Monday 29 February 2016

Outgoing Mail Alert!

14222
29841
55406

are Super Traders that should expect bubblers shortly.

ObCard:
With 2/29 kinda being an oddball day, why not another contender for the oddest relic item in my collection with this pylon piece. I don't think this surpasses the mascot costume, but it should at least pass the towels and field goal post padding.

It is a little more orange in person, and is dated from a 12/7/2014 game. Baltimore played Miami that date, and there were Miami cards in this subset as well, so I would assume that is the game in question.

Sunday 28 February 2016

Card Show Goodies - Nothing But the Hits

Time to recap the autographs and relics from the show!
Starting off, here are some always welcome Enforcers autos. Kelly Chase hit the magic 2000 PIM mark over his career. Pretty nice penmanship, with the combined numbered of 3 and 9 being an interesting accompaniment to his signature. McCarty's handwriting is less spectacular, but he was still a nice 90s tough guy.
Brantt Myhres was another tough guy from Enforcers, but I opted for this one since it was a dollar.
And some dollar goalie-graphs for my mask binder. How could I pass on an on-card autograph of Rollie the Goalie? At least until I land one of the other Rollie the Goalie - Roland Melanson.
Speaking of names you don't want to pass on a dollar auto from, Fozzy Whittaker would also qualify.
Bills! Bills! Sure, Da'Rick never played a regular season game for Buffalo, but he still counts. Posluszny's time in Buffalo was more significant, and it is a nice cheap addition to my collection, considering it is an auto/relic.
A numbered HOF relic for $2.00? Yes, please!
And it wouldn't be a show if I didn't find at least one more 2/14 relic for the binder. Usually, it is a Gaborik, but I'll take this.
And, to wrap this up, here's a few hits for others that will probably go out over the next few weeks.

Saturday 27 February 2016

Card Show Goodies - Nothing 'bout the Hits

Another local card show, and more goodies for my (and other bloggers') collections. Two posts, with the next one covering the hits from the show.
First up, the card that completed the best from Series #1. I was hoping to get it done before Series 2 dropped, but lacked just this one. Nice to put this to bed and get on to building the other Young Gunless set.
How about some rookie and pre-rookie content of a pair of guys who would get cards with both my favourite teams. I'm really happy about getting the Dickey for quite a bit below the COMC price.
Shiny, coloured Met!
It is really rare that I can add a basketball card at the show to my 2/14 collection. It is almost mind-blowing that the one I add isn't one of the two better known names in the collection, but Tyus Edney. This is a parallel from a Players Private Issue set, and much like the Dickey, I'm really happy to add it for significantly less than the COMC cost.
Vintage CFL!
To wrap things up, one pack of the new Donruss basketball release.
I really like the coloured borders matching the team's colours. I'm really happy to welcome the Rated Rookie (SP?) of Myles Turner to my collection, and it is all about the uniform. He's sporting the Hickory uniforms, part of a promotion the Indiana Pacers are running this season to salute the movie 'Hoosiers'. This might have me looking a little closer at some of the Indiana Pacers cards this season.
And to end this, some cards for Too Many Manninghams.
And one for an Underdog, who will be getting a Buffalo Bills/Sabres dump sent on the Super Trading way sometime next week (along with a couple hits that might be shown tomorrow).

And there's Part 1. 

Friday 26 February 2016

2016 Adventures in Repacks: Part 8 - An Almost Forgotten One

I'd been sitting on posting this one for a bit now - and I guess I might as well get on with it. This is one of those card show repacks I've posted a couple of previously. 2 visible cards (usually hits, but not this time), with some in between randomness for $3.

Only one hit this time, since this was visible on top:
Hard to pass on a rookie card of this guy, especially when there's more content within.
And the visible hit was this one from 2013 Leaf Memories. A rather compact, but still interesting autograph from the Phillies prosepct.
The middle card started off with a quartet from National Chicle. There's some more Kershaw!
Just one card from 2010 UD, but at least it is an insert.
A pretty nice insert for a repack as well. Although I've been landing nice cards from these, this really is better than expected from the middle cards.
Some 80's star cards. And the closest to an abundance of junk wax I'd get in this.
A really nice photo for a guy's rookie card.
Heritage-y stuff. Featuring a then Jay and future Jay in base cards, and a second numbered card from this. Chris Stewart isn't quite the Cal Ripken, though.
Wrapping it up with actual Heritage! I'll have no complaints wrapping this up with a pre-Jays card of Encarnacion.

And that is $3 worth of cards.

Thursday 25 February 2016

Nothing Arbitrary about the Super Traders package

A Super Traders package showed up yesterday at Chez Buckstorecards yesterday, and it has me looking for Twins to send in return. I've got a couple, but I'll try to find a few more before I return fire.
My favourite portion of this was a Mets team set. I couldn't originally place this set, but I was able to trace them as being a 2004 New York Post set. They look really nice on the same 9 pocket page. But were the 2004 Mets so bad that Jason Phillips and Karim Garcia managed to make the set?

Probably.
Mets content from 2016's flagship that was retail only was also in there. I didn't land this in my blaster, so this is pretty welcome.
Sure, this is a nice full-bleed Bobby Bonilla card from the Best Seat in the House subset, but the real highlight is the Rafael Belliard faceplant.
Vintage!
More even vintage!
And a third vintage card! I guess this is what I'll try and hunt down for the return package. Likely with no luck at Canadian card shows.
And to wrap this up, a random appearance of one of two people worthy of the BRUUUUUUCE! chant.

Tuesday 23 February 2016

And The Rest (of the blaster)

Last week, I picked up a blaster of Series 1 with the promise that the manurelic contained within would go to the Super Traders. Thankfully, it hit a claimed team, and an Orioles/Capitals/Wizards bubble envelope was sent on its way yesterday.

And now, the rest of the blaster.
Since I'll be getting Mets content galore with the Nachos Grande break, here are some Blue Jays. The photography isn't really blowing me away on these base cards. I'd love the Encarnacion "walking the parrot" HR trot more if it wasn't a rerun from 2015 Bowman's Best.
That's not to say there were not some interesting photos in this year's set, it just seems they aren't as prevalent (at least in my blaster). Still, the Hundley is a really nice looking close-up.
I think these inserts were all retail exclusives. Aside from Seaver, that Milwaukee Braves card of Aaron is nice, as is Fernando.
My gold parallel. That's Brandon McCarthy. I think. I think I've finally found cards that scan worse than anything with micro-etching.
And the rainbow parallel.
And more inserts to wrap things up. The Musial is a dupe from a handful of packs I've picked up, so that one will be Super Traded to Cards on Cards. I know what they're going for Berger's Best, but do I really need flashbacks to 2012 releases?

The big, and easy winner here is the Bill Withers first pitch card, mainly because I had to research to find what team's throwback jersey he was wearing. Since it was for a Negro League throwback game, he's rocking the Seattle Steelheads jersey.

I'm closing in on the 50% mark of the base set.

Monday 22 February 2016

Just One Card: My first Turris-graph

Although his signature isn't the most aesthetically-pleasing, I'm still happy to add this to my Sens collection.
I just wish somebody had realized that the gold ink didn't work with a logo with a lot of gold on it.

Sunday 21 February 2016

Your Series 2 Ottawa Senators (and more!)

Upper Deck Series 2 dropped this past Thursday. I jumped into a group break of a case of the product and picked up the cards yesterday. And, just for the heck of it, I grabbed a few packs while there. I'll show the highlights for those at the end, but will start with the Sens content.
There are 7 base cards in the non-YG portion of the set for Ottawa. 4 of them were horizontal photos, and they are all spectacular. Even the basic ones have the third uniforms. Career Senator Chris Neil's locker room showcases is beautiful, but the framing of the Anderson makes it my favourite. I love how his name appears on the marquees behind him.
The vertical bas are pretty bland, but another appearance of the third uniform saves it.

Onto the inserts!
Shane Prince and Matt Puempel were all over Series 1 and Upper Deck's early releases. This time around, this was my only card of Prince. Since I've already got one card of his in the Sens collection, I'll be adding this insert to my Kitchener Rangers alum collection.
Max McCormick was the only other player to make only one appearance, doing so on his YG card. With a chin like that, he's naturally an enforcer type, although he has potted a pair of goals over 20 games with the parent club this year. Nott bad for a 6th round pick (one of 4 to have seen NHL action in 15-16).
I guess Driedger only made one appearance, photographically-speaking. But this was my first UD Exclusive /100 card. No complaints adding one to my collection, especially a YG card. While I did have cards of Chris from Between The Pipes where he's listed as a Sens draft pick, this is my first card of him in a Sens uniform.
The Canvas inserts. The Hoffman easily wins the photo wars here.
I love that Chris Wideman actually gets a pretty cool photo on his first card. It is also nice that the photos aren't recycled between the base and the retro OPC inserts.
And to wrap Ottawa-related things up, 2-14 baby Matt O'Connor. He was a Young Gun in Series 1, and now makes an appearance on insert sets. I already have 3 strong contenders for my 2017 Top 10 2-14 cards from the past calendar year. For now, I'm probably going with the Retro parallel base on design, but I might swap it out for the mask photos.

When I picked up the cards, I also got a trio of packs. Here are the highlights:
This isn't the most exciting photo, but it is probably the best look you'l get at the Al Arbour memorial patch from 2015 releases.
The competition for the best photo in the set wasn't even close. The short write up on the back mentions Raanta was the first star in a shutout win over San Jose, so I'm guessing the photo is from then.
The packs all had either an insert or a YG card. I only landed one of the latter from the 3 packs. If I was going to get a Star, I'd rather Radek Faksa than Shore, but I'll take it. Even if Faksa might have the worst auto among this year's rookie class.
One of the packs did have the one per box relic card. I've pulled two from flagship this season, both Leafs. While I had little use for the James Van Riemsdyk, at least this one will at least have a home in the mask binder.
And the best of the inserts? How about a second 2/14 baby in this post? This puts my total at a nice 1275 cards.

And there you have the extent of my Series 2 hobby purchases, as I'll probably go retail the rest of the way home.