12/25 with the Raptors

Although today's NBA schedule doesn't include a Raptors game, I can still use this as an opportunity to keep the theme going by showing off Raptors cards from several sources - trades, COMC, Listia, group breaks and the local card show.

Tomorrow is Boxing Day in Canada. Sales-wise, this is basically Black Friday. Last year, Panini had Boxing Day packs for 12-26. Nothing this year, but Terrence Ross was part of last's release, and the only Raptor in the base set.

My goal to get at least one card from everyone who had one issued as a Raptor gained two new faces, both zero year cards (tm. Nick @ Dime Boxes), of guys who got cards where they were listed as a Raptor, but never played a game for the team. In fact, Tyson only played one more NBA game than I have. Nut that little 'Toronto' font in the upper corner is enough for me.

Alonzo Mourning was part of the Vince Carter deal. He didn't report to the team and was bought out. This trade was easily the worst move of the Rob Babcock GM era for the team. That includes drafting Rafael Araujo. As best my COMCing can tell, this was the only card where Mourning was listed as a Raptor.

Speaking of Vince Carter, here is a nice shiny card of his. It has a rather trippy bulls-eye theme for its background. That fits a basketball theme rather nicely.

This card, from the Treads subset in Past & Present has a slight textured feel to it.

Black and white photo for a retro set = good. Chrome = not so retro.

A group break knocked off the entire team base set out of the new Prizm set. The base players in Hoops also showed up here, along with James Johnson, Norman Powell, and the additional Lowry cards.

Shiny Silver Prizms!

Shiny Purple Prizms! Both of these are /99, and the lowest numbered hits I picked up. The Biyombo is a re-used photo(shop) from Hoops.

Only one Raptors base card from the Prestige box, but I really do like the design with no borders and a full-bleed in-game photo. It is a shame this is a Target only release, since I could see myself busting a blaster or two.

This /199 Norman Powell was the other card. Rookies get this design, which isn't too bad since there were no in-game photos available for this set. You do get a nice shot of the new logo though.

Some college themed cards also came my way. Of course these are Raptors cards for the Raptors binder! Why wouldn't they be?

And finally, it wraps up with a dual relic from Listia. This one was numbered 49/49, but I note that seller didn't put this up as a "Listia 1/1?"

And there you have a Christmas post.

Listia Randomness

I keep trying to work my way through my Listia credits, but still have about 14K left. Eventually, they'll be at zero, or close enough for buying purposes.

But, the meantime, I'll add some cards to my various PCs.

This is my favourite out of the bunch, an on-card autograph of Amir Johnson. It comes from Court Kings, a set I love for its Dick Perez-ish garish backgrounds that give me a flashback to the Diamond Kings of the 80s. I don't know if Amir will be a Raptor come the beginning of the 2015-16 season, but this will still have a welcome home in my Raptors binder. And that's all that matters.

There are two Rogie Vachon relic cards in this set. One features his famous double crowns Los Angeles Kings. The other is this one. I'd be disappointed, but this one has him on the Bruins, so I can add this to my collection of them, which is nice considering there are not a lot of cards out there with him on the Bruins. There is no indication of which jersey in particular this swatch from, but I'll just pretend that it is a Bruins uni. At least the swatch matches the photo.

And finally, a manu patch for my Expos collection. Interestingly, the swirl portion of the card with the names on it as die-cut cardboard, even though those portions still appear on the patch.

And there you have it. 3 different types of hits. It is like I opened a Jumbo Box of Series 2.

I Might Be Too Trusting

But I think I'm pretty safe picking up this addition to my 2/14 collection.

After all, who would:

a) Forge an autograph of Walt Poddubny?
b) Then sell it on Listia for 500 credits?

Too Many Alfredssons

I might have gone a little overboard when it comes to picking up fresh Alfredssons for that binder, adding cards from COMC, Sportlots and even listia. But, no matter what the Alfie, they're all binder-worthy.

Whether it is a Swedish card where he is a "Svenska Superstarnor",

pictured as a Red Wing,

a sticker,

a rookie,

well-protected,

foily,

chrome-y,

with a garish background,

free with pizza,

or Pepsi,

or if I just added this card since I picked up one of the plates used to make it and I just wanted completeness.

They're all welcome additions:

As are these.

These.

And these.

Yeah. I might have overdid it a bit.

If I'm going to dump all my Listia credits on a single card...

This was a pretty good option.

And it is numbered to #50 as well.

My only complaint is that the card came in a screw-down container. Which isn't a bad thing, except that the screw was stripped. I finally got the bloody(1) thing open and moved into a top loader, and it will move into a magnetic once I head to the LCS.

(1) Literally. I cut myself several times trying to crack my way into it. My fingers look like Dusty Rhodes' forehead. if you weeeeell!

Good Things come in Small Envelopes

There were a good number of packages coming into my abode over the past week or so. While some will have to be spread out over multiple trade posts, some won't. In fact, I can combine 4 of them into one post as I highlight 4 cards I picked up. 2 from ebay, 2 from listia.

First up is this addition to the 2/14 binder, picked up on ebay, again as part of the turnaround from that Sundin relic. I figured that since he was a quarterback, Wenning would make it into some set just so they can have a card of him if the injury bug hits Baltimore. I'm surprised it took this long to get it, but he finally appeared on a card with the Ravens in Crown Royale. The picture is set in front of a separate silver background. So it is somewhat of a silhouette. But not quite. Still, it is my first hit of his and my second card overall, joining an Upper Deck base card.

I saw someone that had some 99 cent short prints out of O-Pee-Chee, so I grabbed a few of those for the set build. And when looking for something to add with the combined shipping, I came across this card of 2/14 baby and Kitchener Rangers alumni Boris Valabik. This is my first non-Thrashers card of his. There was also some set building cards in this envelope, as my wantlist for this year's OPC set continues to be reduced.

And staying with the theme of Rangers alumni, here's another one. While the Valabik is destined for the 2/14 collection, this one will be added to the alumni collection. This Topps issue is my second card of his. Although I probably overpaid in terms of Listia credits, I'm trying to unload them anyhow and didn't really care.

Ditto for this one in terms of overpayment, but this is my second Desert Shield card, and my first that actually hits one of my PCs.

3 Lisita Envelopes. 3 cards.

First and foremost, I've got my 1994 Collector's Choice blog up and running and a little more filled, having covered 3 cards. I'm stuck in the pretty bland photography of the rookie portion now, but that is the peril of a numerical card by card go through of a set. Check it out!

And now, back to my never-ending quest to unload my listia credits.

At shows, I'll often take a look through cheapo bins that contain the UD Canvas cards, since the photography choices on these often tends to be more interesting than the base cards. I've never seen this one, because I certainly would have grabbed it. This is the type of card that my mask binder was meant for.

I pulled one of the LA Kings version of this from a retail pack, and kinda wanted to add one from my second favourite team. I was probably going to look for one during the Black Friday sales, but this one seemed to be a better option when you're trying to unload credits.

And here's a relic/sticker-auto of a one season Blue Jay. Because why not?

Envelope Catch Up - Part #1

Time to catch up on some of the envelopes that have shown up over the past couple weekdays. Starting off, a sportlots envelope and a listia envleope.

Let's start with a base card I was expecting, and one that, more importantly, knocks the wantlist for the set down to just the Pedro Alvarez. I was hoping to put the final card into the binder before Minors dropped next week, but it looks like that won't happen, unless a PWE appears out of nowhere early next week.

The remainder of this envelope knocked three of my top 10 most wanter cards off the list. First up, a card I came across doing the challenges at COMC, added to my watchlist there, only to discover that there weren't any of this card there. Still, I kept my eyes peeled for it, and when I saw it as part of the same seller's inventory at sportlots, I added it. I only wish the logo on the batting helmet could have matched the throwback uniform.

I won't pretend to have heard of Eric Crozier. But, when you're building a Frankenset with every Blue Jay ever, even someone with only one card and 14 games to his credit. Eric did get some prospect cards during his days with the Indians, but this is his only one that features him in a MLB game. Pretty good photo for your only official card as well.

But, 14 games is a lengthy stint compared to Garth Joseph. Garth is the only NBA player born in Dominica in league history, and his NBA career lasted 4 games. 2 in Toronto and 2 in Denver. But, like with the Jays, when I'm looking for one card of anybody who had one as a Raptor, he still counts. Like with Crozier, this card, and any associated parallels, was his only card as a big leaguer.

And finally, a Listia envelope. In the past, I chased down a Fat Lever auto simply because I loved his penmanship. But, that was a sticker graph, so when a few thousand listia credits stood between bme and this, it was easy to pull the trigger on. He still has an easily readable signature, and it is joined with a nice classic dark blue Nuggets swatch.

Tomorrow, I start working through a couple trade envelopes.

Happy Big 0-5, Listia!

Two posts today? Sure thing! It wasn't until seeing posts at Nachos Grande and Baseball Card Breakdown that I remembered that today was their 5th birthday, and that this was as good a time as any to post 2 great autos I've picked up from there.

It has been pretty good to me. I've managed to add Omar Vizquel's only card where he's pictured as a Blue Jay, been amazed at ineptitude of someone's postal service, and gotten not one, but two cards with a pair of 2.14 babies pictured on them.

Both this one, and the one to follow went for about 10000 credits each. I'd accumulated a lot dumping some of my hockey hits, so this was as good a time as any to utilize them, and get a pair of on-card autographs in return. While Reeves isn't a major name, he is an important name in Canada's basketball history, as the first ever pick of the Vancouver Grizzlies. Every NBA game, totaling almost 400, he played was in a Vancouver uniform. Best of all, it is a nice, large, legible autograph which included his nickname and his number.

And the second card?

Just another nice, legible on-card autograph of a Hall of Famer numbered to /99. Nothing much.

For penmanship wars, I'll call it a draw. While Rice's is better overall, Reeves is consistent over a longer signature.

2/14 binder perfection

In this case, 2/14 baby Jeff Dellenbach snapping the ball to fellow 2/14 baby Drew Bledsoe. I like this one almost as much as I like my dual relic of Hejduk and Gaborik. All for only 54 Listia credits. I've finally burned through all of them, and still have a pair of on-card autos to show for it, and that I'll show off over the next week or so.

This is my 4th card of Dellenbach. Despite being the all-time leader for 2/14 guys in games played, this puts me only a 1990 Fleer away from completing his cardboard run.

2 envelopes. 2 cards.

One via a zistle trade, the other via listia.

This is the zistle one. Actually, this was more than just this one card in the trade, but this was the one I really wanted. It highlights one of the odder/tougher players in NFL history. Odd because not too many kickers opted for this way, and tough because barefoot kicking in a northern climate didn't feel too good on the toes. How Rich Karlis did that while in Denver is beyond me. The player here is Tony Franklin, and this does appear to be the only card of his that shows his kicking motion. There are cards of Mike Lansford and Karlis kicking in this manner, but this is the first one of these for my collection that aren't in sets.

And, via listia, this is my second card of the largest member of the 2/14 binder, at least in terms of girth, Viscera. aka Big Daddy V. aka Mabel. aka Nelson Frazier. He's also the only person outside of the four major team sports to move beyond having only 1 card.