2013-14 Rookie Anthology Case Break - Box 4 of 12

Back to the case!

The extent of his NHL career was a spot as a back-up where he never saw the ice during the game(s), but that's enough to warrant a card. I've got a dupe of this one, and since that one has a light blue alternate jersey swatch as one of the two, that's the keeper.

Hartzell makes a second appearance in this post with a Score Update card. This is the third straight box where I've landed the Grabovski base card.

But I also picked up one of the black parallels. These were supposedly one-per-case, but I grabbed 3 in my first case break. These were more accurate, and this was my only black parallel in this one.

But it is back to dupes here with my second Brock Nelson Hot Rookies auto. I landed one of these in the previous box. At least he's still in the league.

The Prizm update gave a couple good rookies, and the Olli Maatta wasn't even a dupe!

The box provided its expected shininess with this Gazdic.

This was, but since Henderson was a Kitchener Rangers alum, it will fit nicely into that mini-collection.

These were the Select Update.

Grubauer was the backup goalie on the Capitals' way to the Stanley Cup last season, and was moved to the Avs in the offseason.

Yet another auto/relic to end it, and this is easily the best of the 3. Dumba has become a solid defender with the Wild, and re-upped with the team on a 5-year deal in the off-season.

A rough start to the box, but definitely a solid finish. There you have it!

[ADMIN] Post Office Strike/Lockout

There is the potential for a work stoppage with the post office starting next week, so until you see me post otherwise, you should probably hold off on mailing me anything, lest they end up in limbo.

Ob card:

The patch may only be one colour, but the signature quality itself certainly is premium.

Minor Mets

After way too much time off, I'm returning to the envelope I received from Kerry @ Cards on Cards that was packed with Mets. I'm splitting this off into themed groups, and today, it will be minor league cards.

Forget minor leagues - this photo has to be from a high school game. But it really didn't fit into any other category except for a miscellaneous one at the end. So, it is here.

Now we're into the minors. Alan Zinter received cards in 1990 from Bowman and Score following his draft, but he didn't reach the majors until 2002.

Even more minor league stuff. The Jake Joseph is a gold parallel.

If you want some Topps stuff, you finally get your wish in this post.

But only briefly, as this one will end with a card from Panini. Szapucki underwent Tommy John surgery in 2017, but  is still a solid Mets prospect. And there you have it!

No-Pee-Chee

I was hoping to grab a blaster or some fat packs of O-Pee-Chee on my recent Wal-mart trip for the set build, but that was not to be as it had yet to hit the shelves. So, I settled for this:

I probably would have opted for my usual repack to scratch the itch, but I was surprised to see this on the shelves.

But the first card out was a Yankees card. I'm not sure that will bode well.

Here's the remainder of the base cards in the first pack. At least the Tampa card answers the question of what the design would look like if the Rays existed in 1981.

Insert #1 of the box.

Pack #2 brings a hit. Eventually. I guess he qualifies as a fan favorite for the confusion with the other Mike Stanton. He does seem to have a nice signature, so this should look nice when it shows up.

Pack 3 has my first Jays card of the blaster, and one of the better rookies.

I might as well highlight the back of the Barry Larkin as well, as there's some Cancon in the cartoon. The Canadian Baseball player of the year award is named after Tip O'Neill (not the one American political types are thinking of).

Pack 4's insert.

Another good rookie in the 5th pack.

And half of another one.

Gary Carter and Hank Aaron in the same pack? Nice.

Hey! That Aaron is a Venezuelan back parallel! If you're going to land one of these, it's hard to do better than to have it be of Hammerin' Hank!

Finally. Mets content in the 7th and final pack.

It also took until pack 7 to land a Sandlot card.

The coins portion of the pack redeemed the Mets with both of the coins being of Mets. Those were the only two on the checklist, so that's a perfect pack!

And there you have it! There will have to be some OPC next time, right?

Peak Buffalo Bills

I don't think any moment in Bills history will better describe the Bills as a franchise than the fact someone said "Fuck it!" mid-game and retired.

Buffalo sure struck something. But at least my Bills collection has a card to commemorate the occasion.

2013-14 Rookie Anthology Case Break - Box 3 of 12

Back to the case!

Starting off with the base/rookie selection card, and it is a pretty good one. A top goalie on a contending team is a far better gauge of a player than my usual "Is he still playing on this side of the Atlantic?"

The score base cards.

Joonas Rask may no longer be in the NHL, but at least he didn't make headlines for the same reasons the Preds player featured on the gold parallel in the previous box did.

Auto #2, and I'm two-for-two for guys still being around. He just re-upped for another year with the Islanders.

Prizm base cards. No dupes from the previous box this time.

Shiny Prizm!

And an autographed Prizm. That's the second Islanders auto so far, but Strome has since moved on and is now with the Oilers. At least card companies can use the same coloured jerseys to take advantage of that with relic cards.

The Select inserts.

More shininess with this box, as one of the Titanium Update cards was also contained within. There are ones numbered to the draft position (max 100) and ones numbered to their jersey number. One of the two is considered to be a true rookie, but I can't really say I care enough to figure out which.

There's a nice quarter of relic featuring Buffalo Sabres rookies. Panini didn't do too bad a job picking players for this card, as all 4 remain in the league as of last season, and two of the players remain in Buffalo.

Dang! This is a great way to end the box! 4 colours on the patch and an on-card autograph. What a keeper!

Or it would be, if I didn't pull a second card from that exact subset of Hertl in a box I grabbed at the Expo this past May. Oh well, at least it falls nicely into my next COMC submissions.

And there you have it! Now it is time for some pre-game entertainment courtesy of the #billsmafia hashtag.

More Mets to Chronicle

It wasn't just Amed Rosario that filled the envelope of Chronicles break Mets. There's a lot more to show off.

Dominic Smith was the runner up in terms of volume. No hits of his. but this shiny Spectra entry was tied for the lowest numbered card of the bunch at /99.

Smith had nice variety of designs and shininess, despite the lack of photo variety. The base card is in the middle, with additional numbered cards in the corner. Both the ones in the right corners are /299.

Yoenis makes an appearance on these two cards from Classics. The numbered one's foil is slightly brighter than the unnumbered one. Any excuse for a parallel!

At least it is easy to tell the difference between the base card and its parallel with the Syndergaard.

And even easier on these Illusions cards of ChrisFlexen, as one has both a numbering and an autograph attached to it.

After all these, finally a new set makes an appearance. This is the only Crown Royale card I got, and that's a nice little patch of orange. Conforto hasn't really been much of an heir to the throne this season, but maybe he'll rebound in the odd-numbered year to come.

And finally, the design from this year's Panini football makes its appearance on the 6th hit overall that the Mets brought me.

And there you have it! I'll probably return to the case of RA for at least one day worth in the next post.