Finally, some Chronicles

Despite busting a hobby box at the Expo, I still haven't show anything off from this year's release. Better late than never!

Here's the 'base' cards from a group break. All 4 of them. I guess with no license, getting banned from baseball isn't keeping Robbie Alomar cards out of the product. I'm probably one of a half dozen people that would like pulling a Pat Gillick card in 2023. 

But at least I did get a really nice autograph out of this break. Even though I wish it was from a more appropriate portion of the set. America's Best seems just a bit odd for a card with Toronto so prominently placed on it. 

I can't leave one of my favourite products behind with just a small number cards - so here's some retail too. The hobby box can wait.

First card out is Whitey Herzog! I think I'm going to enjoy this pack.

And the rest is exactly what  I expected to see from this. Legends and prospects, mixed on a variety of designs. Landing two true base cards in this actually puts this single pack ahead of the hobby box where I only found one.

3 Classics cards means 3 "Did You Know?" facts on the back!

Luminance is always such a great looking release in football, so I look forward to its portion of Chronicles. The full-bleed photos give a Stadium Club look, if Stadium Club had to use photos with the logos removed. It is a little less so with the prospects portion, but even on this one, the batting cage covering the entire back of the photo is pretty unique.

There's only a few foil/chrome cards in it, but 2/3 do hit two of my sweet spots with Blue Jays and CanCon players. I have no idea why Suzuki is somehow in a set that looked to be completely barren of current major leaguers. But there he is, squeezed into the Contenders Optic portion of the set. 

And there you have it!

Brilliant or Baffling?

 

I'm not sure if Wendy Choo's gimmick of being sleep-obsessed is among the nuttier ones ever, or one of the best. Maybe both simultaneously. 

But she really lives the gimmick at least. Even if I imagine that pillow having an anvil in it, like something Bugs Bunny might waffle Yosemite Sam with.

With ring gear like that, that certainly is commitment to kayfabe. Even if that must be so incredibly hot to try to wrestle under the hot ring lights with. But that's definitely how I would imagine someone to perform a sleep-themed elbow drop.

And she has a legible autograph too!

Raptors Time

 Just posting all the Raptors stuff I haven't shown off yet,

This does seem like a nice choice for one of VanVleet's final cards as an active Raptors player. A great photo in the horizontal setting, and best of all - a cameo appearance from the legend himself - The Raptor! Best of all, their uniforms match! Orange Flash Prizm is the name given to this loud entry in the collection. 

Tremont Waters played in two games for the Raptors. Two more than me, and that's all that's needed to qualify a card of his for the binder.

I'd lamented in the past about not having an Andrea Bargnani auto in my collection. My latest lament finally got me to remedy that. Sure, he didn't really live up to the hype associated with the first overall pick, but his draft wasn't exactly the strongest. And Ujiri was able to commence the build to the championship by unloading him to the Knicks.

Fast-forwarding to this year, and some group break Raptors out of 23-24 Hoops.

Nothing too special in the break, but at least I got a base set, complete with a couple debuts. I do imagine that Dennis will land himself in sets in Raptors colours as the season progresses. Jalen? I'm not as optimistic. It is a shame that they used a photoshoot of Gradey Dick for his card, and not one from draft night. That suit was amazing. His performance so far this season hasn't been world-beating, so that should mean his prices, and team prices during breaks, should be reasonable this year.

More new Dick!

I've got to stop that as the season continues.

So let's end on a nice, classy card of Pascal Siakam instead.

Flutie-Mania is launched!

 

I don't know if this bootleg against Jacksonville was the most memorable moment of the post-Kelly, pre-Allen years in Buffalo, but it has to be near the top.

It is nice to have that moment preserved on cardboard, though.

Welcome, James Eckhouse

 A new face joins the binders, and it is someone that is probably very familiar to any child of the 90s.

James Eckhouse, aka Jim Walsh from Beverly Hills 90210, has finally joined the binders. When I saw his name listed as being a 2/14 guy, I was certain that there had to be some sort of card featuring the entire cast of the show that would put him in. Ala Enrico Colantoni and Veronica Mars. 

Nope. There just seemed to be cards featuring the younger cast. Even if he wasn't even 40 when the show premiered. Heck, he was only 6 years older than the actress playing Andrea.

So, instead of adding something official, he is welcomed with this. A likely bootleg sticker from somewhere in Eastern Europe.

Any port in a storm.

2023 Adventures in Repacks - Part 34: Hanger and a Hit

 Another of these, this time from football.

Here's the repack.

Sure, the opening looks like a bland Donruss entry. Then you look on the ground and spy that the Arizona Cardinals once employed a player named Sweezy. That's the guy's actual name, even if it really seems like there was a XFL-esque name on the jersey. JR Sweezy had a 9 season career, but this might be as close as he ever got to an actual card.

The first group of cards - nothing is going to compare to Sweezy. But, there are a couple nice cards. 2016 Donruss has a nice design with the colour. This was back when Panini wasn't as concerned as to how the cards would look when Optic and all its parallels dropped and just put a simple low-end set out. Punter card too!

I've never been a fan of wiping backgrounds on base cards, but the 2001 Hot Prospects background like on the Gannon is actually a pretty nice idea. Beats white and silver. Dave Brown will eventually fatten up a mailer to Ann Arbor. Also - throwback uniform on Gardner! Solid grouping! 

I have no idea who this guy on the hit is. But I do know this is my first Montana Grizzlies card, autographed or otherwise. And that's enough for me to like this card.

Even with it being a modern release, I didn't imagine that there would be a Frank Gifford card in this. Not that I'm complaining. But I will complain about the lack of anybody named Sweezy on the second 2021 Donruss card featuring an Arizona Cardinals photo.

And the finale is another NCAA card. Khaseem Greene was one of the first guys I added to my penmanship binder. I remain supportive of my decision.

As long as busting something is fun, I'll give it a thumbs up. And there was definitely enough interesting stuff in there to call it fun.

Sweezy.

Some Minor 2/14 Additions via Sportlots PWE

Here's a sportlots PWE worth (meaning 4 cards) of new cards for the 2/14 collection.

A Mets card is always a good lead for me, even if it is a minor league card. Although none of the players here today did reach the big leagues, Tom did come the closest to getting a big league card, appearing in a Bowman set.

While I do prefer to lead with new faces in the collection, the temptation to use a Mets card was too great this time. Instead, Tracy Smith falls to second place for his debut. 

While some people in my collection did get plenty of Topps/Bowman cards without reaching the big leagues, such as Ian Clarkin, Bruce Crabbe, now with 6 appearances, leads the way among guys who only got minor league cards. He also makes appearances as a manager, one of a handful of guys to make player/coach appearances, alongside people like Bernie Geoffrion and Fred Carter.

I also point out that there are 3 baseball players named Crabbe who have received cards, and two of them are 2/14 guys.

There you have it!

Another Ranger Roundup

 The recent COMC shipment was filled with cards of Kitchener Rangers related cards. Here's most of' em!

No better way to start than with Carson Rehkopf. In what looked to be a rebuilding year on East Avenue, he's leading the league in scoring, as the team is at the top of the OHL as I write this. I couldn't ask for much more.

A small pile of cheap Parkhursts. 

The Fabulous 50s has what you want in an insert set - a nice, clean design, and it is buoyed by the "Whoa! That guy scored 50 or more goals in a season!" moments. Use the checklist to cheat your hinder off if 50+ Goals comes up on a future immaculate grid.

Shiny! Shiny! 

Ryan Murphy provides the only card in this post that wasn't an e-pack card. That wasn't a thing back in 2013, and O-Pee-Chee base sets still aren't on there. Still, here he is on a black parallel /100. 

A pair of Kadris are next. Pizzazz adds a nice bit of colour to this post, even if the card itself isn't really shiny enough for the Pizzazz name,

I know that these banner relics aren't the most popular, but I prefer to think it as an opportunity to add some swatch colour that you might not associate with the team in question. Such as green on this relic from the Lake Tahoe games. 

Meireles' NHL journey has now taken him to the Minnesota Wild system, skating for their AHL team in Iowa. 

20-21 SP Signature Legends came out this year. It was very much like 2012 Panini Signatures or 2006 Parkhurst in that it boosted a deep checklist of veterans, and a lot of them were of guys who hadn't been seen in products in ages. While the prospect of paying hobby box prices an getting one of the autos being a David Shaw probably would put sone off, waiting for them to hit epack and be inexpensive is my kinda deal. Shaw was a part of the '82 Memorial Cup winners, and had a nice long career in the NHL that went into the late 90s. His only certified auto was a Be a Player one back in '94, and it was so nice to finally welcome one without questionable licensing in the collection.

There you have it!

Late, as Usual

Given how I've already started showing off stuff from my latest COMC shipment, maybe I should finally finish off the 2.14 stuff from the my previous shipment I still haven't gotten around to scanning.

As long as UD keeps releasing sets saluting Black Panther, I'll keep adding Okoye/Danai Gurira cards to the collection. And I learned earlier today there were "Behind the Scenes" cards out there, meaning I can add more cards that technically feature her as opposed to her characters. No matter what, she remains in the lead for the misc. portion with 14 cards, more than double Ayako Hamada's 6.

They'll never run out of parallel types - this one is a Lunar Glow Refractor. Random nouns and adjectives can make a new one!

I'm certain I've got some Perfect Game autos from Leaf in my collection. They're a wonderfully inexpensive way to add a card of a prospect to the collection from their early cardboard days. At one point, they were in Bowman. An oddity, I guess.

The finale is the only card of this group to feature somebody with MLB experience. Fortunately for the PC, Yermin's month or so on the top of the rookie rung made it so that later season releases needed his cards. And fun SP parallels like this one. His one-and-done nature also make these nicely inexpensive today.

There you have it!

2023 Adventures in Repacks - Part 33: Hanger and a Hit

 Let's do one of these!

'tis ice to see a big name as the opening, visible card. Even if it is only a base card.

And a pretty big name as the second card as well, coming from a mid-range release. There's the wall of 1990 Score that seems to have replaced the wall of 1990 Bowman in recent product. That's a rather unflattering picture of Nedved on his card. Not quite Pinnacle sweaty blue undershirt unflattering, but not a hockey-card worthy shot.

That was one of only a couple cards on this side of the Atlantic that Blazek got. Those Pro Set Platinums without the name on the front have not aged well as the featured players have become less memorable all these years later. That's Geoff Sanderson (who has amazing genetics) and Mike Krushelnyski shown on the bottom row.

And the hit! There's another awful photo for a card. He looks like he's posing at gunpoint. But that is a nice big swatch at least. Even odder that the photo, Blouin made his first NHL appearance in 1996. He also played in about 90 games between than and 2002, when he finally got his first licensed NHL cards. Given how rookie-centric releases are, that's amazing. 

It may seem that Jose Charbonneau, with his mouth wide open during warm-ups and not really centered, might be the oddest photo choice here.

How about Wade Flaherty getting snowed by his own teammate?

Only appropriate that this ends on a 21-22 base card.

This repack certainly wasn't dull! And interesting is always the best option!