2024 Baseball Whatever act 1 - ebay and Sorting

Late last year, I predicted that 2024 would be a completely different year for my collection. I was going to cut way down on buying unopened product. Hobby boxes have priced themselves out of my range, and retail has been overpriced and spotty at best. I think I've burned out on the hobby, and the change from Topps to Fanatics amplified things.

So I was going to dedicate 2024 to buying a few of the singles I liked, and a little retail when I found it and was interested. This year I bought the least amount of cards since 2017, which ended a run of my lowest collecting years. Funny thing is I haven't missed it as much as I thought I would. Scratching the baseball card itch was done primarily through sorting the tens of thousands of cards I already had.

I had also decided that I'd look for singles I wanted on ebay. This would be the best way to fill notable gaps in my Twins, Expos and Rockies collections. Inspired by watching Laura hunt for Justin Morneau cards, and seeing them arrive in the mail. Looking at what was available was a lot of fun, but I didn't do it as often as I thought. which brings me to my point.

With the lack of enthusiasm for cards in 2024, I've decided to explore how my thoughts on the hobby and even baseball itself, changed this year. 

I haven't finished much of what I've written as far as baseball stories this year. So I've got this giant pile of random baseball and card ideas, in various stages of completion. So I'm putting all of it in order, dividing by three, and starting the 2024 Baseball Whatever, in three acts:

2024 Baseball Whatever Act 1 - From ebay and Sorting

2024 Baseball Whatever Act 2 - 2024 MN Twins Season

2024 Baseball Whatever Act 3 - 2024 Baseball and Cards

This is Act 1. Acts 2 and 3 will follow soon after, but I don't know when that will be. Act 2 covers the massively disappointing 2024 Twins season, through watching two drastically different games at Target Field. Act 3 will cover the 2024 baseball card releases I bought, and my thoughts on them and the 2024 season. Cant promise any dates, I'll probably get distracted and write about something else before I finish all of it. For now, here's Act 1. Which covers progress in the lengthy ongoing sorting project, and new card acquisitions from (mostly) ebay. 

Card Sorting - Completed late Summer, 2024

The latest round of sorting was completed in late Summer of 2024. This included removing cards from albums that were previously sorted by year, then brand. Roughly 20 albums containing the cards I liked from 2005-2019. Pre-2005 cards were removed in a previous round of sorting, back in 2021-22. 

As the pile of albums go from having cards, to not having cards, they're getting set aside by the closet in my office. One of the last rounds of sorting will see the albums filled with team sorted cards. Mostly by year, some by player. But I'm quite a ways away from that point.

Cards after 2019, never made it to albums. Just stashed in Monster boxes, straight from packs. (Or still in the pack.) Only major hits, and Twins and Rockies removed. The 2020-2023 cards were dealt with last Winter. Those with a keen eye will notice that Topps zipped up Clayton Kershaw's fly via Photoshop, for the 2019 Chrome release.

One of over 20 team sorted Monster Boxes, that need to be combined. These are all filled with stars, rookies, inserts and parallels (with a smattering of commons here and there) and sorted by team, chronologically. Once combined with all of the other Monster Boxes, the final judgement begins.

To the ebays!

An ebay search of team sets brought up an interesting one. A listing for an incomplete 1984 Fleer Update Montreal Expos team set, for a dollar. The missing card? Pete Rose. A 1984 Fleer Update Pete Rose is high on my list of most desired cards. But don't have any of the Expos from this pretty rare set. For a buck, you can't do better than that.

1984 Fleer Update Fred Breining / Gary Lucas

Breining get an actual Expos photograph. Topps only made poorly airbrushed Expos uniforms on his 1984 Topps Traded and 1985 Topps card. Lucas gets your standard standing in the middle of Jack Murphy Stadium's outfield photo. Not very exciting.

1984 Fleer Update Andy McGaffigan / Derrel Thomas

Now McGaffigan's card is one of my new favorites. He's standing on the third base side of the field. Over his shoulder, you can see the new stadium construction, going on at Jack Murphy in 1984. Adding thousands of new seats for the San Diego Chargers, completing the wrap around second and third deck. Thomas played in 108 games for the 1984 Expos, and is shown at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Always recognizable by the yellow and orange sections of the upper deck.

1990 Classic Pink - Derek Parks

Hmmm... A Junk Wax Era Twins prospect card I didn't have before. This was one of the 2 cards in the 1990 Classic Pink Twins team set, the other being Kent Hrbek. Which I got from a Fairfield Repack, many years ago. This came from the same ebay seller as the 1984 Fleer Update Expos team set. Also costing $1. Since I already had the Hrbek, I basically paid $1 for Derek Parks. The Twins first round draft pick (10th overall) in the 1986 MLB Draft. As a backup catcher, he played sporadically for Minnesota between 1992 and 1994. Batting only .200/.258/.292 with 1 home run and 10 RBI, over 125 total plate appearances.

Wonder how long it's been since someone else paid $1 for a Derek Parks card?

Along the same lines of an obscure Twins prospect appearing unexpectedly in an overlooked team set... I specifically bought the 2002 Upper Deck Twins team set for one card.

2002 Upper Deck Todd Jones / Mike Jackson

It wasn't either Todd Jones or Mike Jackson. Two long time veteran relievers, mostly associated with other teams, were acquired to help the 2002 Twins bullpen. It brought them to the 2002 ALCS, so it was a smart and effective move. But I already had 2 of both of their cards.

2002 Upper Deck David Ortiz

It wasn't even for a Twins future Hall of Famer that I didn't already have. I wish he could have figured it out in Minnesota, and I also wish the Twins would have allowed him to be the player he became. 

2002 Upper Deck Doug Mientkiewicz / Torii Hunter

Also needed both of these guys.

2002 Upper Deck Joe Mays / Brad Radke

Needed Radke, had the Mays. Felt the need to include it because of that silver foil All Star Game logo. Just to have record that Joe Mays was an American League All Star in 2001.

2002 Upper Deck Chad Allen

Needed Chad Allen as well. Former 4th round draft pick (1996), had a strong rookie season in 1999, batting .277/.330/.395 (10 home runs) over 137 games. He looked to be a building block, but injuries cut his development. Allen bounced around the league until 2005, playing for the Indians, Marlins and Rangers, but never appearing in more than 21 games after leaving Minnesota. 

But the card I wanted most from this team set...

2002 Upper Deck Ryan Mills

Why does Ryan Mills have a card in the 2002 Upper Deck set?

He was the Twins 1st round draft pick (6th overall) in the 1998 MLB Draft. He had not posted much of prospect worthy numbers since signing with Minnesota. Which sucked because I was rooting for his success. Projected as a durable left handed strikeout pitcher, I wanted him to pair up with Radke, giving with Twins some strong rotation anchors going into the 2000's. When 1999 Topps Traded was released with 1 random prospect autograph per boxed set, the set I bought had an autographed Ryan Mills card inside. So I was in on Mills and the Twins. Unfortunately injuries and control problems doomed Mills MLB fate. 

I knew of Ryan Mills for several years before the Twins drafted him. As a regular subscriber to Baseball America, I would see advertisements for Dick Mills Science of Pitching videos. Dick Mills was a former pitcher in the Boston Red Sox organization, who appeared in 2 games for the 1970 Red Sox. In the mid 1990's, Mills was coaching baseball and selling his Science of Pitching videos through the mail, and later online. Each ad featured his son Ryan, and how his program helped him throw harder. So being drafted by the Twins out of Arizona State University, was just awesome to me!

Since he didn't pan out, I didn't look for any cards. Then I saw his name on the checklist and yup... I need this card.

1998 Topps Chrome - Bob Tewksbury - Refractor

And I also needed a Bob Tewksbury Refractor on a Twins card!

Over the summer, I decided to pull the plug on many incomplete sets I started and never finished over the years. So I broke them down, pulling the major rookies and Top Loadering them. separating the Twins, Expos and Rockies cards, then any other cards I deemed worthy of holding onto. Most of the commons were recycled. At this point of shaving bulk, if I can get rid of several thousand in a day, guess where they're going... 

I was missing around 30 cards for the 2001 Topps set. 23 years after I started. This is after I got rid of everything I didn't want, and in the process of sorting by team. There's a bunch of broken 2004-2010 Topps sets in here. Do like all of the team photo cards at the front of each team bin. All except the Cardinals. That was one of the 30 or so cards I was missing from this set.

Another one I called it quits on. Was about 45 cards short on this set. I debated this one for a bit. I liked the simple design, but a lot of the cards became redundant when viewed in bulk. This time it's the team ballpark cards. (With the exception of the Cardinals and Mets, who got disembodied floating heads on their team cards. As did the Rockies.) For being the newest stadium (at the time), the Nationals sure had a boring photo.

In addition to the two above mentioned incomplete sets, I decided to break apart Topps sets from 1997, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. Also a 1996 Collectors Choice set, 1995 and 1996 Donruss, 1995 Fleer, 1993 Ultra, 1992, 1994 and 1995 Pinnacle. And the shelves those boxes were on are a lot emptier!

While doing all this sorting stuff, I have to say the Beckett Almanac has been a valuable reference.

A side project that also needed attention was adding in all of the new Twins, Expos and Rockies cards. Those are all separate from this big sorting project, because those three teams have been finished. With the exception of new additions, those collections are all sorted the way I want them. 

If I don't already have them, they go in these albums. If I do have them, they go into a box of sleeved cards, sorted by player. in the case of the above box, it would be the entire box, 

I need to make more binder labels for these albums...

Because I had to expand to allow for these new arrivals, and I made those labels in 2017.

1983 Donruss - Gary Carter

Can't believe I didn't have this card before. 

1999 Finest Milestone Home Runs Refractors - Vladimir Guerrero

Topps put some nice serial numbered inserts in Finest, starting in the late 1990's. This Guerrero is 367/500. A nice touch is the card back is a Refractor, as well.

In 2001, Topps released their first Heritage set, based on the 1952 Topps set. I bought a few packs and was rather bored by it. Just didn't click with me. It quickly gained popularity, driven by set collectors chasing the short prints. Of course I didn't get one Expos card out of the packs I did buy, so I jumped at the complete team set for $7.

2001 Topps Heritage Carl Pavano / Dustin Hermanson / Javier Vazquez

1952 works for cards of Yankees, Red Sox and other teams that were around then. Seeing the Montreal Expos on a 1952 Topps card is still a little odd to me.

2001 Topps Heritage Orlando Cabrera / Lee Stevens / Justin Wayne

Poor Orlando Cabrera and Justin Wayne, having to play today's game during a nuclear holocaust.

I really hate those red Expos caps.

2001 Topps Heritage Miguel Batista / Vladimir Guerrero

The blue and green fake background works much better.

Expos Refractors was the theme of last summer's round of ebay purchases.

1999 Finest - Josh McKinley - Refractor

Great looking card of a failed 1998 first round draft pick.

2002 Bowman Chrome Rookie Flashbacks - Larry Walker

Walker's actual 1990 Bowman card is my favorite of all Larry Walker's 1990 rookie cards. So you gotta have a Refractor of it! Couldn't imagine a 1990 Donruss Larry Walker Refractor... They'd all be ugly red parallels...

2002 Bowman Heritage Chrome Refractor - Lee Stevens and Orlando Cabrera

These are nice looking cards. Going to try to find more from this set.

2002 Topps Chrome - Jeff Torborg - Refractor

Torborg kind of looks like my old neighbor. Nothing against Torborg, but there had to be a bunch of disappointed collectors who bought a box and Torborg was your hit. Even I would have been disappointed by that. Happy to buy it for $1 today!

2002 Topps Pristine Encased - Cliff Floyd

Drafted by the Expos in the first round (1991), 14th overall. He spent his first 4 major league seasons in Montreal, but was traded to the Florida Marlins, after the 1996 season. His career took off with the fish, and by 2002, the Expos were the abused stepchild of MLB. Owned by the other 29 teams, and run on such a tight budget the team wasn't allowed to expand their roster in September. The only MLB team confined to a 25 man roster, while playing opponents with 30 or more players available.

But in the summer of 2002, the Expos were surprisingly competitive. Entering July, they looked like they could compete for the Wild Card. Appointed Expos General manager, Omar Minaya, traded off the Expos crop of prospects (and a little salary) to acquire Bartolo Colon, from the Indians, and bring Cliff Floyd back from the Marlins. I was shocked and excited... Then the Expos collapsed through July and Floyd was forwarded to the Boston Red Sox, just 19 days later. 

For whatever reason -and I thank them for it- Topps decided to honor Floyd's 15 games with the 2002 Montreal Expos, with an Expos card (and encased Refractor parallel) in the high end Pristine set.

Topps has been off and on with the Pristine brand, which has never been a product I've bought packs of. I'll pick up singles of players I like when I find them, but they don't show up very often outside of the internet. Which is where I found the 2023 Topps Pristine Twins team set!

2023 Topps Pristine Carlos Correa

Correa looks like he just hurt himself.

Almost like the precise moment Plantar Fasciitis kicked in.

2023 Topps Pristine Byron Buxton Base & All Star

Buxton gets two cards in this rather small set.

2023 Topps Pristine Luis Arraez All Star

Those are some terrible All Star Game uniforms. Some of the best news in my mind came out after the season. MLB had to respond to a lot of negative feedback from fans, media and most importantly, the players, regarding the changes Nike has implemented with the uniforms. MLB stated they were be going back and undoing some of the changes that Nike made to the MLB uniforms. Among them:

Returning the player names on the jersey backs, to their previous height.

Ditching the printed patches and going back to stitched patches. 

Changing the fabric back to the previous material, that didn't get sweat through by the 3rd inning.

And most importantly...

The All Star Game will go back to the players wearing their team uniforms. No more of whatever hideous ideas Nike vomited up to create an American League and National League wardrobe, each season. Everybody involved wanted the players to represent their teams, at the All Star Game. I'm sure Nike will make just as much money off All Star Game merchandise, that they don't need to make the players look like fan created video game teams.

I hate Nike so much...

But yeah... Luis Arraez was a 2022 American League All Star for the Twins...

Which is something to keep in mind with the next card..

2023 Topps Pristine Max Kepler Wrong Back

My team set arrived with 2 Max Kepler cards. One of them had the normal back of his card. The other one had the back for Luis Arraez, who is shown with the Marlins. 

I thought were building a contender. They made the playoffs in 2022, with a young team built on pitching. They traded excess pitching to the Twins, to get Arraez. Then the Marlins imploded. Derek Jeter walked out on them. A front office power play led General Manager Kim Ng to walk, and she put this team together. 2024 was spent tearing the team down. AGAIN. 

Arraez ended up in San Diego. A team where he is a much better fit.

2023 Topps Pristine Justin Morneau & Joe Mauer

And some token legends to round out the team set. Laura got this Morneau card before I did. But she also has a dazzling Refractor parallel of it, which I do not. It's a really nice looking card.

And Joe Mauer. 

In honor of his technically acceptable, but utterly boring, Hall of Fame induction speech, I'm calling for an intermission.

******

Intermission - Computer Tragedy Update!

Long time readers may remember my 2004 era Mac PowerBook G4 took a dump on me, back in August. With help from a Mac guy much smarter than I, the computer was wiped clean and started fresh. The machine is updated as far as it can go, so I can't use any new software. Luckily, I have a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 3, which was released in 2007. 

I entered the serial number and activated my 30 day trial. Which in the past, never actually ended. 

So I was under the impression thing would go the same way, this time around...

(Odd yellow tint courtesy of a problem with the monitor of the laptop. Which broke about 2 years ago.)

What I didn't know was that in 2017, Adobe stopped supporting CS3. Meaning it could no longer be activated. And if it was activated, it would no longer run. This is how I was able to use it from January 2014 (when I installed it), until now. Other people's copies died years ago.

October 20, 2024.

My copy of Adobe CS3 officially died.

I thought I could fool the software by uninstalling it and re-installing it. Adobe said "Nope".

I get it. It's their right to build a doomsday device into their software. Kind of shitty to do, but I guess it’s their software to do with as they please. So now I’m looking for Photoshop alternatives that work on 20 year old Macintosh laptop computers. I may be out of luck on that venture…

******

So back to organizing the collection!

New Baseballcardland has a closet that consists of deep shelves. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for my needs. Except I've never utilized it to its fullest potential.

For example, one shelf has been used as an Empty Wax box graveyard. Until I get a chance to scan them, or at least take decent pictures, I want to keep one of each. This was already thinned out last Winter, but has filled up again as more stuff was uncovered. Guess it's more empty box purgatory than a graveyard.

As it has unfortunately been since we moved in.

This is the same shelf on January 1, 2021.

In September I condensed all this by flattening the keepers and tossing the duplicates. Some blasters I liked (the Garbage Pail Kids for example) are kept and used as placeholders in monster boxes, to keep cards from sliding down.

For now, this shelf is temporary storage of various sized empty storage boxes. From 1000 all the way down to 100. Some from recent partial sets I broke up, and others from sets I broke many years ago.

Another miscellaneous contents shelf, sits above. Expos, Twins and Rockies cards, boxed in Top Loaders. Plus some card supplies and other various empty boxes I'm keeping for now. Saving those 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary for a future story. The others I just liked. Except the 1991 Score box. Broke that set many years ago, but it's a good storage box for commons.

Opposite the closet, is a table for sorting. Temporary storage until these cards are moved to less temporary storage.

Top Loadered cards for all the other teams. A bunch more need to be added to these boxes. Some of which are on the table opposite this shelf. And there's a grand total of zero Charlie Blackmon cards in these boxes.

Obviously, Charlie Blackmon's cards are mixed into the various Colorado Rockies boxes and albums. Which I'm mentioning because Charlie Blackmon decided to retire at the end of the 2024 season.

On the last day of the season, the Rockies honored Blackmon with a brief ceremony at home plate. he was give a framed picture, with his family on hand. I got to see about five seconds of it on MLB Network. If it wasn't Charlie Blackmon's last game, MLB Network probably wouldn't have mentioned the Rockies that day...

2011 Topps Update - Charlie Blackmon

I watched Charlie Blackmon debut for the Rockies in 2011. He quickly became a favorite, despite him not becoming an everyday player until 2014. Coincidentally, that year was when he developed his trademark beard and mullet combo. I remember an interview in 2015 (I think), where he explained the mullet as being more of a French thing. He pronounced it "moo-LAY". 

Pretty sure he was just trolling the sideline reporter. Blackmon was known for his dry wit.

His look became the face of the Rockies. He was by far their longest tenured player since Todd Helton (whose career crossed until 2013), on a team desperate for an identity. Which starts over again with his retirement. The Rockies are an expensive mess of poor leadership an even poorer baseball decisions. 

Was Kris Bryant ever going to be the answer? Rockies ownership paid $182 million to ask that question. Money they couldn't pay Nolan Arenado. Breaking up that Blackmon/Arenado pairing that evolved out of the CarGo/Tulo era of the 2010's. 

I miss Colorado...

2024 Topps Heritage - Charlie Blackmon

The hair and beard are somewhat fitting on the 1975 Topps design.

The only thing out of place is that damn Nike swoosh. 

Also, why don't I own a certified Charlie Blackmon autographed card?

Gotta do something about that...

On September 29, 2024, Charlie Blackmon took his place in right field, for his last game in the Major Leagues. Don't know what his future plans are, but I'd love to see him get into broadcasting. He's too entertaining of a talker to not be on television. 

Perfect analyst for MLB Network.

I have no segue...

1998 Donruss Significant Signatures - Jim Catfish Hunter

I've always liked the 1998 Donruss Significant Signatures cards, and wanted to buy one at a decent price, if I found one. Without too much prejudice on the featured player. Almost like buying a wax box, and getting a significant hit, without having to deal with all of the 1998 Donruss base cards. Although I kind of liked 1998 Donruss... Catfish was a mid-summer pickup from Rob's Vintage Sports Cards in Golden Valley, MN. I wrote about them in my 1961 Minnesota Twins program story. 

According to Wikipedia, Catfish died in September 1999, about a year after he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease. These cards were likely signed in mid to late 1997. Given his death preceded the big  hobby push for autographed hits by just a year or so, there aren't a whole lot of Catfish Hunter certified autographed cards out there. 

Perfect hit from my fictional wax box!

2007 Finest - Glen Perkins - Green Refractor

Former Twins closer and current part time TV color guy, in Finest Rookie refractor parallel flavor.

Nice how the overly intrusive border actually frames a really awkward picture. 

2017 Bowman Chrome National Sports Collectors Convention - Rod Carew

This a really cool card. 

Only $1 on the ebays!

2023 Topps Silver Pack - Joe Mauer

As was Mauer.

I much prefer the "Silver Pack" treatment on the 1988 Topps design to the 1989 version from this year. I'm looking forward to the next three years. 1991 and 1992 because I liked those designs, but 1990 for how the colored borders will work in Refractor parallels.

The next two cards are from Rob's Vintage Sports Cards, bought in person, for $1 each. No shipping!

2024 Topps Museum Collection - Kirby Puckett

While I've never bought a pack of Topps Museum Collection, I think this is the laziest design they've come up with. Topps cards are at their worst when they overdo redundant shapes to fill the borders. 

2024 Topps ProDebut Chrome - Brandon Winokur - Refractor

I'll always roll the dice for $1 on nice Refractor parallels of pretty much any Twins prospect. Winokur shows potential as a power/speed outfielder, and at only 19 years old, he didn't look overmatched in A ball. I was surprised he is only ranked 16th among Twins prospects.

Hopefully he develops better hitting skills than this former Twins power hitting prospect with NO speed...

2016 Bowman Chrome - Byung-Ho Park - Autograph - Blue Refractor

I've wanted a Byung-Ho Park - Autograph since he first signed with Minnesota, on December 1, 2015. It popped into my head last spring, and I found this on ebay for $20. Which wasn't significantly more than his simple base autograph. I put it in my watchlist and forgot about it. Three months later, I get an email from the seller, offering it to me for $17. 

Oh yeah! I totally meant to pay you $20 for it, back in March!

Now I will give the Twins credit, they actually did cough up some money to gamble on the international market. It just hasn't worked out. Park was coming off back to back seasons of 50+ home runs for the Nexen Heroes of the KBO. Minnesota won a posting bid of $12.85 million, then signed Park to a 4 year $12 million contract. 

In August 2016, I went to a Twins game to watch them lose to the Houston Astros. Walking around before the game, I found a sweet custom made Byung-Ho Park jersey, worn by a fan in the left field bleachers.

Byung Ho Park debut with the Twins in April 2016. but he only hit .191/.275.409, with 12 home runs in 62 games. Minnesota optioned him to Triple A, and never recalled him. He was put on waivers in February 2017, and removed from the roster. No team was interested in taking on the remaining $9 million and 3 years on his contract. After spending all of 2017 with the Rochester Red Wings, Park asked to be released from his contract, to go back to Korea. Forfeiting $6 million, just to leave. 

That's pretty honorable.

It was a similar situation to the time Minnesota traded away a very good shortstop in J.J. Hardy, to Baltimore for absolutely nothing. But it freed up money needed for the Twins to import...

I can't believe how few certified autographs there are of Tsuyoshi Nishioka...

Okay, enough about failed Twins international signings.

Let's look at the 2002 Donruss Champions Montreal Expos teams set, from the ebays, for $4.

2002 Donruss Champions Termel Sledge / Vladimir Guerrero

Actually pulled a Termel Sledge autograph, out of the only pack of 2003 Playoff Absolute that I bought. That card looks very similar to this one, except it's all foilly. And Guerrero of course. I already had this card. But I'm not complaining about a duplicate.

2002 Donruss Champions Jose Vidro / Andres Galarraga

Love photos taken inside Olympic Stadium. The colors are so defined primary, secondary and that's it. Also nice to see Galarraga getting a card, commemorating his 2002 return to Montreal. After his run in Colorado saved his career.

2002 Donruss Rookie Crusade - Endy Chavez

As I was picking out ebay Expos, I didn't realize at first that Chavez is wearing a Kansas City Royals uniform. He was one of my favorite Expos. Made some incredible plays in left field. His defense gave him some staying power, Chavez played parts of 13 seasons in the Major leagues, between 2001-2014.  

2005 Topps Chrome - Livan Hernandez - Refractor

The Expos had already left Montreal, but Topps gave them one last hurrah, with some very attractive Refractors in the 2005 Chrome set. The 2005 Topps Chrome Update set featured the debut of the Washington Nationals, in Refractor parallel form. 

2024 Topps Silver Pack - Vladimir Guerrero

Thanks to Guerrero, Topps has a go-to legend to keep giving the Expos representation in their insert sets. So it gives me a few new Expos to chase each year. I like this one quite a bit.

At least I know where to store it...

******

Once I had completed that last wave of sorting in September, I began the next phase in October, 2024.

At the time of this photo, these boxes were partially sorted 2024 cards. They had been kept separate from the other sorting boxes, but I decided I wasn't likely to pick up a bunch more 2024 product. Well, probably Stadium Club will see some of my money. Sitting behind those boxes are some small multi-color post-it notes. I've done a poor job of labeling boxes as I sort, so I picked these up to color code the boxes as I put them together.

And these are the boxes that need to be combined:

Never would have imagined that I'd have these six boxes, plus another 20 full of the same type stuff. About 25 years ago, my dad welded up this handy shelf on wheels, that can hold six monster boxes. Currently holding the original six, all sleeved singles, sorted by team, from 1974-2019. Minus what I had removed to put a series of team albums together, a few years back.

So yeah... I gotta thin this out significantly!

When Pal's Sports Cards closed up shop last year, I bought this shelf that holds 12 Monster Boxes. Right now, they have 1 box of Expos, Twins and Rockies commons and 1 box of non-baseball cards. Then 9 Monster boxes, filled with sleeved singles from 2005-2023. These boxes were put together  through most of 2023, and will be combined with the 6 boxes sitting on the cart a few feet away.

9 more Monster boxes sit in my office (2 not pictured) of even more 1974-2023 sleeved and unsleeved singles. This is from the most recent round of sorting, completed in September. Everything that was pulled out of the 2005-2019 albums combined with the last round of broken incomplete sets, and other new arrivals from various years. They will also be mixed in with the 15 boxes on the other side of the wall. 

Annnnnnnnd....

Combined with all of the albums on the shelf. That's my big winter project. I fully expect it to last into early 2026, at least. 

The upper left shelf is empty albums. The lower right shelf is sleeved Expos Twins and Rockies cards. The one above it is miscellaneous sets and stuff. The upper right and two lower left shelves are full of the previously assembled team albums. Stars, Rookies, Inserts and favorite commons, sorted by team, chronologically from 1974-2004, where I stopped. Looking back, it was a project I shouldn't have started, since I didn't have everything else available. To properly deal with this many cards, I have to have them all in one place first. Then I can properly eliminate based on the criteria of "Is it worth it to me to keep this card?"

I've already decided the "sell" boxes are going to lean very heavy on my least favorite teams. I certainly don't want to keep many Red Sox, Astros, Dodgers, Yankees, Braves or Rangers cards. 

Last spring I wrote out the plan for the rest of the card sorting. This would be in effect AFTER everything is combined and I make the keep/sell judgement for each card I still have. What I choose to keep, will be stored accordingly. I'm going to redo the albums I started a few years ago. This time with a much better idea of what they should be.

******

Before even starting on the Monster Box combining, I figured I should get a couple more for temporary storage. So I looked at the Googles to see if there were any card store options closer than Golden Valley. Then I found...

AME Sports recently opened a shop in northern Anoka, MN. In a convenient location to my house! 

My initial visit brought the 2 additional Monster Boxes I needed, plus the always fun digging through dollar boxes!

2021 Bowman Draft Chrome Refractor - Chase Petty 

The Twins traded Petty to the Cincinnati Reds for Sonny Gray, in early 2022. Less than a year after drafting Petty, towards the end of the first round. I'd hoped he'd become a middle of the rotation starter at best, or a power reliever if he needed to shift to the bullpen. Or would he quickly flame out due to injury or control problems? Well, he made it to AAA last year, with good numbers for only being 21 years old. He's currently the 9th ranked prospect in the Reds system, according to MLB.

Minnesota got two decent seasons of Sonny Gray in our rotation, and got a compensation 2024 draft pick (33rd overall), when Gray signed with the St. Louis Cardinals, after the 2023 season. They used that pick on Kyle DeBarge, an infielder out of the University of Louisville. DeBarge put up a .235/.322/.343 line, in 115 plate appearances with Low A Ft. Myers. We'll see how he develops, but it seems like a good trade for both teams.

2023 Bowman Draft Chrome Refractor - Luke Keaschall

The Twins second round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, has posted some impressive numbers over parts of two seasons. Before getting shut down for Tommy John Surgery in August 2024, Keaschall made it to AA Wichita for 59 games (after 44 games at High A), posting a .281/.393/.439 line. Overall, he's batted .300/.419/.482, since signing with Minnesota. 

The Twins have seemed pretty good at picking middle infielders lately.

2022 Bowman Chrome Mega Box - Alejandro Pie - Aqua

Sometimes you throw a couple of bucks at a card because it looks cool. 

And Pie has already disappeared of the Rays top prospect lists. 

Doesn't appear in any Rays Pie Charts either...

I'm hilarious.

Anyways... One of the coolest things I found was a copy of Sports Illustrated, from July 21, 1969.

With a cover story featuring Twins manger, Billy Martin, who was leading the 1969 Twins to a first place finish.

Special thanks to William B. Knapp. Without whom, I would never have found this magazine!

The story covers Billy Martin's post-playing career. From a Twins scout, to first base coach, to managing the Twins AAA club, the Denver Bears. His work impressed Calvin Griffith so much that he named Martin Twins manager for the 1969 season. 

Martin's managerial style included being very aggressive on the basepaths, the story details Martin's success in stealing home. Minnesota was in first place in large part to Martin getting the team running. Rod Carew especially flourished under Martin's guidance.

Of course there are stories of Billy's feuds with other players and managers. You can't tell the Billy Martin story without including stuff like that. 

Roy Blount Jr. (author) did include details about his life outside baseball. Humanizing him in a story that could be interpreted as unfavorable. 

Buuuut... 

The story ends with Martin talking about a mound conversation with Twins pitcher Dave Boswell, saying he was tired after being asked if he felt okay to finish the game. "After the game I told Boswell, Now you've come of age. Now you're interested in the ball club."

Boswell told him: "You're the first man I've ever told the truth to." (I'm assuming that is only in the context of a pitching mound visit.)

Martin wrapped up with his reaction to Dave Boswell's answer: "Talk about something rewarding..."

Awwww...

In a hilariously ironic twist, a few weeks after this issue hit newsstands, Dave Boswell and Twins outfielder Bob Allison, got into a fight outside of a bar. Billy Martin jumped in and punched Boswell "at least 20 times". Calvin Griffith almost fired Billy after the fight, but chose to keep him on. The Twins were in first place, after all!

Right on my fine middle-aged leathery looking friend!

I think I’ll go and get a real good thing, right now!

And now that I'm back, here the last new card from AME Sports that I want to mention.

2024 Bowman Chrome - Walker Jenkins - Fuchsia Lunar Glow Refractor

When I found out that Walker Jenkins 1st Bowman cards would be in the 2024 set (instead of 2023 Bowman Draft, which I saw very little of), I wanted to buy a decent Refractor. Obviously one of the really low numbered cards would be out of my price range. Even his base autograph is outside my price range today. Though I really want one. Jenkins has an interesting signature. I just needed to find a Refractor that compliments the photo, falling in the middle range of his serial numbered cards.

Well, AME had a Fuchsia Lunar Glow Refractor, numbered out of 199.

For a price I had zero issue with. 

Of the #2 ranked prospect according to Major League Baseball!

So that Googles search was a positive for multiple reasons!

That was probably my happiest card store purchase of 2024.

So it's just right that I include my happiest ebay card purchase of 2024.

1991 Topps Desert Shield - Jeff Innis

I finally bought one. Wanted it for decades.

There's no justifyable reason that I did not already own this card. 

And it was only $5!

I do plan on a rewrite of my Jeff Innis tribute story. 

So look for that... Someday...

Well, back to sorting...

25+ Monster Boxes aren't going to combine themselves.

Wish they would...

******

Due to overwhelming demand, I have created a handy index with sorted links to all of my baseball stories.

The Baseball Stories

This fits alongside the indexes of Minnesota Stories and Colorado Stories.

So if that interests you... Go! Have at!