Where is the many-colored dome of the Sampo?

 Right here!

I couldn't pass on the chance for a second MST3K reference during Turkey Day weekend!

Sampo only appeared in a handful of games over three seasons, but has been back in Europe for the past couple years. That makes his autographs a nice price for getting a multi-colored Sampo.

People Say 'Rack' To Me A Lot. Why?

 

Because 'rack' is so much more entertaining to say than 'value'. Or 'fat'.

But here's a couple value packs.

It looks like team collation is also a major issue in these as well as in blasters. As for the photos, only the Walker and Clark (possibly the Berra) feel like Stadium Club cards. How do you make a dull Willie Mays card? Stadium Club found a way. I'm not sure why, but I'd love it for a photo of someone like Dave Parker, but it doesn't really work for Mays.

A /75 parallel can improve my feelings on a pack. If my reading of the odds are correct, these are 1:236 here. It's kinda nice how his stride works with the name portion of the design. 

I think this is a black foil parallel, given how darkened the background is. The various colours throughout this might be a little much, but at least they stand out as such. Still a pretty nice Darryl card for the Mets collection, though.

I'm wondering if all the other packs at that Wally World are also nothing but Red Foil parallels of Marlins.

Same collation issues with the parallels here. All the same team. 

Even Chrome'd up, Satchel Paige cards are always fun to pack pull.

While the collation was garbage, as it seems to be across the board, I can't hate anything where I get Strawberry and Paige.

As for the Ginter, I almost prefer getting consecutive cards of the same team as opposed to 4 consecutive non-MLB cards. Yes, I know Radom has designed logos and his card features one. Yes, Usain Bolt and Tim Robinson cards are pretty cool. But still.

I guess the "packs with special insert may contain less" cards" has reared its head here, as my looking for Autograph or Relic cards did result in finding one. But, since this is a Tigers one, I won't be keeping it and have set it aside for a future TMV mailer.

Minis! Although I really fail to see why a set like this would have retro-themed inserts beyond the base card design itself.

SP! Yay?

And some full-sized inserts. 

The collation might not have been the best in either pack, but at least both landed me an interesting pull or three.

There you have it!

2024 Score Box Break - Packs 2, 3 and 4

 Back to the box I picked up at the Expo.

Pack 2:

I absolutely love the inclusion of nicknames on cards. Please let Sauce be a start of something great. Or at least a return to the days of Rock Raines and Doc Gooden.

For the best photo out of these three packs, I can't vote against the always fun theme of a defensive player with the ball. He did get a pair of TDs over his career, so if this comes from one of those games, even better. It doesn't look like anybody is close enough to stop him.

Even with a couple surprising names like Lloyd and Moore among the legends portion of this set, I doubt there will be any more unexpected than seeing a Johnny Manziel card with him as Cleveland Brown in a 2024 set. As an Aggie, I can still see it, because of his on-field success there. 

I still kinda want an auto of his for S&G. Like when I decided to get a JaMarcus Russell.

There seems to be one base parallel per pack. Here's my second Scorecard, 2 packs in.

Selecting Aaron Rodgers as The Franchise for the Jets seems like another way to laugh at the Jets.

And my first auto. It might not be aesthetically much, but is an always popular (at least with weirdos like me) OL guy appearance. But he did go 7th overall, so it's actually a card of a pretty good prospect. 

Pack 3:

The best thing about the legends portion is that the helmet used with the design matches the one used in the photograph. As do the border colours.

Warren Moon as a Seahawk? There's at least three other teams I'd picture him with before Seattle. Even if there is no chance of there being an Edmonton card in this product, I'd at least have him with Houston or Minnesota before Seattle.

Kicker card! Again, contrast how the design changes between the two cards.

His actual first name is Demeioun. Going with Chop is a much better choice, but I'd say that for about 99 percent of names when comparing them to Chop.

The first numbered parallel. Color matches are always nice.

They were kind enough to include two 'The Franchise' cards in this. Given some of his comments this past weekend, this makes it feel like these are two straight packs where a card seems to be a finger in the eye to fans of the New York teams, even if neither was originally intended as such.

Pack 4:

Nothing too interesting among the base cards here, but there was one of those Indiana Nights alternate uniforms sported by the Colts.

Kicker card for the numbered parallel!

I can't see myself not going for the rest of the Men of Canton insert at this point.

Auto #2! Wilson went in the sixth round to the Eagles. A late pick, but he does have 1 more TD this season than I've picked up. I'll put this Eagles card away for a future mailer to Kerry, but I do feel I have to point out that there is probably a better one coming up in a future post as I work my way through the box.

There you have it!

2024 Adventures in Repacks - Part 33 - Back to it with Baseball

 I'm returning to repacks with one of these:

It's hard to have a more topical start than with someone who just picked up another World Series ring.

Expos content in the opener, at least halfway to it. The Edwin Nunez card is from Update set, cards that always seem surprising as repack portions. 

Maybe returning cartoons to the back of cards wasn't the best idea. Couldn't they just have a guy holding a Japanese flag instead of Stereotype 101?

DIII! Not quite Sportflics, but close enough for the purposes of this post. Seeing anything where David Wells is called 'Dave' on the cards is strange. He has his own hands, but doesn't come from a different mom. 

And here's your hit. A Blue Jays base card is followed up with a Jays auto. A nice shiny refractor one as well. Julian moved on to the Cubs in 2023. Injuries caused him to miss most of last season, but he looks to be back next year. 

The Tale of 2 Players card's tale is that they both started as Expos. Does this mean that this is a new Expos card? Nope. James Sass is probably the most interesting name I'll come across in these repacks.

First card is a 2024 World Series ring recipient. So is the last one. Nice!

And there you have it!

Why should I change? He's the one who sucks.

 

Still, if I were him, I'd use an assumed name on road trips to Cleveland.

A Milestone

 

What better way to celebrate your 1000th game than a custom jersey for the warm-up?

Other than actually being allowed to wear it during the game.

Also, these 2022 Extended cards will probably be the last of his career as an active player. Which as a finale photo for a player are actually kinda great.

There you have it!

Everything Football (Almost) - Expo Post #6

 The run of Expo posts draws to a close as I kinda, sorta wrap things up with football content.

I love cards with a weather element to the photo. For football, that usually means precipitation. But not always. Of course, this is Stadium Club, so no matter what the sport, the photo is going to be an interesting one.

Because the reverse of this card describes this as coming from the Ice Bowl. -40 is where the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales are equal. So by either measure, that translates to really, really cold.

Another Stadium Club entry. This is proof that another player can take up more of the photo, and it still being an interesting one. 

Even after adding his autograph, I still look for Robert Smith newness for my MST3K collection. While neither this card or the auto counts towards this, they count as bonuses towards all the RRParks MST cards.

HOF Bill content!

And one more. This is from the (fairly) recent Topps Composite release. It was unlicensed, but was loaded with legends, alongside a few 2023 rookie QBs. It covered a bunch of sets, to really give a Chronicles vibe. If I could have found a box at the show for a reasonable deal, I probably would have gone for one. Alas, I'll stick to singles. At least with that, I don't end up with a small stack of Will Levis cards.

That's it for singles. But I also got this:

So, there's a lot more football stuff to go!

I'll start with the first of those 10 packs.

I won't be doing this for the next 9, whenever I get to them, but here's everything this time around.

Bijan Robnson is my first pack-pulled card.

Two cards in, and Njoku provides the first interesting photo. Check out those determined eyes and the straight-ahead focus. If you're going to include legends for every team, having a brief history is how Mark Brunell gets in. Of course, the 2/14 collector in my wants some David Garrard. 

A (Hall of Fame) kicker card and a throwback uniform? More of this, please! Even if that Stenerud photo has been re-used several times recently. Then again, how many vintage photos of a kicker does Panini have access to? They can't have that excuse with the Dickerson.

I love how close Keyshawn's photo is cropped on his card. For a pose like that, it just works.

The base pack finale is all rookies. I prefer the collegiate uniforms, where applicable, to the cheesy photoshopping into new jerseys that plagues Bowman baseball draft releases. 

Each pack also contained 5 inserts/parallels.

The first inserts. A couple flashbacks to some early 90s inserts with reasonable Hot Card and Franchise tributes. But they don't compete with Men of Canton. That is the perfect way to salute Hall of Famers with a double image of them as an active player, and at the ceremony. Easily the insert set I'd most like to try and complete. 

Just a boring Scoreboard parallel in this, but things will pick up with some more colorful and numbered parallels in future packs.

And there you have it!