Annual 2/14 post

My birthday has come around again, and as every year for the past how many, I'm saluting my collection of 2/14 babies with my Top 10 cards of the past year. The qualifications are that the card must have made its debut in a first-run product in the past year, it must be in hand, and the featured 2/14er can only appear once on the list.

Simple!

And here we go!

10.

I probably should have put the Drew Beam Stars & Stripes auto here instead. But Josh Pillar really set the bar for lazy autographs in the collection. And my hockey collection as well. This is a 21-22 product, but was released in March 2023. Because UD's release schedule for a lot of their products has been unpredictable to say the least since the pandemic.

9.

I was going to put one of the 1988 inserts in here, but I've already got one of those on my list later on. So, Ethan Small's shiny autograph out of Finest gets the nod based on a background that wouldn't look out of place on a 1989 Diamond Kings card. 

8.

I busted a couple boxes of Metal Universe to work on the base set. There were only a couple of these inserts in these boxes, but since this particular one wasn't too expensive at COMC, despite this set not dropping on e-pack yet, I opted to add this one over some flagship entries. That's despite the cheesy 'Flash the Glove' name accompanying the camera flashes in the background.

7.

Ehlers always provides many options for this. And I can't go wrong with his Canvas entry out of last year's Series 2. While the celebratory photo in 23-24 Series 1 is a more interesting option, it doesn't count since being in my e-pack inventory doesn't count as in-hand. This is a solid second choice.

6.

A card that could also make its way into my CanCon collection, becomes my second Milwaukee card in the countdown. The signature isn't too bad, either. Even with only using the initial for the first name, he does use much of the sticker. My only complaint here - a card from a set named Prime Numbers should consist of cards numbered exclusively to Prime Numbers. A number ending in zero obviously won't cut it.

5.

I might as well have some content from the distaff side in my top 10.

4.

If Gabriel Moreno was still with the Jays, this might be higher. Unfortunately, that trade means his shiny flashback to 1988 only gets #4 instead of #2 on the list.

3.

My first Topps Now card in the collection! This entry celebrating Nolan's quick rise to the majors only 40 days after his being drafted by the Angels. There's only 9785 of these out there, and I've got one of them! I had no other choice other than Now for adding his cards, as he did not appear in Bowman Draft. 

2.

My second first round draft pick of the post. I figured that I'd be picking up Seattle up in quite a few group breaks this season, but I managed to land this in my third buy-in. A break of Chronicles really brought the volume, but it was Luminance that landed me this card, which featured an autograph to go alongside an interesting, shiny photo. 

1.

Was there ever any doubt? The second this popped out in a group break, I knew it would be in the top spot this year. And then tried to imagine the card it would take to dethrone it. Perhaps an autograph added to a 2023 Jim Kelly 1/1? Have I gushed enough about this card? About how it is shiny without being obnoxious enough that I could signal the International Space Station? About how they used the far classier "one of one" as opposed to the basic 1/1? I have? 

Good.

There you have it!