Thursday 31 January 2019

Archives Hobby Box Break

With everybody busting 2019 Series 1, I'll go back a few months and bust a cheaper hobby box of last year's Archives.

Since everybody's probably seen enough of the base cards, I'll go right to the inserts and parallels.
Since there was a lot of love for the Sandlot portion of the insert set, here's the 4 base cards I landed. Without having seen the movie, that appears to be an interesting mix of characters.
Two out of the three rookie history/reprints I got were from Update sets. I'm not sure why I'm highlighting that. It just seems interesting.
I didn't realize there were parallels of the Sandlot cards. But there were, these green foil parallels are /99 and fell at a rate 1:1083 packs.
This was the only other numbered parallel I got, being /25.
But before I get to the autographs, here's one more parallel, and this one lacks an autograph. Or at least a signature, since it is one of those no signature variants.
I actually traded for a Felix Millan autograph after failing to get one during a group break (although I was really happy about the Ray Fosse). Now, I've got one for the Mets binder and one for the penmanship collection.
I guess this box was a Sandlot hot box, as here's another appearance of a card associated with the film. As I said, I haven't seen the movie, so I wasn't as elated with this pull as some other collectors. So, this will probably be off to COMC at some point, unless someone can do some major damage to my wantlist.

But there you have it!

Wednesday 30 January 2019

One Card Only: How to Make a Manurelic Awesome

Easy: Make it a plastic/metal-ish thingy of a defunct ABA team!
Because it is encased, it doesn't scan too well. So, here's the back of the card. This is my second of these in my collection, joining a Mack Calvin that has a Carolina Cougars logo on it.

Tuesday 29 January 2019

2019 Adventures in Repacks - Part 4 - Suckered In!


About a month back, these repack boxes started gracing the shelves of the local Wally World.
Despite the large UD logo on it, this remains a repack product put out by the repack company, not UD. these They were a little costlier than the usual repack boxes, so I passed on them. I wanted to see a sample of what was inside, so watched a couple breaks on youtube. The reviews were dire at best. I opted to pass.

But I still couldn't resist taking one of them. Yegads I'm a sucker for repacks.
Here were the rookie and mystery card. They are both from boxed set releases.

As for the packs, they were.

2015 UD Series 1
2015 UD Series 2
2016 UD Team Canada Juniors
2016 Parkhurst
2016 UD Series 1
2017 Maple Leafs Centennial
2017 UD Series 1 (*2)
2017 UD Series 2

I think I got two hobby packs instead of the promised one with the Leafs and Team Canada pack. At least they weren't all MVP. The line-up was pretty typical of what I saw on the "Don't buy this" videos.

I'll just hit the highlights of the retail packs, going chronologically, and show everything in the hobby packs.
While I did hit a Young Guns card in the S1, it isn't the one that everybody wants to see. At least he's still in the league.
S2 also had a Young Guns card in it. Virtanen isn't the pull that he was back in 15-16, but it is still one of the better ones available.
The Team Canada pack did have a few keepers in it. There's a pair of cards that will be on their way to the mask binder. Fitzpatrick is a prospect in the Blues system at this point. There's a nice patriotic card of one HOFer in there, and I can't image Wickenheiser not being inducted at some point.
The Parkhurst pack had a parallel, a Sens card, and what was probably Subban's first card with the Preds.
The pack of '16 S1 was just a base card only pack, so I'll highlight the throwback jersey in the pack.
And a hit! And that's a pretty interesting one to get. Courtnall was one of the stars for the Leafs back in the 80s, prior to a puzzling (I'm being generous) trade to the Habs. There aren't too many certified autographs of his out there, as well. So, this might just make the purchase slightly less questionable that it was.
Finally, the 17/18 packs. I'm just grouping these all together because I'm lazy. There's YG card #3, and considering they generally fall 1:6, getting 3 of them is pretty good odds from 6 misc flagship packs. While the Canvas cards generally have better photos than the regular cards, there really isn't any indication of that in these two.

But there you have it. I did land an autograph, so this feels better than the breaks I saw, but still really not worth the inflated price.

Sunday 27 January 2019

Royal Rumble Blasters

I was going to pick up a blaster of the newest WWE release on the shelves at Walmart (which I think was Road to Wrestlemania, but don't quite remember), but these were discounted, and I figured a pair of them should land me the complete set.
There's a 50 card base set that comprises a mix of current and retired stars. The former are grouped together in the set based on the TV show they were most associated with at the time.
The legend's portion is interesting, as there were a few names I wouldn't expect to find in a 2017 release. Such as these three.
Here's a parallel of someone who I'm not surprised to find in the legend's portion of the set. This was the only one I got.
The other main cards in the box were sort of a year in review deal. Unsurprisingly, the NXT portion had lots of appearances by Bayley and Asuka.
There's a little more variety in the portion of the set devoted to the main shows.
As for the one-per-blaster hits, I got one of each. Lana didn't wrestle at Summerslam 2015, so I'm not sure why they opted to use a picture of her in her gear.
And an autograph. It isn't exactly a penmanship gem, but there aren't too many autograph of Tamina out there.

One thing, though.
You'd think they could narrow down her 'From:' a little more than this rather generic location.

But there you have it! If you're watching it, enjoy the Rumble!

Saturday 26 January 2019

2019 Adventures in Repacks - Part 3.2 - The First Baseball Repack

The other 40!
2017 A&G - Pedro Martinez - And we're off!
2016 Bowman - Julio Teheran
1990 Topps - Bob Boone
1992 Studio - Mike Sharperson
1992 Donruss - Scott Cooper
1989 Topps - Bill Long
1992 Topps - Devon White - Jays content! And a junk wax gem of a photo with the flying helmet.
1989 Topps - Wes Gardner
1990 Donruss - Howard Johnson - Mets content!
1989 Score - Gene Nelson
1994 Triple Play - Allen Watson
1989 Fleer - Charlie Lea - Until I pulled this, I'd completely blanked on the former Expos hurler having a brief comeback w/ the Twins.
2012 Topps - Scott Sizemore
2012 Topps - Erick Aybar
1992 Stad. Club - Eric Anthony
1989 Donruss - Milt Thompson
1990 Topps - John Hart
1990 Donruss - Tim Raines - Another Expos card.
1993 Topps - Brian Griffiths - This appears to have been his only big league level card. He never got beyond AA.
1985 Topps - Joe Lefebvre - It might be stereotypical, but "owner and operator of a florist shop" is not a back-of-card factoid I'd expect to see.
1996 Pinnacle - George Williams
1992 Score - Mike Maddux
1987 Donruss - Billy Jo Robidoux - A fun name to say out loud.
1988 Topps - Tom Brunansky
1989 Topps - Bobby Bonilla
1992 Topps - Tony Pena
2007 Fleer - Aaron Miller
2012 Archives - Ubaldo Jimenez
1989 Topps - Rick Rhoden
1992 Topps - Andres Galarraga - Another Expos appearance.
1989 Donruss - Von Hayes
1991 Score - Tony Gwynn
1991 Dtad. Club - Eric Yelding
1991 Score - Mark Williamson
1989 Fleer - Joe Hesketh - Yet another.
1989 Topps Traded - Clay Parker - Both sides provided me with a card from '89 Traded.
1992 Topps Gold - Kevin Morton - Much like cards from Traded sets, these parallels are also unexpected.
1990 ProCards - Carlos Garcia
1988 Sporting News/Conlon - Arky Vaughn - Not a true Conlon card, like we'd see in a few years, but this was still cool.
2010 Chrome - Chris Carpenter - And this ends it.

A typical group of cards over the past 80, but as long as there are a few interesting ones in said group, it will still be a fun, inexpensive break.

Friday 25 January 2019

2019 Adventures in Repacks - Part 3.1 - The First Baseball Repack

I know I haven't busted one of these in a bit, but they're still available at the Dollarama. So, here's one of them. I opted for this one since both sides had a retro themed card on the front, and a chrome card on the back. It's all about the contrasts.
2011 Heritage - Andres Torres - We're off!
1992 UD - Glenallen Hill
1989 Topps Traded - Mike Devereaux - I always find it strange to find cards from the traded sets in these repacks, especially the boxed ones.
1990 Topps - Kevin Elster - Mets content!
1989 Fleer Traded - Omar Vizquel - I think this is the third Omar rookie card I've pulled from one of these. I could do much worse.
1991 Score - Rondell White - Expos content!
1990 Fleer - Scott Radinsky
1992 Topps - Thomas Howard
1993 Leaf - Kevin McReynolds - I have to show the back of a 1993 Leaf card. Just a personal rule.
1992 Fleer - Mike Simms
1991 Topps - Jeff Kaiser
1991 Premier - Devon White - Jays content!
1994 UD SP - Danny Jackson
2008 UD - Jose Reyes - Met #2!
1992 Score - Mike Maddux
1996 Pinnacle - Eric Owens
1990 Donruss - Mike MacFarlane
1990 Topps - Bob Knepper
2008 Threads - John Raynor - It isn't as much a rule as with 1993 Leaf, but minor league uniforms in these should also warrant a scan. In this case, that's the uniform of the Greensboro Grasshoppers.
1989 Donruss - Dale Sveum
1998 Topps - Rafael Palmiero
1988 Pacific Cards & Comics Big League All-Stars Series 2 -  Kevin Seitzer - This might be the most obscure set I've found in one of these.
1990 Topps - Dennis Lamp
1992 Donruss - Luis Salazar
1991 Score - John Franco - Yet another Met! I'm sure I've got multiple of all 3, but it is the thought that counts.
2012 Topps - Chad Billingsley
2012 Topps - Mike Minor
1989 UD - Luis Aguayo
1992 Stad. Club - Brian Barnes - Another Expo.
1987 Topps - Charlie Liebrandt
1989 Donruss - Joel Skinner
1994 Topps - Tom Candiotti
1989 Topps - Terry McGriff
1993 UD - Eric King
1989 Topps - Alvin Davis
1990 Topps - Jim Clancy
1995 Score - Pedro Munoz - Fleer wasn't the only one with...interesting...mid 90s designs.
1992 Topps - Bret Barberie - The Expos also make 3 appearances.
2012 Topps - Adam Lind - Another Jays card! Only 2 for them, though.
2012 Chrome - Andre Ethier - Fin.

Only a few keepers beyond the team collection cards, but I really loved the obscure nature of the Seitzer. 40 more cards in the next post!