On the Radar - 2022 Topps Chrome Update

 I was really hoping that the Diamond Greats Die Cuts would get the chrome treatment this year and they did!! Since Robin was in the set that also means he gets a nice die cut chrome card.  Not sure if there are any parallels yet, but I'll add to the checklist if there are.

2022 Topps Chrome Update - Diamond Greats Die-cuts #DGC-37

On the Radar - 2022 Topps Series 2 Yount Checklist

 As I write this Series 2 is just a week away and Robin has some cards to chase in this series too.  I'll add images as stuff starts showing up.

2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps All-Star Baseball Relics #87ASR-RY
2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps All-Star Baseball Relics #87ASR-RY Black

2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps All-Star Baseball Relics #87ASR-RY Gold

2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps All-Star Baseball Relics #87ASR-RY Platinum

2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps All-Star Baseball Relics #87ASR-RY Red
2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps Baseball Relics #87BR-RY

2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps Baseball Relics #87BR-RY Black

2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps Baseball Relics #87BR-RY Gold

2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps Baseball Relics #87BR-RY Platinum

2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps Baseball Relics #87BR-RY Red

2022 Topps (Series 2) - Diamond Greats Die-Cuts #DGDC-37

2022 Topps (Series 2) - Diamond Greats Die-Cuts #DGDC-37 Black #/299

2022 Topps (Series 2) - Diamond Greats Die-Cuts #DGDC-37 Blue

2022 Topps (Series 2) - Diamond Greats Die-Cuts #DGDC-37 Gold #/75

2022 Topps (Series 2) - Diamond Greats Die-Cuts #DGDC-37 Platinum #/1

2022 Topps (Series 2) - Diamond Greats Die-Cuts #DGDC-37 Red #/10

2022 Topps (Series 2) - Diamond Greats Die-Cuts Autographs #DGDC-14 #/10 or less

2021 Topps Series 1 - Platinum Players

Year: 2021
Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Flagship, Series 1

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Platinum Players

Card Number: PDC-22

Let's start the new year of baseball cards with a bang!!  Robin has a bunch of cards to chase in Topps Series 1 this year, you can check the full checklist out here.  But by far my favorite of the bunch so far has to be these Platinum Player die-cut cards.  I'm a sucker for gimmicks.  Whether it's die-cuts, minis, special material, whatever it is that makes the card stand out and different I'm all in.  A great looking design.  I don't recognize the image used, not that it hasn't been, but it doesn't stick out to me so that's also a big plus.  These also come with parallels so those will be fun to eventually track down, but I'm really hoping this insert gets the chrome treatment this year.  

2004 Donruss Studio Heroes of the Hall Die-Cut

Year: 2004

Manufacturer: Donruss

Set: Studio

Card Number: HH-10

Card Type: Insert parallel

Insert Set: Heroes of the Hall

Parallel: Die-cut

Card Attributes: Serial numbered

Serial number: 107/300

Still working through my Black Friday pick-ups.  Next up is the oldest card I picked up from this year's delivery.  I had to double check my master collection list when this card popped up on COMC.  The 2004 Studio set is full of great inserts and all those inserts have a ton of parallels and variations.  The Heroes of the Hall set is no different and after a quick double check to make sure I didn't already have this die-cut parallel I snagged it.  My apologies I cropped the photos a little too close up you can still the rounded edges.  That's the whole difference between this card and the base card and that it's numbered to only 300.  Like most inserts from the mid 2000's this card was designed for the relic and autograph parallels in mind.  

2014 Panini Hall of Fame - Crusades Orange Die-Cut

Year: 2014

Manufacturer: Panini

Set: Hall of Fame 75th Anniversary

Card Type: Insert Parallel

Insert Set: Crusade

Parallel: Orange Die-Cut

Card Number: 83

Card Attributes: Die-Cut, Serial Numered

Serial Number: 10/25

I was able to pick up 4 of the Crusade inserts from the 2014 Panini Hall of Fame 75th Anniversary Set.  The rarest of the four was this Orange Die-cut parallel card numbered to just 25.   While there are only 25 of these, this parallel is the most common of the die-cuts.  If you read any of my blogs you know I'm a sucker for gimmicks.  So give me a die-cut chromed out card with pretty colors and I'm all over it.  Give me a great price on it and it's coming home with me.

2016 Topps Stadium Club Legends Die-Cut

Year: 2016

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Stadium Club

Card Number: LDC-1

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Legends Die-Cuts

Card Attributes: Die-Cut

I recently added 7 new Yount cards to the collection. All from 2016 sets and 6 of those were all purchased with my latest order from Justcommons.com.  As is my MO I waited till I had 3 or 4 sets I needed to pick up cards for my Brewers team sets as luck would have it there were still a few Yount inserts to be had.  Besides having a base card and all the parallels to that in this year's Stadium Club set Robin is also featured in the Legends Die-Cut set.  

I'm a big fan of oddball cards and I consider the die-cuts a little oddball.  The card is Topps Chromium and is very shiney and did I mention die-cut?  These fall one per box, so out of a set of 10 a harder pull.

2015 Panini Cooperstown Crown Royal Silver Parallel

Year: 2015

Manufacturer: Panini

Set: Cooperstown

Card Number: 82

Card Type: Insert Parallel

Insert Set: Crown Royale

Parallel Set: Silver

Card Attributes: Die-cut, Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 63/75

I've been building a small stack of cards in my portfolio over at COMC.  While good deals on Robin's cards can be few and far between they do happen and I've been steadily picking up store credit with their Challanges and picking up cards when I find a good deal.  I ended up throwing $20  in my account as well this year, an early Christmas present to myself and it helped me get over the 20 card threshold for free shipping during COMC's big Black Friday promotion.  I picked up quite a few cards for my player collections.  The majority were for Frank Thomas, but I did get 8 new Younts which I will be featuring.

First up is the this very shiny Crown Royale insert card from this year's Cooperstown set.  I have yet to add a base card from the set to my collection, but I now have a very low numbered insert.  You can see Robin's full card checklist from the set here and an explanation of all the confusing inserts here.

I'm pretty happy with this one.  It was the second most expensive card I purchased for Black Friday, but was still very reasonable.

Tying up some loose ends

At the end of 2012 there were two Yount cards on my radar that I had yet to aquire.  Both had been going for way more than I wanted to spend and I had missed out until recently.

The first card was Robin's 2012 Topps Golden Giveaway Gold parallel die cut card.  I had picked up the regular card soon after people started getting them in hand, but this bad boy was always out of reach.  The seller was either always asking way too much or the auctions were ended way too high for my liking.  I finally got this one for well under what I wanted to pay.  I guess patience paid off in the end and I was getting a little worried.  There's a fine line on waiting too long.  Sometimes cards like this just disappear or you have only one seller who wants way too much.

The second card I needed was this 2012 Gypsy Queen Mini Relic card.  I had picked up the full size relic card a long time ago.  And seeing that 2013 Gypsy Queen is here already it was about time I finally got my hands on this one.  I'm not sure how many of these were made, but I know that a few of the veteran HOFer's were short printed and Mr. Yount's card was no different.  I had never seen more than a couple of these listed at anyone time and I was getting a little worried I had waited to long to try and go after it.  But recently another pair popped up on the ebay so I was able to pick this guy up for a great price.

That's most of the 2012 cards I need.  Sure Panini has a few from it's Cooperstown set I need, but I'm not in  a hurry.

2012 Golden Giveaway Die Cut

This card came out of Topps' lastest online promotion.  I remember seeing people try to sell these before they ever got them in hand and thought it was crazy. Because in order to get the card  you won you had to trade another card in your portfolio. 

Anyways these are now in hand and now I have one in my hand for the super collection.  These cards are absolutely beautiful in person. It came with a protective coating that I removed because it looked terrible. The cards are thick as well. They're about the size of a relic card.