Nothing but Treasure

 

Cardinals cards from @batcavelv include a surprising relic. 

 

We're rapidly approaching the end of the year, and it feels like everyone is in Greatest Hits mode. Everyone is sharing their yearly recaps and "best of" lists. For me, there isn't a better time to catch up on piles of cards that I still haven't shared. This latest group of cards came from Rockies fan Tracy.

I wish Topps would bring back Topps Total in the way that the set was originally intended, but I'll settle for these glossy online exclusives any day. I would just love to actually open a big box of these, much more than most Topps products at least. I don't think that's going to happen any time soon, though.

The photos on these cards are not like what they put into current sets. They're not heavily processed or so closely cropped that there's no background to look at. Maybe I should just go find an old Topps Total box from the 2000's to open.

The whole envelope was full of oddities (I mean, just check the Yadi coin at the top) including a numbered parallel from the 2020 Topps UK set. When everyone was stuck at home in 2020, I remember this set briefly being a big deal. Apparently they also released a UK set in 2021 as well as a Topps Japan set at some point. I would have loved to have gotten into box breaks for those sets, but they flew completely under my radar.

Here's another Topps online exclusive. According to the back, this is from the 2020 Topps x Derek Jeter set. When did everyone start using X to indicate some sort of collaboration?

There are a ton of different Score parallels based on the 1997 set. I won't get into all of the different versions and varieties here, because it's kind of a headache. These are the things you learn from using TCDB a lot over the last several years. What I do know is that, while none of these cards individually are particularly rare, it can be a huge slog to get ahold of all of the ones you need to satisfy your team collection. I'm always grateful to add these to my collection (there were a bunch in the package.)

Here's a card that I really didn't know that I needed, but I'm glad to have. Of course, this would show up on team checklists as a Braves card, but I collect anything bearing a Cardinals uniform or logo. Plus, it's Bruce Sutter! On a food issue card!

What else can I say about Adam Wainwright that I haven't already said here? I am looking forward to the 2023 Waino Farewell Tour, but I also hope that it lasts forever.

As we all know, the annual Topps gold parallel that is numbered to whatever year it is has devolved from a shiny golden thing to more of a copper-brown bore. Here's another example. Sure, I do collect these when it suits me, but I wish they'd bring back gold parallels that actually look, you know, gold. The hobby exclusive gold/rainbow foil parallels are doing a better job.

Lastly, we have a shoe relic! Yes, it's a piece of Jimmy Baseball's shoe. What piece it is, we'll never know. The days of anything and everything being shoved into a small section of a baseball card are long past, but that doesn't mean we can't still celebrate this kind of glory on a regular basis.