Why Not?

 

I didn't have any purple ink autographs before, so why not add this inexpensive one I saw while looking through '21 Luminance cards? He doesn't appear to have made an appearance in a single NFL game, but did end up with a Super Bowl win while on the Rams practice squad.

That's far more than I'll ever win!

Recapping Rangers

The most common theme with the cards remaining in my COMC to-be-posted box were that of Kitchener Rangers alum. So, in order to make it seem like I'm making a dent in it, that's what is time to show off this post.

Much of the stuff in this post is of the "cheap because of epack" variety. Except this. This one was inexpensive because Spaling's career was solid, but not really worthy of a major price hike. And with an on-card autograph and a photo of an alternate uniform, there's a couple nice bonuses here as well. 

While the French variations fall one-per-box with the regular breaks and also with the e-packs, the ability to pass them along over on COMC makes the prices drop and end up among the lowest on the site. I'll have to wait for this year's, though, as Kubalik will finally show up on an in-uniform Detroit card in this week's extended.

Just because it is unlikely that Ryan Murphy sees the NHL again (last year was in the KHL), that doesn't mean that I won't add cards of his that show up.

Why have a portion of your set dedicated to alternate jersey photos, only to not show the jersey in all its glory?

Fortunately, Landeskog rocking the reverse retro jersey did get a nice look on his Canvas card. While he did make a lot of appearances in 22-23, but didn't play a game due to injury. And he will also not be playing in 23-24. So I'm probably taking a year off when it comes to super-collecting his new stuff. There's plenty of room for older stuff, though!

His former teammate got an insert as well in Series 1. 

4 of the 5 new Riley Damiani cards in the collection are of the AHL variety, but with only 7 games to his credit with Dallas, I might be looking at another season's worth of those. 

A patriotic pair is nice way to end this, starting with a player yet to reach the NHL and whose only COMC content consists of 20-21 Team Canada cards, and a card of a Hall of Famer with plenty of available options available. Since his cards consisted entirely of Flyers cards, I took the opportunity to add my first National Team card of his, in all his unhelmeted glory. 

There you have it!

Penmanship Hall of Fame

 

For not only fitting a lengthy name on the sticker, but for doing so with such great cursive, Ga'Quincy McKinstry goes directly to my collection's penmanship binder. He's already projected as a Top 10 pick in the 2024 NFL draft, so when he has to sign several thousand stickers the same day, I'll expect it to deteriorate by then. 

But I'll savour this in the meantime! 

2023 Adventures in Repacks - Part 17: Bunch o' Baseball

When I go away for a trip, I usually work ahead by pre-writing a bunch of posts for that time. This time, it will only be a few days, so I'm just going to show off the contents of a bunch of repacks in the same post.

First up, one of those double hangers from Walmart.

With all the sets represented in the 2021 version of Archives, their almost felt like a repack on their own. The contents of this were exactly what you'd expect, with legends, current big names, and rookies to pad things out. Cy Young, having not been over-used in other sets for a bit, is probably my favourite in the base.

That's because there was also this numbered parallel. This was a retail pack, so the odds at finding them were 1:52 - pretty good return for a repack!

Pretty much what I expected from the Select -  2 blue base, a Scope parallel and an insert. It is a little hard to tell since they scan so poorly, but there are numbers in the circles surrounding the player on the Select Numbers insert, giving for a somewhat trippy feel.

From there, here's a trio of Presstine repacks, all different types.

From most cards in the repack to the fewest, here's a Surprise Bag to start.

To be a little more specific, here's the official content of that bag.

A solid start! Mets content! A Pacific card! A pervy 'stache! And an Actual 70s card in the pack! Even better - that Cecil Cooper from 1978 isn't a Topps card - but an O-Pee-Chee card! Bilingual greatness! I'll overlook that it is obviously in well-loved condition with that very obvious crease.

Here's the rookie pack's contents. The book value might not be there, but the contents were fun. Armando's missed Perfecto gave him fame, and Robinson gets a really great  photo on his. As for Pittsley...die cuts are always fun!

Booo! That's only 6 cards - that promotional ones don't count! At least the insert is a new Blue Jays card. And this might be the most Padre filled pack that has ever been opened outside of Southern California.

Normally, getting back-to-back cards of guys named Davis would be the highlight here, since I love collation oddities in repacks. But that doesn't come close to the greatness of getting both the paper and chrome version of the same base card photo back-to-back. And there's also one of those Panini perfect photos on the Donruss card.

Finally, the Home Run pack. I guess Ichiro being part of the team card makesit count. But if he doesn't it still totals up to 3 players - as both Williams and Bonds count on the Giants team card.

And that's the Surprise bag! Nothing massive, but still pretty good with the Cooper, Bo and Robinson being particularly nice to me.

Next up - a repack with a hit contained. Despite ordering these repacks, a visible Carlton would probably be enough for me to pull it off the shelves at the 7-11.

That card is worthy of an even better look!

Pretty generic start to this. Chasen Shreve sounds like a fake name that the WWE would give to some guy who just arrived in NXT. I guess that Fan Club card is the most unique in the first group.

Things get a lot more interesting here. I love random appearances of one of the earlier versions of Archives. For a post going up on Memorial Day in the States, I guess a patriotic card like the Fields is appropriate. That Joey Belle would probably have been a highlight in many a pack of 1990 Score at the time - and now it is repack filler.

Nothing to complain about when it comes to the hit - a Jay! Chacin had a decent enough couple years in Toronto before things started ballooning. It is feasible he'd already thrown his last inning in MLB when this 2007 card dropped. But he is one of a likely handful of players that had their own cologne as a gameday giveaway.

A 70's met! Bunting (or at least a very, very odd stance)! Stadium Club! This repack keeps getting better.

So it only deserves a bland ending.

A nice hit and a nice group of cards beyond that. That's what I need in my repack content!

Here's the finale! This promised 4 star cards, 4 rookies and a hit.

Not the biggest names, but that wasn't really expected. But at least there were a couple parallels in the Marquez and West. While the Topps guys obviously reached the majors, only West has made the bigs among the two Bowmans. Although Wilcox is still doing the minor league thing.

The star portion was pretty solid though, with a pair of numbered cards. While the Kershaw is an obvious one (and it is already set aside for a future Watertown mailer), that Davis is an aqua parallel /299. 

Although the usage of 'patch' in the title of this card is definitely a stretch, it is a Hall of Famer hit! And that's a mighty fine way to end a post of repack content.

There you have it! 

The Name Game

 

I don't care that his signature itself doesn't look like much, but if some guy named Racey McMath makes his debut in my binders - it is going to be with an autograph.

2 is Better Than 1

 

The only thing better than two Yastrzemskis on a single card is two versions of that card. Even if it isn't technically a Red Sox card, the red parallel is the best looking of the bunch. 

E-Packing

 More COMC to-be-posted content. While I do have a bunch of Kitchener Rangers alum stuff to post, I've also got some stuff that just falls into the 'interesting (to me) card' category. And here's some of that. Most of this was of the 'cheap because of e-packs' stuff, but there are a couple in here that I either pulled or traded for. 

Such as this, which I added after coming to the unfortunate revelation that I didn't have cards of anybody named Loov in my binders. 

"BRING ME THE SAMPO!". This is another one of those cards I bought only because it reminded me of a MST3K Episode - in this case The Day the Earth Froze.

Sampo was also available in this release, but if I', going to get a random minor league hockey card, I'm getting one with a better view of the jersey.

In 20-21, the MVP e-packs included Predictor cards, that would turn into actual cards should the featured player win one of the year-end awards. I guess at some point I pulled a predictor of Marc-Andre Fleury, since I was eventually able to turn that into this actual card. 

No better place to put a depressing card than in the middle.

Jeff Glass was drafted by the Senators in 2004. He would spend the next 13 seasons either in the minors, or overseas. He'd finally appear in the NHL in 2017, and would get a couple cards out of that. This was far cheaper than getting his SPA Young Guns insert as a cardboard commemoration of the event.

Even some of the SPd Canvas legends cards can be found for a nice price at COMC thanks to impact. This one really gives the vibes of being not just a locker room photo but one that was snapped during a Stanley Cup celebration. 

More canvas.

One wouldn't think there would be a lot of interesting photos in Compendium, but these entrance photos are an exception. 

And some throwback, or sorta throwback uniforms for the finale.

There you have it!

Happy Victoria Day!

 

Instead of using the wrestler this year, here's a pair of cards featuring 2/14 baby Victoria Cartagena. A standalone card of her Renee Montoya joined the collection last year, and given the rules I use for Danai Gurira and appearances she makes in Walking Dead sets, these count towards the her cards. She's now at 3 total appearances, out of 3581 overall 2/14 cards. 

Even if the photos on the backs appear, on the surface, have nothing to do towards the photo on the front, I'll show these off too. Mainly because these scan a lot better than the foil parallels I picked up.

There you have it!  

New Sensations

 Back to my COMC to-be-posted box, and a small stack of new Senators cards. 

Most of the stuff here comes from the "cheap because of epacks" category, with 2 exceptions. This, and the following items. You can pretty much trace the time of the release of this set to just after Craig Anderson moved on to Ottawa based on to his still rocking the Yeti themed mask from his time with the Avs.

Whether this counts as a sticker, a card or an insert, this is still the newest addition to the Daniel Alfredsson collection, coming from Collector's Choice 2009. 

Austin Watson makes his debut in the Senators collection. He definitely had some baggage when he arrived with the team in terms of domestic violence issues, but it seems he's gotten that under control as he has gone sober. I'll remain cautious though. 

Best photo goes to a canvas insert. While that isn't too surprising, it being one of the Young Guns is.

Tim Stutzle wins the numbers battle, even if I didn't make the best effort to make sure the cards were oriented nicely on the scanner.

Of course AHL cards of the Belleville Senators count towards the collection. If badly photoshopped Bowman cards count towards team collection, why shouldn't these? Of this threesome, only Lassi has made it to the NHL to get Ottawa cards, but maybe the other two will get Ottawa cards, and hopefully Wedman will get a more flattering photo on a future card.

There you have it!