Just Dump It

 So while I've discussed how I've parted with my TTM, IP and Luis Torrens collections, one more collection I've also had going that I pulled the plug on and finally moved on from was my New York Yankees Prospect Autograph collection.

This collection was a nebulous one that encompassed any and all Yankees prospects since 2000 to around 2022 when I stopped. I can't say it had any real focus other than to see if I could ever recreate the MLB Pipeline Top Prospects lists.

Kept for sentimental reasons

All you have to do is thumb through like 20 of these "oh I remember him!" guys who never amounted to much before realizing that card companies pump out way too many autographs of future busts.

This feels even worse when you realize that from 2013-17 the Yankees were extremely focused on player development following the end of the Core 4 Era and despite how they assembled what was at one point one of the best farmsystems in baseball, their results from that period just ended up mirroring that of the 2000's. One big time Hall of Fame caliber success in Aaron Judge/Robinson Cano, a solid All Star like Gleyber Torres/Brett Gardner, a small army of very good faceless/nameless relievers, another "so much for that" catcher in Gary Sanchez/Jesus Montero, and not a ton else due to various circumstances. At least in 2009 they won a ring though.

Overall I'd say the 2010's fared a lot better for the Yankees' development program and the jury is still out on the last wave of guys like the Volpes-Dominguezes-Jones who can still potentially change how the 2010's prospects are viewed but, yeesh it still doesn't change how we all collectively wasted too much time thinking about Chance Adams and Manny Banuelos.

So then what does one do when they've accumulated this much wasted certified ink?

Well in my case I just sent them off to The Lost Collector. TLC the blogger is no longer active but TLC the collector is fortunately still very active. Especially on TCDb. 

I've been sending TLC stuff at random for so long that he more-or-less knows the deal. He's free to thumb through whatever I send and keep whatever he wants, and if the rest can help him get other things he does want, that works out the absolute best. This is also basically the core of my Zapping philosophy, just dump folks a bunch of stuff at once with what I know/hope is a mix of good stuff and worthless stuff.

To be clear as much as I joke about "dumping grounds" I do really appreciate having people like TLC and Gavin and so many others for this. Because I'm someone who gets bored quickly and wants to move stuff I don't want anymore even quicker. The best way to do that is to move it all as one giant lot. No hassle, no thinking, no liquids/perishables/fragile items/lithium batteries.

Also kept for sentimental reasons

Because think of the alternative. I'd have to put these up on eBay or send them to COMC or list them on TCDb or routinely keep track of what cards are available, just typing all that out felt time consuming. I don't want to imagine having to actually do it too. No offense to people who do do those things, but that's not how I want to spend my allocated hobby time or energy.

Especially because when money is involved, I think expectations are set unreasonably higher. Like for me as a consumer when I go on eBay and pay for shipping (especially now that it's like $5!) my expectation is to immediately receive a tracking number within an hour after the payment clears and if the card isn't physically shipped out within two days I get annoyed. If the seller had it as free shipping, I don't care nearly as much. In the event that the mail carriers simply didn't just scan properly I DM the seller and at least expect a confirmation from them that at least the card was sent out. In any scenario, if their response is either ghosting me or even slightly irks me then I don't leave feedback regardless of when the card actually does arrive. Not positive, not negative, not neutral, just none.

Probably a passive aggressive dick move that's just because I'm impatient but whatever, when money comes into it it's a whole other realm. A while ago I bought a card where a seller charged me $5 for shipping but only spent $1.59 to ship it, no tracking either. If I were in a bad mood I would've left neutral feedback but instead I just blocked them and didn't leave any feedback.

If I go on the selling side I have to then apply the same unreasonably high standards I have for vendors like these to myself, and there's no limit to how petty and unreasonable people can be for other reasons. So no I don't want to go through that shit for no-names and never-weres like Jairo Heredia. I will also not use this to consider that my standards for sellers who charge for shipping are too high and re-adjust them.

Yup, kept for sentimental reasons

So the best way for me is to just never sell and unload onto others. Once the card is bought it's all a sunk cost to me anyway so any money that could've been recouped be damned.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care.

1,500th TTM Return

 Pulling the plug on the TTM/IP collection did not necessarily mean that I won't still continue partaking in these hobbies in some form in 2024 and beyond. Old habits die hard. It just means my focus will be narrowed down, er, even more narrower than before.

Received On: 2/20/2024

Like this return from Vinny Castilla, which was the first (and to date last) request I sent out in 2024.

Castilla is one of those names people who grew up with baseball in the 1990's and 2000's remember. He was a staple of those early Colorado Rockies teams, or at least it feels like it in hindsight. Castilla enjoyed a 16 year long career as a major leaguer and he was a two time All Star and one of Mexico's best and brightest stars to date.

I picked up this Bazooka blast bat relic around the same time as when I picked up the Todd Helton Bazooka bat relic. I immediately then sent this off as a TTM request using PastPros after paying his fee.

A month or so later it returned and it helped me reach the 1,500 TTMs mark.

At least per my back-of-the-napkin-math count. When I took stock of the stuff I got that was dismantled and sent off, I was at 1,499.

I suppose that those are rookie numbers compared to people who can afford to send requests to every minor leaguer ever every summer but I'm still surprised I reached 1,000 in hindsight.

Going forward I might get some more here and there as a few forgotten requests from years ago trickle in, or I dabble more with non-sports. But we'll see what happens with the sports stuff I guess. The whole reason I dumped a bunch of base cards onto Nick was so I wouldn't be tempted to send requests anymore.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care.

2024 TTM Count: 1

Sources:
*https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/castivi02.shtml

It Just Fell Into My Lap

 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 that the one parallel I wanted was the Japan-fractor. At the time the only thing available was the non-autographed parallel. A year later I got the autograph! For $10 cheaper too because the hobby is weird like that.

Unfortunately this card being as affordable as it was is more of a indicator on how far Freeland's fallen. In 2018 when he looked like he was finally going to be the first pitcher in history to figure out how to pitch in Coors Field this would've at least gone for triple digits. Unfortunately that time has long since passed and Freeland's gone from future Cy Young contender to ace-by-default on a Colorado Rockies team that is more of a "bonus" perk of the Coors Field experience more than an actual Major League Baseball team at this point. Although good on them for continuing to invest in their own players (congrats to Ezequiel Tovar on his extension). 

Fun to have both now

Still, when he's on he does show flashes of vintage Freeland, the guy who demonstrated that one of the best ways to pitch in Coors is just pounding the zone with elevated fastballs and getting swings and misses. As evident by how the Rockies' pitching staff is full of arms that can't throw strikes and melts down every other day because of it.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care.