Had to grab this refractor featuring the juniors of Tim Raines, Gary Matthews, and Garry Maddox. Topps knew the assignment.

I’m a Penn State alum but I picked up this card because it’s just beautiful.

Happy Blue/White game day for all those who celebrate. In typical Blue/White style, it’s 55 degrees and raining. I think the universe mandates it.

Every card collector has a few sets that they’ve looked through so many times they can remember the card fronts from memory. 1996 Topps baseball is one of those sets for me. A much younger version of myself spent lots of allowance money ripping packs from this set.

I recently bought this Rondell White refractor as a bookend to those memories. I might be a little older and my tastes more refined, but I’m still spending my money in the best way I know.

SLAM Score: 17

Eye Appeal: 100

Now that I’m older and have disposable income, one of my collecting lanes is high-end parallel cards of players everyone was chasing when I was young. That’s why I grabbed this 1999 Upper Deck Encore F/X of Troy Glaus (#’d/125) and 1999 Bowman Chrome Refractor of Corey Patterson. These would’ve been monster pulls when I was 13…today, I grabbed them for less than a sawbuck combined.