Friday 31 January 2020

When In Doubt: Chronicles

Sometimes, it is good to have a box worth of busted cards around when you don't just want to post a single card, but don't want to get to verbose. So, here's another box worth of my favourite 2019 product.

Pack 1:
While sometimes you might see two cards from the same design in a single pack, this might be the first time I've received three. But, they are all different parallels, with Vlad being the base design, Kieboom being a holo parallel, and Tucker being the hyper parallel /299. There's also the first of the two Spectra cards that appear in packs without hits.

Pack 2:
And, there's the first hit. Eventually. The gold parallels are /99 in that set. A big head Score card? Those are always welcome. The Chavis is another Hyper parallel, and like with Crusade is /299.

Pack 3:
The first actual auto is of Michael Perez, a catcher for Tampa. I hadn't heard of him aside from cardboard appearances. Apparently he was supposed to see more time than he got behind the plate last season, prior to Travis D'Arnaud signing and living up to his original potential.

Pack 4:
That's really what I like to see with a relic card with multiple windows. Three different designs for a relic. Two plain swatches, albeit different colours, and a pinstripe. Not a lot of variety in terms of teams, with 3 White Sox and 2 Angels cards in the pack.

Pack 5:
And there's the final hit. And another Chicago-intensive pack. But we've also got Vlad showing up again, and Ruby Wave /199 of Tatis, so not bad at all.

Pack 6:
That's a nice way to end it - a Pete Alonso hot pack with both a numbered and non-numbered card. That hot pink of Arraez is also numbered, being /75.

Not bad at all, even if I would have preferred not going back to back boxes with a redemption.

Thursday 30 January 2020

2020 Adventures in Repacks: Part 5 - Another New Repack

And this was the new repack. It is very much a junior version of the cubes I post frequently with less of everything, but also reflected such in the price.
You can see one of the visible cards in the repack as this 1995-96 Donruss issue. Not much variety beyond that, because all the other assorted cards were from the same set.
But there was still some interesting stuff in there. This was Rohlin's only major card in North America.
Trust the Gorton's Fisherman!
3 Sens cards among the 20! I like that collation!
And if you were the type to think there would be no big names among the random cards, you'd be wrong.
As for the packs - exactly what I expected.
Although I didn't think that the largest number of interesting cards would come from the Score pack, but it did. Nice photos, a Sens card and a needed gold parallel, which I didn't need, since I'm definitely not building the parallel set.
Parkhurst...uh...here's an insert. Zzzzz.
But this picks it up! If you're going to get a Young Guns card from last year's Series 1, this or Elias is the one that you want. I will have no more complaints about the cards from this repack when they wrap up with a solid one like this!

And there you have it!

Wednesday 29 January 2020

Completeness

I wasn't really planning to do this, but when I landed the Kawhi autograph a few months back in a group break, I decided to go for it. Inspired by Jeff @ 2x3 Heroes' Project 2005 for the White Sox, I'm going to acquire an autographed card of each player that got a ring for the 2019 World Champion Raptors.

There are three players without autographed cards, Chris Boucher, Malcolm Miller and Eric Moreland. Of those, only Boucher seems a possibility of getting one at a later date.

I have most already, and have Ibaka, Lin and Meeks ones in my COMC inventory now. While I'd prefer them in Raptors colours for the card, it isn't a necessity, or even feasible for some. Such as this:
Patrick McCaw spent 3 seasons in the NBA so far, and thanks to moving to the Raptors from the Warriors, got rings in all three seasons. If I cannot use a Raptors card, my second choice would be a college card.

And this is pretty nice. Low-numbered, with a pair of three colour swatches, and a better signature than most of his. He'd later shorten his to initals only, so this full name auto is a bonus. Storage might be an issue, but this is a perfect addition to the collection.
While I don't plan to make an effort to get coach autographs, if someone is an ex-player, and has one, I'll welcome it. Adrian Griffin got his ring, so he qualifies. And here's his entry.

I'll have a few more to show off down the road once I hit ship on my latest COMC order. The only need for me now is a Marc Gasol, and the only reason I have not added one of his is that I'm holding out hope he'll have a Raptors auto available instead of a Grizzlies one.

There you have it!

Tuesday 28 January 2020

E-Packing

Whether it was from an actual e-pack purchase, or just a random card I got because it was cheap because of e-packs, here's some new cards.
From their CHL release, here's Sens prospect Parker Kelly. He's still with the AHL team in Belleville, but this still counts as an Ottawa card, at least until he reaches the big club. Or at least gets a Belleville card.
While it is nice to see a local landmark on a card, I must point out that the covered bridge shown here is not located in the city of Waterloo, but instead in West Montrose.
If you take the time to go through the cards, there's a good number of nice photos within the e-pack only Compendium set. Such as this, where Colton Parayko is celebrating a goal, but #3 in terms of photographic prominence.
It also makes Canvas cards quite inexpensive. That makes me feel less guilty about adding a nice looking Leafs card to the PC. I can always claim the Kelly offset this one.
A mask binder card was my second Canvas acquisition. Connor's mask featured teammate Dustin Byfuglien ice-fishing.
And here's Mike Green with his best WTF expression.
Now, a switch to cards acquired in e-pack purchases. Here's a random Young Guns card.
If I'm going to land a miscellaneous insert from MVP, it might as well be McDavid.
Some more inserts, this time out of Platinum.
Hey! Here's a hit! Tage was traded to Buffalo as part of the Ryan O'Reilly trade, and has spent much of this season in the AHL, but it is still an auto!
As is this, which is certainly a contender for the best card I've e-pulled. Low-numbered, and she saw action this past weekend as part of the All-Star festivities in St. Louis. Penmanship does take it down a notch, and I still have to give the nod to the jumbo Jeremiah Masoli relic at this point.

And there you have it!

Monday 27 January 2020

2020 Adventures in Repacks: Part 4 - Drugstore Cardboy

While I was grabbing a hanger pack of Hoops earlier this month, I also grabbed a couple of hockey hangers. They're pretty basic, featuring a couple packs in a hanger for $1.29. Or $1.39. I really wasn't paying that much attention.
Here were the three packs of cards. There was also a pack of 18-19 Panini Stickers with the Heads Up. I will work backwards through these.
A Sens card...sticker in this, and some shininess. That's fine, even if Sean Couturier looks like a human bobble head.
With a 15 card base set, you'd expect some star power in the Hockey Card Day pack. You'd be right. No complaints about a new Bobby Orr addition.
While these single packs of 06-07 Parkhurst have been pretty good for landing autos, that wasn't the case here. Still, this is a cool pack with a numbered addition to my Kitchener Ranges alum collection, along with Pierre LaRoche looking great in those blue Pens jerseys.
I don't think I'd ever busted the Heads Up before, even though I've added random singles to the collection in the past. I'd certainly remember getting more than one of these cards in the same pack.
And there's an insert as well! These 'Breaking the Glass' ones fall 1:25 packs, so that isn't too bad of a get from a random repacked pack almost 20 years in the future. Even though this more of a chrome card, without any real glass, or even breaking element to it.

And there you have it!

Friday 24 January 2020

2020 Adventures in Repacks: Part 3.2 - Baseball Begins

2012 A&G - Wade Davis - Ginter is a nice way to start a 40 card stack.
1990 Donruss - Steve Farr
1989 Score - Len Dykstra - Mets content #2!
1989 Topps - Greg Booker
1989 Fleer - Jay Buhner
1988 Donruss - Greg Walker
1990 Donruss - Darren Daulton
1993 Bowman - Jeff Blauser
1991 Score - Steve Finley
1990 UD - Kevin Ritz
1990 UD - Ken Howell
1995 Topps - Scott Erickson
2005 Ultra - Preston Wilson - Typical nice Ultra design/photo.
1988 Topps - Jamie Moyer
1990 Donruss - Clay Parker
1989 Topps - Oakland Leaders
1988 Topps - Reid Nichols - Expos content!
1989 Donruss - Greg Harris
1995 Stad. Club - Billy Ashley
2002 UD - Bobby Smith - After getting a Skeeter and a Blankenship in the first part, here's one of the more generic names imaginable.
2001 Topps - Brant Brown - Brant didn't warrant the then-costly card stickiness-prevention coating.
1991 Topps - Paul Moliton
1992 Donruss - Tim Teufel
1993 Pinnacle - David Cone
1991 Score - Steve Frey - Expos content #2!
2016 Bowman - Stephen Piscotty
1990 Donruss - John Cangelosi
1989 Fleer - Mike Scott
1989 UD - Chris Brown - Not the singer.
1990 Donruss - Larry Andersen
1989 Topps - Kurt Stillwell
1987 Topps - Bruce Bochy
1992 Donruss - Curt Young
1992 Pinnacle - Dan Pasqua
1991 Leaf - Tom Brunansky
1992 Score - Shawn Boskie
1993 UD - Rondell White - Expos content #3!
1993 Topps - Pedro Astacio
2016 Topps - Jackie Bradley
2012 Elite - Ronnie Freeman - And that's it.

That was definitely a step down from the first part, but with that having a food issue card and some fun names, it would have been a tough fight anyhow.

Thursday 23 January 2020

2020 Adventures in Repacks: Part 3.1 - Baseball Begins

A different store. A different sport. I might as well call this a new part to the 2020 adventures.
2011 Heritage Minors - Phillippe Aumount - The only thing better than starting a repack with a Heritage card is with it being a Canadian player as well.
1989 Donruss - Kirk McCaskill - Back-to-back Cancon!
1989 Donruss - Jay Howell
1988 Topps -  Bob Brower - Not the wrestler.
1990 Donruss - Ken Patterson
1989 Score - Will Clark
1989 Topps - Gene Larkin
1995 Finest - Andujar Cedeno - Dare I remove the protective coating after 25 years?
1991 Leaf - Damon Berryhill
1991 Bowman - Julio Franco
1991 Donruss - George Brett
1992 Post - Dwight Gooden - Mets content! And even better...a food issue oddball!
2003 Heritage - Jose Jimenez - Not the astronaut.
1987 Topps - Mike Aldrete
1988 Topps - Kevin Gross
1990 Donruss - Ron Gant
1989 Topps - Mike Schooler
1992 UD - Jerry Don Gleaton
2002 UD - Darin Erstad
2001 Topps - Kevin Jordan
1988 Fleer - Rance Mulliniks - Jays content!
1990 Leaf - Ozzie Guillen
1991 Score - Gary Pettis
1993 Topps - Skeeter Barnes - How  can I not scan a card of a guy named Skeeter?
2016 Archives - Josh Donaldson - Jays content #2!
2010 Bowman - Anthony Slama - Slama might not be the best name for a pitcher.
1987 Topps - Jerry Willard
1989 UD - Kevin Blankenship - How  can I not scan a card of a guy named Blankenship?
1990 Donruss - Jay Bell
1989 Fleer - Craig Reynolds
1990 Donruss - Rolando Roomes
1989 Topps - Dave LaPoint
1993 UD - Jack McDowell
1991 Bowman - Storm Davis
1994 Stad. Club - Richie Lewis - For a set known for photos, he got a rather derpy one.
1998 Score - Reggie Sanders
1990 UD - Jim Deshaies
1992 Donruss - Steve Chitren
2010 Elite - Marcus Littlewood - A rather unflattering last name.
2018 Topps - Sean Manaea - That ends the first half.