the patron saint of card shops

i don't really think there is such a thing as a patron saint for card shops, but after a semi-recent work related visit to st. cloud, i think ol' clodoald for whom the minnesota city is named might fit the bill. a few times over the last couple of years i have driven through and seen the "sports cards - cafe" sign from the highway, but i've never stopped in. this time, i had about fifteen minutes to spare and so made the stop. i am glad i did.

note that the shop "the fan zone" is not also a cafe, and it is actually in waite park and not st. cloud, but it's close enough. it's in an enclosed strip mall (minnesota has many of these for obvious reasons) and there is a cafe within the strip mall as well, hence the sign. there's also a quilting shop. anyway, this particular card shop is huge. it's the biggest shop i've been in for quite some time. and, for a shop that size, it is really well organized. sure, there are random dig boxes throughout, but it's not a mess.

there was a table right when i walked in that had a large amount of 2026 topps product, and the further i ventured there were long glass cases, more tables and cases with a variety of stuff, and then shelves of monster dig boxes. so many shelves and so many boxes. all sports by sport, plus some labeled as "miscellaneous". it looked like most were fifty cent boxes, with some "as priced". as i mentioned, i did not have much time, so i looked at one of the "as priced" boxes that had cards in toploaders.

i wound up taking three cards from the box. first, a 2026 topps shohei ohtani profiles insert

which includes a quote attributed to ken griffey jr on the back

the kid is not as verbose as tony gwynn was back in 1996

the second card was a 2008 topps moment & milestones gary sheffield black parallel numbered to 25

and the third was a 2023 topps cody bellinger 1988 relic card

the most interesting thing i saw in this box was this

that's a business card from hall of famer harmon killebrew, complete with his home address and a phone number. i would love to know who he gave this card to - i can't imagine he handed them out willy-nilly. if it had been signed, i might have gone for it (of course the price would have been higher). i do have a bob watson mlb business card signed by the former astro back from when he worked in the league offices. this would have made a nice counterpart.

after leaving harmon behind, i decided to look at one of the vintage dig boxes closer to the entrance to the store, and found a 1965 topps don drysdale embossed insert

i guess i am collecting these now, as big d gives me half of the dodger team set (i picked up the tommy davis at a mall show last year) with only ron fairly and sandy koufax left to obtain.

there were a couple of other cards that interested me, but the condition was not quite where i wanted it to be.

it's been a bit since i opened any new product, so i looked at a couple of items on the bargain table, which were mostly 2025 topps holiday (christmas) balls and boxes. instead, i went for a 2025 topps series 1 holiday egg that was listed at $14.99 but rang up at $12.99. in fact, the four singles i picked also showed up at a reduced price once rang up. in all, i spent $24.09. not bad for a brick and mortar setting.

the egg wasn't too interesting until i got to the end where the parallels and inserts are, and even then there is just one card i will show

i guess i picked the proper egg for a dodger collector. i don't pick up too many ohtani parallels on the secondary market, so finding this holiday foil parallel in a "pack" was a nice surprise.

i was sort of hoping to find a 2026 topps celebration mega box, but didn't see any (i didn't look at the product behind the counters, nor did i ask). instead, i bought some of those inserts from sportlots around the same time as this visit.

mookie betts game day drip

mookie betts perennial all-stars

and alex freeland 8 bit ballers

those inserts came along with some other "regular" series 1 inserts from sportlots

stars of mlb mookie betts

2025 greatest hits freddie freeman

clayton kershaw rainbow foil

and jackie robinson profiles

with another succinct statement from ken griffey jr

which says it all, really.

i think i am ready for series 2 as well as another trip to that card shop!

the memorial patch for ed kranepool

here's another post to document a 2025 memorial patch. this time, it's the patch that the mets wore for ed kranepool, a new york metropolitan lifer who passed away in september of 2024. the mets added a black rectangular patch with kranepool's number 7 in white to their jerseys for the entire season. it was a different design than what they used for the jerry grote and bud harrelson patches, but it served its purpose as a recognizable memorial better than either of those patches did, in my opinion.

i've seen the patch on several cards now, and i really wish that brett baty's 2025 topps heritage high number card (this is the blue border parallel)

were cropped just a little less tightly so that the full patch would be visible. this 2025 topps chrome update ryan helsley xfractor

also shows the patch, although it gets lost with the black jersey.

so, the card that i have in my collection to represent kranepool's patch is this 2026 topps 1991 35th anniversary insert of pete alonso

there is a lot going on here with the poppy patch worn on memorial day, but the kranepool patch shows well against the mets' home pinstriped whites. and, with alonso having played kranepool's old position, it makes even more sense.

kranepool debuted with the mets late in their inaugural season as a 17-year old, and retired from the game and team as a 34-year old at the conclusion of the 1979 campaign. he was 79 when he passed away, and the team had flowers on his mets' hall of fame plaque when i visited citi field last year. he is still the franchise's all-time leader in games played, although he has been passed on other team leaderboards by david wright and others.

to me, it's nice for the club to honor a player like kranepool (as they did with grote and harrelson) whose number is not retired but was still a franchise icon. the dodgers appear to do this for the "legends of dodger baseball" members, but not for folks like davey lopes, for example. i would have expected lopes to enter that "legends of dodger baseball" at some point, but they don't seem to do it posthumously. i'll have more on that in a future post. stay tuned!

is it still a thing?

tomorrow is june 7, or 6/7. last year, that was a big deal for some reason. reels of people losing their minds over references to "67" were all over the place. i am too old to understand, but to me, 67 means "garvey-yeager".

heres a 2025 panini national treasures steve garvey timeless talents autographed card

that shows his uniform number, and here's a 2024 topps heritage 50th anniversary buyback of steve yeager's 1975 topps card

that, unfortunately, does not show his number 7.

both cards were new to my collection late last year. here's the back of the garvey card

showing panini spending no time with the reverse sides of these cards.

i wonder if there were a brief spike in the value of cards like seth lugo's 2025 topps cards (this is his topps chrome refractor parallel)

given the 67 hype. doubtful, but stranger things have happened.

life's a beach

i like to travel. these days, i most enjoy travelling internationally. it's funny as i was well in to my 30's before i left north america, but now i do most of my travelling to countries other than canada or mexico. i still do some travelling domestically, but a lot of that is work related and of shorter durations.

anyway, the "beachin' it" insert set in 2025 topps allen & ginter drew my attention shortly after the cards were released because i saw quite a few cards on the checklist that were perfect for my "meaningful and just because" mini-collection. for about 16 years starting in the 2000's, i went on a tropical vacation each winter, so i've been to a lot of beaches. let's take a look at the beaches in the set that i've visited.

eagle beach, aruba

i was surprised how much i enjoyed aruba. we stayed in a condo right across the street from eagle beach and spent most of our days there, at least for a little bit. we explored other parts of the island, including the totally different landscape of the island's east coast, but enjoyed relaxing under one of the palapas on eagle beach the most. here's the back:

i don't recall seeing any turtles, but we did see the fofoti trees at the north end of the beach.

grace bay, turks & caicos

we've been to turks three times, staying on or near grace bay each time. it's fantastic. here's the back:

we snorkled out near the reef that is mentioned, and it was a bit hairy. essentially open ocean with a big drop off on the other side of the reef.

seven mile beach, cayman islands

there are a lot of resorts on this beach in grand cayman, but as the back mentions

the beach is for everyone. 

south beach, miami

we visited this beach on a stopover on our way to the caribbean once. we walked along the beach and ate at a restaurant in one of the signature art deco buildings. saw versace's old place and got a feel for the vibe even though it was off-season. here's the back:

we didn't see any filming going on during our visit, but i do remember some scenes from the real world: miami that were shot there.

siesta beach, florida

we hit a bunch of beaches in a fairly recent trip to florida (a trip that included my lone visit to the trop) and siesta was one of them. parking was a bear - we lucked into finding a spot at one of the smaller beach access lots (it was a bit of a free for all) - but it was worth it. we set up an umbrella and had a nice afternoon on the beach. here's the back:

i don't believe we partook in the esplanade (but maybe we did). i do know we headed in to sarasota to eat after leaving the beach.

coast guard beach, massachusetts

my first trip to boston, i wanted to go to a beach with the iconic fencing shown on this card, and coast guard beach was where we headed. it was the fall, so we walked down on to the beach, took a few photos, and that was it. here's the back:

i didn't know that thoreau opined on the beach, but we did also visit walden pond and the recreated cabin. probably my favorite part of that trip, along with visiting "author's row" in concord.

laguna beach, california

i lived and worked in orange county for almost 10 years, and laguna was a frequent spot to visit. my most recent visit to the actual beach there was about 10 years ago. when i lived in oc, we frequented newport beach more often if we wanted to actually beach it.  here's the back:

laguna was most definitely an artist's colony back in the day, and it still has an art festival as far as i know. like most places of its kind, i doubt there are too many artists who can afford to live there these days.

pfeiffer beach, california

part of the big sur coastline, this beach sits along my favorite road to drive - pch. it's actually a ways off of the highway so it's been a while since i've been there. i have spent more time at limekiln beach or main street beach in carmel in recent years. here's the back:

pretty sure i have some pictures from my childhood with keyhole rock behind us.

santa monica beach, california

it's hard to miss this beach with the iconic pier. it's a monday night football staple scene when the rams or chargers are hosting the game. i am not sure that i've laid out on this beach, but i've been to the pier several times. here's the back:

not mentioned is that the pier is the terminus of route 66. get your kicks!

playa del rey, california

when you fly into lax and want to get to the beach quickly, playa del rey is the place to go. despite what the back says

the beach is directly west (not east) of los angeles, and lax more specifically. i've driven directly to this beach a couple of times after arriving back in california from extended absences.

el matador state beach, california

i used to fly into lax more often than i do these days (now i prefer sfo), but driving up pch from los angeles was always a favorite thing to do. this beach is one of several along the way to the central coast. i don't think i've stopped there since i was a kid when we would picnic along the way on our many road trip vacations. here's the back:

i understand that some scenes from "the notebook" were filmed at this beach. 

coronado beach, california

home to the famous coronado hotel, we visited here in january of 2020 after spending a couple of weeks in hawaii (more on that in a minute). it's a big beach for sure! here's the back:

excuse me, it's the hotel del coronado. i believe it is one of the largest wood structures in the country. this card gets the hollywood trivia, whereas the previous one did not. i will say that on some recent trips we've tried to capture photos that match up with scenes from movies or tv shows. i'll have to watch "some like it hot" before the next time we head to san diego.

wailea beach, hawaii

on that trip to hawaii, we stayed on maui, but not at wailea beach. we did, however, drive there and walked along the beach. later, we wound up snorkeling off the coast as part of a molokini excursion. here's the back:

we saw some turtles after seeing a black tip shark in molokini. we also snorkeled on the back side of molokini which was crazy. probably the deepest water i have ever been in and it was a bit freaky.

poipu beach, hawaii

my visit to this beach came on a different trip to hawaii, and it was a result of a snorkeling excursion. here's the back:

i preferred the napali coast on that trip, but it's not known for any beaches, so it doesn't get a card.

here's a reminder that another beach i visited was featured in an earlier a&g insert set, and there are a few other beaches in this set that i'd like to get to, so maybe i'll be adding some more of these cards in the future. 

it's past memorial day which is the traditional kickoff to summer, so get to the beach! just remember to apply sunscreen first!