Not Tony! Toni! Toné! Instead, Toney Toney Toney!

 And some more Chronicles, courtesy of a half-case random. I ended up with the New York Giants spot, which, for a  rookie intensive product, meant I'd probably be drowning in Kadarius Toney cards. And that was an easy prediction.

He may not have had the most amazing rookie season, but he was still a first round draft pick, and there's always the potential there. The top row and base card are all designs I'd gotten cards of previously in the one pack I'd opened, but the other three, Flux, Magnitude and Dynagon  are all new. Flux and Magnitude are looks making their football debut, in fact.

Shiny cards are also available, and these scan so much nicer than the regular base cards, which only serve to show how filthy my scanner bed is. 

While the Flux parallel wasn't numbered, this one was. Coming in at /99, these red parallels are almost perfect for a Giants card. Not as perfect as a blue parallel, but still really close.

He might not have much of an auto from an aesthetic point, but it is still an autograph.

If you want some player-used swatches to distract you, here you go!

And if you want to see a card of a player not named Kadarius Toney, here's something for you as well.

There you have it!

Bills! Bills! Bills!

Considering how the season opener went, it is a perfect time to show off all the new Bills cards that have shown up at my place over the past few weeks. Some are from breaks, some from COMC, even a trade card. 

Here's the trade card. It was just an extra card that I had included as part of a set-builder trade through TCDB. It may not have been a superstar's card, but it still was one that I didn't have in the binder previously. Also, Copeland has this sentence in his wiki entry.

" While with the Buffalo Bills, Russell would hit the drum solo to Phil Collins' song, "In the Air Tonight" on point during pregame warmups at then Rich Stadium"

Awesome.

Richard Huntley never played a game for the Bills. He was released about 3 months after his signing. He has no cards where he is both pictured with, and listed with the Bills. Why wouldn't I want this card to commemorate those months?

My first in-person Bills game was a 1996 game where they hosted the Colts. Adding cards from games I was in attendance for are always nice little curiosities in my collection. 

What is this '3291' record that Doug Flutie set? 3291 days between NFL starts. 

And my only hit in this post. A Pro Bowl jersey swatch from an Offensive Lineman. Ruben Brown made 8 consecutive Pro Bowls as a Bill, so there's plenty of swatches available from his time in Buffalo. This one comes from the 2001 game. 

Off to some group breaks! The Chronicles one I was in. Not. Very. Good. But at least I also landed a Josh Allen to throw in a future mailer to Watertown. On the other hand, a random of the same product where I landed the NY Giants spot did much better, even if it was centered around one player. 

Here's the base content bound for binders out of Legacy. 2 Jim Kelly appearances means there is one both for my Bills collection, and one for the 2/14 collection. There were also a nice number of dupes here, again, to be sent out shortly.

Naturally, there were parallels as well. Shakir is the standard Premium parallel, while Cook's is the Premium Bronze parallel, numbered to 100. James had nowhere to go but up off of his first NFL carry.

Inserts! This puts my total of  Jim Kelly cards at 223, some in the Bills binder, some in the 2/14 collection, and some in sets. 

And inserts have parallels, and this provided the lowest numbered card of the break, as here is an 'Under the Lights Mini Ruby' appearance of Josh Allen. That lengthy title means that this card ends up numbered to only 50. And right now, Josh is probably the player you want to see cards of numbered that low.

Off to the newest product to show up in this post, Luminance. I'm usually a big fan of the full bleed photos used in this, but the shaded portion from the team name just doesn't work. But James Cook still gets a spectacular photo (I'm assuming from the title game) on his photo. Hopefully for Dallas Turner, he reaches the pros and gets a card of his own, and he's not limited to being flat on the field after a missed tackle.

No Josh Allen among the base, but he'll show up soon. But first,, here's a /249 gold parallel of Gabriel  Davis. 

Here's Josh Allen making his first Luminance appearance, in the returning Dynamic insert set. It is a little brighter than in previous years with a move to white from the darker form.

Vestige is new this year. I like the multi-image format used, even if the three photos used in this case makes Josh Allen look deceivingly immobile. These /100 parallels of the insert are the orange ones.

And there you have it! 

2022 Adventures in Repacks - Part 29.4 - Forgotten, but not Gone

 

And your final visible card. This might have been the last time in history that anything JaMarcus Russell related has been considered a selling point for anything.

No, I didn't hose up the framing on that Mark Ingram card. It really was that horrible on the original card. I did on that 49ers rookie card on the bottom row - cutting out Josh Morgan's name. 

Does a card only half-dedicated to a Bills player count as a Bills card? In the case of that Henry Jones/Audray McMillan card, it certainly does! They'd also share a leader card in Topps in 1993, but not a photo. Ruzek is the final kicker card in this repack. And it wasn't until I took a good look at that Jeff George that I realized that it was an Electric Gold parallel. I think these fell one-per-box at the time. 

And the finale. There's the last Bills card of this, and I'm happy to add a new Andre Reed into the binder. Al Noga was referenced during the classic MST3K episode 'Mitchell', due to the resemblance of the burglar at the beginning of the movie to Al (and the show's base in Minnesota). Even though there's probably several million of them out there, that Seau is a pretty nice rookie. McGwire was a good pull for the time.

There you have it!

2022 Adventures in Repacks - Part 29.3 - Forgotten, but not Gone

 The other side!

Definitely one of the more interesting choices for a visible card! And since he did win the Super Bowl as a member of the Packers, I can bust out the MST3K clip!

WOO! Packers! 

With that start, I'd already think this was the most interesting quarter of the repack, but then there is also this group starting off with a trio of minis. The Ellington is even a parallel. That Wisniewski is also has a pretty interesting photo on it. Not only is it an OL card of a guy sprinting up field, but if you look behind him, he's doing it to block for Bo Jackson! What a great cameo! That's the fun of spending time looking through cards like this - there might always be something nice hiding on it.

Erasmus Jones is still the only NFLer born in St. Kitts & Nevis. I love when I get cards of people where they are the only one born there for that particular sport. It doesn't show too well in the scan, but that Stallworth card is really shiny, as the opener for back-to-back Volunteers cards. And some Bills content! And some CFL content! Even though that Copeland is a dupe from a box of 2003 Pacific CFL that I busted ages ago. 

I guess one of these three groupings had to end up as the least-interesting of the bunch, but at least there's one more Bills card in this.

There you have it!

2022 Adventures in Repacks - Part 29.2 - Forgotten, but not Gone

 

The first side of the repack opened with a very strong QB contingent as the visible card. 

We now hit the rookie portion of this. Whether 8 years ago or now, that Joe Thomas was a pretty nice rookie card to find in a repack, and interesting that it wasn't the only OL rookie card in this portion. McFadden would have been a nice get for the time, at least. Also - World League mojo!

That Bell would also have been an interesting rookie pull for the time. It is actually the retail blue parallel, for an even nicer bonus. The Ace Sanders is as well, for a nice weather parallel. One more kicker card, too! World League, too! Unfortunately, that McNair is a 2/14 collection dupe. But no complaints about any sort of Heritage appearance, for any player.

The Peterson is the final appearance of those retail blue parallels in this. I can't recall the specific date I picked up this repack, but it was probably close to the time Ray Rice's elevator incident became public. I like how the defenders shown in the Donald Driver photo seem oblivious to the fact that he's already scored the TD. And one more kicker card! 

There you have it!

2022 Adventures in Repacks - Part 29.1 - Forgotten, but not Gone

Another one of these repacks that I bought back in 2015-ish, and never got around to posting at the time. Being the completist type, I have to post these. I was going to do the basketball one, but with the NFL kicking off on Thursday, I'm doing the football one instead. 100 cards = 4 25 card posts.

Interesting that the first visible card from 2009 is of a player that is still active in 2022. And still a star. 

Those Sage Hit cards were the most recent ones in the repack. I guess the Sammy Watkins does count as a Bills card for my collection, since he was set to debut for them by this point. It is a little hard to tell, but that Matt Bahr is one of those embossed Action-Packed cards. Coach card! And it is noted anti-littering enthusiast Sam Wyche! 

Now there's a more direct Bills card! This repack was actually pretty good on the whole for Bills content. Kicker card! And I wouldn't mind seeing Impressions make an appearance, like other Pacific sets such as Omega and Vanguard, as part of  a Chronicles insert set.

Even more Bills content. The Talley ended up being the only Bills card in the whole repack that ended up as a dupe. I like that percentage! 

There you have it!

The Joy of a Complete Insert Set

 

So, this year's MVP had an insert set, with a sorta game format, that was comprised of team mascots. 

With e-pack, these were about 30 cents each over at COMC, so the chances I wouldn't pick up the entire set was 'nil'. 

Even if the rules for the game are not really clear, and will probably end up like Calvinball.

See You in the Gizmoplex!

 

Another new episode of MST3K will be airing tonight, and given that it is the Million Eyes of Sumuru, it is the perfect time to show off my newest autograph of a MSTed performer. While Shirley Eaton is probably best known for her role in Goldfinger, which is where this auto comes from, she also starred in TMEoS, which was riffed back in the pre-cable days of the show, and is now joining the lot of Sandy Frank dubs from that era that get a re-riffing.

While the original did have a killer pun that Frankie Avalon was working without Annette, there were also some cringeworthy racist Asian riffs as well. So, I'm glad to see this one get a proper riffing tonight courtesy of Jonah and the bots.

2022 Adventures in Repacks - Part 28 - Baseball Hanger

 

This is the final 'new' repack I have. All that's left are a few more 'forgotten but not gone' ones. Better restock! 

Looking behind Yaz, here's what we find. O-Pee-Chee content always warms my Canadian heart, no matter who the player is that gets the bilingual feature. Kolodny never made it above 'A' ball, so I love the obscurity there. And there's some Mets content in it! Even better, it is Heritage Mets content! 

Gypsy Queen isn't really known for having memorable photography on its base cards, so getting a bunt photo on one of them is an unexpected piece of cardboard beauty. That's some horrific airbrushing on that Bohm. I'm not sure if the uniform or batting helmet looks more obvious. Vanguard isn't a set you often see in repacks, so that's also pretty nice. 

Here's your hit! Back-to-back repacks with an acetate auto in this. Perez is still doing the minor-league thing, but missed 2 straight seasons, and this year's stats are dire, with a 0-4 record and an ERA over 9. Still, this is set aside for the Tigers fan on my trade list.

There has been nice stuff so far, but that Van Landingham easily wins the nod for my favourite card in this. That's only because of how his name stretches all the way to his shoulders on the back, and how the photo perfectly captures that. Also - a snowy Christmas card!

Heritage wraps it up.

Uniform Hunting

 One of the things I enjoy doing at COMC is looking for uniforms that didn't make appearances on cards during their time of actual use. Usually, that means home NBA or NHL uniforms, since cards from the 70s and 80s used to originate from games in Washington. 

That was my rationale for grabbing a  Darcy Rota autograph earlier this year.

And that was also my rationale for this:

Since there are not a lot of pictures of those home white lightning bolt jerseys available on cardboard in original, non-throwback form, I had to settle for an autographed one. Benson isn't a huge name, despite being a #1 draft pick, so the price was reasonable.

And the photo on the back includes the lightning bolt on the shorts. Even better!

There you have it!