2006 UD Legends Box Break

This was the second of two low-priced boxes I picked up via blowout so far during Black November. I was a little worried about this at first, but since all the autos looked to be of the sticker variety, I wasn't too worried about a long-expired redemption showing up.

But first, the base cards. Maybe a little too much border, but a nice clean design. And I do like the football pattern on the bottom. There's a mix of mainly retired stars, with a few current stars among the 100 card base. Faulk would be the latter, although he was close to retirement at the time.

Other than the player featured, there's nothing to distinguish between the two on the design.

Sorta like Rookies and Stars, 101-200 in the set consists of rookies, SPd to 750 each. I only landed these two in the box, and while a nice little bonus, they really seem out of place in this set.

Somewhat surprising for a Legends set, the photos were actually pretty interesting on some of the cards. But that isn't too surprising for a UD release.

The Bills earned a disproportionate 6 cards in the legends portion of the base set. No complaints here!

Let's start with the autographs! The great thing about this is that the set is filled with people who rarely get autographs in products these days. Or ever. Kramer is getting a little bump in publicity this past week after the Vikings 20 point comeback against Denver, having QBd them to a team record 24 against Cleveland.

PACKERS! WOO! PACKERS WON! Since he wasn't on a SB winning team, I cannot fully break out the MST3K clip for this, although Brockington is in the Packers Hall of Fame. Just like with Kramer, neither one has made an appearance in a major release since this card.

This is actually pretty cool for me to pull. I've considered 'Something for Joey' to be one of those movies it is acceptable for a man to cry while watching and still be considered manly. While a Penn State card would probably be better for that, this is still a nice addition to my misc. football hits collection, especially considering that it is one I wouldn't necessarily add to my collection as a single purchase.

Good news: Bonus auto!
Bad news: It probably replaced the card that I would have needed to complete the 1-100 base set.

But it is an OL line guy auto, which are rare to see, and it features the classic, and amazing Chargers uniforms. So that's a pretty nice way to offset not finishing the set.

There you have it!

Stacks of Wax - Box 5

This was the only box I actually picked up on Black Friday, along with a tin of 2018-19 UD S1. Googling lead to me to a LCS that was right along the LRT line in Edmonton, so I took a quick trip away from the celebrations, and grabbed something to bust.

I really like the design this year, with the pennant being sorta 1965ish.

Here's a base card sampler. The set is 300 cards, with the first 100 being active players, the middle 100 being legends, and the final 100 being rookies. I'm definitely within range of completing the set, so I've added the needs to my wantlist linked at the side.

I landed 6 of these /299 parallels in this in addition to the Franco Harris: Matt Ryan, Elvin Bethea, Jaylen Samuels, Michael Gallup and Malik Jefferson. The only difference other than the numbering is these have red backs as opposed to the yellow/orange that the regular ones have.

Some more parallels, with the shinier Von Miller being /175, and also having a red back as opposed to the standard ones on the regular chromium. I also picked up chromiums of DJ Chark and Antonio Brown, and a second /99 card of DJ Moore.

Inserts!

The first hit, is a relic in all its plain white glory.

However, the guaranteed auto looked pretty promising.

Yup. That's a nice one, especially since there do not appear to be a lot of Darren Woodson autos on the market. And his penmanship is passable. I'd probably like it a lot more if I was a fan of the Cowboys.

There you have it!

The Bills are Contenders

With a playoff appearance this year, the Bills were actually considered contenders this year. They still are awaiting their first playoff TD, but baby steps. Baby steps.

And that makes this year's Contenders actually relevant for the team.

The 3 base cards are exactly who you'd expect. I was kinda hoping Micah Hyde would be able to squeeze in as 1 of the 3, but I guess I'll have to wait until 2018 releases for his Bills cards.

The inserts. Best of all, I got a pair of Jim Kelly cards. 1 of them for my Bills PC, the other for my 2-14 PC.

Auto time! This is a Bills card, as 7th round pick Malachi Dupre was released by the Packers before the season, and caught on with the Bills. He even saw the field late in the regular season. It is an obscure addition, but still welcome in the collection.

Peterman. Sigh. The Jacksonville on the card is his hometown, not the team he was throwing passes towards in the playoffs.

But at least there were playoffs.

Stacks of Wax December 2017 - Part 4 - Field Access Case Box 1

I'm going to work my through the boxes one box per post, with one pack at a time, and highlight the autos, interesting photos and numbered parallels as I cover all 12 boxes. I'm not feeling overly creative about what order to post everything in, so, you'll get them in the same order I opened them.

Pack 1:

A really great photograph comes out of the first pack's All Access insert set, as Barry Sanders is carried off on his teammates' shoulders after reaching the 2000 yard single-season rushing mark.

My first auto is Austin Seferian-Jenkins. I'm not the biggest fans of abbreviating an auto down to initials, but when you have a massive name that does easily reduce down to initials, you can get away with it.

And my first base parallel, with this green parallel being out of 50.

Pack 2:

Another numbered parallel in this pack - the gold ones are out of 99.

The autograph is a pretty good one. Field Access may be a sticker dump, albeit one with great photos, but that does mean some really good names can slip into the mix, such as this Jamaal Charles which combines both of them nicely.

Pack 3:

There are definitely some unique pictures in this. This shows how to make a really memorable photo of a player with a post-career shot.  I'd actually just put the base version on my COMC watchlist a few days prior, so this saves me some credit. As a bonus, this is a /50 green parallel.

On some of these, the back of the card shows where the photo came from.

And the auto. He's still in the league, now with the Ravens.

Pack 4:

I actually posted the Silas Redd base card when I busted my first, solo box of this. It deserves another spotlight.

Your auto is an interesting one as well. And it is one for my secondary team collection. Not bad looking for a sticker-graph as well.

I guess I can end this post with the obligatory MST3K video. 11 boxes left!

Just One Pack...of 2017 Donruss Football

The other rack pack I picked up alongside the MVP pack I posted earlier.

Cliff Avril - Here's the first card. I do like the slight splash of colour at the side, but there is a slight shading at the bottom of the photo, creating a very dark look to some of the cards.
Tom Brady
Dak Prescott
Clay Matthews
Thomas Rawls

Tedy Bruschi - The set mixes retired players in with the regular base, much like last year at a rate of one per team. Some different choices, which Tedy would certainly count as.

Mike Glennon - Your photoshop special, which I find amusing since Trubisky was the pack coverboy.

Damon Harrison - A rookie card of a non-rookie. This year, any player who is getting their first card got this RC designation. The Bills have rookie cards of Richie Incognito in some sets. This also shows the shading more clearly, as the bottom of the card looks like night on an obvious sunny day.

LeSean McCoy - A Bills card!
Jared Cook
Haloti Ngata
Zach Brown

Adam Vinatieri - A kicker card! WOO-HOO!

Rich Gannon - Another odd choice for the retired player on the Raiders.
Devin Funchess
Hunter Henry
Carson Palmer
Ryan Tannehill
Joe Haden

Mark Brunell - You really don't have too many choices for the retired player on teams like the Jags.

Jerry Rice - No complaints about this choice.
Tavon Austin

Ty Montgomery - Blue Press Proof
Jimmy Graham - Blue Press Proof
Harrison Smith - Blue Press Proof
Stacy Coley -  - Blue Press Proof - The promised 4 press proofs. With the Vikings beating the Pack here 2-1, I can't break out the MST3K Packers clip in good conscience. At least Coley is actually a rookie.

Odell Beckham Jr. 1981 Baseball Design - I like this design being ported over to football.

DeShone Kizer - The Rated Rookie that is part of the base set.

Jordan Willis - The standard, non Press Proof rookies.
Davis Webb

And there you go. I like the colour on the borders, but don't like the darkening of the photos. I went all in with Score, so this will probably be my last of this product. At least some more base content for future mailers came my way.

Familiar 2/14 Faces

Following up the new with the old.

This one could also go in my Kitchener Rangers alum collection, but I'm going to wait for Ryan to get a card from a pro team for now. Not only do I add a nice on-card autograph to my collection, but he's also rocking one of their alternate uniforms for Remembrance Day. Those are auctioned off after their 11/11 game for charity.

I guess after promising not to go for the nameplate, I lied. I just need the Z to complete this. Hook me up!

A pair of Milan Hejduks are next to showoff, There's a nice shiny issue from Fleer Showcase and another one of those oddball issues from the Czeck Stadion set.

Random junk wax!

I don't have the base version of this card in my collection yet, but I do have the Players Club parallel. Collecting can be strange.

Over to baseball, and the closest thing to a hit the rest of the way home. This X-Fractor is /250, and features one of the longer names in my collection. Fortunately, the Alexandre portion was dropped to make my spreadsheet columns more manageable.

My first SPBA cards!

A card that I'd been looking for, and had on my Top 10 list for quite the while finally showed up at a reasonable price on COMC.

Basketball, as is typical since it has the fewest players, had the fewest cards on their way to the binder. My 11th Byron Mullens.

My 40th and 41st Gheorge Muresans. That's a very 90's looking design on the Topps card.

Despite a pretty good career with the Packers, John didn't have a lot of cards from his NFL tenure. A couple in the early 80s, and some junk wax stuff in 1989. This completes his run of mainstream cardboard with 4 cards, and with a sticker from my '89 Panini box break, is my 5th card if his.

A couple cards of #1 draft pick that didn't pan out, due to injuries.

And one who finally seems to be panning out. This 'Forged by Fire' die-cut marks my 30th card of Jadeveon Clowney, and probably one of my favourites of his.

And there you go!