Anything Goes Week is Here

Welcome back for the final week of my blog re-launch contest. This week anything goes! Once again, a brief recap of the rules: 21 cards will be posted this week. Each reader can place a claim on one card. Cards can be claimed by more than one reader. Claims serve as entry into the contest and must be made with an associated name(no anonymous or unknown). The claim period will be open until Monday night at 8pm EST. At the close of that period, I will enter a list consisting of 'reader-card claimed' pairings into a list randomizer. This week, the top three readers with novel claims will be declared winners and receive Cardpocalypse packages. See yesterday’s post for clarification regarding the selection of winners. The packages will include the cards they claimed and some cards that will remain a mystery until the package is opened. Packages will be sent on Thursday.

First up, some familiar cardboard.

Joanna is /125, Bayley is /199(mat relic actually from NXT Takeover), and Kell is /175.

Familiar Refractor-y goodness.

From here on all of the cardboard will be making its contest debut. Max is the photo variation SP.

Forte is /200.



Hockey anyone?

Richardson is /75 and Johnson is /999.

Best of luck to all. The claiming period is open.

Final Round Rules Update

The final Cardpocalypse giveaway drops tomorrow. As previously promised, there will be multiple winners this time around. The theme is 'Anything Goes'. All rules from previous weeks apply here. However, I wanted to clarify how the winners will be selected. This week, the top three readers with novel claims will be declared winners.

The screenshot from this past week's contest will provide a good opportunity for me to explain. In the example above, the three winners would be John Sharp, Sport Card Collectors, and The Lost Collector. Jafronius would have missed out since SCC had claimed the same card and was higher on the list after the final shuffle.

Remember, everyone is eligible to enter this week. There will be 21 cards spanning all previous themes and a few that weren't already represented. Of those 21 cards, only 8 are making a second appearance in the contest. I'm really excited for this round and I hope all of you are too. The claiming period will begin in less than 24 hours...Are you ready?

7 Day Trading Card Challenge - Day 3

The story of my favorite football card begins over thirty years ago in the Hudson Valley. It's January 1987 and I'm in elementary school in Orange County, NY. I remember sitting in the gym with all of my classmates listening to the teachers at the front of the room talk about the upcoming Super Bowl matchup between the Denver Broncos and New York Giants. The school day was almost over and they had turned the few moments before the bell into an impromptu pep rally. The specifics are fuzzy, but the message was 'Go Giants' or 'make sure you cheer for the Giants'. Most of my classmates that cared about sports cheered. Not me. I remember thinking that I wasn't going to cheer for the Giants just because they told me to. Not to mention, I had just watched the AFC Championship game and saw 'The Drive'. I thought that was amazing. Prior to that I hadn't given much thought to who my favorite football team was, but on that day in the gym my love of the Broncos officially began. Most of my friends thought I was crazy to cheer for them and we had spirited discussions about who would win the big game. I was one of only a few that wasn't pulling for the G-Men. Of course, I ended up being disappointed by the final score a few days later. My classmates gloated but I didn't let that shake my allegiance.

Fast forward a few months, it's early summer. I took a ride with my mom into our small town to run some errands. One of our destinations that day was a tiny general store named Seymour's.

This is a relatively recent picture of the building(thank you Google street view) where that store once lived. It looks much different now than it did back then, but the constant that is relevant to my story are the windows to the left of the door. I was walking down the sidewalk towards the door on that day in 1987 and something in that window caught my eye. They had a display case full of sports cards! I walked into the store with my mom and impatiently waited for her to get whatever we needed. I begged her to let me stop and look in the window before heading back to the car. She let me look for what felt like a few seconds and one particular card caught my eye. I asked if I could get it and got the standard 'not today, maybe some other day'. I didn't realize at the time but that's parent speak for 'let's go, get in the car'. Day after day I asked if I could get that card. After the hundredth time being denied, I finally started asking if there were any jobs I could do around the house to earn some money. That was the first summer I remember being allowed to mow the lawn. Looking back, I made it easy on my parents. I had to convince them that I was able to safely use the mower rather than them having to fight with me to do that chore like they did with my brothers. I spent weeks collecting aluminum cans, doing odd jobs around the house, and mowing the lawn trying to earn enough to buy that card. Let me pause right here to qualify something - it was a different time and 'allowance' rates were much lower then. As the weeks went by, we made several trips to Seymour's. Each time I anxiously rushed to the window to see if they still had the card I wanted. Each time I was relieved that it was still sitting in that case. By the end of the summer, I had saved enough to buy the card. I just had to wait until there was a need to go back to the store again. A few looong days later my mom told me she was heading into town to pick a few things up and asked if I wanted to go along. I asked her if we could stop at Seymour's and she answered 'maybe'. That was good enough, I grabbed my money and hopped in the car. I don't remember how many other places we stopped that day, but it felt like a dozen. I tried to be patient. Next thing I knew, we were driving past the entrance to the parking lot. I was disappointed to put it mildly. I asked if we could please stop so I could buy the card. I got no answer. I'm not sure if she heard me and just wanted to make me sweat it out or if I actually asked so quietly that she never heard me. As we made our way through town, I resigned myself to the fact I'd have to wait for another day. The car turned unexpectedly, but I didn't think much of it. For all I knew, there was another destination on the list of errands for the day. I didn't pay much attention to where we were headed as I was too consumed with disappointment. The car stopped and I looked up to find we were in the parking lot. Turns out, my mom looped around to a secondary entrance. We got out of the car and I rushed to the window...the card wasn't there. In fact, the whole display case was missing from its normal spot. I walked in thinking that after all that work, I'd missed my chance to buy that card. We were greeted by a new employee which felt like a big deal in a small town USA, family owned business. My mom encouraged me to ask about the card display so I did. Fortunately, the new employee just hadn't put the case into the window. It was sitting safely behind the counter. They pulled it out and found the card I had been seeking all summer.

This is the card I worked so hard for. It's not perfect. The centering isn't great and the corners aren't the sharpest. I have had plenty of chances to pick up an 'upgrade' at decent prices over the years, but I've never seriously considered doing that. I've definitely never considered replacing it with a 'better' copy. I have cards that are worth more and that are much flashier/prettier, but it will take something really incredible to knock this one from its spot as the favorite football card in my collection. Thanks for reading.

Week 4's Winner is...

The bell has been rung on this week's claiming period. Thank you to the 9 readers that participated this week. Let's go to the list.

Here is the list pasted into the box, ready to be shuffled.

Here is the screenshot of the list after 7 rounds. Remember that the time stamp on the randomizer is set at UTC(Coordinated Universal Time) which is 4 hours ahead of EST. This week's winner is John Sharp! Please drop a comment with the best way to contact you about shipping instructions. The Sasha Banks relic will be headed your way. I once again have a challenging few days ahead of me preparing a prize pack for someone I haven't traded with in the past. If last week is any indicator, it's definitely going to be a blast! I thought that the Willie Nelson relic was out of here for sure since it proved to be so popular. Perhaps I'll have to throw it back out there for the upcoming 'Anything Goes' week. All previous winners are now eligible to enter once again. Stay tuned for a brief rules post later this week. It will outline how many winners there will be and give some additional contest specifications that will be in play.

Check back here this coming Sunday to see what is up for grabs when anything goes! Thanks for reading.

It's Cardpocalypse Sunday

Welcome back for week four of my blog re-launch contest. This week, the focus turns to MMA, wrestling, and non-sport content. Once again, a brief recap of the rules: nine cards will be posted every week. Each reader can place a claim on one card per week. Cards can be claimed by more than one reader. Claims serve as entry into the contest and must be made with an associated name(no anonymous or unknown). The claim period will be open until Monday night at 8pm EST. At the close of that period, I will enter a list consisting of 'reader-card claimed' pairings into a list randomizer. The reader/card combo at the top of the list after 7 rounds of shuffling will be the winner of the week's Cardpocalypse package. The winnings will include the card they claimed and some cards that will remain a mystery until the package is opened. Packages will be sent on Thursday each week. Readers can only win once during weeks 1-4. Week 5 will have multiple winners(number yet to be determined) and the four previous weekly winners will be eligible to enter again.

First up, some UFC cardboard.

Rose is /99, Joanna /125, and DJ /200.

Sasha is /150, Bayley /199 and HBK /299. Both mat relics are from he actual events(NXT Takeover Dallas for Bayley and Royal Rumble 2018 for Sasha).

I apologize that my non-sport game is kinda weak. We've got a sparkly Star-lord, The Flash in its foilboard glory, and a Willie Nelson relic.

In the words of 'Big' John McCarthy, 'Are you ready? Let's get it on!' 

The claiming period is open.

7 Day Trading Card Challenge - Day 2

Day 2 of the challenge: a card from a current year release with a unique photo.

I made this one tougher than I originally intended. How? Instead of selecting one card from any sport, I decided to show off one card from each sport! For some sports it was tough to pick a unique photo to go with while in others it was difficult to even find one.  I only own 2 of the 4 cards I'm going to feature, but I really like them all. So, even if you haven't opened much current year product, don't let it stop you from tackling this topic. Up first, baseball!

Stadium Club would usually be my 'go to' set to find unique photos on cardboard. Since this year's set hasn't been released(fingers crossed it doesn't get scrapped) yet, there's really only Topps flagship, Opening Day, Donruss, and some higher end products to choose from. Donruss and the higher end products don't really produce anything that fits this topic for me. Flagship contains some cool pics, but most of the really unique photos lie in the SP/SSP(SSSSP?!) section of the release. That narrowed my search to Opening Day. Since it's mostly a rehash of Flagship, I didn't really expect to find anything great here. However, when I went back and flipped through the packs I opened, a few really stood out. 

The Spring Has Sprung insert set contains some interesting views of the game that collectors don't get to see very often. This Juan Soto is my favorite of the 5 I've pulled. For me, there's something awesome about seeing a young star being instructed on one of the fundamentals of the game.

The card backs even detail what is happening on the front! I'd like to complete the set at some point, but it's probably going to be a passive exercise since my hobby energy is focused on other pursuits right now. Let's move on to football.

This is one of the ones I don't own. These days, I don't buy a lot of football, but what I have from current year products is all pretty boring. Yeah, some of them are shiny or sparkly but the pics are all pretty similar and don't really show anything resembling 'action'. This one doesn't knock my socks off, but compared to most of Panini's offerings, it's full of emotion which certainly makes it unique. NBA anyone?

Ditto everything I wrote about Panini football products here. Prizm and higher end products all have player silhouettes against some solid background that lends itself to creating the plethora of colored parallels that are all the rage these days. Even in NBA Hoops and Donruss, most of the images are pretty standard(dribbling, rebounding, holding the ball...). Even the action shots involving shots or dunks are from similar angles and really don't capture anything besides the player with the arena's rafters or roof in the background. Something about he composition of this one is cool. You can see George's eyes focused on the rim above and the crowd all decked out in orange serves as a much more interesting backdrop. It just feels alive. Let's close out by heading to the ice.

Let me just say that I miss Upper Deck's offerings in the other sports. Each year there are some really awesome pics on hockey cards! This is definitely one of my favorites from this year's product. The low angle along the goal line, the opposing player behind Bishop, and his teammates scrambling to make sure the puck is secure under his glove all make for an action packed image.

Looking back at all of these together, I suppose there is a common theme that ties these all together for me. They all bring the game to life. I don't have anything against a posed shot here and there, but they are becoming more and more prevalent. Even most of the 'action' pics these days are so mundane and repetitive. I'd love to see a movement from the card companies to incorporate more and more of these types of images across their various sets. Making these unique pics a regular fixture in packs would certainly make out hobby more interesting. Thanks for reading.

Challenging the Blogosphere

Sometimes inspiration strikes at the most unexpected moment. I have spent a lot of time over the past several weeks juggling in-office work, working from home, home schooling my two oldest daughters, and trying to come up with ideas for interesting blog posts in the additional time I've been afforded to spend on the hobby. Last week, my oldest was assigned a 'daily LEGO challenge' as an option for art. She was sharing the list of building themes with me and suddenly the light bulb in my head came on! I started brainstorming a blog challenge theme list. I realize this isn't a new concept. In fact, what I'm going to share is quite derivative of the 30 Day Baseball Card Challenge that was introduced by Tony from Off Hiatus Baseball Cards back in 2017 so I made sure to get his permission before reimagining it. He gave his blessing so I moved forward with the idea of creating topics that I want to write(and read) about. Most of these aren't ground breaking by any means but I hope at least one of these topics might generate some interesting back and forth within the community. If not, I'll still enjoy putting my opinion out there for all to see. Without further delay, I am throwing down the gauntlet to everyone in our hobby community(blogosphere,Twitter-verse, etc).

Feel free to share(if you're so inclined) and make this your own. I'm just throwing some ideas out there. Post on a daily/weekly/monthly schedule, modify topics to fit your specific collecting preferences, or pick just one topic to write about. Have fun with it. Should you choose to participate in the challenge, please share links to your posts/tweets so the community can follow along. I'd love to add to my blogroll or follow some 'new-to-me' accounts.

Day 1 - Favorite card acquired during quarantine 

I understand that this may be a topic that some aren't able to participate in for various reasons. If that describes you, please don't let it keep you from tackling this list. Use day one as a wildcard or skip it altogether. For me, continuing to acquire cards in various ways has been an important source of escapism for me. I've completed several trades and purchases since North Carolina's stay at home order went into effect. My favorite of all the cards I've picked up so far is actually the first one that arrived during this period.

Historically speaking, I haven't made a habit of seeking autographs from actors. However, this one has been on the non-baseball version of my Cardboard Wishlist for quite some time. Trust me, it's definitely not because I am a Game of Thrones fan. I am a fan of the annual World's Strongest Man competition and 'Thor' here has been one of top contenders for the better part of a decade. He has been one of my favorite non-American competitors for just as long. During my time away from the blog, I started to piece together a strongman collection. I've made some good progress on that and will show off some more of it in the future. Since WSM card sets don't exist(that I know of), the only Björnsson cards I've been able to find come from the various GoT sets. I've seen 3-4 different autos from those sets on the market, most at prices I haven't been willing to pay. This design and photo selection was the one I really wanted to track down. Aside from the large series title splashed across the front, you wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't a sports card. The other designs picture him in armor or with gashes on his face. I jumped at the chance to pick this copy up as soon as I got the eBay search notification. Why? First, the price was right. Even better than the palatable price tag was the fact that it's a full name signature. Many of the autos I have seen are signed 'Thor Björnsson'. Prior to seeing this one, I had only seen one other example of his full signature on eBay(though a quick search as I write this comes up with more than a handful of to choose from). I'm happy to cross this card off of my wishlist and it gave me the perfect opportunity to introduce a new part of my collection to the blog!

There you have it, day one is in the books for me. The challenge has been issued.

Thanks for reading.

The Week Three Winner is....

The final buzzer has sounded on their week's claiming period! Thank you to the 7 readers that participated this week. The basketball contest edged out last week with just over an hour left.

Here is the list pasted into the box, ready to be shuffled.

Here is the screenshot of the list after 7 rounds. Remember that the time stamp on the randomizer is set at UTC(Coordinated Universal Time) which is 4 hours ahead of EST. This week's winner is The Diamond King! The Rick Barry relic will be headed your way. I have a challenging few days ahead of me preparing a prize pack for someone I haven't traded with in the past. It's gonna be fun! You are not eligible to enter in week 4, but I hope to see you back here for 'Anything Goes' week 5. Please let me know the best way to reach out to you regarding your address. 

Check back here this coming Sunday to see the variety of MMA/wrestling/non-sports cards that will be up for grabs in week 4. Thanks for reading.

Cardpocalypse, Basketball Style

Welcome back for week three of my blog re-launch contest. This week, we focus on basketball. Once again, a brief recap of the rules: Nine cards will be posted every week. Each reader can place a claim on one card per week. Cards can be claimed by more than one reader. Claims serve as entry into the contest and must be made with an associated name(no anonymous or unknown). The claim period will be open until Monday night at 8pm EST. At the close of that period, I will enter a list consisting of 'reader-card claimed' pairings into a list randomizer. The reader/card combo at the top of the list after 7 rounds of shuffling will be the winner of the week's Cardpocalypse package. The winnings will include the card they claimed and some cards that will remain a mystery until the package is opened. Packages will be sent on Thursday each week. Readers can only win once during weeks 1-4. Week 5 will have multiple winners(number yet to be determined) and the four previous weekly winners will be eligible to enter again.

I have really appreciated the participation and interaction throughout the first few weeks. Entry numbers were down last week which I expected considering the switch from baseball to football. As we move on to basketball this week, will we see an increase in numbers? Will there be more than week one? Time will tell. Let's see what's up for grabs this week.

Let's start with some ink and a relic.

Durant is /25.

Carter/Edwards is the single side refractor(VC) variety, Dominique is a bronze refractor, and Richmond is the gold parallel.

Best of luck to all, the claiming period tips off now!

Celebrity Dopplegangers on Cardboard

Last week I was flipping through various boxes looking for cards to include in Dimebox Nick's Cardpocalypse prize pack. I came upon a stack that was clearly from a previous Fairfield/Walgreens repack. There was a run of random minor league issues and I did a double take when I saw one of them. Looking at the image I felt like I had seen the guy in a different quadrant of pop culture. After thinking for a moment, it hit me and the creative juices started flowing. The idea for Celebrity Dopplegangers was born. I'm sure it won't be a regular series, but I had to engage the creativity before it went away.

This is the card in question. It's from the 1990 Star Company Lakeland Tigers team set. Marty Willis played five minor league seasons(none higher than double A) and posted a mundane 24-30 win/loss record. Needless to say, he didn't set the baseball world on fire. Does anyone else see what I saw?

Bobby Brown from the Cobra Kai dojo! Maybe it's a bit of a stretch, but the resemblance was close enough that it made me want to look up the actor that played Bobby(just to make sure he didn't have a brief minor league jaunt). Ron Thomas definitely did not play minor league baseball, but I was intrigued to learn that he became a high ranking, well respected martial artist and motivational speaker. Funny how life imitates art, isn't it?

I hope you got a kick(see what I did there?) out of my first post of this type. Technically, it's the second time I've explored doppleganger territory(Aaron Judge/Cameron Frye was the first), but that wasn't a dedicated post. Anyway, I'd love to hear your toughts on this topic. Did I hit the nail on the head or was this a pretty big stretch? Have you had a similar experience while flipping through your collection? Should I keep an eye out for more of these or drop the concept forever? Drop a comment and let me know your thoughts. Thanks for reading.

An Update on the Personal PC Vol. 1

Back on March 31, I set out to tell a story about making my collection more personal through sharing the experience with my daughter and searching for players with whom I share some sort of direct connection. If you missed it the first time around, it can be found here. In brief, I detailed my search to find the second of two 30+ year old, obscure, minor league team set issued cards. Shortly after publishing that post, P-Town Tom wrote a comment that led me on a very fruitful, month-long quest. Tom's comment was a heads up that there were several copies of the 1990 Star Erie Sailors Brian Golden card available on Sportlots. I had heard about the site from many in the hobby community and even signed up for an account a few years back, but never placed an order. This news was all the motivation I needed to break that ice. I spent a good bit of time searching the inventory of the various sellers that had my targeted card listed. In the end, I filled my cart with about 20 cards(rest to be shown in a later post) and checked out. Then I waited. I found the process to be very smooth and I appreciated the notifications when my order had been picked and shipped. A short while later, the package arrived.

This is what I was looking for! With it in hand, I thought this personal PC was complete. I shared the new acquisition with my daughter and we went out to my TCDB checklist to add it to my collection. That's where our story takes an unexpected turn. We checked it off the wantlist and I clicked the link to show her that this collection was 100% complete at 2/2 cards listed. Instead of seeing that, we were met with 'your collection is 66.7% complete at 2/3'. This was interesting because we had just checked this prior to checking out on Sportlots. Where did another card come from? A 'Platinum', limited version of the 1989 Hamilton Redbirds card from my original post on this topic was now listed. There was no scan of the card so I had no idea how it differed from the 'regular' version. One user had it listed in his collection. I sent him a message asking about the differences between the two versions. Then I waited. In the mean time, I began my eBay and Google searches for the newly discovered set/single. At first, the searches didn't produce anything useful. No current or recently sold listings matched. I took a shot and ran the search without the 'platinum' qualifier. I found many of the same listings that had been there before I acquired the base card months ago. After scrolling through results for a while, I found my first lead. A complete set was listed, but the pictured card had a light blue border instead of the red/yellow border on the one I had. I thought it was a listing error, but the description listed the complete checklist and Brian was on it. I messaged the seller, asking for confirmation that the entire set had the blue border. Then I waited... I hadn't received a reply from the TCDB user in over 24 hours and I hoped the eBay seller would give me some good news relatively quickly. A few hours later, the eBay seller replied. He told me that he had previously sold the blue set and all he had left was the red/yellow bordered set. I was disappointed, but seemingly had confirmation that the platinum set had a blue border. I added this search back to my eBay saved list and left it alone. As expected, there were no new notifications after a few days so I decided to stop waiting. I altered my search a bit, checking for '1989 Star Hamilton' instead of adding the team name. A bunch of the same results I had seen before came up with a few guys who had the last name of Hamilton mixed in. I hit the jackpot when I got to the end of that search. The first listing in the section labeled 'results matching fewer words' was for a '1989 Hamilton Cardinals' set. The description seemed to match, but the picture had multiple sets shown and was not clear enough to confirm it was the blue bordered set. I messaged the seller. They replied quickly and told me they had both the blue and red/yellow sets available. They sent me a link to their listing for the blue bordered set and I was shocked by the price they were charging. We negotiated back and forth 2-3 times at which point I was told they wouldn't go any lower for such a limited set. I politely declined telling them I understood, but their price was higher than I was willing to pay since I only wanted the single card. Again, I was disappointed, but at least I knew of a set that was on the market. About a week after our negotiation, I received one of those 'seller has made you an offer' messages. The seller had decided to drop the price by ~$10 which put the asking price just a little higher than my previous top offer. I mulled it over and ultimately decided to accept. I definitely paid more than I wanted to, but the search was over. Then I waited. Several long days later the set finally arrived.

I am simultaneously thrilled and bummed to have these two new additions to my 'personal PC'. Thrilled for obvious reasons, but bummed because the hunt appears to be over(that's part of the fun after all)...or is it? I wonder if there is a 'platinum' version of the 1990 Erie set floating around out there somewhere. Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps I should be patient and wait.

Either way, huge thanks go out to P-Town Tom for helping push me further down this particular collecting road. I suppose I owe him twice the thanks. Not only for the assistance in finding the two new PC cards, but also for providing the motivation to take the Sportlots plunge. I'm sure that I'll spend quite a bit of time down that 'rabbit hole' in the future! Thanks for reading.

The Second Cardpocalypse Goes To...

Once again I want to thank everyone who participated this week. A few minutes ago when the claiming window closed, there were 6 entries. Based upon the typical page view numbers that football related posts draw, I fully expected the lower total, and was happy with the end result. I was even more pleased with the emergence of an unintended strategic element to the contest. A comment was posted about wrestling with the decision to enter this week and possibly miss out on the chance to win something more desirable in the coming weeks. I had a separate Twitter message conversation with a different reader on the same topic. I hadn't planned the contest in this manner, but the layers that have emerged are a welcome and happy accident. Is there anyone else out there sharing the same thought process? Perhaps. Either way, I hope it adds to the enjoyment of the month's festivities. I'll try to live up to the expectations of something better each week. Without further delay, let's head to the randomizer!

Here is the entire list pasted into the box, ready to be shuffled.

Here is the screenshot of the list after the standard 7 rounds. Remember that the time stamp on the randomizer is set at UTC(Coordinated Universal Time) which is 4 hours ahead of EST. This week, the winner is Night Owl! The very popular Jim Kelly/Thurman Thomas dual materials card will be headed your way along with some 'mystery' cards to keep it company. NO, you are not eligible to enter in weeks 3-4, but I hope to see you back here in week 5 for 'Anything Goes' week.

Now that two weeks are under the belt, I'd love to hear any thoughts about this concept. Positives? Constructive feedback? Maddening frustrations(I hope not)? Suggestions for edits? My ears/eyes are open to it all. I think I'd like to make this a semi-regular fixture here if readers out there are enjoying the participation as much as I have enjoyed picking cards and piecing together the Cardpocalypse package that was sent to last week's winner, Dimebox Nick.

Check back here this Sunday to see the basketball cards up for grabs in week 3. Thanks for reading.

Cardpocalypse Part Deux

First things first, Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there.

Welcome back for the second week of my blog re-launch contest. This week, we focus on football. Once again, a brief recap of the rules: Nine cards will be posted every week. Each reader can place a claim on one card per week. Cards can be claimed by more than one reader. Claims serve as entry into the contest and must be made with an associated name(no anonymous or unknown). The claim period will be open until Monday night at 8pm EST. At the close of that period, I will enter a list consisting of 'reader-card claimed' pairings into a list randomizer. The reader/card combo at the top of the list after 7 rounds of shuffling will be the winner of the week's Cardpocalypse package. The winnings will include the card they claimed and some cards that will remain a mystery until the package is opened. Packages will be sent on Thursday each week. Readers can only win once during weeks 1-4. Week 5 will have multiple winners(number yet to be determined) and the four previous weekly winners will be eligible to enter again.

Some rookie materials including a Saint(partial inspiration for the title).

More rookies/rookie year cardboard with a little ink mixed in.

An auto, an older school tandem, and a HOF refractor. The combo materials is /99.

...And We Have A Winner!

To everyone that participated in the first Cardpocalypse contest, I want to say thank you. At the close of the claiming window last night at 8pm EST, we had 12 entries. There was a 13th entry that I was forced to disqualify because it was from an 'Unknown' author. I tried to comment back to that reader asking for definitive identification but did not hear anything back. Going forward, I will be clarifying the need to know who is making the claim in the rules recap while posting pics of the cards of the week.

           

Here is the total list entered into the randomizer. Note the time on the screenshot.

Here is the screenshot of the list after 7 rounds. The time stamp on the randomizer is set at UTC(Coordinated Universal Time) which is 4 hours ahead of EST. With all of the verification mumbo jumbo out of the way, I want to say a huge congrats to Nick! You are the winner of the first Cardpocalypse giveaway. The Gleyber Torres Finest Blue Chips will be headed your way along with some 'mystery' cards to keep it company on the journey up to IL. Nick, you are not eligible to enter in weeks 2-4. I hope to see you back here in week 5 for 'Anything Goes' week.

Check back here on Sunday to see he football cards up for grabs in week 2.

May the Fourth Be With You

Happy Star Wars Day!!!

I'm celebrating by finishing my kids' schooling early and then watching their choice of Star Wars content. We plan to start the festivities by lunchtime. This year the 'holiday' is probably an even bigger deal around my house than in the past. Despite the hole left by the lack of a Durham Bulls' Star Wars Night game this year(which has become an annual tradition for us), we will rejoice in the escapism the films enable. We will put on our franchise-themed gear, talk about our favorite scenes or characters, and spend time together.

Is there a more fitting day to show off one piece of a (not so)recent Zippy Zapping? I think not. This awesome manu-relic arrived in an extremely generous package back in mid-January. I highlighted several of the incredible cards from my first official Zapping in a Twitter thank you post at the time. I was very happy to receive this Rey since she is a character that my oldest daughter and I both like. I'm sure she will be the topic of several discussions as the day unfolds. I'm off to put the finishing touches on some Wookiee Cookies and pretzel light sabers. If you're not into Star Wars, try to find something else to be positive about. If you haven't already entered for the chance at some free cards, the claiming window is still open until 8pm tonight. Check out yesterday's post for details. Who isn't positive about free cards? Everyone stay safe and hang in there through these rough times.

May the force be with you! Thanks for reading.

The First Cardpocalypse Is Imminent

Today's the day. The first in a series of 5 weekly giveaway/contests begins right here! First, let's recap the rules. Nine cards will be posted every week. Each reader can place a claim on one card per week. Cards can be claimed by more than one reader. Claims serve as entry into the contest. The claim period will be open until Monday night at 8pm EST. At the close of that period, I will enter a list consisting of 'reader-card claimed' pairings into a list randomizer. The reader/card combo at the top of the list after 7 rounds of shuffling will be the winner of the week's Cardpocalypse package. The winnings will include the card they claimed and some cards that will remain a mystery until the package is opened. Packages will be sent on Thursday each week. Readers can only win once during weeks 1-4. Week 5 will have multiple winners(number yet to be determined) and the four previous weekly winners will be eligible to enter again. Without further delay, here's a look at this week's baseball cards.

First, three retired stars: Ripken is a refractor and Kell is /175.

A mix of current stars.

Some relics to round out the first week.

Okay all, the Cardpocalypse is nigh. The claiming period is open!

Are You Ready for the Cardpocalypse...Grand Re-launch Celebration

It's the first day of a new month. As I look back, I've been posting somewhat regularly for six weeks now. It's been a lot of fun and I can't believe how fast those weeks have gone by. In my 'welcome back' post, I mentioned making changes to the look and feel of the blog and tossed around the idea of having a blog re-launch celebration of some sort. Well here it is! Today I'm going to discuss the origins of the new blog name and conclude with rules for the giveaways that tie into said celebration. Please stick with me, it'll be worth it.

First let's take a brief look at the history of this blog. Way back in late 2014 I decided to join the blogging community, but I struggled to find a name that I liked. During the design phase I bounced between several different monikers prior to publicly publishing the blog. Ultimately I decided to go with 'I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning'. Just in case there is anyone that wasn't aware, that's a play on a quote from the movie Apocalypse Now. That has never been one of my favorite films, but several of my friends and I tended to spout the original line frequently back in the day. I was happy with the name overall even though it was quite lengthy to write out. Fast forward to May 2017. I began dipping my toe into the corner of the Twitter-verse dedicated to the hobby and encountered a similar name related struggle. I knew that I wanted to link my account to the blog and therefore wanted the blog name and Twitter handle to be related. Thus, @CardpocalypseNC(the NC had to be added due to availability issues) was born. Since the blog was already established I chose to leave it intact in its original form. My blogging presence slowly dwindled due to the death of my laptop and subsequently the iOS Blogger app. Without a reliable means of content management via my tablet or phone, I shifted focus towards social media. I recently uncovered a solution that allows me to easily and reliably manage the blog using my mobile devices. This brings us up to date. As I considered what changes to make on blog, a new name was somewhat of a no brainer and definitely topped the list.

So, what exactly does Cardpocalypse mean? I'm glad you asked. It's not an allusion to some future time when the collecting world will come to an end(either personally or more broadly speaking). Apocalypse can be defined as revelation(in the non-Biblical sense) - the unveiling, unfolding, or uncovering of something(s) previously unknown. Bearing this in mind, cardpocalypse means the uncovering of cards previously unknown. In more specific terms - opening packs, boxes, or mail day packages where the contents are a mystery. I love all of that and I know many of you do too(hang in there, it'll all tie together)!

While out on a recent grocery gathering mission, I decided to grab these 2 fat packs of Donruss. I felt it was probably against my better judgment but after weeks of the shelter-in-place order I craved some pack ripping therapy. In other words, I was ready for a Cardpocalypse!

The lack of logos still irks me, but these were a fun break nonetheless. I was happy to see three Yankees in the first pack. One of the Gleybers is a photo variation, but I haven't researched which one yet. I enjoy the nickname variations and of course I dig the different types of shiny parallels.

These highlights alone made the pack two better overall. I wasn't as excited about them since they don't fit my collection, but that excitement level picked up when I saw this peeking out from the middle of the stack.

I love this! It ticks so many boxes for me. Great design? Check. Great photo selection? Check. Desirable player from favorite team? Check. Moment of escapism in the midst of a quarantine? Check!

Okay, here's the part you've all been waiting(or scrolled down the page) for! Throughout the month of May, I'm going to send out packages so a few of you can experience the Cardpocalypse for yourself. Here is how it's going to work.

- There are 5 Sundays this month.

- Each Sunday I will post nine cards that are up for grabs.

- Any reader may stake a claim on one card each Sunday. The window for claims each week will close at 8pm Monday(this will be at least a 24 hour period).

- Multiple readers may place claims on the same card each week.

- At the close of the claims window, I will create a list consisting of 'reader name/card claimed'. This list will be entered into the random.org list randomizer. The list will be shuffled 7 times. The 'reader name/claimed card' on top at the end of round 7 will be the winner for the week. I will send the card claimed by the winner along with some mystery cards(efforts will be made to fit the winner's collecting preferences) to round out the package. Weekly packages will be dropped at the post office on Thursday of each week.

- Any reader can only win once in weeks 1-4. Week 5 will have multiple winners(number TBD) and previous weekly winners will be eligible to enter again.

- Cards offered each week will be categorized by sport. Week 1 will be baseball. Week 2 is football. Week 3 basketball. Week 4 will be a mix of MMA/Pro Wrestling/non-sport. Week 5 is 'Anything Goes'.

Hopefully I've done a good job describing this to you all. Week 5 will have some additional rules/guidelines to accommodate the multiple winner aspect. I will detail these in a post a few days before May 31. If anyone out there is taking precautions against the virus by not accepting mail at this time, I will gladly hold winnings until I am given the 'all clear' by the winner. Please reach out if you have questions about any of this. Get ready, there's less than 48 hours until the Cardpocalypse! Thanks for reading.