2019 Adventures in Repacks: Part 31.4- Away Game

The other side!

And we're off! I grabbed this because of the visible card from O-Pee-Chee's Canadian Tire release, which was a set I'd never picked up a card of until this repack. I'm duping up already with the George Gardner, but that's a fine card to get two of. I'm assuming that Brandon Sutter is a dupe. We end with one of the better nicknames in hockey - Garry "Toy Tiger" Howatt.

It's a 1990 Bowman Doug Bodger hot repack! As we get into this side's French portion, suddenly I've got a craving for donuts.

Pretty good portion for the PC, with this group book-ended by an obvious and a not so obvious card for the Kitchener Rangers collection. And a Sens card too!

There's some nice cards here with a historical feel, but since Meszaros was a Senators draft pick, and was listed as such here despite being pictured as a member of the Vancouver Giants.

Another dupe with Brunnstrom, but it is nicely offset with a Bernier for the mask binder, and a card with a mascot cameo.

So, that's what repacks look like within the mountain time zone. The next cards will be tied into locations closer to home.

Mascot Mania

The to-be-posted box can get odd at times. Today, the oddest-looking members of the collection.

For every goofy looking creature that is a hit, there are some that aren't. Apparently these two were the latter, but they lasted for 8 seasons anyhow. I feel sorry for the poor sod that had to wear the Ribbie costume, as they must have had that snout pulled at least once per inning pitch.

When you change the motif of your team, you might as well add a mascot as well. At least, as best as a couple minutes of google research can tell me, Peoria never dressed some random white dude in native garb and made him the mascot under the old motif.

Is Gritty the current king of the mascots? He is definitely the most publicized of the current crop. Since that's the goal, I guess he is the current king. Gritty made a pair of appearances last year in UD's on-demand (Now, Instant) service, and I was sure to grab both of them.

And there you have it!

Self Control

I don't have any.

I said I wouldn't buy much Series 1 UD, yet I walk out of the LCS with a box last week.

Maybe  I was influenced by the promise of a free bonus card of Gritty. That is an acceptable excuse, right?

I mean, I really did need to know Gritty ate Zamboni snow, right?

Alright. Onto the box. Here's the base design this year. Not bad, but I wish they had used full bleed all the way through. While it doesn't really stand out here.

It does look overdone on the horizontal cards.

But they do have what looks to be full stats on the back of the card. Unless there's somebody with 21 NHL seasons worth of experience.

Despite the look being a little more compact, one of my favourite cards in a photographic sense in this was this very dramatic entry card of Marc-Andre Fleury.

There are still some really nice vertical base as well. There's a couple questionable ones as well. Why is Gudbranson sporting goggles? And given Zetterberg's retirement, that's a little bland photo as a finale, especially considering the greatness of their 2012 Lidstrom finale. Still, there are some nice photos there of alternate jerseys from outdoor games and some nice celebration photos. In terms of framing, my favourite is the Byfuglien. A camo alternate jersey, with a medal-clad veteran watching at rinkside. Just perfect.

Young Guns are technically base cards, so I'll include them. Not really a big name in this group of 5...

but this is a pretty great pull, which at least should cover the cost of the box should I decide to unload it. And there's still another nice card to come, so don't leave yet!

Canvas cards also make their annual return, both in regular and Young Guns form. While the latter seem pretty generic, some of the photos on Canvas cards are upgrades from their base version.

Portraits also make their return. Bah. Way too bland unless they go all early 90's Studio on the back of these. They don't, so bah.

Shooting Stars are back also, although they are scarcer than in previous years, at only one per box.

These are new, though. These have a 90s vibe to the design, even if they're just another excuse to make an insert card of young stars.

Another new insert set with a simple but effective design, and a checklist featuring a mix of current and retired players.

Jaromir Jagr gets a subset of his own, with one card for each year of his career. That would be fun to put together, but since they're available in e-pack form, I'd wait until they become super cheap over at COMC.

Game Jerseys remain at their level of recent years, at about 1 every box and a half.

In addition to the Gritty, there was one of the UD black packs from the Expo included as well. While I struck out for autos at the Expo, I did get one here from some leftovers the LCS had. Depressingly, I think Adam Gaudette will likely be in the upper half of this year's rookie class for autograph legibility.

But this was the toughest pull of the break, and my first time pulling one of these. Day With the Cup are usually among the chase cards in the set, and this year they fall at a rate of 1:2000 packs. At 24 packs per box, and 20 boxes per master case, that's 1 per just more than 4 master cases. With the story behind this particular day including a stop in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, this is a really special pull as well,and a certain keeper.

Whew. That's a lot of text and a lot of scans. I think I'll take tomorrow off.

One Card Only: Anticipation

I'll hopefully be busting a box of Pro Debut later today. So, to get ready for that box break, here's a Fragments of the Farm relic from last season:

I doubt I'll get anything as unique as this in my box, but there are mascot relics on the FotF checklist this year as well.

Saturday Pack Sampling

I hadn't really had much of an opportunity to look around the LCS lately, but at least got the chance to bust some of the new releases. They also had some SP Authentic, but since I'd gotten a sampling of that from the group break earlier this week, I opted for these two.

I think the football came out before the baseball, so I'll start with that.

The base cards. It looks like there's 8 of them per pack, with 3 being current players, 4 being retired retired players and 1 being a rookie. Here's the pack's content from the first category. Sherman is easily my favourite in this pack, since football cards with a defensive player holding the ball are nice rarities.

The Legends/Retired base cards. The greatness of the black & white photo is offset by the fact the guy's lasy name is Wehrli.

Your rookie. If these were not short printed at this level, I could see myself trying to build this set. But, with this being 100 cards and there being 14 packs per box, I couldn't justify it.

Insert #1.

And the autograph. Given that most sticker autos tend to be NCAA guys in early releases, getting one of a veteran is a pleasant surprise.

Since the backs do have an old-timey vibe with a random factoid related to the player, I figured I'd highlight them as well. Also, note that Wehrli's name is spelled correctly on the back of his card.

Off to Pro Debut, which opened up nicely with a Blue Jays card.

Sadly, there isn't a mascot insert set in this release. But a couple do make appearances in the Ben's Biz set, giving a random look around the minors. Chompers is the mascot for the Harvard Yard Goats.

And the rest.

Since I'm not too crazy about Heritage this year, I might pass on Heritage Minor Leagues and pick up a box or two of this to put the base set together.

There you have it!

Opening Day!

I picked up two boxes of 2018 Opening Day, hoping to get a base set for myself, along with a healthy portion from the insert sets. I did pretty good with that, as I was chasing the Mascot, Before Opening Day and Team Traditions sets, and I'm only about a dozen short of those. But, I'll start with the base set. The set is a mix of cards from Series 1, with a slight look ahead to season 2. There are also some updates.

I did get a complete set out of each of the two boxes. I'm guessing the second set will end up broken up and in the hands of my trade partners. Dupes were at a minimum, but both boxes contained dupes of the Jonathan Villar base card.

Giancarlo Stanton is grouped with the Series 1 portion, but gets himself Photoshopped into Yankees gear.

The first 114 cards in the set seemed to be Series 1 repeats, except for the Stanton. 115 to 138 seem to be players that were in Series 1, but with new photos. Many are horizontal versions.

Harrison Bader and Anthony Ranga get the big upgrades.

Brian Anderson's is interesting, as it looks like a continuation of the photo on his regular base card.

Depressingly, the Series 2 base cards look pretty generic, but there are still some nice horizontal cards to look forward to.

Photoshop specials will also be in Series 2.

Blue parallels were 5 per box, and they do really stand out in
Inserts ahoy! I can't highlight all the inserts, but I'll hit one from each set I landed a card from.

Sure, it is incredibly cheesy, but it is the most Mets thing available for this insert set, especially since you can't really picture disappointment on a card.

Mookie Betts playing ping-pong? I'll highlight this one since it flashes me back to one of my favourite Daniel Alfredsson cards.

Opening Day Stars makes another appearance in the set. These continue to change their appearance as well, as they're incredibly thin this year. They almost feel like stickers, but that's a different insert set (one I didn't land a card from in either box).

Most of the Opening Day Stadium insert set features players standing for the anthem(s) with a full view of the field. So, I'll take the photographic oddball from the bunch and show them off.

Mascots! Sadly, personal fave Hank the Ballpark Pup doesn't appear on the checklist this year. I've already highlighted a Mets card, so here's Gapper! Cincy mascots make 4 appearances in the set, with Gapper joined by Mr. Red, Mr. Redlegs and Rosie Red.

And my first ever hit from Opening Day ends this. These are tough pulls in the set, falling at 1:1772 packs, or one every 2 and a half cases. Even better that the hit comes from one of the teams I collect. And these cards are incredibly thick. There was only one other card in the pack, and it was still very obvious that the pack had a hit in it.

So now you know, pack searchers of the world!

Back to the mailbag tomorrow!