This Wasn't Junk! Part 1! - Nothing But the Hits!

As if any mailing from JayBarkerFan would be. Two parts to this one, this one will highlight the hits portion of the mailing, but there are plenty of base cards and numbered cards and inserts to show off at a later date.

This was one of two I was expecting. While this isn't something that fits in my PCs, it does hit the randomness portion with it being a base relic. It is even dated on the back to Game 4 of the 2002 World Series. A really neat addition to my general baseball hits collection.

Here's the other card I was expecting. I think I'm getting close enough to a complete David Wright uniform, minus the patch portion.

This Mets manupatch I was not expecting. I thought for a second that it might have been a dupe, but it turns out I had a different Dwight Gooden manufactured rookie card relic in my collection. It is a mistake anybody could make.

From one manupatch to another. I think this is my first Bills manufactured relic.

And here's the final portion of the hit recap of this envelope. Lots more to go next time.

Thanks for these goodies so far - I've added a nice Crimson Tide auto to my COMC inventory for returning fire. I hope to ship on this over the long weekend, and it should be in my hands by late August to send on your way.

A Prestigious Sampling

I was planning to sample Ginter this year, but looking at the checklist, there really was only one chase for me at first - the Thunderlips card. After the events of last week, that was no longer a desired card, so there wasn't any real desire for me to sample a pack or two of the product. So, unless I see some retail of it out there, I'll limit myself to hunting down Jays and Mets.

Fortunately, Panini Prestige football dropped this week. While I did grab Buffalo in a team break and hope to have a good # from that set on the way, I still wanted to sample the product. As a bonus these two packs were cheaper than two Ginter packs.

His being on the package was the closest I got to pulling a Winston from these packs.

Pack #1:

And my first pack. I don't know if I can call this true full-bleed as there is some fading at the edges, but I really have no complaints about the design. I did get my first in-hand football hit of 2015, with this nice thick patch from Leonard Williams. It is a /100 purple parallel. He was the 6th overall pick in the draft, so it is a pretty nice card. And there's a Bills card to end the pack. The rookies are SPd to 1 per pack, so I'm not sure if I got the Williams in that. If I did, then there's one more card that will find its way to the clubhouse.

The back are somewhat threadbare, but still not as bad as last year's Contenders. At least there are some stats on the back, and a little biography on the rookies.

Pack #2:

Pulling a patch relic and a Bills card made the first pack gave #2 a tough challenge, but I still got some nice cards. I like the contrast on the Bowe. Chargers logo in the background. Chiefs uniform. Browns as the listed team. Nice. The Thomas is a die-cut acetate card. The Manning is one of those micro-etched cards. Neither one is numbered. All 4 of the Broncos cards will likely find their way to I Love The Smell of Cardboard in the Morning at some point.

I didn't pull a 1/1 plate like last year, but still like how things turned out.

And there you have it.

Four If By Sportlots

As I said the first time I did this: "Because four is the exact number of cards you can buy before the shipping cost from US buyers goes through the roof.". Usually, that means there is one card I really want, and then I add in 3 more I kinda want.

Simple!

And this was the one I really wanted. It is one of the inserts from this year's Pro Debut. Despite the fact I like bigger dogs, I really couldn't pass on a card that featured what might have been the most adorable alternate uniform of 2014.

And here's the back with the story of the jersey.

After that beauty, the other 3 card are incidental to this envelope, but here they are:

A set builder card.

And a pair of 2/14 babies.

3 nice cards for various sets/collections, but they're not even close to the greatness of that Chihuahuas jersey.

2015 Adventures in Repacks: Part 27: Surprise!

Another $2 surprise bag from the Dollarama.

The contents this time around were a 5 pack of hard toploaders, a pack of 91-92 Upper Deck, a Hall of Fame pack, and a 2010s pack.

I won't post the entire contents of the UD pack, but did fairly well via my 1991 standards. Two inserts in the same pack! And one is a hologram. I miss hologram insert cards.

My Hall of Famer was the Mike Modano card. But, with Marty Turco lurking on the card, it will end up in an envelope to Dennis @ Too Many Manninghams.

And the 2010s pack. Nice to land a pair of Senators cards in this, but this being a pack of only 2010s card made me realize we are at the halfway point of the decade for hockey releases. I guess there might be a high end set or two left to drop, but when MVP comes out next week, that will start the second half of the decade's products.

Trippy.

Anyhow, I could use the top loaders. and I love those 90s hologram cards from Upper Deck. While I wouldn't call this a winner, I can't call this one a dud repack  either. Middling seems appropriate.

Not a Mets Card, But a Must-Have

What I think might be the only pro card with John Franco on any team other than the Mets or the Reds. Which was the 25th card of what was at the time a 24 card sportlots order.

Outgoing Mail Alert

If these zip codes seem familiar:

02919
16933
26505

An envelope will is on its way to you as of this morning.

ObCard:

A baseball card of a football guy. Quincy was drafted by the Cubs in 1996, but when this 2003 card was issued, he had pretty much settled into his football career.

A shame he loved the weed a little too much, and of all the passes he made in his career, it was the passing of the drug tests that cased him the most difficulties.

The Best Way to Experience the Stadium Club - Part 2

And now, the portion of my sportlots Stadium Club order featuring the retired players.

Much like yesterday, I planned to go through these alphabetically by last name. So, I lead with Banks. Even if I didn't plan to do this alphabetically, I still would have lead with this card. It might be the best base card of 2015. But there is stiff competition in this very post.

Such as with a nice card featuring both the NL and AL colour-barrier breakers.

This would be another contender. Much like with the Packers cards making me think of Giant Spider Invasion's MSTing, this one also makes me think of MST3K.

Who's that guy with the big head?

The only way this card could be even better is if a differently cropped version of this photo was also used for a Seaver card. Or a different photo that highlighted Tom better. Such as this one, at Topps beloved Getty Images.

Like I'm going to pass on the most spectacular Mets photo in the set.

This peekaboo shot seems so unlike something you'd see on a Bo Jackson card. That's why I like it so much.

It just worked out that alphabetical order also meant that I'd have the 4 horizontal retired player cards at the end. This does look like a great alternate angle of the card Konerko had a flagship. I think I like this one more, with the 'Thank' as opposed to the 'PK' cut out letters. A great farewell card, reminding me a lot of the beauty Niklas Lidstrom got in 2012 Upper Deck hockey's flagship release.

A classic posed photo. The completely black background works nice with the home whites.

I originally tried to look for the exact date on this photo, but it looks the archives of the Chicago Sun-Times aren't online. But, this ballplayer firm was a thing on the South Side, as per the online archives of the Tribune. But, searching getty images doesn't let me down, tracing it to a September 1962 series at St. Louis.

Could Fernandomania be described with one photo? Yes, yes it can.

And there's the rest of my Stadium Club sportlots goodies. That should be it, depending on what else pops up at COMC.

The Best Way to Experience the Stadium Club - Part 1

1. Watch breaks of the set and look at posts showing the cards from the set
2. Note the really great cards
3. Buy them from sportlots or justcommons.com
4. Show them off!

No need for some silly "???? Profit!" joke at the end, as the only ones making any profit are the ones selling to me.

I opted for 20 cards. 10 current players. 10 retired players. A perfect mix!

That is not a face that you want to see when you're walking down a dark alley. Or a well lit main street. Either way, I would not want to be the opposing player that he's staring down.

Play at the plate!

Interestingly, both of these were the gold parallels, although I requested the base versions. Since I'm not building the set, I have no complaints about these being the parallel.

I love celebration photos on cards, no matter what the sport.

If you saw his Gypsy Queen Glove Stories card, (as well his base from flagship) this is a continuation of the same play on that card. Will there be more?

Now that is one of the more acrobatic turning two cards out there.

Extreme Close Up!

Photos so clear, you can practically count every drop of water in the photo.

A beautiful look at the dugout steps up to the field at the stadium in Washington. There are not a whole lot of cards out there that show this perspective on the field.

CanCon!

Good advice, C.J.! Another celebratory shot ends this alphabetical run though the current player content of the envelope.

Tomorrow, the photo choices get even better with the retired player content.

2015 Adventures in Repacks: Part 26: The 14 more are a bonus.

There was a repack at Dollarama with the standard 15 hockey cards, with two visible. The first card was interesting to me as, upon seeing that, I thought that it was one I needed for my 14-15 UD set.  So, that was the one I opted for.

2014 UD Jaden Schwarz - And yes, I do need this card for my base set!

1994 UD Brent Gretzky - Well, I always say that Gretzky cards are always a nice/interesting pull.
1991 Score Keith Acton

1990 Score Sergei Makarov - The guy I can thank for the rule that kept Hammond from at least being nominated for the top rookie award. Thanks, Comrade!

1993 Score Bryan Marchment - From the time when one design was used for every Score base set across their brand.
1994 Pinnacle Mike Donnelly
1993 Donruss Sergei Nemchinov

1993 Parkhurst Emerald Ice Jim McKenzie - Will this Whalers card be on the way to Shane @ Shoebox Legends next week? Looking at zistle, it appears so!
1990 Pro Set Shawn Chambers
1991 OHL Chris Grenville
1992 Parkhurst Mark Howe

1995 Parkhurst Emerald Ice Antti Tormanen - WOO-HOO! A Sens card and also a parallel!

1991 UD Brian Sakic - Wow. Not only is this a parallel hot pack, but it is also a hot pack for brothers are far better players.
1990 Bowman Shawn Chambers

2008 Fleer Ultra Gold Medallion - Ending with yet another parallel. Great pack for $1!

Flea Market Bills!

Namely, the 18 Bills cards for a dollar picked up at the flea market.

Interestingly, in terms of currently playing in Orchard Park, this repack went 0-18 with players still there. And it wasn't junk wax era either. This included cards from last year.

Case in point. There's Stevie Johnson cards stretching from 2011 through 2014. Sure, he's gone, but at least there's variety. And I can pick my favourite design from this group. Which here, will go to the always interesting ticket motif on the Contenders.

Scott Chandler was a distant 2nd with 4 appearances. He's with the Patriots now.  Still, a great design on the Prestige, and a great photo on the Score.

Only one more multiple appearance guy, and it is TJ Graham. Cool photo always wins over merely being a shiny card.

But at least this shiny one is a ruby parallel. Of yet another member of the post-Kelly infamy. I've just realized that Kyle friggin' Orton might have had the most respectable year at QB since that one Flutie season.

There is a reason this team hasn't had a playoff game since the Clinton administration.

It has been too long since a card reminded me to clean my scanner. This is Kiko Alonso, for those that don't want to kill their eyes trying to read the name on the bottom.

And to wrap it up, here's probably my most missed product from last year, with a Magic (aka Gypsy Queen football) from 2012 Magic. Although that product really didn't do itself any favours in 2013 with its hit content making it really tough to pull a decent player.

Still, despite there not being any current Bills, this was still a very well spent $1.