, in reality, I have so many things to do with the cards that starting new PCs doesn't quite enter my mind. 

And during the few times it does, I'm always telling myself I'm too busy to sort through boxes for an hour to find these cards.

However, after a while, you can only pass up on these players so many times before, finally, it's time t take action. I've had these 5 players in mind for months now to begin new player collections for, and while I can't say I'll get through all the sorting right away, this is at least a start, a big step in the right direction.

I plan on looking through boxes this weekend to find cards to get these player collections off the ground. Then, it'll be up to me to pay attention to these guys while I'm at the show. I might accidentally pass up on these guys' cards a couple times. With that being said, I expect myself to recognize their cards after a show or 2.

Of all the new player collections, Corey Kluber's been on my mind for the longest as to when I'll start collecting him. It helps that his team, the Cleveland Indians, have made the playoffs for 3 years in a row, combined with the fact that I pull a fair number of cards of Corey Kluber cards from packs. 

There are talks of Kluber being traded this offseason, but it's hard not to picture him as a Cleveland Indian. For now, I'll get together what I can for Kluber cards, and if he happens to get traded, I'll continue collecting him on his new team.

I'm usually good at forming player collections for old-time players and modern-day starts, but there have always been a couple players from the 80s and 90s that have escaped my mind. I'm not as familiar with those decades as I am with, say the 60s-70s and 2000s-2010s. If they played for the Red Sox and Cubs, chances are I collect the player. If not, those odds become increasingly slim.

Robin Yount is a 2-time MVP award winner and a member of the 3,000 hit club 3,142 hits to his name. He played for the Brewers for his entire career, a team I've never followed too closely, likely the reason I haven't collected his cards 'till now. But with uniforms like these, it should be fun to piece together his new player collection.

Pretty much everytime I thought about collecting Corey Kluber, Max Scherzer also came to mind. For all the same reasons as the Indians ace, I've been pondering forming a Scherzer PC for years now, especially since I constantly find myself pulling cards of the 3-time Cy Young award winner from packs, like this Retro Original from 2017 Topps Archives.

Scherzer has been a top 3 pitcher in baseball for years now with the Nationals and Tigers and isn't showing any signs of slowing down or moving onto a new city. Presumably a future Hall of Famer, I couldn't be happier to start collecting him.

Before, when I talked about not being super familiar with guys from the 80s and 90s, I had always been focusing on 2 big names that I'd love to know more about and collect someday; Robin Yount and Tony Gwynn. 

The late great Padres outfielder was one of the greatest all-around players in Baseball history. A true 5-tool talent, Gwynn was a 15-time All-Star with 5 Gold Gloves, 7 Silver Sluggers, and he captured 8 batting titles on route to an illustrious 20-year career. 

To put things into perspective, his single-season batting average was in his first season where he hit .289. That's right, .289 was the worst he ever hit. It's no wonder that, with a career .338 average, they named the NL batting title after him.

Even though he's been a member of the Boston Red Sox since 2016, Price wasn't a guy I had strongly considered collecting for much time, mainly due to his lackluster 2016 season and his 2017 campaign which was plagued by injuries. Even after a stellar 2nd half in 2018, I wasn't impressed, at least, not for what he was being paid.

Then came the 2018 postseason, and David Price became a World Series hero. After getting his first ever playoff win, he added 2 more in the World Series, including starting game 2 and the series-clinching game #5. He turned in historic performances and made me believe in his abilities as a pitcher once again.

If that's not worthy of at least a player collection, I don't know what is.