2018-2019 Hoops Basketball

I was excited to see the 2018-2019 Hoops basketball cards but that is where the excitement ended.  Don't get me wrong.  I like the design and some of the inserts to include this Jimmy Butler card which I really like.  But that card is about the only highlight of this pack.  I like Butler and he is a PC guy so that is good but my pull was a real downer.  It is all in the eye of the beholder but again outside of Butler I just don't see any other star power.

  Again I like the design.  Nothing too flashy though the player's position would be a nice addition.  The backs are the standard boring black and white which is standard for Hoops.

I did like the photos which seemed to have plenty of players going to the hoop.  No matter what I said I'm sure I'll grab more of these.  One pack doesn't a "season" make.  

BREAKDOWN:

30 – Total Cards

5 – RC

1 – Purple Parallel

1 – Retired Legend

1 – Class of 2018

1 – The Pulse

1 – Lights Camera Action

2018 Donruss Elite Football

These 2018 Panini Donruss Elite Football cards were a surprise to me.  I didn't think I would like them and that was even after I opened the 30 card pack.  These cards have a bit of a shine to them which is what threw me off at first.  I like the design and the more I look at these the more I like them.  

I was very happy with my pull.  Plenty of stars while still having a nice balance among teams and offense and defense.  I don't remember seeing anything about these cards before picking them up so I was truly going in blind and found this pack to be fun.  

This Maurice Hurst RC is the only RC I pulled while it and the Drew Brees Spellbound were my two pink parallels. I'm not feeling the pink.  The backs are fine with me with some color, a nice team logo and a duplicate of the front photo.

My only issues on the front would be the lack of position and how much space is wasted in the bottom right of the card.  Not that big a deal and more of a minor annoyance than anything.  I'll definitely pick more of these up if I'm given the chance.  They are pretty nice cards and were a fun surprise.  

BREAKDOWN:

30 – Total Cards

2 – Pink Parallels

1 –RC (Pink Parallel)

1 –Spellbound (Pink Parallel)

Plug for Penny Sleeve's Secret Santa

A Penny for your Thoughts is doing a Secret Santa (click here) this year for bloggers/collectors.  I want to give him a quick plug as there are just a few days left to sign up.  Limit is $10 and as he said should be fun and allow collectors to get to know one another.  This will be my first time but I'm looking forward to it.  

Boston Red Sox Win the World Series!

The Boston Red Sox won the 2018 World Series 4 games to 1 culminating a historic season in which they set a team record with 108 wins.  No matter how good they were BoSox fans, including myself, knew anything could happen in the playoffs and going through two 100 win teams and an excellent Los Angeles Dodgers team gave us plenty to worry about.  Still they only lost three games en route to the championship.  That really spoke to the talent they put on the field and to first year manager Alex Cora.  Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez, Chris Sale, playoff heroes Jackie Bradley Jr., Stephen Pearce, Joe Kelly and David Price and the rest of the roster from top to bottom helped put up "W" after "W" .  This was a fun team to watch and deserves all the accolades coming their way.  I really enjoyed this season.  It was great to watch a team dominate like they did and be able to bring home the trophy.  

       I do want to give props to the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Considering how tough some of those games were to include the historic game three it is hard to believe Boston won 4-1.  That is a testament to how good the Dodgers are.  They just ran into a better team but good on them for making their second straight World Series appearance and how hard they played.

I know I'm late on this but travel for work threw me off the last two weeks and I actually thought I'd already posted something.  My bad.  Most will look upon the Red Sox and us Boston fans as having more than enough championships.  I really don't take them for granted.  The 2004 Championship ended years of frustration.  Growing up watching Yaz, Rice, Tiant, Clemons, and others never get there was so hard as a fan.  2004 was more than a championship - it was how it all went down.  That was a fun team who overcame the unbelievable to beat the Yankees and breeze through the World Series.  While the last three championships will never be that team they are just as special and as a fan I was very excited for this team's championship.  GO BOSOX!

Random Wax: 2017-2018 Contenders Basketball w/Auto

I'm a big fan of these 2017-2018 Panini Contenders basketball cards and didn't pass up a random pack when I found it.  I enjoy the design and star power this set delivers so I'll probably always gravitate towards them.  This year's set comes out just after Christmas and hopefully I'll be lucky enough to pick some up so thereafter.

Anthony Davis is a stud and fun to watch so I was happy to grab not one but three of his cards.  This set has variations of some of the players on base cards which have a different photo on the front.  Fun finds in the pack.

 

A ton of star power here.  I was amazed pulling big name after big name.  

Another A.D. card!  Some nice inserts in this set as well.

My auto was Dakota Mathias who did not catch on with an NBA team and signed to play with a Spanish team. 

BREAKDOWN:

22 – Total Cards

2 – Retired Greats

1 – Game Ticket Red Parallel

1 – Winning Tickets

1 – Playing the Numbers Game

1 – Hall of Fame

1 – Rookie Ticket Autograph

Card Show Baseball Card Finds

Grabbed some random baseball cards and packs at the card show and here they are.  I don't have near enough Greg Maddux cards and was able to help out my personal collection a bit with some of his cards.

Some more Maddux cards and the Ronald Acuna card I chased so much earlier in the year.  

The 1983 Topps baseball are a favorite of mine and I grabbed a pack while at the show.  I thought I had a nice pull with three hall of famers.  It is always fun to open these as there are so many memories from when I was a younger collector and opening these packs all the time. 

BREAKDOWN:

15 – Total Cards

1 – Piece of Gum 

Grabbed a pack of the 2010 Topps Attax baseball card game and a 2010 Topps Opening Day Attax bonus pack.  I didn't realize they were the same product at the time.  These aren't bad looking cards really though the ratings take quite a bit of space but that's just a part of these kinds of cards.  

BREAKDOWN:

2010 Topps Attax Baseball Card Game

6 – Total Cards

1 – Foil Card

1 – Code Card

2010 Topps Opening Day Bonus Pack Attax Cards

4 – Total Cards

Card Show Basketball Card Finds

I didn't pick up a ton of basketball cards but wanted to show off what I did pick up including a pack of the 1996 Topps Women's National Team cards.  Couldn't really find anything on this set but there were eight cards in the pack.  I like the base cards and profile cards which made up the majority of my pull.  To my amazement I at least knew of the majority of the players.  I'm by no means a women's basketball/WNBA guy per se but I like to at least be in the know. I know they don't match up to the men's game but I do enjoy watching the ladies mostly around tourney time.  I enjoyed this pack even if it isn't something I don't pick up very often.

BREAKDOWN:

8 – Total Cards

5 – Profiles

1 – Game Schedule

A couple of my all-time favorite players here.  Both are nice cards and look at that 'fro on Reggie!