Obligatory 2/14 post!

Happy birthday to me! And these fine folks in the post today.

As I did last year on 2/14, I'm going to do a top 10 involving cards from my 2/14 collection. As with last year, this will also be thetop 10 cards that I couldn't have had last year. I'm also going to limit this to one card from each person, mainly as a way to prevent this from being half cards of Jadeveon Clowney.

And away we go!

#10 - Derek Norris - 2014 Topps Update
Derek was near thr top last year with his super base card in Series 2. Not so much this year, but he was an All-Star and got your typical bland card to go with it. Still, getting two base cards and all the parallels gives me a lot of options when it comes to expanding his PC.

#9 - Angel Di Maria - Panini World Cup Prizm
This probably should be higher, but I'm just not a big fan of soccer. Still, one of these should be on the list. I opted for this one over Edinson Cavani because I liked how the Argentinian jersey looked with the Prizm design.

#8 - Wali Jones (and some other guys - Wilt who?) - Panini Innovation - Starters Legends - My basketball lineup is incredibly bland. With everybody who would qualify not in the league any more, I would have been amazed to see any of them in new releases. But, there's a line-up card with Wali Jones' floating head in it! And of the people I thought might have cards in the past year, he would not be one of them.

#7 - J.J. Wilcox - Panini National Treasures - Only one card (and parallels) for this guy, who was a rookie in 13-14, and it was from a mega super high end set. And there's only about 150 or so total cards out there when numbering of this and its parallels are considered. Still, a nice deal at COMC makes this a new card for my collection.

#6 - Alshon Jeffery - Panini Prestige - Like with Derek Norris, there would be a lot of options as to cards for him with Alshon coming off a monster 2013 season. I'm picking this one since I liked the design, giving it the nod over the nice photo on his Topps card.

#5 - Ian Clarkin - Bowman Draft & Prospects. Ian was the most shameful addition to my collection. Not because he is a Yankee. Because I pulled an auto of his late in 2013, and then didn't realize until months later that he was a 2/14 baby. Now I've caught that, I'm looking for his cards. This one came from a jumbo pack of Bowman Draft, and was the very last card in the pack. For a card to be my favourite in a pack when it is a Yankees card, and the pack contained an on-card auto /150, that's a pretty special card. Refractor-y too!

#4 - Keith Wenning - Panini Crown Royale - Another rookie addition to my collection. He spent this season on the practice squad, so I was doubtful he'd show up as a hit. But, there he was! He's also got cards in Contenders, but I voted for this one because I liked the shiny background.

#3 - Gheorghe Muresan - Panini Prizm - I was stunned when I saw that Muresan had a card in a base release in 2014-15. So, of course, I had to grab the loudest one I could find. I'm still waiting for it to show up from COMC, so you get their scan in the meantime.

#2 - Marian Gaborik - O-Pee-Chee Stickers - My favourite design of the past year was this insert set. 75 Baseball? 71 Hockey? Why not both! And they combine to create this beautiful design. Gaborik is another one that I thought might be all over the top 10, and another reason I limited this to 1 per person. Lots of Alshon, Marian and Jadeveon might have made for a dull post.

#1 - Jadeveon Clowney - Certified - As soon I learned that there was a 2/14 baby among those likely to be very high in the draft this year, I had to get at least one relic and one auto of his cards. Seeing him go #1 worried me, but I figured that since he was defensive guy, prices would be reasonable enough. They really didn't drop as the year (and injuries) piled on. However, I jumped into a football random gorup break at mojobreak over at Black Friday, and the randomizer granted my wish with the Texans. And I was able to get both of my wanted cards combined on one. And it is a really nice 3 colour patch as well. I did see some similar ones going for about $40.00 for a one-colour patch, but upwards of $80.00 for 3-colours. And I even got a bonus Clowney (one that would have been Top 3) from the Black Friday packs that were included.

And there you have it. What do you think, sirs?