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!

The Quest for a White Whale Comes to an End

This quest was a long and frustrating one, but after 17+ years it is finally over. Way back in 2001, Topps released a 10 card insert set featuring some of the more well known stars of the Negro League. From the moment I saw this set staring back at me from a pack of Flagship(series 2, I think), it was one of my favorites. I finished the set relatively quickly and was excited to see that Topps Chrome would apply its shiny base and refractor technology to the set. I immediately knew I'd have to track down a refractor version of my favorite player in the set, Josh Gibson. In the weeks after Chrome was released, I happened to find 2 different copies at my local card show. I was young and the asking prices weren't in my collecting budget so I had to leave them behind. I remember seeing a few more on eBay and the end result was the same, too rich for my blood. As time went by, I had trouble finding any available copies at all. Over the years, I had a few near misses which I wrote about in this post showing my top 5 white whales. I couldn't even find a picture of a sold copy of the card for that post so I just subbed in a picture of the base version. I published that post in early November 2017. Close to six months passed and there were no signs of an available copy on either eBay or COMC. Then it happened. I was performing searches on COMC for a list of cards that I don't usually find available. I typed in '2001 Topps Josh Gibson' as I'd done a hundred times before. Only this time, among the few results was a copy of the refractor I was searching for. It was listed a bit high for my liking, but fortunately I had earned a good bit of credit by doing challenges. I added some store credit via PayPal just for good measure. I wanted to be ready for negotiation. I quickly made an offer I could live with. It seemed like it took forever for the seller to respond(it was actually only a few hours). They countered and I felt it was reasonable(and I didn't want to lose out again) so I accepted. A huge weight was lifted! However, I knew that I wasn't very likely to request shipment until the Black Friday promo. So, seven months after I purchased one of my most sought after cards, I finally had it in hand and here I am finally writing about it four+ months after that. Better late than never I suppose.

I only wish the scan actually did this card justice. It is extremely satisfying to finally acquire a card I'd searched for so long to find. Quite honestly it's a feeling I'd really like to replicate again in the near future(fingers crossed). Anyway, 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.

My National Baseball Card Day Experience

I know I'm late to the party, but I'm finally getting around to writing about my NBCD haul from this past Saturday. I've been excited to see so many fellow bloggers that were able to participate and have enjoyed reading about everyone's experience. I truly hope that this becomes an annual event from Topps. In the days leading up to the big day, I did my homework about the rules and had a plan to maximize my returns. I convinced my wife to come out to the shop with me along with my daughters. I figured this would net me four packs since I was certain that hey wouldn't give one out for my 8 month old. I also planned to snag a few jumbo packs of Topps Chrome to get me over the $20 mark. Somewhere I thought I had read that there would be a limit of 2 Bryant cards per purchase. We arrived at the shop about 15 minutes after they opened and I was surprised to find we were the only customers in the store. I joked with the sole employee a out the lack of a rush and he curtly replied to me that they had just opened. When I tried to explain I figured there might be a bunch of people out for NBCD, he shrugged his shoulders and said 'yeah, well...' and he kept sorting whatever he was sorting. I inquired about the shop's rules for the day instead of assuming that my plan would go the way I thought it would. Boy, am I glad I did that... He laid a single pack on the counter(telling me it was one free pack per person) and told me that the Bryant and the one-touch case were available with a $10 purchase. I asked if there was a limit and if there were particular products that qualified. He snapped at me that it was one Bryant per person and it must be brand new Topps Baseball. I grabbed a single jumbo Chrome pack and walked around the counter to pay. He told me the total and I paid. At this point, my two oldest daughters were standing next to me at he register and my wife was a few feet away pushing the 8minth old in her stroller. He bagged the Chrome pack and handed me a copy of the Bryant and reached back for the one-touch. I opened it and put the Bryant in it to protect it while in transit. At that point, he was done with us. So, I began asking my daughters(loudly) if they were going to ask the man for their pack of cards. They were being shy and my comment did nothing to move the guy to hand them a few additional packs. I ended up having to explicitly ask him if they could get packs too. He said 'yeah...'with a deep sigh and said one per child. He placed two more packs on the counter as my wife walked up behind us pushing the stroller. He guy just went about his business and I decided to just walk out instead of pushing for a pack for my wife as well. I mean, after all, I didn't want to seem greedy. Honestly, I was a bit perturbed by he whole experience, but I appreciated that we were able to participate in the day's festivities. It wasn't until I had read so many others' experiences that were so much more positive that I really got frustrated by the whole thing. So, I'm sorry that you've read my rant because had I been able to write this post on Saturday as I intended, it would have read completely different. Well, let's get to the purpose of the day shall we? Free cardboard!!! I had  shrewdly set aside some non-sports packs that I knew my daughters would like to rip so hat I could trade for their NBCD packs since neither of them are into sports cards(yet).

Pack one:

This was the first one he put on the counter, so I guess it was technically 'my' pack. Nothing Earth shattering for me in here, but I really like the design and there are some seriously heavy hitters(and pitchers) in there.

Pack two:

For me, a little less wow overall, but at least there's former Durham Bull Evan Longoria and an Arenado in here.

Pack three:

It was probably my favorite of the three packs. Lindor is solid, I kinda collect Sale, it's always nice to pull an Arrieta these days, and I was thrilled that Ichiro was in the middle of the pack. So, no disappointment at not pulling an auto and I was happy there were no dupes.

There's my purchase necessary card which I'll definitely need since I'm going to try to complete the set. Btw, if anyone out there has any that don't fit into your collection, I'd love the chance to make a trade for them. Send me a message and help me finish this set if you're interested.

The jumbo pack of Chrome was just frosting on the 'free pack' cake.

A Maeda RC and that Mazara insert were nice ways to start things off. I honestly would have been happy if they were the best pulls to come out of the pack.

That's a Hamels refractor, an Escobar prism-y refractor, and the refractor parallel of the Eickhoff rookie auto(#/499). That some pretty decent frosting! Here's looking forward to NBCD 2017!!! Thanks for weathering the early post rant and thanks for reading.

First Taste of 2016 Topps Chrome Baseball

Over the past few days I've been seeing a bunch of breaks posted for Topps Chrome. Honestly, ive thought about grabbing a spot in one of them. My local retail stores haven't even put any Ginter on the shelves as yet, so I assumed it would be some time before I'd be able to grab any Chrome-y goodness. This morning I was proven wrong. Though my local Target still doesn't have any Ginter on the shelf, they did have a few of the Jumbo/Rack packs of Chrome. I quickly grabbed one and it was practically busted before I got back to the car. Let's take a look at it pack by pack. Please pardon the less than optimal photos I took in the car.

Pack one:

The Russell Future Stars looks really nice and I was thrilled by the unexpected Youth Impact insert of Piscotty. They fall at a rate of 1:12 packs so I was happy to start off ahead of the game and he's not a bad player to pull either.

Pack two:

This pack was a home run for me! Two Yankees(albeit one of them now a former Yankee), Harper, and a refractor of Kluber. I may not actively collect Harper, but I always love to pull his cards. The refractors are noteworthy for two reasons. First, the front has the 'honeycomb-like' effect in the corner which helps in identifying it, but also...

...they printed 'refractor' on the card back! All I can say is that it's about time. At least it will be easy to pick them out this year.

Pack three:

The base cards here were pretty pedestrian, but I really bucked the odds by pulling a second Youth Impact and it was awesome that it was Trevor Story. Bummer that he's likely done for the season after suffering a thumb injury a few days ago.

Pink refractor pack:

These really look nice in hand. I could have done better as far as player selection, but overall I can't complain about the Jumbo/Value Pack. I will definitely be hunting for more of these as the days go by. As for the product, it was easier for me to tolerate the 'cloud effects' on the Chrome cards than on the flagship. Perhaps it is because I've grown used to seeing it. Maybe it just really looks better in Chrome. After all, everything looks better with a little bit of shiny added to it, right?

Thanks for reading.

Single Card Post Sunday

Today I'm going to start a regular new series of posts: Single Card Post Sunday. I'm not going to set any rules on what type of cards show up here, they'll mostly be ones that I want to share that don't fit easily with another theme or group.

Before I share the first card in this series, I wanted to take another moment to make the suggestion that you guys check out the latest Nachos Grande group break. It'll be the final one of 2015 and it should be a lot of fun. Chris always runs a great break. So, if you haven't claimed a team yet, click here to check out the few remaining teams. Let's help him sell this break out!

Fittingly, I start this new series of posts with a true baseball pioneer. Rube Foster was one of, if not the greatest, African-American pitchers in the first decade of the 1900's. Some say he was unequalled on the mound, even by the likes of Satchel Paige! When Foster's playing career was over, he founded and served as president of the National Negro League. Known as 'the father of Black Baseball', he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1981.

This card hails from a great insert from 2001 Topps Chrome, called What Could Have Been. It highlights ten great Negro League players. I completed the flagship version of the insert set way back in 2001 and currently have more than half of the Chrome set that I still need to hunt down. I've toyed with the idea of chasing the refractor set as well, but in searching eBay, singles are often priced higher than I'd want to pay. I was lucky enough to find this one floating around on Listia and won it for a reasonable amount of credits. It stands as the only refractor from the set that I currently own. Perhaps this pioneer will lead me on a new collecting endeavor as well.