Catching Up With the Raptors - Part 1

I've spent some time over the past week entering my Raptors collection into TCDB. Almost 1300 cards (including NCAA ones) later, it is done. So, I'll celebrate this weekend by showing off some newness in the collection. Today, 2019-20 goodies! With the cost of even retail being insane this year due to Zion chasing, pretty much all I'm doing is buying the Raptors spot in group breaks. Here's some of the acquisitions.

I missed this when I did the Hoops recap a few months back, but there was a red backed parallel of Pascal Siakam in the mix of that.

If you want to see the front of a Spicy P card, here you are!

Winning the photographic wars of these cards is a super-excited Serge Ibaka. Probably something he ate. I've already thrown a couple parallels of this into my COMC inventory.

I'll stay with Prizm for an insert with a historic feel to it.

/49 was about as low-numbered as my parallels got, with this Press Proof Blue Laser parallel.

Next up in terms of parallels was this /100 Cosmic parallel of Kyle Lowry.

But there was one hit in the whole bunch, and it probably will remain that way until Terence Davis starts making regular appearances, with this Kyle Lowry swatch /75. I'm certain I'm really close to a complete Lowry jersey by now through cards.

And there you have it! COMC stuff tomorrow!

Another True Crime themed card

But not Forensic Files this time.

"The cop planted the drugs" seems to be a familiar refrain.

Only this time, the cop REALLY DID plant the drugs.

I don't know if I could be as forgiving as Orlando Bowen, though.

One Card Only: Basketball?

Sometimes, the quirks of licensing mean that a Tony Gwynn basketball card appears before your eyes. But not for too long before I spent the requested $1 to add it to my collection.

2020 Adventures in Repacks: Part 9 - Cardboard in Plastic

Unsurprisingly, the hanger repacks that contain the occasional pre-Parkie weren't on the shelves any more. So I'll bust one of these instead.

The first one of these contained a visible '95 Donruss card, followed by 19 more. Here there was some variety as the Nemchinov card was visible, but there were 5 cards each from 4 sets as well. The Pacific was all Islanders, but at least the fisherman was gone by then.

Stadium Club wasn't all unique photos off the start. But I guess Paul MacDermid getting up is something different, if not necessarily flattering.

The MVP added a new mask binder card, a Rangers alum and a card bound for Ann Arbor to the haul.

And Collector's Choice? It was there.

But the gold parallel in the Score pack was a Senator.

Sorta Sens content on this card as well, as we've got a photo from the outdoor game played in Ottawa. And unlike Mark DeRosa, Gallagher is using the proper CFL ball.

We even have Sens involvement on the final insert/parallel from the packs, as Klimchuk is playing with the AHL's Belleville Senators at this point. So, if I fudge the rules a smidge, I can consider all 3 of these cards to be additions to the Sens collection.

There you have it!

Mailbag - Part 2!

Here's my highlights from the rest of mailer that covers cards from the period after the lost season.

This might not really be a mask card as we really don't get that good of a picture of the mask, but this photo is so beautiful that it is a keeper anyhow.

A very desert scene on this mask. I'm not feeling too creative on this today, so I'm just going through my Elite 8 in the order they uploaded.

We remain in the desert for the third mask, and another guy who has adopted one of my favourite themes. This was actually his first WWE themed mask, with the Ultimate Warrior on his forehead. He'd later have matches saluting Wrestlemania, CM Punk and The Rock.

On most of his cards, he's simply Julien Ellis. On a handful, he's Ellis-Plante, and I think that's odd enough to highlight this one. He did share a prospect card with Jacques, but I can't tell if there's any relation.

2013 Titanium might be the one time that the retail version of a set was far nicer than the hobby version. You could have chromish cards that scan like heck with nothing visible in the background, or this. No contest.

This completes my three-card collection of Between The Pipes cards with Malcolm Subban in the OHL.

From Upper Deck's "there is no such thing as too much gold on a card" period.

We're ending with Rollie the Goalie! An oiler can be a boat, an oil can or an occupation. The third seems to be best option when you want something associated with the team name for your gear.

And that's it. Thanks again for these goodies as well, Joe!

Back to repack land tomorrow!

Mailbag!

Back to the bubblers again today, and an incoming mailer from Joe of CrazieJoe's Card Corner. He knows of my love for the artistry of the mask, and that was pretty much the subject of the mail.

I break my collection up into 2 binders. One is pre-2004-05, and the other is for afterwards. I'm going to do the same for the mailings, covering the earlier years today. There were about 60 cards that qualified for this, so I'm limiting myself to an octet of highlights.

The king of this portion of the shipment was Grant Fuhr, with this close-up from Gold Reserve. He nicely combines the music theme with a cityscape in this design.

Speaking of King, I'd completely forgotten he played for them. He had a 14 game stint with them in 94/95. This was the only mainstream release he had during his career that showed that.

14 games was also the length of Jamie Storr's stint in Carolina at the ned of his NHL career.

This was a dupe, but the best thing about these is that I can also add them to my Sens collection.

Here's another card featuring a player making a brief stop with the team, as Hextall spent one season with the Nordiques. It is nice to get one that highlights his mask design while there, since the plain white one is more common on cards.

Like with Lalime and Marvin the Martian, once Johan Hedberg found a motif for his lid, he kept it. The Moose was from his time with the Manitoba Moose, and after a sudden trade he didn't have time for a new paint job. But it became his nickname and he kept it.

Olaf Kolzig did the same with Godzilla during his career.

And my final one was one I was certain I had in my collection already, but repeated perusals of this binder told my otherwise. The yeti theme might be a bit overdone, but the Abominable Snowman just seems perfect for a guy named Snow.

And there you have it! Thanks for these, Joe! And thanks for the ones that will show up in my next post as well!

2020 Adventures in Repacks: Part 8.2 - Surprises Straight From The Source

And now, the basketball version.

With this as the contained content:

Will there be a card worthy of the Snap Loader? Let's see!

The 12 card pack contained the player with the most unfortunate name in NBA History. It is bad to share a name with a creep, but to also share that profession, and also be active during the same period for part of that career must be a nightmare.

Far better to go through life with a name like Kiki.

Given how many companies are now wiping the background on their photos, the early Skybox entries now look basic.

Here's the rest of the 12 card pack. More variety, but not as interesting as the 12 pack in yesterday's football. Jennings would be picked by Toronto in the expansion draft, and even get a couple Raptors cards, but never played for them.

Here's the 2000s pack. The Samaki Walker card is just a base but feels like an insert. And I really don't suggest looking at what Delonte West has been up to lately, unless you want to be really depressed.

The Premium pack was definitely filled with a nice as-advertised grouping. The Kuzma is a Micro Etch Red parallel, and is probably the best candidate in this for the included case. Although that Hakeem is also pretty nice, and like the Walker, gives the vibe of a higher end insert.

And there's the hit. It is a classic insert set, so that's pretty nice. And I don't have too many (if any) Pacers relics in the binders. So that's another bonus.

There you have it! The football content wins easily based on these two posts, but I've got the cubes to get to as well in the near future. Mailbag next!

2020 Adventures in Repacks: Part 8.1 - Surprises Straight From The Source

Yes, I didn't wait for the repacks to arrive at the stores - this time I went straight to the repack company. I got 3 250 count cubes of basketball, football and hockey. The Surprise Bags I get for hockey at the Dollarama have also been adapted for other sports. They're a little costlier, but the content appears better.

So let's do one of these!

Here's the content. Much of the hockey content moves over, and become more volumnous as well.

I'll start with the 90s pack.

I knew I'd enjoy this grouping, as there was already a visible card that would be perfect for one of my PCs. If it was a dupe, I could pass on this being in my 2/14 collection for the Bills one, but this is my first acquisition of one of these.

Here's a trio of the drawn checklist cards that UD used in some of their earlier releases. That;s Jeff Herrod, Christian Okoye, and Marion Butts.

I swear I didn't know that his last name was spelled Jeffires until I saw this card.

The best thing about this card is that both photos are spectacular.

And this wraps up this little grouping. It is an interesting group of cards when an appearance by Emmitt Smith is in my lower tier.

As with the hockey, the 70s/80s repack contained just cards from the 80s, but at least there was another Bills appearance in the group. And where the hell was that Colts game being played? That looks like a high school field. And the fact that the team card features a punter was appropriate, since it recaps a season when they went 3-13, with the 3 wins closing out the season.

I was not expecting an autograph in the Premium Pack grouping. Price only made the field for one game with the Rams, but that's still one more than I'd see. As for the rest, that's a nice mix of current big names and HOFers. Needless to say, Men of Autumn really didn't catch on as a description of NFLers.

And your memorabilia pack didn't contain a swatch, but an auto. Even better, McKinney is still in the league, which was unexpected. The last year of Topps Platinum football has a great design, and I'll always be partial for the team logo being in the background.

And there you have it! I also got the basketball version of this, and it will be a challenge for it to better the content in this.