2025 Adventures in Repacks - Part 6 - Tough Two to Top

 

In terms of being the best pair of dollar store baseball repacks, the combination of these two is going to be really tough to beat.

#1:

Here's the contents of #1. Looks like I'm getting a hit this time around.

Ooo. 2024 stuff showing up already. That's my first repacked 2024 card. The Dee Strange-Gordon photo just screams that it was taken during the 2020 season, and I'm perfectly fine with that. The cards should be a reflection of the previous season, especially Series 1.

The 5-card misc portion is kinda interesting. A minor league card is a fun start, and even if it isn't as beloved as some of the other designs of the 1980s, 1985's design has aged in a perfectly fine way. The Brandon McCarthy card is a perfect segue as well.

Since that's who the hit was of. And it has a decent enough picture choice for a logo-less one.

The premium pack is supposed to contain one insert/parallel, and that's what the Jeff Conine counted as, with a 2016 Chrome Rookie Recollection. That photo of Brett Phillips is pretty premium-looking as well. 

If I get a hit in a Dollarama repack, that's good enough for me. But the second one had an even cooler card contained within.

Pack 2:

Here's the repacks within the repack. 

The rookie promised is the Almonte, but that's definitely in the bottom ranking of the pack behind the others. The Cowley from a box that commemorates his no-hitter in a 7-1 victory is especially nice. 

1984 Dave Parker? Yes, more please! Although I would probably say that about a Dave Parker card from any year or set. The 1989 Fleer really seems to show up a lot in baseball repacks as of late, but at least the Jeff King is an update version.

The 'Premium' card included was this nice shiny parallel. This was still the least interesting of the packs in the second one.

You're usually lucky to see anything 1970's in the hockey versions of these. But not so with the baseball ones - at least this time. And if one of those 70s cards is a 1976 Luis Tiant, you're definitely doing a lot better than with the hockey version. Sure, there's a small bit of damage on the right side of the card (right below where the Altobelli card meets it), but for an awesome piece of cardboard hiding away in a repack, I will not complain. And let's throw in The Human Rain Delay as a bonus! Even the sole 80s card is nice, as Stefero looks like he's about to break some kneecaps as a mob enforer.

A '76 Tiant and an autograph over the two repacks? As I said, that's a really tough standard to beat in future breaks.

There you have it! 

Football via Michigan

 Back to the mailbag!

I thought this post would be just be 2/14 stuff. I'd completely forgotten that this card was also included in the mailer. It had been on my Top 10 Wanted list for a bit, so my complete forgetting of it was inexcusable. It's a dude (nick)named Pork Chop. Why wouldn't I want it. I'd rank it over baseball's Pork Chop Pough in terms of greatness, since that guy got several cards. Womack didn't get any beyond this Pacific issue and a parallel. So, yes. Womack > Pough.

Now to the 2/14 stuff.

I thought I had perfectly separated the non-hit cards into numbered and non-numbered versions. In one of my usual screw-ups. that Drew Bledsoe was a Stat Line Career parallel, numbered to a delightfully odd 168. Since it was numbered to the number of touchdowns he'd thrown at the time, odd only in terms of comparing to the usual numbering schemes.

At least I properly id'd these 6 cards as numbered ones. I was certain I had that Jim Kelly/Drew Bledsoe card already in the collection, and was all set to add it to my Bills binders. Then I took a closer look to realize that it was numbered out of 500, while the one I had was out of 1000. This one is the silver parallel. Outside of that double-up, the nicest is the Astounding blue /299 of Alshon from Illusions. Astounding isn't just an adjective for the card, it is also the insert set's name. Hence the seemingly off capitalization. 

The hits start with this trio of Steve McNair relics. Although he's far more famous for his time with the Titans/Oilers organization, the less-common nature of Ravens cards elevate them slightly. I know I hated the puns on some of the Raptors cards, but at least the Air one makes a little more sense on a Steve McNair entry. If only he was the only person in the insert set. Spoiler: He wasn't.

I am ending with an autograph of the former #1 draft pick, since ink is always a fun way to wrap up a post. Clowney was still active last year, playing for the Panthers. I couldn't have told you at gunpoint that he was still active last season, but I guess I can blame that on playing in Carolina. 

Just baseball left!

Annual 2/14 Post

Time again for my annual salute to the 2/14 binder. The rule of this countdown is that the card must have been both issued and in-hand within the past year. That means the e-pack cards of Lane Hutson that I have don't count, since they aren't printed yet. They will qualify for next year, though. Also, only one appearance per subject. Although that really wasn't a problem this year.

With that out of the way, here's the top 10.

10.  

Sure, it's a bright gimmick card. But, it does feature Jaxon Smith-Njigba rocking the Seahawks throwbacks. That's good enough.

9.

It was a bland year for  Jim Kelly cards. Considering what won last year's countdown, anything would be a step down.

8. 

Just a fun photo of someone whose MLB time seems to be winding down. At least he gets a pretty nice card to go out on.

7.

Seeing as I tried to build the Heritage set this year, I figure it should make at least one appearance in the countdown. There were 3 members in the base set this year, and they'll be showing up later.

6.

Brooks Lee is one of two people on this list to make their debut in my collection this year, matching perfectly to his MLB debut. Since the liquid metal of Nikolaj Ehlers was one of the last cards I cut from this list, I need some garishness on here. So, I give you a lunar glow parallel. Even with him appearing in Series 1 this year, since he's a rookie, there will probably be many other chances to add other cards of his for the 2026 countdown.

5.

Hey! Topps Chrome! Welcome back! I pick this over the Speckle parallel since it is far less obnoxious, and I got loud cards out of the way on the previous card.

4. 

Here's the other debut in the post. Caroline Marks goes a couple spots above Brooks Lee since she also causes surfing to make its collection debut. That's worthy of a climb into 4th position.

3.

I knew I'd have a lot of Gabriel Moreno options to choose from. I decided to use him for the Stadium Club content in this (I try to only use one card per set as well). It may not be as iconic as Jose Bautista's, but that's a different angle for this type of photo as well. 

2.

The only hit on the countdown is this. I have better cards of his. More interesting photos. More interesting sets. Even an auto. But I pack-pulled this one from a retail blaster. Opening a pack and finding a wonderful entry to the PC is always going to move things up in the rankings.

1.

For the 2nd time overall, the top spot goes to a Tyler Bass entry. In 2021, his autographed appearance in Contenders took the top spot. For the second time in a row, a Buffalo Bills card takes the top spot, although there are 116 more copies of this one than last year's Jim Kelly winner. Heck, for the third straight year, it is a Buffalo card that takes the prize, with a Gabriel Moreno entry from his time with the Buffalo Bisons getting the spot.

Here, we have one of the more memorable moments of the past season for Buffalo. Bass had struggled a bit going into this game, but got the chance to win the game with a late field goal. I'm sure most of the stadium thought Buffalo would have a better chance to get a first down on 4th than to make a field goal. But Tyler's kick would have been good from several yards beyond the 61 yarder he nailed. It was a wonderful moment in many ways, and its cardboard preservation gives it the win.

And now, to start looking for potential entries in 2026. Looks like I've got at least one player to look forward to during the NFL draft.

So Nice, I Bought 'em Twice

I (kinda) doubled up on a couple cards in my most recent COMC shipment, picking up one for me, and one for a trading partner.

I just loved how he combined the first letters of his first name to make for a memorable signature. But, since he was a Michigan Wolverines alum, I knew I couldn't get one to show off without getting a second to ship off to Dennis at TMV in a future mailer. So, I'll keep up in one in my penmanship collection, with one to be sent off.  Kemp's only cards were in this set, so I didn't really have much choice.

As for this, this red parallel was a nice colour match with the Raptors jersey in the photo. It wasn't too expensive either, so one Chris Boucher for me, and one for Kerry @ Cards on Cards. Boucher also survived the trade deadline to still be on the team, so there's still one player left from the 2019 Championship season. I just wish he'd make more than occasional appearances in sets.

But there you have it!

Basketball via Michigan

 Time to show off the basketball portion of the mailer.

This portion was primarily Raptors, but a couple stragglers for other PCs slipped their way into the envelope. Such as this autograph of the king of the collection's basketball portion - Richard Hamilton. As a nice little oddity, this sage card is out of 610 copies. I usually need to go to an Elite Extra Edition to find a print run for a card like that.

The only other non-Raptor outsider was this Steve Nash bound for the CanCon collection. I'd cringe at the Key Kraze subset title, but there is far more cringeworthy insert set names to come.

Such as 'Air Club for Men'? Or 'Air Force One Five'? Anni-Vince-ary? As I said - cringeworthy. But these are a nice collection of unnumbered inserts.

A few numbered cards. The orange parallel of Bargnani is to 1199, and the team checklist from Donruss is /100. 

One more numbered item - here's Kyle Lowry on a printing plate. The actual item is from 19-20 National Treasures and their Jersey Treasures insert set. Just the cyan portion here!

If you remember his career with the Raptors, using the term Power alongside Rafael Araujo is quite the stretch of the term. That jersey probably saw garbage time minutes.

Ah. Much better. Even if only one of them is a Raptors hit, putting these two together on a card is a perfect card to salute the team during the 00's decade. 

A third straight appearance of a Raptors legend wraps things up. In terms of having their jersey in the rafters, either him or Bosh would make the best case for joining Vince up there. It wouldn't be the #3 he's sporting here though, but the #7 that he'd have to wait for the Bargnani trade to start wearing. Even if Kyle only did the initials autograph, there's still a really nice use of space, and it shows nicely on an acetate issue as well. 

That leaves on the baseball content and the 2/14 football content to go!

There you have it!

BIlls! Bills! Bills!

The key to Bills Fandom is to never get optimistic. That makes the letdown when they lose far more manageable. That said, today is the perfect day to go through a whole pile of Bills and Bills-related cards that have shown up recently. These cover trade envelopes and COMC acquisitions.

They could have combined both players on the card to highlight this play, but what's the fun in that? That's especially true since both ends of the 98 yard TD deserve a nod.

This one was inspired by a recent repack. I noted how the back included not only the player's college, but that school's nickname. I can appreciate finally knowing that Kutztown's nickname was the Golden Bears.

Speaking of colleges, here's three cards of players I didn't think would get any as Bills. I'm 2 for 3 with that prediction, as Taylor Rapp showed up in Mosaic this year. Sadly, he wasn't wearing his Guardian Cap in that photo.

Punter card!

And a nice memory for the player preserved forever on cardboard to end the COMC portion of this post.

Rasul Douglas making his collection debut starts off this group from sportlots. Torrance appeared in 2023 Score, but only as a Florida Gator with the NFL shield on his card. I think he was the only one not listed with the team that drafted him. Here is one of his first cards where he was granted the dignity of appearing on the team. I like seeing guys like Evans and Beebe appearing as legends for a team that gets a lot of repetitive players for this portion of new sets.

Off to the mailbag, and a pair of nothing-but-Bills PWE envelopes that showed up this week from Crazie Joe. I was amazed at how many of the Pro Set cards in this were NOT dupes. Well over half of them were new to the Bills binder. I think those ended up with a better rate than the non Pro Set portion.  That Andre Reed Action Packed entry might be one of the least flattering photos for a star player ever. Why? Of the Pro Set cards, I love that Steve Tasker in the upper corner - it is just a wonderful depiction of a frigid game in Orchard Park.

Here's the start of the football portion of the TMV mailer. Both the Peterman and both the Grahams were examples of cards that I was certain I had, but didn't. Both Bruce Smith cards see him paired with another player. On the Nemeses card, he's matched up with Bruce Armstrong. A division rival on the OL makes perfect sense for a card of that nature. Bernie Parmalee on the other is a little less direct, but at least he's paired with a division rival that he probably often saw on the field.

Here's the numbered ones. Looking at the MVP's foil card does confirm that I still haven't been arsed to clean my scanner bed.

Let's start the Hit Parade, this time with some actual Bills cards instead of the NCAA versions. Antowain Smith was perfectly fine with the team, but he was given the impossible task of following Thurman Thomas at RB. He still had a 1000 yard season with the team, and would move on to New England and pick up a pair of Super Bowl rings in the process. As for Dustin Hopkins, he's still in the league. The 2013 draft wasn't exactly one of the best, so to see someone who is still around, even as a kicker, is surprising in the 2024 season.

Speaking of that 2013 draft, here's the Bills top draft pick that year. He didn't work out, and was off the team in 2017 when this card dropped, having moved on to Oakland. Judging by the numbering of this card, I guess Panini had 5 stickers left at Panini HQ.

And there you have it!