A Couple of PWEs From the Shoebox

Just when I thought I was almost caught up with trade posts, there was a deluge of packages that began to overflow my mailbox. It's a good problem to have! One of the arrivals was the latest PWE from my most prolific trading partner, Shane...the Shoebox Legend himself! I had just gotten everything scanned and almost ready to write about and sure enough, another envelope arrived. So, in the interest of trying to catch up a bit I'm going to combine these two great envelopes. I like to start chronologically, so let's take a look at the first PWE.

The only card that I knew was en route was the Heritage High Number Heathcott RC. Wow, alliteration much? The A-Rod commemorating his 600th HR was a nice surprise, as was the A&G Gibson.

Next up, I found this awesome gold parallel Betances relic. It may be a plain gray swatch, but it's my first GU card of the Yanks' set-up man(and PT closer) and it's #/99! As nice as it is to add a new Gibson and this Betances relic to the collection, the envelope was elevated to the next level of greatness by the following card:

I was shocked when I flipped to this card. I had seen Shane write about these vintage football cards a few times, but I've never actually seen one in person. This comes from the 1960 A&BC Football set. As you can see, the set borrows the 1959 Topps Baseball set's design and puts it to good use showcasing the English football stars of the day. I am thrilled to now have this well-loved copy in my collection.

In the short time between receiving the two PWEs, Shane and I both began the quest to complete the 50 card 2015 Topps Chrome Update set. After exchanging a few messages back and forth, I knew it wouldn't be long before another group of cards would be on the way.

Shane had told me he had four cards from my checklist that he'd send. There they are, I'm happy to have these four that drop my set needs down to 13 cards to go. As usual, the other cards that rounded out the envelope were equally incredible. The DeCarr is my first 2015 Pro Debut. The set looks pretty nice in hand. Austin would look better if I can manage to get it signed at some point. The Andrew Miller is of the rainbow foil parallel variety.

There was more shiny with that AL HR Leaders gold parallel from 2012 which had not only one, but two Yankees on it! I'm not a huge fan of the Highlight of the Year insert from this year, but as a Yankee fan and a fan of baseball history in general, how could I not love the Babe Ruth that commemorates his single season HR record?

Thanks Shane, As always, there was a bunch of great stuff for my collection and I was blown away by your generosity.

Contest Winnings From Sports Card Collectors Blog

A short while back, I commented on a post over at Sports Card Collectors blog and was entered into a contest. Surprisingly, my name was at the top of the randomized when all was said and done. Soon after, I received my winnings.

Two unopened packs of 2015 Panini Player of the Day packs. Each pack had two cards, one veteran and one rookie. I could hardly wait to open them long enough to take this picture of the unopened packs. Let's see pack one(the top one).

The design is nothing to knock your socks off, but it is clean. Honestly, I don't think there is anyone in the set that I would have wanted to pull less than Kaepernick. I don't like the '49ers and I don't care for  their current QB. The pack was saved by the appearance of that Gurley. He's turning in quite the season thus far and is probably one of the hottest rookies right now. On to the second pack.

The veteran part of this pack is infinitely better that the first pack. The Panthers would have to be my second favorite team in he NFL, mostly because they are essentially my 'home' team. As an added bonus, the team is playing really well. As for the rookie, Mariota is having a pretty solid, if unremarkable,  first year.

The backs are alright, with the large Player of the Day logo and a short write-up. Sorry the Kaepernick didn't make the cut for the card back scan.

Nice contest. Two packs of cards that I wouldn't have seen otherwise, a Panthers player, and two of the season's best rookies make for some pretty exciting winnings. Thanks Sports Card Collectors and thanks to Panini.

NFL Memories From Thanksgivings Gone By

First things first, I want to wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! For me, it's a great holiday filled with family, good food, and some NFL action. It's been that way for as long as I can remember. So, a few weeks ago with the holiday fast approaching, I began searching for cards that could be tied to the various games played on Thanksgiving day. I wasn't sure what I'd find, if anything. As it turns out, Panini released a Thanksgiving 'tribute' insert in their 2013 Totally Certified product.

When I saw this one of future Hall of Fame CB, Champ Bailey, I really had to have it! It's horizontal, it's got a great action photo, it's from a game where he was a Bronco, and when I turn it over, it really lets me relive the memory of the game listed on the front.

The only issue I have with the backs is that they recycle the front photo(but I really don't mind). The write-ups give a pretty detailed account of how the player impacted that game. When I got it in hand, I liked this set so much that I went back looking for more.

I decided to pick up former Cowboy/current Bronco, DeMarcus Ware just because. The set goes back to the '20's with the likes of Clarence 'Ace' Parker, so it's pretty comprehensive. If the checklist wasn't 50 cards deep, I'd consider putting the set together. For this holiday, I'll just have to settle for these two to remind me of some great Thanksgiving football. Thanks for reading. I think it's time to break out the pumpkin pie!

Good Luck Roger - Single Card Post Sunday

This afternoon, London will see one of the best tennis players in history play for his seventh year end ATP World Tour Championship title.

Nothing against Novak Djokovic, but I'll be pulling for Federer to add another title to his incredible resume. I picked up this Netpro Federer 'RC' from Listia a while back. The more I see of these, the more I like them. In recent years, I've worked to narrow the focus of my collecting, but if I could find a reasonably priced box of these, I'd pick it up in a second. It's been a real treat to watch one of the all-time greats and I'll hopefully be watching another championship chapter of your legacy being written today. Good luck!

Knocking Out Set Needs, Courtesy of Night Owl

A while back, I made my first trade with Night Owl. I knew that eventually we would swap again and a few weeks back, I received a small bubble mailer from him. It was heavy on cards needed for various sets.

I'm slowly, but surely putting together this 1993 Hostess set. Back when it was released, I didn't even know about it even though I was definitely collecting. I came upon my first of these in one of those Walgreens, 100 card repacks earlier this year. This Brett Butler puts me one more card closer to finishing off the set.

From the '90's, we move to 2015 Topps insert needs. The Ackley puts me one card away from finally finishing that Robbed insert from series one. The Eclipsing History actually isn't for my set, it's for my Yankees collection(my set is complete already). Beltran was one of many 1st Home Run cards I needed.

See, I told you there were more! I particularly enjoy the Cobb. It was a great surprise to find so many cards that I could cross off my various lists, but the centerpiece of this swap is up next.

I saw this card in a post that NO wrote about some Topps Chrome that he busted. I immediately noticed it was the photo variation and asked if it would be up for grabs. He agreed, and told me he didn't even know it was the variation card. I didn't it when I read the post, but it looks like this is a refractor. I'm not sure if Topps did that with all of the photo variations or if this is a true parallel. Either way, I'm happy to have this in the collection. Thanks NO, I've been putting together a stack to send back your way. This time, I'm trying to make sure that it has more WOW factor than the last stack I sent. Thanks for some great cardboard!

Package(s) From the Dollar Store

As is the case with all of my recently received trade packages, this post is long overdue. I'm so late posting, in fact, that buckstorecards from Sportscards From The Dollar Store actually sent a second envelope of awesomeness before I had written up the first one. So, this post brings you the highlights of both packages received from my North of the border trading partner. First up, a packed bubble mailer filled with football and hockey goodness.

The NFL highlights kick this one off! The Thomas is a really cool die-cut, acetate card and despite ripping some 2015 Topps, I needed both the Sanders and he Knighton.

This is AWESOME! An All-Pro relic of Von Miller, #/299. I'm. It sure what it is, but I like the design on is one.

Now, let's slide on over to the NHL part of the package.

The good thing about getting hockey cards in any trade package is that it's been so long since I picked any up, that they're almost guaranteed to be all new to me! That said, it's great to add another Brodeur. That logo sticker in the middle is shiny and refractor-like...it's great!

Another Brodeur and one of only a handful of Jagr cards I own from his time in NJ. I assume the Zajac is one of those Target exclusive Prizm parallels(someone please correct me if I'm wrong), the first of its kind that I own.

This is the first hockey auto that I've added since the days shortly after those Be A Player packs came out and had an auto in each pack. I picked up a handful of those back in the day, but never got anyone noteworthy. I was blown away by all te cool stuff that I hadn't seen before in that first envelope. I even had it all scanned, but just hadn't gotten around to writing about it. Then, a little over a week ago, a PWE arrived.

Inside, I found a new A-Rod, my first 2015 GK, and another nice NJ Devils shiny card. I particularly love the DeMarcus Ware. The artwork is really well done!

More Devils! This time they're a blast from the past. Three great defensemen from the early to mid-nineties teams that I remember from when I first got into watching hockey.

Last, but certainly not least, this is my first Devils player relic card. I think it looks great! After these two packages from up North, I owe Douglas pretty big. I've been slowly building a stack to send back to Canada. Thanks for two great packages from the Dollar Store.

A Tribute to a Great Champion - Single Card Post Sunday #5

I had hoped that this would be a celebratory post following UFC 193 last night. Like many, I assumed that the dominant force named 'Rowdy' Ronda Rousey was just going to keep right on rolling. As everyone knows, that was not the case. In a somewhat shocking result, she was knocked out by challenger Holly Holm. Still, Rousey is one of the best fighters in the world and I post this as a tribute to her impressive championship reign.

I don't really collect UFC cards, but I'll pick up a few here and there if I can find them for the right price. I found this awesome debut card tucked in a 5000 ct box at a show a few years back. I looked in vain for a few more copies of it, but I had to settle for taking home a single copy of this treasure for just a quarter. Here's hoping that the former champ can pick herself up, brush herself off, and regain the belt in her rematch which may take place at UFC 200 in July. Thanks for reading!

A Card Fit For Veteran's Day

I wanted to take a moment out of the normal blog content to say that I hope everyone had a great Veteran's Day. I'm not going to get on my soapbox about how much this holiday means to me and my family, so I'll just skip to a card that is fit for today's celebration of our country's veterans.

I pulled this from a box of 2001 Heritage. At first, my younger self thought of selling or trading it, but I'm glad that I never did. Like many, I feel there is a huge lack of variety/originality when it comes to the types of relic cards that are available. This truly stands as on of the most unique cards in my collection. The only downside is that the patch of uniform did not belong to Mays. It's still pretty interesting that it is a 'war-worn uniform' though. Plus, it's the only Mays card I have that depicts his service time. In fact, I'm not sure if there are any others and if so, how many. Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings.

Crossing One Off The Cardboard Wishlist - Single Card Post Sunday #4

I am rapidly approaching my one year blog-aversary. For the majority of the time I've been blogging, my Cardboard Wantlist has been mostly the same. Thus far, I've only crossed one card off that list and that was accomplished via trade. Well, I finally scan say that I can cross off card number two from that list. About a week ago, I found the card that has inhabited the second slot on the Wishlist for the majority of the time the list has been in existence on eBay.

This Bernie Williams hails from the 1990 Topps TV glossy set. That year, Topps created 5 team sets and an All-Star set that were sold in factory set form through a 1-800 number on a television promo. It is a rookie year card of one of my favorite Yankees of all time. I haven't seen many of these sets or singles floating around since I learned of their existence shortly after starting the blog. I have been watching two complete Yankee sets for months on eBay, but the cost was a bit more than I really wanted to pay. I had only seen one single previously, and the asking price on it was around $50 which is way more than I wanted to pay for this. When I found this listing a little over a week ago, it had a few days left to go and had a starting bid of $3.59 plus $2.50 shipping. I waited until the final hour of the auction and placed my best bid. As it turns out, it ended up being the only bid on it.

The win shortens my list of Bernie 'rookie' cards that I need to the 1990 OPC and the Topps Tiffany. I plan to check those two off the list in the not-so-distant future. For now, I want to enjoy the feeling of crossing a second card off the Wishlist. I think going into year two, I'll reconfigure the list a bit to hopefully facilitate being able to cross more off in 2016. As always, thanks for reading. Happy Sunday!

Holiday Mega Box = Chrome Update Packs

The other day, while once again perusing the card aisle at the local Target, I stumbled upon one of the Holiday Mega Boxes of Topps Update.

The big draw of these things are the two exclusive Update Chrome packs that mingle among five regular update packs.

I'll get to the contents of these in a few. Once again, I had my two year old with me and I asked her to pick between the two boxes. Let's see how she did this time.

I'm trying to build the base set and I came away with a good number to help me with that goal. In case it doesn't come across in the scan, that Bryant is of the rainbow foil variety. I also happened to pull a former Durham Bull that got to play in the All-Star game this season in that Boxberger. I thought I'd tack the Joey Butler I pulled from one of the Chrome packs since he too spent a good bit of time with the Bulls. I was blown away when I saw the printing on those Chromes. For a split second, I thought it was just a parallel, but the entire set is done in that 'bubble refractor' finish.

Bouncing back to the regular packs, the Syndergaard is the only base card I scanned. Those last two inserts are some pretty popular guys too. I did way better than I thought in the base packs. It's a good thing that I did too, I didn't pull anything Earth shattering in the Chrome packs. The Posey is up,for grabs if anyone needs it. It's really nice that the insert set is done in the same refractor pattern(though it's hard to tell in the scan), but I'm going to focus on just chasing down Jeter. That being said, the base cards are really nice. I'm going to have to do my best to chase the 50 card set. I'm happy my daughter picked a great box, but if I had known that the set was going to have been so nice, I would have grabbed both boxes while I had the chance.

While on the same errand running outing, I had to make a stop at Walmart as well. I took that chance to look for another blaster to bust(since I'm also chasing the Walmart exclusive throwback variations). They had a bunch on the shelf and it had my daughter point out which one we should get. She picked and we were on our way home. I opened the blaster after the mega box from above, so I knew my little girl was 2 for 2 in picking great boxes for us. I was hoping that once I cracked the blaster, she'd still be batting 1.000!

Once again, I pulled a good number that were set needs, but I didn't scan any base cards from the blaster. I was pretty happy with the two gold parallels, Ramirez was pretty decent for the Rays and King Felix continues to be pretty great for the M's. The Tazawa was a needed throwback. I've decided to put together that retail only All-Star set too and both Gray and Donaldson helped put me a total of three cards closer to that goal on the day. If I wasn't going to pull the Jeter Rookie Sensations, Jackie Robinson is a pretty darn good alternative to pull. At this point, the blaster was already pretty decent. As stated previously, I always leave the medallion pack for last.

Another Trout insert, another good pull. I'm digging the Springer throwback card. It's one of the better photos from the set that I've seen in person thus far. The Donaldson was the first card of the blaster to beat the odds. The snow camo parallels fall one in every 86 packs. I thought that was the icing on the box...until I picked up the pack that I thought would have the medallion card. For the second blaster in a row,the pack was way too light to contain one of the manu-relics. I opened it, flipped it over, and was amazed by that incredible Mr. Cub relic with that nice stripe running through it. It's #/99 and really beat the odds. The standard 1st Home Run relics fall one in every 28 blasters. A quick glance at the checklist and I can definitely say that I was fortunate enough to pull one of the top five players available. So there you have it. My daughter will be picking all of my retail box and pack purchases for e foreseeable future. She's made the choices that have led to some of the best retail pulls of my entire collecting career.

Thanks for reading!

A Refractor-filled Swap

As it turns out, I never really caught up with my trade posts before I got preoccupied with card show stuff, new products and a few repacks. So, I think it's about time to finally write up the last few trade packages I've received. The steady influx of packages has slowed since I haven't had much chance to stuff padded envelopes full of cardboard goodness. The good news is that I finally have the first bunch of long overdue return packages packed and ready to go to the post office today. More will follow shortly. I hope that everyone I owe cards to will find the contents worth the wait.

Today I focus on the (mostly) shiny contents of a (not so) recent package from madding over at Cards On Cards.

First up are the not-so-shiny highlights. I love those Donruss HOF Heroes, Negro League cards. It's hard to believe they've been around since 1983 and I somehow didn't have either of those. Bo's 1st Home Run card puts me one closer to completing that set. The rest of the package was quite refractor-y.

An X-Fractor, a purple, and sepias...oh my! True, the Rendon and the Desmond are not refractors, but they too are shiny and needed. These are all great additions to the various parts of my collection, but the centerpiece of this particular package was this prismatic beauty.

The scan of this one came out better than I thought it would but it looks much better in person. I've got a bunch of Cardinals packed and ready to drop at the post office to make up for this incredible trade package. Thanks for the swap, I hope we can do it again soon!

Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory - Single Card Post Sunday #3

Almost a full week after opening my first blaster of 2015 Update, I finally found another one to bust. I happened to be at my local Walmart and I saw two blasters on the shelf. I had my two year old with me, so I had her pick which one we took home. The 'bonus' pack from this blaster provides the subject of this week's Single Card Post Sunday.

I always save those packs for last when I'm busting blasters. I could tell right away when I picked the pack up that it didn't contain the typical medallion card. It was no where near heavy enough. I slowly opened the pack and peeked at the card inside...

I went from disappointment(when I saw it was Biggio), to excitement(when I saw it was an auto/relic numbered 4/5), back to disappointment when I saw the following:

It's a bit difficult to see, but the card is significantly damaged on two edges and has multiple creases on the front surface. I'm not really sure what to do from here. I've sent a message to Topps Customer Support and I know that I could send it to them for a replacement of 'similar value'. Sadly, I feel like whichever way this goes, I'm going to come out on the short end. I'm not big on flipping cards, but this is one that I likely would have put on eBay. Biggio is a HOF player that has a fairly strong hobby following. Such a limited card would have brought a decent return that I could use on a bunch of other cards for my collection. It's not going to bring any return in its condition and if I leave it in Topps' hands, I'll probably end up with a base prospect auto if some guy that will never make it in the majors.

Anyway, it's still one of the best pulls I've ever had, especially from retail product. I'm sure that this isn't the last that I'll talk about this card on this blog, so if you're interested in the saga that is to come, stay tuned to see how this situation plays out. Has anyone had a similar situation with any company? What would you guys do if you pulled a really great, but damaged card? Thanks for reading!