Card Spotlight: 8-23-19

2019 Topps Living Set #219 - Harold Baines

I'll just say that I love the idea of the Topps Living Set. I'm not too crazy about the price per card, but it is what it is. The cards look fantastic and there are no repeats of players (at least until they change teams and I'm OK with that).

My day started early today because of Taylor Swift. I handle the movies, music and books at my store and today was the release of Taylor Swift's new album. I'll just say that it is not my cup of tea, but if she can get grown women to purchase five different variations of the same CD, I am definitely in the wrong business. The covers aren't different, except for the version number. The songs are exactly the same. The only differences are four different excerpts from her personal diary and four different posters. Also some photos, but I'm unsure if they are different with each version or not. That's it. Each CD doesn't have a different version of the same song on it. The two bonus "audio memos" are exactly the same on each of the deluxe versions. Then there's the standard version with no bonus tracks, in a regular jewel case. It really reminded me of all the parallel versions of baseball cards and how some of us are suckered into collecting them all.

I needed to really get away from parallels today. I thought about posting a yellow Walgreens parallel that I have from 2019 Topps, but thought better of it. I decided to get as far away from parallels as I can in today's collecting landsape. That would be Topps Living Set.

This will be the only Harold Baines White Sox card in this set. That is comforting. There is an artist's version of a not overused photograph of the player. It makes the cards have a unique feel among the rest of card releases.

The rest of the day was as unparalleled as I could possibly get. Some of the family and I took a trip to Grand Rapids, a town that I have never visited before, picked up some Pink Zebra product that my wife bought from a retiring seller. Yes, she is selling that, in addition to all the rest of the time consuming and amazing jobs that she does. We went to Arnie's, a restaurant that I've never been to before, and had a great meal that came with a free cupcake. I chose White Chocolate Raspberry. It was delicious.

I received this card in a way that I don't typically get cards... on Twitter. I got a great price from someone who was putting together a bulk order. I got one for the White Sox collection and one for the Baines collection.

It's been an unparalleled day. A wonderful day. I'm just not a huge Taylor Swift fan. And that's OK. If you have a problem with that, you should just shake it off.

Damn.

At least that has more to do with The Rock lip synching that song on television than being a fan of her music.