Merry Cards-mas 2017

Merry Christmas to all of my readers that celebrate! I hope each of you had a safe and festive time filled with family and/or friends. 

Tonight I'll keep this a short post to get back on track since I haven't written since the last holiday. As some of you may know, Santa Claus is a PC guy for me. Each year I try to add at least a few new Santas to the collection. I had hoped that with Topps' holiday promo I would have one of the Bowman Santa cards to show off, but I haven't been able to secure one of those just yet. However, on Black Friday I made my first COMC purchase and was able to take advantage of their free shipping offer as well. As a part of that order, I was able to add a few new pieces of Christmas themed cardboard.

Sorry there isn't much to say in between pics. All three of these come from he past few years' Panini Black Friday promo sets. I decided to end with Santa throwing the baseball. I figured it's the perfect reminder that Spring Training is right around the corner. Sometime in the near future I'll share the packs I was able to rip today, the remaining contents of my COMC order, a few trades I've received over the past weeks/months, and my awesome Secret Santa gift(courtesy of P-Town Tom). For now, I'll just say Merry Christmas to all once again. Thanks for reading.

Thanksgiving on Cardboard

Happy Turkey Day to all in the cardsphere! I hope it's an enjoyable day wherever, however, and with whomever you're celebrating. I've written about Thanksgiving themed cardboard that highlights outstanding performances from the day's NFL games before. So, today I'll share a card that is all about the holiday.

Just posting this picture makes me hungry! This delicious looking piece of cardboard was included in the 2009 Upper Deck A Piece of History set. The back gives us our history lesson for the day:

I'm thankful for my family, good health, roof over my head, and my friends(including my great trade partners in the cardsphere)! Thanks for reading.

Traveling for the Holiday

No, the title doesn't mean that I spent all day on he road heading out of town for Thanksgiving. Fortunately, we are staying close to home and won't have to fight the ridiculous holiday traffic. Instead, the post title refers to the miles I had to travel to find a card shop that was participating in the Topps Holiday Promo this past weekend. Nether of the shops that I consider to be my actual LCS were participating so I figured I wouldn't be able to grab a promo pack. I figured I'd just pick up a few select singles. However, I found myself with a few hours free on Saturday morning so I decided to pack up my youngest daughter and drive about 90 minutes to a shop in Greensboro, NC. I arrived and it turns out the shop shared a building with indoor batting cages. The shop was up front and the cages were down a long hallway. Pretty cool concept!

When I got to the main showcase, I was happy to see the promo poster hanging. I asked and they still had packs so I was in business. The selection of wax was small, hardly anything open for packs and heavy on football, but they did have a few packs of Heritage High Numbers for $5/pack so I grabbed two to meet my $10 purchase requirement. There were several 5000 count boxes stacked on some shelves. Most were labeled 'NFL 2 for $1' but there was one that had baseball in it so I decided to take a look. There wasn't much organization to the box and I wouldn't consider paying $0.50 for most of the contents, but I found a few singles to add to my stack and rounded out my purchase by picking a few out of one of the football boxes(mostly for trading purposes). I made my purchase, got my promo pack and went back to the car for the long drive back home.

There's my underwhelming return on spending three hours in the car. Sadly, the HHN packs didn't have anything worth showing off. No, that's not an excuse to be lazy. There was really nothing good in them. The stack of singles will mostly find their way into trade packages eventually so the Snell on top is all I'll share at this time. The focus of the post is really the promo pack anyway. It contained three cards(chances for SN parallels and/or autos) and an advertisement card.

Apparently, the silver pack promo will make its return when Series One releases. I'm not sure how I feel about the flagship design, but I am looking forward to finding a copy of that Clint Frazier RC.

The back of the ad card actually teases something that interests me. Depending on the specific details of this Home Run Challenge, it could be a real bright spot in the product. I'm envisioning something along the lines of the Predictor card contests in Upper Deck products from back in the day. I really enjoyed those. I hope this ends up being similar.

There are my three base cards. No ugly sweater or turkey parallels to be found in my pack. I suppose the pack was saved by the presence of the Vlad Jr. I was really hoping to find at least one of the actual holiday themed cards in pack since Topps created a Rudolph, a snowman, and a new Santa Claus card for the set, but no such luck. I'll definitely be hitting eBay to try to add those singles. Thanks for reading.

White Whales Exist, Don't They?

Let me start off tonight by saying Happy Veteran's Day to you all and thank you to any vets or anyone currently serving our country. Your service is definitely appreciated. Sorry my post content today isn't related in some way.

In an effort to avoid the lack of posts due to the paralysis induced by overthinking what I should write about, I'm going to explore a topic that was floating around the cardsphere several weeks(maybe it was months) back. Sure, there is a lot of stuff I have to share that has piled up during the time I was absent from posting. There will definitely be trade posts, more ripping product posts, and a few really big additions to my collection all forthcoming. However, today's topic will be the ever elusive white whale. I really enjoyed reading some of the lists I saw a while back and thought that I should work on a list of my own. I decided to keep it to 5 pieces of cardboard that haven't found their way to my collection(or maybe anyone's collection) as yet.

1982 Oneonta Yankees Team Set - John Elway

First up, a card I wrote about way back in my first week writing this blog. It is truly my current Holy Grail. In my opinion, it may be the piece of cardboard that most perfectly sums up my sports fandom. My favorite MLB team drafts a prospect that turns out to be a HOF caliber, Super Bowl winning quarterback for my favorite NFL team. This gem has eluded me for two reasons, price and authenticity. While there are not an unlimited number of these available, I can easily find it on eBay right now. It's definitely not within my hobby budget right now. I'd ultimately like to find a low grade copy in my price range just so I can be sure it's the real deal and not a counterfeit. Since I'm not one for graded cards, I'd probably have an internal struggle over freeing it from its plastic prison once I had it in hand. Oh well, let's not put the cart before the horse.

2001 Topps Chrome What Could Have Been - Josh Gibson refractor

Yes, I realize this borrowed picture is not a refractor. Though I searched high and low, I could not find an image of the parallel version of this one. I've had a few chances to spear this 'whale' over the years. However, for one reason or another, my aim was never true enough to successfully reel it in. I lost a few auctions here and there. I thought I had a deal to acquire it in trade finalized, but it fell through at the last minute. I even found an auction for the entire 10 card refractor set with a really reasonable starting bid and while waiting for the ending date to draw nearer so I could pounce on it, the seller had a change of heart and decided to keep the set(I know because I messaged him/her about my interest and that's what I was told). At this point, I haven't seen a copy in the wild for just shy of a year. It's the centerpiece of the refractor set that I am halfheartedly building. Perhaps if I can ever snag a copy of this elusive gem, I'd be more inclined to actively chase the rest of my set needs down.

2014 Topps Update - Kevin Kiermaier clear(acetate) parallel /10

I have only seen this card on e auction block one time. It was earlier this year, I believe. I was ecstatic! It had a slightly larger than I wanted to pay price tag on it, but I figured I would sell a few cards to raise the PayPal needed to pull the trigger on a really limited RC parallel of one of my favorite Former Durham Bulls. I was regularly checking in on the listing to make sure that it was still available while I waited for a few items to sell. It was there. Still available. Then I get a notification that one of my items sold(one that would get me to a point where I could click the Buy It Now button). Unfortunately, while I was waiting for the buyer's payment, someone else beat me to the punch on the Kiermaier. It was as close to heartbroken over a card as I've ever been. Oh well, maybe one day I'll have a shot at one of the nine that remain.

2007 Allen & Ginter Bruce Lee Framed Relic

This piece of awesomeness was released during a period when I was not active in our hobby. Once finding my way back to the familiarity of collecting, it took me a while to warm up to A&G. I'm still not its biggest fan, but I do love it for cards like this. I really dig some of the non-baseball items they have included on the checklist over the years. When I was a kid in Upstate NY(Orange County for anyone who cares), one of the first activities I got the chance to participate in was Tae Kwon Do classes. I was about 6 or 7 and met a pair of brothers that were 2 or three years older than me. We worked our way up the ranks, earning our more advanced belts and at some point, we began choreographing our own demonstrations that we would perform when the facility we held class in would have an open house. We bonded over Bruce Lee(and campy, Bruce Lee look-a-like) films and like many young martial artists, wanted to emulate his every move. While visiting my family in California, I even begged my cousin and brother to take me to find his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame(they did - I still have the picture). I've seen this incredible relic once or twice, but it is far outside my hobby budget. Hey, a guy has to have dreams, right?

Alright, that's four of my five white whales and the reasons are all really similar as to why I haven't added them to my collection yet. The fifth and final card on the list is an entirely different story, a 'whale' of a different color if you will(though I won't call it that ever again).

2017 Topps Pro Debut Fragments of the Farm - Durham Bulls Snorting Bull sign relic

This is the second time I've written about this card here on the blog. Earlier this year, this image was released as part of the promo materials for the Pro Debut set. I was jacked! I knew I needed a copy of this card and figured it would be pretty easy to track down once the ripping of the packs, boxes, and cases of product began. However, my searching over the week's immediately following the product release turned up no sign of this card. Right about then, some of the factors that contribute to my unplanned blog hiatus began to kick in and when I had time for cards, it was more readily attainable items and this hunt went on the back burner. I always had a saved eBay search though. A few weeks back while I was trying to compile this list, I tweeted to see if I could find a confirmed sighting of this beast or if its existence was a myth. I received several replies saying they would keep their eyes open and let me know. I also got a reply from a fellow blogger that is also in search of one of these. Yes, the card in question's namesake blog(The Snorting Bull) author replied confirming that he had seen no evidence of its existence despite actively hunting for it. All of the evidence pointed me in the direction of giving up the search for a copy. That is until Topps replied to my inquiry stating that the image used in the marketing(and copied above) was taken of the actual card prior to pack out. However, when I inquired about its potential rarity, I got no further reply. So, if I am to trust Topps, I should apparently keep hope alive that I will one day see a copy of this in real life. I suppose only time will tell. Thanks for reading.

Anyone Still Out There?

WOW! I feel like I've blinked and it's been a bit over 5 months since I've posted here. I'm pretty sure I can already hear the crickets... I've got no excuses for my absence. Yeah, life and work and all are a touch crazy, but the truth is I simply haven't made the time needed for scanning and writing. I've certainly still been actively acquiring new cardboard over these months and more often than not, I've been reading the blogs I follow regularly(even if comments have been few and far between). After being  inactive for a certain amount of time, it just becomes difficult to find something worthy of breaking the silence. Well, today's retail find seemed worthy enough and it gave me a great excuse to return to this great community. I happened to be out running some errands with my two younger daughters and what should I happen to find but this sitting on a shelf staring back at me:

About a week ago, I read that this product was returning and that the package format would be different than in years past and I was looking forward to finding some on a Target shelf eventually. I was happily surprised that eventually came sooner rather than later. There were two of these on the shelf so I scooped them both up and carried on with our errands. Once I got home, I commenced ripping right away.

First up, the inserts:

I found one refractor in each box and they're #/250. The only true insert set is a chrome version of the Rookie Cup set. These four were the highlights best of the 6 I pulled. I was especially thrilled to pull the Jeter.

Rookies and Rookie Debuts are the primary focus of the set and here were some of the better pulls. My inability to pull Aaron Judge from packs continued, but at least I found another Bellinger. Interestingly, I found both of the Moncada cards in the same pack. These highlights made for a solid, if unspectacular first experience with this product and I would have been content if that was the best of what was found, but good fortune happened to be shining on an otherwise rainy/overcast day.

I'm not a Rockies fan by any stretch, but pulling an auto was pretty awesome. Pulling a gold parallel auto #/50 was even better! Assuming these boxes don't dry up like every other retail-exclusive product has, I'll likely build the set. Finding seven chrome packs per box versus two packaged along with five base Update packs will certainly make that an easier task, even taking into consideration the larger set size(100 instead of 50 in years past).

I hope this post finds some of my former audience and that you'be all been well. Thanks for reading.

30-Day Baseball Card Challenge - Day 4

It's been a while, but I'm back on track and tackling the day 4 topic: a rookie card of one of my favorite players. I went back and forth about which player/card to focus on. Something that happened Friday night made my decision for me though. One of my favorite former Durham Bulls, Taylor Motter hit his second grand slam of the season(and career) for the Mariners. I'd venture to say that this one was far sweeter than the first because it came against his former team, the Rays! I hate that the Rays traded him during the offseason. He became one of my favorite players during his time in Durham. I even got the chance to meet him a few times at the ballpark. He's genuinely a nice guy and I had hoped he would earn the role of super utility guy in Tampa. While that won't be happening in the foreseeable future, I am still pulling for him to have a great season.

As it relates to the cardboard, I'm kinda cheating since I'm about to highlight two different parallels of one of my favorite player's rookie cards. I've had these tucked away in my collection for a few months now so there's no better time to show them off.

As any modern-day collector knows, there are typically 20-30 different RCs to chase of any given player. However, this is one of only two official RCs featuring Motter. That makes it easier for a player collector to go parallel hunting. Though you can't tell from the scan, the card on the left is the reverse stock version. These flip the finish from a 'normal' card. The front is rough and has a flat finish to it, whereas the back is smooth and slightly glossy. On the right, we have the red back version. These aren't serial numbered, but they have a reported print run of 10 copies. For what it's worth, I'm still looking for the far more common gum-stained back. If anyone reading happens to have one, I'd love to trade for it. Thanks for reading.

Patch Card Chronicles - Vol. 1

A quick contest promo: if you're quick and like contests, Julie over at A Cracked Bat is running a contest that closes in just under an hour. Click here to see how you can enter.

I have envisioned a series that explores some awesome patch cards for quite some time. However, it's not easy to find unique and affordable relic cards. A few weeks back, I was able to do just that! I'm sure I won't be able to make this a regular theme on the blog, but I had so much fun prepping to write this one. Volume 2 will follow at some point.

There it is! I was thrilled to find this Kiermaier with such an interesting swatch(and auto) for a really affordable price. When I saw that patch, I knew I wanted to add this card to my former Durham Bulls collection. As I've previously mentioned, Kiermaier is one of my favorite players in the league right now. As I was waiting for this card to arrive, I started searching for where this piece of embroidered goodness came from.

I was able to find this pretty easily. This pic not only let me see the patch in its entirety, but it also gave me an idea of where to look for shots of it in game action.

There it is! Just like that the card became all the more awesome to me. The Rays wore that patch on their pseudo-retro faux-back jerseys. Like many of you, I dig the throwback unis and I especially love that Tampa developed their own version since they didn't actually have team history to draw from. Yes, I know that is a picture of Longo rocking the retro theme, not Kiermaier. It's one of the only pics I could find of anyone sporting the faux-back with the patch visible.

Speaking of 'the Outlaw'...

Like I said, this was a lot of fun to research/prepare. I hope I'll be able to write another post in this theme sometime soon. Thanks for reading.

Breaking Mega Boxes - Episode Two

Amidst the frenzy surrounding the Bowman Mega Boxes, I found a Target that hadn't been completely pillaged. There were two boxes still on the shelf, so I decided to drop the $30 on what may be my last chance to rip some of these packs. For a split second, I thought about flipping at least one of the boxes, but by the time I was driving out of the parking lot, that thought had passed. As soon as I got home, I tore into the boxes like the Tazmanian Devil. Once again, no base Bowman in the scans.

I was fortunate to pull three of the bigger prospects that I hadn't already found in the first few boxes. Not too bad... The inserts were a little better to me though.

I've really been digging the Talent Pipeline insert in regular Chrome and these 'mojo' refractors. I was thrilled to pull the Yankees from one of the boxes. I'm thinking about trying to get in-person autos of all three guys on it. It would be quite the challenge, but I think it would be pretty awesome if I was able to pull it off. The Cubbies Pipeline and the Moncada insert were nice bonuses. There was one more pretty great card in one of the boxes.

I definitely didn't expect to see an auto as I was flipping through the packs and I certainly was thrilled that the ink was from a Yankees prospect! As great as it was to pull this auto, it still wasn't the highly sought after Shohei Otani that has caused the clamoring for this product. Since I figured my chance to pull one had passed me by, I turned my attention to the secondary market, not really expecting I'd find one for a decent price. Diligence paid off though(and came with a pretty sweet bonus).

I found a guy in a FB group that was selling this for $60 or best offer. He had a few other cards that he was 'listing' as well. I found a second card I had been wanting to add for some time and sent a PM to the guy making an offer on both. We countered back and forth and he decided he could accept my second offer. I sent payment and he quickly shipped the two cards out. I received them yesterday. Here was the second card I got in the deal.

The best part is that I got them both for $50. I know sets a lot to pay for only two cards, but considering the Otani has been regularly selling for more than that, I figured it was a good deal. Of course, that may change if Trout's injury alters the trajectory of his career path. Here's hoping that it won't and he'll pick back up where he left off, being one of the best players in baseball. Thanks for reading.

Busting Some Mega Boxes

I haven't seen any mention of these in the cardsphere to this point(though that doesn't mean there hasn't been any). Topps went ahead and released another one of those retail exclusives that mixes packs of a current product with packs of a new chrome parallel of said product. Similar to the Update Chrome set that has been released the last two years, there is now a 'Mega Box' version of 2017 Bowman available at your local Target(or maybe not as the case may be). I became aware of this product early last week and have been on the search ever since. When I hadn't found any by this past weekend, I did a quick eBay search and found that these boxes that are priced at $14.99 for 5 regular Bowman packs and two of the exclusive Bowman Chrome packs were easily going for $30+ per box. This week has been a bit crazy at the office, but I continued my search and it finally paid off last night on the way home. I found 5 boxes and briefly considered buying them all. Once I looked a bit closer at the boxes which were pretty banged up, I settled on the two boxes with the least amount of damage.

This is what all the hype is about. When I got home and got the kids to sleep, I quickly ripped into both boxes. Since Bowman has been out for a while now, I won't share any scans of those. I will however mention that I have picked up more Bowman than I care to admit to this year. Even after these 10 additional packs, I have yet to pull a base Aaron Judge RC from this product...just crazy. Though the box doesn't state this, each of the Chrome packs contains 5 cards instead of the standard 4. Yay, thanks for small favors Topps!

Highlights from box one included the red-hot Dodgers rookie, Cody Bellinger and the next generation Vlad. Though the scan doesn't do them justice, you can hopefully see that the pattern used is the same as was used on the Silver Pack promo cards from flagship series one. I like it pretty well(not as much as the Update Chrome pattern, but still). In fact, I have seen a similar pattern utilized many moons ago and I liked it then too. That can be a topic for a post sometime in the future. Let's get on to pack two, shall we?

Again, not too shabby. I only included 3 in this scan because the insert I pulled from the second box was a dupe of the Padres Talent Pipeline. These were nice and all, but ey weren't all that I unwrapped in the two boxes. Each box had at least one numbered/color parallel.

I was thrilled to see the Rutherford in box one. The Holmes and the Pirates Talent Pipeline were both included in the second box I opened. In case it is hard to see in the scan, all three were purple parallels and were numbered /250.

I really like these! I guess you can say I'm a sucker for the 'special' chrome issues. As much as I'd like to chase the entire set, it is unlikely I'll take that plunge due to the set size. I'm pretty sure that it is 200 cards deep. I will, however, be on the lookout for a few more boxes to break and perhaps a few specific singles(assuming I'm not lucky enough to pull the ones I'm looking for). If anyone is interested I. This product, it should be noted that there are autos inserted in these packs as well. Aside from the auto chase, Topps also slipped the first English language card of Japanese league and WBC star Shohei Otani. If any of you watched the WBC, you'd understand some of the desirability of this card. Don't believe it's a hot commodity? Check the eBay sold listings for this one...they're through the roof. Darn prospectors! I'd want a copy because I enjoyed watching him play in the tournament, but if prices hold where they are or increase at all, I'd be hard pressed not to sell if I happen to pull a copy. Man, I feel bad saying that. Oh well, I guess I'll cross that bridge if I get to it.

For those that didn't know about this, sorry if I've now set you on your own quest to find some. To those who may be like me and have been unsuccessfully searching, I hope you enjoyed the brief glimpse. Thanks for reading.

Not the Post I Intended to Write Today

No, I didn't change my plan due to any bad news or anything like that. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Topps released the checklist for Pro Debut today. Check it out here if you're interested: http://www.cardboardconnection.com/2017-topps-pro-debut-baseball-cards

Historically, I haven't been too terribly thrilled by this product. I've picked up a few cards from the different sets over the years, but I've certainly never had a reason to buy a box or to consider putting a set together. This may be the year that at least one of those things changes. Assuming today is not the first time you're reading this blog, you probably know that I have an affinity for my 'local' Minor League team, the Durham Bulls. Thanks to Topps, this year I get to kick my Durham Bulls PC into a higher gear. There are not only one, but two Bulls related relics available in the Fragments of the Farm insert set this year. Earlier today, I caught a glimpse of one of them:

I must have this card! Not only is it related to my local team, but it also contains a piece of an iconic part of the park. I'll be after the second card with almost as much anticipation. It apparently contains a piece of the backstop netting from Durham Bulls Athletic Park. I'm loving the increasing instances of 'out of the ordinary' relic materials being used. Bat chips and jersey relics are nice, but they don't offer much in the way of variety. In addition to these, there are bunches of autographs, manufactured relic patches, and even a SSP variation of Mets farmhand Tim Tebow. Only time will tell if this all will lead to my first box break of this product. Release date is one week from today so I guess I need to decide quickly.

On a semi-related side note, I suppose now is as good a time as any to roll out the next bit of info regarding the blog changes I have in mind. If anyone has visited here over the past few days, you may have noticed that my Cardboard Wishlist has gone through a makeover and been split into two separate lists. I've been experimenting with color scheme/photographic changes, but haven't found the right change in that capacity yet. Last housekeeping update of the night, the blog-related Twitter account is live. Search @CardpocalypseNC if you want to check it out. If you don't, you won't be able to figure out how any of this blog news is 'semi-related' to the post content. I'd also like to take a second to thank all of you that commented your thoughts/experiences/support after I wrote about making changes to the blog. The feedback was much appreciated! I hope you all enjoy the changes(already made and still to come). Thanks for reading.

Recapping Derek Jeter Night

Yesterday was a great day to be a Yankee fan. Despite the score from the second half of the doubleheader against Houston, there was a great deal of celebration. It was Derek Jeter night. The Captain's number '2' jersey number was retired in a great pre-game ceremony.

His family, former teammates, scouts, and coaches from all points in his career were all in attendance for the festivities. Additionally, Jeets' plaque for Monument Park was unveiled.

Ahhh, the Core Four(plus Bernie Williams)! It doesn't get much better than that for Yankee fans of my generation. Now that these honors are in his rear view mirror, the next stop is Cooperstown!

Of course, this is a card blog so I do have a cardboard tie-in to this theme. During a recent trip to the local Target card aisle, I was surprised to find this team set staring back at me from one of the pegs.

Here's a quick look at the checklist.

I was pleasantly surprised to see this, not only because the Target's around me didn't carry any team sets last year, but more importantly because there was a Jeter in 2017 flagship design staring back at me! Here are a few faves from the set.

Across the top, despite his outing in the second half of yesterday's double dip, Tanaka is the clear ace of the rotation. Castro and Gregorius have quickly become a force to be reckoned with in the middle of the diamond(and in the batter's box). Along the bottom, Judge is the hottest rookie since Gary Sanchez in the second half of last season. I really like this pic better than the one that appears on his flagship RC(this one is shared by his Opening Day issue). Speaking of Gary Sanchez...and then we've got Greg Bird. He's been hurt quite a bit, but his showing in late 2015 and throughout this spring sure has me hoping he can bounce back, stay healthy, and be a highly productive player for a long time. These were great, but the star attraction of the team set, for me, was the new Derek Jeter on the front of the set.

It's not the most exciting picture to grace cardboard, and honestly pales in comparison to his most recent flagship offering, but I'll overlook all of that simply because I'm excited to own a new Jeter. If anyone is in need of this team set, send me a message. I can definitely arrange to send one (or more) your way. Thanks for reading.

Discounted Stadium Club and Some Blog News

I'll make sure to get the card related portion of the post out of the way first so that those of you that aren't interested in the blog news can easily skip that.

The other day, I posted about a Bowman 'value pack' that I found at the local Walmart. That pack turned out to be a pretty awesome break, but I found some other packs that same day.

I love discounted packs. As previously mentioned, I'm still trying to put this set together so I couldn't pass up 'clearance' Stadium Club. Oh, who am I kidding? I wouldn't have been able to pass them up even if I'd already finished the set.

This is not too shabby. The gold foil Trout is definitely the highlight of the first pack, but the pics on the Forsythe and Soler are top notch.

Pack two was also pretty darn good! A Kershaw insert, Bryant, and a cool pic of Bumgarner throwing at my head top the second dozen SC cards. I suppose at some point I'll get it together enough to post my needs list for this. Until then, I'll keep my eyes peeled for more discounted product.

I've spent a lot of time over the past few weeks trying to figure out why I've allowed the blog to go for multiple lengthy periods of time with little to no activity. It's certainly not because I'm not interested in the cardboard. Though you wouldn't know(since I haven't written much), I've been acquiring cards at the same alarming pace that has characterized most of my blogging history. Some have been through FB group trading, some through case breaks, and some through my normal purchasing habits. Sadly, there haven't been many acquired through the cardsphere. As I considered the reasons I haven't been as active in the blog community there were many reasons. The constant feeling of being behind on scanning/writing about trades with fellow bloggers, guilt at not packing up outgoing trade packages on a regular basis(though I definitely have the stacks available to send out), and a lack of creative subject matter are all pretty high on the list. Utilizing my 'free' time for other card-related activities(recently discovered COMC challenges and digital card apps) also ranks up there. However, there is one other reason that my mind kept coming back to: my blog feels stale and isolated. The original design of the blog has served me well, but I no longer feel like it is fresh and exciting like I once did. Additionally, I've established multiple collecting communities(cardsphere, FB groups, in-person, etc) and they all feel isolated from each other. This leads me to the conundrum of being extremely excited about recent additions to the collection, but then holding off on posting about it anywhere due to a feeling of paralysis by analysis. I end up feeling unsure of how to tie together the new card(s) when the source isn't a part of the community I'm trying to share with. I realize even as I'm writing this that this reasoning may be rather silly, but it's a glimpse into my thought process. So, what does this long-winded, rambling bit of nonsense have to do with anything? I suppose the short answer is: whatever readers I still have left will probably be noticing some significant changes to the look of the blog. Additionally, I'll be launching a new, blog-specific Twitter account that will hopefully help me to begin integrating the multiple communities I wrote about earlier. In the long run, I hope that these changes will make the blog feel fresh again and eliminate some of the inexplicable hesitancy I've had to write about a bunch of stuff in recent months.

Sorry for the wordy, pictureless announcement. If there's anyone still out there that made it to the end of this, please take a moment to comment. Do any of you feel like your various collecting communities are isolated from each other? Clearly I'm overthinking all of this, huh? Anyway, thanks for reading.

Happy Star Wars Day!

May the fourth be with you!!! A quick post in honor of one of my favorite film franchises.

The first piece of cardboard up serves as a really great recap of the first six episodes and it's got a pretty great photo of Darth Vader as a bonus. While this is a really cool recent release, I am slowly but surely trying to piece together some of my favorite cards from the vintage Star Wars sets.

With that being said, I've always been a huge Yoda fanatic. This card from the Empire Strikes Back set highlights one of my favorite sequences of the original trilogy. I hope you've all enjoyed today's 'holiday'. Thanks for reading.

First Sampling of 2017 Bowman, More Like WOW-man

I must admit, I've gotten a bit spoiled with finding new releases either a few days early or at least on release day. It's been a busy few weeks between my daughter's spring break and an unexpected increase in responsibilities at the office so I haven't written in a while. However, I have still been active in the hobby(which you'll likely be able to read about in the coming days/weeks). I was eagerly anticipating the release of Bowman this week. After a few exceptionally long days at the office on Monday and Tuesday, I stopped at the local Target on the way home Tuesday evening. The shelves were unexpectedly bare. Dejected, I went home empty handed. The rest of the week was quite a whirlwind. Fast forward to Friday afternoon. After meeting the school bus to pick up my oldest after school, my three girls and I loaded into the car and headed to one of our local Walmart to do some grocery shopping(don't judge, it's the closest option to our house for groceries). I am usually underwhelmed by the card selection at this store, so I didn't go in with high hopes. As usual, I did have to have a look at the card aisle when we arrived. Much to my surprise, I found some cardboard worth taking home.

I know, I know. This is not Bowman. Since I'm still trying to piece this set together, I couldn't pass up a few discounted value packs though. I'll write more about these at a later date. A few pegs over from these 'clearance' packs, I found 'value packs' of Bowman. I snagged one, especially happy that the 'bonus' pack of retail-only, yellow parallels contained 5 cards instead of the 3 that I would have gotten if I had found the pack at Target.

There it is in all its glory. Once I got home, got the car unpacked, and started cooking dinner, I quickly ripped into the pack.

Well, that looks like a good start! Senzel is one of the bigger names in the product and seeing his yellow parallel gracing the front of the 'bonus' pack set the tone for this value pack.

There is the first card of my first Bowman pack of 2017. Don't worry, I didn't scan each card, I was just trying to stretch the enjoyment of my first pack ripping experience over the past few weeks. Overall, I like the design of this year's set pretty well. It's (mostly) clean with the exception of this extraneous pseudo-explosion design surrounding the team logo and a faint, white 'right angle' design behind the Bowman logo. Neither of these unnecessary design elements bothers me enough to take away from my enjoyment of the set. The first pack was solid, with a few decent vets(Harper and Posey) but no prospects I recognized in either paper or chrome form.

Seemingly random side note - I am not big on the idea of recording my pack breaks. This is mostly due to the fact that I absolutely cannot stand listening to my own voice on a recording. However, after I ripped into the final two packs here, I wished I had recorded this break simply for believability purposes. Okay, back to where I left off...

After cracking the three packs, I decided not to specify highlights of each pack, but rather highlights of each subset included. Here are three of the paper prospects that I've heard/read about. I didn't scan any vets/rookies, though I did OK there as well. I was lucky enough to pull Trout, and rookies of Glasnow, Renfroe, and Alfaro.

Up next, the contents of the yellow parallel pack. Senzel was definitely the best of the bunch, but I figured he would be. It was great to pull a Chrome version of Clint Frazier. It's my first card showing him as a Yankee prospect and with any luck, it will end up with an IP auto a bit later this season when the Railriders come to Durham. Here's where the unbelievability comes into play.

Smack in the middle of the second pack was that green Chrome auto which is #/99 and only found in retail product. So right there, I figured the value pack way exceeded expectations. Then, right in the middle of the third pack I flip to that paper auto(also retail exclusive). Of course, I have no idea who either of these guys are, but to pull 2 autos out of a retail value pack was incredible to me. Apparently, good things come to those who wait(even if the wait wasn't by choice).

Not-so-random side note - in my recent absence from writing I have spent a lot of time interacting within several Facebook-based collecting groups. Assuming the break posts that I've seen(GQ and Bowman) are truthful, Walmart retail packs and blasters have been yielding some incredible hits in relation to their Target counterparts. I realize this correlation is about as far as you can get from scientific data, but if you have the itch to bust some retail product, perhaps it's worth exploring for yourself. At the very least, you'll walk away with 2 more parallels than you would otherwise. I can certainly say that I'll be on the lookout for another value pack or two during my next trip to Walmart(sorry Target, I still love you though). Thanks for reading.