Christmas Care Package

 It has been several months since I've received a sports card care package in the mail, so I had to take a day off from the Topps Advent calendar to mark the occasion. 

The always generous Dennis sent me a bubble mailer with a bunch of PC hits and one card I forgot I claimed from one of his card show hauls:

Really liked this Clyde Edwards-Helaire patch when I saw it - thick swatch, three colors, and seam across the swatch. It's a welcome addition to my relics and thick cards box -- which is now full! 

That's because Dennis hit me with nine more memorabilia cards -- including eight Red Sox!

Seven new David Ortiz relics??! This is one third of all the Papi memorabilia cards in my collection!  (Not pictured: a Pedro Martinez 2025 Donruss single)

Dennis also sent some Devils and a Dan Marino insert serial numbered to 5,000. The Martin Brodeur Ice cards are a base McDonalds and a red parallel.

I'm still updating my totals on TCDB but I know that I now have over 500 different Martin Brodeur cards - many thanks to Dennis!



Back to the advent calendar tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!



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Reader Ken Strikes Again

Two months ago friend of the blog Ken jumped into my NFL week swap meet, sending a box of over 400 football cards that pushed me past 10,000 total.

In my last post I stated a new goal to complete each Topps flagship baseball set from the 2010s and he chipped in again - this time sending two boxes of 2013 baseball cards that pushed me over 30,000 total for that sport!

 

Before Ken's box arrived I had 156 of the 660 cards in the base flagship set. There were 205 cards from 2013 Topps included in Ken's box. Will I get to 50% of the set?

Not quite but Ken doubled my total, which is awesome. But wait! There's more!

I wasn't planning on building the 2013 Topps Update set, as I only had 13 of the 330 cards. Until now. With Ken's contribution of 190 new cards I'm at 61.5% completion of the update set. Hmm..

But wait! There's more!

16 inserts were inserted, mostly Chasing History. Lots of big names here. But wait! There's more!

The second box contained 2013 Bowman cards - another nice surprise. Ken, thanks again for all the great cards!

 

Two packages arrived in today's mail - a stuffed bubble mailer from Brian (which I will get to later in the week) and a small trade from TCDB user clay. I offered up sixteen Steelers cards and got these in return:

Six cards from '16 Donruss football. I'm down to just 36 needs for this 400-card set but only five away from completing the non-rookie chunk of the set (the first 300 cards).

Some Stillers from the Stillers fan. I now have 93 of the 300 cards from 2015 Panini Prizm, with one more on the way in a separate TCDB trade. Speaking of Yinzers, do any of you watch U-Tree on YouTube?

Lots of good stuff here including Kelsey Cook, the last of the three A & G cards on my wantlist. Nolan Ryan completes my 2011 Topps Lineage set build! Jeter was a big name I needed for 2014 Topps. This Eric Dickerson sunset card could be used for a future post on The 1993 (not that anyone would notice)  The 2013 Prizm Clay - from clay - leaves me just two rookies short of completing the Packers team set. Finally a Marino Mosaic to go with the fat pack I bought earlier this winter. And while we're at it..

This misnumbered stadium card from 1993 Triple Play completes my Marlins All-Time Team. I've been working hard at completing this frankenset and there are lots of new additions on the way from baseballcardstore (which has shipped) and Beckett (which hasn't - and the seller's feedback has me worried.)  The All-Time Teams wantlist has been updated and you may have noticed a new name or two. I've found some "missing" players and I made some roster moves. Perhaps I'll discuss them if anyone is interested.

Thanks for reading!






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12 Days of Christmas Day 12 - Thank You!

Merry Christmas everyone!

It's day 13 of The Collector's 12 Days of Christmas series, and I've saved the best for last - a Thank You to the blogger friends who have sent me some new cards this holiday season.

First I want to thank Bo and Chris for our recent trades. Bo was very patient with me and Chris sent a huge trade stack in exchange for just one card off his wantlist (I was able to add a couple more.) They're not 'gifts' but they deserve to be acknowledged and I will share the spoils of these swaps soon. 

We'll start with a PWE from Billy, a nice mix of basketball and hockey:

 Daiki Terashita is my first basketball card from outside North America. Very cool!

I would complain about Upper Deck repeating a player within the same set - but it's P.K. Subban so it's okay with me. Is Niagara Falls close enough to Buffalo? I've been to both but it was a looong time ago.

A nice stack of Devils including a couple cards with the old "Christmas tree" jerseys. The Nico Hischier sticker is kind of tinsel-like..I guess? Billy, thanks for the awesome PWE!


Next we have a killer care package from Dennis. He's been sending goodies all across the blogosphere. Let's see what he has for me:

Moar Devilz! These guys all have something in common...yep, they're Michigan alums!

Some surplus Sox, possibly from his Packening? I just finished cataloging all 4,000+ of my Red Sox cards, and the top three here were needs. How did I not have an '89 Donruss Boggs already?

All of these were new to me. I really want to find more Upper Deck Decade 1970's cards (why didn't they make a 1980's set?) and I can never get enough 1994 Pinnacle Museum parallels.

Dennis knows I'm a sucker for 2002-005 Topps Pristine singles, and this is the second time he's sent some my way. Two more Dustin Pedroia relics bring my total to 19, more than any other player in my collection.

Here's an interesting card - this E-X Wall of Fame relic has Nomar Garciaparra on the front...

..and Robin Yount on the back! I did a double-take when sorting these, thinking that Dennis had sent a Yount relic that I'd somehow missed when opening the package.  

Dennis, thanks again for the great cards. You always go above and beyond, and it is appreciated!


Last but certainly not least, here's a package from Roy aka Bulldog. I sent him one card (okay, two) and he hit me back like:

I got a 100-card cube in the mail stuffed with 69 Packers cards, including:

Playoffs! That's where the Packers are headed - and hopefully with a first-round bye :)

A Snow Day Clay, and two of my all-time favorite receivers in Sharpe and Nelson. Blake Martinez has been a tackling machine this year. It's so nice to have a good defense for once!

 I would like you to do us a Favre though. Favre count increased by 4. Awesome.

Some current Devils including my first Jack Hughes card, another Nico, and a Taylor Hall. I really hope Hallsy can get to the second round of the playoffs for once. If Jay Bouwmeester can win a Cup why can't Hall? Also some Stranger Things set fillers, which I will need to scrounge together in trades unless the blasters go on clearance some day.


Roy, thanks very much for this generous group of cards! And thank you all for reading and commenting on this series. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


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A Repack and a Pancake Stack

I had planned to post part two of my Target break today... until I got Stacked!

I've seen this calling card before on the blogs, and until yesterday I did not know the identity of the Pancake King. Based on the generosity of a certain blogging legend I should not have been surprised.


Before I reveal what Wes sent my way, here are the highlights from the basketball repack I picked up. I shy away from baseball and hockey repacks since there's a greater chance I end up with a stack of dupes (although if I ever see those long-ass 200 card repack cubes again I'll pick one up because they are awesome.) The Walgreens by my last job had football repacks and it's probably a good thing I changed jobs or I would have bought them at least once a week.

This is all a long-winded way of saying that basketball repacks are my safest bet. Let's see what $5 got me: 

A couple of Charlotte Hornets (including Grandmama) and a couple of Craig Hodges cards, plus a Tim Hardaway RC get this repack started.

Reign man! Was Shawn Kemp fun to watch or what? The two cards from 1992-93 Ultra will help my set build, and the Frank Johnson Topps card makes me want to order a retro Suns jersey.

More star power here, including an Olajuwon for my PC, another Coleman, a red-haired Rodman, and a C-Webb with a Shaq cameo. 

I can add these three to my PC stacks as well. 

Best of the rest, including a pair of Blazers. The Zach Collins card was in the window; I picked this over a Dwayne Bacon Optic RC incase Kerry can use it. 

 

Here's the guaranteed pack. What could I possibly pull out of this product?

Yup. Bland AF. But hold on...there's one more card in here:

Nice! I'm not sure if this is a $1 card or a $10 card. Either way it's probably the best card I could have pulled from a 5-card pack of Panini Complete

Now let's see what Wes hit me with...

A bounty of Brett Favre cards! 4 of these are needs and 4 of these are dupes. 

Three more, including two serial numbered cards. The Bowman Chrome is SN'd to 500. I'm now at 739 different Favre cards, with another five sitting in my COMC inventory. Doesn't look like I'll get to 1,000 by the end of the year unless I buy a big lot off eBay or make a ton of trades in the fall. 800 looks doable though. 

There was one other card in the bubble mailer... 

Hello, Shanny! My wife and I have a binder full of Brendan Shanahan cards, but we don't have any autographed singles. National Treasures cards are some of the nicest looking Panini releases in their too-brief time as an NHL licensee.

Wes, thank you again for the fantastic additions to my PC! It's great to know you're still lurking 'round the blogosphere.


Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!


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Christmas Cards from Fuji and Dennis

It's Christmas Eve and I'm exhausted from my weekend in Connecticut (plus staying up late prepping presents for my little ones) but I wanted to say thank you to Fuji and Dennis for adding me to their 'gift' list this Christmas.

Fuji started a "hit list" of collectors to send cards to, and (almost) cleared it all out this holiday season. This six-pack included three vintage Sox, two relic cards, and a Packer in a pear tree. Lol, that didn't work as well as I'd hoped.

The always generous Dennis of Too Many Verlanders/Mannighams sent a nice box of goodies my way. Lots of Sox here, including relics of Wade Boggs and Dustin Pedroia..

..and a pair of postcards from Cooperstown. I bought a handful of these the last time I visited the baseball HOF in the summer of '99 - but not Yaz or Teddy Ballgame. 

  

As if that wasn't generous enough..there were over 200 basketball cards in the box.

All of them were Hall of Famers from the 1990s-early 2000s: Karl Malone, David Robinson, Shaquille O'Neal...

...Gary Payton, Ray Allen, and Grant Hill. When I was cataloging my cards on TCDB recently, I realized that I'd never even seen the 2000-01 Upper Deck basketball set before. 

There was also a handful of Kevin Garnett and Magic Johnson cards, a couple Allen Iverson, and some Dennis Rodman. So many cool cards to catalog...

Three years ago I had maybe 100 basketball cards. Now thanks to the blogging community I have nearly 5,000 - and the top seven players listed are all due to contributions from Dennis.

Thanks again for the great cards, guys! Merry Christmas, everyone!


p.s. if you haven't blown out your budget on Black Friday..COMC is having another sale starting tomorrow. I didn't get to the CT card show (long story) so I might spend some cash there instead.

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