Juan Soto Stash Leads to a Cubs Baseball Card Hit Haul
One of my favorite things to do in the hobby is rummage through a random box to see what I have stashed away. When buying boxes I usually list any big hits on eBay and minor hits that fit trade partners go in a separate pile. Some hits I'll stash away in a box and wait, be it undervalued rookies, prospect autographs that may hit down the road, etc.
Last year I was setting aside Juan Soto rookie cards and had thoughts of submitting them to PSA or BGS for grading. I have never submitted cards for grading, and honestly do not have any plans in the future. But, sometimes I get the itch to try it.
Most of my Juan Soto rookie cards were sold on eBay this past season trying to catch a hobby peak during the MLB Playoffs. However, I missed one of my boxes that had four Soto Chrome Update rookie cards. I tweeted my find and an awesome trade partner expressed interest. Andy (@SoCalHobbyClub) said he would send a box of Cubs my way for the Soto cards. He's an awesome trader and once again outdid himself with the box of Cubs baseball cards that arrived in my mailbox on Friday.
In yesterday's blog I mentioned it's great getting trade packages with cards that I don't purchase throughout the year. This box included cards from THREE different sets that I either have not picked up any cards, or have limited cards from those products. Topps Gallery is a cool product, but I think it's life span may be coming to an end. It seems to be one of the least popular Topps releases of the year. But I like them. Here is a Nick Castellanos, Kris Bryant, and Yu Darvish along with a Jon Lester Private Issue parallel numbered 149/250.
A few Topps Holiday Cubs cards have been sent over the past month, but this package included all of them such as Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Willson Contreras, Kyle Schwarber, Craig Kimbrel, Cole Hamels, and Jason Heyward.
My first Topps Holiday parallel is the Kris Bryant Christmas ornament card. This is a perfect parallel and Topps did a fantastic job with this year's Holiday product. I love how the ornament hangs off Bryant's bat. Well done!
Before I get to my favorite product that was included in this trade package, let's take a look at some other hits. A Miguel Amaya Topps Heritage Minors jersey relic.
This is a really flashy Kris Bryant card, and I had to google to find out which set it's from. As I suspected, this is a 2019 Topps Hi-Tek.
A 2016 Bowman Chrome Corey Black autograph. Black was a fourth round draft pick of the New York Yankees and was traded to the Cubs in 2013 for Alfonso Soriano. Black has been set back with injuries and has had three (yes, three) Tommy John surgeries. The most recent Tommy John surgery was this past spring and he missed the entire 2019 season, and will likely miss much of the upcoming 2020 baseball season.
My first Topps Holiday relic from 2019 is Willson Contreras. Once again, Topps really hit it out of the park with this year's Topps Holiday. The design is much improved, the parallels are really nice, and the relics look much better than past years.
A new Javier Baez for my collection is the reverse negative refractor from 2019 Topps Chrome.
Now to what I have been waiting for - 2019 Bowman Draft. This is one of my favorite sets, but it's so high priced these days that I do not buy any boxes. Last year, the Cubs checklist was really strong so I participated in a few breaks. This year's Cubs checklist is pretty weak, so I did not participate in any breaks for Bowman Draft or Elite Extra Edition. The Cubs checklist included four players: Miguel Amaya and Aramis Ademan. Those two players have been in Bowman products. The other two are 1st Bowman cards of Chase Strumpf and Ryan Jensen.
Some hits came with the base. Ryan Jensen was the Cubs first round draft pick (27th overall) in 2019. Here is the Chrome Refractor.
A purple refractor of Miguel Amaya numbered 165/250.
And the case hit! I really love the way Andy packages his trades. He had the base and some parallels in the box, then he had the hits in a bubble mailer inside the box, and he includes a "case hit" bubble mailer as well. I was stunned when I pulled the case hit. Chase Strumpf autograph refractor numbered 61/75. SWEET!
Not only is Andy an awesome trader, he is a Ryan McMahon super collector. Since I am always low on Rockies and looking to trade for Rockies in bulk for team trade partners, I pull all the Ryan McMahon cards for Andy. Additionally, he tweeted out he's looking for some other cards.
Definitely reach out to him and work out a trade, as you will not be disappointed.
One Million Cubs Project Stats Friday's (12/20/2019) Cards: 159
Friday's (12/20/2019) Packages: 1
January's Cubs Count: 9,343
February's Cubs Count: 8,980
March's Cubs Count: 15,704
April's Cubs Count: 11,651
May's Cubs Count: 7,273
June's Cubs Count: 7,690
July's Cubs Count: 10,803
August's Cubs Count: 11,929
September's Cubs Count: 9,127
October's Cubs Count: 15,675
November's Cubs Count: 26,705
December's Cubs Count: 1,918
Total Trades/Donations: 328
Trade States of Origin: Arizona (6) Alabama (5)
Arkansas California (22)
Colorado (6) Connecticut (19)
Delaware (2)
Florida (13)
Georgia (3)
Idaho (3) Illinois (29) Indiana (8)
Iowa (2)
Kansas
Kentucky (2)
Louisiana Maryland (12) Massachusetts (12)
Michigan (5) Minnesota (5)
Mississippi
Missouri (5)
Nebraska (3)
Nevada (2)
New Hampshire (2) New Jersey (15)
New Mexico (4) New York (33) North Carolina (6)
North Dakota Ohio (19)
Oregon (3) Pennsylvania (9)
Rhode Island (2)
South Carolina (2)
South Dakota Tennessee (8) Texas (10)
Utah
Vermont (6)
Virginia (2) Washington (7)
Washington, DC
West Virginia (7) Wisconsin (12)
Countries of Origin
Canada (1)
Korea (3)