Some Mail and pickups

 

There’s nothing quite like a "Mail Day" to make a return home even better. For a card collector, that stack of envelopes is easy to spot: the telltale bulk of a bubble mailer or a white envelope with reinforced, taped edges to survive the trip. Sometimes, you can even see the ghost of a top loader pressed against the paper—a nervous reminder of the heavy machinery it traveled through. Coming home from Iowa to a pile of new additions waiting for you is the perfect way to wrap up a trip.

Luis Arraez is a player teams want.  They just don't know it.  He's back to hitting over .300 again and this season he's been a defensive gem.  I might be the only person on earth who knew this.  At least Johnny, from Johnny's Trading Spot fame, recognized my fandom for the player and sent these cards my way, along with a stack of other Twins.

Bryon Buxton is currently the face of the Twins.  He is the anti-Arraez.  Good fielder, good speed, hits with power, but his BA sucks.  This wave parallel showing Buxton diving for a ball is pretty sweet.  However given his propensity for getting hurt, every Twins fan cringes when he does this.

This pair of Royce Lewis parallels are great.  I've come to really like the holiday designs, especially when they have that glitter/metallic look like the card on the left.  As for Pablo Lopez...what can I say.  Like the player, but I still hate the trade.

Thank you for the stack of cards Johnny!

Reader Jeff B, noticed my post on the 73 Frankenset build.  He reached out to me recently and sent a few gems my way.  It's crazy to think how many of these wacky cards are out there.  I'll be updating the 73 Frankenset page over the next few days.  Thank you Jeff!

Another big add for the Frankenset build is this Clemente.  For about $20 I couldn't resist adding this to the set build.  

Of course, after returning from Iowa, there was a card show the next day, and that's where I picked up this 1970 Kellogg's Reggie Jackson.  This set build is over 50% complete.

While at the show I asked a couple of dealers if they had any 72 high numbers.  Nope.  However I did find some cards for my 1969 and 1970 sets.

Speaking of 1969, while my brother was in town he brought a stack of '69s that we had talked about a couple of months ago.  Before the holiday season this set build was way behind the others.  Thanks to a card shop in SD and my brother for spending some time there, I need only 18 cards to wrap it up.

I spotted this 1961 Golden Press Joe Di Maggio needing a home.  It's my first (and only) card of Di Maggio as well as my first card from that set.  After I bought this card, a few tables down I spotted the whole set for sale.  It was tempting but I passed on that.

And for giggles, I picked up a 1989 valentine card of Jordan.  I've never seen these in the wild so I thought why not add it to the collection.

Have a great weekend and many thanks to Jeff and Johnny for the cards!