I Think Topps Reads My Blog ... And Then Flips Me Off

Called it!

You may remember back in November when Topps came out with the NOW! sets of the Washington Nationals World Series victory.  I bought the set with the autograph that was to be shipped out later.  There was a false alarm in February when I got something else.  Well, the FedEx delivery came today.

Folded up in bubble wrap and a big yellow padded mailer was another one of these black envelope things.

Could it be Scherzer?  The future Hall Of Famer?

Or Soto? The breakout rookie star?

Robles? Another rookie phenom who I liked during the season?

Kendrick? The veteran journeyman who came through in the clutch?

Suzuki? Who returned to the Nats and won a couple postseason games?

Or would it be, as I predicted from the start, the one guy out of all of them who I know the least, and just don't have the same enthusiasm for ~ Patrick Corbin?

Yep.  Had to be Corbin.

I have no luck at all...

No offense to Patrick Corbin, his contribution to the victory was just as important as anyone else on the team.  And I can't knock getting an autograph numbered 6/99 and a team set of cards for the price of (well, four) blasters.  It's just I would have enjoyed any of the other guys better, ya know?  *sigh*

Lucky Se7en

For the longest time, one card topped my priority wants list.  It was a bit obscure, too.  The Week 7 redemption card from the 2011 Topps Prime 9 program was missing from my set of nine redemption cards and nine player cards that came from them.  Until now.

But there's been a complication.

My good buddy Stuart told me he miraculously found the #7 card, but actually sent me the entire set of redemptions and player cards.  So now I have two whole sets minus the #7 redemption card.  While I appreciate the effort - and Stuart sends me tons of stuff all the time - sending me the whole thing just basically negates what I had before.  Or I still need a #7 to complete what is now the second set.  So I'm almost no better off, unless....

You can help!  If anyone else out there has pieces of this set, be it the redemption cards or the player cards, let me know.  I'll break up one set to any and all so then all I have to keep is the #7 and you can complete your set. 

I don't know how many collectors keep (or persuade their dealers to let them keep) the redemption numbers, but this also includes any and all of the player cards that you got when you turned in the redemption cards.

Each of these currently sells for just under a dollar on COMC, so they're not super high end or anything. 

Comment or email with trade offers for any you might need!

Targets For Assimilation - #1

On my wantlist home page, (and at the upper left on this blog site), I list my top "most wanted fugitives".  These are the set killers, the last elusive insert or short print that will clear a major space on my want list.  A lot of other bloggers have them too.  Nebulous Nine, Desperate Double Dozen, Arbitrary 8, etc.  I figured why not write a post about what some of them are or why they're such a priority.

Number one on my list (and the most likely to stay there the longest) is 2011 Topps Prime 9 - Week 7 redemption card.  This is the actual "#7" card, not the Mickey Mantle that you got when you turned it in. 

Topps did these types of redemptions in the flagship set for a couple years.  They may still do them, but I don't have a close brick and mortar shop around any more.  My buddy Stuart in Michigan has a few.  We were able to obtain the redemption sets and keep the number cards as well.  Somehow, though I missed #7.  Once or twice I've seen these used as padding or thrown into dime boxes, but haven't ever seen them in bunches.  Most of the time, I think they got turned in to Topps or discarded by the dealers.  Which makes the odds of actually coming up with one in 2018 a real long shot.

But if you have one lying around, I'll trade you something for it!