Sleepy Me

 I'm not feeling too verbose today, so here is a scanner bed filled with Kitchener Rangers alum from my too-be-posted box.

And all really cheap courtesy of e-pack stuff sent to COMC. Only the numbered Meireles was more than 50 cents. 

There you have it!

2025 Adventures in Repacks - Part 20 - Just One Repack

Just a Monday repack purchase for a Friday post.

No supplies this time!

A Kitchener Rangers alum in Brian Bellows highlights the 5-card pack, even though its likely a dupe. I really need to spend some time entering that collection into TCDB.

When I busted this pack on Monday, I thought that it was a surprise that Mogilny still had not been inducted in the Hocky Hall of Fame. Hours later, it happened. Did I will it into existence? 

Of course not, what is wrong with you?

We also go to a time where the photo on the back might be more interesting than the one on the front. 

My Canadian team pack was a Habs one. In a surprising appearance, there's a parallel in this group. The Audette is a red one. I never expect to see a parallel pop up randomly during these, even a fairly common one. 

The 2020s pack ends it. At least they all were not from the same set. That's the only positive I get from a boring grouping.

A few keepers, some interesting timing, which I guess makes it a fine way to drop a few bucks that could have been spent on knock-off Mars bars.

There you have it!

Twice the Football

 Another 2/14 show-off, and I'm going to double up by highlighting football in both the gridiron, and the rest-of-the-world sense.

Usually, I'll lead with new additions to the collection. But for any card, or sticker in this case, that combines a pair of 2/14 babies on the same item, I make an exception. I do have several of these in my collection, but this might be the first one where they're also teammates on the card. The closest I can recall is the Jeff Dellenbach where he's snapping the ball to Drew Bledsoe, but that isn't really a Bledsoe card.

Since this is a card about St. Petersburg and not Paris, I'll accept that the included cityscape photo is the former and not the latter.

Different cards, but another Angel/Edinson combo on this pair of Donruss entries.

Facts on the back! In terms of back-of-the-card factoids, Angel's is so much more interesting than Edinson's.

Now for the new faces, here's one. Soo's only appearance was in sticker form in 2010 World Cup sets. 

And now, my first soccer hit! Although I do have some numbered cards in the collection, this is the first that either includes a relic or auto. You gotta start somewhere to expand the sparsest sport, volume-wise, of the collection. A two-colour (or shade) swatch is a fine way to start.

Switching across the pond, here's an older and a more recent Drew Bledsoe entry. That 1995 Fleer is one I'm amazed I didn't have already, given my love for all things garish.

Acetate! Sadly, McNair didn't get a rookie card in 1995 Fleer. I was kinda interested in what design they would saddle the rookies with.

I guess inserts are allowed to get away with a being a little out there in terms of concept. Especially now a design like this seems out there, since all that rain and lightning would get the stands emptied out and the players sent to the locker room. 

To wrap things up, here's the card with the lowest print run of the post.

I guess even making the playoffs was worthy enough to earn a card in Instant, even if only 76 people thought it worthy of getting the card. But 76 does seem like an appropriate print run for a player on a Philadelphia team.

And there you have it!

Both Sides

 Since my previous post was very OKC Thunder intensive, based on the 2 Chronicles packs. So, to make things even in the run-up to Game 7, here's an Indiana Pacers card (sorta).

I mean, he's on the Pacers, even if not on this card. Plus there's a swatch that several people would probably consider substantial. Nembhard can also fit into my 'Canadians in the NBA' mini-collection, so I can fit in a collection and make it topical. 

And, no matter the result of the game, there will be two Canadians picking up a pretty sweet ring out of the result. Nembhard and Mathurin or Dort and Gilgeous-Alexander.

The back is worthy of showing off as well, for no other reason than the Gonzaga logo.

There you have it!

Always Room for Chronicles

And there's even more room for discounted Chronicles. 

I picked up some baseball as well, but with the finals on as I write this, it seems more appropriate to do this. There's a couple finalists on the pack, with Mathurin being obvious. Jalen Williams is also there, albeit hidden by the sticker.

And speaking of Williams, here's a couple cards of Williams - one Jalen and one Jaylin. I would really love seeing Luminance come to basketball as a standalone set to bring some more full-bleed content to collections. Photogenic is nice, but you can never have too much full-bleed.

It's a Jalen Williams hot pack! He makes his second appearance here on one of the two teal parallels in the pack. Just the foil portion gets the treatment, so it isn't exactly easy to differentiate between that. Fortunately the Duran is far easier to see its a parallel. I'll be revisiting the two Classics entries after the second pack to show off the Facts on the Back as a group.

Pack 2 brings the only Raptors content of the packs - a Koloko dupe.

But I prefer getting dupes of cards I'd had long(ish) ago, to getting dupes from the previous pack. But a second Teal parallel of Jalen Williams also arrives at the right time. And it contrasts nicely with the base card in the previous pack. Also, 8 Thunder cards over two packs. These definitely would have been better received in Oklahoma vs. Ontario. 

Also: All three Teal parallels were of someone named Jalen.

Finally, the Classics factoids. Stats are nice, but Branham's love for non-specific breakfast food is more interesting.

And there you have it!

Better Days

The last time I did one of these 2/14 event posts, things got dark. With those events being the Death of James Cook and St. Valentine's Day Massacre it would be expected to do so. So, with these two events, things will get a little more upbeat.

I just decided to search COMC for "Feb 14", and had two cards and parallels that fit the bill. "February 14" also brought up some Crash the Game entries, but I don't know if I want to count those. But this celebratory trip to the White House does break a two-card streak of depressing events.

Unless you're Mr. Death Glare here.

What negative could I possibly have with this card commemorated Sidney Crosby becoming the all-time points leader from Nova Scotia?

He moved past Kitchener Rangers alum Al MacInnis for the lead.

I guess darkness is where you look for it.

There you have it!

2025 Adventures in Repacks - Part 19.4 - A Week's Worth

 All that's left is the baseball repack.

And it is this one. Going solely by photos on the visible card, this would be the baseball one I was most likely to pull off the hangers at the store.

A very Texas start to the pack, followed up by Expos content. The slight shading with Rowand's card makes it seem like it might be a parallel, but it isn't. UD just used team colours for the background in the set. That's always a nice choice. A drawn card is a good enough way to end the first batch of cards.

Any appearance of Nolan Ryan makes for a good repack. Honorable mention to a nice knuckleball card and a minor league entry.

There's the hit! I'll ignore his 1-9 record so far this season, and just say that his ERA and WHIP don't seem too far off from his usual performances, so things have to get better at some point when the Pirates send him out.

The differently-coloured Chili Davis card comes from the Opening Day box set. The Alou Gold Label is Class 2 parallel. That's definitely an unexpected parallel. The Whitson DK looks somewhat reserved for one of those entries, yet when you look closely at it, it still brings some nice garishness.

Yadi? That's a very solid finale!

Another perfectly fine repack to end the week's worth of them.

There you have it!

2025 Adventures in Repacks - Part 19.3 - A Week's Worth

 Back to my stack of unopened repacks, and the football version.

A defensive opening.

Ooo! A parallel to start. That's followed up with a player I had absolutely no memory of. Cantwell was undrafted, and never got into a game. That's the exact same level of NFL experience 2/14 collection member Christian Hackenberg, without anyone wasting a 2nd rounder on him. Fleer Tradition provides a nice colorful design.

Defensive player with the ball! With the bonus being the disappointed intended receiver. It does make it easy to trace the game to 11/29/92, where Fulcher got that pick. It was probably the game highlight for the Bengals, who saw their QB sacked 10 times. And I can find the actual play on youtube to learn that it was Pittsburgh's #33, Merrill Hoge, that was said disappointed recipient.

Here's the hit. It looks like he tried to turn the Double S in his first and last name into dollar signs, which might not count for the penmanship binder, but is still interesting to me. He was a 7th round pick, yet did stay in the league for 4 years, which was probably better than many drafted in that round.

Pro sports has, at least in North America, had a lot of Steve Smiths show up. He's the 5th I can think of in football, basketball or hockey. If only the Red Green guy got a card, then I'd really have a chase. 2014 Prestige's use of the team logo and colours makes it one of my favourite "wiped backgrounds" designs.

Carson Palmer spent 5 seasons with the Cardinals. Yet I find it impossible to think of him playing for any other team but the Bengals. 

If a photo on a card gets me looking to see if there's video of the actual play depicted on it, that's enough for me to give a thumbs up to this particular repack.

There you have it!

2025 Adventures in Repacks - Part 19.2 - A Week's Worth

 

Basketball today - and it starts with what might be my first Butler Bulldogs card.

And it is followed up with what is certainly my first card featuring the 6th Man trophy. And that won't be the only appearance of a trophy in this repack.

Nothing too interesting here in this grouping, other than a derpy face on Laimbeer. But one of these cards does have an interesting card back.

It shows off a map
of Williams' journey to the NBA. Sadly, for players with journeys that started outside this continent, their homelands aren't mapped out, just a plane that seems to come from the side of the card. And I do wonder where the hell they think Italy was in comparison to North America. 

The hit! Not just a promised jersey or promised auto, but both! It's also numbered /583, which is definitely odd, but odd enough to make a card a little more interesting that your usual rookie auto/relic.

WNBA content! I love that randomness. Also, I told you'd be seeing more trophy content in this post. There's a historic one!

And the more familiar trophy to modern audiences is on the back. Skybox really did a wonderful job of filling out a large set of comparatively smaller rosters with interesting content.

And your finale. With some of the earlier base cards, it isn't the most interesting way to wrap things up.

The trophy cards, the WNBA card and Williams' journey were more interesting to me than the hit. This isn't the first time that happened with these in any sport, though.

There you have it!