I'm now 50-plus years into my collecting journey. I haven't seen it all when it comes to cards, but I've seen way more than I haven't.
That's why the concept of "new to me" means more than it ever has. I love finding cards that are new to me. It's probably why I still buy packs of current product, because they have the best chance containing cards I've never laid eyes on.
It doesn't matter the era for new-to-me. Sure, the very best is something from the '70s or '80s, but I've covered that period pretty thoroughly so chances are slim. I'll take "new" from any time period. Even the '90s.
That's where the card up top comes in.
It arrived from of a very nice send from Dennis of Too Many Verlanders. But you could see the question marks forming above my head. "Now what the hell is this?"
So many questions. What year is this? What set is this? Is this an insert? It looks like an insert. What's that say on the side ... card work? Oh, yard work! Why is everyone in Wrigley Field green? How much time am I going to have to spend on TCDB to figure this all out?
Turns out it didn't take that long. It's from the Yard Work insert from 1999 UD Choice. I had never seen one of these inserts before (though I am aware of the Yard Work theme). So... wonderful, it's new to me! Doesn't explain the green background. But cool. More card information for me.
Most of TMV's cards came from this same general period, at least the cards that I needed. There were a couple of other new-to-me cards in the package, too.
Here is a new-to-me triple relic of Sheffield, Eric Karros and Kevin Brown from 2001 SPx Rookie Update (TCDB told me this). The back says the Sheffield cloth is from an All-Star Game "event" and the Karros and Brown cloth bits are from MLB games.
More stuff I haven't seen. This is a manupatch recalling Koufax and the 1963 World Series from 2014 Topps Update. I don't do manupatches but anything with Koufax on it is cool.
Also new to me. And not your garden-variety 2023 Topps flagship Freddie Freeman.
It's one of those Super Box oversized companion cards. I've seen plenty of these online but not once have I purchased a Super Box.
Freddie is TALL (Kershaw card is standard size).
I really appreciate the way that Dennis packaged the card with cardboard protecting each side. I can take it from here. I've got just the page for it. (OK, actually, no, I don't. The one-pocket pages swallow this up, and it doesn't fit in anything else. What the heck, Topps?)
Everything else that I needed from the envelope I was pretty much familiar with even if I don't know every '90s parallel.
1999 Pacific Paramount parallel needs of the gold and red variety. That includes my first Holo Gold parallel (new to me!) of Raul Mondesi, numbered to 199.
A nice selection of gold parallels. All of it familiar but also all needed.
Unfortunately there's nothing I don't know about Kershaw's unzipped zipper on 2019 Topps, but the 150 years stamped parallel is definitely new to my collection.
There were a few other needed cards for my collection but some of them weren't nice to the camera -- you know how some of those late '90s parallels can be. But they are all very appreciated and I did satisfy my quota of "new to me" for the day.
A reassuring thing about this hobby is that no matter how long I'm in it, I will always uncover new-to-me cards. There are just too many to know them all. And that's how I know this hobby is for me.
If I wanted to see the same cards over and over again, hell, I'd just pull out my 1977 Topps binder and turn on the oldies station and listen to Hotel California for 7,000th time.
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