Fan Of Mohr Surprises

I wasn't collecting cards when this Heritage set was released, so I've had to pick up bits and pieces wherever I can find them. Sometimes, cards just appear out of nowhere! Chris of Nachos Grande dropped an extra grande mailer on my doorstop, and it came with several awesome representatives from some of my leaner collecting years.

The Twins had a tough time after Puckett and Hrbek retired in the mid to late 90s, but some good luck and good scouting brought a wave of prospects by the early 2000s, with a mostly homegrown roster.

The Vargas exchange rate is 2 Kenny = 1 Kennys.

Todd Walker was stuck in between those 2 eras, and was often the best player on some BAD Twins teams, and found greener pastures in Colorado and Boston.

There were some great inserts and parallels included as well. Thanks so much, Chris!

A Little Extra Grande

Ok, OK - I got a scanner. I couldn't handle the shame... I broke!

 Speaking of Breaks... Nachos Grande hosted a great break of 2015 Product, and included some awesome extras.

 Here's some from Topps Uvula... I mean, Topps Update. Plus a bonus BOOF.

 That might be the first Pacific Aurora card. Jack Morris in his hometown duds, always a welcome sight!

 Here were some of the highlights from the main part of the break - Kennys Vargas was a fantastic pull for me, as he's a main PC guy of mine.

 Pitchers at the plate, fantastic! Ron Coomer crashed the party on Molitor's card.

A Denard rookie,  and some more great 90's "junk." Skybox Thunder is a real thing!

Thanks for all the extras, Chris! And of course congratulations on another successful break!

Trade Post: The Finest Queso from Nachos Grande

I sent some 2015 Allen & Ginter over to Chris at Nachos Grande and I got a nice stack of Twins in return . . .

 minis!

 I don't really know what these are... but they are a fun diversion!

 There's a missed opportunity here - Any Jim Thome card should result in Mashing Taters.

 Some fun Upper Deck Classics.

 Not sure what this, either... but I'm pretty sure "STVWHNNQG" is what hitters used to say after trying to hit Johan's Change-up.

 100 Points!

Here are a few of my favorites from the stack, big fan of Morneau's helicopter swing.

Thanks again, Chris!

An Extra Grande Group Break

I joined my first Nachos Grande group break for the 2015 Topps Heritage set. I completed the 2014 set because I loved the 1965 Topps design, but I'm not really in love with the 1966 version. Joining the break was great for me, I planned on limiting myself to just Twins and maybe a few singles here and there for the set, and that's pretty much exactly what I'm getting.

Here are some of the highlights:

An original 1966 buyback of Sandy Valdespino, who was certainly a fan favorite in his days with the Twins, though he didn't make the same impact as his countrymen like Tony Oliva.

Sandy has the interesting distinction of being a Seattle Pilot, but NOT an "original Seattle Pilot." He was traded to Seattle (with Danny Walton) in August of 1969 from Houston. The Pilots only played one season in Seattle, and Sandy had to settle for being an original Milwaukee Brewer instead.

Ok, history time is over. Hey, what's the deal with those non-Heritage cards? Well Chris joined my Group Trade, too, so included in his package to me was the return for the Cincinnati Reds that I sent to him. You can see a pretty awesome Killebrew in the top left, along with a Koskie, Morneau, and Mauer from years I missed.

Here's everything at once:

My part of the Group Break included the Rockies as well. This works out great for me since the Rockies have two former Twins, Morneau and LaTroy Hawkins, and in general they've been one of my favorite NL teams.

The other "hit" from the break was the Advertising Panel:

Super Cool! Now, how do I store it?

Just a quick digression back to the first image:

Some awesome Mini Munnatawket originals, can't beat that.

This was the second group break I've signed up for - it was a ton of fun to watch the break, and I'm looking forward to many more in the future!

If anyone is looking to add some Rockies or Twins to their 2015 Heritage collection, I've got doubles! I plan on keeping one copy of everything, though, so the hits are probably staying with me. Oh, but if you recall I do have another post with more 2015 Heritage Trade Bait 

Speaking of Group Breaks . . .

I'm setting up this Group Trade because it seems like Group Breaks are a lot of fun to participate in.

If you haven't seen it yet, Nachos Grande is putting one together for 2015 Heritage and has added some other great products to sweeten the pot.

It's the first big buy-in break I've joined, and spots need to fill up for it to go through!

There are still several great teams left (some are even grouped together- which means even more cards for you!), you can read all about it HERE

Be amazed like Delmon Young!