Surprise Package from "The Sewing Machine Guy"

 While I've been around the Hobby for some time now, I really haven't been very active in the Hobby outside the small breaks I run weekly over in my Facebook group. During the heyday of this blog, I would receive trade packages and care packages on a regular basis. Since this blog here doesn't see the activity that it once did and pulling back from doing trades via the Trading Card Database site, the only mail I get now is bills (ugh) and the cards I purchase on eBay. Well, to my surprise I received a small bubble mailer at the beginning of this week and it was simply addressed to "Hops". I knew immediately who the sender was without even looking at the return address.

Larry, affectionately known as the Sewing Machine Guy, sent a small package of cards my way for no known reason other than he's just a swell guy. Inside was an assortment of Braves, Panthers and a few others. Let's take a look, shall we?

I'm not the biggest fan of Panini's unlicensed baseball releases, but the Unleashed Acuna is a great looking card and I'm glad to have it. The rest of the cards were from 2024's A&G set, which is a perennial favorite of mine. The Austin Riley is a Chrome parallel, an insert of Hank and two minis - the Maddox is an A&G back parallel and the Chipper will look great in my new binder I just made for him.

The next lot of cards contained a few different Carolina Panthers, most of which were RCs! The one that got me most excited was the Goodwin Champions Bryce Young. I've always like that Upper Deck set, just not enough to buy packs/blasters so this card is a very welcomed addition to the collection. The Prizm Draft card of Xavier Leggette is also a nice treat. While I'm not the biggest college football fan, I do live in SC so with him being pictured in his Gamecock carb is pretty cool. Now I just hope he can put his game together and be that #1 receiver we hoped he'd be when he was drafted.

I was already thankful for the cards included in the package, then I noticed there was a One Touch on the bottom of the stack with this 2023 Topps Allen & Ginter Framed Mini auto of Tom Glavine! I don't have many autos of Glavine so this was a very nice surprise!! 

Larry is a great guy and while I know he sent these cards my way because he is a good guy, the Glavine seems a little much to send "just because". Needless to say, I'm very grateful for the gift. The timing was pretty good too because it came on a day that I was rather frustrated and in bad mood...so these little squares of cardboard helped turn around the day just a little bit. Thanks bud!

2024 Topps Now #99 - Travis d'Arnaud

 

04/18/24 / 3-HR Showing Highlights 8-3 Win Over Rangers

Atlanta Braves catcher Travis d'Arnaud was nothing short of electric in his Club's meeting with the Texas Rangers last night. The veteran backstop collected three home runs and six RBI over the course of the contest, going long in the second, fifth and sixth inning. His sixth-inning blast was a grand slam, helping his team to take home the win, 8-3. Remarkably, d'Arnaud became just the third franchise player since at least 1901 to collect three dingers in a single contest with at least one grand slam.

2022 Topps Now - #688 Vaughn Grissom

  

When the Braves' second baseman, Ozzie Albies, went down with an injury a lot of Braves fans weren't sure what would happen next. Backup veteran, Orlando Arcia would eventually take Ozzie's place in the line up, however when he too went down with injury the Braves looked to their minor league system for an answer.

On August 10th, Vaughn Grissom made his MLB debut at Fenway Park. He was promoted from AA, the second player this season on the team to receive the call up. For some young players the bright lights of the big stage can be too much, but not for Grissom. The 21 year old collected his first career hit and a home run in his debut. He also stole a bag during the game, making him the youngest player in MLB history to hit a home run and still a base in their debut game. The Braves would go on to win the game against the Red Sox 8-4.

With Topps giving this card the Call-Up designation means his true rookie cards won't be seen until 2023 Topps Series 1. I hate having to wait that long to get more cards of Vaughn, but the way he's been playing at least he has a good chance at receiving another Topps Now card before the 2022 season wraps up!

Can We Talk About What Happened Last Weekend in NY?

As much as it pains me to say, the NY Mets were the better team last week/end when the Braves and Mets played 5 games over 4 days.

I felt pretty good about the Braves' chances going into the long series against the our divisional rival (?), even after losing the first game of the series Thursday night. The following night felt even better as the Braves' offense came to life in the first inning giving starting pitcher Ian Anderson more than enough run support to shake off any jitters he may have had. Credit to the Mets though as they didn't give up and made a nice push towards the end of the game to turn a blow out into a two run game.

I knew the Mets meant business and they proceeded to show that with a sweep on Saturday. Ugh. That divisional lead they had just kept growing and growing, adding another game between the two teams with another win on Sunday.

Despite what NY Mets fans may think, the season isn't over. As horrible as the Braves played, their season isn't over and winning the Division again isn't out of the question, but last week/end sure didn't help either.

I'll give credit where credit is due. This Mets have a good team. This isn't the 2021 team so anyone waiting for an "evitable Mets collapse" may be waiting for awhile. The Mets are built different than the Braves. They are able to play "small ball". put the ball into play more than a lot of the other teams in the league. Despite the Braves' normal stellar defense, when you put the ball into play anything can happen. We say that last week in New York. Call it luck, call it whatever you want, the Mets put the ball into play, the Braves made some errors and the Mets got on base and some scored. That's how the cookie crumbles. I do have to mention however that some Mets fans I saw posting online after the weekend were...well finally glad they were winning after Chipper Jones owned them?! I saw one fan say they were happy with a 4 1/2 game lead. "Happy"? Others made fun of pitcher Max Fried's hard fall to the ground on a hustle play. Did I expect anything else from their fan base? Nope.

The Braves however are a different team and score in a different way. Sometimes I feel like its a "feast or famine" approach. When their bats are alive, the ball is jumping out of the stadium. We saw that this past Friday night. However if the ball lands on the warning track instead of the stands, it's rough to watch sometimes. They just have a hard time manufacturing runs. Ronald Acuna hasn't been himself. Ozzie Albies is gone. We've got a different beau at first base. This isn't your 2021 Braves...but I'm not counting them out!

There are still a lot of things to like about this team and I will remain optimistic that they can still catch and surpass the Mets. It won't be easy...the Braves I'm told have the second hardest schedule over the remaining 50 odd games. It starts tonight in Boston against a struggling Red Sox team...which they can't overlook. Both the Phillies and Padres are on their heels for one of those Wild Card spots. I *think* I'm ready for the ride. I was nice having last night "off" however and I hope the team got their needed rest because if they want to have a chance of repeating as World Series champs, it's go time!

Care Package from SMG

The other day I had a package waiting for me in the mail box and it was simply addressed to "Hops". I knew immediately who the sender was without even looking at the return address. Larry, the Sewing Machine Guy had sent me a bubble mailer with cards for no other reason than him just being a cool guy.

Of course inside the bubble mailer were several Braves cards. This Detroit Tigers fan knows what I like after all! There were far more cards than the ones pictured, but these were some of my favorites. Dansby Swanson is one of my favorite Braves players so it was pretty sweet to get his Archives and Heritage RCs. Ian Anderson is another up and coming young player so finding another one of his RCs was also nice to see.

Thank you so much Larry for the nice little Braves care package...I'll make sure to put these cards to good use!

I Won a Prize from the 11th Annual the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web hosted by Collector's Crack!

 

As you all know by now, the Atlanta Braves won the 2021 World Series championship...but so did I...well, sort of. Cynical Buddha over at Collector's Crack hosted again his Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web this year and I corrected picked the Braves over the Astros! As promised, the winner would get a little care package in the mail that was carefully curated based on the winner's favorite team...so in my case that would be the Braves.

I figured it would be fun to record the opening of the package and my reaction to what was inside, so instead of a traditional blog post, let's do the video thing! 

Thanks again to Mark for the great cards and the easy contest. Let's do it again next year!!

It All Starts Tonight

To say that last Saturday night, 10/23/21, was a good evening for the Braves' and their fans is an understatement. A huge understatement. While the Braves entered the post season as the winner of the NL East, they entered as an underdog with just 88 wins...the lowest amount of any of the post season teams. However the Braves were one of the hottest teams down the stretch and momentum means everything.

After taking out the Brewers in 4 games, the Braves took on the Los Angeles Dodgers...again. Two years in a row that these two teams met in the NLCS, however this time things were different. Thanks in part to the Dodgers having a hard fought Divisional series against the Giants, the Dodgers weren't 100% entering the series. Neither were the Braves. In July the team lost arguably one of their best players in Ronald Acuna, Jr. Combine that loss with Mike Soroka not even making it out of Spring Training. The Braves could have folded in July when Acuna went down, but they didn't. Alex Anthopolis pulled off some impressive deals at the trading deadline, including picking up an (at the time) injured Eddie Rosario for Pablo Sandoval...who was released a mere 12 hours after Cleveland acquired him!).

Rosario would go on to be the NLCS MVP as his explosive offensive performance helped propel the Braves past the Dodgers. Combine his efforts with that of Joc Petersen (Joctober!), Adam Duvall and Jorge Soler, all whom were also acquired at the trading deadline, and the Braves completely remade their outfield. It all magically came together in this post season...at least so far. While the Braves enjoyed home field advantage against the Dodgers in the NLCS, they will not have that advantage in the World Series against the Astros...however I'm not too worried. They split in Milwaukee to open up  the Post Season, but only won one of 3 games in LA. However they were undefeated at home...so I'm hoping for at least a split in Houston, then a sweep at home. 

Yeah, while I'd like to see that happen, I don't really seeing it unfold like that. I think this series easily goes 6 or 7 games.

Regardless of what happens, I'm super happy for two guys in particular....Manager Brian Snitker and...

Freddie Freeman. A lot of was made about his status at the beginning of the year after the Braves failed to resign him in the off season. Freeman said he would not let that be a distraction and would not talk about contract negotiations during the season. He lived up to his words. While Freddie may not have been able to duplicate his MVP 2020 season, to see the pure joy on his face as the he caught the final out of the NLCS. Freddie has toiled through a lot of tough seasons and it's fantastic that he's being reward with a trip to the game's largest stage.

While making it this far has been a long time dream come true, I don't want to be one of those fans that just satisfied with making it this far. I believe this is the Braves' year. It's their time. No offense to the Dusty Baker and the Astros, but 2021 will be the year of the Bravos.

To keep the post card related, Topps surprised me yesterday when they released 12 cards highlighting the positions between the Braves and Astros. In a year where I've only missed picking up one 2021 Topps Now Braves card, the Braves' success in the playoffs this year is getting expensive! However I don't know when the Braves will be back on this stage this gobbled up these 12 cards did I do. It'll be fun looking back on this season and these cards will help. Of course I hope the last few cards I put in my Topps Now binder are cards of the team celebrating winning the World Series, it's been a great ride.

Atlanta Braves Care Package from a Cardinals Fan?

If it's been quite here on the blog it's because I've been moving. I never thought seriously about moving until this summer when the wife and kids started to apply some real pressure. I was a lot of work. I knew I had a lot of stuff, but until you have to put your hands on each and every item you have and pack it you don't really know how much stuff you have!

We got moved into the new home in early August and began to unpack. My new "hobby room" or "man cave" if you will was also the staging area for the movers...so it's taken some time to dig through all the boxes and try to find a new home for many of our things. Fast forward a few weeks and things are starting to come together. I've got a large built in bar in my new room and since I don't drink, I've decided to turn it into my desk for work. It'll also double nicely as a work space for my trading cards and toy photography (eventually). While I still have many boxes of misc. card stuff to unpack, the underside of the bar is making a great storage place for many of my card monster boxes and shoe box houses I use for my card collection.

While I'm still trying to find a home for everything, I got a rather large package the other week that I wasn't expecting. It was forwarded to my new address (thankfully) from the USPS as it was sent some time ago by one of my regular trading card break participants, Patrick W Ayers. Patrick has been grabbing his St. Louis Cardinals in my breaks for a good while now...at least when Kerry Biggs of Cards on Cards doesn't beat him to the punch), but he didn't mention anything to me about a package being en route. 

As you can see from the above image, the package was full of various Atlanta Braves gear. To be completely honest, I was glad that for a change someone didn't send me a box full of cards. While I'm always thankful for any type of gift sent to me, I still have so many 200 ct. boxes and larger full of cards I've been set that I've yet to catalog. To see a Homer Hanky, autographed baseball, a mini foam tomahawk and other items staring back at me was refreshing and fun.

While most of the package contained items other than cards, there were a few included. Across the top row were a few Dubuque autographed mascot cards of Rally and (now culturally insensitive) Homer the Brave. I believe these are some sort of food issued cards. If anyone can shed some light on these I'd greatly appreciate it.

The bottom row featured a chrome like sticker with the Braves logo and a Domino's Pizza card of Dale Murphy. I've never seen either of these so I was super happy to add them to the collection as I love odd ball stuff like this. I thought the sticker was something Panini released back in the day, but it is not.

Patrick must have known David Justice was my favorite Braves player as a kid because not only was there one of those 90's style card plaques, but also this Silver Star AuthenTicket. It's too bad the acrylic screw down slab its in was cracked because it looks great. The 90's era hologram card is awesome and reminds me of the old Denny's Grand Slam cards.

I've never messed around with much baseball memorabilia over my collecting years, but only because that was just another rabbit hole I didn't need to jump down. Included in the package was this encased autographed 1991 NL champions ball. I'm pretty sure the top signature is Braves "legend" Francisco Cabrera, but I can't quite make out the lower signature. Is that a "3B" underneath the signature? If you can make heads or tails of this, please let me know!

Call me silly, but I think my favorite item in the care package was this old touch tone Braves phone. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with the phone, but it's way too cool in a retro way to not keep. I'm trying to keep the bar area of the room trading card themed so I'll probably find a good place on the wall to mount it.

There were a lot of other cool items in the box and I can't thank Patrick enough for his kindness. It's been weird to have been so distant from the trading card community over these last few months and it's people like Patrick and others I interact with on a regular basis that make this community so great. 

As I'm getting unpacked and my room somewhat settled, I am slowly getting back to business with hosting my "famous" Affordable Group Breaks again. We'll fire it up tomorrow night, then we'll see what happens. I don't think I can return to the same schedule as I was doing before, but I am working on the details. Until then, we'll catch everyone on the next post...

It came from Arlington...

The other day I received a package from the great state of Texas...Arlington to be exact. I don't know why but when I saw the return address I immediate thought of King of the Hill.

Kin of Bean's Baseball Card Blog (@beansbcardblog) recently held a sale on his YouTube channel and I dropped by to see what all the hoopla was about. Turns out Kin had some really nice cards for a quarter a piece. I first asked what Carolina Panthers cards he had and as he was thumbing through them I found several I wanted.

2000 Collector's Edge Supreme Hologold parallel

Tshimanga Biakabutuka...man I love saying his name aloud. Tim's career in Carolina was cut short by injuries, only playing 51 games over 6 seasons, 35 games as a starter. He's one of those players that I often play the "what if" game. 

2010 Panini Crown Royale All-Pros / 2011 Topps Prime Aqua

From one Panthers running back to another, Jonathan Stewart is one of my favorite Panthers players. Not only did he impress me with his skills on the field, but his character off the field was just as impressive and made me even more of a fan of his. To date he's one of the few football players that I'll chase more than just base cards of.

I'm a sucker for die-cuts and certain parallels so both of these cards were easy pick ups. While I like what Panini has done w/ the NFL license, I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss Topps in the football card market.

2018 Panini Select / 2019 Panini Unparalleled

If we are talking about Panthers running backs we have to mention Christian McCaffrey, right? His stardom in the league has carried over to his cards so I don't have a lot of his cardboard. Anytime I have the opportunity of adding new cards of McCaffrey to the Panthers collection I'll jump.

After getting the Select card in hand, now I want the Prizm parallel (is that what it's called?). The Unparalleled cards are a little busy, but remind me of the old Pacific Prism baseball cards.

I really miss Greg Olsen playing for Carolina. Not only was he a good blocking tight end, he was also a phenomenal pass catcher. This 2018 Score All Hands Team captures his ability perfectly. From a year earlier we have Curtis Samuel's Score RC. I was big on him coming out of college. I still remember the local news stating that on the first day of training camp at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC, Curtis' mom dropped him off! While his first few years in the league have been up and down, I love how Coach Rhule and his staff have been using Samuel. Surprisingly I didn't have this RC...now I do!

These 4 cards I grabbed just because they stood out. Starting with the top left, 2010 Topps Finest Brandon LaFell Finest Atomic Rookie. Shiny and die-cut! We also have his 2010 Panini Classics Team Colors...just love the look of the card. 

To the bottom row, left we have a 2017 Panini Unparalleled Kurt Coleman Lime Green Escher Squares parallel. What stood out to me about this card was the inclusion of the RC symbol. Kurt's first year in the league was back in 2010 with the Philadelphia Eagles so I have no idea what Panini was thinking! Next is a 2013 Topps Platinum DeAngelo Williams. I think this is a parallel of some sort, but I can't quite identify this...still a nice looking card.

The last of the Panthers bunch is Luke Kuechly. Before Luke hung up his pads there were many a Sundays in Charlotte, NC where you could here chants of "Luuuuuuuke" being rained down from the stands. It was a black day in town when Luke stepped away from the game...another player that had to call it an early career due to the violent nature of the game.

I didn't have any 2014 Bowman cards prior to picking up this Kuechly. The 2017 Panini Classics card looks like a great set. The 2012 Leaf Draft set isn't the best looking, but for a quarter why not? Lastly we have a nice looking die-cut 2012 Panini Contenders Rookie of the Year Contenders insert. Easy purchase!

Next I asked Kin what Braves he had. He thumbed through quite a stack and I was surprised I found as many as I did.

2013 Topps Chrome Jason Heyward & BJ Upton Chrome Connections

I'm not sure I've even seen these die-cut Chrome cards before so they were an easy pick up, even if one of them was BJ Upton!

We have more shiny and die-cut cards in this lot. First its a 2015 Topps Finest Freddie Freeman base, then a 2015 Panini Prizm Julio Teheran Blue Prizm parallel. On the bottom row: 2013 Bowman Platinum Jason Heyward Gold parallel, followed by a 2020 Topps Decade of Dominance Hank Aaron die-cut insert.

The last batch of Braves cards all come from 2020 Topps. John Smoltz Decade's Best, Ozzie Albies & Freddie Freeman Turkey Red and finally a Austin Riley Decade's Next insert. With finding baseball cards in 2020 being such a chore I was glad to pick up a few cards of my team.

I really appreciate cheap sales such as this. I'm not sure if Kin is planning on doing anymore sales like this, but if he is you gotta jump on in and see if he has anything for your favorite team(s).

A Punch to the Gut

Excuse me while I cry over some bad news that hit me today like a 1-2 punch. While this isn't exactly a trading card post, as of today I learned that two great players for my teams will no longer be appearing on cardboard as one player signed with another team and the other retired from the NFL.

Today was a long day at work and by the time I got home my family had already finished eating dinner. I sat at the table by myself eating a great plate of spaghetti, thumbing through various social media accounts. I've been expecting news of where Josh Donaldson was going to land every day and again...nothing. By the time I got my girls tucked in bed and gave them good night kisses, I could feel the effects of the day wearing on me. I laid in bed, again playing around on my phone when I got the breaking news notification from the At Bat app...Josh Donaldson was no longer a Brave.

While I can't say that I'm shocked at the news, it's still disappointing. I loved watching the guy play last season. I loved his umbrella/bringer of rain gimmick and how he seemed to have so much fun playing the game of baseball and interacting with his Braves teammates. However the longer the hold out continued the less I thought he would return.

As @FakeDanUggla posted on Twitter this evening, "I feel like we dated Josh Donaldson when he was broke and unemployed, living in a van. We supported him emotionally and financially until he was back on his feet. Then he one day after all that growth decided he's better than us (Braves) and hooks up with some flooy in Minnesota". Well said @FakeDanUggla!!

I'm not sure what the future holds for the Braves now. Reports are they will platoon Johan Camargo and Austin Riley at the hot corner as they don't want to give up on their prospects for a rental of a player like Nolan Arenado or Kris Bryant. I have faith Riley can turn his offense around and be the stud that many Braves fans hope he can be. Only time will tell. Still sucks loosing JD's bat though. Let's be honest, Freddie Freeman had one his best years with JD batting behind him in the line up. Oughta be an interesting rest of the off season to see what AA and the Braves do next.

Oh yeah, the Braves also revealed the new name of their ballpark...Truist Park. Yeah, I hate it too.

While lying in bed, talking to my wife about the Josh Donaldson news I then see a video on Twitter posted by my hometown Carolina Panthers that Linebacker Luke Kuechly was retiring after 9 seasons. What?! Where did this come from? This was like Andrew Luck part 2!!!

The video was emotional and it was clear that Luke didn't want to walk away from the game, but he knew he had to...for his own health. While he didn't bring up his health as the reason, we know that is the case. He's suffered 3 concussions that we know of between 2015 and 2017. I stress the "we know of" portion of that statement because their could be more. Luke did say that he didn't feel he could play with the intensity and speed that he wants to. While he did gather All-Pro 2nd Team honors this season, fans here in Carolina could tell that Luke wasn't his normal self. However I don't think anyone saw this coming...especially so soon in his career.

While this isn't a good look for the NFL, I respect his decision to move on while he still can. He's only 28 and I imagine his long standing girlfriend may want him around for a little bit longer. Quality of life is something that you can't put a price tag on so kudos for him for knowing his body and when it's time to walk away and do something else.

The 2020 season will be a rebuilding year for the Panthers and it sucks that we have lost one of our cornerstones. I wish Luke all the best in the next chapter of his life and hope that one day we'll see him standing on the sidelines of the Panthers as a coach in some capacity.

Needless to say it's been a rough day in my household...

Christmas Cards (and not, I don't mean 2019 Topps Holiday)

Maybe a week ago I was tagged in a Tweet by @forgotaboutblay that some Christmas cards were on their way. A few days later a little bubble mailer showed up and inside was a thick brick of cards consisting of my 3 teams - Braves, Panthers & Hornets.

When the stack includes Chipper Jones cards you know you're in for a treat. I think I have this 1994 Bowman's Best, but it's such a great card I don't mind having a duplicate. I don't believe I've seen these 2005 Leaf Gamers cards before. It's printed in reflective silver foil and looks much better in hand. The same cam be said about the 1999 Fleer Ultra Diamond Mine. It's a very shiny card and from an insert set I'm not that familiar with.

Let's not forget about this 1997 Donruss Silver Press Proof parallel of former Braves slugger Ryan Klesko! Probably one of the more bittersweet cards in the stack was this 2011 Topps Chrome Refractor of Brian McCann. He announced his retirement this season after the Braves were eliminated in the NLCS by the Cardinals. This is a great photo of Brian and the Chrome Refractors are just so beautiful.

These two 2012 Panini Prime Signatures cards are think. The design is very minimal, but it works. Both are serially numbered with Jon Beason being 135/499 and Steve Smith being 120/499.

Another thick card in the stack was this 2014 Score Kelvin Benjamin Team Helmets. The helmet is made of rubber (?) and it's also a RC. Kelvin started off his career in Carolina pretty hot, but soon injuries started to plague his on the field performance. There were also issues with his attitude and diet and it wasn't long before Benjamin was on his way out the door to Buffalo and all of the Charlotte media was mocking him for his lack of a diet. It was actually entertaining radio at the time.

I haven't bought any of Panini's Unparalleled product before, but I do like this Perfect Pairs insert from the 2017 set. It shines great in hand and features two of the best defensive players ever to suit up for Carolina - Thomas Davis and Luke Kuechly.

I grew up watching many Hornets games in person at the old Charlotte Coliseum back in the day. I don't have a lot of Hornets cards from the mid to late 90's so these cards from 96-97 Fleer Ultra are great. I especially love the Anthony Mason card. He was so much fun to watch bang around in the paint. Vlade Divac came over from the Lakers in the now infamous Kobe Bryant draft/trade. Kobe was never going to play for Charlotte so I hate it when that topic comes up whether in the national or local media. The Tony Delk card is from an insert set called Rookie Encore. I remember him being an instant fit for the team and helped provide more scoring fairly quickly.

There were also a few 99-00 Fleer Ultra cards as well. Here we have Ricky Davis, Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell. I honestly don't remember much about Ricky or Elden, but Eddie was the one of the few star players the Hornets seemed to have during this period...well maybe outside of Baron Davis.

There were also many other cards in the brick that Dennis sent that I didn't share. I really appreciate being thought of and I appreciate the cards as well. All of them will find a nice home in my various collections. Thanks again Dennis, Merry Christmas!

Braves' Post Season Dreams Crushed

The Braves' post season dreams ended in dramatic fashion today. A few days ago many Braves fans, including myself, were feeling great about our chances in the NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals. Well all of that fell apart tonight in a way I don't believe many people ever saw coming.

Game 5, winner takes all. The Braves rolled out Mike Foltynewciz, winner of game 2. I was nervous with Folty pitching on short rest...especially after the way Kuechel pitched in game 4. I was finishing up work and rushing home to catch the first pitch. While I sat at the stop light on the off exit ramp I saw a notification on my phone that the score was now 0-1. Then 0-2 before I got home. Ouch. As much as I love Folty, I knew this wasn't good. By the time I walked in my front door, only minutes after the game, the score was 0-4. I sat down hoping they could put out the fire, but it was just too much for Folty. Manager Brian Snitker pulled Folty after 2/3rd inning and brought in 17 game winner Max Fried. Max walked the pitcher with the bases loaded. By the time the Braves finally made 3 outs the score was 0-10. This set a MLB Playoffs record...unfortunately the Braves were on the other side of that.

Now fans are asking what happened? The expectations were high. Yeah there were some naysayers in the media that were picking the Cardinals, but most had picked the Braves to reach the NLCS. So what did happen? Or shall I ask what didn't happen? The Braves were 5 for 39 with runners in scoring position. That's what happened.

Braves should have won this series. They should have won game 4. They had so many chances to score and couldn't. The Cardinals consistently was able to get a runner on base and then advance them. They played A-B-C baseball. The Braves couldn't. It's as simple as that.

The Braves were heavily scrutinized in the national media all throughout this series. From questioning Brian Snitker's managerial decisions, to Acuna's lack of hustle, plenty of people had their opinions about why this team fell apart in the post season. While I am pissed over what has transpired today, I have to give the Cardinals credit. They played hard. They never gave up. A lot like the Braves all season, they kept fighting until the very end.

The Braves locked up the NL East early and after winning they took care of the SF Giants in the following two games. Then more injuries claimed even more players on the already banged up roster. Snitker was put in a tough position. He needed to rest players like Acuna and Freeman, all while trying to figure out who would be on the Post Season roster. He played around with the line up, moving people around on the field trying to figure out what to do. As a result, the Braves basically limped into the Playoffs. This immediately had me concerned.

The Cardinals on the other hand had to play their best baseball to stave off the Cubs and the Brewers, only to win the division on the last day of the regular season. They were hungry. They were already running on adrenaline. The Braves were running on Icy Hot.

I don't care what Freddie says, his elbow was hurting him and effected his swing. I love Freddie. I love how he plays the game. I love how he puts this team on his shoulders night in and night out. In the post game interview tonight he squarely put the blame on him for not showing up. He was adamant that his elbow wasn't bothering him. Freddie isn't the type of guy to make excuses and I respect him for that. His lack of offense surely didn't help, but he wasn't the only one to "disappear".

As I type this post I'm watching the post game show on Fox Sports South and Brian McCann just announced his retirement. Dang. We all knew it was coming. He signed a one year deal. This was his 15th MLB season. McCann may not have provided a lot of offense during this series, however he was invaluable behind the plate.

With McCann's departure it opens the question of who else will be parting ways during the off season? There were several players on one year deals this year. Names like Josh Donaldson, Nick Markakis and Dallas Kuechel. I expect the team to look different next year. I don't know if Liberty Media, owners of the Braves will open their wallet to re-sign some of these guys. Both Donaldson and Kuechel have gone on record saying they want to come back, but this remains to be seen.

As much as this stings and will take some time to get over, I think this team is going to be hanging around for awhile. There is still an awful lot of young talent in the pipeline that we'll be seeing. The young players on the team will only get better. They'll learn from this experience...everyone will. The Braves will be back in 2020. After all, literally no one in the media picked the Braves to even win the division.

This sucks. To go out like this, a 13-1 clubbing is not the ideal way to exit the season. It's going to take a lot of time for me to get over this...but I'm a Braves fan through and through. I'm proud of what this team was able to accomplish this year. With every team there will be peaks and valleys and today the Braves just happened to fall off the peak and into a deep valley.

All season long different players stepped up and provided some memorable moments for the team. This was the first season in quite a while where I didn't want to miss a regular season game. The team was just too exciting not to watch. All the young talent, both on the mound and in the dugout. The gnarly veterans that were brought in to help with the young kids. The late season roster moves to bring in bullpen help and speed on the base paths. It was a great season. Thanks to the Topps Now program, at least I have a lot of great cards to remember these moments. Names like Adam Duvall, Matt Joyce, Billy Hamilton...players that don't often receive baseball cards. Fun times...well until tonight that is.

So, where to now? At least for me I get to turn more of my attention to my Carolina Panthers in the NFL. The new NBA season is just around the corner too. While my Charlotte Hornets aren't expected to do much, I'm excited about some of the changes made and will follow them through out their season. On the hobby front, I've got lots and lots of junk wax boxes that are waiting to be ripped. I'll be building most if not all of these sets so stay tuned for some box break posts and other stuff.

In closing, thank you Braves for a great year of baseball. I know it didn't work out the way that any of us wanted, but we have to deal with the cards we were dealt (no pun intended) and now we turn our focus to the off season and making preparations on coming back even stronger a few months from now when spring training gets underway.

#ChopOn

One of those "Better late than never" posts...

I've been meaning to get some real organization in place for my cards and various cardboard collections (no pun intended) and after a trip to my local LCS to pick up some supplies, I can finally start cataloging all of these stacks of cards on the corner of my desk.

It didn't take too long into one of the stacks before I came across two team bags with a index card from Dennis of Too Many Verlanders / Too Many Manninghams. This gift has been sitting here for at least 6 months. Perhaps you can better imagine the mess I have on my hands that I'm now trying to work through! In these stacks were lots of great cards for several different themes I have in my collection.

Of course there were plenty of Braves cards, including several Tom Glavines and a Johnny Estrada Topps Pristine relic.

Remember when Topps made football cards? I know you're super jealous of the super hot Dwayne Jarrett RC you see peeking out from underneath Steve Smith.

My favorite Carolina Panthers card in the stacks was this dufex infused Zenith team card. Jake Delhomme may not be well known outside of Charlotte (or Louisiana), but he is a "legend" in this area. Same goes for Julius Pepper, though this is from his first tour with the team. DeShaun Foster may not be the best well known Panthers RB in the history of the team, but they needed a third player so there you go.

I saw that there was a smaller card in one of the stacks, but never in my wildest imagination would I think it was a printing plate. Combine the fact that this is a Jonathan Stewart printing plate and I was/am over the moon! JStew is one of my favorite players of all time and I've got a nice little PC of his, but nothing this cool. Thank you so much Dennis!

Also included were cards of two players for what I call my "Faith Brothers" collection...Albert Pujols and Mariano Rivera. It's not that often I acquire cards of either of these players unless I'm at a show digging through nickle and dime boxes, so this was a nice surprise. As I sat down to catalog these cards it turned out that I didn't have about 95% of them. I guess this Braves guy just had a hard time keeping cards of a guy that killed our pitching or of a stinking Yankee!

Thanks again Dennis for your kind generosity and I apologize it took so long to share these...but as the post title says "better late than never".

Annual Trip to SunTrust Park - with bobbleheads, lots of HRs & even a Topps Now card

Living in the upstate of SC it takes a little bit of effort to get down to Atlanta, GA to see a Braves game, however my wife and I try to make it a point to take in at least one game each season. Back in the spring when we decided we'd catch a game we hit the schedule to choose when we'd go. Usually we try for a weekend game as it's easier for us to find someone to watch our girls, however this year I wanted to try to go to one of the games where a bobblehead was offered. Looking over the 2019 promotional schedule there was no shortage of games that were offering bobbleheads, but one stood out more than the others. It was none other than "Swanberson". Tuesday, June 11th it was. We purchased front row tickets in left centerfield for something like $22 each, booked our hotel that was within walking distance and then waited for the game.

Danby Swanson and super star utility player Charlie Culberson look like brothers that were separated at birth. Someone had the great idea to merge the two together to create this interesting looking bobblehead. This was limited to 15,000 and to be certain I got mine I was lined up outside the gates 3 hours before the game. I wasn't going to drive nearly 6 hours to this specific gate and miss out! My wife was very patient with me, even though I believe she was bored out of her goard waiting.

Assuming my wife doesn't want to keep her bobblehead, I'll have an extra to offer up in trade.

Even though I've been to SunTrust Park on several different occasions now, I still love walking through the area with all of the team's history displayed. At the center is this awesome bronze statue of Hank Aaron with a giant '755' made of bats. Above is a constant loop of the video of 755 as well.

While I would prefer sitting a little closer to the action, ticket prices in the outfield are just too good to turn down, so we selected tickets in left centerfield. We were wedged in between Ronald Acuna Jr. in center and Austin Riley in left. My last game I sat over the Braves bullpen and I didn't have a very good view of the scoreboard, but this time that wasn't a problem.

I had no idea the Braves would be this good this season. I was hoping of course last year wasn't a fluke and so far in the first half of the year they have turned out to be on the best teams in the National League if not the whole league. It was so fun sitting in the stands at SunTrust, feeling the electricity in the air. I can only imagine what it would be like there during a pennant race or playoff game. It also excites me for the 2021 All-Star game in Atlanta. I'm going to do my best to get tickets for that weekend.

The Braves hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates. Early on the game was to Pittsburgh's favor behind NC product Chris Archer. However the fireworks would start early for the Braves as Josh Donaldson would lead off the inning with a solo home run. Nick Markakis would follow up with his own solo shot. Next up was Austin Riley, however he wasn't able to muster a hit. Then Brian McCann stepped up to the plate with his solo shot, followed by Ozzie Albies. Two back to back home runs in the same inning. Unfortunately most of the HRs hit were to the right side of the field, but it made for an awesome game. Topps would commemorate this game with a Topps Now card the next day - limited to just 315 copies.

The Braves would go on to win the game 7-5. Josh Bell did his thing and made the game close with a late inning home run. Then the clouds rolled in and it quickly began to rain in the middle of the 8th inning. We found some shelter and hung around for about 45 minutes waiting to see if the game would resume. It was a pretty big storm and it was getting late so we decided to make our way back to the hotel. Thankfully we found some janitors that gave us each a big black garbage bag that we made into makeshift ponchos for the walk back. Not one of my finest moments, but at least I stayed (mostly) dry.

It was a quick trip to Atlanta, but it was a fun time. Depending on my work schedule and my wife's schedule, I would love to try and squeeze in another game in the 2nd half of the season. I don't know if it'll happen, but if the schedule allows I have a feeling that those same seats I had won't be as cheap if the Braves can keep up their current winning pace.