Living near spring

 

I've been watching snippets of spring training the last couple of days. It's a busy time of the year for me, so I can manage only a couple of innings at a sitting usually. But that's enough to get that spring high that I'm so desperate for here in the later stages of winter.

 

I watch the the spring games and marvel what I see, like it's life on another planet. Spectators in the stands are actually fanning themselves! I take a quick look at the temperature bud on my laptop screen. 18 degrees. Nope, no urge to fan.

 

I can only imagine what it's like to live near spring. Going to ballgames sure is great. But I'd appreciate the simple, carefree feeling of hopping in the car (without clearing it off or stumbling on ice) and traveling a smooth street to the nearest big box or card shop. Sure, every life has problems, but in some places there is no snow on top of that.

 

One person who lives near spring is Jeremy of Topps Cards That Never Were. He was able to mail off a package to me a few days ago (I bet he didn't have to clear any snow off the mailbox) that was full of cards that I needed. Let's see what arrived direct from spring!

 

 

OK, a bunch of Donruss holoparallels from 2022. I'm always a sucker for color border parallels. Not as exciting with Panini running the show, but I'll gladly add them.

 

 

More parallels of the mid-kind. Rainbow foil parallels could go away in the next hour -- I mean vanish out of my collection -- and I wouldn't care. They have wandered 30 years away from the decade they should have stayed in, the '90s. But, yeah, I got to have all the Dodgers -- still haven't broken free from that.

 

 

There were lots of parallels in this package! These all fall in the "they're OK" category. I don't get the interest in the mojo parallels (Gonsolin and Kendall George). The Heritage sparkles really don't seem necessary either. The Walker Buehler orange Topps Fire parallel is a nice get but I don't miss Topps Fire at all.

 

 

These are the most appealing parallels of the bunch for me. Straight blue and purple and really bright and shiny green. Good stuff, these can really light up a binder.

 

 

 

Here's a parallel that I'll feature by itself because it's weird. Mookie is wearing what is called "an elf hat". It looks more like a jockey helmet.

 

 

Another "card" from 2024 Holiday, it's one of the ornaments. This time they resemble gingerbread houses. It arrived too late to hang on the tree -- not that there was a chance of that happening. Maybe if my daughter was still living here. She really likes Shohei.

 

 

Another Ohtani insert, this from 2024 Heritage. It took a long while to get one of these. I have three-fourths of the Then & Now's and all the other Dodger-related ones, so this is super-welcome.

 

 

This card threw me off completely. Ir's larger than the average card, about 3 1/4-by-4 1/2. But that's not what baffled me.

 

The back focuses on his 2015 season, in which he led the league in strikeouts and shutouts. Yet it's an insert from 2023 Big League (a tribute to the 1986 Topps mini leaders, but not mini at all). Read the fine print, collectors from the future.

 

 

I forgot to feature these. Non-Topps stuff, yada.

 

Now comes the surprise from Jeremy:

 

That's a stack of football from the '70s and '80s!

 

Bob Windsor was the lone 1973 Topps card, most of what I needed was early 1980s stuff.

 

 

1980 Topps

 

 

1981 Topps

 

 

 1982 Topps

 

 

 1983 Topps

 

 

 And 1984 Topps.

 

Lots of Buccaneers and Cowboys in that lot. The 1983s are my favorite and 1984 is the one that's most elusive in my collection in terms of 1980s football. I have no plans to try to complete any of these sets, but I welcome them because this is the era when sports cards made the most sense to me.

 

 

A few randoms. Allen Ellis is from 1978 and Bill Fralic from 1988. The Tony Dorsett sticker is from 1985.

 

And that's about everything that came out of the envelope. Thanks, Jeremy! I feel warmer already. ... Well, maybe that's because we finally broke out the sub-20 degree temps today and it's 41 right now! Heat wave!

 

Spring is coming. Just got to hope March takes it easy on us folks who live near winter.