In Envelopes We Trust

Just one stamp sends cards across the country! Cards from @CardBuzz @breakdowncards and more. 

 

Bryce Harper is a bit of a polarizing player, but I think at this point in his career he's reasonably popular among fans of the game of baseball. Still, I never imagined myself owning cards from a baseball card set that he had his hands in designing. Back in 2018, the online exclusive offerings from Topps were still relatively basic, so this one struck me as odd. Laurens from Card Buzz sent me two cards from the set known as 2018 Topps X Bryce Harper 220 (yes, that's really the name). Despite my misgivings about this set's general nature, I'm always thrilled when someone sends me one of these online exclusives.

Here's what the back looks like. You get a basic quote from the man himself. We also find out that 220 stands for "second to none" because, okay, sure.

There's only fourteen cards in the set, with two of them being Cardinals. I believe Bryce hand-selected the checklist, but I'm not ready to call him a secret Cardinals fan.

The second envelope to check out today is from gcrl / cards as i see them. Topps included scratch-off contest cards in their 2003 Topps Opening Day packs which feature a miniaturized version of the base design on the front. These are confusingly listed online in many places as stickers, but it's pretty clear that they are not. (I'll go ahead and blame Beckett, the source for most checklist disinformation, for this one.) I'm fairly shocked I didn't own this Jim Edmonds cards already considering that I feel like I opened a ton of the stuff early on in this blog's life.

Having dropped out of card collecting after 1993, the mid-90's Topps Traded sets still aren't old hat to me.

At this point I'm just missing one last Topps Traded card set for what I believe to be a complete (Cardinals) team run from the '70s sets, and 1981 through 1995. Of course, it's also from 1995 and features Cal Ripken and Ozzie Smith. (I'm also missing a junk wax era variation, but we're not here to talk about junk wax era variations today.)

Bowman Chrome cards are high on the list of the Topps food chain, so I always appreciate an addition to my collection from this product. Yadi is entering his 18th season with the Cardinals after a prolonged period of free agency.

Speaking of appreciation, I'm always excited to get Pacific cards. They are so wild and often rather hideous. It's great!

Last up to bat is Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown, who unearthed this odd camo signature featuring Carlos Martinez from the unloved 2015 Panini Prizm set. Prizm-mania may never come to the baseball market considering the license agreement is only with MLBPA and not the league itself, which means that it shouldn't be too costly to pick up inserts and autos from these sets if I'm patient enough. I was definitely happy to get this one, even though Martinez has been mostly frustrating for years.

Here's a refractor of a former Cardinal who had two plate appearances with the Cubs last year that must have been easy to miss. It looks like he signed with the Cubs again this offseason. Maybe he can increase his plate appearances this time to around a dozen or so?

Once again, I want to extend a big thanks to everyone who has sent me PWEs over the years. They are truly appreciated.