Patch Card Chronicles - Vol. 1

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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.

An Olympic Edition Single Card Post Sunday

A quick one time return of the Single Card Post Sunday in honor of the Olympic Closing Ceremonies tonight. I've had a blast watching as many events as possible over the past two weeks. I found a blaster of the Topps Olympic set and was fortunate to pull this out of it:

That is a Team USA patch of four-time gold medalist(5 overall), Simone Biles numbered #/99. I figured it would be a great time to show this one off since she will be the US flag bearer during said Closing Ceremonies. The only downer is that it came out of the pack with a crease that is kinda visible down the edge of the relic closest to the pic of Simone. Probably won't try to get it replaced, just cool to have a card like this of one of our most dominant athletes. Anyone have any favorite Olympic moments to share or are you happy they are over for another four years? Thanks for reading.

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.