Wes is More

That's right! Wes is up to his old tricks again, passing out the goods to any and all collectors out there. I was the lucky recipient of a stack of serial numbered Twins!

A Gold Guzman!

A Snowy Santana /99 !

The Proof is in the Sano, 19/25!

A mini Mauer!

Just 3/25 From Allen & Ginter & Wes!

Cuddyer signed this card before getting a lecture from Harmon Killebrew about the importance of a legible autograph. If you see some of his later cards, you'll notice the difference!

Thanks very much Wes! I have a return package in the mail to you.

Alas, All-Star!

The scan is a little off, but I think it will underscore the point I want to make about the All-Star game. Let me clarify, not the game itself, but the way it is represented on cardboard. Topps used to make a point of having a different design for the All-Stars, and we can look back 30 and 60 years to prove the point.

Red White and Blue dominate the design, with AL All-Stars getting a red background and Blue lettering. The NL All-Stars do the opposite, with a blue background and red letters. The photos are more conservative head shots rather than in-game action.

The backs have a relevant leaderboard with the All-Star somewhere in the top ten. Add in a little season highlight blurb, and you've got yourself a clean and classy tribute to the game's best.

Guess what? The '88 Topps set was no stranger to good ideas from past Topps sets. The base cards owed a bit of their look to 1967, with big bold colors for the team names. The All-Star Sub-set in '88 went back even further, with a nod to the 1950's.

The backs have a longer run on sentence / paragraph about the player, and then a breakdown of each player's performance by opponent, a grid that would resurface in 1989 with Topps' resurrection of Bowman.

The Topps Update All-Star cards of the last decade or so aren't terrible - I just think they could learn a bit from their past successes. It would be great for the cards to have a unique design (they could even be an insert, you know how Topps loves insert sets) compared to the base cards, and celebrate the event a little more than a logo. I do like the event specific photography, and I do like that the backs usually talk about what made the player an All-Star.

What do you think? Should the All-Stars get their own design?

A Quick Update

I went into Target this morning after VOTING (if you live in the United States, there's probably an election in your area today, so think about VOTING), and as is my way, I was drawn to the card aisle.

One Blaster of Topps Chrome Update was casually strewn atop the now dusty boxes of Topps Series 1 and 2 and the other sports like Racing, Football, and Basketball.

I was not a big fan of Topps Update this year, but who doesn't love Chrome! And I am a sucker for Topps Rookie All-Star inserts. Hey look, Yoan Moncada as a Red Sox infielder.

Both Rookie of the Year winners are represented, along with plenty more rookies from 2016 and 2017.

Ngeope had the best photo on the cards I pulled, and there was a decent percentage of cards I will actually keep.

Finally, this card means I will not buy another pack in 2017, because my luck has already hit its peak-

Neat! I will hold onto this one for a while.

Saturday is Card Show Day (Twins Wins)

I haven't been to a card show in months, so I wanted to make up for lost time. I've put together three posts from the show today covering Twins, vintage, and an in person trade with Jim (aka GCRL) from cards as i see them! Miguel Sano suffered a stress reaction in his shin that sent him to the DL to finish out the season.

Eddie Rosario hit a screaming line drive over the fence in the first inning of the AL Wild Card Game, though in the end it wasn't enough to lead the Twins to a victory in their first postseason appearance in seven years. Just a few seasons ago, Eddie was making his way to the bigs from Beloit.

Max Kepler drew a walk and hit a double in four plate appearances in his first playoff experience. He was signed out of Germany at the age of 16 and attended high school in Florida while working through the Twins' minor league system.

Vargas made the postseason roster, and was available to pinch hit if they were close late, but it was not meant to be.

His future in MN is uncertain, as he ran out of minor league options at the end of the 2017 season.

Vargas was interviewed following the Wild Card game, and he was aware of the situation he finds himself in. He stated he would be interested in opportunities in Japan or South Korea if available - two years ago, he rebuffed offers from clubs overseas in hopes of making his mark with the Twins. I hope he can stay in the majors, but it seems possible that he will once again find himself on the outside of the 25 man roster.

If At First You Don't Succeed . . .

. . . buy it online. So I dragged myself to two Walmarts this week, hoping to score some Bowman Platinum. Both places were sold out, but I had a back up plan already in place. My good friend, the Internet! I have been buying small lots of Twins from a seller on Facebook, and he let me know that he had a bunch of Bowman looking for a home.

Here's what the back of base cards look like, for those curious, nothing groundbreaking here. Similar to Finest.

Twins! Everybody wants the hits, but the base cards are all I was really looking to get.

Fernando! He's going to be called up soon to get his shot, I can feel it!

In addition to Bowman Platinum, there were some Twins-centric goods available. Max Kepler isn't a superstar, but he's speedy. He's a plus defender and has a sweet line drive swing that is still developing.

Miguel has continued to hit the ball hard after finishing second in the Home Run Derby, smashing two homers against the Yankees in the three game series at Target Field.

A Starter turned reliever, Tyler Duffey has been solid, eating up lots of needed innings for the Twins when their regular starters falter (which has been often this season).

And one more Romero for the road! This last one was found on eBay, it's serial numbered to 99 on the back.

Possibly the Finest Transatlantic Triple Break

Matt from Bob Walk the Plank was a man on a mission. We've had a good run of luck with our breaks lately, and this was no exception! Matt chose 2016 Topps Finest, and I have to say that I made out like a bandit on this one!

First of all, this box had three signatures instead of the typical two. One of them was Minnesota Twin Miguel Sano! He'll feature prominently later as well.

Here's a look at a base card from the set. Thick and shiny with a high gloss finish on both sides.

Here's the back, a single line for the most recent season, then MLB totals below, along with a mention of a memorable moment for the player in the 2015 season.

Big time hits!! I will probably be sending these out in trade eventually, but I want to admire them for a while first.

In addition to the Intimidator insert, there was also a "Franchise Finest" insert set. Rizzo is a nice choice!

A look at some more base cards. I ended up with Twins, the AL West, and the NL Central. Matt kept Pirates and two divisions, Kevin from The Card Papoy kept the Blue Jays and two divisions.

It wouldn't be a Bob Walk The Plank Mailing without some sick hits! It starts with Aussie Liam Hendriks, and then escalates rather quickly...

A League of Nations represented here with Sano, Park and Kepler!

Another Park, this time signed! Two really nice Sano relics and the sickest of sick patches with Tyler Duffey, who was at the back of the rotation for the Twins last year, but is taking the place of Trevor May in the bullpen currently. He has good movement on all of his pitches, and was a closer in college, so he's no stranger to putting out fires.

Matt, thanks as always for the great break!

A Gold Label Card Show Day

What a day! Headed out to the monthly show and found some awesome deals.

First of all, this show was the first time that I found multiple dime boxes - usually I am lucky to find one vendor selling cards for .10, but this time there were three different vendors, selling everything from the late 70s to the new 2017 Topps releases.

A great variety in the dime boxes!

All of these for just .90 - been a long time since I could find Diamond Kings for such a low price.

There were lots of other deals to be found on Twins cards - The team card is numbered to /65. I was pleasantly surprised to find when I got home that I didn't already have the two patch Kennys Vargas card.

Same powder blue patch for Killebrew, Hrbek, and Tony O.... It's possible that these all came from different uniforms, but who knows? Jacques Jones gets lost in the shuffle sometimes, but he was awesome back in the day.

Now we come to the big news - after today's haul, I'm down to just 12 cards remaining in the 1956 Topps set build! The 6 above were just a dollar apiece!

A pair of Braves, a Moose, and the original Big Red Machine.

Here was the biggest score of the day! Have to share the back too:

The last dozen cards have some pretty big names, lots of Yankees... I'm going to be patient and save up to get those last cards checked off the list.

A really exciting show for me, found more than I thought possible!

P.S. - Twins' Opening Day is in just . . .

2 Days!