Skip to main content

Christmas in February

 
A couple of weeks ago, I enjoyed a pretty good day.

It was Friday, February 5th to be exact.

The day brightened with the arrival of the mail just after noon.


The magazine in the mailbox confirmed that I had indeed made the cover of Beckett Baseball Magazine! Or my article had anyway. I haven't checked to see if it's now available in stores. Maybe I'll look tomorrow.

An hour or two later, I learned that the Dodgers had landed the biggest free-agent catch of the offseason.


I was quite thrilled. I'm not one of those Dodger Twitter hand-ringers who is conflicted over this signing. For most of my baseball-rooting history, we knew next to nothing about baseball players' views or behavior outside of what happened on the field. Bauer's fondness for social media doesn't make it easy for things to remain that way. Twitter doesn't make it easy. But I miss that time before social media. When our team acquired someone talented, we rejoiced. Period.

Therefore, send me all of your hated Trevor Bauer Dodger cards.
 
I like the signing. It makes the Dodgers' pitching rotation a lock all the way through the postseason (there are a lot of "ifs" in that statement, I know), which wasn't necessarily the case before the move. And, really, that's all I'm in this baseball-rooting thing for anyway: to see my team win.
 
With the magazine news and the big Dodger signing, on Friday, February 5th, I was positively bubbly. Is this Christmas? Gifts and good news were everywhere!
 
And just to keep the holiday spirit going, also arriving in the mail that day was a Christmas-themed envelope from Johnny's Trading Spot.


It started off with this Dodger-themed Christmas card. I honestly don't know what this is, a quick online search didn't help. But it's a handsome card.
 
Everything that fell out of the envelope with the Christmas card was Christmas-themed, too.
 










Weeee! Festive!

That sure spruces up the tired 2020 design. The addition of red-and-green coloring was the so-called game-changer for the Topps Holiday set. The added green fronds are a bit over-the-top, but I guess that's what the set is.

The snow drawing is a little silly on just one side. Snow falls on the just and unjust, the left and the right! But I like how the design angles on the side have changed from the gray, see-through style to solid white.
 

It's interesting how a simple addition of a bright red-and-green background enlivens a boring old back. There are also some faint snowflakes on the bottom that are difficult to catch.

Obviously, I didn't find any 2020 Topps Holiday in stores. I've been to Walmart once since the pandemic started and there wouldn't have been any boxes of the stuff there if I had gone in December.

So, good thing I'm a blogger and John opened so much of this stuff!

I still need three of the base cards: Cody Bellinger, Tony Gonsolin and Joc Pederson. But that's no big deal considering how much good news came my way just 16 days ago (and now you know how far behind I am on blogging about card packages).

Merry Belated Christmas to me.

Go Dodgers. Go magazines. Go completely unnecessary baseball cards.

Comments

I didn't open any of it. I bought two sets. And a few lots of Ebay. I have the Pederson here. Consider it in your next stack
Fuji said…
That Christmas card is really cool. I was really hoping to hit up B&N and check out your article during my break, but life had other plans.
Brett Alan said…
My first 2020 Holiday cards fell out of an envelope recently, too, but as bonuses with an auto I bought on eBay. You're right that the festive colors suit that design well. Hadn't noticed the snowflakes on the back though--good spot!
bryan was here said…
As a Trevor Bauer fan from his Indians days, I wish him the best in LA.
CinciCuse Bill said…
Having Bauer on your team can be entertaining - enjoy!