2018 Favorite Cards

I saw others looking at their favorite cards from the year and I'll do the same here.  Mine are not all from 2018 sets but were cards I pulled or purchased in 2018.  This Paul Hornung autograph from a 2015 Gridiron Kings hobby box that I picked up at a local show.  I'm not a Packers fan so I found a good home for it in the form of a fellow blogger.  Still it is just a cool looking card to me and the coupled with being an autograph of an all-time great this is my favorite card of the year.  Paul Hornung is still alive and did you know his nicknames were Golden Boy or Goat Shoulders?

This Dale Murphy card is a great looking card I picked up for that same card show to have autographed by Murph himself. You can see those posts here.  A lifelong Braves fan I watched Dale Murphy and the Braves starting when he was a rookie catcher.  I still remember him throwing balls into centerfield while throwing to second base on attempted steals.  Atlanta was smart to put his arm to good use in the outfield.  This is a card from Edward Vela who does sketch art of sports and pop culture figures.   I happened across this card while looking for the right card to be autographed and couldn't be happier. 

This is just a great looking card.  All that blue from the classic Toronto Maple Leaf jersey and the background made this an instant favorite of mine.  I pulled this from my only pack of the 2018-2019 Upper Deck Hockey.  It isn't often that non action shots wow me but this one managed to do just that.

This Dan Fouts card seems a bit out of place but I pulled it in a January pack of 2017 Playoff Football and combined with being a big fan of Fouts, I love this uniform.  I know everyone else loves the powder blue uniforms but these unis, which were worn from '74 to '84, are what I grew up with and love.

Last but not least this Dustin Pedroia MLB Independence Day US Flag Patch from a 2018 Topps Series 2 blaster.  This is a great looking card and is by far my favorite relic.  Great player, great look.  Love it.

Everyone have a safe and enjoyable New Years Eve!  I can't wait to see what cards 2019 has in store for all of us. 

2015 Score Football Hobby Box

This box of 2015 Score football was a Christmas gift last month.  This set, like most Score football, has a huge lineup totaling 440 base cards as well as plenty of inserts and parallels.  The highlights for me were the Gridiron Heritage and All-Time Franchise subsets.  The Jim Kelly really stood out to me.  He is an all-time great Buffalo Bill and one of my favorite players.  The card is really cool.  I had fun with this box.  The price ($29.99 on Amazon) on these boxes is definitely palatable and on average you'll get one auto or relic.  I pulled a dual jersey relic of some pretty good defensive players which can be seen at the end of this post.  There is some decent ink to pull as well but the notable names are a hard chase through wax.  Plenty of parallels for those of you who like those as well.  Basically just a good variety of cards with a large base set and overall good design.  I was very happy with Santa Claus and my box.  

   This Malcom Butler card is awesome.  The photo is from the Super Bowl winning interception of Russell Wilson.  That's such a great sports moment and for it to be captured on Butler's base card is pretty cool.

A few different photos:  DeMarcus Ware running with the ball, Clay Matthews doing a ballet move and Tom Brady doing jazz hands...ok he isn't but that was my first thought seeing this photo.

There are 110 rookies in this set and I pulled some great ones highlighted by Todd Gurley and Vic Beasley.  College unis look good here and thank goodness the NFL team is listed on the card.  There are some Score sets that don't list teams and that can drive me crazy.

Different die cut inserts including one of all-time great John Stallworth on a camo parallel.  I don't see that many of Stallworth's cards which is shame.

I love both of these insert sets and I plan on grabbing these on eBay.  The Steve Largent is a gold parallel.

Black, green and red parallels.

Some cool photos of the Legion of Doom.  The intensity on Richard Sherman's face says it all.  The backs have enough color and different things going on that I like them.  It shows you don't have to go crazy to present a non-boring card back.

  The Lawrence Timmons card is a Showcase parallel and the Jeremy Maclin is a Scorecard parallel.

I found it interesting that Peyton Manning is featured in two different unis on these two different inserts.  I do like it though.

BREAKDOWN:

288 – Total Cards

71 – RC

25 – Retired Legends

20 – Team Leaders

16 – Gridiron Legends

12 – Franchise2

12 – Gold Parallel

12 – Sophomore Selections

6 – Red Parallel

6 – All-Time Franchise

4 – Scorecard

3 – Green Parallel

3 – Playmakers

1 – The Great Outdoors

1 – Precision Passers

1 – Black Parallel

1 – Green Camo Parallel

1 – Desert Camo Parallel

1 – Showcase (#/99)

1 – Dual Jersey

Random Wax: 2018-2019 Donruss Basketball

I picked up two Dollar Tree packs of the 2018-2019 Donruss basketball.  Dollar General packs are almost always dogs.  This is probably the best I've ever pulled from those.  Yellow flood parallels have me thinking back to 1991 Fleer baseball and they add a bit of variety you won't get from fat packs.  Plenty of stars and nice young players in my pull to include Victor Oladipo, Bradley Beal, Rudy Gobert, Josh Jackson and Jaren Jackson Jr.  I, like most, don't know yet where Markelle Fultz is as a player.  Hopefully Philly can gix him - whatever is broken.  I'm very happy with the cards I grabbed and the design is one I enjoy so a win all-around.  

 BREAKDOWN:

10 – Total Cards (2 Dollar General Packs)

2 – Rated Rookie

2 – Yellow Flood

Merry Christmas! ...and Cards, Star Wars, Comic Books and more!

Merry Christmas to all and I hope Santa Clause was good to you.  He was to me...  First off were matching "I Want My MTV" for me and the wife from the kids.  I love this shirt and when MTV started it was right in my wheelhouse as I was soon to be a teenager.  Great fun.  Overall I'm extremely happy.  I received quite a few gifts I've wanted for a while now and my gifts were quite varied to keep me happy on many different fronts.

A 2015 Score football box which you'll see the results of sometime soon.  These are cheap options for football cards and a great fit for me. There is one auto or relic in each box.  I look forward to sharing my pull.

From our youngest daughter some Star Wars coffee mugs.  This won't be my last Stars Wars related gifts and you can't go wrong with Star Wars and me.  

The Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith steelbook.  I like the steelbook editions of some movies and I've been trying to complete the Star Wars series so this is a great present.  I've also needed some CD's to catch me up on bands I listen to so this of Beauty and Rage album from the band Red was a perfect gift.  I really enjoy their music and I'm hoping I can catch them in concert sometime soon.

Another daughter picked me up these:  Volume 1 of the Darth Vader canon comics.  This series has gotten very good reviews and I'm looking forward to some fun reading.  That crazy looking guy is an Atlanta Falcon pillow.  There is Velcro on the bottom that, when undone, helps it turn into a 13" pillow.  Pretty cool pickup from K-Mart before it closed.

Last but not least are the trade paperbacks of Green Lantern: Rebirth and Green Lantern: Fear.  I'm a big comic guy and Green Lantern is my favorite hero, but my comic reading has been at a standstill for a long time for me.  I'm hoping to catch up some on the great stories I've missed.  Geoff Johns did a great job in his reboot of Green Lantern and I can't wait to catch up on his books.

Again Merry Christmas to everyone.  I hope you had a great day.  

Secret Santa Was Good to Me

My Secret Santa cards came in on Friday and I wanted to share.  I received not one, but two autos which was a great surprise. They are both Max Fried who is a young left who has done well in limited time for the Braves.  He is a former 1st round pick from 2012.  The first auto is a 2018 Chronicles Cornerstones Rookie Reserve Signatures Quartz parallel #/49.  This is a sweet looking card.

The next auto is from the 2018 Donruss Optic set - Rated Rookie Signature.  Another nice card which I think is a bronze parallel.  Two autos was more than I could ever expect from my Secret Santa...and there is more...

My first ever Topps Now card.  This is of Lane Adams and one of the three walk off wins by the Braves in their series with the Marlins at the time.  I've always loved this concept but hadn't waded into the waters yet.  Topps Now provides fans a way to buy instant memories.

These are some of the 2012 Topps Opening Day cards I recevied.  My Secret Santa must know I'm a big Opening Day guy and I had zero of these cards before they arrived.  Love 'em.  Not sure if Freddie Freeman is just intense or just struck out but he looks like someone you don't want to mess with at the moment.  Nice action shot of Chipper fielding a ball and another one from Brian McCann, who returns to the club this year.

My Santa also knows my love for the Michigan Wolverines hence the Jake Rudock card.  He didn't pan out in the NFL but had a solid year with the Wolverines after transferring from Iowa.  Blue really needed someone at QB and he was that guy for a year before he graduated.  Devonta Freeman is a personal collection guy for me.  These are some really nice optic cards. 

Last but not least is one of the new Atlanta Hawks.  I definitely had reservations about Jeremy Lin coming to the Hawks this year as we had just drafted a young point guard.  He's actually done a good job melding into what Atlanta is doing.  He comes off the bench as a combo guard and has averaged a solid 10 points per game but more importantly is shooting great this year at a 50/38/82% clip.  I really thought they'd flip him for another player but instead has been a solid player for the Hawks.

Thank you so much to my Secret Santa, whose identity I still don't know.  Secret Santa is great fun.  I know how tough it can be getting cards for someone else but that is half the fun.  Merry Christmas all! 

2013 Topps Football Retail Box

I stopped at a random Wal-Mart on the way home recently and saw this retail box of 2013 Topps Football for only $14.99.  I couldn't pass up that deal for 192 cards.  I was very happy with my pull and it was quite a bit of fun.  The box and set had plenty of variety to include inserts, parallels and subsets.  I had a great time with this fun surprise of a box.  Even with a 192 cards there were plenty of players I didn't pull to include Peyton Manning, Julio Jones, Larry Fitzgerald and Matt Ryan just to name a few so I'd give one of these a second shot if I run across it.  There are also photo variations but I didn't pull any of those.  

Plenty of stars of course with a box this big including a couple of quarterbacks who've both been in the conversation for league MVP.   

Some great photos of emotions from defensive players.

These inserts are definitely my favorite.  Pulling Tom Brady and Deion Sanders, two of my all-time favorites, made the pulls made it even sweeter.

I wish there were more cards honoring the past years champions like this one with a photo from the post-game celebration.  Maybe with photos from the game itself but I'm not sure why we don't see those kinds of cards anymore.  I was always a fan of the 1000 yard cards even though I always thought Topps should have adjusted with the advent of the 16 game schedule and made it a larger number (I know 1000 sounds cooler).  Topps added 4000 yard cards somewhere in the past. That number seems an appropriate throwing milestone for today's game. 

An RC card, Wal-Mart 1959 Continuity Blue RC, and the Robert Griffin III Rookie of the Year card.

A nice Antonio Brown card even if he is wearing the bumble bee uni.  An All-Pro J.J. Watt and Kansas City Chiefs team card as well.  

Included here is the Tom Brady bass card, a couple of All-Pro cards and a cammo parallel team card #'d to 399.  I didn't scan any of the gold parallels but those were #'d to 2013.

1959 Mini

BREAKDOWN:

192 – Total Cards (16 Packs X 12 Cards)
38 - RC
13 – Team Cards
10 – All-Pro
5 – 1959 Minis
4 – Future Legends
4 – Legends in the Making
4 – 1000 Yard Club
3 – 4000 Yard Club
3 – Wal-Mart Blue 1959 RC
2 – Gridiron Legends
2 – Gold Parallels (#/2013)
1 – Super Bowl XLVII Champions
1 – Camo Parallel (#/399)
1 – Rookie of the Year

Random Wax: 2018 Topps Update

This 2018 Topps Update pack had Braves' star and 2018 Rookie of the Year Ronald Acuna Jr. so this pack was off to a great start.  

A couple of nice stars to include 2018 World Champion J.D. Martinez.  Still coming down off the high of the Red Sox winning as you can tell.  Also some scrub from the Yanks...just saying.

 I like the design of all three of these cards.  We might be seeing Harold Baines cards in next year's set so I'm pretty excited about that.  This is a nice card for Lorenzo Cain who had a monster year in his first for the Brewers.  I'm a big fan of the '83 design so these are fun to pull.

Another of the three Braves I pulled and the gold parallel Austin Meadows card #/2018 and his standard base card.  I pulled both in this pack.

I'm an All-Star game guy so I always enjoy these.  Julio Urias only managed four regular season innings in 2018 but still pitched three innings against the Red Sox in the World Series with a respectable 3.00 ERA.

BREAKDOWN:

36 – Total Cards

9 – RC (3 – Rookie Debut)

6 – All-Star Game

1 – Legends in the Making

1 – 1983 Topps Baseball 35^th Set

1 – 2018 Hall of Famer

1 – An International Affair

1 – Rookie Combos

1 – Gold Parallel (#/2018)