Just Commons - Where Have You Been All My (Collecting) Life?

I have no idea what took me so long to explore Just Commons and finally place an order on there, but I finally took the leap. Let me just say that if am happy I did! Thanks to a few recent eBay sales, I had a bit of cash that was burning a hole in my Paypal Wallet. I'd read numerous posts on various blogs out there singing the praises of Just Commons so I figured I'd see what I could find out there. Turns out I can find a LOT of cards I want out there, so I filled my cart up to just beyond the free shipping magic number of $15 and placed my order. A few days ago, the package arrived.

Let me just say, I have a bunch of 1992 UD sitting in a box, but when I first saw this Cecil Fielder from that set, it didn't seem familiar. I mean, how could you forget a photo like that? Sure enough, I went through all that I could find from that set and didn't have that awesome appearance by the San Diego Chicken on cardboard. Into the cart it went! That Bernie Williams is a pretty perfect card for me. One of my favorite Yankee players, a guitar on a baseball card, Yankee Stadium facade in the background? Check, check, check! The last two of this scan and the first two of the next scan have long been on my radar. They are the 'Limited Edition' parallels of the 2001 Yankee Team Card, World Series Champions card, and both AL Playoff series highlight cards. Apparently, these were Topps' version of Tiffany sets for the new millennium. I've been trying for years to piece together an early version of the rainbow for these cards. There are flagship, Limited Edition, Topps Employee, Chrome and Retrofractors that I am aware of. Finally, I can cross off the Limited Edition varieties from my checklist.

Keeping with the parallel theme, we shift gears to 2015 Topps Update gold. I had to pick up the Gardy since it was his first All-Star appearance. I was fortunate to pull a Mason Williams gold from a pack, so I needed the Heathcott to round out the gold Yankee rookies. Then I figured, I'd add the Rays gold rookies to the cart. I saw an awful lot of both Andriese and Mahtook while they were in Durham. It was nice to see them get a look(or two or three) in Tampa.

Next up, more former Bulls who have been pretty successful in Tampa. I hope that Cobb will return from TJ surgery as good as new and continue on his path towards becoming a top tier AL pitcher. For my money, Kiermaier was probably the most exciting player I've gotten to see in Durham in a long time! I'm really glad to see him performing so well in the Majors. I was thrilled to see his hard work pay off with a Gold Glove this season. Keep it up 'Outlaw'!

I managed a few Aaron Hicks RCs since he is the Yankees latest addition. I'm hoping to see big things from him. The refractor RC is on the left and the base is on the right. I also snagged a Bowman Chrome RC(not pictured).

Last, but not least, RCs from two of my favorite players. Here aren't just any RCs though. It's easy to see that Bo doesn't know Donruss on the left since there is that Leaf logo hanging out in the top left corner, but that Bernie looks like the base Topps RC...

That is until you turn it over. It's OPC!!! I can officially cross another card off the Cardboard Wishlist! Awesomeness! 

Wait, Bo knows French?!? Yup! With these new additions, I only need Tiffany versions of these guys' RCs and I'll have 'em all.

All in all, I picked up 25 cards. There were a few others that I didn't scan. If you're interested, a few of you may just find the others in your mailbox sometime in the near future. I just got my first order and I'm already searching the site and filling my cart once again. If you guys haven't checked out a Just Commons yet, I'd recommend doing so. It's definitely another great resource for adding to your collection. Thanks for reading!

Fuji Spreading Some Hobby Love

Over the past few weeks, I've seen quite a few posts from folks that received envelopes from Fuji. Though I'm behind in writing about it, I was fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a padded mailer from him as well.

One of my favorite Nats pitchers(now former Nats pitcher) led of the package. This is my third Zimmermann relic. I suppose I'll have to make a decision about whether I continue to collect him going forward now that he has left Washington.

The Nats relics didn't stop there! Up next were two new Desmond jerseys that I didn't previously own. 2015 was a bit of an off year for him, but I hope that he'll rebound in 2016.

This is my first Longoria relic. I love the frame on his one! It's been a while, but I remember watching him in Durham during his short stint here before carving out his spot in Tampa.

It would have been a great package if it ended there, but there was still one more card remaining.

I had seen these floating around on other blogs and I really wanted to add one to my bloggers/trading partners collection. I was thrilled when I flipped to this. I've thought many times about creating my own blogger trading card to include in trade packages, but it just haven't taken that leap yet. I really should because I think it's awesome when I receive something like this.

Thanks for the surprise trade package Fuji. I really enjoyed it!

Enjoying Some Tim Horton's in Good Ole NC

These days, I don't make it a habit to actively track down hockey cards. However, I had read about the Upper Deck Hockey set that was going to be distributed exclusively at Canadian Tim Horton's locations and I was intrigued. During some recent treks through the Land of Listia, I began seeing some singles pop up. I found a lot of three that offered free shipping and I pounced on it. The lot arrived earlier today and when I laid eyes on the cards, I was so impressed that I scanned them immediately and here we are. Sorry to the trade posts that I am woefully lagging behind on, but this post began writing itself as soon as I opened the envelope and saw these beauties.

Here are two of the three cards from the lot. The scans came out pretty well, but they still don't do these cards justice. The lines are textured and the foil is very refractor-like. I really like that the positions are listed in both languages too!

Here is the main reason I went after that particular lot. I've taken my family to a handful of 'Canes games over the past few seasons and I've grown to like Staal pretty well during that time.

Here's a look at the back of the cards. It's a nice clean design. At the moment, I can't really think of anything that I don't like about these. After seeing these in hand, I know that I'm going to track down some more of these. They make me wish that there was a set here in the States that we could chase. Maybe one day here will be another Denny's Baseball set or McDonald's Football issue. Until then, I'll have to settle for this international hunt. What do you guys think of this set? Have you seen this up close yet? I'd love to hear thoughts on this one. Thanks for reading!

A Couple of PWEs From the Shoebox

Just when I thought I was almost caught up with trade posts, there was a deluge of packages that began to overflow my mailbox. It's a good problem to have! One of the arrivals was the latest PWE from my most prolific trading partner, Shane...the Shoebox Legend himself! I had just gotten everything scanned and almost ready to write about and sure enough, another envelope arrived. So, in the interest of trying to catch up a bit I'm going to combine these two great envelopes. I like to start chronologically, so let's take a look at the first PWE.

The only card that I knew was en route was the Heritage High Number Heathcott RC. Wow, alliteration much? The A-Rod commemorating his 600th HR was a nice surprise, as was the A&G Gibson.

Next up, I found this awesome gold parallel Betances relic. It may be a plain gray swatch, but it's my first GU card of the Yanks' set-up man(and PT closer) and it's #/99! As nice as it is to add a new Gibson and this Betances relic to the collection, the envelope was elevated to the next level of greatness by the following card:

I was shocked when I flipped to this card. I had seen Shane write about these vintage football cards a few times, but I've never actually seen one in person. This comes from the 1960 A&BC Football set. As you can see, the set borrows the 1959 Topps Baseball set's design and puts it to good use showcasing the English football stars of the day. I am thrilled to now have this well-loved copy in my collection.

In the short time between receiving the two PWEs, Shane and I both began the quest to complete the 50 card 2015 Topps Chrome Update set. After exchanging a few messages back and forth, I knew it wouldn't be long before another group of cards would be on the way.

Shane had told me he had four cards from my checklist that he'd send. There they are, I'm happy to have these four that drop my set needs down to 13 cards to go. As usual, the other cards that rounded out the envelope were equally incredible. The DeCarr is my first 2015 Pro Debut. The set looks pretty nice in hand. Austin would look better if I can manage to get it signed at some point. The Andrew Miller is of the rainbow foil parallel variety.

There was more shiny with that AL HR Leaders gold parallel from 2012 which had not only one, but two Yankees on it! I'm not a huge fan of the Highlight of the Year insert from this year, but as a Yankee fan and a fan of baseball history in general, how could I not love the Babe Ruth that commemorates his single season HR record?

Thanks Shane, As always, there was a bunch of great stuff for my collection and I was blown away by your generosity.

Contest Winnings From Sports Card Collectors Blog

A short while back, I commented on a post over at Sports Card Collectors blog and was entered into a contest. Surprisingly, my name was at the top of the randomized when all was said and done. Soon after, I received my winnings.

Two unopened packs of 2015 Panini Player of the Day packs. Each pack had two cards, one veteran and one rookie. I could hardly wait to open them long enough to take this picture of the unopened packs. Let's see pack one(the top one).

The design is nothing to knock your socks off, but it is clean. Honestly, I don't think there is anyone in the set that I would have wanted to pull less than Kaepernick. I don't like the '49ers and I don't care for  their current QB. The pack was saved by the appearance of that Gurley. He's turning in quite the season thus far and is probably one of the hottest rookies right now. On to the second pack.

The veteran part of this pack is infinitely better that the first pack. The Panthers would have to be my second favorite team in he NFL, mostly because they are essentially my 'home' team. As an added bonus, the team is playing really well. As for the rookie, Mariota is having a pretty solid, if unremarkable,  first year.

The backs are alright, with the large Player of the Day logo and a short write-up. Sorry the Kaepernick didn't make the cut for the card back scan.

Nice contest. Two packs of cards that I wouldn't have seen otherwise, a Panthers player, and two of the season's best rookies make for some pretty exciting winnings. Thanks Sports Card Collectors and thanks to Panini.