Bubble Gum Bomb

In keeping with the trade package catch-up, let's take a look at the most recent(though I've had this for several months at this point) package from Jeff at Wish They Still Came With Bubble Gum. As usual, he loaded it up with awesome cardboard goodness, but he sent an additional surprise my way this go 'round.

Starting off are two shiny NJ Devils. I've always loved the Black Diamond brand(across all sports) probably because they remind me of the early days of the SP brand. In those first few years, the RCs were done in varying styles of foil and I was always so excited to pull one of those.

I can't help but still collect Robbie Cano. He was one of my favorite Yankees during his time in NY. I was especially happy to find this Heritage purple refractor, even if he is sporting the M's jersey. That is my first card of Mo the Third. If he can develop into a half the player his dad was, he should have a long and successful career.

Ahhh, old Topps Tek! These young Hamiltons were especially welcome additions since I always like to be reminded of his time in the Rays system. When I think about that, it does make me wish that I had gotten the chance to see him in Durham Bulls colors, but it wasn't meant to be.

As much as I liked finding the Josh Hamilton Tek cards, you know I loved finding these new-to-me Bernie cards!

More Bernies and a Jorge that I've had my eyes on for a while were also very welcome additions.

I had completely forgotten about the Topps Laser set from back in the day until I found some in a quarter box at the last show I went to. There weren't any players I wanted in that quarter box, so it was cool to see this Wade Boggs fall out of the package. These look really intricate, but they are extremely fragile.

Since I'm not a huge fan of the GQ line, I always appreciate when I find GQ minis or mini parallels in trade packages. I scanned this Whitey Ford a while back, but I'm pretty sure the black parallel was #/50.

From one great Yankee hurler to another. These two David Cones pay tribute to the perfect game he threw back in July 1999. I've had the MVP card for a long time, but the Dominion was new to me and I couldn't help but show them both off side by side since the pics were snapped a few moments apart and from slightly different angles.

Nearing the end of this great stack of cards, but there are still these gems to highlight. Both of these are photo variation SPs from last year's Topps sets. I've shown the Jeter before. It shows The Captain celebrating(with his teammates) his walk off hit in his final Yankee Stadium AB. The Andrew Miller is a great shot of him presumably in the bullpen awaiting the call to start warming up for another save. 

That was some great, great cardboard. However, the real treat of this package was what followed.

I thought it was strange that when the envelope arrived, it was one of the letter sized ones. When I opened it, I saw the cards in full 9 pocket pages which I thought explained the envelope, but once I pulled the pages out, this remained. When I was younger, I made every attempt to collect programs like these. That's a habit I had to reconsider as I got older because I began to realize that space limitations and moving stuff like this from house to house can be tricky. Seeing this brought back fond memories and I really enjoyed reading through it. Jeff, I'm not sure where you found this, but thanks for thinking of me and sending it my way! I've got a stack of Braves, Falcons, and a few Lightning cards ready to pack and send to you.

Thanks for reading.

Oddballs and Hockey and Broncos...Oh My!!!

Tonight I want to share two last PWEs before looking at some of the loot from fellow Super Traders which has begun to pour in over the past few days. Both of these PWEs came from Tony Burbs. One of them contained a bunch of 1993 Hostess singles I needed to help complete that set.

Here are six of my favorites. There were actually a whopping eleven needs wiped out in one shot! Of course, you've got to know I was thrilled that the Mattingly can finally be crossed off my list. Tony assured me he was happy to be rid of these. The need to pack a second envelope began on National Hockey Day. Tony had grabbed some free packs and I took a liking to a few, so I inquired about their availability. Sure enough, they arrived with a few NFL buddies to keep hem company on the journey.

I'm happy to have the Canes and Devils represented by my first ever cards from any National hockey Day. I've read a few times on different blogs that some folks wrestle with whether or not contest cards like that Elway are real cards or not. In fact, if I gave my answer to that a few years back, I would have said no. Again, I'm glad that guy isn't running this collection anymore! I absolutely consider that a new addition to my Elway collection and I'm digging the photo of him in the Super Bowl XXXIII jersey! Across the bottom is a mixture of some of my favorite Broncos defenders of days gone by. Smith and Atwater were two of the anchors from the early days of my Denver fandom and I always liked John Mobley. They also provided a good dose of nostalgia since they're all pictured in the old Broncos jerseys with the old logo helmets. Such great cardboard!

Thanks Tony! I'm starting to put together some stuff to send back your way soon.

Card Show Recap pt. 3 - The Non-Baseball Stuff

When I was preparing to go to the show last week, I set some unofficial goals and rules for myself. The goals were to stay focused(no frivolous spending) and finish the 1968 Game set. The big rule I attempted to put in place was to avoid buying Broncos. I figured a week removed from winning the 'Big Game' that prices would be unreasonably high. Well, how did I do? I did complete the 1968 Game set, but as you're about to see, I wasn't very focused and I couldn't resist a few Broncos purchases.

At least his trio came from one of the home made repacks that this one vendor always has. I only snagged this one football filled repack, but I'll show off contents from the other 5 baseball ones in another post. I already had the Ware, but the Elway and the DT were new to me.

Now for some Super shiny Broncos! It's hard to see in the scan, but the Certified Shane Ray is some sort of parallel limited to #/499. I was able to walk away with the base version as well which is #/999. I grabbed them both for less than a buck a piece. Same goes for the green refractor of Mr. MVP, Von Miller. A mere fifty cents allowed me to bring that beauty home. The Tek Shane Ray base auto was a different story. The vendor that was selling it had a $10 price tag on it. I had no intention of paying that so I left it in the stack I found it in. I spent a lot of time flipping through this guy's boxes and chatting with him. Turns out, we are members of the same Facebook collector's group that is based in the Triangle here in NC. I pulled a few other cards out and he have me his best price so I ended up throwing the Ray auto into the mix and the number he gave me was fair enough for me to walk away with it and the next two cards.

This is the part of the program where my staying focused went out the window. For the first time, I was able to go through a box of some singles from the relatively recent Panini Soccer product. He had a bunch of great hits and singles from the set, but most would have busted my budget in one stop so I just admired them from afar. I really liked this Robben/Van Persie insert. It's a great card of the Dutch 'Dynamic Duo'. I was happy to have this one in the package deal, but the next single is the one that made it worthwhile for me.

This awesome Tim Howard red Prizm looks much better in hand than in this scan. In addition, it is the National Team SP.

Apparently, the National Team SPs are designated by the little soccer ball in he upper left corner on the back. Oh, by the way, did I mention this was numbered 16/199? When all the conversation was finished and the deal was made, I ended up taking all three of those home for the $10 price tag that was on the Ray by itself. It may not have been the best deal I made all day, but I felt better about it once I learned that the vendor and I belonged to that same local collecting group. It was great to meet another one in person.

I'd like to say that I was able to reign the focus back in after this lapse, but it was not so.

 

I ended up pulling this A&G surfer girl relic out of a $2 box. It complements the relic of the other surfer from last year's Ginter that I had already traded for a few months back. It's even technically a two color swatch. My last unfocused purchase was the first hockey single I've picked up in over a decade.

I happened to slow down near a table that was covered in singles in top loaders. Before I could pick the pace back up, the vendor was launching into his spiel about all of the cards on the table being $1 even though most of them were worth at least $15-20. I planned to move on as soon as he stopped talking directly to me because I get really annoyed at vendors that overemphasize how good their deals  are. I'm much more interested in buying from folks that let the deals speak for themselves but are available for whatever questions you might have. Before he could finish his push, I caught a glimpse of this Scott Stevens relic out of the corner of my eye. It was in a giant screwdown case(for no good reason), but I couldn't pass up that sweet Devils swatch for just a buck.

So, I went 1/3 in adhering to my goals/rules for the show, but at least going off the intended oath didn't break my budget. It also let me bring these awesome cards home. Hey, batting .333 is pretty darn good anyway, right? Thanks for reading.

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.

Sportscards From North of the Border

For a self-professed non-set collector, it has been in the name of finishing a few sets that I finally reached out to a member of the blogosphere that doesn't reside in the US.

When I saw a post from Douglas(AKA buckstorecards) of the entertaining blog Sportscards From The Dollar Store, about the Archives boxes he opened I had to reach out. The cards were up for grabs and he had five more Topps Game inserts that I needed to finish my set. Progress on the set has slowed, but my current count stands at 20 out of 33.

He also had two more Will Ferrell cards that I needed. I am close to finishing this one. I have 8 of 10 in-hand.

I can only assume that Douglas dug into some of the cards he had stockpiled from busting discounted Target repacks because he didn't stop here. He included a hearty stack of Denver Broncos and New Jersey Devils.

This is just a small sampling of the hockey cards that were included. It was an impressive mix of older and newer sets, US and Canadian versions. Growing up in New York, my friends gave me a hard time for not liking the Rangers. The top three players had a lot to do with me wanting to watch and cheer for the Devils instead. Richer was exciting to watch, Lemieux could find the back of the net and lay an opponent out, and Slava Fetisov was a great defenseman. The gold signature Kovalchuk is pretty cool. The Elias die-cut is awesome. It's really strange seeing Jagr in the Devils sweater after so many years in Pittsburgh.

Let's bring on the Broncos! That's my first card of Danny Trevathan, one of my favorite defensive players of the last few seasons. The two die-cuts are pretty nice. I think the team will miss Julius Thomas this coming season, though I understand the strategy of letting him sign elsewhere. The Miller is a nice card, but I'm having a hard time not transferring my dislike for the baseball version of Prizm.

Here are some shiny parallels and a nice Roby RC from Turkey Red. I may be in the minority, but I am glad that Peyton Manning decided to come back for the 2015 season.

These would have been great, and at this point, I am kinda thinking that I came out way ahead in this trade, but it didn't end there.

Historically, I am not a fan of the pink parallels of any kind. However, this Cody Latimer RC is beginning to change my mind a bit. It looks really sharp in person and...

it's #/399! As nice as this was, I have saved the best for last.

Though I was expecting this card to fall out of the trade stack(we had discussed it prior to mailing), I wasn't prepared for how much it would blow me away. This is my first multicolor patch card. I have a few Yankee patch relics that are simply solid, navy blue letter/logo patch material. This is on a different level and there are only 35 copies of this floating around. Ball may not have panned out quite yet, but I am happy to give this card a new home in my collection.

Thanks for the incredible stack of goodies buckstorecards! Now that I've learned the ins and outs of international shipping, I will be sure to send more cards your way. I've somehow got to make up for coming out so far behind on this trade.

A Mega-PWE Filled With...Hockey?!?

I recently claimed some hockey cards from JediJeff of 2x3 Heroes. Back in my younger days, I was an pretty huge NJ Devils fan. To this day, I guess I'm a casual fan. So, when the opportunity arose to claim some Devils cards, I jumped. Jeff has said that he's going to continue to drop cards on everyone until they're gone and the first installment arrived the other day.

These were the highlights. There were guys included that I had to Google, but these guys were on the teams back when I followed closely. My favorite of the bunch is definitely the Brodeur in the upper left corner. Great player+great shot holding the Stanley Cup=incredible card! I was thrilled to see not just one, but two cards of players hoisting the trophy. The envelope was heavy on the captain of those squads too, Scott Stevens. 

Jeff also helped me cross off three more 2015 Topps series one base cards. I'm betting sooooo close to finishing that set, just a few more to go. Thanks Jeff.