2024 Adventures in Repacks - Part 22

 

The finale from the last shipment of repacks. Restock time! Opening with Frank Gore with one of the 17 teams he played with during his 31 year career.

Looking behind Gore, that Brunell is somewhat of a surprising entry as a base card in a set. But I guess if you're going for franchise history with Jacksonville, it really feels like it will have to be either Brunell or Fred Taylor. Bills content! Otto Graham brings some far more interesting history with his appearance. Also, an OL appearance.

That's followed up with an amazing base card entry from Pro Set's attempt at an upper-tier release with Platinum. A great sequence of shots, with it dated to a specific play that is described in detail. 

Here's another card game dated, but a guy just standing around during an eventual loss really doesn't grab you the same way as the first does. Even then, the game actually took place on 11/26, as per research I did on a previous card I wanted to game-date. But we do get another OL appearance, and a great use of a horizontal format of a running back breaking through a hole.

Why not have a third game-dated card in this? While the photo isn't necessarily from the listed date, this time it is the relic that is linked to a specific date.

And this one also includes a write-up, and one far more flattering than the one on the Chuck Smith. He didn't reach the 100 yard mark, but 2 TDs in a victory is certainly worth highlighting. At least Washington won respectably, and didn't get splattered on the game referenced.

The Maclin was the finale in this. Pretty blah for the final portion, but a pair of kicker cards elevate it to semi-greatness.

There you have it!

Rugby's Second! Or First?

My second rugby addition to the 2/14 collection, joining Zinzan Brooke. He's the first true rugby card though, as Brooke's was a Sportkings entry. 

Thankfully, Faron Anderson passed the google test to become the first true rugby card in the collection.

The google test being "Does he show up as having done horrible, loathsome acts on the first page".

For not being a scumbag, that deserves to have the back shown off as well! Perfect year as well! And probably the first appearance of the word pacy.

There you have it!

I Have an Excuse

 Earlier this month, when I recapped a blaster of WWE Chronicles, I had no explanation as to why I didn't do it before or the weekend of Summerslam. As for this:

I threw this into the cart yesterday morning at Wally World.

Here's the base cards. At least there's a speckled element to the design, so these chrome cards aren't quite as bad for showing off every speck of dust on the scanner. Or I can just blame the design. Scorpio Sky is a really fun wrestling name.

Parallel time! These Rainbow Red parallels fall 1:12 packs in these retail packs. In an interesting coincidence of collation, the only other pack I busted of this also contained a Jade Cargill parallel, that being a table variety which are easier pulls in this, but are also retail exclusive and not in e-packs. Which do I like better? Given the flashiness of Jade's look, probably this one.

Parallel #2 to wrap up the pack. These Orange Slice parallels are 1:24 in this, and it is the perfect time to get this coming off his win on Saturday.  Also with this, the arm position works perfectly with the die-cut here. Including a die-cut on a parallel with Slice in the name? Also perfection! 

There you have it!

Forgotten Packs - Part 3

 More packs that were long ago set aside, that I'm finally posting.

I have no idea why it took so long to get to something like 2007 Bowman Heritage - but it did!

That Mets card is spectacular. The Ferris wheel in the background really plays into the prospect feel you get from a Bowman release, since that's the Wonder Wheel in Brooklyn - home of the Mets' minor league Cyclones. Despite the Ferris Wheel's inventor, George Ferris, being a 2/14 baby, and that I have a couple A&G cards featuring it in my 2/14 collection, that card will not count.

Also, Joe Crede and Carlos Lee have nice facsimile sigs.

For those that want to play a game of matching the photo/sig to the player, here's the backs of the cards of all the players in the pack without printed names on the front.

Franchise Flashbacks, an insert set devoted to retro uniforms, was one of only a handful of insert sets I just had to complete. Fortunately, it was in a super low-end set like Opening Day. Aside from that, pretty boring pack.

Now a drawn set - that's definitely more my speed.  With Bregman and Bellinger, there's some pretty good rookie content here. Jesse Winker was a Mets hero earlier in the week, but it is still somewhat disappointing to find so much rookie content in a set that could have had really fun veteran content over a limited base set.

But that Yount is spectacular.

With it, the Smith in Heritage and the Rizzo in Opening Day, at least all the packs had at least one interesting card.

There you have it!

I Can't be Trusted with Money

 Or at least COMC credit. 

I bought this. I wasn't a fan of the show, so I have no explanation as to why.

I feel that Norman Fell is judging me for doing so.

Imagine what Mr. Roper would think if he knew I added this to my inventory yesterday.

2020 Topps Chrome Box Break

What? It wasn't too expensive - let's look for some shininess.

But first, some interesting photos and a big name. Moncada also provides the card that works the best with the design. 

The only Mets content was base content. Better than nothing! 

Here's the base refractors. That Demeritte looks even nicer with him rocking the alternate jersey on a shiny card. In fact, all three of the horizontal cards rock with some great photos.

The Prism ones. Nothing too exciting in these versions, but I guess the Springer is the most unique in the photographic sense. 

My only numbered parallel. Even if it isn't a team colour match, the green wave parallels work with the green of the Wrigley ivy behind the visiting team. This one is /99.

The inserts. The big winner here is easily that die-cut Aaron. The alternate uniform of Hoskins is the closest to dethroning it, but close is more like distant second to the winner.

I may not have gotten a team color match for the one parallel, but I certainly got one for the first of the autographs. Even if it isn't a huge name, it is aesthetically pleasing. 

As for auto #2.

Womp. Womp.

If this had been live, I would have sent it to Night Owl. I'll probably still do so - maybe there will be better luck in turning this into something on that side of the border.

But there you have it!

New to the Penmanship Collection

 Three new additions to the penmanship binder.

To be honest, I probably would have bought this even with an illegible signature because of the logo. UT-Chattanooga ditched the native logo for the Moccasins in the mid 90s, and adopted the Mockingbird as their mascot, which was a way to keep the nickname of Mocs in a different manner. Having it as the engineer on a Chattanooga Choo Choo? Magnificent! 

They now use a generic, bland block 'C' as their primary logo. Because we don't deserve nice things.

It's SAGE, so no need for any logo here. Darren Grainger didn't get a lot of cards out of his collegiate career, so he really makes the ones he did get stand out with nicely legible cursive. The last I checked, he was on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers roster, so maybe he can talk handwriting with another binder member - Brandon Alexander.

Let's make it a three-sport post and end it with someone who had the most professional success of the group (at least so far), with a former Rule 5 pick who spent 5 seasons in the majors. He might go off the sticker with his auto, but I love how he loops around the lower case n to cross his t. Efficiency to go with legibility!

There you have it!

Your 2024 Donruss Mets

 A whole bunch of group break Mets.

There are definite differences between various teams in this. In comparison, the Jays had zero content in the veterans portion of the base set. The Mets got 7. I'm not sure how Alvarez still counts towards this set given licensing issues. Maybe he signed an individual contract? Either way, getting a Bobby Valentine card in 2024 is amazingly great.

And in comparison to 2 for the Jays, the Mets have 6 cards in the higher number Rated Prospect portion of the set. 

Optic parallels are mixed in with regular Donruss this year. Here's a nice selection of them. I'd complain that I wanted to get a Bobby Valentine here...

But I ended up with a trio of shiny parallels of his. 2 silver base and one Optic holo. And that's it for unnumbered parallels.

As for the numbered variety:

Here's Colin Houck in purple form.

And in Pink Velocity as well.

Joining those is an autographed parallel, meaning this break almost doubled the Houck portion of the collection to 9 total - all Panini issues.

Everything so far has been a parallel, even the auto. So, finally I get to show off an insert. Again, I have no idea how Alvarez still qualifies for an unlicensed set, but I'll just assume some lawyer signed off on it. 

But there you have it!

2024 Adventures in Repacks - Part 21 - Back to the Repack Mines

 It's been over a month since I busted something officially repack related, so I'll remedy that from the Dollarama.

Here's the contents - that 10 card box was the perfect size to hold the mascot relic out of Pro Debut that I posted not that long ago.

Perfectly fine start. I like it when a (relatively) recent grouping includes more cards that aren't flagship. Even if the design/font choices make the name a little challenging to read on the front.

There's nothing but flagship in the (new to me) 2020s pack. But I get a couple anniversary patches, and the Mike Smith gives a nice look at his mask where he enhanced a pretty generic design with the oil derrick down the middle.

The 90s pack was the expected junk wax entry, but in a quest for something interesting, I'm going to highlight the LaFrance. They tried to include a second photo on the back, so what to do when they only have one photo available? 

Just use a cropped photo of a jersey.

It is more interesting than a re-used photo, at least.

There you have it!

Whoops!

 I forgot to include some base/inserts/parallels of Blue Jays received in my Night Owl recap post from last week. And they were right there in my 'Scans' folder.

So here they are now!

Forgetting about a Diamond King card?

What was wrong with me?

One Week Late

 

You'd think Summerslam weekend would be the perfect time to post a WWE blaster. You'd also be forgetting that I'm a complete idiot and rarely plan things. But better late than holding off until next year's Wrestlemania.

Pack 1:

The bronze parallels, in this case the Rodriguez, fall one-per-pack. That's an easy way to get to an average of nine parallels per blaster. Getting the same person more than once in a pack isn't a rare occurrence in Chronicles, but I assume it is a little rarer in the WWE release. It is also interesting to see Rollins and Lynch appear back-to-back.

Pack 2:

It's a little harder to see here, but Kofi Kingston is the bronze parallel. That's a lot of base designs here. Golden Age makes its debut in Chronicles, and given how the new baseball releases does include a lot of retired players mixing in with the prospects, I'm surprised it wasn't done there. Like with Classics, that entire portion of the list contains retired legends.

Pack 3:

There's the first cover boy to make an appearance with Bron Breaker. Given that there are women as part of the subset, they can't really call it some variation on Kings, so the Eddy Guerrero card is a Ring Rulers. Faarooq is the first non-bronze parallel, being the Silver Wave version. 

Pack 4:

There's the only numbered parallel in the box. It is also the last non-Bronze one, meaning I only landed 8 as opposed to the promised 9. 'On Average' rears its head.

Pack 5:

There's the second cover boy, with the bronze parallel of Rey to start it off. I still have a challenge not spelling his ring name as Rey Misterio Jr, since I was familiarized with that watching lucha broadcasts from Mexico before he started working regularly in the US. Ditto for Eddy as opposed to Eddie Guerrero. 

Pack 6:

I'd prefer to see a different photo used for the second one, but Illusions really adapts the best to the bronze parallels with background making it very obvious. I may not have got a card of the Rock here, but I did get a card of his daughter in Ava. She's really, really green at this point, but so was The Blue Chipper, Rocky Maivia when he debuted.

There you have it!