The Miserable Mets

 After a little delay due to cross-border paperwork, a mailer showed up earlier this week with goodies from Dennis @ Too Many Verlanders. At least in terms of the stack size, the Mets won the day. Maybe this will take the sting out from the ghastly year they've had so far. 

I usually end a post with the big volume winner. This time, I'm leading with it. Even not counting the non-Mets content, he wins. Although I do need to open the contained repacks, I don't think that will change the lead.

Neither will removing that Prism dupe from the overall count. My favourite in this grouping is the Invincible entry, and with an insert set name like 'Seismic Force', you expect the shaky font.

Horizontal entries, too! The top card is /7000, flashing back to when that was a big deal.

And let's wrap up the Piazza portion of the Mets content with a small, plain white swatch, but still a swatch nonetheless. 

As I went through the non-hit portion of the Mets content, I'd realize the only card of someone still on the team is that Senga among all the cards. OK, Bobby Bonilla is still on the payroll, but that doesn't really count. Given the season, maybe memories are better than imaging what is still to come.

Lots and lots of parallels this time around, including doubling up on the Electric Diamonds of Preston Wilson, and a straight across Tic-Tac-Toe of 1999 Paramount copper parallels. 

The Ballpark Fun card might not be a parallel, but it does commemorate Santana's no-hitter. Speaking of commemoration, we also get that on the Matz card, getting a nice look at the patch commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 1986 squad.

Starting Lineup? A food entry? This vertical portion of the Mets content couldn't end any better!

But first, some horizontal action!

But first, here's the only numbered card that didn't have a piece of material attached to it. 

Let's see some relics. It is nice to see some colour thanks to the patches in the mix, but I appreciate the  simplicity of a nice pinstripe almost perfectly down the middle like on the D'Arnaud piece.

Finally, some ink. While there's very little difference between Nimmo and Marcus Semien in terms of production, I'd rather they stink with familiar faces as opposed to others. At least we'll recognize the guys grounding into double plays when the game is on mute.

Many more parts of this mailer to go! 

There you have it!

A 49ers Auto

 

The UNC Charlotte 49ers, that is.

Sure, he never played in the NFL, but that logo is enough to make me want to add the card.

There you have it!

6 Years of Mischief

 

My little troublemaker turns 6 today, so as with the past few years, I'm highlighting the newest cards in her 7/12 slider box.

As before, please don't send me cards of people that qualify for the collection.

With the opening photo of Mischief featuring her alongside her beloved outside toy "Ol' Flatty", it is only suitable to show what a soccer ball should look like. This is also now the only soccer card in the collection so far.

What team made the most appearances this time around? It is the Hiroshima Carp. Brad Eldred does have a second appearance in the collection, but this one does allow for the team logo to make a front of the card appearance.

Lots more baseball this time. Only Hammer makes a second appearance in the collection. The Lin is a 'Reptilian Refractor', perfect for a Diamondbacks card. Logan Porter's is a green border parallel, even if the text on the back claims it is a white border one. Sipp is the first of two numbered cards in this, with there being 2014 more out there if I want to complete his run.

The only hit this time. At least I can read the initials. Even if I could mistake the C for L. I guess this is also a zero-year card, as he'd play zero games with the Red Sox in the majors. His only MLB appearances would be with the Cubs.

There's no basketball entries this time - not even a single SG-A entry. But there were a couple hockey ones, including Mischief's first overseas hockey card.

All of the football entries were parallels. Including a refractor-y Bills card that counts as the other numbered one. Also, my first CFL cards are part of this grouping.

Finally, the everything else portion. Benny Parsons is the first person from the auto-racing world in the collection. Given that I've actually heard of him, that's probably enough to qualify him as a legend. Kai Greene is also the first bodybuilder there as well, even if I can't imagine there being too many cards from that sport. George Eastman is not the first inventor in the collection though, thanks to the presence of another George, in that case Washington Carver.

Also, does that final line really qualify as a Highlight? 

I can't end like that, so here's another picture of Mischief, this time having an adorable nose-touching session with one of her pals, Leo.

There you have it!

2026 Adventures in Repacks - Part 18.1 - Cubism

 

I've had this for several years now, I guess I should probably get to it and post the contents. I'm just going in order of the cards in the cube, but I'll be posting the contents occasionally. Which means it should take about a month+ to get through this.

The opener is a parallel, an unnumbered goal line parallel. Since it was the opener in the slider case, to say the condition isn't the best was an understatement.

Yup. I'm scanning everything. It beats typing out every set and every name. Both the first hidden card, and the last one of this first group of cards is a "traded" version. If you see a Jason Pierre-Paul card from after his fireworks incident, you're looking at the hand. How can you not?

I'm confident in my prediction that the worst human being that will appear in this repack in Kellen Winslow Jr. At least I know the address where I can send it for a TTM autograph for at least the next couple years. Luke Willson has been showing up on TV here recently, doing work on CFL broadcasts. Lawyer Tilliman provides a favourite older card feature of mine - infield dirt being visible. Newsome's Archives entry is from a set that would have been annoying to collate.

Since they retained the original numbering scheme for the back design, this looks like card #308. It is actually #62, as shown on the bottom. And even that would move around depending on the back design. Fun!

Horizontal cards finally show up, and they do so with a pretty nice looking photo of Ike Hilliard. Seeing Tomlinson in a jersey other than San Diego's is really off. Pro Set was the Official NFL card set in more ways than one, as shown by the final card in this grouping.

I'm not sure if Torrance Small is throwing the bomb on a trick play, or throwing a souvenir to the crowd, but given that he has passing stats at pro football reference, probably the former. He tried 3 passes as a member of the Eagles, with only one completion (to the opposition). I finally see a Bills card And for Brett Smith, if you  know his cardboard history with Sage, you're expecting to see a shirt appear. And it did...

on the back of that card.

Here's the final grouping of cards for this post, and we get our first hit of the cube. Tajh Boyd would never play a game in the NFL, but at least the Jets spent a 6th rounder on him, and not a 2nd rounder like with a 2/14 binder member several years later.

1 stack down - probably at least 5 or 6 more to go!

There you have it!

Thank you, Kyle

 Kyle Lowry signed a one-day contract today to retire as a Raptor. It was also announced his number would be retired during the season, joining Vince Carter in the rafters.

So, I was wondering what my favourite card of his was that I had. TCDB says I have more than 200 of his cards, of which all but a handful have him with the Raptors.

Nothing beats personally pack-pulling a card of his. There's also the oddball-ness of it with him wearing #3.

This is my highest-end card of his, picked up through Panini Rewards points.

But this photo? 

That makes perfection.

I Amuse Easily

 Therefore I get way too much joy in seeing a "Historic Draft Class" set featuring this guy:

And a glowing write-up on the back that, despite its use of  past tense, doesn't even hint that there was anything but success in his career.

If there was an insert set devoted exclusively to draft busts, I'd totally chase it. It beats going through older sets on COMC/sportlots to find cards of Bills OL slug Mike Williams.

There you have it

Baseball Miscellany

 If some Blue Jays cards are fine for Canada Day, then I guess the rest of the league can be used for a 4th of July post.

There's a lot to like about this opener. It is a pitcher-at-the-plate card to open, and it is meant to commemorate his pitching skills. In fact, the text at the back in no way references his batting skill. You'd have to look at his individual numbers for the month to see he did have a decent month at the plate, lifting his average from .105 to .289. So he earned it at both parts of the game.

Colour match too!

This might have been one of the most perfect photos used for a Panini card. The original uncropped photo would also have been the perfect choice for a double HOFer card.  But I'll take what I can get with a name that doesn't show up on cards very often. And even without Williams as part of the photo, it is still a really fun image, with Duffy really coming off as a teacher.

While not all Orlando Hernandez cards feature this portion of his wind-up, there really aren't enough that do feature it. That seems wrong. Fortunately, there is at least some cardboard that does highlight it. I'd say the same thing about Tony Batista's batting stance, of which there seem to be comparatively fewer.

Both Jose Iglesias and Jim Thome look like they're about to go collect on a bad debt for the mob. Considering both of their bats are personalized, they better take them with them afterwards. 

There you have it!

A Card for Canada Day

 It might not be a licensed card, but it does seem perfect to show off my latest Blue Jays autograph.

Sure, I probably would have used a photo that saluted the early 90s Jays as opposed to the late 2000s, but it still provides an auto in my collection that I've wanted for some time now. Licensing, schmicensing! Cito hasn't had any licensed autographs aside from 2004 Sweet Spot. 

At least it wasn't the E-Z Fade 2007 release.

But if you really want a couple licensed cards - here you are!

And there you have it!

2026 Adventures in Repacks - Part 17 - Giving me Five

 Five cards from one of these.

At least I know there's some SPA in there.

I get more of a pink vibe from this opener than a red, especially from the hexagons but it is called the latter. It is far more boring like that.

Numbered card! I remember he had a bit of hype as he debuted. While he didn't quite reach superstardom, he's still in the league as of last season. And that's really all you can ask for when you come across a rookie card from several years back.

Sens card!  WOO-HOO! I'd almost added this one to my COMC inventory, too!

I know I don't like the Portraits inserts, and don't think I ever have felt them as anything beyond middling. But this particular design is one of the better ones of a bad lot.

I guess if you're going to do a city-themed insert set for the team, you should probably use the home jerseys for the photo.

A nice selection makes me give this a slight thumbs up!

There you have it!