I Kennys See CLEAR-ly Now

 

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. 

A NEW (to me) Kennys Vargas card and a Rosie Relic Rainbow!

 

"2019 New Face" is an old friend for this blogger. Kennys Vargas spent last season trying to adjust to baseball in Japan, and had a rough time. He hit just 1 homer for the Chiba Lotte Marines, and was even sent down to their minor league affiliate for some time. The front of this card is super sparkly and shiny in the light.

Here's the back - I think all those Cs and Ds might be letter grades for his various skills... ouch. This year, Vargas was poised to be that 26th or 28th man at the end of the bench for the Tigers and his former manager Ron Gardenhire, but he didn't make the squad out of spring training. COVID wrecked any chance for him to impress in AAA action, and he was left of the alternate site squad as well. Hard to know at this point where he will land, but I expect him to play in the Puerto Rican winter league again this off season, and who knows?

These relics are from 2020 Series 1 - Eddie's base card was in Series 2, so I mostly ignored these relics until finding them more reasonably priced on eBay.

The gold is numbered to 50 - both the black border and gold border offerings seemed to be the plain gray swatch variety - I haven't seen any yet that were more colorful.

The red bordered parallel is /25, is probably 3X thick, and has a nice patch that incorporates part of the jersey with a letter on it. Not sure if there are more variations, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a 1/1 at the bottom of a warehouse somewhere. 

Do you have a player collection of a guy that's still active, but not in the major leagues? 

Thanks for reading!

Little Big League - Rosie Rainbow style

Thanks to the tip from Top, I found out there was another 5x7 of Eddie from the Topps Heritage design, numbered to 49 copies, that will hang out with my Gold version /10.

This one I already knew about, the "mini" versions are all numbered to 100 copies.

For scale, here's the Big guy, the Little guy and the standard sized guy. The mini came in a holder that was labeled "Biggio" - that is going to bug me...

Ah, that's better. (Thanks again to Jon for having this one available for one of his free Fridays)

Last but not least I am never going to run out of Kennys Vargas items to chase, it seems - I had seen this on eBay for a long time, I finally gave in and bought it. This is a pocket schedule from the Single A Fort Myers Miracle, the Twins' affiliate in their spring training home of Ft. Myers, FL. This schedule even sports a signature from Lil Papi. ( I don't think anyone calls him Lil Papi anymore.. maybe David Ortiz? ).

Thanks for reading!

The Rosie Rainbow Quest Begins With "Opening Day"

Well well well - we might not have any baseball right now, but the thrill of the chase is still alive. This year, I am chasing a ROSIE RAINBOW so buckle up! Opening Day is a "budget" release, so the parallels don't get too crazy.

Here's a Red Foil parallel - "March 26, 2020" hey, there's an uncorrected error! (wail)

A Purple Parallel from Meijer.

The "official" Blue "Opening Day" parallel, which has a reported print run of 2020 copies.

It's not numbered, though, so we'll just have to take Topps' word for it!

Here's the rainbow so far! 2020 Topps series 2 is still currently scheduled to be released in June, I will be hunting all those pesky parallels, including the clear/acetate parallel numbered to just 10 copies!

Of course you may recall as regular readers of the blog my "White Whale" is a Clear Parallel of Kennys Vargas from 2015. That ship has sailed most likely, to mix a metaphor or two. But I did find this fun 5x7 of Vargas that was an online exclusive in 2015. This was part of a Twins team set, but I just grabbed the single off eBay for a few bucks. 

Post 1,000 - Time for Another Arbitrary Giveaway.

I can't believe it myself, but this is my 1,000th post on blogger. The first 8 folks to comment here will get some free stuff from me. Why 8? I dunno. Just being arbitrary. In that same spirit, here a few of my favorite cards added while blogging. I had this Mudcat Grant card signed in person at Twins Fest, and marveled at Grant's kindness and grace- especially the time he took with kids.

Remember when Bartolo Colon was a Minnesota Twin? We lived through some wondrous and strange times over the life of this blog.

Building the 1965 O-Pee-Chee set was my first set build on the blog, which included finding this instant classic "rare 1/1" of Brooks Robinson.

I am still looking for the 2015 Topps Series 1 "Clear" parallel of Kennys Vargas, numbered to /10. I may never find it, as the majority of them are probably still sealed in series 1 Hobby Jumbo Pack boxes. If you really want to get some cool free stuff from me, help me find that parallel!

From my very first post!

By May of 2014, I was back in the hobby with both feet and began building sets new and old. What am I collecting? A little bit of everything. 2014 Topps Heritage turned into 1965 O-Pee-Chee which turned into Topps' All-Star Rookies 1960-present which has snowballed into any number of wild tangents.

Thanks for reading this first post - I'm excited to share my love of old school vintage, new school shiny things, and just plain weird things, like this Mike Cubbage card autographed by Twins bench coach Joe Vavra.

One More for the Road

A couple weeks ago I shared the various Japanese baseball cards I found of Kennys Vargas. When I made the post, I figured I would check the Japanese site Mint Mall one more time to see if there was anything new available. I found this insert card called "Fireworks".

The Card is numbered to 100 copies, so it was a just sheer dumb luck to find a copy of it available. I'm guessing there's a card of another Marines players with "EWO" at the top of the card, and a third with "RKS." 

New To Me From Kennys V

Keeping up with Kennys continues! We'll start with 2019 BBM 2nd Series. This card was not easy for me to get - the only place I could find it was on eBay in a lot of 7 other copies. I figured that this was the way that the seller was going to recoup international shipping fees, but I tried to message them anyway to make a deal for just one card. They didn't budge, so I did. I uh, have a few extras if anyone wants one!

I've shared the "insert" from the Chiba Lotte Marines team set before, a colorful card titled "PUMP UP" - this one is the base card from that team set.

Here's where the fun comes in - this is the Japanese equivalent of Topps NOW, and it is called "Epoch One." Kennys did something on April 4th, and this card is in honor of that epic moment. 

I couldn't bring myself to spend a couple hundred bucks on the big dual auto booklet featuring Vargas and Brandon Laird, but I wouldn't be denied this autograph from that same Chiba Lotte Marines team set.

Here are the backs - kind of hard to see, but the Epoch One card had a print run of just 22 copies, which is printed on the bottom.

Vargas' autograph was numbered to just 40! I had fun tracking these down, thanks again to Kenny, who pointed me towards the website for the big time card seller in Japan, Mint.

A New Kennys Vargas Card!

Kennys Vargas spent 2019 in Japan, playing for the Chiba Lotte Marines... and their minor league affiliate. Despite a disappointing season, Vargas has been featured on at least three cards in the 2019 BBM set.

Here's the back of the card, featuring the MLB stats of Vargas, along with his AAA numbers from 2018. I haven't been able to snag his series 2 card from the BBM set yet, the only listing on eBay is a lot of 8 copies of the card. I just need one!

A Proud Heritage of TransAtlantic Triple Breaks

Matt Olson is fired up because it's time for another Transatlantic Triple Break! We've been doing this since November 2015 and it's still a big hit at the 'ol Arbitrary. Along with Matt from Bob Walk the Plank, and Kevin from The Card Papoy, every few months or so we take turns getting a hobby box and splitting it three ways. We roll the dice looking for autographs / relics and short prints, but more than that, it's an opportunity to keep a round-robin trade going. This time, Matt busted open a box of 2019 Topps Heritage.

The backs are all super bright compared to the 1970 Topps cards in my collection, but they retain all the design elements that marked the original set.

We divvy up the cards by division- I went out West panning for Gold(schmidt) and hooked a Trout!

We also keep our home teams, Twins for me, Pirates for Matt, and Blue Jays for Kevin.

Just like the original set, the playoffs get their own subset.

New Age Performers - Heritage has been running this insert annually, merging the Heritage style with a modern touch. Khris "Khrush" Davis was the MLB home run leader in 2018. The back makes that point and compares him to Johnny Bench, the 1970 MLB HR leader. Neat!

The 1970 Topps set had this insert as well, a scratch off game to play with your friends.

Rules on the back - play nine full innings! The rules are the same as baseball, but do they have a DH or not? Is Instant Replay allowed?

Here's a handful of my favorite base cards from the break.

Matt also tossed in some extras in trade, and per usual they were stunners. This Bonds card is numbered to 66, a 2003 Leaf card that kinda sorta resembles Exhibits.

Glen Perkins is a local hero, coming from Brooklyn Park / Park Center and attended the University of MN. He got the save in the last All-Star game hosted in MN and played his entire career for the Twins. He drops in every now and then to the Twins' booth pre-game and post-game.

Kennys Vargas checks in with a Gold Signature - Kennys is having himself a rough one across the Pacific, he was demoted to the Chiba Lotte Marines' minor league affiliate. His last appearance in the Japanese major leagues was on May 30th. It's early, he's got time to work it out.

I always save the best for last - this card, like Kennys, is also numbered to 25, and includes an autograph of Hall of Fame Twins' legend Harmon Killebrew! The scan is a little blurry as I didn't want to take the card out of the one touch holder.

Thanks again, Matt, for another successful Triple Break! I'll be on the lookout for our next box.

That's A Whole Lotte Miles From Home, Kennys

Just because he's no longer a Minnesota Twin doesn't mean I've stopped collecting Kennys Vargas cards. His first 2019 card comes from the 1st Version (series 1) of BBM, the official trading card of the NPB. Vargas is wearing Jackie Robinson's #42 for the Chiba Lotte Marines.

If you want to see more of this set - check out the post on Japanese Baseball Cards I will be keeping an eye out to see if there are any parallels to be had of this card- and if he's in the separate Chiba Lotte Marines team set...

I also picked a few new to me parallels from 2015 recently. This one is the Camo Refractor from Panini Prizm, numbered to 199.

Ooh, Die-Cut Shiny refractor-y nonsense from Donruss/Panini Elite, numbered to 81. There are more than enough versions of this card that I am certain to never complete the rainbow and accidentally buy the same version many times.

And finally, this card is from Bowman and numbered to just 5 copies! The never ending quest to find all of the various Vargas parallels will continue no matter where he's playing!