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!

2022 Adventures in Repacks - Part 41 - No Better Way to End a Year

 

A repack is a perfect way to end a year of posting.

Mets content! And a Deion Sanders rookie card, in either sport, would have been a nice pull back in 1990 as opposed to repack content 30+ years later. 

Not much work to get to the hit. Although I have absolutely no memories of Bud Smith, but he does have a no-hitter to his credit over his short MLB career. And I get a Cardinals hit that I can include whenever I send my next mailer to Portland. 

We're all over the place now with sets, and really, that's what I want to see from a repack. Especially when the only junk wax era card in this portion still provides an interesting photo. Bartolo Colon is always welcome, and there's some minor league fun, even if the base design is more suited to an autographed parallel. Also: Pirates black and yellow! 

Even if it made for some odd looks, the silhouette on 2004 flagship was one of my favourite little features on cards. It is right up there with incorporating the team cap into the design. Diamond King action from the Dick Perez era and the gawdy backgrounds add another fun card to my misc. collection. Even if picking a King coming off the 0-21 starting 1988 Orioles had to be tough.

Start with Heritage! End with Heritage! 

Definitely an enjoyable end to the year! 

The Chronicles Finale

 Unlike with the Stadium Club stuff from the past two posts, I actually remember this. This was another random of 2022 Chronicles baseball, where I got the Colorado/Arizona combo spot.

If it weren't for the Ketel Marte I got in one of my personal boxes, I'd doubt that Arizona got any cards in the whole set without the RC logo on it. 

The same could be said for Colorado. 

But at least I got this one that came with a little bit of blue, and a stamp that says it is /50.

But I'm guessing that this will not include that RC logo. And yes, this is still considered a Colorado card. If Marcus Semien can still have Jays cards in this, I guess Trevor Story can still get cards with the Rockies. This card should end up being /10, and, if this is any indication, it should also have 4 patches to go alongside it. I did get a Cedric Mullins /25 Fireworks in one of my boxes, so these should look pretty nice together.

There you have it!

Maybe I Have a Problem - Part 2

 And now the Mets content I'd completely forgotten about.

Here's the vertical content. I thought that the Strawberry would be the ideal card for there to be an autographed parallel of, and sure enough, they exist in this release. The other legend content here is surprisingly and disappointingly generic. But Megill does provide a rare appearance of the black uniforms on a card. The team was sporting them during their no-hitter, so maybe the photo was from that game.

I picked up that Hernandez from a quarter box not long after release, completely forgetting about this group break pick-up. I definitely could do worse in terms of a card to have more than one of. Suddenly, I have a craving for bubble gum. And an apple.

Surprisingly - no red parallels. But here's a black one of Scherzer.

And here is a 1991 SP parallel of Scherzer. These supposedly fall every 1:233 packs, slightly more common than the Instavision yesterday which were 1:256, or 1 per case. They're special, but there is one huge drawback.

The same backs as the regular cards. Boo. For those hoping to see a picture of Scherzer's rookie card on the reverse - SORRY! 

The Mets couldn't escape this bland insert series. 

I could lose or keep the Triumverates on the whole, but when the parallels end up matching the team colours, such as this orange /50 one, I'll take them!

And I do get an autograph this time. This is my first Canha autograph in the Mets PC, and he's actually made some appearances earlier in sets with ink. Nicely, even though Canha doesn't have a card in the base set, the photo does feel like one that could be used on a base card in this set. For a bonus, this is the black foil parallel, and it comes in with only /25 copies. It may not be the best-looking auto, but he does use the available space perfectly.

There you have it!

Maybe I Have a Problem - Part 1

Some Stadium Club Mets and Blue Jays showed up lately. The only problem is that I completely forgot about buying into their slots in breaks until I got the shipping notification. Yes. I think that qualifies as a problem.

At least I didn't pick up the team slots in subsequent breaks.

So, I guess I have some great photos to show off.

Here's the vertical portion of the set. Toronto doesn't get historical content in these sets very often, and that's going to be even rarer now that Roberto Alomar is banned, and probably not showing up in Topps products. So, I'm going to savour that Joe Carter appearance, especially with such a memorable moment getting the nod for the photo. 

AL pitchers holding a bat, or NL pitchers for that matter, even if it isn't in a game situation, is a pretty rare site for a card. But it the perfect cameo for Jose Berrios' return to Minnesota makes that the best of this horizontal grouping. If it weren't for the memories that the Joe Carter card brings back, it would probably be my favourite of the team set.

The extent of the parallels, autographed or otherwise, were these red ones.

While I can see the inclusion of Manoah in a set like this, is it really necessary to include someone like Bichette, who was wrapping up his 4th season when this dropped. Tatis Jr. Soto and Acuna Jr were also included. 

And while I didn't get one of the autographs out of this, all was still very well as I did get the Instavision card, which is a case hit. And it feels like a special card as well, which is what a rare card should feel like.

I'll get to the Mets stuff next time.

There you have it!