Mail Call: Hell Freezes Over.

       I got back from New Orleans late afternoon on Wednesday and after I dropped my bag and realized it took me longer to go from Brooklyn to New Jersey than it did to go from NOLA to JFK, I dove into the high pile of mail sitting on my dining room table.  Amongst the third class ads and glorious PWE full of Listia goodness was a little pink slip from the post office.  These are usually left for large packages or the like, but this particular one was for a certified letter.  My brain went through the long list of people and creditors that might send me such a thing, but my mind drew a blank.  So I had to slog down to my local post office today, which features a counter staffed by three ladies I refer to as Fran Drescher and Tweedle dumb and Tweedle dumber.  Without getting further insulting, I think those names cover what I think of them and their attempts at customer service.

     So I hand over the pink slip and when Tweedle dumber returns, she has this envelope...

I see that it is a jiffy pack but I am not expecting anything I ordered on eBay to come in such a manner.  Then I noticed the return address is Duryea PA and that means only one thing: Topps.  After a split second of calculation, my brain shouts in joy: oh my god! oh my god! finally!!!!  I remain calm and quietly sign to receive a card I have waited nearly two years for:

I'll admit it...I had given up hope.  I didn't think it existed.  I was willing to just roll over and accept that I was never getting this card.  The couple of emails I had sent went unanswered.  Eventually, years later, they would send some replacement card of a prospect I had never heard of that played for Milwaukee or Kansas City that never gets above A ball.  I was resigned to the fact that I was never going to get my beautiful shiny Matt Harvey autograph.  And yet, here it is. Maybe with his injury, he had time to sit down and sign his backlog of cards?  I dunno and I don't care.  The only real issue I have with it is that on they back they compare him to Mike Pelfrey.  Yikes.  Luckily, I will never look at the back and if I do, I will just mentally replace that with Tom Seaver.  Ugh, 2015 is a long time away. 

Debut Part Deux.

       This evening marks the second time in the last calender year that a Grade-A capital-P Pitching Prospect has been recalled by the Mets.  And whether you believe TINSTAAPP or not, it will be one of the few silver linings in this horrible sow's ear of a season (mixed metaphor alert!). Last year it was Matt Harvey, who I immediately saw as the future, and then this happened.  I stand by my unabashed love of #33 and look forward to every one of his starts; they are usually the highlight of my week - though lately the Mets can't seem to score more than one stinking run for him *sigh* (UPDATE: they actually scored more than one run this afternoon for him and the bullpen tried to give them all back *double sigh*).  Tonight during the second game of a day/night doubleheader against the hated Braves we'll see the debut of the spoils of the Carlos Beltran trade, Zack Wheeler.

I have not gone 'all in' the way I have with Matt Harvey, but I have picked up a few of his cards here and there.  You will notice that I do not even have a complete page of him (yet) but the three I have in the Mets books share a page with the overflow of Harvey's. 

The bottom three are currently in top loaders, but I will be moving them to the books.  The middle Bowman Platinum card is a refractor and it is much shinier than the scanner wants you to think.  I especially like the high leg kick follow through shown on the Bowman's Best card there.

Are Harvey and Wheeler going to be a 21st Century Seaver and Koosman or the second coming of Generation K (would that be Generation L *pinky to lip*)?  Obviously I am rooting for the former and only time will tell.  We have seen that Harvey is the goods and on a team with even competent hitting, he would have 9 or 10 wins by now (though his other numbers so far are marvelous).  I was very impressed with what I saw from Wheeler in spring training, and while his minor league stats are not overwhelming, one has to remember that he's been pitching in Las Vegas (notorious hitter's haven) and he has been frustrated by the Mets keeping him in the minors to protect his arbitration clock - he is convinced he has long been ready for the big time.  I certainly hope he can channel that bravado into some good pitching so I can have two reasons every five days to watch this awful team. 

Debut.

       Tonight the crown jewel of the Mets farm system will debut: Matt Harvey.  Sadly, this call up is about 3 weeks too late to help a team that has now lost 12 out of its last 13 games since the All Star break.  Regardless, I am still very excited for this event and to mark the occasion, I would love to show you the cornerstone of my Matt Harvey collection:

2011 Bowman Platinum Matt Harvey Refractor Auto

No, there is nothing wrong with your browser.  Like I said, I would love to show you the card, but I cannot.  Why?  Why do you think...

That's a little small to see what I am talking about.  Enhance!!!

I got an email back in June telling me that my beautiful shiny Bowman Platinum Matt Harvey refractor autograph was going to be mailed to me.  That was nearly two months ago and yet the status of the shipping has remained "Pending" ever since.  Now, I have patiently waited for this card for a while anyway, so why did they tell me it was on the way and then not send it!?!?!?  Is Topps purposely fucking with me?  If they don't have the card yet, why tell me it's coming?  If they have the card, why haven't they sent it?  All the damn redemptions was one of the reasons why I stopped buying new product (you will see a three year lag in redemptions above).  This card was an exception I made; I bought it very early knowing the card would only go up in price as speculation abounded as his debut got closer and closer.  And the thing is, I don't want to even sell the thing, I just wanted to look at it and show it off on my blog...OK, and maybe snuggle with it a little while I watched the game tonight.  But all these things are not to be.  The more I think about it, the answer is yes, Topps is fucking with me.