Happy Jackie Robinson Day!

 Jackie should speak for himself - "At the beginning of the World Series of 1947, I experienced a completely new emotion, when the national anthem was played. This time, I thought, it is being played for me, as much as for anyone else. This is organized Major League Baseball, and I am standing here with all the others; and everything that takes place includes me."

"[ . . .] to myself I can say that, because progress is unalterable, many of today's dogmas will have vanished by the time [my children] grow into adults. I can say to my children, there is a chance for you."

"There is no Middle Ages logic so strong that it can stop the human tide from moving forward."

"I do believe - and with every fibre in me - that what I was able to attain came to be because we put behind us (no matter how slowly) the dogmas of the past: to discover the truth of today, and perhaps find the greatness of tomorrow."

"I believe in the human race. I believe in Man's integrity. I believe in the goodness of a free society. And I believe that a society can remain good only as long as we are willing to fight for it -- and to fight against whatever imperfections may exist."

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!

Hey, It's the Minnesota Twins! (B is for BOOOOOOF)

 Here are the Twins with "B" last names. I'm on a mission this summer to get all my Twins sorted by Letter (done) then by player, then catalogued. I'm going to be able to sift through dime boxes in confidence knowing if I have that Rick Aguilera junk wax insert, or that Kennys Vargas variant or not! Above is a sampling of some of my favorite cards in the "B" category.

 Can't sleep on BOOF - I have lots of duplicates, and currently just 16 unique Boof cards as a Twin. I'll be slowly picking up more now that I know for sure which ones I already have!

The Best "B" hitters in Twins history - Steve Braun, Tom Brunansky, Earl Battey, and Washington Senator "Ossie" Bluege.

 The best "B" pitcher in Twins history, and it's not close. Blyleven has the best numbers of any pitcher to put on a Minnesota Twins uniform (only Walter Johnson surpasses him on the all-time franchise list, though the Big Train never rolled through the Twin Cities).

 Have to acknowledge the prospects as well - Jose Berrios is starting 2017 as the ace of the AAA team, and will be pitching in the bigs again at some point this season.

Super prospect Byron Buxton is now up in the big leagues to stay, and the only question is whether or not his bat can match his defense and speed.

Transatlantic Triple Break - 2017 Diamond Kings!

I tend to go a little retro when I pick boxes to break, but this time my turn came up right in the middle of all the spring releases.

whoops, this card got a little off center on the scanner...

Here are the backs - the canvas texture is back, along with a mix of older historical players and current stars / rookies.

The Aurora insert set is particularly colorful.

The Memorable Moment insert is not terribly memorable, but again, having an older crop of players makes for some interesting history that hasn't been covered in some time. Appling was the first White Sox player to reach 2,500 hits (he'd retire with 2,749 hits, missing about two full seasons in military service).

A couple of the more interesting cards and the only Twins (There was only ONE Blue Jay, so I made sure to load up The Card Papoy's stack with some bonus goodies).

Each box comes with two hits, some combination of relics and/or autographs. Dodger prospect Cody Bellinger was the second hit with this dual jersey patch. I'll let Matt from Bob Walk the Plank share the hit we pulled for his collection once he gets the cards.

The cards all look good, the hits were decent, and the players covered go a little deeper than Topps does in the first half of the 20th century. Makes some sense, since Topps wasn't around in those years, so they can't reprint cards they never made. The cons are that most of the cards look like typical Panini, with completely emotionless poses of pitchers delivering a pitch and hitters waiting for a pitch. Fairly repetitive, especially with the modern players.

Happy Opening Day!

We made it! Twins Opening Day is in

ZERO days!

May the home team win all the home openers, then your favorite team after that/

The Twins are well on their way to their first undefeated season. Oh, shoot, I just jinxed it!