Random Wax: 2019-2020 Contenders Basketball

2019-2020 Contenders Basketball:  I'm a Contenders guy and I think this year's design is very solid.  I had a great pull with this pack which is always a bonus.  This guy has been great on the Mavericks and is no doubt the future of the franchise. He's so fun to watch.  Hard to believe the skills he has at  6-7 and he is only 20 years-old. 

Plenty of big names and great big men.

The inserts in this set are pretty good.  They don't bowl me over but I'm good with them.

I can't complain about this pack at all.  So many stars here and I pulled an Damion Lillard which, unsurprisingly, is my favorite in the pack.

BREAKDOWN: 

22 – Total Cards
1 – 2019 Draft Class
1 – Front Row Seat
1 – Winning Ticket
1 – Green Game Ticket Parallel

1999 Upper Deck Football

 1999 Upper Deck Football: This was part of an eBay purchase that netted me some cool packs and cards I'd never seen before.  This set has a good design to it and nice photos.  Not a lot of wasted space either.  Love this card of Buffalo great Thurman Thomas and it's a fun start to the pack.

  Vinny Testaverde had one great year with the Jets which happened to be 1998 when he went 12-1 as a starter.  NY made it to the Conference Championship but lost to the eventual Super Bowl Champion Denver Broncos and John Elway.

Eddie George started 16 games in eight of the nine seasons he played.  And after only nine seasons he is 16th on the all-time rushing attempts list.  '98 was the last season Tennessee played as the Oilers hence the jerseys on their photos.

 The backs are nice.  I like the color but that font size...wow.  Works great here but in hand it's tough.  You have to love all the stats though.  The Strike Force insert isn't a favorite of mine but Randall Cunningham and that '98 Vikings team were so good.  They went 15-1, 15-1, before losing a heart breaker to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship.  Fun pack and I've already been stalking boxes of this on eBay.  

BREAKDOWN:

10 – Total Cards
1 – Strike Force

Sons of Anarchy TV Series

Sons of Anarchy:  I purchased the entire run of Sons of Anarchy on DVD some time back.  This week I finished the series which spans seven seasons (2008-2014).  Running on FX it did well as cable television show.  I like many who enjoyed the show was drawn the imagery and cool factor of a motorcycle club.  I actually got season one in maybe 2010.  I was hooked.  Sure it took me years to pick up the entire series and finish it but I'm a huge fan.

  Charlie Hunnam, who plays Jax Teller, is the lead and does a great job of drawing us in and making us relate to and even root for these guys.  The rest of the club and supporting characters do just as great a job in making us like this show.  There are plenty of characters who fade in and out of story lines but it's the club and their families that take center stage.  There's a few you won't like and some you'll love but be careful as they are are all shown to be human and fallible...and can do bad things.  Still you'll want to watch more.

 The show had to be pushing boundaries back in the day.  This is an outlaw motorcycle club and you'll see everything carnal and violent you'd expect from them.  And then it's ramped up a notch.  I was very surprised what was shown on screen even for cable.  But it's so easy to get sucked in to the machismo it offers up from being cool bikers and you ignore what you see on screen.

  My pop road bikes when he was younger and I took a chance.  He loved Sons of Anarchy.  He's 84 and I haven't heard him rave about a show in a very long time.  It really is the characters that'll keep you coming back.  Come season seven you'll be on the edge of your seat wanting to know how it all gets wrapped up.  If you come to my small town and see a 50'ish guy walking his dog in town with a leather vest on...and maybe jean shorts and sandals...make sure you stop and say hi to me.  

1992 Upper Deck Baseball Box (Low Series)

 1992 Upper Deck Baseball: This was part of that Dave & Adams purchase a while back. This set is pretty affordable but offers up really good quality cards and photos.  I think the '91 Upper Deck are my favorites but these are right there with them.  Nice McGwire card and photo to add to my fledgling Mac collection.

 That Manny is one of the big rookie cards from this set.  That Thome picture is great.  Love pulling a Pedro Martinez card any day of the week.

 The Diamond Skills cards were pretty cool and give us a great Rickey Henderson card as the Best Baserunner.  Jim Abbott as the Best Leftey surprised me a bit until I looked up his stats.  Darn good year in 91 - 18-11, 2.89, 5CG, 243IP,

 Oh to be Eric Davis cool...

 There are so many stars and Hall of Famers in this set which helps make it a ton of fun to bust.

 Wild eyed Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux covering first, expertly I assume, both seem appropriate. 

 That smile!

 Some PC guys for me. Think this is the night after Tawney Kitaen hit Chuck Finley with her stiletto heel?

The Crime Dog!  The hologram cards scan pretty well and were always nice pulls.  This was a great box and so much fun.  I'll throw more photos in here at the end just for the fun factor.

BREAKDOWN:

540 – Total Cards
46 – Prospect 92
18 – Diamond Skills
18 – Star Rookie
7 - Checklist
6 – Holograms
3 – Bloodlines
1 – SP
1 – Stay In School

 Two cool cards and that Deion is an SP insert as well as a favorite of mine.

 Great photography throughout the set.  

 Many of the photos on the back were as good if not better than the fronts.

He really looks like "Rock" Raines here.  

2018 Leaf Draft Football

 2018 Leaf Draft Football:  This was the other free pack from my Steel City Collectibles purchase last year.  Not something I'd normally see in my local stores so it's good get a pack in hand.  Leaf doesn't have an NCAA license so plenty of air brushing going on here which hurts the aesthetic.  Pulling a Josh Allen is great though.  Really hoping he can take his game to another level this year and maybe the Bills can win the division for the first time in forever. 

It's a shame we don't see logos as I like the design though it is very simple.  Ronald Jones had a good year last year and will have the opportunity to play alongside Tom Brady this year.  The whole world is waiting to see what the Bucs can do with Tom Terrific under center.  That Riley Ferguson is a gold parallel.

These TD machines were the two inserts.  Neither of these guys are putting up big stats but they are still in the league.  The backs on these cards are fine but college stat lines would have been better.  Overall a good pack that I enjoyed.

BREAKDOWN:

5 – Total Cards
2 – TD Machines
1 – Gold Parallel

Random Wax: 2016 Donruss Pack

 2016 Donruss Baseball:  Yaz!  This is one of two free packs of cards from a Steel City Collectibles purchase last year.  Finally getting around to posting.  There were only six cards in the pack but anytime I can get #2 all-time favorite Yaz I'm a happy man.

 Pretty good pull also getting a Harper and Posey in the deal.  The designs on this set is simple but I like it. 

The set has some nice inserts as well.  I like all three of these.  That '82 design isn't a favorite of mine but seeing current players on it helps.  Fun little pack and the fact it was free is great.  I thought i did well.  

BREAKDOWN:

6 – Total Cards

1 – The Rookies

1 – ’82 Donruss

1 – Retired Great

1 – Collegiate national Team

2020 Score Football

2020 Score Football:  This is my first look at these cards that just hit the shelves.  Still trying to figure out how much I like the design.  I'll kick it off with an insert I like.  I'm curious to see what others in this set look like going forward and see where I fall on this set.

The design is pretty basic and at first a let down after last years awesomeness.  Still it is growing on me.  My pull was only saved by the inserts.  My base cards didn't have any of the top stars in the league.  The set is pretty robust 440 cards.

I like both of these inserts.  That Thomas is a cool card and Ladies and Gentlemen...your 2019 NFL Champion Kansas City Chiefs...

The backs have a cropped photo of the front shot.  I like the backs though there seems like there is room for more stats.  

These two inserts haven't grown on me yet.  I'm all for defensive stars getting some love but I'm still not sure about the design colors.  The Cardinals 3D card had the same color scheme.  I don't know.  The Deep Dive cards are a bit goofy with it all about players diving.

This set as always has players on cards before they are drafted so you'll have to look up the majority of these guys to know who they play for.  I don't get the pink colors for the In the Zone inserts.   Nothing against pink but it isn't working for me here.  I'll definitely grab more of these and hopefully I have a better pull next time.  I leave this with a nice Jake Fromm from the Georgia Bulldogs because he is from the Bulldogs and that uni is classic. 

BREAKDOWN:

40 – Total Cards
7 – RC
4 – Red Parallel
3 – Next Level
2 – 3D
2 – Deep Dive
2 – Huddle Up
2 – In The Zone
1 – Game Face

2020 Donruss Baseball - 5 Dollar Tree Packs

2020 Donruss Baseball:  My first look at this set comes via five Dollar Tree packs that contain exclusive yellow parallels.  I like the design.  I really do but the lack of team license is just so hard to get over for me.  This card just screams team logo and/or not air brushing the helmet.  

There's a yellow parallel in every pack.  I think they work on the base cards but it looks really bad on that '86 Donruss Winfield card.  The Clayton is a variation.  Variations are denoted by the old school red Donruss logo.  The variation here is "Chavez Ravine" under his name.  The standard card says "Los Angeles".  The yellow parallel Ketel Marte is a name variation.  All the variations can be seen here.  

More '86 Donruss stylings and a Rated Rookie.  Dwight Gooden looked pretty bored in that photo.  Maybe it was his ridiculous '85 season when he was unhittable.  

I so want to like these.  Then I see the missing logos...  

I'm actually on the fence.  I do like the base design.  But can I get over the license thing?  I don't know.  We'll see where this goes and I'll get back to you...maybe...

BREAKDOWN:

25 – Total Cards
5 – Yellow Parallel
4 – Retro 1986
3 – Rated Rookie
2 – RC
2 – Diamond Kings
1 – Nickname Variation