One of my last posts was about the 2023 Topps Finest Julio Rodriguez "Rainbow" I assembled over the summer. I had every card besides the Red, Red Purple Vapor, Red Black Vapor, and the Superfractor. Of course I'd never get any of those...they're hard to find, and far too expensive. Some of you asked me if I'm going to all the trouble of assembling the others, why not make an investment in the entire Rainbow? I, of course scoffed at this assertion. Until I started thinking more about it and the Bilbo Baggins meme.

And then as if it was divine intervention, the very next day I saw it on ebay, the holy grail...the SUPERFRACTOR. I tried to say, it's too expensive, or someone else will buy it. I sat on it for two full days, then I said screw it and contacted the guy. I negotiated a (relatively) fair price, and next thing you know, I was a proud papa. I texted some friends and showed them what I'd done. Instead of chastising me and calling me reckless, they celebrated my moonshot which really took the edge off. So much so that I went on to buy the Red Black Vapor and Pink Purple vapor. The collection is nearly complete...I just need the Red /5. If you see one outside of ebay, please let me know!!

I'll do another post once they're all PSA authenticated and framed with the others. ebay verified them, but I'm way too OCD to not have them all match with the PSA slab look.

So what's the point of all this? Don't ever let anyone tell you not to reach for that distant star...it can be yours! Now I just have to hope my wife never realizes how many more days we now have to work to reach our retirement goals.

I came here to complain about the 2024 Topps Flagship, but there was already a post about it, so I got all my bitching done there:

https://stg.onmantel.com/post/1d4a940d-0de9-4eae-8e66-af8dc1d5a545

Short version: the 2024 Topps appear to be cheap and unimaginative, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Until then, I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for hobby boxes from previous years that are worth acquiring. I realize buying boxes and opening the packs in hope of a home run is a poor investment, but nothing beats the high finding a winner or the sadness of just getting worthless "relics" and mostly commons. I'm here for both, the emotional swings are part of what's great about this hobby.

My LCS had 2022 Chrome update for dirt cheap ($50), so we bought some yesterday and got some fun hits. I was looking in to 2021 and 2020 Chrome, but the rookies those years were pretty awful for the most part (Ke'bryan Hayes, Brandon Marsh...and those are the "good" ones).

I know 2017 was good because of Ohtani and I want to say 2011-ish for Trout, but those boxes sell for $5,000 or much more.

Any pre-2022 diamonds in the rough for ~$200 or less that are worth buying? Again, not looking for home runs, but rather a decent amount of color and quality for the value. I mostly avoid Panini/Donruss, but anything else is free game.

Afternoon, Mantle friends. Much like former Tiger Chris Shelton's 2005 season, I got off to a hot start on this board only to instantly disappear forever. Well, obviously not forever because here I am, but it felt that way. I had right shoulder surgery in early December, and am only now able to take my sling off long enough to operate a computer like a normal human being. But enough about me, let's get on to that sexy card action.

I started getting back into collecting this past spring, and while I was in Hawaii with my family for a week over the summer, I went all-in and decided I wanted a "rainbow" of a particular player from a particular set. I'm sure 99% of the people on this board knows what that is, but if not, a rainbow means obtaining every colored/stamped variation. Julio Rodriguez is on my hometown team, my son's second favorite player, and a year past his inflated-priced rookie year, so he felt like a natural choice.

Each evening, while judiciously intoxicated, I purchased Julio cards from the 2023 Topps Finest set. Obviously prices varied by rarity, but before I knew it, I had 20 cards - the only ones I didn't have are the red ones which were well more than I was willing to spend, and the superfractor (1/1) that only the Monopoly man or Evan Parker could afford.

I debated whether I'd get them graded or not for a few months given how expensive that endeavor would be, but eventually relented and sent them into PSA. I got them back last week and am very happy with the results: eight 10s, nine 9s, and three 8s. Most of the 10s are the most rare ones, which is nice.

My ultimate goal was to display these somehow, preferably in a frame that I could hang on my wall. I've looked around and can't find anything "off the shelf" that supports four rows of five graded cards, so I assume I'll need to cough up even more cash for a custom framing job.

Does anyone here have experience with that, and if so I'd appreciate any suggestions or referrals.

Thanks! Let me know which variation you like most.

My son (9 years old) pulled this Cosmic Chrome Trout last week and hasn't let it leave his sight ever since except when he's at school. He's practically sleeping with it.

Watching his excitement for the hobby is what keeps me collecting. And it's not just once-in-a-lifetime pulls like this, he gets into common Topps and Bowman cards (new and old) just as much when it comes to learning about players, their stats, histories, etc.

I'm trying to teach him early that it's not all about BREAKS and RIPS, and YELLING AT PEOPLE ON YOUTUBE, but rather something fun that we can share together hopefully forever.

That said, this is the coolest card we'll probably ever pull and will be chasing that dragon for the next 20 years.