2023 Adventures in Repacks - Part 15: Tinny Tinny Tin!

 There were a few more of these the last I was at Wally World. The last one was nice enough, so let's do another one of these.

Here's the tin in question.

And I got the 1 of 2 Mystery item bonus! It came as you see it here, with a $10 price tag on the sleeve. I have a hard time believing that someone charged $10 for that at one point. When I checked on COMC, one was available for $3.25.

Here's the packs that were underneath the relic card.

I really wasn't up to scanning everything in the packs, so I'll just hit the highlights. And the 17-18 pack was the best for that with some really nice photo choices, especially the off-ice content. 

As expected from that line-up, the Score pack was the dullest one in the bunch. But at least it really had some star power.

A couple celebration photos made the 19-20 pack interesting. Having the disappointed opponents in the background makes the Sissons shot even better.

And as long as they aren't overdone, face-off photos can be the most interesting ones out there. So simple, yet so intense.

There you have it!

I Just Liked the Penmanship

 

It seems wrong that I waited until after seeing the news of his passing earlier today. Even without the penmanship, he was definitely an interesting player to acquire a card of, being one of only a handful to play in both the NBA and MLB. 

2023 Adventures in Repacks - Part 14: The Remainder

 What else was in that repack that had that more-interesting than it appeared MacTavish card?

Here's your opener.

And your first batch of base cards. That first line is a really solid grouping of players, and you know it is solid when the least impressive name of the four is Tom Barrasso. The MacKinnon comes out of the Canadian Tire exclusive Coast-to-Coast release. Even if it isn't a food issue, it is still a pretty fun card from outside the mainstream. The bottom row? Blah, even if we have a solid design with 1992 Ultra.

A quick diversion from junk wax era before a return with a pair of cards with very, and slight less notable peeling. It is perfectly acceptable to throw out cards like that instead of putting them in repacks. There's the card from last post, in all its bland front photo-ness, hiding the rarity of the photo on the back.

And the hit! At least it isn't a plain white swatch! But you can tell why I was far more interested in another card in this repack.

That Kotsopoulos card might be one of the more laughable examples of air-brushing out there. I hope it was worth it to commemorate his 2 games with Detroit. If you were more interested in a MacTavish card where he's helmetless in both photos, there you go! And the finale is one of my favourite Ottawa Senators base cards. Not only do you have a rather unique photo, you also have Daniel Alfredsson's retired #11 visible in the rafters to make it an even better card.

With the MacTavish, the Kotsopoulos and the Brassard, maybe there were three cards in here more interesting than the hit!

Pre-repack repacked card

 I was going to do one of those hanger+hit repacks today, but found one of the non-hits in the repack so interesting, I wanted to give it a post of its own.

Sure, this might look like a rather bland entry out of 1990 UD.

But this one is all about the back.

I'm not going through every image of every card Craig MacTavish had, but here is some cardboard proof that, at least at one point in his cardboard career, wore a helmet during a game. 

Even a 1990 card with a probably print run of several million can be interesting. 

Mailbag: Football from Dennis @ too Many Verlanders

 

Back to the mailbag today, and some Bills/2-14 gridiron guys for those various binders. Here's one that would be perfect for either collection - a sweet little acetate beauty of Jim Kelly. It's /3000 too!

Three things about Trent Edwards.

1) He wasn't as nightmarish as JP Losman

2) He wasn't as nightmarish as Nathan Peterman

3) Nice penmanship! And check out who was sent along with him on the next card. At least his autograph costs have returned to a less ghoulish level.

I would have bet that I already had that Andre Reed in my collection. Nope! Just all the others in that insert set - Thomas, Kelly & Smith. Cardale made a grand total of 1 appearance for the Bills, but that's still one more than a guy you'll see later in the 2/14 portion of this post. The X-Fractor of Stevie Johnson looks like it should be a numbered card, but it isn't. Spiller is though, that Power Formulas is /999. Jim Kelly's card is an easy addition to the Bills binder - it is a 2/14 dupe. The lead-in card goes to the birthday binder. Let's keep things even!

The only Bills hit - this quad relic of Sammy Watkins. If you're going to put four windows on a card, at least make one of them a different colour. 

I can pretend that this is a Bills swatch and call this the perfect choice as I switch from the Bills portion to the 2/14 portion.

Let's see a few more Bledsoes. That garish little number on the left is /50, and that does really feel like a card that should be numbered that low. In the middle is a metallic card to put some weight into the collection.

Here's the guy who I referenced earlier. He was a 2nd rounder that flopped out of the league without ever taking a snap. But as a 2nd round QB, that still meant he'd appear in many, many sets throughout the year. I can't imagine buying a high-end box of something like National Treasures, and having him as your RPA. But I'll take advantage of that, and add some nice stuff to that collection for a low cost.

And here's a few more relics to wrap this up. 

There you have it!

2/14s Through Sportlots

After ordering some set-builders through Sportlots, I just decided to pile on, and keep piling on until I reached the end of the "shipping jumps by a lot" level, or in the case of a seller on this side of the border, I got bored.

It was mainly hockey, as in about 90 percent hockey. But if you think I'm going to miss the chance to lead with a new Harry Colon, you're wrong! And it is a gold parallel, too! I've got 19 of his 27 cards, as per TCDB, which makes me the king of all Harry Colon supercollectors.

I know it isn't pronounced in the juvenile way, but as Red Green says, if you can't stay young, stay immature.

 

Jim Kelly does remain the gridiron king of the 2/14 collection, with over 230 different cards in the collection. I'd be doing things all wrong as a Bills fan if I didn't strengthen that lead.

And half an appearance on a card still counts as a full appearance on a card. Heck, even Sanders Shiver having his name listed on a Colts leaders card from 1980 for sharing the team lead in interceptions counts as a full card.

Switching to hockey. 

Here's a sticker. 

Here's a factory set parallel. 

And here's perfect match Viktor Kozlov!

Contrast that volume to that of Dave Lowry, who easily wins that battle this time with 17 new cards of his for the binders. Maybe it was some sort of accounting error, but I was really surprised that I didn't have that 1990 Bowman until now. Also surprising PC-wise, I had the Black Ice parallel of his 1995 Score card, but not that base card until now. 

Milan Hejduk remains the numbers man in the binders with 258 different cards at TCDB, along with maybe one or two Leaf cards of questionable lineage. I don't have my updated spreadsheet on the laptop. 

But Marian Gaborik remains within striking distance with 251 cards. 

Another 'how did I not have this' card is that 1991 Pro Set. 

Finally, some Brandon Sutter. MVP base might be the modern version of 'how did I not have this?' cards. But they all count in the numbers game.

There you ha e it!

From Police Academy to Baseball

Was there anything Bubba Smith couldn't do?

2023 Adventures in Repacks - Part 13: Drugstore Cardboy

A couple of those hanger packs from Shoppers Drug Mart are today's repacked packs. 

The 2003-04 Pacific were really nice for adding some cards to my pre-lost season masked binder. Steve Sheilds' salute to Gerry Cheevers is my favourite in this grouping - and is the promised parallel in the pack. It is the most common red version. Ending with a pair of HOFers isn't too bad of a way to end 8 cards.

Since I'm keeping the Shields, I might as well land something to be sent off to Ann Arbor with that Larkin set aside. Other than that, there's a shiny appearance from a local guy in Mark Schiefele, and the national flags in the corner is a nice little touch.

The other Pacific pack provides an insert. These very boring 'Main Attraction' ones are 1:10. Other than that, another mask binder card, and another HOFer. 

And our pack of National Hockey Card Day. The most recent was just this past weekend. I'll show off the contents of that pack on some random day where I'm too bored to write much. I've included the checklist, because, while the veteran/legend portion was solid, that rookie portion hasn't aged very well.  3 have no cards (yet) in 22-23 releases with one spending the past season in the KHL. Ouch.

But there you have it!

Mailbag: Basketball from Dennis @ too Many Verlanders

 Yet another mailer so enormous, I'm breaking it down into at least 4 separate posts. Hoops up first!

A relic opens this post. While 'photoshoot-worn' relics aren't exactly the best option, this is a pretty nice choice from that genre of cards. If you're gonna have a throwback Raptors jersey, let's see a swatch with a portion of the Raptor itself on the card. So much better than a plain white swatch.

The Raptor is also hiding on this card, but it gets blocked out by Joey Graham, but not his signature. With a handful of legible letters in his signature, he's still among the more legible signers of (at the time) active players.

In case Dennis was worried that I'd miss the Joey Graham content in this bubbler, this was also in there. Measuring in at the same size as a standard 8.5*11 piece of paper, this is now the largest card in my collection, easily passing some of my 5*7 box toppers.  I now regret not picking up a suitable binder page while at the LCS this past weekend.

At least these will fit in the standard binder pages.

'twas not all Raptors in the basketball portion. Here's a new Steve Nash for my Canadians in the NBA collection.

And as the finale, 3 new Richard Hamiltons for the 2/14 binders. The encased card will likely be freed from its magnetic prison sooner rather than later, as it is far easier to store them like that in a binder home. I'm sure to find a nice new card worthy of the magnetic.

With the football, the Mets and the Jays content, there should be at least 3 more posts to go over the next couple weeks to completely recap the mailer. 

There you have it!

Many Mets

I'm not feeling too verbose this morning, so just some random Mets cards to show off. 

Most of these cards are from LCS sources. Except this one. This was a COMC card, acquired when I realized my team collection was far less colourful without a card of a guy named Ambiorix Concepcion. The numbering and the lamentable spring-training jersey are bonuses. He'd appear in zero MLB games.

The mid 2000s were just a little over-represented among the LCS acquisitions. At least Nimmo's presence on that Chrome card means there's one person here in this grouping of 18 cards that is still active with the Mets. Not even Pedro, let alone David Newhan can make that jersey look good. Carlos Beltran gets the perfect bunting photo for his UD card, and that makes it my favourite card in this grouping.

And what better way to end a post than some O-Pee-Chee cards?

There you have it.