Mail Day from Topps Cards That Never Were

Mail day from the Topps Cards That Never Were blog.  Jeremy reached out about a trade and boom a box of over 100 great cards ended up in my mailbox.  Make sure you check out his blog.  He does a great job doing up custom cards how he'd want to see them done.  He's extremely talented and it's fun seeing his alternative card universe.  Picking a favorite from what he sent was almost impossible but this Hank Aaron 3000 hits club card is a great place to start.  I really like this card and you hardly ever hear his hits total brought up when his name is mentioned (chicks did the long ball) but he is third all-time with an amazing 3,771 hits.  

 I received some great custom cards of some of my all-time favorite players.  Again he does such a good job.  I wasn't expecting these cool cards and was stoked to find them in my package.

The cards were mainly Red Sox and Braves so I was a happy man.  Many of which were PC guys including these three studs.

So many of these I'd never seen so now owning these cool cards is awesome.

Babe Ruth (Red Sox) <insert crying emoji here>  I really like these Ted Williams and Jimmie Foxx cards.

I like this Legends in the Making set and didn't have this Albies card yet.  The Dale Murphy and Hank Aaron cards are both cards I've never seen before.

I'd never seen any of the Father's Day cards so this Jackie Bradley Jr. was a fun inclusion.

He also took the time to look over my PC guys.  The McCutcheon is great.  I love All-Star game cards and I like that jersey.  Mike Trout - 'nuff said.

  Tim Wakefield is a PC guy for me and Youkilis and Varitek will always have a special place in Red Sox fandom as players from that '04 Championship team.  That Varitek is one of a few numbered cards I received.

More PC guys.  

There were quite a few minis as well including the Glavine below.  Thanks again to Jeremy.  Check out his blog and card handiwork.

1993 Fleer Flair Box

1993 Fleer Flair Baseball:  I just picked this up from Dave & Adams and couldn't be happier.  This set was one of the first premium sets out there and I was a big fan when it came out.  I just couldn't really afford it back in the day.  When I saw it on the site I didn't hesitate to put it in my cart.  These are on a very thick card stock and the double photos really work well.  We'll kick it off with Randy Johnson and a good photo catching the intensity on his face as he delivers a pitch.

Each pack was actually a small box that was then wrapped in plastic.  It really added to what put these above the rest back in the day.  I don't think I ever actually purchased a pack before.  I'm pretty sure I only got singles.

There were plenty of really good photos all around on these cards.  Sometimes you liked the one faded into the background better like that Dave Stewart shot.

The only inserts were these Wave of the Future cards.  I was lucky enough to pull a Mike Piazza.  He had a base card as well.  They even made the checklists cool.  There are photos like this on both sides of the checklist cards.

This is definitely a set where I could show off most of the cards I pulled.  I've kept it pretty high level here and stuck to mostly the stars.  This was so much fun and I'm very happy with my pull.  I was worried about the cards sticking since they are glossy but zero issues with that.

 These guys all became key players for the Red Sox '04 Championship run.  The card backs had yet another photo on it.  These really are cool cards and this set will always have a soft spot in my collecting heart.

BREAKDOWN:

144 – Total Cards
4 - Checklist
4 – Wave of the Future

Mail Day from The Diamond King

Thanks to Kevin over at The Diamond King blog for some great cards.  He showed these off here originally on his blog and when I commented on how much I liked them he reached out.  I'm excited he did as I like all these cards.  I've only scanned in a portion of the cards he sent but I do want to show off some of what he sent.

I'm a big fan of his SkyBox set and I love these team checklist cards. I think with time my admiration has only grown.  

It's awesome seeing these old classic logos.  That Nuggets' logo is such a classic design.  This Warriors design is one I like too and the Mavs were definitely solid.

And who doesn't miss the Supersonics logo?   It's also easy to forget the Wizards were the Bullets originally.  Love these cards.

I'm a fan of helmet cards so these were right up my alley.  They are from a 1995 Pacific set but really I can't find any information or details.

  Each team has two cards but they share the same card number.  So it looks like one is a variation.

The backs have some decent facts about the early years of the franchise and this one also talks about the Ram moving to St. Louis.  Did that work out?  The local fans here are not happy, Super Bowl victory, or not.

Like anything of this age we get to see some cool old school logos.  Both of these are really good though I don't have any issues with the Broncos' new logo.  Really fun mail day and I'm very happy Kevin made the effort.  Thanks!

Love Bucco Bruce!

Random Wax: 2020 Topps Baseball

2020 Topps Baseball:  This is one of the smaller 16 card packs.  I really like this Marte for its action as well as that great uni.  They were playing game 5 of the '79 Pirates-Orioles game on TV the other night.  It was pretty awesome to watch some of the "We are Family" Pirates in action.  Pittsburgh was down 3 games to 1 going into that game and were down early but came back to win game 5 as well as games 6 and 7 to take the series in dramatic fashion.  Seeing old games replayed in their entirety has definitely been fun.  I can only remember so much of games 40+ years in the past.  And wow was the pace of the game much quicker.

Not the most start studded pack but it could have been worse.

Some good photos on both of these cards.

Still not feeling the Turkey Reds.  The Topps Now cards seem like throwaways.  I enjoyed this pack overall even if the star power wasn't as strong as in some of the other packs I've busted.  I really like these '85 35th Anniversary inserts. 

BREAKDOWN:

16 – Cards
1 – Topps Now
1 – Team Card
1 – Turkey Red
1 - 1985 Topps 35th Anniversary

Random Wax: 2019-2020 Donruss Basketball Hanger Box

2019-2020 Donruss Basketball:  Back when there was actually new basketball product left on the shelves I had picked this up.  These boxes have 50 cards.  No Zion here but I do have one of his Donruss cards from a previous pack.  Can't wait to see young stud Trae Young of my Hawks back on the court.  A first-time all-star this year he gives fans and the franchise hope for the future.

There are also green flood parallels in these boxes.  The green works great with Irving in a Celtics uni though he is actually on the Nets right now.

I kind of like the Changing Stripes inserts showing players in both their old and current unis after changing teams.  So will Russell's card next year show him in three different unis since he's already been traded to the Timberwolves?

Thirteen rookies were in this box of 50 cards.  That's a better percentage than the two fat packs I've opened where there were five rookies in a 30 card pack.

This was a good box.  If I'd known how many rookies were found in these I definitely would have grabbed more of these when they were first available.

BREAKDOWN:

50 – Total Cards
13 – Rated Rookie
3 – Green Flood Parallels
2 – Franchise Features
1 – Complete Players
1 – Changing Stripes

1991-1992 SkyBox Basketball

1991-1992 SkyBox Basketball:  I'd normally kick this one off with the Hakeem but with The Final Dance ending tonight I'll go with Scottie here.  I'm still really enjoying the show.  This SkyBox set is another that has 80's written all over it but I'm digging it as well.  Goes against the grain for me since I prefer the backgrounds with the photos.  This pack was part of my Amazon buy, same as the 90-91 SkyBox pack featuring Michael Jordan.

  A couple of good players who ended up as really good coaches.  Steve Kerr also has been fairly prominent in The Last Dance.  

The Centennial cards give you some history/background on the sport.  Seems like they could have put how many assists Scott Skiles had to get this Single Game Performance card.  He had 30 assists in a 1990 game to set the record which he still holds.

Orlando Woolridge was top scorer for the Bulls when Michael Jordan arrived and there wasn't room for both of them.  He signed as a free agent with the Nets after the 85-86 season.  He's a PC guy for me and someone I always liked.  Roy Tarpley was an excellent big man for the Mavs but drugs ended his career prematurely.

While the backs might contain basketball sport related photos they tried to go away from the norm and you see quite a few pics of players away from basketball which adds to the appeal.  This was a fun pack and Hakeem and Scottie made my pull a really good one.  Enjoy the show tonight.

BREAKDOWN:

15 – Total Cards
1 – Best of the Game
1 – Basketball Centennial

2018 Victory Lane Racing Blaster

2018 Victory Lane:  Had this for a while now but with NASCAR up and running again today let's do this.  These blasters come with 10 cards and you are guaranteed an auto or relic.  Pulling a Dale Eanrhardt Jr. card is always a good start.  Always a fan favorite I'm glad he is at least still around as an anaylyst for NBC.

The base design isn't bad.  I think I would have preferred more casual photos around the garage or by the car but that isn't what this brand is about.  The backs are fine though some simple stats would have been a great add.  

I like these Past Winners cards.  These show the drivers after they've won a race which is always a fun moment.

Bill Elliott was one of the most liked drivers ever.  I like that this set includes retired greats.  This was a good blaster of a set I've never seen before.  Getting only 10 cards makes the price point tough.  I won't grab more blasters but I can see me picking up some singles.

Brandon Jones isn't exactly the auto or relic I was looking for but who knows.  He's only 23 and already had one win in this year's shortened Xfinity series season.  We'll see what he can do back on the track.  This is a green parallel #/99.  The scan barely shows the green outline around the two relic portions.

BREAKDOWN:

10 – Total Cards

4 – Past Winners

3 – Retired Greats

1 – NASCAR at 70

1 – Silver Parallel

1 – Pedal to the Metal

1 - Race Ready Dual Materials Green #/99