A Patch Works Trade

Trevor from Bump and Run sent over a stack of cards in a PWE recently, and here they are!

I will never get tired of Willians Astudillo's big grin.

Here's the source of that labored pun of the post title this time - I do enjoy collecting cards that feature commemorative patches.

Duda had the 50th anniversary patch, Brett has the 25th anniversary patch on this card!

It's Brett's sunset card. Nice! He was good at baseball.

Finally, here is a trio of player collection cards - Lofton in the media scrum is a great photo!

Thanks for the cards Trevor, much appreciated!

Ordering up a Barrel of fun!

There's no limit to the wonders that await you on the world wide web. Something that would be inconceivable to us in 1982 when this card was released is a website called Cardbarrel. I used the site in the past when it was known as "Just Commons" to knock off some junk wax wants, and now I am back since COMC is no longer an option for me.

See? Look how fun that is! I purchased about 60 cards in all, and it cost under $20 including shipping for everything.

It wasn't all 80s cards either, I found a fair amount of recent items as well. A lot of what I picked up will be featured in future "I love the 80s" and Topps All-Star Rookie posts. I had been using COMC to fill out those gaps in my collection, but they are now dead to me. Oh well!

Hey Look! Willians Astudillo! Can't beat that. I'll be back on Card Barrel again soon to add more cards to my cart.

Willians Autographstudillo!

It's cold today, high didn't get above 20 degrees F. The "hot stove" is cooling off, too-- pitchers and catchers report next week. But card acquisitions can come any time of the year! Willians Astudillo was featured in almost every 2019 Topps product, reminiscent of a 2015 Kennys Vargas run of inserts and SSPs and photo variations and autographs.

The Topps Chrome auto came from eBay, and this Chrome refractor was purchased on Saturday at my local card shop (for maybe a little more than the national average price).

After seeing The Lost Collector reel in an awesome Luke Voit framed auto, I wondered if there were any Twins in that set . . . and of course Willians Astudillo was one of them!

Last but not least was this "sick hit" I found on eBay, and I actually paid less for this than the refractor auto. The card is numbered to just 35 copies! I don't know if Astudillo will even be on the opening day roster this year, but rest assured he will continue to have many fans in Twins Territory!

Stay Cool - Keep In Touch - Have A Great Summer - Blog Bat Around

Matt from Diamond Jesters says "Consider your standard 9-pocket binder page. Nine places to summarize 2019 in baseball card form. Which 9 would you choose? Which sets would you choose?"

Oh, I am considering it! This was actually much harder than I thought it would be, as I had several cards swapped in and out of each spot on the list. I some tough decisions, but ultimately something had to give. I don't call this blog Highly Subjective lightly - I could probably make a new list tomorrow and every day next week and still change my mind again later. But Matt was right, this was fun to put together a 2019 Yearbook page.

1 - 2019 Topps Yoan Moncada  Right away I had a really hard time picking just one card from the 2019 Topps flagship offerings. I would be lying if I said I was a White Sox "fan" but even I can't deny that they are a fun team to watch. Moncada came to Chicago in a trade with Boston for Chris Sale. Moncada, along with Eloy Jimenez, Tim Anderson, and Luis Robert form a youthful and dynamic nucleus. I really loved this card as soon as I pulled it from a pack. Throwback uni, base running action, helmet flying off. . . what better way to kick things off?

2 - Topps NOW Ichiro - 2019 was the year of the rookie, to be certain. But the first major memorable moment of the season came in March, as the Mariners and A's kicked off the season in Japan. It was thought by many that Ichiro was already done, but he made one last stand in his home country, playing for his first MLB team. This, to me, is what Topps NOW is really best suited to capture. I don't need a card of every game winner, but there are always those moments in a season that deserves extra attention.

3 - 2019 Donruss Willians Astudillo  - Poor Panini! Thank goodness for catchers, right? The "other" baseball card company had another year stuck as an afterthought to the Topps juggernaut. I felt like throwing them a bone, as they did produce a large volume of cards in 2019. I hope one day they will regain the license from MLB. In the mean time, I think Panini should try to find more ways to stand out. Astudillo was the pick because his card was among the few that looked interesting. The lack of logos is not as bad on catcher cards, especially once the cap and mask has been tossed aside.

4 - Stadium Club - Jose Berrios This set never fails to find great photos. This image is actually from 2018, taken before the game started by Berrios in Puerto Rico at Hiram Bithorn Stadium against Cleveland. One of the things I always look for in my cardboard is context. I don't necessarily mean identifying the exact second a photo was taken, but an image that tells a story is so much more compelling to me than a generic batter at the plate or pitcher in the windup. As this card illustrates, however, even a seemingly mundane action (a pitcher in the windup) can make for a fantastic shot.  

5 - Topps Heritage Pat Neshek - Nick already covered a lot of what I want to say about this card in his "Cards of the Year" post. I'm going to repeat it anyway. Pat is well known among collectors for his quirky delivery on the mound, and his unique signature that incorporates a baseball (with stitches). But most of all, Neshek is a fellow cardboard enthusiast! The pose chosen for this card was a nod to one of the greatest cards of the original 1970 set, and of course Pat hits it out of the park. 

6 - Topps Archives Javy Baez - Not much to say about this one, Javy is one of my favorite players, the 1958 Topps All-Star subset has long been one of my favorite vintage designs. I am not a big fan of The Living Set, or Gypsy Queen, or A&G (though this year's design was my favorite so far). There were lots of sets to choose from, but I wasn't really into any of them ... oh well!

7 - BBM Chiba Lotte Marines: PUMP UP Kennys Vargas - Oh, you thought that just because he's no longer in the states that I would leave out the great Kennys Vargas?!?! Incorrect, I say! Vargas spent 2019 in Japan playing for the Chiba Lotte Marines and their minor league affiliate. Maybe not the plan he had in mind for the year, but I have to admit that I'm very glad it resulted in this bright and bold insert from the Chiba Lotte Marines' Team Issue set. 

8 - TOPPS X LINDOR: Puerto Rican Heritage Eddie Rosario - Seeing as I primarily collect Twins among current releases, I think it's pretty remarkable that this is only the 3rd Twins card in this Yearbook Page. Topps has been working hard to cover every possible niche from vintage to modern, sets on demand and pre-packaged complete sets of their traditional flagship design. Starting with Bryce Harper last year, Topps has called in some of the bigger names in MLB to help design an exclusive set of cards. Eddie is a big-time fan favorite in Minnesota, and I'm sure he's a hit in Puerto Rico as well.

9 - Topps Throwback Thursday 1995 Crystal Ball Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.  - As I mentioned in the beginning, 2019 was the year of the rookie. Vlad was the player with the biggest hype, but there was also Tatis, Pete Alonso, Yordan Alvarez, Aristedes Aquino, Luis Arraez, and on and on! There was no shortage of cards to choose from for this wild card spot, but I had to go with this one. The on demand, extremely online version of Topps can be annoying at times, but I have to say that the variety can make everyone happy some of the time. I suspect that's the point!

Never change! Friends Forever! Class of '19 RULEZ!

Swearing a Blue (pinstriped) Streak

So... yeah. That's 16 straight postseason losses by the Twins against New York. There was some reason to be hopeful this time, but ultimately it came down to pitching (or the lack thereof) for the Twins. Jose Berrios was undone by a high pitch count and some poor defense, going only 4 innings in Game 1. He surrendered just 1 earned run, and struck out 6 Yankees, but it wasn't going to be enough on a night where the bullpen was unable to get outs.

Well, you tried...

Berrios had a short start, Jake Odorizzi gave the Twins 5 solid innings in Game 3. He was the only pitcher on the roster with a positive WPA (win probability added). Brusdar Graterol pitched a clean inning of relief with a pair of strikeouts, one of the few highlights of the Twins bullpen in the postseason. Eddie Rosario had a homer in Game 3, the only run the Twins would score. Jorge Polanco was the Twin with the highest WPA, mostly from his 2-3 performance in Game 1. His homer in the first inning gave the Twins their only lead of the series.

Missing in Action . . . 

Luis Arraez had a fantastic rookie season, but a high ankle sprain on the final day of the season put a damper on an otherwise sterling debut. Even with a flat tire, Arraez had 5 hits in the 3 game series, 4 of them doubles. But the injury would be more noticeable on the defensive side, where a pair of miscues in the first game led to a Yankees rally. Marwin Gonzalez, C.J. Cron, and Max Kepler all had a tough time in the series having missed significant time in September due to nagging injuries. Kepler went 0-10 in the series, but did manage to reach base 3 times on walks.

Missed opportunities . . . 

While they weren't noticeably injured, they also had sub par showings in the post season. Sano and Garver went a combined 3-24 with 13 strikeouts. Jonathan Schoop only had 2 plate appearances, striking out both times. Nelson Cruz had a big home run in Game 1, but was held in check for the balance of the series by the Yankees' pitching staff.

Willians Astudillo was not on the postseason roster, but he still had a card in this set. I do enjoy adding Astudillo cards to my collection, but I would have liked to have a Randy Dobnak card, regardless of the outcome of his start.

Here are the card backs for those interested. I do have one more complaint - When these sets were first listed on the Topps website, the Twins were the only Division Champ that did not have an Autograph version of the set. I assumed after checking back a few days in a row that Topps was just going to do the non-Auto version of the Twins set, so I pulled the trigger early. I found out later that an Autograph version was offered, but I didn't want to pay for a whole 2nd set (at a higher price) to get the auto. Thanks Topps.

 It would be easy to complain about the injuries, the Pineda suspension, etc, but the fact is that the Yankees were the better team in that series from start to finish. If the Twins want to get this monkey off their back, they are going to have get more from their starting pitching and have more depth to weather the storm. It's not like the Yankees were all healthy...

It was a short postseason run for the Twins, but the season was still a ton of fun. I look forward to the off season with high hopes for some better starting pitching.

A Total Stud-illo

Topps Total is starting to get more than a little repetitive, so I figured I would just focus on one guy for this post - the versatile and dynamic Catcher Willians Astudillo.

Minimum effort on the back - Topps is now selling wave 7 of 9 waves of 100 cards. There are parallels, and even some autographs floating out there -  I might chase some of the parallel Twins if I am comfy with the price. 

Miscellaneastudillo!

Before landing on the IL, Willians Astudillo became a fan favorite and one of Topps' preferred rookies for new sets in 2019. I picked up a blaster of Topps Chrome, and adding this card was one of the highlights of the whole package!

I haven't opened any packs of Topps Finest or Bowman Chrome, but that's ok, I only would have wanted the Astudillo cards anyway. It's probably safe to say that Astudillo is no longer a rookie of the year favorite, and has been passed by his similarly strikeout averse teammate, Luis Arraez. However, Astudillo still is on the minds of Twins fans and he's going to see live game action soon, as he's headed to the team's single A affiliate in Fort Myers (also home to their massive Spring Training facilities).

No packs of Bowman Platinum were opened in the making of this post, either, I found this one online.

Online is the only place one could find this card - part of set #10 of this year's On Demand Series. The set is called Rookie Progression, and has a an early 90s Skybox basketball vibe to me. Astudillo should be back soon, and in the meantime I will keep hunting for more of his cards in the next offerings from Topps and Panini.

Series La Tor-2-ga

Series 2 has been out for a hot minute now, and of course the card I have the most interest in is the rookie card of Willians Astudillo, media darling.

He just went on the injured list today after crashing into the right field wall to make a leaping catch during Tuesday night's win. Since being recalled, Astudillo has played Left Field, Right Field, 3rd Base, 2nd Base, and Catcher.

Last year, he even pitched! The is the Short Print photo variation, and I assume it would confuse a few people to see this guy on the mound with "C/3B" as his listed position. It wasn't a great pitching appearance, going one inning and allowing 5 runs (2 homers), but he finished the game, saving the bullpen to fight again another day.

Topps caught on quickly to Astudillo's appeal, and he's in a ton of different sets now. They also had him sign for the 1984 design inserts, and I was happy to add this one early on.

He also signed some cards with the Chrome treatment, again sporting the 1984 design, but 2 different photos. The main picture is from his 1st to home dash that put him on the map of internet memes and into our hearts.

Topps made just 149 of this Astudillo auto, I was happy to get my copy at a reasonable price. I haven't added any base parallels yet, I know there will be plenty to choose from.

Putting Your Best Stamp Forward

Nick of the World Famous Dime Boxes Blog reached out last week to confirm my address, then sent over this stuffed plain white envelop overflowing with Twins.

Most impressively, all of these cards were sent with just one stamp! Let's Get It On. What's Going On in this PWE?

Max signed a contract extension during spring training with the Twins, and he's been tearing the cover off the ball all season long. He's on the bench tonight after taking a fastball off his elbow, but he'll be back soon.

As always, Nick combines new cards, vintage cards, junk wax, stars, legends, etc in every trade.

Some great finds from 2019 Big League, including the fan favorite Willians Astudillo, who recently returned from a temporary stay in AAA. He's primarily a catcher, but tonight he's playing in left field. Jake Cave will be his opposite number in Right Field, with Buxton still recovering on the IL. Cave was tearing up AAA himself, and is getting another chance to stick with the big league club for the moment.

Shifting gears was this oddball of should-be Hall of Fame hurler, the 16X Gold Glove winner, Jim Kaat. This is a 1969 Milton Bradley card from their baseball themed board game. Johnny's Trading Spot recently found the game itself, if you're curious what the board and some more of the cards looked like.

Continuing on the vintage theme, Nick added these three Twins (triplets?) to my collection. The note in the envelope asked me to be sure to check the backs:

sacré bleu ! O-pee-chee!

Here's 4 more Unusual Twins, taken from the 1990 and 1991 Baseball Card Price Guides / Magazines.

I didn't know that Harper was a converted pitcher! Learn something every time you trade with Nick. If you're counting, that's 17 cards in one envelope! One Stamp! Thanks very much Nick, these were a blast to go through.