Mailbag: Jays

 Back to the TMV bubbler again!

Number one and the best for Blue Jays content was this card that dropped off of my most wanted list. Why was this on there in the first place? How could I not want a Starting Lineup card for Rance Mulliniks? 

Especially when I had a Tom Henke sitting in my COMC to-be-posted box to keep it company? If the standings were determined by goofy looking cards versus wins/losses, then the Jays would won the World Series several times over in the late 80s.

Maybe this will be the breakout year for Cavan Biggio. And maybe it won't, but in terms of both volume and shininess, he did win those portions of the Jays content in this post.

And the rest of 'em! I'm not sure if that Wells/Delgado will end up in either the Jays collection or the Delgado collection, but I'll probably opt for the ladder once I start going through the binders looking for appropriate homes. Richard Urena didn't really pan out in Toronto, but he did spend parts of a few seasons with the team, and that's still enough to make him count towards the binder. That Halladay is from the Moments & Milestones set that had a couple hundred base cards for each player. Have fun building that set! 

On the bottom row, there's an always fun team-colour parallel for Joey Bats from 2013, and Adeiny Hechavarria rounds things out. He went to the Marlins in the trade that brought Jose Reyes to Toronto.

Only Mets and Miscellany to go!

There you have it!  

2023 Adventures in Repacks - Part 5.2 - Hanger and a Hit

And the basketball one, which was the last one-and-done repack I had before I restocked this past week. Although, there's still a 100-card football one to do.

Sure, there might be a small nick at the bottom, but starting off with Dirk is an excellent opening card.

The group of repacks I got alongside these had a nice selection of 1981 Topps in them. And I'm perfectly fine with that. That Jim Jackson was an insert card out of 1995 Flair.

Is it ironic to get a card of Fat Lever right after getting a card of Oliver Miller? Even if it isn't, that is one of the odder repack pairings, and I must wonder if it was just an odd coincidence. 

Your hit!

And it is one of those 3-team hits! Pictured with the Suns, listed with the Knicks, swatch is from the Clippers. One of those things that just seems most likely to happen with relic cards, at least prior to them not being from any specified team, game, event or season.

Another '81! Since I did get eventually a card of Stanley Johnson that covers his time with the Raptors, I won't need to use this one as a stopgap card to cover his time with the team. Blanks might be one of the worst names to have on the back of your jersey, especially if you're in a slump.

The finale. 

Some 81s and a three-team relic. That's a perfectly fine repack! 

2023 Adventures in Repacks - Part 5.1 - Hanger and a Hit

 

Here's the football one, and here's the opener. It might not be a special teams player, but a defensive player to open is a fine starter.

Your first grouping. The 2008 SP Rookie Edition that provided the Rivers is probably going to be the most unexpected set to provide a card in this repack. 

Defensive player with the ball! Great start! And Tramon Williams is among the Packers that did win a Super Bowl.

This has really been a NY Giants hot pack so far. I remembered Jeff Alm for non-football reasons, mainly the circumstances of his passing. On a more positive note, there's a Hall of Famer in Dawson in the bottom row, and I admit to being surprised that Austin has not been inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. 

I guess the Special Teams mojo I wished for in the opening card just took a little longer to materialize. Because here's a Kick Returner hit! This goes all the way back to 2003 to provide a blue Pro Bowl swatch. As best as I can tell with TCDB, this ended up as the only hit, auto or mem, of Lewis' career. So that piques my interest even more about this hit. 

It doesn't really scan well, but that Shipley is a blue foil variant. Mike Grey is an Oregon Ducks alum, meaning that card will be heading to Portland in a future mailer. Two Amari Coopers in one repack? I always love that kind of oddness.

The final card. Prizm/Chrome always do a masterful job of showing how filthy my scanner bed is. 

There you have it! Basketball next! 

The Reason

 

If there's something common on releases from Topps/Upper Deck that is less common on Panini releases, it is including the player's hometown. Which means that despite having over 120 cards of the local product, Jamal Murray, in my collection. None mention the reason I super collect his stuff.

Until now.

There you have it!

Annual 2/14 Post

 As I finish yet another year on this planet, it is time for me to recap my favourite 2/14 binder cards from the past year. The rules for inclusion remain tha
t the card was first made available, in some form, during the past year, and that I have it in hand.

10.

Given that I always am scanning ahead of the drafts for potential rookie additions, this gets on the list out of missing this. I'd already had Justin Campbell in the collection off of one of his Panini Team USA cards. I didn't catch that he'd been drafted by the Guardians. I was just looking through the backs of some random base cards out of 2022 Bowman Draft from the LCS when I saw the birthdate, and then remembered "Oh yeah...". This is the only card in this post that I hadn't shown off previously, and probably the reason this edged out 2022 Score's Jadeveon Clowney.

9. 

Given my attempt to build the set, I probably should have the only entry from regular Heritage that counts towards the collection in this list. Although this won't be the only time you see this design in thsi post.

8. 

With the Campbell, I completely whiffed on his draft pick. My google searching lead to my knowing that Jaden Shackelford was a 2/14 baby before the draft, even though it didn't appear that he'd be picked. He still signed with Oklahoma City, and is in the G-League, and he still got quite a few cards in unlicensed NCAA sets, many of which use this photo. He still hasn't appeared in an NBA game, but when it comes to the collection, I don't care about such trifles. 

7.

Another card with a 'Draft' theme to them. Barlow is the youngest member of the collection so far, being born in 2005. This salutes his draft into the OHL, but since he's projected as a high pick into the NHL draft this upcoming off-season, more cards await!

6. 

The Sutters might not be the most famous family in hockey, but they probably were the most abundant. This card salutes his playing a game where his uncle Darryl was the coach of the opposition at a game in Calgary, but it could just as easily have saluted the number of Sutters that played in the NHL, which was 9 at last count. 

5.

Ever since I noticed her name on the WNBA rosters matching up with her birthdate a few years ago, I'd been scanning the release checklists hoping Kennedy Burke's name would be on it. It finally happened with the 2022 Prizm, and it comes with all the parallels that you'd expect out of Prizm. This is one of the three cards I've acquired, specifically a Premium Box Set parallel, numbered to /99. I also like that despite this being her first card - it doesn't get described as a rookie card. That always looks ridiculous.

4.

There pretty much has to be one Jim Kelly on the list every year.

3.

I love obscurity in the collection, and this one certainly hits that sweet spot. This sticker, and its parallels, are the only items available out there of Meshaal Barsham. He doesn't have anything associated with his regular team. Qatar isn't exactly a guarantee to qualify for future tournaments, so this might be his only appearance in the collection. And that's perfection.

2. 

An easy way for a card to move up a list is for me to pack-pull it. Not only was this blue parallel pack pulled, it almost perfectly matches the team colours of the Winnipeg Jets. Ehlers did get a nice number of cards this past year, but this combo was enough to make it my choice of his cards, since I limit this to one card per person. 

1.

Like with #2, there's a pack-pulled parallel in the #1 spot. While this one isn't a colour match parallel, it does hit a team collection parallel, with the Buffalo Bisons being the Jays' AAA affiliate. I figured that this would hit the #1 spot when I pulled it. I briefly considered placing it a little further down the list after Moreno's trade to Arizona, but figured that he was still in the Jays system when I pulled it, so it will remain in the #1 spot. He's still a Blue Jay in 2023 Series 1, dropping Wednesday, so I guess I'll see what happens in with my 2024 post.

But I still have a year to plan that.

There you have it!

2023 Adventures in Repacks - Part 4 - Dollarama Catchup

 Time to reach in the soon-to-be-restocked repack box, with this time resulting in a few pick-ups from Dollarama. 

Here's the contents. I generally just grab whatever is within closest reach, but with a Sens card visible on one of them that I didn't have, I'll make the slightest effort to stretch.

Even if Matt Murray's time in Ottawa wasn't the most memorable, I'll still welcome it. 

The photos in behind it were really strong, with a nice pair of horizontal cards that both use that orientation nicely. The Friesen photo is pretty unique as well. 

The next group was as dull as the first was interesting. Corriveau never played a game with the Blues, or any NHL team for that manner. That's an airbrushed London Knights OHL jersey he's sporting. 

And another solid photo to end it. Pinnacle is what I imagine we'd get if the Canvas inserts from flagship ever became a stand-alone set. 

While SP Authentic opened the first repack, this one has the retail SP version.

There's some star power here with the second grouping, and a set I don't see that much of in repacks, with 1996-97 Donruss providing the Lefebvre.

That Leafs jersey card was part of a subset in 1991-92 Platinum to highlight the jerseys that Original Six teams sometimes sported during the season for the 75th Anniversary. 

I don't know if this is a goal celebration card, or just one where Gerbe is complaining to the referee about being knocked into the net, but it is the most interesting card of a very dull group.

Off to the Surprise Bag, which is now down to just 3 items. But at least I get some toploaders to use when my next bubblers go out.

They fibbed to me! I not only got 4 cards instead of 3, but 2 rookie cards instead of just 1. Or 4 rookies instead of 1. Either way - BONUS! Of the four rookies shown, only Yakushin didn't have too lengthy a career on this side of the Atlantic. Timonen is the biggest success story of the group, with a 16 year career, and probably the only one in this post to get a shout out from President Obama. 

Timmies card! Timmies card! Food issue! WOO-HOO! And even if they are early 90s cards, there's a pair of Hall of Famers in there too.

With the Timonen/Cote and some of the nice photos in the first repack, that was a really good grouping of cards! 

There you have it!

 

Group Break Raptors Goodies

The first NBA cards of the 22-23 season dropped, and let's see the goodies out of the case. One change from last year is the Tribute cards are not SPd, meaning I ended up with a healthy number of these. The font looks really off for this salute to the 1992 set, but at least it kinda gives you the idea of what these might look like for a team that wasn't around at the time.

Here's the base design. Pretty much what I'd expect from this, and pretty much the names I'd expect to see. Even though I'm slightly surprised that all the names shown here are still around after the trade deadline. But only slightly, since some of the proposed trades really didn't feel like a proper return for some of the rumored departures. And hey, I'm welcoming Christian Koloko to the binders, and it looks like Ron Harper Jr will have to come from some NCAA release.

Fortunately, Koloko isn't the chase player that Scottie Barnes was during his rookie year, so at least they'll be cheaper dates this season.

The backs - typical for the release. B&W. 

Purples are just one of the many parallels in the product. That Vince Carter Tribute card would look spectacular with this version, even if the shade isn't the perfect match.

This was the only other parallel I got from the case - a Gravity parallel /75. I would have loved it if these parallels were only used for photos where the player is off the ground. Alas, no.

As I expected, Scottie Barnes was the star of the inserts. I'm happy the City Edition with the dino logo makes an appearance in the set this year, although I'm sure there will be better looks hiding among some of the late 21-22 releases. Prime Twine needs to go away and choke on its own puniness. 

Start with a retro player, end with one. It's only fair!

There you have it!

COMC: Raptors Goodies

 Another Raptors post! And there's yet another one to come next time. Today, it is a handful of cards that I personally selected from COMC.

First up, here's a card commemorating a specific game, a record-setting one as well. In the game listed, Fred VanVleet put up 54 points. That is not-only the Raptors one-game scoring record, but also the record for the most points in one game by an undrafted player. The court paint job also matches the scheme used in Orlando that night, so good for Panini for seemingly using a photo from that game. 

The extent of DJ Wilson's Raptors experience was 4 games. The chances of there being a Raptors card of his are nil. So, in my effort to get at least one card of someone who played at least one game for the Raptors instead is this card that won't be making its way to Ann Arbor.

Armoni Brooks played in 13 games for the Raptors. He actually debuted with Houston the previous season, but didn't get any cards until last season, some with Houston, some with Toronto, most of which are autographed. If someone is going to debut in my binders, it might as well be with a hit.

As always, post-Raptors Kawhi cards are always welcome, especially when they feature the pair of trophies. But since any of them will likely feature some sort of mention of their run to the championship, any of them will do. Long live the memories!

4 cards only this time, but there you have it!