2014 Adventures in Repacks: Part 47.2: The rest of the Topps '14-less trip to Target

And the rest of the purchase from last week.

Threads

Donte' Stallworth
Marques Colston
Steven Jackson

Frank Gore - These are quite aesthetically pleasing. The background is somewhat blurred, but it has been done so with the team colours. Also, I love the team name logo on the back.
Rex Grossman

Epix

Tony Romo - Nice to start with a throwback uniform.
Jason Campbell
Matt Moore
Vernon Davis

Peyton Manning
Eli Manning - Interesting collation.
Jake Delhomme
Antonio Gates
Donald Driver
Josh Freeman

Absoloute Memorabilia Retail

Kevin Kolb
Kyle Orton
TJ Houshmandzadeh
Maurice Jones-Drew
Matt Ryan

Carnell "Cadillac" Williams - Not enough cards feature the players nicknames.
Matt Cassell
Joe Flacco

Braylon Edwards - The obligatory card put aside for TMM.
Mohamed Massaquoi

Philadephia #1
Jay Cutler
Chris Perry
Lee Evans
Patrick Willis
Karlos Dansby

Arnaz Battle - The best card in this pack is the guy with the awesome name. There were two other cards of note, but they'll show up in the second pack.

Philadephia #2:

Chris Perry - Dupe! But a dupe for TMM!
Lee Evans - Dupe! But a Bills dupe!
Tony Romo Chicle - I had to look this one up to get the subset, and I think this one might be short-printed, since it is among the costliest non-auto in it. $10 at sportlots and $5.20 at COMC.
The Story of Barack Obama #308- Pulling a card of a President is always fun.
Bernard Berrian
Gus Frerotte - Wrapping up with a pair of Vikings. A pretty cool pack!

Press Pass 2011:

Ryan Kerrigan
Da'Quan Bowers
Torrey Smith Reflector
Niles Paul
Jonathan Baldwin

Zzzzz.

2011 Score

Brian Orakpo
Dallas Clark
Michael Huff

Terrell Owens - An interesting photo.
Delone Carter - Hot Rookies
Jacquizz Rodgers
Quinton Carter

A great photo is better than nothing when wrapping up the repacks.

But there's more! I was still in a football mood, so I also grabbed a rack pack of Rookies & Stars 2013. That put me within 22 or so cards of finishing that base set, meaning I'll probably at least make an attempt to finish it, and add those needed cards to my set wantlist at some point soon. I'm not going to list all 40 cards I pulled, but I will show off one. A hit from a retail product!

And the only thing better than a retail hit than said hit actually being one that fits into your PC.

An auto/relic of Robert Woods for my Buffalo Bills collection! I've got a lot of Woods hits from last year's releases. I've got 2 relics, and now a pair of auto/relics. So the best card from this repack go through was a hit from the only non-repack product I purchased. Typical of me!

So, another repack bited the dust.

36 Blue Jays for $1.00

Time to get the bad taste out of my month from the first pack of that repack with a trip to the flea market. Unfortunately, my usual hookup wasn't there (or at least not in his usual spot), so it seemed I'd limit my goodies to corn, raspberries and yellow beans.

But, there was someone there with a pile of gaming cards, and a handful of baseball cards. There were primarily team sets from the early 90s in team bags, but there was also this:

An oddball give away team set from 1997. For only one loonie! Take my money! And the 36 cards are just perfect for showing off at 9 per scan.

Here we have the first 9. Get used to a photographic theme. Lots of spring training shots - and all primarily from the same camera position. I guess the fine folks at Oh Henry invested in a tripod, and didn't want to have the photog waste that money spent by moving around.

More of the same in the second batch. But there are a couple notable cards here. Dan Plesac spent all or part of several seasons in Toronto, but only got a pair of cards from the big boys as a Blue Jay. One in 40 man, and the other in Pacific Online. I now have 1 more Oh Henry card (this and '01) card of his as Blue Jay than from any other releases. And you also have an appearance of Charlie O'Brien and his hockey style mask.

Wow! A non spring training photo! Wow! That's the only one in the whole set. And someone really should have told Willie that while those glasses would have been fine in a 1987 set, they look really geeky in a 1997 release.

And here' s some proof that pitchers weren't exempt from the same problem that plagued the hitters. I did add my first card of Luis Andujar as a Blue Jay, though.

Despite repetitive photos, how can I complain about this at the cost? I just regret not picking up a second one for trade bait.

2014 Adventures in Repacks: Part 47: No '14 Topps, so 10 pack repack instead

I was hoping for some retail Topps Football today. Unfortunately, they still weren't on the shelf at either Wally World or Target. Therefore, opted for a 10 pack repack of football.

Packs in question in the repack (I'm assuming all are the retail version where applicable)

1990 Score Football S1
1991 Score Football S2
2007 Threads
2008 UD Rookie Exclusives Rack Pack
2009 Philadelphia (2 packs)
2010 Epix
2010 Absolute Memorabilia
2011 Press Pass
2011 Score

7 different years of product. Interesting.

I'll do the largest packs first, and bump off the 90s Score and the 2008 UD with my first go through.

1990 Score:

Vance Johnson - It is junk wax, but at least it is an interesting photo.
Reggie White
Rodney Peete
Cortez Kennedy

Jeff Alm - A 40 percent mortality rate is kinda depressing 5 cards into a pack.
Reggie Rembert
Alan Veingrad
Steve Walsh
Steve Grogan

Mark Kelso - A Bills card. WOO-HOO!

Super Bowl Trivia #18 - As usual with these, pick the guy you are least likely to have heard of.
Mark Collins
James Dixon
Rickey Dixon
John Settle
Jim Everett
Lorenzo White

A Bills card makes the dullest pack bearable.

John Grimsley
Tom Newberry
Kelvin Martin
Rich Gannon
Dennis Byrd
Ray Childress

Anthony Carter - At least one card in this repack can go to TMM.

Johnny Johnson - The Johnsons had 9 months and the best they could come up with was Johnny.
Mike Young
Curtis Duncan
Louis Lipps
Don Warren
Paul Skansi

Jamie Mueller - A Bills card. WOO-HOO!
Maurice Carthon
Chris Smith

Once again, the Bills card saves this from blandness.

And the Rookie Exclusives rack pack. Bring on artsy and/or ridiculous shots from the rookie premiere, college and training camps!

Jerome Felton - I'm just including this a sample of what the college shots are like. Pretty boring and not what you expect from UD.
Dustin Keller

Josh Johnson - I'm just including this a sample of what the camp shots are like. Pretty boring and not what you expect from UD.
Kevin O'Connell
Geno Hayes
Davone Bess
Jonathan Hefney
Marcus Monk
Chevis Jackson
Anthony Morelli

James Hardy - Even being a Bills can't save this ridiculous card. At least the gym mats are out of the frame. Pretty stupid and not what you expect from UD.
Eddie Royal

Dexter Jackson - And these are the artsy shots. They are more interesting than the others, but that's really not praise.
Leodis McKelvin
Jacob Tamme

Earl Bennett - See what I said about the gym mats?

Jerome Simpson - OK. This one I like. It has taken almost half the pack for a keeper (the Bills have been dupes)

Dallas Clark - Rookie Photo Shoot Flashback - Of course. Even the inserts are staged photos.
Allen Patrick
Jamaal Charles
Jeff Ainge
Bruce Davis
Justin Forsett

Quintin Demps - The favourite name in this part of the repack. Still really boring, though.
Phillip Merling
Jermichael Finley
Aqib Talib
Tashard Choice
Jacob Tamme - Dupes. This pack gets even worse.

Limas Sweed - He couldn't even make a CFL expansion team this past season.
Earl Bennett

Jake Long - They think this looks artsy. I think it makes Jake look 50 years old.
Jerome Simpson
Lawrence Jackson
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie

Jeremy Shockey - RPSF - And it wraps up on a second gimmick insert.

P.U. all around for the left side of the repack.But, them's the chances you take with one of these. The rest coming up over the weekend.

ACTION!

Putting your glove back on is an action, right?

The back of the card gives a little more information about the night that the photo was taken, (maybe - for some reason I thought teams wore their white unis at home in the early 80s) but they couldn't find a picture of him at least with the puck from that night?

Trade w/ lonestarr - Part 2 - Bills Bills Bills!

Time to wrap up the trade with a small sampling of the 50 or so Buffalo Bills cards that came my way.

So, in a post that will include some great photos, some vintage, and some relics, I lead with some Jim Kelly? Despite this being a Bills post, and Jim falls into both this binder and my 2/14 collection. Both of the solo cards are on their way into that, and it is these two cards that put my collection at my goal of 800 cards by the end of 2014. So, does that make 900 feasible before 2015? Or even the big 1K?

Vintage Bills are always nice. Especially ones that contain that great older logo.

Here's a nice trio of relics as well. And they're all blue instead of white relics. Perfect.

Lots of great photo choices in this team bag. But picking my favourite was the easiest, What Lee Evans is doing might not have the alliterative qualities of the "Lambeau Leap" but is still a spectacular shot. I just wish I could figure out what game this came from, as Lee put up 7 TDs in 2005, but then I'd have to figure out which of those were during home games, and then cross reference with the weather that this was probably a game from October or November since it appears to be cold, but not too cold.

And then I realize I'd be making that fuss over a Lee Evans card.

At least the runner up in the spectacular photo contest can easily be traced to a game against the Jags.

And to wrap this up, here are a sampling of some of the other Bills cards in the package.

So, thanks for the goodies!

Time to dig into Topps Football '14

Let's bust a jumbo packj of the new Topps football release. I'll probably set build this, so let's hope I get off to a nice start. Just fresh into the LCS.

One pack is always a nice way to start. Lots of pictures in this post!

Greg Olsen - A nice action shot to start off as my first base card of the season.
Torrey Smith
Rams Team Card

Peyton Manning - MVP.

Ryan Kalil - I always like coming across OL cards. You can also see how the All-Pro cards work this year. I think I like this better than just using a simple logo.
Nick Perry
Justin Blackmon
Julian Edelman

Sebastian Janikowski - And a kicker in the same pack as an OL guy? What wizardry is this?!?
Anquan Boldin
Jordan Reed
Miles Austin
Andy Dalton

Jimmy Smith - Another great photo choice, as Jimmy Smith picks up one of his two interceptions last year. If you want to see the play it comes from, putting "Jimmy Smith' interception and Bengals into your favourite search engine should bring up the play. Poor Andy Dalton.

Titans Team Card - These can always be fun, photographically speaking.
Eric Berry
JJ Watt
DeAndre Hopkins

Charles Clay - I guess this is as good a time as any to show the card backs. 2 years of stats gets a slight ugh from me, but twitter handles return in 2014. As someone who really doesn't get into fantasy sports , I could do without the final two columns.
Kenbrell Thompkins
Nick Foles
Vernon Davis
Darrelle Revis
Cecil Shorts
Marvin Jones

Insert time!

Malcolm Jones - Gold Parallel - Yup, they're in this release too.

Eric Decker - Fantasy Focus - Neat photo and design, but again, I don't care much for the topic.

Josh Gordon - 1000 yard club

Troy Polamulu - Greatness Unleashed - I don't exactly know why, but I love the look of these.
Davis Dalton - PPK - These are cards of kids. In this case, a 9 year old. While I guess this would be cool to find if you know the kid, I'm old enough to feel like a creep when I saw them. I can't get these out of the house fast enough.

Alan Ball - Play 60. These are in the same vein, but at least they are of players. They have kind of a feel like you'd get from a 90s Triple Play or Studio card, and the ones I've seen are of players that really don't have lots of cards. This I like.

Edit: Despite being in the NFL since 2007, this is the first card of Alan's career. Really cool pull.

Austin Gardner - If anybody outside of their immediate families wants these, I'll PWE them to you. But I'll also send your address to the local police. Hide your laptop!

Tom Brady - 4000 Yard Club - It wouldn't be a football break without a card for TMM.

Calvin Johnson - Fantasy Football Strategy - More Fantasy

AJ McCarron - 1963 Mini - These are nice. I'll definitely be looking for PC guys in this subset.

Jordan Matthews - Tall Boy Auto /150.  Recently, I've pulled hits from my first pack of Prestige, my only pack of MVP, and know the first pack goodness continues here with this pull. Jordan's autograph might be terrible, but this is still a good pull. These fall a rate of 1:40, so while it isn't an extremely tough pull, it is still unexpected.

And back to the base to wrap it up.

Antonio Brown - Horizontal cards, although it looks like the aim was off for the stamping of the silver foil.
Jaguars Team
Ravens Team
Le'Veon Bell - Ebay error cards 1/1!

Troy Niklas - And here are the rookie cards to wrap the pack. They are either cards from the combine or the rookie premiere.
Arthur Lynch
Scott Crichton
Trent Murphy
Shaquelle Evans
Marcus Roberson

Xavier Grimble - My favourite new name of the year. Mainly because it sounds like a cartoon character.

Davante Adams - Here's one of the rookie premiere shots.
Allen Robinson
Marqise Lee

So, no Bills in a pack. Sounds about right for me! A nice start to the set build.