These five cards were sent by Tom, with the "Saints Prison Ministry." Tom has been sending me cards going back to 2014, but the return address has always been Peoria, Illinois. It appears the organization has relocated.
You can learn more about the "Saints Prison Ministry" by clicking the image below:
This box sent by Bill from Lutherville, Maryland, arrived with 165 cards inside. Bill previously sent cards back in 2020. Included in the mix was a 1990 Topps Double Header. It's only the third one in my collection. I don't remember seeing these back in 1990, but they're out there. Bill also included 6 copies of the 1990 Topps Super Star sticker back. While it's not what I would call "rare," it is the most copies I've ever been sent at once. As far as other lesser seen cards included, there were two 1993 Pacific (only my 10th and 11th copies) and a 1995 Score Hall of Gold (14th).
Finally, Bill also included a complete run of Chad Wallach's Topps base cards, which currently (criminally if you ask me) consists of two cards.
Below are some pictures of all the cards and updated totals.
Thanks for the cards Bill!
Updated Totals:
These 12 cards were sent by "Dan" of Ramsey, New Jersey. "Max" who runs the card blog "The Starting 9" is also from Ramsey New Jersey. Dan, if you and "Max" are the same person, let me know, and I'll correct this post, the map, and may stats as to who has sent what over the years. If not, you have a neighbor who has also been generous enough to sent me Wallach cards.
In any event, thank you for the cards Dan, they are very much appreciated.
This box, stuffed with 863 Wallach cards, was sent to by Mike of Escondidio, California. Mike is a long time collector who stumbled onto my blog and in an act of incredible generosity, sent these cards my way. It's one of the larger mailings I've ever received and took no small amount of time to sort. I can't imagine how much time it took Mike to pull these from what sounds like a rather large collection of cards. Below are photos of all the cards inside and updated totals for each.
Updated Totals:
These 15 cards were sent by regular contributor The Nightowl, of "Night Owl Cards." As always, it was a Dodger heavy offering. It's a nice batch of cards with a good number of inserts and what I would loosely describe as "odd-ball" sets from the mid-90's. My apologies to the Leaf Limited and Flair enthusiasts who may still be out there. Somehow it's the first copies of '94 Score Select and '94 Studio I've added in four years. That's a bit of an anomaly.
Thanks for the cards Greg!
Updated Totals:
These 5 cards were sent by "KB" of Eldersburg, Maryland. Eldersburg is located a little west of Baltimore and it's the first time I've received cards from there. Included was a '92 Bowman base card. That's one I don't see very many of. Oddly, I do receive a good number of the gold foil Team USA '92 Bowman's in the mail from readers, far more than I do of the base card. I'm not sure why it works out that way, as far I know they were printed in equal numbers. 1992 Bowman and 1984 Donruss are two sets that I think still carry the reputation of scarcity, though in my experience, they don't seem to be any harder to find than 1991 Bowman or '85 Donruss. Probably just residual rookie card and Mattingly frenzy that hasn't quite worn off.
Thanks for the cards "KB!"
Updated Totals:
These 4 cards were sent by Kerry of Portland, Oregon. This is (by my count) the fifth time Kerry has sent cards going back to 2016. Perhaps I'm biased, but I think the '88 Donruss Wallach is one of the better looking cards in the set. I consider '88 Donruss to be maybe the ugliest design of the 1980's, but within the set, this Wallach stands out. That's not something I say about every Wallach card. For instance, I consider the 1990 Fleer Wallach to be perhaps the worst looking card in an otherwise decent looking set. It's out of focus, sun bleached, and blue on the card design clashes with the blue on the uniform. (I've put it below for reference, though it wasn't sent with these)
"KB" was one of the last people to send my cards in 2023, and he's the first to do so in 2024. Baltimore, after not making an appearance on the map of where cards have been sent in the first 12 years of this blog, has now shown up twice in a matter of months. These 9 cards are nice mix to start the year off with.
Thanks for the cards "KB!"
Updated Totals:
There were no new Wallach cards released in 2023. Neither Tim nor Chad made it into any sets. Topps in their infinite wisdom opted not to include Chad Wallach in the base set or update set, despite Chad setting career highs in nearly every statistical category this past season. Chad ended up hitting 7 home runs while playing in 65 games for the Angels, and established himself as Shohei Ohtani's preffered catcher. Chad Wallach has now played seven straight MLB seasons and has only 2 Topps cards to show for it. Someone over at player selection is asleep at the wheel.
