Some Jays, Some Mets, Some Not Quite Either

 Just a few cards today as I look for Jays/Mets stuff in my COMC to-be-posted box.

How the mighty have fallen. From being the big name, at least offensively, for the team to having the cheapest available relic at the time I went looking for one. Sigh. 

This is probably as close as I'll get to a Blas Minor Mets autographed card. While the photo is a Mets one, you'd notice a couple mentions of the Mariners on the card. Close enough for the binders, though.

The most recent run of Topps Total wasn't the best, being pretty much unavailable at the LCS. But it does provide a chance to get a few lower level members of the roster into the PC. Prior to his appearance in Update, it was the only appearance Tim Mayza made in a Jays uniform. It's the only chance I'll have for Wilmer Font (see my Most Wanted list), and the only choice I had for Derek Law.

And a Blue Jay of the Future. Maybe. Cutter Coffey brought an illegible signature to the team after joining the A-level Vancouver Canadians following the Danny Jansen trade. I added this signature the same day via COMC, so I guess I'm optimistic. Eddinson Paulino, also part of the trade, didn't have any questionably-licensed options, but maybe he'll get the Photoshop treatment in the future.

There you have it!

2025 Adventures in Repacks - Part 1 - Starting with Baseball

 Ending with one means it is a perfect opportunity to start with one.

This one becomes my first repack of 2025.

I think every one of these has had two 1989 Fleer as the first hidden cards. There is no card that can make a mesh jersey look like a good idea. It's probably a dupe, but that Axford will at least be temporarily added to my CanCon collection.

Whoa! I wouldn't expect to see a first Bowman Chrome card of Julio Rodriguez in a repack, but there's one of 'em! That Faries is probably one of the more memorable photos out of 1991 Upper Deck. Not all Spring Training photos have to be dull. 

Here's the hit. While it isn't a very familiar name, at least there's a throwback uniform involved. 

I'm not going back to check, but I've seen a surprising number of those 1990 Stockton Ports cards in these. I'm definitely in favour of any appearance of minor-league cards in these, even ones where reading the name aloud makes it sound like their last name is Ass.

Your finale is an interesting photo of a player who was certainly interesting as well.

And interesting is good.

There you have it!

2024 Adventures in Repacks - Part 39 - Ending With Football

 A repack is always a good way to end a year of posts.

And here it was. Tee Higgins is a perfect opener after his game against Denver a couple days back. This wasn't planned - I had this one scanned for a couple days beforehand.

Every time I come across a card with a practice photo like Morris', I just hope that he got another card with something better than that.  Fortunately, they did. They really liked the re-used photo design in this opening group. Also: Punter card! If you collected early 90s Pro Set, you'd recognize Gardocki for being a 3rd round draft pick and getting a card for that. 

That Bieniemy was probably a big card at the time. Even with the background wiped, I still love defensive player with the ball photos. But if you're going to take the photo's actual background out,

replacing it with the team logo and team colours is a really great option. That's Danny Peebles on the orangest card in this group.

Your hit. It is Contenders, so that's probably your best choice for a set to get an auto from out of Panini. He didn't have the greatest career, but at least it wasn't a one-and-done. Also, it is sort of a nickname auto, as that's more of a Boom than a Dan. 

Bills 2/14 card! It's a dupe for the latter collection, but might be new to the former. The Vinson card was the only one he'd receive, so that's kinda cool. Despite a few seasons there, seeing Heyward on the Falcons seems odd. 

Not the mosr interesting finale.

An interesting signature, a couple interesting cards, and Bills and/or 2/14 content. 

Late Year Cuteness

 

Because we all deserve an AWWWWWW ever so often.

E-Pack Jersey Battle

 For the CHL, my favourite jersey for the past many years hasn't been that of the hometown Rangers, but that of the Sudbury Wolves.

It has pretty much held that title since the late 80s, when they switched from green to this. The colours work perfectly together. And you are far more likely to see a grey wolf than a green one. 

But the challenge from out west from the Kelowna Rockets, whose logo salutes the area's mythical Ogopogo has been on the chest of their players since 2000. Also, contrast the super happy sea creature against the blood-spitting wolf. 

I guess if the creature doesn't really exist, you can give it any type of mood you want. 

I'll still give the nod to the wolf, but seeing it in person on occasion probably helps. 

And all these cards were nice and cheap on COMC thanks to e-pack, so I can splurge on Ogopogos. 

There you have it!

Christmas Mischief!

 Another year, another chance to show off Mischief's annual photo!

And doesn't she look happy with the hat on her head? I do appreciate that the leash was photoshopped out of the photo, since it does make it look like she's sitting there like a good girl on her own. It's Christmas - I can believe.

Bonus photo! The bath she had the day before so she looked pretty on Photo Day. Complete with death glare!

Bonus card! Another appearance of Kipper the Airedale in the 101 Dalmatians set.

There you have it! If you have a furry friend in your life, give them a pat on the head and tell them it is from Mischief!

2024 Adventures in Repacks - Part 38 - Pre-Christmas Gifts

Back when I ordered my latest repack restock, each one had a bonus hit-themed repack included. Since these were gifts, so to speak, I'm covering them both in this pre-Christmas post.

To keep the alternating football/baseball pattern I'm using with the shipments, I'll continue here. And starting with a perfect card for me as the visible one - here's a Bills card! This card of the ill-fated James Hardy is /99. 

And here's a future Bill! Even if Benjamin's time in Buffalo wasn't that memorable, at least there's a nice patch here. The picks that were traded for Benjamin didn't work out that well in return, so I can take that as a small condolence. 

Super high-end for the autograph with Five-Star making an appearance. I don't have very many of those, either from baseball or football in the binders. Like many early 2010s Browns picks, Little didn't quite work out on a long-term basis for Cleveland, but he did spend a few years in the league. That's more than some, especially when it comes to QBs.

Shifting to baseball:

In an odd layout, the autograph was the visible card here. With all respect to Brady's journey to the majors, it was, for me, the least interesting of the three contained hits.

After all how can it compete with a Hall of Famer's pinstripe? Maybe even a hint of game use near the bottom of the window as well?

Or a bat sliver from my favourite player? 

It's like I personally put this baseball repack together myself. You get the opening hit that isn't too interesting, but you still hope for good stuff behind it. And for me, there was better stuff hiding!

There you have it!

2024 Adventures in Repacks - Part 37 - Just Another Value Pack

To be specific, a value pack that contained these items:

All cards, no supplies.

First up, the Superstar pack. Is Kris Letang the promised Superstar? He's one of the better players, but does he really have that status? The Calle Johansson is a 2/14 dupe, since it's the English version and I'm still in need of the French one.

Yes, these are certainly 6 hockey cards.

The Stadium Club pack was the one I was most looking forward to busting. Mainly because I could play the fun game of finding who had the oldest and the most recent rookie card image on the back of the card.

If you guessed Tony McKegney and Brad Dalgarno respectively, you'd be right! The scratch-off puck concept looks just as ridiculous here as in hand.

Finally, the 2010s+ pack. At least there's a mask binder card with Varlamov, but that 2021-22 base design still hasn't got any more interesting with age.

There you have it!

Four if by Sportlots

 I've got a pile of Sportlots cards on the way, so it makes sense to go through a small 4-card envelope that arrived a long time ago before I get to some cards that will likely arrive a long time in the future, given holidays and CP backlog.

First up, a Mets card. Rodney's time with the Mets was short, but incredibly effective. He had 1 plate appearance, and got a hit in that appearance. It was even a game-winning single, but not enough to get him into any games as anything other than a pinch runner. 

Still, he's far more famous for running through the wall during a Triple A game in Portland.

The only thing better than a bunting photo...

is a second bunting photo. Forgettable mid 00's facial hair notwithstanding. At least that being considered a good idea didn't last too long.

Speaking of lasting long, I'm sure nothing bad would ever happen to the Metrodome roof behind Joey Porter in this photo. Nothing at all. 

There you have it! 

2024 Score Box Break - Packs 8, 9 and 10

 Time to end the box. If the scans seem strange this time, I'll just say I was playing around with things, and some came out with a different quality/size than usual. I'd already merged things into the set, and didn't want to hunt down the cards for a re-scan.

Pack 8:

How can I hate a 2024 pack where I end up with both an appearance of Pat Patriot and Bucco Bruce? 

Or a pair of kickers?

I can hate on the fact that a couple of players got the cheesy photoshop treatment. Considering how dreadful the Giants are, even compared to his former team of Carolina, he'd be better off with just the helmet changing and an old photo. Some of the others to get the PS treatment were Zack Moss and Antonio Gibson. All this seems very random.

This pack did contain the lowest numbered parallel of the box, and I have zero complaints with a HOFer numbered out of 10.

Finally, your inserts. A fairly standard make-up.

Pack 9:

Not only can I appreciate the greatness of pulling a card of Flipper Anderson from a 2024 pack, but I can also appreciate that the team employee standing just off the field is sporting Zubaz. That might be even more retro greatness than Anderson himself!

Another fun thing about this pack, pulling a card of both available Frank Gores. Seeing as I already showed them off for a Bills group break post, this is the only Bills card I'm showing off from the box.

Your inserts and parallel. I appreciate the collation providing both Steve Young and Joe Montana's Canton insert back-to-back. They've also re-used Latham's photo from the base card. I know he's an OL player, but he has to have at least one more photo available, right?

It's either this or the Bo Nix /50 that is the big card in the box. And it is kinda nice to have a little debate as to which is the better of the two cards. Now I just need to wait for Kirk Cousins to step or be pushed aside to properly decide which one was the better pull. Even if I'm not keeping the Nix.

Edit: I typed that up about 30 minutes before Penix was annnounced as the starter this Sunday.

Pack 10:

A big autograph and a /10 parallel. I don't like these closing pack beating either of those.

Back-to-back kicker cards were the most interesting thing here, and that won't do it.

I often show off the first card of a box break. Here, I'm also highlighting the last card of the box. 

If you're going to proclaim Barkley as "The Franchise" for the Eagles, maybe choose a photo were the Giants logo isn't so prominent?

The final parallel is a Joe Burrow,  but at least there's Bills content in the background. That's probably as close as I'm getting to anything commemorating Shaq Lawson's second stint with the Bills.

There you have it! I ended up 25-ish cards short of finishing the set. I should have the remainder sitting in my sportlots/COMC inventory awaiting shipment, so my next incoming mailers should put it to bed.