3 Years Late, but Triple Play

Another great trade envelope showed up recently from Dennis @ Too Many Verlanders/Manninghams. It was jammed full of cards hitting a bunch of my PCs, and those will be posted over the next week or so, at various intervals. But I'll lead off with something different, at least for me. A rack pack of 2013 Triple Play was in the envelope, and I had never busted a pack of this. Today is as good a day as any to finally dig in!

RA Dickey - You can't go wrong when the first card out of the pack is a card for one of your PCs.
Dustin Pedroia
Adrian Gonzalez

Alex Gordon - I don't really hate this look for cards, but sometimes they really don't work. Alex Gordon looks like a face you see on the news along side the phrases "police composite" and "questioning in connection with".
Yovani Gollardo

Buster Posey - They probably should not have used a white background on this. Posey looks like he's going to blend in with it.

Carlos Gonzalez - I do like the backgrounds on some of these which feature something you'd associate with the city/team. Mountains! Snowflakes! A Toque! And a dog's head?
David Freese

Adam Jones - A crab! An oriole! A ship! And....the space shuttle?
Ichiro

Anthony Rizzo - A hot dog! A boat! A fountain! And a lima bean!
Adrian Gonzalez - All-star.
Rated Rookie Eye Black
Bryce Harper sticker
Josh Reddick
Jered Weaver
Pedro Alvarez
Johnny Cueto

Felix Hernandez - Probably my favourite of the base cards for the crafty expression on his face.

Freddie Freeman - A Coke bottle! A peach! The Olympic flame! And some building I don't recognize.
Giancarlo Stanton
Prince Fielder
Yu Darvish
Stephen Strasburg
Brett Lawrie
Traditions - The Hot Dog
Yu Darvish Tattoos
Carlos Gonzalez Sticker

And there you go.

Would you like to see my Portfolio?

UD's Portfolio hockey dropped not that long ago. I really did like this set based on the breaks I watched and the packs I bought. However, since I decided to build the Champ's base set, I really couldn't go all in on this set. Instead, it was off to ebay to look for interesting photos, and then note the wanted cards. When they showed up on sportlots, it was time for a PWE purchase of some of the cards.

And here they are:

You can tell right from the start that this is going to be a set where photo choices are the draw. This card is the first in the set. There are a lot of these side entrance shots where the photo comes from Joe Louis Arena - and this one adds the bonus of a camera angle that you don't exactly see each day.

A missing tooth and a camo practice jersey? Yes!

Still, for the second time in this year's releases, it is Brett Burns gap-toothed smile and interaction with SJ Sharkie that easily wins the battle.

But that isn't the only appearance of a mascot on these cards. Jaden seems nowhere near as interested in the meeting as Brett.

The low-angle shot makes a lot of appearances in this set.

But they do mix it up.

In this grouping of cards, this one might be my favourite of the photos. Outdoor game! Alternate jersey! Toque! There's also a Petr Mrazek from this set that I really want to get my hands on for my 2/14 collection, but this seller didn't have it. While I wish they had gone full bleed with the design, I understand if they opted to avoid it appearing too similar to the flagship design.

Still, they are nice cards.

Familiar 2/14 faces

Back to the COMC "To Be Posted" box, and my latest additions to my 2/14 binder, with people that have made at least one appearance prior to this.

Football stars off this post, with this insert from 2015 Topps Fire. I pulled a John Elway from this insert set in my only pack (along with an Alshon parallel /199). I remarked that if you took away the Fire logo, this would look great as a poster. Changing from Broncos to Bears, and that's still true.

Easily the most juvenile name in my collection. This makes me the only person who would want a Harry Colon.

Like any good Canadian, the largest portion of the collection is devoted to hockey. Only 2 players saw their numbers increase. The base card of Sutter is an acetate base card. The bottom two cards are parallels from last year's MVP. Since Upper Deck did the e-pack thing with MVP this and last year, the cards are amazingly cheap at COMC.

Baseball start with this great photo of the late John Marzano. A nice picture even if most of him is blocked by Bill Mueller. And the fact he doesn't appear to have the ball in his glove to make the tag.

Back-to-back posts with Jaime Cocanower featured. This is from a local set, and as best as I can tell Gardner's is a bakery in Madison, WI.

The only hit for this post is this swatch from Yankees prospect Ian Clarkin. I've got a couple of his autographs in the binder - so it was time to welcome this relic.

There are no players currently active in the NBA with 2/14 birthdays. But, if the retired portion of sets include a Richard Hamilton or Gheorghe Muresan each year, I'll at least have one card to chase each year.

All 5 portions of the binder will get additions in this post, as these two are bound for my misc. folder. John Barrymore is the subject of my oldest card in the collection, and since that was a cigarette card from the 30s, it isn't in the binder but in a top loader. So, this becomes his first card in the binder. Anton Lesser, the actor behind Qyburn, is also a 2/14 baby.

Reading the back makes feel like Lisa Simpson learning about the Yahoo Serious Festival.

PWE Chronicles

Some PWEs showed up over the past week from My BF Collects Chipper Jones. Time to start showing off the scans.

I didn't do much involving last year's Update set, so I still had some empty spaces in my every Blue Jay ever collection from that. I had this Latroy Hawkins that needed to drop. So, here it is! I regret now filing this card away before taking the chance to scan the microscopic font on the back.

While you really wouldn't pick up a card from Heritage when you're looking for interesting photography, this one seems so appropriate for a Bartolo Colon card.

Two people who I completely forget were Mets. Brent Mayne spent 1996 with the Mets. McCray's time there was even shorter. 1 at-bat. Over 18 games. But he made the most of that at-bat, adding his first and only RBI over his career. He's probably more famous as "That guy who ran through the outfield wall." while in the minors for the White Sox.

Mookie!

This one was sitting on my zistle wantlist for a bit, since I'm amused by a photo of a guy who is named Shave, but doesn't look old enough to.

2/14 content! And those first two Len Gabrielsons wrap up his Topps solo card run, leaving only his floating head 1963 issue. For Cocanower, that's his last regular set card to finish his run, only leaving Tiffany and Update issues. Vintage is always a fun way to end a post!

Thanks for these goodies!

2016 Adventures in Repacks: Part 38.2 - Long time, no see

Back to the repack.

The bonus item is:

An oversized Ovechkin 2007 Ultra card with four dinged corners! Yay! If this card was in better condition, it actually would be a pretty nice bonus item.

And now, the 50 cards.

1990 Bowman - Chris Chelios - And it starts with a poorly centered 1990 Bowman card. How repackish.
1990 Bowman - Mike Modano
1990 Bowman - Jeremy Roenick
1990 Bowman - Rod Brind'amour

1991 7th Inning Sketch - Brian Kilrea - You really won't see anyone with a cigar in their mouth any more on cards. Including HOFer Kilrea, who has kicked the habit.

1991 7.I.S. - With a name like 7th Inning Sketch, it is appropriate to find drawn cards as part of their checklist.
1991 7.I.S. - David Myles
1991 7.I.S. - Bill Kovacs

1990 7.I.S. - And there is a logo that hasn't aged well. It was changed to a pirate theme in the mid 90s. And then they brought it back a couple years ago as the mascot. Which went over as well as you could imagine. It lasted one week. It now sports a helmet as opposed to a keffiyeh.
1990 Bowman - Dominic Lavoie
1990 Score - Bruce Hoffort
1990 Bowman - Rick Wamsley
1990 Bowman - Steve Larmer
1990 Bowman - Gary Roberts
1990 Bowman - Adrien Plavsic

1990 Bowman - Mario Lemieux - Despite the print run of approximately one billion for this set, it is still nice to land a major name.

1992 Score Canadian - Frantisek Kucera - Throwback!
1992 Premier - Shayne Corson
1991 OPC - Steve Smith
1991 Score - Claude Lemieux

1992 Parkhurst Emerald - Bill Clement - Hey! A parallel!
1994 Parkhurst - Dave Ellett

1994 Pinnacle Rink Collection - Troy Murray - WOO-HOO! A parallel, and one that hits one of my PCs!

1994 Pinnacle Rink Collection - Bob Corkum - Sure, there's a lot of 1990 Bowman here, but I am enjoying landing a few parallels.

2003 Original Six - Phil Esposito - The most recent card in the repack. And it really wasn't close.
1990 Pro Set - Owen Nolan
1991 OPC - Daren Puppa
1990 Score - Tim Watters
1992 OPC - Adam Graves
1990 Bowman - Grant Fuhr

1992 Ultra - Chris Chelios - Hey! It's a Chelios hot repack!
1993 Score - Doug Bodger
1993 Stad. Club - Kevin Haller
1993 Parkhurst Emerald - Geoff Courtnall

1993 Leaf - Radk Hamr - Must highlight back of 1993 Leaf.

1993 Leaf - Peter Bondra - Must...
1990 Bowman - Rick Tocchet

1994 Donruss - Mark Fitzpatrick - If not for the scratch-off pucks in 1980, this might be the worst design ever, with the name being illegible unless seen at the right angle.
1993 Donruss - Joe Mullen
1992 UD - Paul Stanton
1991 OPC - Larry Murphy
1993 Premier - Tom Barrasso
1990 Bowman - Tony Tanti

1993 Premier Gold - Tom Barrasso - And the run of Penguins ends with my 5th parallel.

1993 Leaf - Roman Hamrlik - Must...
1990 Score - Patrick Roy
1990 Score - Christian Ruuttu
1990 Score - Dave Poulin
1992 Parkhurst - Glen Murray

1990 Score Canadian - Randy Gregg - And it ends with the doctor.

Now that was a lot of early 90's content. A total of 1 card from after a 1994 season release. But, some parallels make up for it, and that Kilrea is a pretty interesting for a photo choice that has aged poorly. While I didn't get my money back, nor was I expecting to, it was still a fun break.