The Ranger Roundup

Today, it is the Kitchener Rangers content in my COMC to-be-posted box.

The start of the season has definitely been up-and-down. They got slammed in 12-2 loss on opening weekend, but as I write this, they're leading their division. As for everybody in the post so far, none of them are still on the team. Such is the nature of the CHL.

At least I don't really have to worry about that when getting NHL-level cards of alumni.

Shininess!

An autograph is up next. Mark spent a couple years with Kitchener, before starting a pro career with stops in New Jersey, Edmonton and Toronto. He's now working for the Leafs as their Director of Culture and Inclusion. 

Finally, a card that I'd wanted for a bit after seeing it on Puck Junk. Yeah, the facial expression is really goofy, but here, the real lowlight is the cityscape in the background. Why would a fan of that type of background call that a lowlight? Because, as the PJ article points out - that is Charlotte in the background, and not the actual home city for the Hurricanes, Raleigh.

At least they got the city factoid on the back correct by featuring a hurricane that hit the Carolinas. 

There you have it!

Chasing, and Capturing

2024 Upper Deck CFL dropped last week. I picked up two boxes, hoping to build the base set. Unfortunately, the base content in the box was remarkably similar and I ended up 25-ish short of the base set.

But that really didn't matter, since I landed what was probably my personal chase card in the product.

A Tre-Ford patch/auto! 

I've waxed nostalgic about Ford in the past, and as to why I was looking forward to a card that actually featured his photograph. Read that as to why I was so excited to see him on the checklist. While there are lower numbered base parallels /10 and /1, albeit without an autograph or relic, this had to be my most wanted card in the product.

It also looks like the patch might be the bottom of the elk horns on the green jersey, so it's also a pretty cool patch as well. 

I'll probably be the only collector to proclaim a CFL card as their pull of the year. 

Bonus: The box also provided me with my first auto of Ticat Stavros Katsantonis! 

Bills! Bills! Bills!

As the team crashes down to their expected reality over the past two games, let's see some 2024 Bills courtesy of a Score group break.

Here's the veteran/legend base. Sort of a 1990 Score vibe for the border, although it is killed with the addition of the additional white border to make things crowded. They also did that back in 2019 with the 1989 salute, but I really didn't feel that then. I'm not sure why - maybe I just liked the base photography more.

Here's the rookies, still in their college attire of various licensing and photoshopping. I'm not sure, but I think Frank Gore Sr and Jr are the first father/son combo in the Bills collection. 

Something I found interesting about the design is that photos are re-used for the rookies on the back of the card, but the veterans got new ones. 

There's a sports crossover on the only insert I got, with 1991 Baseball's "The Franchise" design being ported over to football. 

Let's see some autographs. Frank Gore Jr's experience with the Bills has been on the practice squad, but I want to complete the father/son set with a Gore Sr. Bills auto. There aren't too many of those out there, so my dream might have to be fulfilled with a Miami Hurricanes one.

Green autograph parallels were somewhat more SPd than the regular versions, but I'm not too sure as to what level. I don't really care too much other than for curiosity's sake, since this card of their top draft pick is a keeper. His first games have been perfectly fine for a rookie, especially with the way the targets have been spreadd around so far this season.

There you have it!

2024 Adventures in Repacks - Part 28 - Alternating

 It looks like since I ordered in an equal number of baseball and football repacks, it would be logical to alternate between the two whenever I go to the box.

Therefore:

A baseball one is next. And the first card is one that certainly would have inspired me to pull this particular repack off the shelf.

A little more 80s content than I expected from the first portion, with 4 of them appearing. The Tartabull is an entry from the Traded set, and there's OPC content too! It is also nice to compare an original 1989 design to the Archives version in the same group. Bryan House is pictured with the Oklahoma City 89ers. Does that count too?

And here's the hit - another auto. And looking at all the other repacks, unless they're super thin, all the hits are going to be autos. As for Gorski, he's still doing the minor league climb, and has shown nice power so far.

Oooo. A parallel! My only question was if it was named something simple like Red, or something higher end like Ruby? It was Red. And both a Leaf version of a card and an OPC in the same repack? More of that, please!

All the way back to 1981 for what will probably be the oldest card in any of these repacks with the Lowenstein. Lowenstein (my name is Zweig). I wouldn't be too surprised if that Laskey is the second oldest in any of these.

A rather bland, unlicensed ending, but at least I can show it off as a half-hearted salute to the 1987 Donruss that appeared earlier. 

Perfectly fine repack experience.

There you have it!

Perfect Time for a Mets Post

 

 

And to work my way through the absolute stack of Mets content that was in the TMV mailer,

which included items of all shapes

and sizes, in terms of really large

or just slightly larger than their 2*3 counterparts.

Yup, this is going to be a busy, busy post.

Those Walk-Off Winners would seem even better during this playoff run if the Mets had actually had any WOW along the way over the past week and a half. And as I have said many times before - I miss hologram cards. 

Sportflics! Action Packed! Those always make for a fun trip to the past. 

With all the Piazza in the Miscellaneous post, I had to expect to see some show up when I got to the Mets portion. That Starting Lineup looks like a Studio release. In the lower corner, Conforto is a Cosmic Haze parallel. With the Yermin Mercedes from last post, that's back-to-back ones with one of those parallels.

It wasn't until I got a closer look at the Alonso on the bottom was seeing it was Fantasy Favorites as opposed to Fan Favorites. They seem less numerous in baseball as opposed to football, so they don't annoy me as much here. Yet.

Could I have posted a Grand Salami card of Francisco Lindor at a more perfect time? If I hadn't already scanned everything, it would be worthy of a solo post.

This post really hasn't enough shininess so far, so here's a scanner bed worth of cards with several opportunities to change that. 

Those are some of the most spring training jerseys ever. Tom Glavine is booked to appear at the upcoming Expo a month from now. The promotional photo has him as a Met vs a Brave. Why? I'm not complaining - it just seems puzzling.

The pile finally comes to an end with some more shininess. How I already didn't have that nice shiny Mookie is beyond me.

Finally, a pair of numbered cards (Noah /99, Alay /199), and it is finally hit parade time.

Given he only wore the black Mets jerseys for one season, I'm not so certain that this is a Mets swatch. Even though the time of this being a 2005 card would line up. I still choose to believe this is.

This. This certainly is a Mets swatch.

Even if Brodey never reached the majors with the Mets, this is still a really sweet colour matched auto. So I still like it! Any Mets hit is a good Mets hit.

With his career just underway, this was probably a really hot pull at the time. Now, with his active career ended, it isn't as much so. But this was still the highlight of the Mets portion, especially since this isn't the year UD opted to use E-Zee-Fade ink on them. 

That's a lot of cards. And  I still have the Jays stuff to get to!

But there you have it!

Yermin Hunting

 

Yeah, so there was quite a bit of Yermin Mercedes content in my most recent COMC shipment. Enough to push my total to 65. 

I got in a group break of Chronicles at the time in order to pile on the Yermin content. These were 5 that I didn't get in the pile of White Sox content. But at least I'd (eventually) land a pretty nice looking Oscar Colas autograph from that.

Randomness!

The only numbered card in the mailer was this /150 blue parallel of the Gold Label card in that group of 6.

But the big jump saw me complete 2 9 slot page rainbows. These become the third and fourth full pages in the collection, alongside one of 20-21 Nikolaj Ehlers and 2008 David Garrard.

I added all 9 of these in the same order. Clockwise from the upper left, you have the base card, Mosaic, Reactive Yellow, Blue Camo, Reactive Red, Reactive Orange, Silver and Mosaic Green with a Blue Camo in the middle.

I already had the first 2 cards in this Prizm grouping, the Cosmic Haze and Green Prizms, and they are joined with a Red White & Blue, Pink, Teal Wave, Red, Navy/Carolina Blue and the base version with a Green Donut version in the middle. 

There are so many parallels for both sets, I probably could complete an eighteen card rainbow easily enough should I so desire.

I need help.

But there you have it!

2024 Adventures in Repacks - Part 27 - No Need to Order In

 I don't need to order these in, since they're still available at the 7/11 I'm sometimes at.

I always just grab whatever is on top, and that's pretty easy to do with this beauty as the visible.card.

Here's the first group of cards. Cory Stillman may not have been thought of on par with "The Next One" but the start of his career still had a nice amount of hype to it. Patrice Rene is sporting a Trois-Rivieres Draveurs jersey, and it looks like one that would be used by a crime procedural during an episode surrounding a hockey-themed murder. So generic. But as I approach the hit - a new Sens card for me! WOO-HOO!

The hit was perfectly in the middle. I had absolutely no memories of Tallackson, but he managed 20 games over 4 seasons. At least he wasn't a one-game wonder, but that should have given UD more time too get a photo where his eyes have not been knocked all wonky.

The second batch of cards. The Pro Set was one of the hockey history ones in '91, this one saluting early ice resurfacing. The Don MacLean is also a triple diamond, although I have no idea how rare those were at the time. 

And your finale.

An interesting start, but the second half really lagged. Still a fun little repack, though!