This is a quickie post just to share a few more of my 2023 Shmeritage customs as I transition from “Traded” cards to other things…
It’s kind of nice to see the Pirates acquiring some players that the fanbase would have heard of.
It’s kind of nice to see the Marlins acquiring some players that the fanbase would have heard of.
Willson Contreras upset a lot of Cubs fans by signing a five-year contract with the rival St. Louis Cardinals. If I were in charge of Panini, I’d make sure any free agent catchers were included in the Donruss checklist as they’re the easiest to update.
Craig Kimbrel is taking his “look in at the catcher like a hawk spreading his wings (or whatever it is)” move to Philadelphia. This will be his 7th team… the guy gets around, doesn’t he?
The Twins recently surprised fans with an unexpected unveiling of their new tri-colored home batting helmets to go with their redesigned uniforms. The helmet is very similar (but not identical) to one they wore in the late 1970s, the most noticable difference is that the T is navy blue rather than white with a navy outline.
I’ve got a number of ideas of “inserts” and “subset” where I could riff on existing 1974 designs. With pitchers and catchers reporting in a couple of weeks it seemed like it’s time to switch from intentionally poorly photoshopped images to actual images which give some kind of preview of the coming season.
The Diamondbacks unveiled a big ugly sponsor patch to be worn going forward, the third team (along with the Padres and Red Sox) to announce the patches. Which sleeve the patch goes on depends on whether the player is a righty or lefty so as to maximize the amount of time the patch appears on screens, naturally.
I’m very amused at how the Diamondbacks made this announcement as if this is something for their fans to be excited about. “We get more money, the ‘partner’ gets advertising and there’s absolutely no benefit to anyone else! YAY!!!!” I suppose it could be a positive thing if you were certain that the advertising money went into improving the roster that would be one thing, but I don’t know how convinced I am of that.
The Shlabotnik Report 
Have to say, I’m a big fan of those new Twins helmets, which is nice because most uniform changes these days are just awful.
The new Twins uniforms are growing on me a little, but these helmets go a long way in saving them.
Oh man… not a fan of sponsorship patches. But at least it’s on the sleeve and not across the front of the jersey.
The Twins new uniforms look good. As far as the D-backs, I wouldn’t want to be a walking advertisement for different companies. Trying to sell products my team represents like they do in UFC/MMA or rugby or soccer.
Sponsorship patches, next will be advertising on the Pitchers buttocks.