Another French victory by proxy

I won't lie to you : today is a big day at Papoy headquarters.

We've all seen that card, we know how iconic it is, and there's even somebody out there (I won't name names or point any fingers) that has every graded copy possible, from 1 to 10.

The semi-serious and fully-broke at the time Griffey collector that I was 22 years ago could only dream of having it in his collection one day. But two things have changed since :

- Now I have way more money (well, way more than 0, that is)
- Now I have the blogosphere (much better than money (well ok, maybe not, but you know what I mean))

That card was sent to Matt during the infamous war with JBF (known as World Blog War I), and I suppose I played the role of vulture (or just the role of France, come to think of it) and just grabbed what I wanted and called myself a winner.

And now, it's mine.
Because you see, Matt sent me an absolutely amazing trade package today. I'll be showing the contents as soon as I have a moment, but right now, I wanted to share my happiness.

Yeah, I'm dancing and doing cartwheels in the grass. I'm that happy.

Now, I just need for someone to send Matt a 52 Mantle, and I'll be all set.

We are all random Dutch guys

I hardly ever do it (ok, usually because someone always beats me to it), but I asked Jeroen (Dutch card guy) to put a card aside for me, that he got in one of his box breaks :

Dalton Pompey seems to be in every possible set this year (with Stroman and Sanchez), and this is a very good looking one, SN99. So ok, he's back down in AA, but he's got talent, he just needs to start hitting...

Of course, Jeroen didn't just send me this card. He added a whole bunch of PC and completely random ones (and I always love random). There were soccer stickers, Indiana Jones (yup, absolutely) and basketball cards. Along with those :

And finally, a very nice looking 2015 Gypsy Queen relic, the first one I've seen in person !

Thanks a lot for the trade Jeroen, I hope you liked what I sent in exchange !

While I'm at it, I might as well show a few cards I received the other day, straight from Ebay

I love that card. The design and die-cut are simply but effective. I should try and find others from that set, they're quite affordable.

 A SN Vladdy (91/175)

I really like how they feel like wood, just like the Picture perfect Leaf insert.

I was curious to see what those inserts looked like. I thought the Flair Spotlight would be some kind of acetate see-through, but it's not. It's ok, I still like it !

There's a set that was really popular back in 1997 (the fact that it was limited *cough* to 10 000 copies helped). That card was worth $40 back then. I got it for forty times less.

I always like to add autos of players I was familiar 20 years ago. Rondell White was quite the prospect at the time, so it's a name that stuck with me. Plus, it's a nice looking on-card auto. I think I got it for about $2.

I normally never show a card that is intended for a fellow blogger, but I'm sure my good friend Matt won't hold it against me. Because yes, it's a Jason Kendall minor league auto. Let's see what the other side looks like...

Yeah, we've gone a long way on terms of autos...This looks more like an in-person auto at the ballpark, with someone who didn't have the right Sharpie for it. But you can still see the auto if you look real close !

Putting French-Italian feuds aside

The Italian Completist reached out to me, saying he had some cards from my want list that he wanted to send out to me, and that hey, we're European brothers, we should be tight anyway.

And yeah, of course this makes sense ! 

It took me awhile to understand what Riccardo collects (basically : everything), but I was still able to send out some cards to him in a nice, fraternal matter. As European collectors, we should always look out for each other. When all was said and done, close to 100 cards were in my mailbox, and here are some of the highlights :

Base needs from various years and brands (aaaah, Pinnacle Inside....)

Great oddballs (where can you get those oddballs in Italy ?)

Vernon !

Plenty of different brands represented, and always great to add new Delgados. I should really try to track down every single Frank Thomas card in a Blue Jay uniform.

 Two future Hall of famers...ok, scratch that.

 My quest for parallels continues !

And finally, I really love that card. Technically, it's a Pirate card, but sorry Matt, this one stays here !

Thanks a lot Riccardo, I really enjoyed that trade ! I hope I'll be able to help you collect...hmmm...Well, everything ! And that's a lot of cards.

French flag

I've received so many great trade packages those last few days, I don't even know where to begin...The Italian completist sent me some great cards a couple of weeks ago, and Richard (Collecting Blue Jays) sent me a 550 count box filled with Blue Jays oddballs and regional sets that I still need to sort (they will be a blast to show off, considering how God ugly they are). But right now, I'll focus on a few ebay purchases and yet another awesome batch of cards sent by Brian.

First : EBAY !

I got this card at first for Julie. But it seems that she really, REALLY hates him now, so I'd rather not aggravate her. I'll keep the card in my collection !

 PCP (Personal Collection Players)

Nobody collects Rays players. But it's Archer. And it was $1. So hey.

I showed off the autographed Baerga the other day, and those are the base cards. They still look nice, and it's not everyday I say this of Bowman chrome.

Speaking of which, I really thought that those inserts would look better in-person. They just did too much with the concept, it doesn't really work well.

Ok, let's see what amazing cards Brian sent this time (in case you haven't noticed, he's one of the best traders out there, and not just because he thinks I'm pretty cool (though that helps))

Swatches ! Brian sent a note saying that the Delgado looks like the French flag. And it definitely does ! I feel so patriotic right now. Very low numbered Burnett !

Dickie Joe Thon. Such a wonderful name. Dickie Joe itself sounds very, very cool (in a rednecky kind of way), but when you add Thon, you have a definite winner. Mainly because in French, thon means tuna. And nothing beats Tuna.
Dickie Joe Tuna.

one of the thousands of Lind autos available.

Shiny ! I wouldn't think of getting those USA cards myself, so it's great that some people think of them for me.

No, Brian didn't send me two copies of the Woody Williams auto. But I already had it. Except that as you can see from the copy on the right, it definitely needed an upgrade (I've had it for 18 years, and it was up on my wall at some point)

Griffeys I needed !

That one too, I needed, and the more I look at it, the cooler it gets

And finally, a very, very sweet 1963 Topps sticker.

thanks a lot Brian, it's always a lot of fun discovering what you've put together for me !

Collecting goal : being lazy

I am a very lazy man.
Really.
Oh, of course, I accomplish great things (after all, I am French), but all in all, I'm pretty lazy.

And despite this, I've decided to set a goal. A collecting goal. Yeah, one more. We've all been there.

I've said it many times (matter of fact, it was the object of my very first post), but my favorite set (and my first pack of cards) is 93 Upper Deck. I bought a box of series one a few weeks ago (series 2 can't be had for cheap because of the Jeter rookie...) and because of very poor collation, I know it's no use accumulating said boxes. So I might as well try and trade for the cards that I'm missing.

To tell the truth, I thought they'd have every possible card from the 800-something set on justcommons, but it turns out that not at all. Maybe a ton of people simply have the same lazy dreams and set-goals I do, who knows.

I'm also not very patient, so I picked up a bunch of the inserts on Comc. Because yes, I'm not just planning on trying to complete the base set (it's 75% complete so far), I'm going for the whole master set (minus gold holograms, because who cares about those ?). That's something like 180 more cards. Yay.

And I'm absolutely, irrationally in love with those inserts :

They sure love doing anniversary insert sets, at Upper Deck HQ. If I remember correctly, they'd even do pre-anniversary preview sets...crazy kids.

Flawless designs, full bleed photography, great themes...nothing overly impressive or over the top like we'd later see during the crazy 90s. Just simplicity itself, with the right odds to make them desirable enough. And I'm not even showing the best inserts of all : Then & Now, as I've already completed it.

I'm still missing about half of the inserts, but I'm much, much closer to completing the set now after my Comc splurge !

I put my complete want list on the top of the page, so if you have several shoe boxes filled with 93 Ud...

Look at me look at me look at me

I don't know if you can tell, but I've changed the design of the blog. In a big way. It's more childish that way (I guess), but it makes me laugh, which is about the only thing that matters to me. Plus, that way, you know where Papoy comes from, just in case.

In honor of this new layout ad to celebrate the end of my contest, I'll just be showing off a few cards I got today. Just like that. To show that the more things change, the more things stay the same.

I like those. I was looking for the Olerud from that set, and found the Baerga instead. I already have an in-person auto of his, so this seems a little silly but hey, it's my collection, my choices. Plus, it's about time we realized what a great player he was.

This one I got because it's a batting glove relic. I was really curious as to how it'd feel. It simply cannot be described. I just might sleep with it (in a cuddly way, I mean (well, cuddly, but not THAT cuddly)).

And those are simply two very good looking cards that carried a good looking price-tag.

So there, this was my first post under my new colors. Just to see how that Gary Carter orange would do against my very pretty purple.
And I like it just fine.