A zistle trade w/ bdlehman18

As I continue to work my way through my mailbag, it is time to deal w/ a small trade. I was doing some updating of the CFL cards I picked up a couple weeks back ago at a show, I was surprised to see that one of the cards I had a parallel of was on someone's want list. He collected cards of Virginia Tech guys and wanted an Antonio Banks. More cards were added and subtracted as the deal went on, and packages were exchanged. Here's my goodie pile.

Firstly, here's a small addition to my 2/14 collection. Am I the only person in history to ever be excited about a Bowman card from 1990, but here's a new Scott Scudder for my collection. Kelly Stinnett becomes the 5th baseball player to move into the double digits with this card of him as a Diamondback - my first of those.

As for the Jim Kelly, this might be the most hideous garment ever featured on a trading card. I'm including some of the 1970s TV show themed cards in this competition.

2/14s aside - it was this Vlad Guerrero I was happiest to welcome into my collection. It's just a great picture for the binder.

Staying horizontal, here's a new Piazza for my Mets binders. Another Where's Waldo-ish card.

Here is a nicknames card of Joe Carter. The nickname isn't Carter's - it is the Blue Jays name itself, with the back offering a write up on the contest to name the team.

And to wrap things up, a couple of new Delgado cards for that binder. C/LF isn't a designation you see on too many cards.

And that's it for one small trade. Looking at the ol' mail stack. I've got two group breaks. I've got 1 small trade. I've got a three-down filled order and I've got a blaster worth of cards from just commons. That should be enough to take me through to the Expo next week. Cheers!

Front or Back?

These might be my least favourite cards. These are the ones where the photo on the front is great, but the photo on the back might be even better.

Of course, I could just place it in a toploader to answer the question of which side should be facing forward.

Raptors Tip-off Tonight - So Let's Bust Some Hoops

I'm from the belief that a season hasn't really started until your favourite team has played at least one regular season game. So, for me, it officially starts tonight when the Raptors tip off. To celebrate, a jumbo pack of Hoops awaited me at the LCS. Time to dig in!

Thabo Sefolosha - From the first card = enjoyment file, here's Hoops' entry. It's not someone from my favourite teams, but it is an interesting photo. Still, it is kinda hard to have a dull photo on a basketball card.

Kyrie Irving - Hey, the cover boy!
Lance Stephenson

Deron Williams - A nice photo from near the rim.
Kevin Love
Carlos Boozer

Derrick Williams - This might be the dullest of the in-game photos.

Otto Porter RC - There's a lot of these staged shots for rookies in this set. It beats photoshopping.

Norris Cole - Flat top power!

DeJuan Blair - Must resist urge to post every interesting action photo. You can also see the updated team in the upper right of the card, both with the logo and the microscopic print.

JJ Redick - This is a typical posed shots, used sometimes for rookies and guys on their way to new teams. Again, it beats photoshopping.
Eric Bledsoe
Manu Ginobli

Jeff Green - My first Celtic!
Ben Gordon
Marcus Camby - He was a Raptor for about 5 minutes this off-season.
Greg Monroe
Omer Asik

Damian Lillard - The reigning top rookie.

Kyle Lowry - My first Raptor!
Ray McCallum RC
Wesley Matthews
Elton Brand
Richard Jefferson
Glen Rice Jr. RC

Darius Miller - First look at the Pelicans logo on a card.
Tobias Harris

Bradley Beal - I might as well include a scan of the back as well. Just like the Score Hockey - bland, but legible and with full stats.

Authentics - DeShawn Stevenson - WOO-HOO! A hit! Mind you, he's not an active player at this point, but a hit is a hit, and he's had a good career with a championship to his name.

Action Shots - Damian Lillard
Action Shots - Manu Ginobli - Easily my least favourite among the inserts. Aren't the non-rookie/traded base cards action shots as well? The Lillard will probably be heading guilt-free to Cards on Cards at some point.
Dreams - Reggie Jackson

Dreams - Brandon Knight - A nice insert set with the focus on younger players.

Board Members - Blake Griffin
Board Members - Marcin Gortat - Shots from directly above for the top rebounders? Cool!

Class Action - Mitch Richmond
Class Action - Sam Cassell - A focus on previous drafts. If not for the following subset, this one would easily be my favourite.
Hall of Fame Heroes - Joe Dumars

Hall of Fame Heroes - Gary Payton - A great addition with an interesting variety of HoFers. There are some of the expected (Wilt, Dr. J) and some you wouldn't (Adrian Dantley, Artis Gilmore, Drazen Petrovic)

Courtside - Stephen Curry
Courtside - Carmelo Anthony - I'd complain about another generic insert set, but the low shot and full bleed photos make this one I might chase down. No Raptors in it, but I'll be looking to pull the Rondo.

Spark Plugs - Terrence Ross - WOO-HOO! A Raptor! And an insert set that looks like the type of card you'd get with a fill-up at the local gas station.
Spark Plugs - Jared Dudley
Gold Parallel - Tyreke Evans
Gold Parallel - Maurice Harkless
Gold Parallel - Arnett Moultrie

Gold Parallel - Quincy Acy - WOO-HOO! The third Raptor in the pack. And a good enough opportunity to showcase one of these parallels.
Gold Parallel - Tony Allen
Red Back Parallel - Danny Granger

Red Back Parallel - Paul Pierce - And a good enough card to highlight these parallels. So, if I build the set, and don't pull the regular base, I can store these 18 to a page and it would look OK.
Red Back Parallel - Chase Budinger

A fun pack with some really great photos. I can see myself trying to put this together while waiting for 2014's baseball releases.

Trade w/ Fuji

A week or so back, I sent a package stateside for Fuji. Amazingly, the package arrived all the way in California with in a few days of sending it. The return care package got here on Monday, and here were the goodies contained within.

I'll note here that there were a couple of additional Senators cards, but those won't make an appearance until I start posting my 50 favourite Ottawa cards at some point.

Starting off, here's an obvious additon to my collection of Kitchener Rangers alumni. It is form the 1996 Visions Signings, and features Boyd Devereaux wearing the Rangers blues. Notably, it features a lamentable mid 90s attempt at a new look for the jersey, which had always resembled the NY Rangers look. It didn't last long.

Also included was a new Marian Gaborik for my 2/14 collection. It moves him even further into the lead in terms of representation in the binder with his 44th card.

Also included was my first Sean Hill hit for my 2/14 binder.

But there was also a nice new Senators card of Mr. Hill. I have the base version of this, so here's the Rink Collection parallel. He moves into the double digit club with these 2 cards, and ties Dave Lowry with 10 cards each.

But that wasn't it for hits - there was also this one of Stan Neckar. He was better known as the guy had with the last name that nobody pronounced correctly  the first time. It's NETS-CASH.

And finally, there were 3 Alexei Yashins in the pack as well. This is my favourite of the 3. Mad Hatter is a definite interesting subset name to salute 3 goal games. Only one problem. There's no hat pictured any place on the card.

Thanks for the great trade! I'll certainly take a peek for interesting Sharks relics at the Expo next week that just scream "PWE".

Jumbo Update Box Break - Pack #10

Let's wrap this one up.

Bruce Rondon

Nick Punto - Turning two, with an aggressive slide.
Francisco Liriano
John Jaso
Skip Schumaker
Elliot Johnson
Mark Reynolds
Edwin Jackson
Jason Kipnis
Roy Oswalt

Mike Trout

Mike Carp - Now this is perfect collation. Both Trout and Carp back to back.
Cody Allen
Adam Jones

Cody Asche - GAH! He looks like one of the killer mannequins in Tourist Trap! Damn you, Rifftrax, for introducing me to that cinematic load.

Jose Bautista - WOO-HOO! Joey Bats!
Carlos Beltran
Alberto Callaspo
Johnny Hellweg

Pedro Alvarez - A nice shot of the golden baseball. I'm sure if I watched the HRD, or any skills competition from any ASG in any sport, it would be more meaningful.

Ian Kennedy - I'll never tire of seeing the camo uniforms show up.
Jeff Bianchi
Jeanmar Moore

Juan Lagares - WOO-HOO! Lagares RC!

Brock Peterson - Gold - Amazingly, I don't think I pulled a single gold that fit into $30aW's serial #'d insanity

Endy Chavez - Emerald

Carlos Gonzalez - 1971 mini

Yasiel Puig - Making Their Mark - How many friggin' Puig cards are in this set? Rhetorical question. Don't answer. I should be happy he didn't make the ASG.

Dustin Pedroia - Chasing History - Most consecutive games on base to start the season by a second basemen.

Gerrit Cole/Andrew McCutchen - Franchise Forerunners
Trevor Bauer
Tim Collins
Vernon Wells
Kendrys Morales
Anthony Rendon

Eric Hinske - Another entry in the file of "He was still playing in 2013?"
Bryan Peterson
Joe Saunders
Rafael Betancourt
JJ Hardy
Michael Cuddyer

Jose Valverde - The throwback uniform I really wanted to pull.
Chad Qualls
Jarred Cosart
Aroldis Chapman
Prince Fielder
Andrew McCutchen

Allen Craig - Fin.

That's it. Despite the dupe laden 7th and 8th packs, I did wrap up the whole set with this jumbo box. I sold one of the cards to recover about half the cost of the box, and have some trade bait that I'll probably post sometime next week.

And now, I can get caught up with other packs, trades and group breaks.