Ramblings of an old collector

 Just my thoughts on some random topics about cards and baseball.

- Huge shout out to The Diamond King! 

He sent me this 2015 Panini USA Baseball Stars & Stripes Magenta printing plate for my Corey Seager collection! Such a sweet card! Thank you Kevin!

- MLBPA is claiming that the 18 second pitch clock is the cause of all of the arm injuries. There's no research to support it. Justin Verlander said "I think in reality, you put everything together and everything has a bit of influence. I think the biggest thing is that the style of pitching has changed so much. Everybody is throwing the ball as hard as they possibly can and spinning the ball as hard as they possibly can. It’s hard to deny those results, obviously." I have to agree with Verlander. I heard one pitcher say that he has to grip the ball harder in order to increase his spin rate. That makes much more sense to me as to what is causing all of these injuries.

- Saw a story on YouTube that there is an obvious counterfeit card that got graded by PSA. So, I'm just going to say that literally, authenticity was the only reason I ever saw to get cards graded. If they can't even do that, why in the world would you want to spend the money?

- I'm not the biggest fan of the inserts in the 2024 Topps release save one. The rainbow foil card actually looks pretty good. There's no way that I'm going to try and complete a set of them, but I will definitely keep my eye out for some of my favorite players.

     

Not the best pictures of the rainbow foil, but then again, I'm not sure I've seen a good picture of the rainbow foil cards.

- Love seeing the resurgence of Mike Trout.

- I've spent a little time updating TCDB inventory. Still got a long way to go, but there is positive movement. 

- Speaking of TCDB, I've completed 77 trades. For some of you guys, that's a drop in the ocean, but for me, it's progress. I've actually figured out proposing trades and I think the last several trades I've done I proposed them. 

- Sam Houston State product Colton Cowser has had a really hot start this year for the Orioles. I'm not telling anyone what to do, but I'd definitely be on the lookout for his rookie cards this year.

- Got my first few blaster boxes of 2024 Topps Heritage and I really like the cards. I'm not thrilled with the short prints being 1-100 though. If you've got to have short prints I'd rather they be at the end and not the beginning. Is that a set builder's mentality or is it old school? The high numbers in the older sets were always the ones that were harder to find. I think it's old school thinking.

Just some of my favorite '24 Heritage cards that I've pulled.

- Speaking of Heritage, finishing 2023 is going to be difficult. I was hoping that I could trade for the missing short prints, but it seems that most people want to trade short print for short print, which I completely understand. I think I've almost depleted all of my extra short prints. Going to have to go to purchasing them I guess if I want to finish the set.

- My Rangers recently lost a series to the Braves. I didn't get to watch all of the games, but the Braves looked really good. I'd love to see the Dodgers and Braves square off in the NL Championship Series this year. That would be a great series.

- Just want to throw out there one more time, If you haven't seen the movie "The Hill" it's on Netflix. Can't go wrong with a baseball movie on a rainy day.

- My two favorite baseball movies are "The Sandlot" and "Field of Dreams". "The Sandlot" because it reminds me of my childhood playing ball with my buddies and "Field of Dreams" for two reasons. First, I'd love to have the chance to watch a game of baseball played by the greats of the game like Shoeless Joe. Second, I'd love to have the chance to play catch with my dad one more time. 

I think that about wraps it up for now. I leave you with a quote from the great Babe Ruth...

"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way."

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31