Hollywood42's Rolling Pickups Thread- 2021 edition

[Hollywood42]

Keeping the tradition going for another year, this thread is where I will post my hobby related pickups throughout 2021. It's always fun for me to look back at these over the years, so I'm excited to have this again in '21! First off, here are links to previous year's threads that I've done in the past-

2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015

Given that it's currently the 1st of the year, I don't have any new cards to share yet. But I wanted to get this thread up with my goals for the year. Always a good way to start these threads off so I can track my progress. Here's a few goals I came up with for 2021-

1. Finish and publish "version 2.0" of my website

In my sig, I have a link to a website I built to show off my collection and list my wants. Currently, my have lists (gallery pages of all cards in my Twins PC) and my want lists (text pages that list all the cards I do not yet have a copy of) are 2 completely separate entities and do not communicate with each other. This is okay, but requires me to A) enter in new cards to my DB as I acquire them, and B) update my text want pages to reflect my new adds.

I should have done this from the start, but I am currently working on updating my site so that my database holds all Twins cards that are out there, regardless if I have a copy of them or not. Then when I get a new card in, all I need to do is update the pre-existing row to show that I have a copy. This will let my want and have lists both read from the database instead of having to manually maintain a pure text want list. Obviously this is a huge task, typing up and logging all Twins cards that have ever been made. But I've spent a lot of time on this already and have completed typing up 1961 to 2000. I'm doing all that in Excel for now, so there will be some work to get that transfered to a database, and then re-code my site together to read and write from the new DB, but when it's done, it should be pretty slick and work much better than what I currently have. Finishing all this and getting it published is a big 2021 goal.

2. Become more active on social media

I have card accounts on both Twitter (@Hollywood_42_ for now, working on finding something without weird punctuation but lots of stuff is already taken!) and Instagram (@hollywood42cards), but haven't been active on either for quite some time. Lately I've gotten an urge to dive back into them and work on getting connected with more people, especially other Twins collectors, and share my hobby journey with others beyond Blowout, and see how others collect and learn more about the hobby. This is perhaps partially inspired from watching ThoseBackPages' videos on YouTube and seeing his network of connections grow over time, so thanks TBP if you read this!

Blowout is great, and I don't see myself being any less active here due to starting up the media accounts again, but there's another whole world of collectors out there that aren't on the site, and in the 21st century social media is probably the best way to tap into it. My rough goal is to post something out there once a week. I know it'll take some time to build up a network of other collectors, but we'll give it a shot and see how it goes!

One thing I'll note that I want to be very conscious of, as we all know social media can have the tendency to turn toxic quickly. I don't want to be involved in something that it just a bunch of people constantly working to 1-up each other. "Oh you got this card, we'll I'm going to go out and get this card!" I want no part of this. All I'm interested in is following along with how other people collect, not trying to 1-up anyone else, and not falling victim for feeling like I have to keep up with anyone else. Honestly, it's something I'm a little nervous of, because I don't know how it'll go. But I'm going to keep a close eye on this and do my best to make sure this is a healthy and fun endeavor. And if it's starting to go down a road I don't like, I'll reevaluate and try to get back on track.

Anyways, I hope to be growing a social media presence this year! No real goals for it beyond getting to know other people, learning more, and having fun with it. If you have accounts you want to connect with, shoot me a follow with a message and I'll follow back!

3. Reach 10,000 Twins cards in my collection

Honestly, I don't expect to meet this goal this year. I'm currently at 8,031 unique Twins cards, and my collecting tendencies over the past few years have me averaging about 1,200 new cards a year. It gets harder and harder for me to justify buying large lots of Twins cards as I already have a copy of such a large chunk of the types of cards that are usually in those big lots, even though I love going through them, so usually I'm growing little by little rather than big jumps at a time. But what they heck, we're getting close to that mark so let's call it a goal and see where we end up! I don't expect this will influence my collecting this year much, but will be fun to track progress nonetheless.

And those are the 3 goals I came up with myself for the year! I like posting these publicly to share where I'm at, as well as force myself to think about them. It can be easy to just throw money at things in this hobby without really thinking about why you're doing it, and goal setting is something that helps prevent me from doing that. Plus it's always fun to look back on at the end of the year and see the progress I made made and if my goals changes at all either.

Last thing I'll post for now is a handful of cards that I'll be looking for this year. I'm not going to classify adding them as "goals" this year since there's no guarantee some of the scarcer ones will even pop up for sale, but maybe this will be the start of an evolving most wanted list. For now, just a handful of cards of some of my favorite players that I'm hoping I'll have a chance to get this year. Not sure if I'll edit this list throughout the year or not yet.

• 2003 Topps Chrome Black Refractors Joe Mauer/Justin Morneau /199
• 2003 Topps Chrome X-Fractors Joe Mauer/Justin Morneau /57
• 2002 Bowman Chrome Autograph Joe Mauer - refractor, X-Fractor, or gold refractor
• 2001 Bowman Chrome Gold Refractors Justin Morneau /99
• 1998 Bowman Chrome International Refractors Michael Cuddyer

Thanks for the read, and here's to a great 2021!

[mfreeman]

Awesome stuff man. I always enjoy browsing your website!

[Hollywood42]

Thank you, appreciate it!!

Originally Posted by mfreeman

Awesome stuff man. I always enjoy browsing your website!

First few batches of cards in the new year have arrived. First up, one of the cards in my 2020 BO Secret Santa package I received last month was a 2020 Prizm silver wave of Mitch Garver. I really liked it and decided to get a few other parallels as well. However I don't think I'll go any further with the rainbow, there's simply too many variations in this set and I like the wave I got more than most of the others I've seen. But some of the ones I found sure are wild! Anyways, here's the 2 others I did get before during my trial run-




Next, I had the Twins in houdini's 2020 Draft charity break. No monsters, but I did get a paper gold, and of course it was for a great cause! I really dig the 2020 Bowman Chrome design, the logo in the background along the borders is a nice touch and the refractors are really visually appealing to me this year.




Also got a few chromes from 2020 HHN-



And lastly, here's the big one, my first superfractor from the 2020 Finest Flashbacks set! I'll skip posting my Twins rainbow progress for now since I've posted it a couple different places elsewhere, but here's a link to my current update. I'm stoked to add a super to this as well!

[Hollywood42]

It's been a pretty quiet year for me in terms of quantity so far. The Polanco super above kept the quality pretty good, but it's been a little slower year so far than I would have guessed. Haven't been as many things popping up lately that I was super into. Nice to get a little bit of a break for awhile. But here's a few more new ones-

First, checking off another from my 2016 Topps Chrome Twins run with a Mauer green /99, and a nice Dozier BC gold /50




Here's a pair of cool ones, Cuddy silk /10 from 2010 Ginter, and Garver Heritage chrome gold /5. This is my first Heritage chrome gold in my Twins collection, pretty cool cards that don't pop up very often




And lastly for now, a few minis. From one of my favorite sets (2009 Goodwin), tracked down the Joe Nathan mini black and magenta plates. Then from Ginter, Bazooka Backs /25 of Nick Punto from 2007 and Cuddy from 2008

[Hollywood42]

First sizeable mailday of the year, and it was a fun one! Was able to work out a deal with a member on here for a nice mix of Kepler cards. This nearly doubled my collection of him, filled in some holes in ongoing rainbow projects, and kicked a few more off. Lots of fun to work through these!

2016-




2017-




2018




2019




2020




To top it all off, seller also included a great batch of freebies after taking the time to check my site and find some stuff I didn't have yet. Very much appreciated, thanks again!!





And just one more for today, another nice Dozier for the collection, a 2017 BC red /5. I'll have a fun little reveal related to this coming up soon

[CollectKep26]

That Dozier Red is nice! Kepler's don't look too bad either!

[Hollywood42]

Thanks again!

Originally Posted by CollectKep26

That Dozier Red is nice! Kepler's don't look too bad either!

Handful of new pickups lately and a bunch of stuff on the way. For now-

A couple 2020 chromes. Looking forward to what Alcala does this year, could be an electric arm out of the pen. And I've enjoyed picking up some of Maeda's first Twins cards, had a great time watching him last year, sure has been a nice addition to the team. Also shown here is my first Topps Chrome Black card, a Garver orange /25. Still not really sure what to think of Chrome Black, they look nice but prices for even the common stuff are more than I like to go.



And last one for now, was super excited to see Arraez on the Heritage auto checklist this year! Knew I had to get his. Love how the red looks on this card, and definitely appreciate he took the time to sign on the white of his pants where it shows up a lot better! Some Heritage autos I've seen get ruined visually by the player signing in a dark section of the card and making it hard for the ink to show up well

[Hollywood42]

Past week or two I've been focused more on quantity than quality and have bought a few large low end lots of cards from my needs lists. Been a lot of fun to work through and I'll have some pics on that later on, but had to post this one up that definitely is quality over quantity. Very pleased to add a Mauer BC refractor auto RC to my collection!

[tlschwerz]

Did you get my PM?

[Hollywood42]

Little bit of a slower month so far, but here's a few new additions-

First, I already posted my Arraez red ink auto, but I tracked down a blue ink to go along with it and had to post them side by side-




Here's a pair of nice looking RCs from different eras- 2018 Garver Stadium Club Black & White, and a 1998 Chrome Refractor of Michael Cuddyer. 20 years apart, but both help fill in a nice hole in my RC collections of each player




Lastly, 2 more big RC additions for me, both of Brian Dozier- 2012 Topps Chrome Gold /50, and 2012 Finest Gold auto /50! It's getting harder to find RCs of him that I don't have a copy of, but these were 2 big ones I'm glad to lock in!

[Hollywood42]

Still pretty quiet lately, no huge adds. But I've enjoyed picking up some nice looking lower end cards lately




One slightly bigger add- very pleased to track down another scarce Dozier RC! Here is the 2012 Chrome Draft Orange Refractor /25

[Slette]

Spectacular!

I love the Dobnak 85 - Topps did a wonderful job with those last year

[Hollywood42]

Thanks, and agreed! They're really sharp. I still need to track down a Buxton, Kepler, and Mauer from the set. Would be a fun one to go after all cards of, but just way too many cards and too many big names for me to even consider going after

Originally Posted by Slette

Spectacular!

I love the Dobnak 85 - Topps did a wonderful job with those last year

[Hollywood42]

Haven't posted in awhile, let's get caught up!

First off, competed a fun little project from S1, the Twins set in Red Ice /199 parallel. Really great looking cards in person-




Next, with Buxton's incredibly hot start, a few new RCs I didn't have of him yet popped up that I nabbed, including finishing off his mini parallels from 2015 Heritage '51




A few other RCs picked up lately-




And here's a big addition to the PC, a 2012 Bowman Draft Purple Ice RC /10 of Dozier! Really stoked to add this one, another big Doze RC checked off my list! Thinking I'll try to cross this over to PSA eventually if/when they start up that service again




And finally, 2 more former Twins- Camo /25 of Dozier from 2019 update, and a wood mini parallel /5 of Joe Nathan out of 2013 GQ. Always fun to add cool parallels of these guys!

[Hollywood42]

Been a really busy month and not too much time for cards, but I had a few fun ones come in that we can get caught up on. First, filling another hole in my Kepler RC stash, a blue refractor auto from 2016 TC-




Next, I've enjoyed watching the start of Alex Kirilloff's career in the bigs. His stats may not show it yet but he's been crushing the ball and big things are in store. Landed a 1st BC refractor, his first Topps Now RC, and a Bowman base RC so far-




And lastly, one that's a long overdue addition to the collection- a 2002 Topps Chrome Gold Refractor Joe Mauer RC. Really fun to add some of the cards that were way out of my range when I was growing up!

[Hollywood42]

Still a little slow lately, but here was a fun one- found an eBay seller that had a bunch of different Twins from 2000 Pacific Prism and was able to work out a deal for a big lot of them. These are really fun parallels with all sorts of different patterns, had a lot of fun working through these! Decided to order by player instead of pattern to show off the fun differences-

Brad Radke




Jacque Jones




Corey Koskie




Todd Walker




Ron Coomer

[Hollywood42]

Getting caught up on some updates after a few weeks of slacking. I've been putting a lot of time lately into working on v2.0 of my site (yearly goal #1 listed above), which has been good but very tedious. Currently that simply just involves typing up complete Twins checklists from each set that is out there. I'm done with 1961 through 2003, currently working on 2004. And yes I am questioning my sanity

I'm 99% caught up with going through stacks of uncatalogued cards and putting new ones into my collection, so really all there is left to do on my site now is work on those complete checklists above, build out a good way to maintain that in the future, and of course add new cards to the collection! It's a blessing and a curse to be caught up, great because that's been a goal for years, but also a little bit sad not having any more Twins cards to work though. Anyways, has given me a lot of time to focus on grinding away at a keyboard to type up all my checklists

Enough blabbering about my insane goals and back to the cards! Some good stuff in lately. First off, I was hoping to complete the full Twins set of these before sharing, but I've had a tough time finding a Jeffers at a good price and I'm not in a huge rush, so just missing that one for now. But one of my mini projects has been the Twins from 2021 Heritage Chrome Red Refractors. Sharp cards that compliment the Twins' color scheme quite well!



Next a few of my first cards from 2021 Series 2. I'd love to be way further along building out my rainbows of Kirilloff, Jeffers, and Rooker, but man does it feel so hard to get any rookies for a good price nowadays. I won't get into a rant there, choosing to appreciate what I do have, but hoping to be able to fill out some more soon too!




Next up a pair of RCs I've had my eye on for awhile- Patience paid off as I finally got a Red Polanco RC for a good price. And I've realized this year that I've unintentionally really skimped on good Johan cards in my Twins collection and trying to change that. This Finest Refractor RC is now my best RC of him. Next big one to tackle will be a gold refractor from the same set




Next, a couple hits- Just a nice looking Hrbek auto from 2021 Finest, and a big addition to the Morneau collection with a 2011 Topps 60 jumbo patch /20!




Last few scans all come from a nice lot I got in from a big Ginter seller on eBay who was running some sales. Got a ton of new sweet Twins from A&G as well as a handful from 2009 Goodwin which I had a lot of fun with back in the day. Really fun package to open!

First, a bunch of minis. Buxton is an EXT, followed by a NNO Delmon Young, then a whole bunch of Bazooka/A&G Red/Flag/whatever else they've called them over the years all /25. Includes a Sano RC! Most of those came in at just $2-3 which were impossible to turn down




Also in the lot is a Mauer rip card and Morneau mini silk /10. Both really fun cards to grab when they come up. The Dozier pink was from a separate deal but fit in better with this image than some others




And finally, added a few more printing plates to the collection! The Liriano and Gomez were both part of the Ginter deal above and come from 2009 Goodwin. I reallllly like the mini printing plates from that series, they're unique and just fun to have. Brings me up to 5 mini plates from the set now. The Bowman Morneau plate was a separate auction win, got it for just over 10 bucks- kinda feels like the first auction win in quite some time where I'm ecstatic at the price I won it for. Was expecting to have to go into the $20-30 range seeing as some common Mauer plates have been going around $50 lately. Regardless, quite pleased to add it!




This officially gets me caught up to speed, minus some lower end stuff I won't bother posting pics of. It's been a little slower year in new adds for me this year, but I've still had a good time picking up some fun stuff!

[Hollywood42]

Few more to share this week-

Bummer his season was cut short, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what Kirilloff does next year with a wrist that's finally healthy. Hoping this time on the shelf brings his prices down so I can pick up way more of his stuff. This S2 SP RC is one of the better cards of his I have so far-




Next, I was surprised but quite pleased when I found Justin Morneau on the 2021 Museum Collection checklist! He only has this card (plus 2 parallels), but this is a really exciting sign that I may have even more cards to chase of my favorite player soon!




Lastly, sticking with the theme, I landed another one of my bucket list cards recently! I'm super happy to land a Black Refractor /199 of my two favorite players, Mauer and Morneau, out of 2003 Topps Chrome! I've been down to the last 2 parallels for awhile, and now down to just one. I love this card because while it's not a rookie for either player, it shows 2 of the best Twins of all time and the main two guys I grew up watching, together on the same card as prospects before anybody had any clue who they would turn out to be. Really fun card, one of my favorites that are out there. Now just to track down the last one for the complete rainbow, the Xfractor....

[Hollywood42]

I'm super excited to share my most anticipated mailday of the year! I've finally landed a 2003 Topps Chrome Xfractor /57 of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau!




While this isn't a rookie card for either of them, this card has been a bucket list item for me for years. I've always enjoyed early refractors in general, but it's super cool to me to have a card of my two favorite players together as prospects before anybody had any idea how good they'd end up being. Mauer and Morneau were exploding onto the scene just as I was really starting to get into baseball, and their stellar play and pure class off the field cemented themselves at the top of my all time favorites list.

These Xfractors can be really hard to find. They're numbered to just 57 and were inserted at just one per hobby box, and is the scarcest parallel of this card. Surprisingly, this is actually the third I've seen come up this year after going quite some time without seeing any. The first was back in March, another one still in the original case hit eBay. I made a run at it but it got too high for me and I had to bow out. Thinking it could be months if not years before I found another, it was actually only a few days later when another one hit eBay, this one graded a PSA 10! I made a run at that one too, and it stayed in range for way longer than I thought it would. It actually stayed significantly lower than the previous ungraded one ended at, all the way until just 3 seconds left in the auction..... when it jumped almost $700 I figured it would end up something crazy, but it almost made it worse seeing that it stayed reasonable for me until just a few seconds to go

Fast forward 5 months and here we are! I actually thought I missed out on this one at first too. It was listed for a reasonable BIN but at one I thought I could make an offer on and get it lower if I moved quickly. But the next day the listing was taken down and I thought I missed yet another one. Maybe a week later and it's back up, I message the seller to confirm one of the edges was in good shape (couldn't tell from the pic), and he confirms. Shortly after he uses the send offer as a seller function offering a full hundred bucks off! I was out with friends at the time but happened to be on my phone when the offer came in so I bowed out of the conversation for a few minutes to make it happen, less than half the price of the first one that came up in March, then eagerly looked forward to the card's arrival a few days later. And here we are!

This one officially fully completes the rainbow as well! This was back before superfractors or endless parallels were a thing, so it only takes 6 cards to complete the rainbow. I just got the black refractor in a week or two ago too, so I'm pleasantly surprised but quite ecstatic with how quickly the final two and toughest cards came in!

Here's the full rainbow in all it's glory-

Base
Refractor /699
Silver refractor
Gold refractor /449
Black refractor /199
Xfractor /57



Really, really fun to have the set completed. Going to be in the PC for a long, long time!

[dashcol]

Originally Posted by Hollywood42

I'm super excited to share my most anticipated mailday of the year! I've finally landed a 2003 Topps Chrome Xfractor /57 of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau!




While this isn't a rookie card for either of them, this card has been a bucket list item for me for years. I've always enjoyed early refractors in general, but it's super cool to me to have a card of my two favorite players together as prospects before anybody had any idea how good they'd end up being. Mauer and Morneau were exploding onto the scene just as I was really starting to get into baseball, and their stellar play and pure class off the field cemented themselves at the top of my all time favorites list.

These Xfractors can be really hard to find. They're numbered to just 57 and were inserted at just one per hobby box, and is the scarcest parallel of this card. Surprisingly, this is actually the third I've seen come up this year after going quite some time without seeing any. The first was back in March, another one still in the original case hit eBay. I made a run at it but it got too high for me and I had to bow out. Thinking it could be months if not years before I found another, it was actually only a few days later when another one hit eBay, this one graded a PSA 10! I made a run at that one too, and it stayed in range for way longer than I thought it would. It actually stayed significantly lower than the previous ungraded one ended at, all the way until just 3 seconds left in the auction..... when it jumped almost $700 I figured it would end up something crazy, but it almost made it worse seeing that it stayed reasonable for me until just a few seconds to go

Fast forward 5 months and here we are! I actually thought I missed out on this one at first too. It was listed for a reasonable BIN but at one I thought I could make an offer on and get it lower if I moved quickly. But the next day the listing was taken down and I thought I missed yet another one. Maybe a week later and it's back up, I message the seller to confirm one of the edges was in good shape (couldn't tell from the pic), and he confirms. Shortly after he uses the send offer as a seller function offering a full hundred bucks off! I was out with friends at the time but happened to be on my phone when the offer came in so I bowed out of the conversation for a few minutes to make it happen, less than half the price of the first one that came up in March, then eagerly looked forward to the card's arrival a few days later. And here we are!

This one officially fully completes the rainbow as well! This was back before superfractors or endless parallels were a thing, so it only takes 6 cards to complete the rainbow. I just got the black refractor in a week or two ago too, so I'm pleasantly surprised but quite ecstatic with how quickly the final two and toughest cards came in!

Here's the full rainbow in all it's glory-

Base
Refractor /699
Silver refractor
Gold refractor /449
Black refractor /199
Xfractor /57



Really, really fun to have the set completed. Going to be in the PC for a long, long time!

Holy heck! That rainbow is awesome! I have been slowly getting back into my Mauer PC. I pulled it out to see that I had traded away most of it and only had about 20 base and low end inserts left. I forgot I did that, and was instantly sad!

This Mauer/Morneau card is one of my all time favorite cards, hopefully some day I will complete the rainbow like yours.

Your Twins PC does is proud and continues to make my small Mauer PC look like nothing.

Love the Hrbek auto too!

With the resurgence of Kirby cards this year, why have you not been grabbing all those up too?

[Hollywood42]

Hey, it's all about enjoying what you have! So easy to get caught up in perpetually chasing that next card these days. But I get ya, especially if you had a nice collection built up before and now his prices are going up!

Re Kirby, this year has been a pretty targeted year for me. A number of bigger cards (the 2003 Mauer/Morneaus, a few 2002 Mauers), a few smaller projects, missing Dozier RCs, 2021 flagship reds, keeping my eyes out for Kirilloffs), so this year I feel like I've known ahead of time what I'm looking for and haven't kept up with the new releases so much. Honestly, I know Puckett's in Ginter as that's always a set I chase pretty well, but I didn't realize that he was getting some stuff in other products too!

Originally Posted by dashcol

Your Twins PC does is proud and continues to make my small Mauer PC look like nothing.

With the resurgence of Kirby cards this year, why have you not been grabbing all those up too?

[Hollywood42]

Couple more new adds to share! We'll go newest to oldest on these. First up, starting to pick up a few Kirilloff RCs. Prices are getting better on the sets that have been out for awhile, with Kirilloff being on the IL for the rest of the year. TC prices have been strong out of the gate but that was expected. Will wait on those for awhile. But here I have a pair from Finest (also got a sky blue /300 in but it looks pretty much the same as the normal blue, yay Topps) along with a mini variation from Ginter. Really love the classic design of the mini!




Next, a nice one for my Morneau SPx run - auto/relic /20! This has been far from a priority for me, but brings me up to 2 Morneau Winning Materials versions from the 2008 set. I've always enjoyed these SPx cards, will have to sit down and put together a targeted list of what I'm still missing at some point




Lastly, a couple of OG Twins from my childhood. Nothing too special, but early refractors are always a lot of fun. 2003 Topps Chrome black refractor of Cristian Guzman on the left, and a 2003 Bowman Chrome refractor auto of Jason Kubel on the right

[Hollywood42]

Had a good time finding a few bulk low end Twins deals lately that I've been working through on vacation. These stacks actually lasted me through vacation so I still have some stuff to play with now! There's a good 500 cards here (bad angle to show how high the stacks are), which will bring me across the 9,000 unique Twins cards mark and give me a big boost on my path to 10k. I don't think I'll quite hit 10k this year, but it's possible!

Always fun to take some time off from the madness of endless new sets and parallels and just get back to the basics filling in holes in low end team sets

[Hollywood42]

Those big stacks of cards above led to a big milestone- I've officially passed the 9,000 mark of unique cards in my Twins PC! The 9,000th turned out to be this Tony Oliva out of SP Legendary cuts. I'm well on my way to 10,000 as well, though that one will likely take a bit longer. May be a bit optimistic to reach that before the end of the year, but we'll see what happens

[Hollywood42]

Couple more new ones worth showing off- First, gotta love the foilboard parallels, here's a Kirilloff out of S2! It's still been slow going for me picking up his rookies, but this is a nice one to have checked off the list-




Next, I was able to cross off another big Dozier RC as well! Tracked down a 2012 Finest Red Refractor RC auto /25. It's been a good year for filling in holes in my Dozier RC collection for sure!




And finally, it's always fun when hard to find rainbow cards pop up out of the blue. After nearly a full year since the last plate surfaced, another 2016 Topps Chrome Tyler Duffey RC auto plate hit eBay and I made sure to get it going my way!




I'm now just 2 plates short of the full rainbow, so if you happen to spot one of the last two, let me know!