2016 Topps Heritage

Yeah, I don't know why I'm posting this...

You've seen all these - Some Twins

A couple former Twins, a fan favorite, and a cool alternate uniform...

Some of the games biggest stars... now with more pixelated grain! I hope Topps is hearing the feedback about the grainy images - I had high hopes for this set pre-release, but it looks unnecessarily washed out. The real bonus of Heritage is the old school cardstock, the durability and texture of the card, and the great backs. I wish they would spend a little more time getting the right tone for the cartoons on the backs, but the photo quality should be better than it is.

There ya go, I've filed my report...  

Twice as nice!

Kevin from The Card Papoy sent this all the way across the Atlantic Ocean.... and then the post office sent it all the way back. This one originally came my way right after my US Postal Service forwarding stopped. So it got a "no such address" marking and made the long trek back for France. Kevin sent it again, and I'm glad he did!

KENNYS! There might not be any 2016 Kennys cards, apart from Minor league issues, so it's always a treat to find a new one.

Kevin sends Twins and junk wax wants and P.C. guys every time! High Five!

He even tossed in a couple Griffeys (he's a secret P.C. of mine... everyone else, it seems, already lists him, so I play coy)! And LOL at the Mattingly T-shirt. I still can't tell if that's a real baseball about to hit his sternum or if that's part of the shirt....

Edited to add a close look at the shirt... Still not sure!

Some great Contraction Survival era Twins!

Hicksie! Buddy, I wish it could have worked out, I'm sure you'll do well in NYC. Diamond has a really cool signature.

HOFers - That's a new to me Kirby, which is getting harder and harder to do!

and finally, Le Biebs. I am tempted to order this album for you Kev. I see it is good in the U.S. and Canada only. 6-8 Weeks for delivery though... We could probably get several trades done in that time.

Thanks as always, Kevin!

The Finest #SuperTrade So Far

Jared from Cards My Mom Didn't Throw Out sent along a stuffed PWE with a very fine collection of Twins, New and old.

I've got my fingers crossed for Perkins to have a full, healthy, and successful 2016. His first half last year was literally perfect before he fell apart following the All-Star Game. He's got great stuff, so it will just be a question of durability.

These are all brand new to me! Topps Finest from the good old days - still with the original protective film.

B-Rad.

Thanks so much Jared! These are awesome.

Thanks for Waiting!

As the pages of the calendar turn, we get closer and closer to the new season. Tom from Waiting Til Next Year sent me a nice collection of cards recently. I'm trying to get all the trade posts written up and posted before Opening Day. Wish me luck, I'm way behind!

 It's a shame that Harmon didn't have a card in the 1969 Deckle Edge set, Topps did everyone a solid by including him in this more recent incarnation. A little late, but still appreciated by this collector! Thanks Topps.

K-Mart still has at least one location in Minneapolis, and they even have cards. Inexplicably, they are more expensive than Target's offerings, so I didn't buy any the last time they were in there. When the above beauties came out, K-Mart was king.

A little bit of prospecting going on, Bowman always has the kids before everyone else now.

I don't even know what to say about this one... "Weep-a weep-a weep-a squeak squeak scratch" ? If Dave does another signing in the area this year, I will try to get him to sign this!

A quartet of more recent favorites - Mauer is currently the last man standing on an active roster, it would be great if he can get one more shot at some playoff heroics.

Here's the guy to steer that ship back to the post season - looking back, I think Molitor was a bit underappreciated in his playing days. He's 10th all-time in hits. That's after missing nearly 300 games in his prime due to injuries, including almost his entire age 27 season. If he had played those seasons, he might be closer to 5th all-time. He averaged 200 hits per 162 games for his whole career. Hopefully his work in the dugout can yield similar results!

Tom finished the package with three on card Autos - Erickson's career stretched all the way to 2006(!) but my fondest memories came in his first few seasons as a Twin. He was traded away in his prime years to Baltimore - all the Twins got in return was Scott Klingenbeck and Kimera Bartee. Allan Anderson pitched for the team in both 1987 and 1991, but was left off the playoff roster in both cases. He was a valuable back-end / swing man on those championship teams. Tolbert was a more recent Twin - he was around for both the 2009 and 2010 beatdowns at the hands of the Yankees.

This year I'm more hopeful than I've been for years that the Twins could get to the playoffs, and I think Tom should feel similarly about the Cubs. Thanks for the cards, Tom!

2016 Donruss

 Oh hey, Diamond Kings! I miss the eighties.

 I got a blaster of 2016 Donruss, the best thing about it was there lots of Twins - at least, I think they are Twins... They have the names of Twins players, anyway.

The hit was a Twin too! Trevor May should be in the Starting Rotation, but instead he'll just be the best pitcher in the bullpen. I'll be sending out a bunch of these to my fellow bloggers, don't be alarmed!

Wallet Card 2016 out and about

Winter in Minnesota is long. It's officially spring now, but there's more snow on the way on Wednesday. 

 Wallet Card wanted to get out for a bit, so we went to a random park.

Wheeee!

Ok, spring can arrive for real any day now, getting a little stir crazy.

A Super Trade from Play at the Plate

 Brian from Play at the Plate sent over some awesome cards! This Torii Auto came from a break he did for the #Supertraders group - probably the best card to pull for a Twins fan from that set!

 A needed junk wax gem.

 Some fantastic Twins,

 And even more fantastic Twins - love that Sports Illustrated Cover of the Twins 1991 championship celebration.

BOOF - and company. Really fun stuff! Brian sent over a 200 count box of these guys, but I will leave it there. Between this and Johnny's trade, my scanner is gently weeping in the corner...

Thanks again Brian!

The Behemoth

Remember this? This is the huge flat rate box from Johnny's Trading Spot. I started scanning cards from this box, but I decided I couldn't come close to representing all of the treasures inside, so instead I will just show off a few representative examples.

 This oversized card was tucked into the book about sports nicknames.

 Rookie Cups from several different decades!

 Fuji spied this one correctly in the photo earlier, its from the Topps Big set of 1988.

 Here is the back - remind you of another set?

 Junk Wax!

 These helped to cross off several needs

 Bat Flip! Wrigley Field! Joe Girardi cameo!

 There was a big stack of horizontal heroes, too.

 Including this new to me Kirby Puckett!

 Lots and lots of Twins - love the Ron Gardenhire card tossing BP.

 A big stack of bat rack cards, too.

Oh, yeah, that's the set I was thinking of earlier! Cross off another 56 Topps from the want list!

Incredible, awesome stuff! Thanks again John - I'll be sending out a PWE this weekend as an appetizer, then I will try to put together something that can be worthy of this mammoth box of cards.