Pack Sampler: 2020 Big League

With three mailings on the way, I thought I'd be reaching into the mailbag on this Canada Day Eve. Alas, Canada Post disappointed. As usual. So, here's a pack of Big League.

My first Big League card of 2020 is a pretty generic one. But the design gets the job done.

With the 'Fun Facts' being my favourite thing about the design in 2020 Score Football, it is no surprise that the Did You Know on the backs of these are my favourite things here.

No Blue Jays content among the 30 cards, but a former Blue Jay is the only Mets card in it, with it also likely being my first card of Stroman in Mets attire.

My favourite photos in this see Kiermaier's catch highlighted by a perfectly placed graphic on the outfield fence, with Javier's card giving the vibe to the multi-image cards of the past. Sorta. Kinda.

One nice thing about this over flagship is that instead of 'Moments' cards having a checklist on the back, they actually have a description of the event that just happened.

Here's my promised orange parallels. I also got the base versions of the Bogaerts and Leaders cards.

Finally, the inserts. With there only being one per team, the Caricatures give a nice vibe to the classic Diamond Kings. The odds aren't listed for the other three, but the Roll Call are one 1:4 packs. So, yay?

And there you have it. I'm still salty about the cancellation of Bark in the Park cards from a few years back, but these are a perfectly fine low-end release.

Revisiting SP Authentic

Not a box this time, but some group break goodies where I grabbed the Senators and Carolina.

I grabbed Carolina for one purpose - that is chasing the Young Guns card of emergency back-up goaltender David Ayres. It was cheaper to get the Carolina spot in breaks, than to buy the card directly (still is, even with it not going for pre-sale $75-$100 levels) so I went that route, and any extra content that came with it would be a bonus.

On-card autograph, and one that actually uses the large available space wisely? Bonus!

RPA, which are one-per-case in this? Extra bonus! Even if Gauthier hasn't exactly gone crazy in his rookie season (and he's already been traded to the Rangers).

I picked up the Senators spot as well in this, and got the YG of JC Beaudin, as well as Connor Brown's first Sens card. Brown was part of the Cody Ceci trade with the Leafs.

Hey! I got an auto from this spot as well! This is my second auto of their latest #1 goaltender-of-the-future, Joey Daccord.

There you have it! I'll probably open up the mailbag next post.

2020 Adventures in Repacks: Part 25 - Even More Cardboard in Plastic

Let's do another one of these, as the card shelves at Wallyworld seem a little barer than usual. The packs were the usual for this, 12-13 Score, 16-17 Parkhurst and 18-19 Series 1.

Most of the assorted cards were from the junk wax era, but there were a couple of nice Stadium Club cards. Plus I love showing off helmetless cards.

But there was a small selection of cards from the top rookies boxed sets. Not a bad grouping here.

Pretty boring gold parallel from the Score pack.

The Parkhurst insert was a little more interesting.

As can be expected, the best photo came from the Series 1.

And the best card also came from the S1 pack. Short of landing a numbered parallel, you can't do better than the Young Guns card of the Rookie of the Year. My first one of these landed me the Rasmus Sandin YG, so for one of the least expensive repack options out there, these have been really good to me.

There you have it!

Ice Time

19-20 Ice dropped a little over a week ago. I would have tried a box. However, for a second year in a row, the base cards aren't acetate. That is reason enough for me to go a couple years back with some 17-18 instead.

For some reason, I'm still unofficially working on the 1-100 base set for this. These, along with most of the others in this box, were needs for me. I'm still about 15 cards short, and those might be added to my set wantlist sooner rather than later.

While Ice Premieres are considered part of the base, I really don't plan to add those to the set. But these were the two I got here. Generally, the higher the expectations of the rookies, the lower the print run. Both these guys saw action last season, but it was Amadio who spent the whole season with the big club.

Sens content in the Sub-Zero inserts, but that White was a dupe. The Legend portion of this insert set is 1:60 packs, or 1 per case, so I did really well not only landing one, but landing a Gretzky.

Not the most impressive relic hit, as JFK is already back in Sweden. His Ice Premieres was numbered /499.

But the other rookie hit in the box - that's much nicer. Keller doesn't have the greatest penmanship out there, but the silver pen on a black background always looks nice on a card. And it is of one of the better young players in the league. It is a little hard to tell looking at the scan, but this is /25.

Definitely a winning box with the Keller and Gretzky!

2020 Adventures in Repacks: Part 24.5 - Football From The Source

If you've been bored by 2+ weeks worth of football posts, this should be the last for a bit as I'll switch back to hockey after the finale of this repack.

2014 Rookies & Stars - Storm Johnson - Starting with a fun name.
2010 Score - Austin Collie
2012 Topps - Kendall Reyes
1991 Platinum - Guy McIntyre

1991 UD - Marion Butts hologram - A hologram!
2003 Total - Chaun Thompson

2000 MVP - Terrell Davis - This is a contender for one of the ugliest designs ever used.
1991 Platinum - Bruce Hill

1996 Pinnacle - Aeneas Williams - Video review indicates he did not have control of the football as he went out of bounds. The ruling is an incomplete pass.
1989 Pro Set - Carl Banks

1991 Platinum - Steve McMichael - MONGO!
2011 UD U of Texas - Scott Henderson
2011 UD U of Texas - Ernie Koy

1995 Coll. Choice Silver - Ron George - A parallel!
2015 Panini Draft - Karlos Williams

1999 Focus - Antowain Smith - Another Bills card. I guess the Williams would count as well, but that is a college card.
2009 Platinum - Hines Ward

2004 UD - Az-Zahir Hakim - An interesting photo with him receiving a kick.
2000 Topps - Joe Horn
2007 UD - Ben Grubbs
2001 Certified - Thomas Jones

2000 Topps - Tony Grazini - NFL Europe mojo!
1989 Pro Set - Keith Byars
1991 Platinum - Mike Munchak
1989 Pro Set - Tony Woods
1991 Platinum - Jim Everett

1991 UD - Duane Bickett - Ending with some infield dirt.

Definitely not as interesting as the first part in its entirety, but a hologram and a couple good photos still make it respectable.

2020 Adventures in Repacks: Part 24.4 - Football From The Source

I'm returning to the 100-card football repack I was in the process of posting pre-Score.

2017 Contenders Draft - Khalil Mack - A Buffalo card of the Buffalo football team I don't collect starts it off.
2013 Topps - Jamar Taylor
2015 Prestige - Latavius Murray

2017 Classics  - Doug Martin - Cartoon on the back! Kinda...
1991 UD - Fredd Young
1990 Fleer - Chris Bahr - Kicker card!

2004 UD - Kurt Warner - A nice entrance photo, and it still acknowledges a new team.
2002 Certified - Rich Gannon
2001 Certified - Keyshawn Johnson
2002 Maximum - Ron Dayne

2005 Legends - Merlin Olsen - "Yeah, here's your loser actor bouquet"

2009 UD - Nic Harris - Bills card!
1991 UD - Jerry Robinson
1989 Pro Set - Tyrone Braxton
1990 Pro Set - Tim Krumrie
1991 Ultra - Mark Rypien
1991 CFL - Darryl Hall

1991 Pro Set - Lemuel Stinson - I have no idea what to make of this photo. It might simultaneously be one of the worst photos ever used on a football card, or one of the most uniquely great.
1991 Platinum - Eugene Robinson

1991 UD - Warren Moon/Darryl Hall - This starts an interesting run of Hall of Famers.

1994 Topps - Barry Sanders - Here's one of the greatest running backs of all-time.

1999 Supreme - Jerry Rice - Followed with the one of the greatest receivers of all-time.

2000 SAGE - Brian Urlacher - How to follow that? A pair of rookie cards of a HOFer. If COMC can be believed, the purple one has a 4500 print run.
2000 SAGE - Brian Urlacher

1996 UD - Marvin Harrison - And this half ends with another two rookies for a HOFer.
1996 Skybox - Marvin Harrison

That was a fun run of cards near the end. Definitely better than I'd expect from a repack. The other half next post!

2020 Score Football Box Break - Pack #10

The final pack!

A Bills card is always a great start to a recap.

Mix in some acrobatic receptions,

I'm not sure how to describe these photographic choices, but they definitely are unique ones.

I didn't think I'd be able to reference some Raptors alum during this, but the Fun Facts came through in the final pack!

For some collation reason, I got a pair of the NFL Draft inserts in this. Yay?

This might be the Breakthrough card in this where the photo most looks like someone is breaking through the design.

And the final card I'm highlighting is the final parallel of the box. A match with the team colours as well as a throwback uniform is a fine way to end it.

Looks like I managed to finagle 10 posts out of a box I was only expected to get two from. I'll return to the football repacks I was posting before the arrival of this box,

There you have it!