COMC Challenge Cards Part 83: A Raptors kinda day

I posted a Raptors redemption this morning that knocked a pretty tough Raptors alum off my all-time list. With this posting, it should put me at a complete status as of the start of this season. But, then someone who had a cup of coffee with the Raptors will sneak in with a card in a set I've never heard of. So this project will always be a work in progress.

First up, here's someone who only played in a handful of games over two seasons. And it doesn't appear to have any cards as a Raptor. Sean was the first New Zealander to reach the NBA, but he still didn't get any NBA level cards until several years later. After his tenure in Toronto, of course. So, this one where he is listed as a Raptor will have to do. Sean has earned a pair of NBA rings with the Spurs, one as a player, and another as a coach.

There are at least 4 Raptors for whom their only listed/pictured Raptors card is from an Adrenalyn release. I guess there is some benefit to it being a 300 card set with no inserts and a handful of parallels. O'Bryant joins Antoine Wright, Julian Wright and Reggie Evans. Any port in a storm for the Frankenset.

Haywoode Workman only spent 13 games with the Raptors in 2000, but still earned a card for the end of his playing career. He still makes appearances in Toronto, though, since he's been an active NBA referee for several years.

All I remember about Eric Williams is that he was part of the Vince Carter trade. He never managed to put up great numbers during his time in Toronto, but being part of that equation meant he never would really get a chance.

Aaron Williams also came over in the Carter trade. I do have a relic card of his, but this is my first base card of his (I think this was the only one he got in Toronto). Also notable on this one is the reverse of the card:

Just a smidgen off-center, even though the hologram is in the right place. Ebay 1/1!

But, there were familiar faces to my collection in this COMC shipment:

Such as this Marcus Camby, albeit with a groan inducing subset name of Hoop Screams.

And here's a base card from one of my favourite sets - Court Kings. They've definitely got a non-traditional look to them, and the matte finish only enhances my love for them.

Start with a hit. End with a hit. That always makes for an interestin sandwich of posts. I picked this up for $2.01 experimenting with the auctions that COMC was running late last year. The photo portion of this card is on an acetate background, making for a nice looking addition to my collection, especially since this isn't a plain white swatch.

And that's another page's worth of cards for the Raptors collection.

Redeemed!

A card I had actually been anxiously awaiting has finally shown up. This:

has turned into this:

This is a major addition to my attempt to collect at least one card for every member of the Toronto Raptors who has had one during his career. This, as best as I can tell, completes things up to the end of last season. Out of this year, only Lucas Nogueira is a newcomer whose card I need. He has several rookie autos out there, and I'm just waiting until they drop to a more reasonable price. As for this one, this loud beauty is numbered to 25/99.

Nando's were much harder to come across on the secondary market, despite having appearances as a Raptor in a couple sets.

Either way, welcome to my Raptors collection, Mr. De Colo. I love all the cards in there, especially ones of players who didn't spend a long time in Toronto.

COMC Challenge Cards Part 82: Just One Card for a Non-Verbose Tuesday

While I'd rather have a Ducky relic, since he's been on the receiving end of a MSTing (Master Ninja 2), but part of Abby's lab coat will do to salute the show that I've spent way too many Tuesdays watching.

COMC Challenge Cards Part 81: Meet Some More Mets!

Time to dent both of my COMC boxes as I go through the Mets cards in both of them.

This one was on my top 10 list, but when the price dropped below a dollar, I added it to my card. Nice recycling of a spring training team photo, but I really don't care when it is a nice vintage card of the Amazing Mets.

And one World Series card deserves another.

And yet another. This is a sticker, technically. At least the photo is different. How can Topps do this in 1987 and not almost 30 years later?

Although I don't think any managers had standalone cards in the 1973 set, I do love how the logo on this Fan Favorites card has the same look as the one on the original '73s. More spring training photography as well.

Mustache war! You lose.

And amazingly, looking through some of Tim's other cards, this might be one of his tamer entries into the facial hair Olympics.

Here's a card with David Cone and Jackie Gleason on it.Why? Why not?! It is interesting to have one of those idol cards where the idolized is not a baseball player.

When the Blue Jays hosted the Mets later on in this season, this little factoid flashed on the Jumbotron at the Dome. That prompted a child within my earshot to yell "That guy's older than you, Dad!". It is amazing how these things stand out years later.

Much as I love the place's ties to the Mets, I really don't think it qualifies as a Field of Yore. Now, if the Polo Grounds were part of this subset, I could go for that.

And to wrap it up, here's Butch Huskey signing an autograph. Just because.

2015 Adventures in Repacks: Part 7.2 - 51 Ways to Save this Repack

So, the packs were not all that great. But the thing with repacks is that if on thing isn't great, there are other ways to recover. In this case, the repack's promised 50 cards and a bonus item.

Starting with the bonus:

A dinged up parallel of Derrek Lee. While I'll forgive a Hostess card frm the 70s that isn't exactly mint, this isn't exactly the same.

Will the 50 cards save this repack?

2011 Topps Kerry Wood - I'd completely spaced on his time with the Yankees. That reminder makes this the most interesting card so far in the repack.

1991 Topps Rookies - Sandy Alomar Jr. - This is showing up in baseball repacks with the same regularity of 1990 Bowman in hockeys.
2007 Upper Deck - Jared Burton

1995 Megacards/Conlon - Lou Gehrig Prototype

1995 Megacards Ruth - .342 Batting Average - Yikes. Lots of this card on the previous card in the box that this came from.

1990 Score - World Series Champion - I love celebration cards!
1992 Fleer - Chris Hammond
1990 Topps - Bryan Harvey

1990 Leaf - Steve Wilson - Cancon!

1995 Summit - Darren Daulton - Can't say I've pulled too many of these from repacks.

1993 Upper Deck - Ron Darling - A pitcher on the basepaths card. Kinda.

1988 Topps - Billy Bean - Not the Moneyball guy. This is the out of the closet guy.

1990 Donruss - Keith Miller - A Met!
2001 Topps - Jay Buhner
1993 Studio - Willie Wilson
1993 Donruss - John Jaha
1992 Topps - Lance Johnson

1990 Donruss - Glenallen Hill - A Blue Jay!

1990 Topps - Rich Thompson - An Expo. Now if I can only add one to my team collection that isn't from 1990.
1993 Donruss - Doug Brocail
1990 Score - Dave Henderson

1994 Leaf - Greg Harris - Sure, this is a baseball card. But that mullet is pure hockey.
1991 Studio - Jeff Rearson - Jeff! Your rear's done! - tm MST3K

1994 Triple Play - Joe Carter - That looks like a nice way to end the 1990 team collection string.
1993 UD Checklist - Roberto Alomar - Back to back Jays!

1993 Donruss - Shane Reynolds - The back of the card implies Shane was 24 years old at the time of this picture. He looks 50.
1991 Score - Jose Rijo
1994 Topps - Ken Griffey Jr.
1991 Topps Glossy ASG - Wade Boggs
1991 UD - Carlos Martinez
1990 Score - John Cangelosi
1990 Score - Joey Belle
1991 Score - Jim Gott

1994 UD Collector's Choice - Julian Tavarez - Given the pace I'm going at, I should get this one posted to my 1994 Coll. Choice blog sometime around October 2018.

2001 Topps - Justin Thompson - The second card in this box with peeling. Yikes.
1990 Fleer - Bill Landrum
1992 Donruss - Scott Servais

1995 Pinnacle - Randy Johnson - A decent horizontal card.
1992 Topps - Will Clark

1991 Leaf - Rob Dibble - This, on the other hand, with the border unchanged from the usual design, looks terrible as a horizontal card.

2011 Topps - Jose Valverde - Two throwback uniform Valverdes in this repack. That's unique!
2011 Topps - Drew Stubbs
2011 Topps - Luke Scott
2011 Topps - Joel Zumaya
2011 Topps - Jonathan Braxton
2011 Topps - Matt Harrison

2011 Topps - Padres Team - More throwback fun!
2011 Topps - Brett Anderson

2006 Upper Deck Baseball Card Day - Derek Jeter - Kind of an oddball.

2010 Topps - Vlad Guerrero - I've got plenty of this card, but wrapping up with a PC guy is nice.

Despite the damaged cards, this 50 card portion really saved it with all over the place variety. How can I hate something with an oddball Jeter, some throwback unis and the best hockey hair on a non-hockey card?

2015 Adventures in Repacks: Part 7.1 - 25 percent off repacks!

Not just repacks, but 25 percent off any of the card products at Target as the liquidation continues there. While this sucks for my repack addiction, I can pick up a bunch of repacks cheaply, and post them over the course of the year.

Meaning I've got about a dozen of them to post at miscellaneous intervals throughout the year.

And here's the first half one of them! This was from a 50 cards/bonus/4 packs repack, and I'll start with the 4 packs.

Said 4 packs were not the most spectacular. 1 rack pack of 2012 Topps S2, 2 retail packs of '13 Update and 1 of Archives.

These are sets I've already built, so I'll just work my way through these looking for stuff that is either interesting, or falls into my PCs.

Such as a bunch of Mets. I'm really happy to get a second of those '4 in 1' sticker cards. One for with the set, one for the binders.

Only a pair of Blue Jays, though.

And surprisingly, even an Expo. Although no surprise over which Expo came from a contemporary pack, and also as to which of the photos was re-used for it.

A couple cards for my Canadian content collection.

And a pair for my interesting photos collection. I know a lot of people love the 2012 Reed Johnson, but I might just like this horizontal shot at Wrigley even more.

In terms of interesting collation, this base and parallel were together in the same pack. Yes. These packs were so uninteresting in general to me that I focus on stuff like that.

Even the inserts were pretty blah.

Hopefully, the 50 card portion of this repack will save it in terms of memorable content.