A #CrackinWaxMailDay from @CrackinWax flashes back to The Finest and more.
Before I get into things, I want to throw out a disclaimer for the days going forward. I'm going to try and not talk about the 2020 MLB season like it's a season any longer, for reasons that are beyond obvious. If it was up to me, all sports would have been cancelled through the rest of 2020 for everyone's safety. But baseball tried to start things up anyway and toyed with my emotions, and is now on the brink of collapse again. (Also, the rule changes suck and suck some more, but that's not really my point here.) Obviously, the Cardinals are now center stage in what seems headed to an awkward shut down any day now (I've felt this coming since last Monday, of course.) I am still doing the card thing, though, but I'll try to talk about the past when I talk about the players.
I'm glad that's off my chest now! Let's say hello to some brand new cards acquired through some breaks at Crackin' Wax. First up is a new Topps product that pays tribute to the original Topps Finest design from 1993. I couldn't afford Topps Finest then and I can't really afford it now, but one of the things I appreciate about Crackin' Wax is how this stuff wasn't marked up a whole lot just because the prices shot up a whole lot after he bought the boxes.
You probably know the design, and it looks nice here.
I ended up with 3 out of the 7 cards from the base set, so I'll probably start hunting down the rest unless there's another secret stash of reasonable priced boxes of this stuff still to be opened (ha!)
More brand new stuff! This is my first look at Panini's 2020 Donruss Optic. It looks like what you would expect it to look like as it's basically Donruss Chrome.
I was able to pull (by proxy) a numbered parallel of the Cardinals only significant offseason signing in KK.
This one is a silver/holo/Prizm parallel of good ol' Matt Carpenter. It looks like a miniature red baseball is about to hit him in the gut.
I signed up for some older stuff, too. I'm almost always in right now whenever it's a 2018 or 2014 product, for a chance to pick up a Jack Flaherty rookie year or first pro year card. I was fortunate enough to land one I didn't have here with this red and yellow parallel.
And throwing things back to 2014, I picked up an Allen Craig refractor. Craig was excellent during the Matheny years, but he fizzled out even before his manager did.
To top things off, I also picked up a light blue refractor of Kolten Wong's rookie card, numbered to 199. I like it!
Haven't seen the new Finest product in hand yet, would have enjoyed a box but as you said prices are just insane. It's getting so hard to find new cards either A) at all, or B) at reasonable prices, that it's seriously making me reconsider my hobby for the first time in 13 years now...
ReplyDeleteYes, finding new product at a reasonable price is becoming more difficult. Big box stores are being raided of the retail by the flippers before the collectors can even get a sniff. I've mostly (outside of Topps Big League) turned my attention to other card projects and vintage sets.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Crackin' Wax was able to secure some boxes and I'm even happier Topher kept the prices reasonable. It seems like the only way the average collector can get something knew these days.
I'm not so sure we MLB shuts it down. I think they'll try to power through and I believe the new 7-inning doubleheader rule is designed to help them do that. I'm not a fan of the new rules. I've never been a DH guy and the runner placed on 2nd in extras really bothers me.
I do like baseball cards, even ones that show Redbirds on them. (Although I don't care for the looks of that Goldy DK... it's just off somehow.) Keep the posts coming!
I have yet to track down the regular Finest cards, but do have some of the Flashbacks coming in. I agree that they look great.
ReplyDeleteTotally feel you with the COVID stuff. It’s going to be weird seeing baseball cards with stats like 20 games played, 5 Home Runs and stuff in 2021.
ReplyDeleteOn the brighter note, I’m so glad someone picked up some of those Finest cards and showed them off. Those Refractors are cool too.
Cool to see current players on the iconic 1993 Finest design, but it's a shame these things are priced way out of the average collector's budget. Oh well... there's plenty of other cards for me to collect. If I eventually own some of these, I'll be happy... if I don't, I'm not going to stress over it.
ReplyDeleteAs for the MLB season... I'll just say that I was very surprised that it happened. Hopefully the players and other employees are able to stay as safe as possible, but I don't blame any players who made the decision to opt out.