It's April, so... Merry Christmas?!

My Secret Santa gifts from @GeoffCards are right on time. 

 

No, I can't blame the postal service for severe mail delays. I am still very behind in catching up on sorting and posting about the stuff I've received from people lately. There's actually a pretty good chance that I will catch up relatively soon, however, as my mailbox in 2021 has been pretty quiet. I entered a Secret Santa type group with some fellow Crackin' Wax break regulars and ended up with some pretty nice stuff.

Payton Pritchard's cards haven't quite gotten the attention than Justin Herbert's football cards have, of course, but I'm still seeking them out whenever I can find them. This is my first signed card of the guard who was a four year starter for the Ducks, running the point even as a freshman on the team that made it to the Final Four back in 2017.

There are actually two Pritchard cards in this Prizm Draft Picks base set, and I still need to track down a copy of the other one -- it looks like the green parallel at the top of this post.

The gift package wasn't all Pritchard and the Ducks, however. A few choice Cardinals were included as well, like this Tommy Pham black insert numbered parallel from a few years back.

There was also a KK auto from last year's Panini Absolute, a set that mostly escaped me, probably due to the cost.

Lastly, there was a Project 2020 card of the late, great Bob Gibson, shown here with the full stash of cards in the package from this photo that I put out on Twitter shortly after receiving the goods. This is actually the second Project 2020 card that crossed my desk last year, both of which were a complete surprise. I've since re-gifted the other card since it wasn't a fit for my collection, but a Gibby card clearly must be.

I'll say this much. There's so much about Project 2020 and other similar offerings that Topps has produced of late that embodies exactly what I don't want as a card collector. And yet... now I will forever own an actual piece of cardboard history from the craziness that was (and pretty much still continues to be) 2020. For a better look at the card, you can check this out from Topps.