Can't Beat the Real Thing

Two more Walmarts visited on Saturday, and still no Heritage satisfaction.  Still annoyed.  Also, I'm reading that the only retail product that has been available has been in the form of the rack packs.  No blasters and no single packs.  Also, unless I'm wrong, Target is barren completely.  What in the Sam Hill is going on?!

Anyways, I'm over it (not really) and I'm moving on (I'm trying to).

Onto more positive news...  Mail!  Not just any mail, but mail from Marcus of Backstop Cards!

My good buddy continues to come through with some truly awesome cards for my Horizontal Heroes collection. How serious is he?  He's sending me Tony Gwynns.  I know this is a duplicate, but still.  Getting any Gwynns from Marcus is like getting a Coca-Cola Classic straight from the Atlanta, GA bottling plant.

In other words: You can't beat the real thing!

This Gwynn, however, will go right into my smattering of cards that make up my Tony Gwynn collection.

This Gwynn, on the other hand...

Yes, I do believe this will work out just fine, since I don't have a collection of this Tony Gwynn.

Other fantastic landscape-oriented cards for my frankenset:

I was just thinking about this card the other day, so it's a nice coincidence to now have a copy for my newest pet project.  Who cares that poor Josh Thole is about to get blown up by Carlos Quentin?

Goodness gracious, that's some vivid color, especially on Kelsko's jersey.  This card is yet another example of the superiority of the Stadium Club brand.  As if we needed another.

I've sent Marcus a small nation of Benito Santiago cards over the past year or so.  I've probably sent him a copy of this one at some point.  I'm extremely happy to now have one of my own.

Arms and legs flying everywhere, and we even get a glimpse of the baseball in mid-flight.  A really beautiful card. Plus, lots of "orange line" in the background, right Marcus?

Mark Kotsay, in case you don't have HD glasses to see through the murkiness of the scan.  Slowly but surely, Marcus is converting my horizontal frankenset into a Padres playground.  But, do I care?  As long as the cards are landscape in nature and have a cool photo, the answer is a resounding NO!

In his last package, I got this same card from Marcus.  But, I had to slide it right into my Mariano collection, thus keeping this perfect card out of the horizontal collection.  And, now, I've got another.  Problem solved!  By the way, Pepsi and Gatorade.  [Ed. Note:  I gave up soda for Lent, and here I am droning on about Coke and Pepsi...  Sheesh!]

Speaking of the Great Mariano, a nice blue parallel of Mo's checklist card from Series 1.  Going into the aforementioned Mariano section of my player collection box.

This is one of the finest take out slides captured on a baseball card, yet Lance Blankenship's 1992 Upper Deck card has a card number of 749.  I guess he'll go into the "high numbers" section of the frankenset that has yet to be defined.  This card is too brilliant to hide, so I'll figure something out!

This card is No. 55 in the 1998 Score checklist.  I've already got a pretty great card at No. 55 for the project.  I may have to revisit that decision, however.  The Swining' Padre on the sleeve might be the tie-breaker.

Have I mentioned Coca-Cola yet in this post?  Well, let me restate it...

Another Gwynn from the Gwynn collector!  And a Rickey, as well.  Two more from the '89 die cut mini insert set from this year's Topps release.  These '89 style minis are my favorite yet, since the set they pay homage to is my Number 1 poison when it comes to Topps sets.  Pretty excited to acquire these two!

On the topic of minis...

A mini Robbie Cano from last year's 2013 Update.  Essentially, if it's a mini and it's paying tribute to a past Topps design, I'm collecting it.  I'm a sap; I know this.

And the final bit of insert goodness from this recent robust delivery of cardboard:

I make no apologies for liking this insert set.  I just wish the blasted things would scan a little better.  No matter, these Upper Class cards are pretty attractive.  Great player selection with this foursome, to boot.  I especially dig the Griffey.

Thanks, as always, for the generous loot, Marcus!  I owe you a Coke...

MK