Hollywood42's Rolling 2023 Pickups + Hobby Thoughts and Brain Dumps

[Hollywood42]

Welcome to the 8th year of my annual threads tracking my baseball additions throughout the year! Links to previous years:

2022 |2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015

One change that I'm making this year is in addition to sharing my pickups, I'm also going to be using this thread as a space to share some hobby thoughts and other things that are on my mind over time. I'm keeping that very free form and open ended, but in general, I think I'll enjoy being able to think through some various topics as they come up and articulate them. I have come to enjoy some YouTube channels that share this type of collecting commentary, and I've considered doing the same, but for now I think I'll keep it in text form here. Hopefully others can get something out of it as well. But if nothing else, I think it will be a fun little addition to my year in collecting and hopefully spark some conversation here and there

I like to kick off this thread each year by listing out my goals for the new year. Here's what I came up with for 2023:

1. Keep doing what I've been doing

I found it a little difficult to come up with new tangible goals for myself this year, and in thinking through why that is, I realized it's because I'm pretty content with how I collected in 2022. The shortest way I can sum up how I collect is simply collecting what I like, and not worrying about much other than that. There are so many distractions, noise, and drama in the hobby today, and voices telling you what you should/shouldn't do, what products or players are good or bad, and so on. And some of that is helpful to hear. But for me, the true essence of the hobby should always just be picking up cards you like. Simple as that. That takes several forms for me, and of course the focuses can change periodically, but at the end of the day, if you just collect what you like and don't worry about what you "should" do, what others are doing, and especially not if you can make some money or not, that's a formula to have a really good time with the hobby. So all that said, I think I did a good job about collecting how I wanted to in 2022, and I pretty much just want to keep that going this year.

2. Complete version 2.0 of my website

This goal has been a work in progress for a few years now. V1.0 of my site has been done for several years too, and it's great, but I've been working on some enhancements that will take it to the next level. V2.0 basically entails cataloging all Twins cards and entering them into my database up front (before getting a copy of each card). This is a massive undertaking to inventory the entire history of Twins cards 1961-present, but it makes everything else so smooth. V1.0 does not have cards preloaded, as I am entering in cards as I acquire them. Switching to the preloaded V2.0 allows for easier adding of cards when I get something new, along with much better and more consistent want lists. I currently have all Twins lists typed up from 1961-2022, and I've been working through auditing each checklist and loading the final version to my site. That piece is done from 1961-1970. It's a long, long process, but the payoff will be worth it.

Once that is complete, I will have a few more admin functions to create/modify that bubble up while working through that process, and then I'll need to convert all of my PC data from V1.0 form to V2.0 form. That will take some time, but shouldn't be too difficult. And once I'm done with that, then all I need to do is stay up to date with inventorying new releases as they come out over time. My website has been a labor of love for a long time now, and polishing up the next major iteration of the site continues to be a top long term goal for myself.

3. Bump up complete Twins sets on the priority list

This is prompted by buying a few Twins complete sets from some recent products in 2022. As I open very minimal wax these days, I'm not getting many single base cards in anymore, and it's a little annoying to pay shipping costs for individual base cards. I realized there are plenty of sellers out there that put together team sets for just a few bucks. I really enjoyed getting a few base sets (i.e. flagship, update, GQ) checked off in one swoop from a seller that had each listed for just a couple bucks, and it was a good cost effective way to bang out some easy Twins wants. This year, I'd like to periodically do the same

The other component of this is prioritizing my 1960s Twins Topps sets a little bit higher, too. The vintage sets are really cool, but I've noticed I tend to put them on the back burner in exchange for modern stuff of the guys I grew up watching and are currently active today. Makes complete sense and I'm not upset about that, but I would like to make more of an effort on filling out my vintage Twins sets too. I realized there is really only one bigger card in that Twins base Topps project (Carew RC), there will be a number of $10-40 cards in there as well, but it shouldn't be as expensive or difficult as I may have unconsciously been thinking it may be. Hoping that making this a visible goal for myself here in this thread will help keep the Twins from the 60s Topps sets on my mind and a little more of an active focus in 2023!

4. Think about what my long term goals are

As I stated above, I am pretty content in the hobby right now. But at the same time, I find myself thinking a fair amount about what I actually want to get out of this long term. This is one of the reasons why I'll be putting some brain dumps of my thoughts on different things over time, as there are a lot of topics within this idea that I'm sure I'll be thinking through, and it'll be helpful to spell them out and share with the public. I have a few ideas of things that would be really cool to do in/for the hobby long term - One thing that I'd really like to do is become a well known resource for other Twins collectors looking for information and such on various Twins cards. My website goes hand in hand with that and I'd love to get it to a point where the Twins checklists and set information is publicly available beyond just for my use behind the scenes. Elsewhere, I have an idea for a collecting project that I don't think has ever been done before, and potentially could open up an avenue to writing a book about it one day if that ends up being a route I want to take. I have a couple of cool ideas, but I do still find myself thinking from time to time stuff like "why do I actually enjoy this stuff?", or "what's the point of all this?", or "what are my actual goals?". All of those are big questions that won't be answered in the short term, but I think it's great to actively engage with those types of things and be proactive about making sure your version of the hobby continues to be what you'd like it to be, and I'm hoping I can continue to find more clarity on all of that as I move forward

----------

We gotta share some new cards in this initial post, too! I have a few cards that I've added to my collection already in the new year:

The first addition of the new year was a 2022 TCU Refractor /299 of Jose Miranda. Miranda had a really great rookie season and has a really bright future. His prices have been strong out of the gate, but I've tried to pick up a few here and there and he's definitely someone I'm chasing

The second is another exciting 2022 Twins rookie, a 2022 Independence Day /76 of Jhoan Duran. This dude has absolutely electric stuff and should be a perennial All-Star. I always find good bullpen guys really fun to collect, as the money in the hobby generally doesn't care about them, leaving a lot of really good cards available for great price points. Like Miranda, Duran is someone I don't have a lot of cards of yet, but another subject I'm definitely keeping an eye out for

And lastly for today, a 2003 Home Team Advantage Mauer/Morneau. This card is one of my favorites of all time, having 2 of the best Twins players in franchise history and 2 of my personal favorite players from before either of them hit it off in the majors. In 2021 I was able to complete the full rainbow of this card from Topps Chrome, and now the rainbow from flagship is a top bucket list goal. I am down to just needing a black /52, which is a pretty tough one. But I love all versions of this card, just so cool to me to see some all time great Twins together on a card as prospects

[troesports]

As a fellow Twins fan and collector (nowhere near the collection you have though!), this is always one of my favorite threads to follow throughout the year. Looking forward to seeing what you can bring in this year. Off to a great start it looks like!

[rfgilles]

The 2022s Independence are sharp looking with the blue name plates, even if the design is a retread of 2021.

[StateEx]

Great read -- thanks for posting! Been thinking a lot about (4) myself. Realized that a simpler approach, with clear goals, would make a fun hobby even better.

[TGutta]

Always enjoy reading this thread and excited to see your new pickups for the year, even though I'm sure we probably bid against each other at times on eBay lol

[Hollywood42]

Thanks, guys! Looking forward to a good year!

Originally Posted by TGutta

Always enjoy reading this thread and excited to see your new pickups for the year, even though I'm sure we probably bid against each other at times on eBay lol

Originally Posted by rfgilles

The 2022s Independence are sharp looking with the blue name plates, even if the design is a retread of 2021.

Originally Posted by troesports

As a fellow Twins fan and collector (nowhere near the collection you have though!), this is always one of my favorite threads to follow throughout the year. Looking forward to seeing what you can bring in this year. Off to a great start it looks like!

There is real risk of me going long form here, hahaha, but yeah I definitely think it's worth spending some time thinking about it. In a weird way, doing that has made me ok with actually not having super well defined long term goals? I had a fair amount of time where I was feeling a little lost, knowing that I liked collecting a wide variety of Twins, but also knowing that such a wide breadth of collecting makes it near impossible to ever "complete" anything. I have so many different sub interests and projects within the Twins, it's just not feasible to check off all of them. And even if it was, there is always going to be another card I want that I don't have. And on the other hand, getting more specific with my collecting wouldn't be as fun for me, because I'd be feeling like I wasn't allowing myself to pick up certain cards that I liked

For me, once I accepted that I'm not going to get everything, it was much easier to let go of wanting to try to get everything I could possibly want (even if that is limited down to certain projects). And that in turn really helped bring me back to simply picking up cards that I like and not worrying about the rest. Do I still have certain projects and focuses within the Twins, and am I actively trying to complete all of them? Absolutely. But I'm real with myself that I can't have it all, too. That whole process really helped my mindset back to simply collecting for the fun of it, picking up cards that caught my eye, and not worrying about the rest. With that level of abstraction, as I said before, there still may not be a clear, specific long term goal that I'm working towards. But on the other hand, if you're just collecting for the fun of it and not worrying about the rest, that to me sounds like the only goal you really need

Good mini-brain dump! Thanks for engaging with it

Originally Posted by StateEx

Great read -- thanks for posting! Been thinking a lot about (4) myself. Realized that a simpler approach, with clear goals, would make a fun hobby even better.

[TGutta]

You may have answered this in one of your previous threads so I apologize if you repeat yourself, but do you stick to just Twins licensed cards or do you go for non-licensed? Panini? Pick them up but not add them to your checklists?

I've found myself completely ignoring Panini when it comes to Twins cards and I'm pretty satisfied with that decision. While they certainly do have some cool looking cards, having the logo airbrushed out just ruins it for me. When it comes to my Denard Span collection though I'll get everything for him. I guess that's the difference between collecting a particular player while also collecting your favorite team.

[479Red]

Great collection and website. What's your process to get such clean scans of your cards?

[Hollywood42]

I do find myself preferring licensed cards in general. That said, I don't turn away non-licensed cards from the collection if they come my way. This is a good callback to my website V2.0 - in that, I'm attaching a "targeted flag" to each set, indicating if it's something I actively want to go after, or if it's something I'm not really interested in unless it happens to come my way. That way I can still cover all Twins cards on my want lists, but label non-targeted sets as lower priority, or (maybe) not show them at all. So 2022 Topps will be targeted, 2022 Panini Prizm will not be. But if I get a Prizm card in, I'll still be able to log that I have one and display it

In essence, I typically don't seek out non-licensed, but I don't turn them away either, and if I get one I will include it in my collection

Originally Posted by TGutta

You may have answered this in one of your previous threads so I apologize if you repeat yourself, but do you stick to just Twins licensed cards or do you go for non-licensed? Panini? Pick them up but not add them to your checklists?

I've found myself completely ignoring Panini when it comes to Twins cards and I'm pretty satisfied with that decision. While they certainly do have some cool looking cards, having the logo airbrushed out just ruins it for me. When it comes to my Denard Span collection though I'll get everything for him. I guess that's the difference between collecting a particular player while also collecting your favorite team.

Thank you! I am pretty meticulous with the scanning process. I use the Office Lens app on my iPhone, that works really well to get an image and straighten it even if the picture is taken at an angle. It allows me to play with lots of different angles and light sources while taking the pictures to find out what makes the card look the best. I don't love the app tbh, I think it's gone a little bit downhill in the past few years. I've been starting to investigate a scanner to see if that would work as a replacement, but it seems like they don't work well for chrome/refractor cards, and that's a big turn off. The app is still good, but the scanning process with it is fairly slow, and I'd love to find a way to speed that up without sacrificing image quality

Once I have the image, I'll move it to my laptop and crop the edges of the scan (there is always a little bit of dead space on each edge and it looks much better if you crop it down to only contain the actual card. I'll also resize the images to a standard size (normal cards are 350x500 pixels, minis are 250x450 pixels, etc) so each image is consistent on my website and don't show up slightly different sizes. Resizing is pretty quick, but the cropping can be a pain. But it makes a big difference, so worth it IMO

When I want to share images on the forum, I upload the scans to Imgur. It seems like they do some compressing, because I've noticed the images as they appear in these threads don't look as good as they do on my website. It's annoying, but not enough for me to move away from Imgur quite yet

Originally Posted by 479Red

Great collection and website. What's your process to get such clean scans of your cards?

[Hollywood42]

Let's try out this thread's first (or, arguably, third ) brain dump - let's talk about YouTube

Over the past few months I've gotten into the hobby world on YouTube. I had watch the occasional video before then, but fairly infrequently and getting very far at all into the range of channels that are out there. Overall it's been fun to start engaging with the hobby in another way/platform. YouTube is a cool place for hobbyists to share their thoughts, ideas, and pickups, and there's a lot of channels you can put on while doing the dishes, hopping on the spin bike, or something similar. And I've enjoyed that it feels easier to get to know someone better through their videos than via text in a forum type setting. Made me think about starting a channel someday

Anyways, while it's overall been a positive experience, there are a few things I've encountered that rubbed me the wrong way (and I don't even need to bring up SCI nor SCR here). I will share some of channels I've thoroughly enjoyed that I think put out great content at the end, but touching on this first. I'm not going to name names here because this isn't meant to be a call out to either channel, just some encounters that made me think about what I like and don't like and how the current landscape is. Both of these two things I'll share come from fairly well known channels, and both are channels that have done some stuff I've really enjoyed, too:

The first instance is coming across a video of someone talking about 2022 Topps Chrome Sapphire, with "set of the year" in the thumbnail and overall hyping the product up as something that was going to be a lot of fun. Cool, no qualms with that, I find it interesting to see what different people think makes a great product. But then I saw another video, posted literally the same day, about some of the various problems with 2022 Topps Chrome Sapphire, painting it in a completely different light. And don't get me wrong, there was good, valid information in both video. But it got me thinking, it really bugs me that seemingly everything nowadays has to be all in or all out, 100% on one far end of the spectrum. SET OF THE YEAR, or "why, Topps, why???" And I get that in today's social media age, clickbait and headlines drive interactions. It is what it is. But it's frustrating and disappointing, frankly. Again, this guy puts out some really good stuff, and neither video as a standalone is bad. But that almost makes it all the more disappointing, that this channel fell victim to that same tendency, and did so on both ends of the spectrum in literally the same day. Just was a striking example of the sort of things that get the attention of the masses

The other example is from a guy who was vlogging while at a card show. Again, cool, fun to see how different people go about it. But what really irked me about this one is when he was negotiating for a card with a dealer. The vlogger made an offer, and the dealer asked if he was a collector of that player. The vlogger almost hesitates for half a second before saying yes, and the dealer then accepting. Then literally the next clip in the video is from the vlogger down the hall from where they bought the card, talking about the market of collectors that would be interested in buying the card That one's just really, really frustrating. For the dealer to be willing to give someone a good deal on a card if they were a collector of that player, that's awesome. But as cool as that is, the channel not only lying about collecting him to the dealer's face, but then walking down the hall and talking about the people he could flip the card to, that's just really upsetting to me

I think both of these examples hit on a few themes that we could dig into further, but I'll save those for future brain dumps. Themes such as how much money is in the hobby these days, how much money over purely collecting for the fun of it seems to have taken over, people mean by "collecting", collecting vs investing, and so on. There's definitely some things to dig into, but I'll save that for another time

Anyways, that's been on my mind and wanted to get that out there and see if it resonated with anyone. But I want to be sure to share some of the good channels, too! There are a number of them that I think are doing really great stuff and that I've really enjoyed following, so let's take a few minutes and give them a shoutout:

• Baseball Collector - I know Mike is on the forums too, but not sure how active he is. But I really enjoy his videos. He approaches the hobby from a true collector's standpoint of collecting what you like and for the love of it, while still being real that there are factors like grading and money that for better or worse, have an influence. He has some great thoughts on the hobby as a whole as well, and his Golden Age of Cardboard shows on Bench Clear Media are great listens. I really resonate with a lot of what he says and does, and think he should be required listening for someone who has ever thought about how or why they want to collect
• The Mangini Collection - Like Baseball Collector Mike, John is a true hobbyist and I really appreciate how he approaches collecting. It is abundantly clear that he loves cards and is here because he enjoys it so much. His videos are often a mix of showing new cards that help you learn a lot, along with his thoughts and perspectives on various topics within the hobby as well. And his collection is absolutely insane, too! The quality and breadth of his collection is simply incredible. Even as someone who doesn't collect the majority of what he does, it's easy to appreciate the items he manages to bring in, and really cool to learn about things I've never heard of or seen before
• ThoseBackPages - If you've been on Blowout very long, you probably have come across Eric before. He's another guy that's a real collector and does it for (in my opinion) the right reasons. You may not get our appreciate TBP until you take some more time to understand him - that's not a knock on him whatsoever, but for example a lot of his taglines ("grading is a scam") you might get one impression of if you only read his posts, but watching his YouTube videos gives you a lot more context about what he means. There's a number of things like that and once you're able to have a clearer picture of who he is, his posts read a different way with more depth and a bigger picture to them. Eric's another guy who really knows his stuff and has a great read on the hobby, and is definitely a voice worth listening to about the direction of the hobby and other happenings, as well as paying attention to for the cards he picks up and why

There are some other YouTubers that I've enjoyed some stuff from lately, but these guys are the big 3 that stick out in my mind so far as having really good content, great thoughts on the hobby, and absolutely worthwhile to check out if you haven't already

If you read all this, thanks for engaging with a big brain dump, and I'm curious to see if you have any thoughts!

[Hollywood42]

Here's a pair of pickups that are a good example of how I collect what I like and don't worry about the rest. 2022 Topps Chrome Cosmic seemed like a ridiculously unnecessary product when I first saw it announced (and still does tbh). That said, I have to admit some of the cards look pretty sweet, including the nucleus refractors. So, into the collection they go! I could easily go down a road of wondering if I want to support the latest redundant product in the overproduction era and think if I wanted to take some personal stand against it. But it's all going on whether I like it or I do anything about it or not, so why not add cards you think are cool? Simple as that

[Hollywood42]

I love me some early Morneau refractors! Here is a refractor /300 and X-fractor /150 out of 2002 Bowman Draft-




Also picked up an early David Ortiz at the same time just for fun-

[splitrockgamer]

[QUOTE=Hollywood42;18642796]I love me some early Morneau refractors! Here is a refractor /300 and X-fractor /150 out of 2002 Bowman Draft-




Nice Morneau pick-ups!

As a big time Twins fan from roughly 2007 to today, had to snag this one, even though these 3 never got to play together they are easily 3 of my favorite twins in that 15 year span. Was surprised it was only $160 as well.

[Hollywood42]

Great card! I've had my eye on some of those as well. It's been really cool that they've put out a number of Mauer/Morneau dual autos lately, and sweet that they're bringing the current team into the fold with them like this as well. It'd be really cool if they brought back a few more signers from the 2000s Twins - get some guys like Cuddy, Johan, Nathan in there and now you're talking some really, really cool combo autos

Originally Posted by splitrockgamer

Nice Morneau pick-ups!

As a big time Twins fan from roughly 2007 to today, had to snag this one, even though these 3 never got to play together they are easily 3 of my favorite twins in that 15 year span. Was surprised it was only $160 as well.

[Hollywood42]

Found a seller that had listed a bunch of 2006 Topps Black cards, and managed to win a few Twins! Some solid names from back in the day here, nice trip down memory lane, and always fun to make a nice dent into a Twins run at once. All /55

[Hollywood42]

Couple more current day rookies to share!

First, I've added a handful of new Joe Ryan rookies lately, helping fill in some gaps nicely. I'm still targeting some Topps Chrome color of him once those dip a bit, but in the meantime, some of his other cards have already gotten into a range I'm happy with. Particularly with the BC gold /50 and orange /25, got both of those in the $10-20 range, can't go wrong there!




And one more to share today, also quite happy with this little guy! 2015 HHN 1966 Bazooka Byron Buxton. While it doesn't have the RC logo for whatever reason (same with the other bazookas of similar players that also have labeled RCs in the base set), it's a rookie card. I haven't been able to dig up an estimated print run on these, but they are pretty limited - if anyone has more information, I'd love to hear! I know they were retail only, and they have fairly tough odds, but don't know if anyone has been able to find a good estimate for total print run. Either way, I found this one for 10 bucks and I'm super stoked to add one, especially for that price!

[tjenkins]

I love looking over your posts. I am a life long Twins/Vikings fan. I saw my first in person Twins game in 1970 and it left a life lasting impression. I was 7 years old and Killebrew was my man. I am a Viking season ticket holder and going to the Vikes/Giants playoff game this weekend. Here is my latest couple of important additions to my collection.

Keep the Twins coming!

[IMG]20220627_223602 by Todd Jenkins, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Killebrew GM by Todd Jenkins, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Hollywood42]

Thank you sir, and great cards yourself! I have been learning a lot lately about some of the oddball/odd sized cards from the 60s and 70s, really growing an affinity for those sorts of cards - that 1971 Topps Greatest Moments fits perfectly into that category, very cool!

Originally Posted by tjenkins

I love looking over your posts. I am a life long Twins/Vikings fan. I saw my first in person Twins game in 1970 and it left a life lasting impression. I was 7 years old and Killebrew was my man. I am a Viking season ticket holder and going to the Vikes/Giants playoff game this weekend. Here is my latest couple of important additions to my collection.

Keep the Twins coming!

[pac_rat_76]

Originally Posted by Hollywood42

Found a seller that had listed a bunch of 2006 Topps Black cards, and managed to win a few Twins! Some solid names from back in the day here, nice trip down memory lane, and always fun to make a nice dent into a Twins run at once. All /55

So that's where those went. Think I bid on every single one of those.

[Hollywood42]

Did you nab any of them? I also bid on the Torii and team card but passed on most of the smaller names. Was a little surprised that the Liriano RC went for nearly $30, that'd be fun to have but I'm ok passing on it at that price

Originally Posted by pac_rat_76

So that's where those went. Think I bid on every single one of those.

[pac_rat_76]

Originally Posted by Hollywood42

Did you nab any of them? I also bid on the Torii and team card but passed on most of the smaller names. Was a little surprised that the Liriano RC went for nearly $30, that'd be fun to have but I'm ok passing on it at that price

No I didn't end up getting any. I put my bids in early hoping to grab a couple for cheap, but guess I was too cheap!

[Hollywood42]

This has been a really fun period for myself in the hobby. As I've been working through my Twins inventorying process of working through history and creating my versions of checklists for every Twins card I can find record of, I've been learning a lot! I had started with 1961 and going year by year moving forward. The vintage era has always appealed to me, but it is not what I grew up in nor where my strongest knowledge base comes from, so taking the time to go through all the different sets with Twins cards and learn more about them has been a pretty cool process

One thing I did to assist myself with that is get a copy of the Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards. I've heard nothing but great reviews about it, and I figured it would prove to be another great resource for my Twins checklisting projects. And it definitely has been! But I've also had a lot of fun just paging through it and seeing what all it out there, and that's something that has lead to a ton of knowledge, too




One of the really interesting things that I learned - did you know the first Topps baseball cards were actually NOT in the 1950s? It's pretty common knowledge that the first traditional Topps set came out in 1952, and perhaps slightly less common but still known that Topps had a few releases in 1951, most notably the Red Backs and Blue Backs. I had always thought that '51 was when Topps' first baseball cards were released

But as I'd learn from the Standard Catalog, that's actually not the case! The first baseball cards produced by Topps came all the way back in 1948 in a release called Topps Magic Photos. This was a multi-sport (and non-sport) release containing a number of different subsets, from baseball and football, to track and boxing, to military leaders and explorers, to landmarks and dogs

The nature of the cards is pretty interesting, too. Upon distribution, the cards were actually blank! It was only when you would open your pack and expose the card to light that the image would develop and appear - hence, magic photos!

Upon learning all this, I just had to start hunting for a card from the baseball subset to add to my collection. Just too cool to pass up, and when we're talking an example of the first baseball cards Topps ever produced? Who wouldn't want one! There were some great subjects to try to select from - the baseball series included Babe Ruth, Cy Young, Honus Wagner, and more. Lots of great options, even if most (but not all) of the subjects had finished their careers years before the 1948 release

I've learned that although I can certainly appreciate cards of the all time greats like Ruth, Mantle, etc etc, I still prefer picking up cards that I can find some sort of personal tie to. When taking that into consideration, the choice became clear - someone who is not only hands down one of the best pitchers of all time, not only one of the Hall of Fame's inaugural members, but also someone who played for a franchise that would eventually become the Minnesota Twins: Walter Johnson. I set out looking for a copy, and it ended up not taking long at all! A short while later, and:




Here are close ups of just the actual card itself:




All of this is so cool to me for a few reasons-

This is turning out to be my first foray into a rapidly developing project of documenting baseball history in my own way, and trying to bring some stories to life. I had felt a little stuck for awhile, thinking that some really old cards from really cool sets were awesome, but having a hard time justifying picking any up, not wanting to take money away from my Twins collection, and also feeling trapped not wanting to commit the hundreds to thousands of dollars to make it a bigger project such as building a set or completing a team run

The solution I ultimately ended on, and which opened a door for a really cool project that's just starting right now - working on documenting Minnesota baseball history through sports cards. Without getting too far ahead of myself or showing too much of my hand, there are a lot, LOT of amazing ways that Minnesota is intertwined in baseball history. Some of these are looser ties, as is the case here of Walter Johnson pitching for the franchise that would later become the Twins. Others are much closer ties, such as a few minor league teams that Minnesota was home to throughout the 1900s, or the Twins themselves. I don't want to share too much on this now because there's a lot of cool ideas in my head that I want to wait and give them the time and effort I feel they warrant, but I'm looking forward to sharing much more on this over time!

It's sparked a real excitement about digging into Minnesota's baseball past, learning stories of various players and events that were related to the state, and sharing those stories along with a card from that era. This is already going to be a really long post, so I'm not going to get too deep into sharing some things about Walter Johnson that I learned while reading up on him, but I will share 2 very small tidbits I found absolutely fascinating:

1. Johnson didn't formally play baseball until he was 16 years old! Per SABR's biography of Johnson, his first baseball experience came at 16 on a sandlot team. Amazingly, just 3 years later he would be in the MLB. How mind blowing is it to think that someone who still today is clearly one of the best pitchers of all time hadn't even started playing the game until he was 16? These days, if you're not playing ball well before middle school, you're way far behind and it's going to be pretty darn tough to catch up. Never mind winding up in the MLB just 3 years later and immediately becoming one of the league's best players. Just crazy to think about
2. There are so many stats and numbers that demonstrate Johnson's greatness, but somehow this is the one that blew my mind - In early September 1909, Walter Johnson started 3 consecutive games in a row, over a 4-day period, all against New York. He pitched a complete game shutout in each one. Truly incredible! Imagine that happening today - you just can't!

I have some really cool ideas planned for the future along these lines, picking up a card from someone in baseball history tied to Minnesota in some way, and sharing their stories (which will be much more in depth than this one here). Some of these guys will be people everybody knows, some of these guys will be people nobody knows. There are some pretty incredible stories and ties out there that I've come across already, and even more that I know I still have yet to learn. I'm really looking forward to the project and what it may bring!

The second unique thing that I found awesome about this card? It came from Chasing Cardboard! It just so happens that CC had listed a copy of this card right at the same time that I had decided on hunting down a Walter Johnson. When I saw that, my mind was set on picking it up!

The Walter Johnson was just one of several 1948 Topps Magic Photos that popped up from Harlan's collection featured in Episode 13 and Episode 14. I rewatched both episodes after winning the auction and couldn't spot this or any of the other Magic Photos while Ty and Mike were thumbing through cards. It would have been super cool if it had made an appearance in the show itself, but for me, just knowing it came from there is plenty. It adds a lot of depth being able to watch these episodes and hear about where this card came from, and I'm excited to continue this card's history!






I've gone on for plenty long enough on this one, so I'll get this wrapped up here, but the new year has been really exciting for me on multiple levels. I have some, at least in my mind, pretty cool ideas that I'm really looking forward into turning into reality, and can't wait to start sharing them when the time comes!

[Hollywood42]

Slowing down a little bit this month now, but still having a few cards trickle in. Today's share is a pair of Joe Ryan - 2022 Bowman Chrome Green /99, and 2022 Topps Red Ice /199. I've still been waiting a bit to really feel like his prices have dropped down some, but there's been a handful of cards I've gotten at prices I'm pretty happy with lately

[tjenkins]

Super cool Walter Johnson card and story. I am getting anxious for spring training....I picked these up this week.

[IMG]s-l1600 (40) by Todd Jenkins, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]b9a2c0140d8740285d1dcca607adf705 by Todd Jenkins, on Flickr[/IMG]


[IMG]befb91339927bca82a316caffc110f63 by Todd Jenkins, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]bd3a2a1092fa474497d18f0d1a5c10d4 by Todd Jenkins, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Screenshot_20230128_072713_eBay by Todd Jenkins, on Flickr[/IMG]

[awz50]

That Walter Johnson has a really cool story! Vintage can definitely be fun but a daunting task in itself