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| The haul. |
Some select highlights:
A bunch of Brewers! I have not yet ventured into the logoless world of Panini baseball and neo-Donruss. I actually kind like the Donruss cards, in spite of the design and airbrushed unis. They sort of have a Post Cereal card feel to them. I also appreciate that the Michael Reed card (not shown) mentioned former Milwaukee Buck Michael Redd on the back. Too bad Carlos Villanueva isn't still with the team, they could have dropped a Charlie Villanueva ref. I like the Panini cards less. I really haven't liked that Finest-type foilish thing since 1993 Finest. Maybe some of the Bowman's Best issues, but definitely not this. Sneed looks like a generic ball player from an anti-histamine ad or something. BUT I do appreciate this card... Cy Sneed joins Cutter Dykstra (who was swapped for Nyjer Morgan) as farmhands the Brewers swapped for breakout players. The Brewers gave up Sneed (4+ ERA at AA in '16) for Jonathan Villar (119 OPS+ and 62 steals in '16).
A bunch of Topps base needs from 2015 and 2016. I love both of these World Series cards, but I still find 2016 Topps to be one of the ugliest designs in recent memory. That vapor effect in the corners really, REALLY cuts into the photo space and I find nothing charming about the ribbons or whatever that contain the name and logo. Still, these do being back memories of one of the Royals' run to the world title. Seems like a long time ago already, don't it?
Former Brewers! Found a few of my favorites within the Topps base. The Carlos Gomez trade is looking like an even bigger robbery than the Villar deal, but I'm glad to see him doing better with the Rangers. I hated to see Khris Davis go, and think the Brewers sold way too low on him. And I'm glad to see that CC has gotten himself better and hope that he can tag a few more solid years on to his Hall of Fame career. He's a free agent after this season and I don't care how little sense it makes, I desperately want the Brewers to sign him.
A custom! I'm learned that Gavin is known for these customs and was thrilled to find this one among my loot. This one represents his 1953 season with the Jacksonville Braves in the Sally League. The Hammer was a 19 years old second baseman back then, and he batted .362 with 22 homers on the season. The next spring, Bobby Thomson broken his ankle in spring training and Aaron became Milwaukee's starting left fielder.
A big, BIG stack of Tony Gwynn cards. I listed Mr. Padre as one of the players I was interested in collecting and Gavin came through big-time. There are three of my favorites from the stack, including a beautiful '86er and an also-popular glossy all-star.
But my favorite Gwynn of the bunch was this 1993 UD SP - a card I had never seen before. As first glance, I thought a stray Reggie Sanders had made his way into the stack, but it's actually Gwynn wearing a Scott Sanders (Reggie didn't play for SD until 1999) uni during a spring training game. Evidently, Gwynn had forgotten his jersey and had to borrow a teammate's for part of the game.
I could go on and on about all these goodies, but it's an April Sunday in Milwaukee and it's damn near 70 degrees. My place is on the stoop with a cold beer.
Glad you like!
ReplyDeleteYeah, anytime someone says they're thinking of starting a Tony Gwynn collection, my eyes light up with the chance to thin out a chunk my many dupes that come with being a card-collecting Padres fan.