Topps Holiday Advent Calendar - Day 15

Only ten more doors to open in the Topps Holiday Advent calendar. Hopefully there's something unique behind one of them. 

Not this one though...

One of these packs has to have a special insert though... a candy cane variation or something?

Not yet, but a second Shohei is nothing to scoff at. I might have to check for variations once all the packs are open. Just nine more now!


Thanks for reading!





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Topps Holiday Advent Calendar - Day 14

 Busy day today... shoveling snow, wrapping Christmas gifts... watching the Packers lose. I almost forgot my daily Topps Holiday baseball card pack. Here's number 14:

And the cards...

...are underwhelming:

Will tomorrow's pack be any more exciting? Possibly! 

Thanks for reading!

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Topps Holiday Advent Calendar - Day 13

 The second half of the Topps Holiday Advent Calendar opens tonight. Time to open door number 13 (shout out Olivia Wilde)

We start off side B with another standard 5-card pack:

and the usual configuration, three base / one Plaid parallel / one Nice List insert:

Another Red Sox base card for the PC, and a third straight Tiger card. The brilliant Boston braintrust traded away a Cy Young award winner in Sale for Vaughn Grisson - who they just traded away. The Crochet trade was supposed to make up for that, and yet the Sox are trying to reacquire the prospect they sent to Chicago in that trade?!? Oh, and they seem to be doing feck all in free agency this year. Yay.

Pack #14 tomorrow. Can the Sox make it three in a row? Can the Tigers make it four straight? 

Thanks for reading!




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Topps Holiday Advent Calendar - Day 12

And just like that, we're halfway through the Topps Holiday Advent calendar. I have to give Fanatics the smallest amount of credit - they did make it more convenient by putting all the first twelve doors on the left side of the box (although that might have been due to their own laziness, not convenience for the customer.) 

Pack #12 has been procured, and it's ... 

....

a standard 5-card pack. Let's close out the first half with something special...

A Marcelo Mayer Plaid parallel works for me! Two Brewers and a Corbin Carroll insert are less than exciting. 

Here's the first half tally:

3 Evergreen inserts (Soto, Banks, Crews)
1 buyback (Anthony Rizzo 2024 Update)
10 Nice List inserts (Judge, Skenes, Duran, Rogers, Witt, Helsley, Judge, Henderson, Ohtani, Carroll)
10 Green Plaid parallels (Kikuchi, Josh Smith, Abel, Quero, Fried, Dezenzo, Perdomo, Rushing, S. Perez, Mayer)
30 base Holiday cards (including 6 rookies)

I won't come close to completing the 200-card base set, so I'll probably send some in care packages after Christmas and trade the rest on TCDB.

Will lucky #13 yield something special, or will it be another base pack? We'll find out tomorrow :)

Thanks for reading!




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Topps Holiday Advent Calendar - Day 11

Time to open another door in the Topps Holiday Advent calendar. It's day number Eleven - shout out Millie Bobby Brown.

My 13 year old daughter has been hearing her classmates talk about Stranger Things and wanted to catch up on the series before the finale drops, since she was too young to watch the first four seasons. We've made it to season two so far. I think we can catch up by Christmas. 

Naturally, Eleven is her favorite character.

Before I reveal the five-card pack of baseball cards in the advent calendar, I have a story to share.

Today was the company Holiday party, held at a fancy hotel/banquet hall in Manhattan. 

As we entered the ballroom, the wait staff were assembling the food stations. This immediately caught my eye:

Despite this being my third year with the company, it was the first office function I attended. I had an uncanny ability to avoid them until this year, but my co-workers were so generous and supportive after D's passing that I vowed to actually participate this time. Plus, my excuse for missing this was gone. 

Once everyone found our seats, my boss introduced me to everyone at the table and offered to introduce me to anyone else I wanted to meet, as the NYC staff is 4x larger than our group in NJ. I am very socially awkward, so I did not take him up on this offer. Though I must admit there were a couple lovely ladies that caught my eye, and I humored myself with the thought of asking Bossman to wingman me. 

But no.. I am not ready for that. Definitely shouldn't try to shake off 25 years of rust at an office party. 

Unrelated, I did at one point notice a very tall blonde woman sitting by the bar. I'm not familiar with the NYC staff as I've rarely interacted with them, but she definitely did not look familiar. And that's because she was our guest speaker. 

Our CFO Sam is all about corporate slogans; "building a championship team" is a big one. And to instill that mindset in us plebs, he introduced Maren Walseth - a motivational speaker and college basketball announcer who played four years at Penn State and coached at North Dakota State (not mentioned, but I'm sports obsessed so I looked it up - she played two years in the WNBA.) 

Maren gave a 20-30 minute speech about how we can all be an MVP, and how to approach each day with a mindset that sets us up for success. I roll my eyes at corporate motivational jargon but I am always enthralled by sports stories, particularly how she was able to win over a locker room as a rookie head coach and how she managed a group of 15 players who were all used to being the stars of their high school teams. One way she did this was by referring to her role players as "game changers". 

Also, when she began her list of what makes an MVP she said Pat McAfee could give you his opinion on what the greats have in common, but "I'm not interested in what Pat McAfee has to say." Hell yeah!

Anywho, at the conclusion of her speech, Maren mentioned that she'd hang around to take questions or chit-chat with anyone. I ran into her at the candy bar and wanted to say that I enjoyed the speech and whatnot.. but instead I apologized for walking in front of her because I am a goober. 

To reinforce that point, on my way back from retrieving an official OS Holiday Event sweatshirt and a bag of candy for the girls I ran into a sales rep I'd only met through email. He introduced himself and started to pull me in for that bro hug thing, but my hands were full.. so I ended up shoving the candy in my pocket and giving him an awkward one-handed pat on the back. Do you see now why I avoid these things? 

And you wanted Bossman to be your wingman? Bruhhh

One cool thing did happen while we were playing Wheel of Fortune. My table was struggling with a Same Name puzzle, and could only figure out 'Karaoke And _____ Bar.' 

Noticing the bag of candy I'd procured from the candy bar I told my team "try Candy Bar" .. they did, and we won. "Chris has to be on our team every year" one of them declared. So that felt good. 

Anyway, it was an enjoyable day all around. I was very tired when I came home (and my latest Consignment with 4 Sharp Corners ended tonight) so this took a lot longer than normal.

Here's today's standard 5-card pack from Topps Holiday:

First Ohtani card so far. I'll probably set that aside for Night Owl. 

Dennis, does the Jack Flaherty interest you at all?

Shorter post tomorrow. Probably ;-)

Thanks for reading!


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Topps Holiday Advent Calendar - Day 10

Time for another Topps Holiday Advent Calendar reveal. It's day number ten - shout out Pearl Jam.

As you probably know, Pearl Jam were originally named after NBA star Mookie Blaylock - who wore number ten. 

"When we were recording our first record, we had a per diem of about $10. So when we got lunch at the store across the street, we'd always buy a pack of basketball cards. When we turned in our tape, we didn't have a name for the band yet so we put a Mookie Blaylock card in the case. We were about to go on a tour and still didn't have a name and needed one quickly. We were told it didn't need to be the name that we were going to use forever, just something for the tour. Someone saw the Mookie Blaylock card and said, ‘How about Mookie Blaylock?' We decided to go with it and did a 10-show tour with Alice in Chains as Mookie Blaylock. Mookie was cool about it, too—he didn't sue us. I actually got to meet him later on and shoot around a little bit. We also made a Pearl Jam T-shirt with a picture of him on it. I guess we owe Mookie a lot." -- Jeff Ament

I'd always wondered why the Seattle-based band chose him instead of Sonics point guard Gary Payton.

No basketball cards in this post but here's the tenth door of the Topps Baseball Advent Calendar:

It's another standard 5-card pack. Cue the Nice List insert, the Plaid parallel, and the rookie card:

Night Owl, are you in need of any Holiday Dodgers?

I'm traveling to NYC tomorrow for my office's holiday party but I should be back in time to post pack #11. 

Thanks for reading!

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Topps Holiday Advent Calendar - Day 9

Time for another Topps Holiday Advent Calendar reveal. It's day number nine - shout out to The Beatles and J.J. McCarthy's alter ego. 

The left side of this box is getting chaotic...

But the contents are still the same. Standard five-card pack with the usual parallel and insert:

I do like the framing of the Zach Neto though. 

Another pack tomorrow. 

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p.s. Billy is opening a Topps Basketball advent calendar on his blog. I can't comment for some reason so I thought I'd at least share a link. The basketball cards have a bit more variety at least! 

Topps Holiday Advent Calendar - Day 8

It's day 8 of December and the Topps Holiday Advent calendar which means that once we open up this door, one third of the box will be open. 

Inside is another basic 5-card Holiday pack:

Eek. That's the worst pack I've opened in a while - even with the RC parallel. 

Wait a second... this is only four cards. Where's the fifth card???

Ugh... fine. Here's the fifth card.

Just an awful pack. Let's move on. 

The Baseball Hall of Fame eras committee elected a new member, with Jeff Kent receiving 14 of 16 votes. I'm indifferent about Kent personally, but I'm glad that a) someone is getting elected this year, and b) another second baseman has entered the Hall. Maybe that helps Dustin Pedroia's case, though I doubt it. It sure makes leaving Lou Whitaker out look much, much worse. 

Kent was #21 on my list of the 100 greatest players not in the Hall of Fame. #68 (Dave Parker), #30 (Billy Wagner), #14 (Dick Allen) and #11 (Todd Helton) are in as well, with #12 (Carlos Beltran) and #27 (Andruw Jones) in line to join Jeff Kent this summer. I may have to update my list soon...

Carlos Delgado got the second-most votes - 9 of 16, which far exceeds the percentage he got from the writers (21 of 412 votes, 3.8%). He'll get another chance in two years - hopefully with names like Whitaker, Lofton, Edmonds, and Stieb on the ballot. 

Thanks for reading!



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Topps Holiday Advent Calendar - Days 6-7

I've been trying to think of ways to make these Advent calendar reveal posts more interesting. Can't rely on pulling something unique when I've already revealed the buyback pack and the evergreen pack. 

Are there more inserts/special packs to discover? I honestly don't know. 

So I figured that combining two packs into one post would spice things up a bit. And that's when I realized what date this weekend was...

Oh no...

The whole 6-7 thing is soooo annoying. If you're like me you're already cringing at the combination of numbers. Some kid just moved his hands up and down while saying 6-7 and launched a million memes. This is worse than Skibidi Toilet because it makes those two numbers basically unmentionable around anyone under 20. We live in the dumbest timeline. 

Anyway... enough Gen Z brainrot. Let's open some cards!


Here's pack numero seis

Once again - three base, a Green Plaid parallel, and a Nice List insert. This might be what every Holiday pack yields. I have some thoughts on Paul Skenes, who will definitely not be a Pittsburgh Pirate beyond 2027.

I'm not saying I want the Red Sox to do this, but.. I don't think any team can beat Boston's best offer if they were serious about a trade. Jarren Duran, Kristian Campbell, Brayan Bello, Payton Tolle.. Who's got more controllable talent to offer and the money to extend Skenes long-term?

The Dodgers, obviously. But a top-tier superstar going to L.A. is as overdone as someone saying six-seven. I'd prefer the Pirates pay up and try to compete - but that's not going to happen. Maybe the Mets jump in? 

It's gonna be the Dodgers though. Or the Yankees. Ugh...

Also, I heard a while back that Livvy Dunne was the highest-paid female athlete in college, which makes me think that she should try to stay in college for six or seven years (six seven six seven aaah!) cause there's no professional gymnastics league that's gonna pay her $3+ mil a year, and she's not good enough to make the US Olympic team. She's basically just an influencer now. Again.. dumbest timeline.

Anyway, here's today's pack:

Oh look...more Yankees. I thought I'd pulled a Nice List Judge already, but this is a different one. He's in this insert set four times. 

At least there's a Red Sox card in here - even if it's Buehler, who didn't even last the whole season with the Sawx. 

What fad or phrase annoys you the most? Who's your favorite sports star WAG?

Thanks for reading!


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Get Into Position

I'm going to skip a day on the Topps Holiday Advent calendar, You'll see why in my double post tomorrow. 

I have some blog news for you. This series, revealing a small pack of cards every day? It's a warmup. 

Another blog series is coming soon. Something similar to my All-Time Teams posts, with an element of Sports Card Tour. 

At first, I didn't want to publish it. It's going to require a lot of work, and my free time is much more limited. Fewer folks are reading this blog now than they were when my other series launched. That's totally understandable.

I dont think it will be a daily series. Maybe 2x a week, on specific days if I can. But it's coming...

In early 2026 The Collector will launch a new blog series, counting down the all-time greatest players at each position in the four major North American Men's pro sports - baseball, football, basketball...

...and Pokemon. 

I had the idea one day while thinking to myself where Nikola Jokic ranks among the NBA's greatest centers of all-time. Is he ahead of Patrick Ewing? David Robinson? Shaq?

Back when Craig Kilborn hosted the Daily Show, he asked his guests Five Questions. One question he had for Snoop Dogg was "who is the greatest small forward in NBA history?" Snoop incorrectly answered Dr. J, and was about to jump out of his chair and strangle Craiggers when he said the answer was Larry Bird. 

Guys... guys... you're both wrong!


There will be some callbacks to the Top 100 Players Not In The Hall of Fame list. I've mentioned an affinity for catchers in my card collection before, but second basemen will be particularly intriguing here. 

Football will be a bit tricky. I'm not sure what to do about offensive linemen or kickers, since they have so few cards and it's harder to rank the top tackles, guards, and centers by position when they have no stats. I might make one combo post for linemen and another long post for special teamers. We'll see.

Finally, the fourth sport. I was kidding about Pokemon - that was a callback to Arena club.

Nope! I will watch the World Cup but I do not know nearly enough soccer to rank players by position. 

You know what it is.
 

Which one of these legends will rank as my all time #1 goalie? 

None of the above. It's Duncan the Walrus, duh. 

Spotlighting the greatest players by position will also help boost my collection. In each post I will show off my best card of each player - which will reveal to me where I need to upgrade. 

I'll start those posts in early 2026. Back to the Topps Advent calendar tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!

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Topps Holiday Advent Calendar - Day 5

 It's been a difficult week here at Collector HQ, but the weather is expected to warm up somewhat this weekend. My 16 year old is having a birthday dinner at Chili's with her friends, so 13 year old and I are going to get the old Christmas tree up sometime tonight. She asked me to take her to Barnes & Noble tomorrow, which is a much more appealing proposition now that I know they have cards.

But I really shouldn't buy myself more cards until I open the ones I already bought from B & N.. right?

We're one-fifth of the way through the Topps Advent calendar already? Let's see what's inside door #5

A standard 5-card pack of Topps Holiday. We've seen a parallel and an insert in each of the first two packs...

I'm seeing a pattern here - and not just the plaid border. Each basic pack has an insert and a parallel. Not sure if Duran belongs on the "Nice List" - Santa must be in a forgiving mood. Odd that there would be three Ranger cards out of the four others. 

According to TCDB, the Nice List inserts are one per Holiday pack so this pattern will likely continue throughout the calendar. Also, the Buyback packs can yield cards from as far back as 1980. Most of the known reissues are from newer sets however. 

Since we're almost guaranteed to pull a base 5-card pack with a Green Plaid parallel and a Nice List insert, I'll try to make tomorrow's post a little more special. It's unlikely that three of the first six packs would be hits, but you never know...

Thanks for reading!

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Topps Holiday Advent Calendar - Day 4

I'm not feeling very cheerful today. Still sick, still haven't put up the Christmas tree. And I have to go through bags of decorations in the basement to decide what we should still use for this year. Hopefully I'll kick this flu for good by the end of Friday. 

We've been on a bit of a "hit" streak with the Topps Holiday advent calendar. All three packs have had an insert - and the last two yielded only chase cards. Can we keep that streak going?

I'm ripping the sides of door number 4 so I don't have to bend the pack (still had trouble getting it out)

It's a base Holiday pack. Is there another insert in here?

Another Nice List insert, and another Green Plaid parallel. Also the Hayden Birdsong has dinged corners, probably from the extraction. I'm gonna have to bust these open a bit more carefully.

Wish I had more interesting things to day right now. Maybe we'll see some more hidden goodies from this box soon. If not I may need to rip some other stuff just to fill out these posts 😁

Thanks for reading!


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Topps Holiday Advent Calendar - Day 3

This is going to be a slightly shorter post as I'm feeling well enough to put up our Christmas tree. My daughter wanted it up before we went to Connecticut and she's had to wait three more days while I fight the flu. 

Let's see what's behind door number three...

Okay.. I guess this is going to be a very short post. One whole card, huh? But -- it's a buyback! Could there be a vintage card here?

Before I open this.. has anyone kept up with Shane, formerly of the Shoebox Legends blog? I know he was building a buyback Frankenset..wonder if he ever finished it? He has a YouTube channel I've checked out from time to time but there are so many video creators out there I can't keep track of them all. 

Anyway, here's the card:

Oh wow, an original Topps card from all the way back in... 2024?!? When Joe Biden was president and everyone loved Taylor Swift? And the Chiefs were good at football and Anthony Rizzo was an active baseball player??! 

Yeah, that was a while ago. I actually wanted the Red Sox to sign Rizzo for a hot minute after Triston Casas went down and Rafael Devers was traded. He couldn't have been worse than Abraham Toro and Nate Lowe, could he? I guess Boston wasn't that desperate - or Rizzo knew he was finished - since he retired near the end of the 2025 season. 

Hopefully the Sox sign the Polar Bear this winter. Or bring back Kyle Schwarber. We need a power bat.

Is your Christmas tree up yet? When do you usually put yours up (and take it down)? 

Thanks for reading!



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