Chasing Jamal and Redeemed!

Back to back group break posts, this time a basketball one.

Outside of the Raptors stuff, I had plans to chase cards of Jamal Murray this year. After all, while seeing players from my hometown is common enough in hockey, it is not so common with other sports. so those folks become PC guys. I have a small number of Ryan Braun (the short-term Royals pitcher) cards, and now with Jamal Murray, I have a basketball guy to PC.

I was looking to add an auto and maybe a patch relic of his this season for a simple start to a PC. The chase for the first one of those ended just a few packs into my 2016 season when I came across his auto from a pack of Hoops during a box break. So, that meant I could likely be a little more selective with that I went for.

Therefore, when a mixer was up that included 16-17 Contenders I jumped at the chance to add some of his NCAA Kentucky Wildcat cards to the mix, and maybe get a second auto.

Well, there's some more insert content for my collection. The base cards for rookies in Contenders, as with football, are the rookie autographs. So going 4 for 5 on non-auto'ed inserts is pretty good.

As for the rest of the Denver content, the only other case card from the other boxes was this one from 13-14 Totally Certified.

Sometimes there is a side benefit to a chase, as even if you don't get the card you want, you might get something else that either fits a trade partner's PC, or would at least let you recover some of the cost of the break. For this card, it is the latter:

As although I really like the design on this, I'm probably going to be able to recover the cost of the break by throwing the /10 auto of the Manimal on my COMC account.

But, wait! There's more!

Not only did the Nuggets content from this break show up over the past couple days, but something else involving Canadian NBA talent showed up as well, as this:

turned into this:

The only Wiggins rookie cards I have are his base cards in a set, so it is nice to add an interesting keeper for that.

And there you have it.

Gold Jays

Not entirely gold, but the content of a group break where I grabbed the Jays.

Here's the base card content. The cards come in three levels, 1 through 3, with the latter being scarcer. Donaldson was the only one for which I completed the 3 level rainbow, and to contrast, I didn't land a single base card of Tulo.

But I did land a red parallel /100 of Troy, so it all comes out in the wash. The auto checklist isn't the deepest, but the Jays did have one for me to chase, and I landed it.

Framed cards can be nasty to store, but that's a problem I like having. I do have a Mets auto of Olerud, so it is nice to have one to match it from his time in Toronto. I think I prefer this one aesthetically, since this has a spot for the autograph to show up, while the Mets one is done with a blue pen over a blue jersey, and it is hard to see.

But there you have some golden Jays.

Mets Monday

Seems like a good day to show of some Mets that I have yet to post. Some of them are from a long ago card show that I had still to post, the rest from a Bob Walk the Plank mailing.

The old card show card were three vintage ones grabbed from a 3 for $2 bin. There's something about 1962 Mets cards that make them difficult to pass up, even if way before my time. These were the last regular cards for Taylor and Chacon, but Jerry would stay with the team well into the 70s, meaning he was part of the '69 Miracle Mets.

The rest are all from the BWtP mailing. I'm just going to go through them in the order they uploaded. I always feel that after I post a Darling auto, I should link to this TMZ video about his penmanship.

Since this is Strata card, I can input the MLB authentication number and find out what game the relic is from. It comes from the 9/9/15 game, where DeGrom gave up 2 runs over 7 innings on his way to a W over Washington. Not as interesting a game as the Derek Norris one in my 2/14 collection (golden sombrero and a walk-off grand slam), but the tracing element is still a major nicety for these releases.

Delgado swatch! I've got to be closing in on being able to make my own One Piece at a Time-ish full Delgado jersey by now.

I admit I thought I already had an auto of his in my collection. Turns out it was merely a swatch. He definitely fits into the mold of a player for the Fan Favorites subset, and I love that for bringing on-card autos of recent players who were not quite superstars, but were still really good and worthy of notice from modern collectors.

How do you make a bat relic even better? Add the team logo to it!

I guess this is technically a Padres card, what with their logo taking up more card real estate than Piazza, but this is still a Mets card as far as my binder is concerned.

If I don't put a Delgado jersey together soon via swatches, it might be because I have more David Wright fabric available.

And to wrap it up, a prospect autograph. Ynoa was signed my the Mets as a free agent back in 2009, and made his MLB debut this past season at the age of 23. I like that he has 31 on the card, despite wearing #79 on the card. Of course, he's now wearing a different number in the bigs - #63.

There you have some Mets for your Monday! I've got a pile of base cards put aside for BWtP, and hope to add some autos or relics at the Expo this weekend.

Another Pack Sampler

This time, one pack of 2016 Prizm football from the LCS. The only packs they had at the LCS were these jumbo packs, so let's see the 12 cards that awaited within.

Harry Douglas is my first card of the year. "I'm Harry! But then aren't we all?" - Harry Stone, Night Court.

After disappearing last year, the recycled photo returns for 2016 releases.

The rest of the base. The Bernard is easily my favourite in this group, with the appearance of the early-season dirt infield.

The first insert. With a black and white background and a colour foreground, it slightly reminds me of the 1992 Studio release.

I guess this pack should have gone to either Houston for a Texans collector to get, or to San Jose for a collector of Spartans alum. Still, this cracked ice variation /75 is a nice bright card that looks even nicer in hand. I didn't get an auto, but this still feels like a hit.

And two Prizm rookies end it.

No PC additions, but the shiny was shiny and that's good enough for me.

Whodathunkit?

The guy who spent a still-record 472 minutes in the sin bin for one season has some really nice handwriting.

2016 Adventures in Repacks: Part 41 - An 1800th post repack fest!

Is there any better way for me to celebrate my 1800th post than with some repack love with a trip to the Dollarama for a pair of hanger packs and Surprise Bag?

Starting with the hangers.

2011 Biography of a Season - Stanley Cup Champions - Any time you can add a card featuring the Cup to your collection, you have to go for it. With this card visible, anything else interesting would be a bonus.

1991 7th Inning Sketch - Tony Iob - Dear God! That mullet would bring tears of joy to Jaromir's eyes.
1991 Score - Tom Barrasso
1993 Premier - Dave Christian

2002 Pacific Stock Reserve - Andrew Cassels - I don't recall ever getting anything from this set in a $1 repack.
1994 Pinnacle - Tim Sweeney
1992 Topps - Rob Dimaio

2008 Masterpieces - Gordie Howe - Masterpieces in a repack! AWESOME!

1994 Score - Jyrki Lumme - Determined to oust anything Fleer could offer as the ugliest mid 90's set.

2003 In The Game Action - Stanislav Chistov - Action - Not pictured.

1993 Leaf - Sergei Krivokrasov - Must show back of 1993 Leaf.
1989 Topps - Doug Bodger
1991 Pro Set - Sylvain Turgeon

1990 Bowman - Tony Granato - The instantly recognizable seat paint job of the Met Center.
2010 UD - Tyler Bozak

Already a nice repack with the opening card, it became even better with Iob's spectacular mullet and an appearance of a Masterpieces card. How will the second pack match up?

2015 Overtime - Bobby Ryan - A new Sens card is always a great way to start. Especially when it comes from a distributor set.

1991 7IS - Michael Peca - A relevant player card from his OHL days.
1991 Pro Set - Tony Granato
1992 Parkhurst - Philippe Boucher
1993 UD - Corey Millen
2009 UD - Scott Hartnell

1998 Topps - Tom Barrasso - Back to back repacks with Tom making an appearance.

2006 Ultra - Eric Lindros - A nice celebration shot, and I love that 3 different styles of Leafs jerseys are visible in picture.
1991 OPC - Cam Neely
1991 Score - Ken Priestlay
1991 UD - Fredrik Olausson

1991 Bowman - Andre Racicot - RED LIGHT!
1990 Pro Set - Tom Kurvers
1990 Bowman - Murray Craven

2010 UD - Brian Elliott - OK. This didn't quit reach the level of the first repack, but starting and ending with a Sens card is OK by me.

And finally, the Surprise bag:

Contents within:

I was really pumped to bust the Score, then the cards came out like a brick, and were kinda stuck together.

And there's the highlight (and also showing off a wee bit of peeling on the cards) - a completely forgotten stint of Pat Elynuik with Tampa.

I guess Filip Forsberg is the superstar here, and he also gets an interesting photo. But, as with Krivokrasov...

Must show back of 1993 Leaf.

And the all 80s, no 70s pack. At least that Secord is kinda cool.

I probably should have got two more hanger packs instead. But there you have it!

Turning Back The Clock

Last night, Clouts 'n' Chara, my LCS, had a turn back the clock break, featuring misc products from the 2000s. For $24, I could get a random team from these boxes:

07-08 UD Black Diamond
06-07 Hot Prospects
03-04 BAP Memorabilia
02-03 Top Shelf
02-03 UD Rookie Update
01-02 ITG Parkhurst

A good price and a cheap entry fee! Why not?

I continued my trend as being unable to avoid the Panthers, as that's who the randomizer landed on. Still, I got some nice cards, including some numbered ones.

Going chronologically through the list, I'll start with Parkhurst.

I only landed one card, but it was a nice one. You can't tell from the front, but this was a silver parallel and was numbered to a palindromic 05/50. Given that numbered cards weren't that easy of a pull at the time, this was probably among the better non-hit cards landed.

That's a team set from Rookie Update. The mask binder will be getting that Luongo (one of several I landed), and I love the contrast with the Swedish player on the American flag rink board ad.

There's Luongo again, and with his head in perfect position for the Pink Panther to be visible. I'd completely blanked on Sandis spending time with Florida, but he was there for parts of two seasons.

More mask binder content here with more Luongo, and Steve Shields in his Gerry Cheevers inspired 'stitches' mask from his Bruins days. 

Hot Prospects brought the volume with these 5. There's Ed Belfour in one of the many unfamiliar sweaters from his later playing days. Both the cards on the bottom are numbered base. While David Booth had the longer career, I'm far more interested in the Kreps. While he spent 3+ seasons in the league, this was the only card from his rookie season. His only other card would come in 08-09 OPC along with its parallels. 

And to end with a whimper, the only card from Black Diamond. 

Lots of fun cards from this!