2/14s in the Mail - Part 1

 Today, the new cards for the 2/14 collection from the TMV mailer. Up next, the Sportlots stuff.

Both basketball and hockey were one-and-done in the mailer, but I'm leading with the Richard Hamilton because it is numbered and shiny. In this case, it is a Seismic Red Prizm /225.

Sorry, Viktor, but you really can't compete with that.

Baseball provides the obligatory "How did I not have this card in my collection" entry with this card out of the 1988 Baseball's best set. And yes, Donruss' decision to use blue vs. orange was definitely a smart one.

Shininess! With his total now standing at 71, I'm now the top Yermin hunter at tcdb. I guess there is a plus to seemingly endless parallels. Overall, he's tied with John Marzano for the lead, at least until my next COMC order arrives.

Football was the most significant portion of the 2/14 content in the mailer. A perfect way to start this is the current reigning Offensive Player of the Year. I'm glad I got into his content early, allowing me to add some nice cards, especially with his rookie autos, looking at COMC, are now $500+.

And speaking of COMC, I also have one of these parallels on its way as part of that order. Oops! Anybody else super-collect 2nd round picks that never played a snap in the NFL?

Jadeveon Clowney was probably the most recent football rookie chase guy for me prior to JS-N.

I guess I'm going through this by showcasing in order of sport, then volume. So, here's football's first multiple card count, with a pair of numbered Alshons. Both are /399 as well.

The hit parade starts here! The football relic card is from the period where the Oilers were being renamed to the Titans, so that's why that logo remains on the card.

The Sunday Swag card prominently features 403 yards on the front of the card, so you'd think it would have something on the reverse that would reference that. Nope. Just a generic write-up about Jim Kelly. The game in question was the no-punt game at Candlestick. Steve Young even passed for more yards in that game, throwing for 449. I guess the Bills winning makes Kelly more worthy of the card saluting that day.

Drew Bledsoe tied with Jim Kelly for the overall lead, but I'll give him a nod based on there being a couple of relics in this group. And if licensing is something that you care about, this does win that battle 5-1. Both the relics do claim to be game used, although only the Honors one included a photo of the supposed jersey with the card. With that, that moves it past the presence of a Bills logo to make it the most interesting of the Bledsoes.

And there you have it!

My Newest MST3Ked Movie Auto!

 It is Hal Linden!

Hal did not appear on-screen during a movie riffed on the show. He wasn't even credited for his work. But, since he did do the voice of Yoshi during the American dub of Godzilla vs. The Sea Serpent, he counts as someone who was riffed by Joel and the Bots.

This is also my first Season 2 autograph. 

Sure, he's deservedly best known for Barney Miller, but I can also appreciate a lesser role. If I somehow acquired a Clint Eastwood auto, would I group it with Sci-Fi era autos thanks to Revenge of the Creature?

Yes!

There you have it!

Anatomy of a Complete Set

 

Several weeks back, I posted the results of a couple hobby boxes worth of 11-12 Heroes and Prospects. While I didn't get the complete set out of that, I still wanted to finish it. And there was a 50 card update set. I didn't want to spend $20+ on shipping, so I just requested it as a bonus in my latest TMV shipment. 

And here are the highlights among the 50.

First card out is a Kitchener Rangers alum! Or at least the first card in the set.

Senators fans were greatly anticipating Cory Conacher's debut with the team after he arrived in the Ben Bishop trade. He was waived before he even finished a full season with the team.

Tanner Pearson was a Kitchener Rangers alum. Not as a player, but as a stick boy for the team. When he got his 'Day with the Cup' after being a part of the LA Kings, one of the stops in town was back at the Aud.

Here's a far more obvious alumni card.

And another future Senator. 

Still yet another. Mark Stone was probably the biggest name in this set. With several medals, a Stanley Cup and an All-Star appearance, that's a great resume.

I am not going to pass up a chance to show off the Ogopogo jersey Kelowna sported.

Continuing the "I'm not passing up on" theme, how could I not show the card of somebody named Thrower.

Or of someone with a name that sounds like it should be on the Oxford Rowing Team as opposed to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada.

So, Dennis! Thanks for picking this up and throwing it into the mailer! 

The Jays Content

Contrasting with the Mets, at least their season has been more disappointing than dreadful.

I'm not triple-checking it, but this might be my first 2026 card. Like with the Mets content, there's only one card in the post featuring someone(s) still with the team, and here it is.

This weekend, the Jays, as part of their 50th season, had a tribute to the 92/93 World Series winners. So, here's a couple of Gold Winner cards from the former season's release. Joe Carter's contribution is well known, but Myers was traded during the 1992 season for Mark Eichhorn. But I guess he probably still got a ring out of it.

Here's the first bed of cards. I guess with the aforementioned tribute going on, it is only suitable to have even more of his appearances here. Jeff Ware, seen on the bottom row, is one of three players to hit for the cycle in Jays history.

I didn't think when putting this together that a Duane Ward card would become so depressing to post as part of it.

A crazy celebration card from Edwin Encarnacion makes this a little happier post as horizontal cards resume.

Manu-cards are up next. I'm not sure if that Game Faces of Delgado counts as such, but it is probably closer to that than just a card with a second photo embedded. The Chapman helmet card is incredibly heavy, especially for a card from flagship. I could probably use it as an impromptu weapon if need be.

It is always fun to end on my beloved Chronicles. So what if Shun didn't quite work out for the Jays and was gone after making his 2020 season the only one in MLB? This is still a /17 First Off the Line Neon Orange parallel. That's probably enough to make it a downer for whomever broke the box chasing these parallels, but a benefit for someone that wanted a low-numbered Jays card for a bargain price! 

There you have it!

2026 Adventures in Repacks - Part 18.2 - Cubism

Back to the cube! For this batch, it is WCW alumni Kevin Greene leading the way, looking to be on his way to one of his 13 sacks against Chris Miller here.

I guess when they were promising the inclusion of Premium cards, they meant it with the appearance of UD Exquisite. It is hard to think of a more high-end football release from that product. The Monk, along with the opening  Greene card shows that there  were some really great photos hiding in the junk wax era of football. 

We've got a guy (nick)named Jet in this grouping. That's kinda interesting, right? Also, defensive player with  the ball! It always seems like the football version of "pitcher batting". The final card here is of the ill-fated Keith McCants. That's a depressing story if you want to read about it. 

3 of the first 4 cards being punters/kickers. That's great! But then we get into the CTE portion of the repack with Johnson and Brown. Oh boy. I was going to end with this one, but this became depressing fast. So here's one more scanner bed worth of content.

Ignoring the fun of 3/4 special teams players from the previous portion, this is a more interesting grouping. A drawn card. A hit (and it is supposedly game-used as opposed to player-worn), and a super interesting Randy Moss finale. I'm hoping Stadium Club starts showing up in Topps football line of products, and great stuff like this is the reason why.

There you have it!

The Miserable Mets

 After a little delay due to cross-border paperwork, a mailer showed up earlier this week with goodies from Dennis @ Too Many Verlanders. At least in terms of the stack size, the Mets won the day. Maybe this will take the sting out from the ghastly year they've had so far. 

I usually end a post with the big volume winner. This time, I'm leading with it. Even not counting the non-Mets content, he wins. Although I do need to open the contained repacks, I don't think that will change the lead.

Neither will removing that Prism dupe from the overall count. My favourite in this grouping is the Invincible entry, and with an insert set name like 'Seismic Force', you expect the shaky font.

Horizontal entries, too! The top card is /7000, flashing back to when that was a big deal.

And let's wrap up the Piazza portion of the Mets content with a small, plain white swatch, but still a swatch nonetheless. 

As I went through the non-hit portion of the Mets content, I'd realize the only card of someone still on the team is that Senga among all the cards. OK, Bobby Bonilla is still on the payroll, but that doesn't really count. Given the season, maybe memories are better than imaging what is still to come.

Lots and lots of parallels this time around, including doubling up on the Electric Diamonds of Preston Wilson, and a straight across Tic-Tac-Toe of 1999 Paramount copper parallels. 

The Ballpark Fun card might not be a parallel, but it does commemorate Santana's no-hitter. Speaking of commemoration, we also get that on the Matz card, getting a nice look at the patch commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 1986 squad.

Starting Lineup? A food entry? This vertical portion of the Mets content couldn't end any better!

But first, some horizontal action!

But first, here's the only numbered card that didn't have a piece of material attached to it. 

Let's see some relics. It is nice to see some colour thanks to the patches in the mix, but I appreciate the  simplicity of a nice pinstripe almost perfectly down the middle like on the D'Arnaud piece.

Finally, some ink. While there's very little difference between Nimmo and Marcus Semien in terms of production, I'd rather they stink with familiar faces as opposed to others. At least we'll recognize the guys grounding into double plays when the game is on mute.

Many more parts of this mailer to go! 

There you have it!

A 49ers Auto

 

The UNC Charlotte 49ers, that is.

Sure, he never played in the NFL, but that logo is enough to make me want to add the card.

There you have it!

6 Years of Mischief

 

My little troublemaker turns 6 today, so as with the past few years, I'm highlighting the newest cards in her 7/12 slider box.

As before, please don't send me cards of people that qualify for the collection.

With the opening photo of Mischief featuring her alongside her beloved outside toy "Ol' Flatty", it is only suitable to show what a soccer ball should look like. This is also now the only soccer card in the collection so far.

What team made the most appearances this time around? It is the Hiroshima Carp. Brad Eldred does have a second appearance in the collection, but this one does allow for the team logo to make a front of the card appearance.

Lots more baseball this time. Only Hammer makes a second appearance in the collection. The Lin is a 'Reptilian Refractor', perfect for a Diamondbacks card. Logan Porter's is a green border parallel, even if the text on the back claims it is a white border one. Sipp is the first of two numbered cards in this, with there being 2014 more out there if I want to complete his run.

The only hit this time. At least I can read the initials. Even if I could mistake the C for L. I guess this is also a zero-year card, as he'd play zero games with the Red Sox in the majors. His only MLB appearances would be with the Cubs.

There's no basketball entries this time - not even a single SG-A entry. But there were a couple hockey ones, including Mischief's first overseas hockey card.

All of the football entries were parallels. Including a refractor-y Bills card that counts as the other numbered one. Also, my first CFL cards are part of this grouping.

Finally, the everything else portion. Benny Parsons is the first person from the auto-racing world in the collection. Given that I've actually heard of him, that's probably enough to qualify him as a legend. Kai Greene is also the first bodybuilder there as well, even if I can't imagine there being too many cards from that sport. George Eastman is not the first inventor in the collection though, thanks to the presence of another George, in that case Washington Carver.

Also, does that final line really qualify as a Highlight? 

I can't end like that, so here's another picture of Mischief, this time having an adorable nose-touching session with one of her pals, Leo.

There you have it!