Monthly Mailbag - March 2025
- John
- Mar 31
- 6 min read
Last month I was able to add nearly one new unique card to the collection per day! This month I have been working on some deals that would add some phenomenal cards to my collection that very rarely surface for sale on the secondary market. Check out what I was able to pick up this month:
2024 Leaf Press Pass Premium - Trophy Case Prism Silver #TC-SR1, SN15. I really like the prismatic foil they used on these cards! It reminds me of the foil that was used for the 1999 Skybox Premium Star Rubies cards. Any time a new release uses technology from the 90s, I'm likely going to be a fan of that card. Even though this card features a sticker auto, I was able to pick it up cheap enough that it made sense to add it to my collection this month!
2024 Panini Three and Two - Draft Class Blue #24, SN15. My first impression of this card is - it is unnecessarily thick! This card fit into a 130pt magnetic one-touch for the scan. I suppose that is largely because it is a "premium" release. At a cost of around $300 for a box containing just five cards, they had to step up production a bit. The actual card itself is pretty cool. The white areas are a little textured and the card has an embossed feeling to it. The dark blue foil on this parallel is a miss for me though as it is rather tough to read. I do like the blurb on the back of the card though. It calls out Rolen's Rookie of the Year campaign as well as his Gold Glove awards, his Silver Slugger award, and his World Series win.
2024 Panini Three and Two - Draft Class #24, SN99. Since I picked up the Blue parallel above, I figured I'd grab the "base" version of this card as well. I like this card a little better than the Blue one above, simply because the silver foil on the front of this one makes it easier to read. I also enjoy the photo they chose for these cards. It appears as if Rolen just smashed a line drive and is getting ready to take off running down to first base, perhaps even stretching it into a double!
2024 Panini Three and Two - Draft Class Holo Gold #24, SN10. I figured while I was adding these cards to my collection this month, I might as well go ahead and pick up this Holo Gold parallel numbered to just 10 copies! This one is certainly better looking than its Blue and base counterparts. The gold holo foil they used on this parallel really shines in the light. Everything else I've said above about the card rings true with this one (obviously).
2024 Panini Prizm - White Sparkle Prizms #40. This card looks phenomenal in-hand! I'm not quite sure how "rare" or "limited" they are, and they aren't serial numbered, but I do know they are only available in Panini Prizm White Sparkle packs. Those packs contain just three cards each and they aren't cheap. Especially on the secondary market. Which is why, when I saw this card pop up on ebay, I jumped at the chance to purchase it. The "sparkle" part of this card really makes the light dance on the front surface of the card. And the white border looks really good with this picture of Scott featured in his white Cardinals jersey (even though you can't see the Cardinals logo).
2023 Leaf Trinity - Steel Lazer Pink #S-68, SN25. These 2023 Leaf Trinity cards seem to have no end to the parallels. This Pink Lazer parallel looks great in-hand. It doesn't look too bad in the scan here either, which is a surprise. Like the other parallels from this release, this card is limited and serial numbered - this one to just 25 copies. This isn't my favorite picture that Leaf used for one of their cards. While the fact that they can't use team logos is obscured on the front of his jersey, his hat looks a little off without the Phillies logo.
2023 Leaf Trinity - Steel-Vanadium Checkerboard Gold #S-68, SN1. This card looks phenomenal in-hand. The gold refractor really makes the light dance off of the surface of the card. And the "Checkerboard" pattern really reminds me of 2003 Bowman Chrome and Topps Chrome X-Fractors. I was pleasantly surprised when this card surfaced for sale this month. In the seemingly endless number of parallels for this card, this one is a 1/1! It was a no-brainer to add this one to the collection this month.
2024 Panini Donruss - Signature Series Laser #SS-SR. I've picked up a couple other parallels of this card in previous months, but I decided to grab this one this month due to the pricing. It was a mere fraction of the cost that these cards were fetching upon initial release. Even though I'm not a huge fan of the sticker autos, I do thoroughly enjoy the "laser" printing technology used on this card. It has that certain 90s appeal to it.
2024 Topps Big League - Rip Night Wrapper Redemption Autograph #WRA-SR, SN15. I didn't even know this card existed until I saw it surface on ebay one night. It was listed as a Buy It Now with the best offer feature turned on. I submitted an offer and within a couple of hours my offer was submitted. This card isn't from a high end set, but, if history has taught me anything, it is that cards that were released in sets geared towards kids are typically really hard to find later on in life. Not only is this card from Topps Big League, it was also a redemption autograph. Good luck finding one of these cards in 20+ years!
2001 MLB Showdown Unlimited #335 FOIL. For the longest time, I thought I already had this card. As it turns out, I had the 1st Edition version of the card. When a fellow collector reached out to me on Facebook, he had already confirmed that I didn't have this copy via my checklist on TCDB. After confirming that I did in fact need this card, a deal was quickly struck and he mailed the card out to me. Now I can safely say that I have both versions!
1999 Fleer Mystique - Destiny #3, SN999 (With peel). I've had a copy of this beautiful card in my collection for the better part of two decades. But this copy, this one here has the peel still covering the back. So, while it isn't a new addition to my collection as far as unique cards are concerned, I would be remiss if I didn't pick up this copy with the peel still covering the back of the card. Now I just need to find a copy that has the peel on the front of the card.
2023 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary #136 - Orange Refractors, SN25. I have been trying to piece this rainbow together ever since I first saw these cards. With the addition of this Orange Refractor, I am down to just needing seven more cards (three if you don't count anything numbered to five or less.) I might eventually put the entire run together one day. I'm not holding my breath for the 1/1 Superfractor though - that's locked up in another great Rolen collection.
2011 Walgreens Cincinnati Reds Playing Cards SGA
Back in 2011, the Cincinnati Reds partnered up with Walgreens to give away decks of playing cards to fans. Scott was included in this deck of cards twice: Queen of Diamonds and Queen of Hearts. I was able to add both of these cards to the collection this month from a collector who was breaking up the deck. I like the artistic rendition of Scott on these cards, I only wish they could have used two different images on the cards.
2005 Donruss Diamond Kings
2005 Donruss Diamond Kings is a set that I have a love/hate relationship with. There were SO many cards/parallels pumped out with this release. Many of which were 1/1 cards. A quick look through my checklist shows 223 different cards! Here, I have three of them that I was able to pick up this month.
2005 Donruss Prime Patches
Major League Materials Autograph #MLM-34 AU, PR25
Major League Materials Autograph Bat #MLM-34, SN10
Major League Materials Autograph Double Swatch #MLM-34, SN10 (1)
Major League Materials Autograph Double Swatch #MLM-34, SN10 (6)
Major League Materials Autograph Quad Swatch #MLM-34, SN10
Major League Materials Autograph Triple Swatch #MLM-34, SN10
Major League Materials Quad Swatch Prime #MLM-34, SN8
Another set from 2005 that highlighted Donruss' affinity for parallels and variations. I was able to pick all of these up from the same seller who had the Diamond Kings listed on ebay. One of the things that I really like about these cards is that they're not overly produced. Most of them are serial numbered to 10 or less. The autographs on these, while technically a sticker auto, looks good with the overall design of the cards. I think that it helps a lot that this particular version of Rolen's signature is my absolute favorite!
What an absolutely incredible month! Not only was I able to secure some fine additions for The Rolen Collection, but with this month being my birth month, I also splurged a bit and picked myself up an amazing birthday present. You can read more about that in my post: Ron 2.0 - Another Acquisition for the Ages! And, like usual, I'm working on something else rather large for next month, so be sure to check back for that!
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