january nue jays (and a...cub?)

I went a little overboard in January.

Overboard might be a bit of an overstatement. But I did manage to rough up some of my current Blue Jays collections, and even managed to add one (pictured above) of a Blue Jay that use to be a Chicago Cubs. And an Oakland Athletic Elephant.

In case you haven't figured out who it is yet:

It's Josh Donaldson! Donaldson was originally drafted by the Cubs in 2007, and was traded to Oakland in that blockbuster Matt Murton/Rich Harden deal. He was then traded to the Blue Jays on Black Friday, 2014.

Oh, and then he won an MVP award.

Donaldson was also part of a rather large purchase I made from The Dimwit, who's doing some fun box breaks over at the Iron Lion. Join in on the fun.

In the lot there was this woody Dosh:

Without logos, Panini can really waste some space on a card. I didn't really aim to add these Donaldsons this month, they just happened to cross my path. Further down, you'll see what brought me to the lot.

I did, however, intend to add some new Marcus Stroman, but was limited in what I found that really interested me. And the first wasn't a Blue Jays card at all.

I'm coming around to Topps Now, but have little interest in using the website to acquire them. This is the only one I have so far, but there's one commemorating Stroman's first MLB HR this summer in Atlanta that I'd love to find at a reasonable price.

But this one was, and it came with his friend Josh. I won a decent relic lot, mostly as trade bait, that happened to have both of these and about four more. Any Eric Hosmer and Jose Abreu collectors out there?

Back to the Dimwit lot, and my apologies for bouncing around so much in this one.

My second Bautista auto and first multi/jersey relic. Someone (a saint, probably) sent me a Bowman's Best bat card of him wayyy back in the day, while he was still a Pirate. While never a stronghold of my collection, my Jose Bautista cards are actually pretty solid.

Anyways, on to what brought me to the Dimwit lot, before I wrap up the Blue Jays vets.

Roberto Alomar:

Diamond Kings was solid this year, but again, plenty of wasted space.

For being on some gaudy foil board, these are actually quite nice and my first foray into the Panini HOF cards. With the zoomed in photos, there's at least some salvaging of the excess space, though.

There, you go! Bringing back Donruss Elite was a big win for me. I just wish it was serial numbered to a super-low /999 copies, though.

Anyways. On to the big one:

That, amigos, is my first Roberto Alomar autograph. On-card and everything. It's not the best version of his auto and there's no Blue Jays logo to be found, but this is surely a star in my collection right now.

From old to new, Toronto's current second baseman also made an appearance as well:

This one is from 2015 Onyx Platinum (that doesn't make any sense.) Onyx made some nice-looking cards, without MLB or MLBPA licenses it seems, but the stock is flimsy and they seem to have disappeared.

Baby Jays

Kevin Smith was Toronto's 4th rounder (5th pick) in 2017 and had a really great start with rookie-level Bluefield, hitting 13 HR, batting .268 with a .874 OPS in 54 games.

Smith was the second SS Toronto drafted this season, just after this guy:

I'm going hard after Logan Warmoth cards, and this Panini Elite Extra Edition came pretty cheaply considering it's limited to /75.  It's die-cut, but...hardly. EEE shows you what Panini can do with licensing, and the verdict is that it's quite good.

This one came deceptively cheap as well, around $5. In comparison, his Bowman Draft green refractor often goes $40+ for a card that's also limited to /99.

I also managed to spend $5 in one shot on these Lourdes Gurriel, Jr cards:

Two from 2016 Bowman...

And an orange refractor from 2017 Platinum, which is rather ghastly to be honest.

And this autograph from 2017 Bowman's Best only set me back about $3-4.

The true steal came in the form of Nate Pearson, though, with this 2017 Leaf Valiant Black limited to just /5.

That is, unless your into SIC MOSH MOJO HITZ though:

You've been here long enough, so here's a patch from Panini Elite Extra Edition that could choke a horse. This one is also limited to five copies, and features a Blue Jay face. Apparently you can't print the logos on the card but you can smash part of one into a small window. Sure, why not?