2023 Adventures in Repacks - Part 2.3 - A Week of Surprises

 Hockey for the finale!

Looks like I get supplies as part of this one. But since I had a COMC shipment arrive and need to repackage stuff for future mailouts, that's OK.

As expected, the 70s/80s was all 80s. But I did get a pushpin 1988, and that Kevin Lowe was probably one of the more action-packed base cards of that set, if not the decade.

The HOF pack gave me an insert with that Fuhr, and a patriotic entry for Mike Gartner, so there's also something interesting to go alongside the solid names of this repack.

I guess all three of these count as Superstars. That's all I ask for from one of these. Rantanen is the second non-base card in this, it is the green parallel out of 2018 Ice. I'd still give up the parallels for these cards just to be acetate base cards again.

The 90s pack. Except for that Moog card, that's what I expected from this - lots of early 90s stuff. Still, coming off the most recent edition of the World Juniors, that is a nice looking Brisebois. 

Definitely not the most exciting one I've ever busted, but if I get a couple keepers, I'm happy. 

There you have it!

2023 Adventures in Repacks - Part 2.2 - A Week of Surprises

Today, the football one!

Warrick Dunn might not be the first name that would come to mind when you're thinking of 8000+ yard rushers, but he did that, and threw in almost 3000 more for insurance. But when you're thinking of the first name to come to mind, Dickerson certainly would be among the names. Frank Gore doubled the 8000 total. Exactly. As he finished with 16000, or third all time. 

This could just as easily have been the 8000+ repack, as all of these players reached the 12000 plateau in their careers. If the Faulk out of 1999 SPX doesn't end up as the brightest card in the repack, the one that does may blind me. Since I love variety in my repacks, it is nice how this contrasts as I also get the very understated, although also very orange, Sanders card.

Here's the 90s pack. Even though those last 3 cards from 1983, 2000 and 1989 respectively, don't count towards that. There was so much 1990 Pro Set out there, that even a Hall of Famer's draft card in that Cortez Kennedy is still just repack filler. There's also a hint of things that would become more commonplace in the hobby, with die-cuts and foil/chrome/prizm cards. 

I will go to my cardboard grave convinced that if, in 1990, Donruss had used team colours for the borders instead of generic red, that it would be up there with 1987 Topps as one of the best remembered designs of that era. 

Yup. These are definitely 5 Quarterbacks. But this is a pretty bland grouping on the whole, despite a couple good careers there with Dalton and Flacco.

No Bills content, but that gaudy Faulk was one of the easiest 'KEEPER' cards that I've found in there.

And there you have it!

2023 Adventures in Repacks - Part 2.1 - A Week of Surprises

I still have a bunch of repacks left over from last year, so I'll plow through a bunch of them this week with 3, maybe 4 Surprise bags, depending on how lazy I am when it comes to scanning.

First up, a basketball one, with these contents:

And we're off!

At least one of the cards isn't from the early 90s. All 3 of these players had reached the 15K point plateau by the time these cards were available in packs. So there's that.

Here's the 90s stuff. There's a couple interesting cards here. Drawn card!  I had no idea how blurry Anthony Mason was in the earlier years of his career. The David Wood is an interesting photo. There are a lot of cards with photos of a player running up the court, but seeing them do so without the ball isn't that common. And Cherokee Parks is a fun name to say out loud.

The 2010s. Yup. Kinda blah. At least Gooden has colourful borders. And the Green has those tiny shorts. that despite being a 2010s card, are definitely not 2010-ish. Still, pretty boring.

And here's the card from the Memorabilia repack. 

But despite the front of the card claiming it was Game Worn, the back of the card does seem to imply that it really only made its appearance in one of the Saturday events, and not the actual game. But at least that's still more accurate than "not from any specific game, event or season". 

Spud! Seeing a player running up court without the ball might be a rarity, but seeing the pre-game stretch on a card might be ever rarer. I've been seeing a good number of these 1981s lately in these Presstine repacks, and I'm all for it. Askia Jones is this repack's example of a player I had absolutely no memories whatsoever of. But he did still manage 11 more NBA appearances than I have.

With the Richardson, a couple interesting photos and a hit is enough to make this a pretty good repack experience.

Football is the next one! 

There you have it!

Trade Stack: A Sensational Ichiro

 If you have one of the cards on any of my wantlists, I'll trade the contents of the stack to you, in return for a single card (or sticker) from those lists. I'll throw cards onto the stack at intervals of my choosing (whenever I feel like it).

Card #7 on Stack #1:

It joins these:

Want them?

1. You make a comment on the most recent post of the trade stack staking your claim, and say what you're sending. (That's this one!)

2. You send me an e-mail providing your address.

3. I reply, giving you my address.

4. We each drop a PWE in the mail containing the promised card(s).

5. You're shipping to Canada, so remember that!

Great Buffalo Bills memories - preserved on cardboard!

 

Such memories are not shown here! Although the usage of an in-game-photo is hilarious. If this were a photoshop job, it would be even funnier. 

And what a defensive contribution he made!

Forgotten Jays

 

Eric Yelding was such a mainstay of early 90s packs as an Astro, that I didn't know he was in the Jays system until I randomly came across this card, out of the 1989 Score Hottest Rookies set. He never played a game in Toronto, moving to the Cubs in the Rule 5 draft, and then to his familiar Astros spot before the 1989 season started. 

But do I count this towards my attempt to collect a card of every Blue Jay who both played for them and got a card while there? Nope! If I don't count Bowman prospects that never made it beyond A-ball, I can't count this. 

Will I embrace the obscurity? Yes. Yes, I will.

First PWE of the Year

 

Or, this is the last PWE of 2022. I received it from Tom @ Angels in Order, after sending a PWE his way as he announced his return to the trading market. I put it aside, planning to to open it up on Christmas Day. And then I completely and totally forgot about it. So, I held on to it until 1/1, to make it my first opening of the new year. 

Despite not exactly being your standard card size, this Starting Lineup card arrived in ideal shape.

I love minor league cards - and the more small-time they seem, the better. This a CMC card, so it isn't quite at the "Free with purchase at the gas station" level, but it is still charming in its simplicity.

This is the gold parallel out of 1998 Stars, meaning that there are only 2299 of these out there, as opposed to 4399 for the silvers, 9799 for the bronzes. If you want a rainbow with your gold, there are 99 of those. And probably a couple more parallels I couldn't find at COMC.

"Stars of MLB" is definitely one of the lazier names for an insert set out there, but I'll still welcome two new cards of a couple former Mets to my binder.

2022 Shininess!

And another Jays parallel, that, if it were issued 17 years later, would probably be equally shiny. 

There you have it! I did drop a second PWE in the mail a little before Christmas, so hopefully that has made its way to you successfully! 

An Unfortunate Update

 

Imagine having 'released' appear on your final hockey card. At least he'd have Carol Alt to console him for a few years afterwards. 

Still Cleaning up 2022

I purchased this sometime last summer. Might as well get it out of the way early in the year! 

Here's the base card look. Anytime that the team colours go with the design, that's a great card. And while I can't see myself starting a 'Canadians in the NFL' PC, this particular hanger box would have provided a nice start to that PC.

I'm not scanning the next baker's dozen worth of other veteran base cards. Here's the first parallel.

This is the 'sparkle' parallel. I'd call it more 'murky' than 'sparkle'.

Here are the inserts. Pretty bland as a group, but at least there was a Trevor Lawrence in the mix. 

The rookies are slightly SPd in the 101-200 portion of the set. But, considering they have game photos, this is a lot nicer portion of a larger base set than the ones with rookie premiere photos. The Moore is particularly nice.

5 parallels seem like as lot for a 30 card hanger, but it did add another Chase Claypool to the not-happening Canadians in the NFL PC (along with the Hubbard insert) and another rookie card photo in the Powell that is better than anything the rookie premiere could produce.

I guess, on the whole, this was a middle-of-the-road box, but that's perfectly fine when there's no Bills content in the mix.

There you have it!

2023 Adventures in Repacks - Part 1 - No Better Way to Start a Year

And the first repack of the year!

If I end the year with a 20+hit repack, I'll start with the same type. Both the Wizards and Nuggets, two of Thomas' numerous short-term stops at the end of his career.

Revolution adds some shininess to the first batch, while combined with the unflattering photo of Iuzzolino and a hideous Cavs jersey to make it a very repack grouping of cards.

Terence Stansbury's entry provides the most obscure jersey of the repack. With the card being from 91-92, that seems to be a Maccabi Brussels uniform.

Lots of work to get to the repack's hit. Even if it isn't a home game, I automatically scan the crowd on a Mark Jackson card looking for any unpleasant cameos. Maybe Whitey Bulger was taking in a game. It looks Sacramento wasn't that much of a draw as opposition in 1996/97.

Here's that hit. Robinson was a lottery pick in 2018, but seems to be out of the league already. Ouch. 

Charles Davis might provide the most interesting photo of the repack. Davis isn't centered, but the hoop is for the photo. Ike Williams' photo is the most easily game-dated of the bunch. The banner traces it to the 1993 NCAA tourney first round, and Williams' New Mexico Lobos were one and done in the first round to George Washington, so that game is the only one it can come from. 

Not the most interesting end, but all repacks must end. 

There you have it!