This has been a long long LONG time coming! I've had several different saved searches on eBay. "Kennys Vargas," "Kenny Vargas," "Kennys Vargas Clear," "Kennys Vargas Acetate," "Kennys Vargas /10" "Kenny Vargas /10" "Vargas Clear" "Vargas Acetate" "2015 Topps Clear" "2015 Topps Acetate" "2015 Topps /10" All of these searches would have no new results for months at a time. When results did pop up, I would be briefly excited, only to feel deflated soon after.
And then, finally! A new listing appeared! COULD IT BE? The listing was for "2015 Topps Kenny Varga Clear 2/10" Close enough! BUY IT NOW!
My first post about trying to put together this rainbow was added on March 16, 2015 - no kidding!
And now, just 7 short years later, the card appeared as though it was the most normal thing in the world to be listed for sale. In the comments section for that 2015 post I lamented that I waited too long to decide to try for the rainbow - 2 copies of the Topps Clear version had already sold, and none were available for purchase. To the best of my knowledge, this was the first time this card was up for sale on eBay since then.
Here are the lowest print run Kennys I have in the various issues from 2015 Topps. A Chrome red refractor /5, an online only Topps Mini /5, and oh, yeah, I have the platinum 1/1 too. So... now what? Well, I missed out on the Chrome Superfractor about 6 years ago, maybe that will go on sale some day? I also have yet to see any 2015 printing plates of Kennys in the wild or online, I guess that would really complete the set.
Free Stuff Friday moves on, I promise I washed my hands multiple times today. Maybe you have interest in the "fingerprint" set from 2015? These are from Series 1 and Series 2
Inserts!
Party like it's 19/99 with Nomar Mazara, or go for the gold with James Jones who is serial numbered to /2015.
A hit !
Maybe what we need is a solid tactician?
As promised, you claimed a bunch, so here is another page of hockey cards.
Let me know if you want something else on these pages!
If you are claiming a card and we've never traded, or haven't traded in over a year, please send me your address. Contact Form is on the sidebar. You might need to view the full website view.
Billy from Cardboard History got this Blog Bat Around started way back in the last decade. He wanted to know which sets from the 2010s were our favorite. I'm digging deep for this one, going back to my roots. I rejoined the card collecting ranks mid way through 2014, but 2015 was the first season jumping in with both feet.
This was my first pack of cards purchased in 2015!
Highlights from my first pack included Kennys Vargas!
I think 2015 was the debut of the First Pitch insert.
Photo Variations were all the rage by 2015.
They even worked their way into Opening Day! 2015 Topps Flagship was my favorite set of the decade, but I have love for all the 2015 sets, as these are the sets that got me back into the collecting mindset.
Gypsy Queen was back for its fourth year, and the images were put through all kinds of filters.
ah, my first minis
Stadium Club was also going strong for Topps in 2015.
Now that's a classy guy.
I opened a little bit of everything that year, just trying to see what struck my fancy.
These didn't really do it for me...
I did kind of like Pro Debut however...
Not a bad pack!
I joined my first big box team break!
Ah, memories. This was a fun trip down memory lane! These "scans" are mostly images from my first year blogging in 2015, when I was taking pics with either a digital camera or my phone, uploading to my laptop, then posting.
Ok - yeah - still working on the Kennys Vargas Rainbow. I've said it before and I'll say it again - if you see the 2015 Topps Clear version of this card, numbered to 10, I will send you awesome things in return.
Here's my latest addition - the Topps Chrome Gold Parallel, numbered to 50:
I found out today that Topps Mini is online only, sold as a full set... that's going to cost me to get the parallels, I am sure...
A semi-regular schedule should be back on soon, I'll bring back the Twins Frankenset and the Topps Rookie All-Star retrospective, as well as keeping up with trades and breaks and so on!
Still working on that Kennys Vargas rainbow - it's tough sledding here in Minnesota.
The vendors I talk to all say that they sell out the Vargas cards as soon as they get them. Thank goodness the internet exists!
I added the two common Opening Day Parallels this weekend:
Opening Day Base
Opening Day Blue Foil
Wait a minute... When is a Kennys Vargas card not a Kennys Vargas card? Here he makes a cameo on Danny Santana's Opening Day photo variation. Kennys has the photo variation on Series 1 of course..
The Danny Santana card must have been taken right before or right after this one. Vargas seems to know how to have a good time playing baseball. I'm looking forward to this season!
I have sent out a few packages to the good folks that have contacted me so far. I'm adding this post to show a few items that might fit someone's specialty needs from the new 2015 Topps and some other recent issues.
Here are some scans of 2015 Topps that are available to a good home in trade:
Here are some parallels from the recent past:
Minis!
Some random relics/autos:
I foolishly sold off a box filled with 2014 Topps Heritage / Topps Archives / Donruss singles to a vendor at a card show in December because I thought I would be stuck with the cards forever! Now I wish I still had that box because I just know there would so things I could trade in there. Ah well, Live and learn!
I realized that scanning everything was going to take forever, so there's just a small taste and a random sampling.
Interested in anything scanned above? Interested in trading in General? Send me a message using the handy contact form on the right of my blog, or a comment with a way to contact you below. I'll update this post as things are claimed. I'll make new posts for new trade bait items.
2015 arrived today in Minneapolis. Topps Baseball, I mean.
Here's the first pack for me:
And my favorites from that pack (Colabello was the first card upon opening the pack.):
Kennys Vargas is a beast and totally awesome. This is his first regular Topps issue card. I have his 2014 Heritage high number and his pre-rookie Bowman prospect card already, so I guess you could say I'm doing a PC of Vargas. Looking forward to his cards being more ubiquitous this year!
I also purchased a hanger box, which should have about 72 cards, and a blaster box with 10 packs.
If you did not get in on one of the group breaks and have a favorite team, I'm most likely just keeping a selection of these cards and I probably will have doubles, so let me know if you're looking to trade. Contact form is on the right of my blog's main page.
Edited to Add: The Blaster Box contained a "First Home Run Medallion" card - Phillies phans, check it out:
I went in search of 2015 series 1 again today and again I was shut out. I even went to the Mall of America, which I have often sworn to myself I would do only in moments of great need. It turns out that things are even worse than I thought! Field of Dreams, the sports card and memorabilia store in the Mall, has closed up shop and disappeared.
With seemingly no other alternative, I drifted aimlessly through the mall. I ended up in Best Buy and remembered this post from The Chronicles of Fuji about the 20th anniversary edition of The Sandlot.
So, I didn't come up completely empty, it's a fun little oddball set (even if only one of the players featured made it to the majors) but I am still chasing those rainbow parallels...
Don't make me go to Walmart, Topps. I don't wanna do that.
I was so ready to write a post about the awesome cards I ripped from the 2015 Topps series 1 . . . but the local Target hasn't gotten them yet. So, instead, here's something that will more than likely not become a weekly feature:
This week's edition of Highly Subjective is a look at my favorite cards from the 1980 through 1989 Topps base sets. As usual, these selections are Highly Subjective and in some rare cases they are also completely arbitrary.
1980 Gary Carter:
The Hall of Famer with a sweet play at the plate. He thinks the runner is out and his game face is in full force.
1981 Bruce Sutter:
Another Hall of Famer, rocking the big gnarly hair that comes the territory for closing the big game. I enjoy cards that capture the ball in flight like this, too. You can see the back of the Carter card here - maybe if his brother didn't play in bell-bottoms, he'd have advanced further in the Giants system...
1982 Carlton Fisk in Action:
Three for three for Cooperstown. The early version of "Doing the Carlton" was less graceful, but no less athletic than Alfonso Ribeiro's dance moves. The front of this card is technically upside down, though I think the makes more sense for "in action" to be right side up.
1983 Bert Blyleven:
Another Hall of Famer, but I swear it's just a coincidence. Blyleven is a two-time former twin and a current t.v. broadcaster for the team, so he's around the Twin Cities often - he was just at TwinsFest a couple weeks ago and I said hello in the hallway. The best part about this card is that it looks like they made him shave his beard for the portrait on the bottom.
1984 Neil Allen:
The first non-hall member, but he is sporting a first rate jacket. Allen is now the Twins' Pitching Coach, but that did not affect the highly subjective voting at all (probably).
1985 Gary Pettis:
I mean, come on. Where is Pettis posing for this photo? Lifetouch? Or perhaps he is in The Void - a massless, featureless vacuum of gray slate. He's pondering existence here. Also, my vote for best card backs of the 80s Topps run goes to 1984. Really like the team logo there and the color scheme. Edited to Add: Nick posted this awesome story in the comments about the Pettis card. The photo is actually Gary's younger brother Lynn! I feel this cements the choice even further.
1986 Tony Perez:
This one is a sentimental vote - all my cousins live in Ohio, and my very first baseball cards came from their castoffs and included this Tony Perez card (though in a much more mangled form). I might vote for it anyway given the Eric Davis cameo and the double high five, but since this was the first "cool card!" I ever owned, I had to vote for it.
1987 Keith Mitchell:
The sandstorm of the century! Just one of the best cards of the 80's, period. Great shot and Mitchell was on his way at the time to be a very special player.
1988 Ed Hearn:
It starts to get tough here as I feel like there was a lot of "blah" photography in 88 and 89 in the Topps set. But here Hearn is showing how tough a guy with glasses can be. You wouldn't dare hit a guy with glasses, if that guy was Ed Hearn, would you? The Manager cards from this set are actually some of the more interesting ones - Lasorda is riding a golf cart, and Pinella is showing off his W.S. ring...
1989 Kelly Downs:
Just a pleasing geometric pattern - lines. This one was pretty arbitrary.
There you have it, now I'll be looking to score some 2015 Topps again for tomorrow!
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