Instead of a want list I have switched to a bucket list. They're cards that I'd like to own at some point in my life. I'm not quite sure if I'd want to keep them for a long time afterwards but they're cool enough cards that yes I would like to have them. One card I didn't put on there but I never thought I'd ever have the chance to get just fell into my lap. HELL YES. That's a Japan-fractor autograph of Kyle Freeland from 2014 Bowman Sterling. It's limited to 5 copies and is a card I never thought I'd see, let alone own. When I made my initial 14 cards of Freeland post, I made a note th ..read more

 So there was a bat blog around originated by Matt who runs the Diamond Jesters blog where you could flex and show off/share the best hits you ever pulled. I left a comment in the original post laying out the best "hits" from an objective standpoint but they would be as follows. 2011 Bowman Chrome Ryan Pressly Superfractor 1/1 (Note: I found the blogpost by Match-Up where they scanned and shared this super) 2011 Topps Marquee Troy Tulowitzki Red 1/1 2012 Topps Chrome Will Middlebrooks Printing Plate 1/1 2012 Bowman Draft Christian Yelich Futures Game Jumbo Relic /25 2012 Bowman ..read more

 Japan uses the Gregorian calendar but they also use the Chinese Zodiac, and according to that it's the Year of the Dragon in 2024. I wish I could say this is the year the Chunichi Dragons finally capitalize on the great pitching they have and make it to the playoffs but lmao, no. So instead I wanted to talk about a few Dragons pick-ups I made in 2023. A big chunk have already been sent to NPB Card Guy, but I actually did keep some. I already showed the Akira Neo (easily the most expensive Dragons auto I've gotten now), accompanying it were the following. The Dragons have so much good ..read more

 So NPB Card Guy recently posted his impressive collection of Japanese MLB autographs which has some deep cut names like Akinori Otsuka and Tsuyoshi Wada. It also got me inspired to do this summary post where I can gather my MLB autographs and have a gallery. I'm pretty sure I've shown off everything here at least once, but having it all in one page is a neat sight. The Big Three We obviously start with the three most notable Japanese MLBers of all time. Shohei Ohtani has a great case to be the most talented player the game has ever seen. Ichiro Suzuki is a bonafide lock f ..read more

 At this point I don't "trade". I don't like going through lists and seeing if anything on it tickles my fancy, nor do I have lists of my own for people to look through. Such things take time and effort, neither of which I am willing to put in for this hobby. But the nice thing is that every now and then it's good to have friends who you can ask for small things. Base Front Case in point, I actually reached out to The Lost Collector and got the base card of Kyle Freeland from 2024 Topps. It's spiffy and really nice thanks to a combination of the 2024 Topps design and Freeland rocking the ..read more

  Despite how I've bombarded several mailboxes and yelled all of your ears off about how I'm downsizing, today's post is going to be the polar opposite. The cards I've accumulated in the time in which I'd been dumping hundreds of cards onto other people, or more specifically the cards I picked up in January before I went cold turkey in February. The theme for most of these is rather simple, these names were the first names I'd seen when I was wide-eyed and first getting into sports and sports cards. A lot were Tulo and CarGo from those early 2010's Rockies teams but those will get their o ..read more

 When I made the New Years Resolution to get one non-certified autograph that was always intended for me, I put it up knowing full well I had a few that fit the bill on its way to me. Once again the assist came from the non-sports/cosplay realms. Cosplayer: しょこら (Chocolat) A lot of these came in at once when I had the proxy site consolidate them but I suppose the "first" to arrive was this polaroid from cosplayer しょこら (Chocolat). She's a cosplayer/voice actress/YouTuber(?) who tends to post cosplay pictures pretty much daily and they're impressive given her level of constant output ..read more

 For most of my time in this hobby I had largely been able to avoid what you'd call "buyer's remorse". Even when you consider how much time and money I'd spent on collections I immediately just moved on from and dismantled, I can't say I ever really regretted it since in the moment I really wanted those cards. Like back when I'd go to minor league games a lot there were several impulse purchases for cards I could potentially get signed, and that potential was often realized so there was nothing to regret. The rest were usually random and rare like the time I bought a Don Mattingly photo v ..read more

 Wow, we're already in March. Time moves so fast. A couple of months ago I did my annual goals and grades post where I also showed off my best pick-ups of 2023. During that haul there was one really glaring omission that I really wanted to add but decided to save so it could get its own blogpost all to itself. I also wanted that blogpost to be after I made the "big" announcement. Even though I've been collecting since 2011 this is the FIRST ever jersey letter patch relic thing I'd ever held. On top of that I can now call it mine! In the time since I'd been collecting almost none of the ..read more

 My Luis Torrens collection was the defining collection of mine throughout most of my time in this hobby. It gave me focus and something to collect and build in a hobby that's got enough options to make a lot of collectors feel lost. It was to a point where this blog was named after him. Torrens is still to this day my favorite player ever, he was the first ever prospect I followed to the big leagues, he will always be someone special and near and dear to my sports fan heart. But in the waning days of 2023 I took a really stern and honest look at my collection and I knew I had t ..read more