Random Wax: 2021 Chronicles Football

2021 Chronicles:  It doesn't feel like Jalen Hurts and the Eagles are dominating this season, but they are still winning and is maybe still the team to beat in the NFC.  Hurts shows up on this Prizm Black card which is pretty nice.

This base design is good as I've said before.  It's not overly exciting but I'm in on it.  A good pull in this small pack and we even get a retired great in Emmitt.

A nice Jordan Love RC with this Omega card.  Chronicles is about youngsters and about variety.  I don't remember ever seeing Omega in another Chronicles set.  I like what they did with this one.

One of my favorite players, Jonathan Taylor, on one of the Luminance cards as an RC.  He's so good his year.  That Dobbins card is a Panini design.

Three rookies on Gridiron Kings.  We're still trying to figure out what Tua is, but Patrick Queen has made two Pro Bowls.  He's now a Pittsburgh Steeler.  We'll end it with my favorite player in the game today, Christian McCaffrey.  He's only 29 but it feels like he's been around much longer.  He's also a 2X All-Pro. 

BREAKDOWN:

15 – Total Cards

9 - RC

3 – Gridiron Kings

2 – Omega

2 – Luminance

1 - Panini

1 – Prizm Black

1 – Retired Great

1 – Gold Parallel

 

2024 Disney Lorcana Into the Inklands Booster Pack

 Into the Inklands: We'll kick off this booster pack with Captain Hook, the big baddy from Peter Pan.  This card is an Enchanted level in terms of rarity which seems to be the highest level.  And maybe a Holo Parallel.  I just figured that out and it will probably end up on eBay soon.  LOL

I don't play Disney's trading card game, Lorcana, but the art intrigued me.  So, this was a fairly random pickup last year.  I do like the art even if I won't pursue more of these.  

You can find a visual checklist here.  I don't see anything on the card itself that tells you how rare a card is so that can be a challenge.

I've always wanted to get into trading card games but there's just not enough time in the day.

These cards provide instructions and hints.

These are fun.  Again, I won't look for more of them, but I think there's enjoyment to taking a look like I did here.

Random Wax: 2023-2024 Hoops Winter Holiday Blaster

23-24 Winter Basketball:  Happy Thanksgiving!  No denying Trae Young's talent. He's averaged 25 PPG and almost 10 APG for his career.   The Hawks have made one appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals with Young leading the charge.  Still hoping they can get things figured out this year and make a good run in the playoffs.

2023-2024 Hoops is a solid design and we get a Winter variation as seen here.  All three of these guys are on new teams - Warriors, Spurs, 76ers - respectively.  The Spurs have taken their game to a new level.

Speaking of the Spurs, the largest reason for their success is Wemby.  He's having a career best year and again is the early season favorite to be the Defensive Player of the Year.

We need a better background on these Rookie Greetings cards but the snowflakes really do help the look.

A couple of Skyview inserts and the perplexing Pure Players insert.  No complaints about my pull on these though Ja has had a rough start to his season.

All three of these are really good young players in the league.  The Murphy III and Green photos are nice.

More youngsters including a Rookie Sweaters Relic.  That Coulibaly Arriving Now is a Holo Parallel.

Great to see Nikola Jokic on this Dynamos insert.

We'll end it with Hoops Tribute that includes another Wemby sighting and a retired great.  I really liked my pull in this blaster.  Everybody have a great holiday!

BREAKDOWN:

90 – Total Cards

16 – RC

5 – Hoops Tribute

4 – Arriving Now

2 – Skyview

2 – Rookie Greetings

1 - Dynamos

1 – Holo Parallel

1 – Pure Players

1 – Retired Great

1 – Purple Parallel

1 – Rookie Sweaters Relic

Zane Smith Card Lot

 Zane Smith is one of my all-time favorite baseball players.  No real reason other than he did pitch for the Braves and something just clicked for me.

This 1985 Fleer Major League Prospect is Zane's third card.  His first card is a 1983 TCMA Durham Bulls trading card.  I just purchased that one and I'll show it off once it comes in.

Smith was 39-58 with a 4.06 ERA in 6 seasons with the Braves.  This lot had 40 total cards that I purchased on eBay.  I won't show of every card.  From this lot I think this '87 Donruss is my favorite Braves card.

His best season in Atlanta was 1987 when he went 15-10 with a 4.09 ERA in 36 games.

I like that '88 Donruss card as well and the prominent Braves logo.

Smith was traded to the Expos for three players. none of which amounted to anything.  

He was 6-8 with a 2.79 ERA in 21 starts in Montreal.  Get to see those classic Expo blue jersey on that 1990 Score card.

He was then sent to Pittsburgh as part of a trade that netted Montreal a young Moises Alou.  I like that Upper Deck photo even though there's really not anything going on there.  He had his best season as a pro going 16-10 in 1991 with a 3.20 ERA.

He was 47-41 with the Buccos with a 3.35 ERA over 6 seasons.  That included those powerhouse teams of the early 90s that lost three straight National League Championship Series.  He was 1-4 in his playoff career with a 2.88 ERA in 25 innings.  I do not remember that Pittsburgh alternate jersey.

Zane on the run!  Maybe that was his only stolen base of his career.  One SB and never caught stealing.  A pitcher will take that.  He spent just one year with the Red Sox.  Zane Smith is a top-ten all-time favorite for me so this post was a lot of fun.

He would play one more season with the Pirates after leaving Boston. He finished with a 100-115 record and a 3.74 ERA over 13 seasons.

Random Wax: 1991 Upper Deck Football (3 Packs)

 1991 UD: Reggie White was one of the most dominating defensive players to ever put on the helmet.   Twelve times he had double-digit sacks including a career high 21 in 1987.  

One of my favorite sets no matter the sport, I really enjoy sharing these.  Here we have some of the great receivers of the era.  John Taylor only played 9 seasons but was a 3X Super Bowl Champion and a member of the All-1980s Team as well as going to 3X Pro Bowls.

When checklist cards were great.  I really enjoy this art.

Team MVP cards were another good way to see star players.

The elder Sharpe brother and Hall of Famer was great, and we all hated seeing injuries cut Sterling's career short.  He led the league in receptions 3 times in his 7-year career.

A fun photo on the back of that Vance Johnson card as well as a Thurman Thomas Game Breaker Hologram.

This photo feels like an actual depiction of how Vinny felt every year in Tampa.  He did do well with the Jets where his record was 35-26 over seven seasons.  This photo does make me smile.
We'll end it with another Eagle great in Randall Cunningham.  His career high in games was actually with Minnesota as he went 13-1 in a memorable 1998 season as the Vikings starting QB.

BREAKDOWN:

36 – Total Cards

3 – Team MVP

3 – Team Checklist

1 – Game Breaker Hologram

 

Into Thin Air

 

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer is a good book that details events around different teams trying to summit Mount Everest in May, 1996. During the attempts 12 climbers perished.  I found this book very captivating.  I can't imagine even trying such a feat, but people love pushing their limits for the ultimate goal.  I thought the book was very informative and laid out well.  Again, I can't even imagine what all the individuals went through and how agonizing it is just to summit Everest, much less go through the storm and different circumstances they had to endure.  Just a horrible tragedy. 

Jon Krakauer was a journalist invited to go along with one of the expedition.  He subsequently published an article for the magazine he worked for, Outdoor and then wrote this book.  There are those from the expeditions with his account but to be fair so have the other works detailing what happened during that timeframe.  I take it for what it's worth.  It is written from his point of view and I believe he's being honest and is very open about his own shortcomings during the tragedy.  I don't doubt there are inaccuracies but there is nothing written that is 100% correct.  He also addresses this at the end of the book.  I definitely recommend this book.  It is written well and you'll feel like you are at 29,000 feet during the timeframe this occurred.

Random Wax: 2023-2024 Hoops

23-24 Hoops:   Stephen Curry is 37 this year and still playing at crazy good level.  This is his 17th year in the NBA and it's just amazing what he's done and how he's influenced how the game is played.  I'm still not a fan of Pure Players inserts but I'm a fan of Steph so I'm good here.

This is one of those small 8-card packs.  Not sure where I picked it up in March of 2024.  Good pull considering its size.  Jalen Johnson is an emerging star in Atlanta averaging 20 and 9 this year.  The Pelicans are a dumpster fire, but sharpshooter Trey Murphy III will be part of any success they might have in future.  Jalen Green is now in Phoenix as part of the KD trade and has dealt with lots of injuries so far this season.  He's averaged 20 PPG for his career.

The backs of the base cards are pretty boring in their black and white glory but there is a team logo.  It's one positive.  The back of the Pure Players are colorful and look good.

Fun pack.  These small ones can really be hit or miss but no complaints here.

BREAKDOWN:

8 – Total Cards

1 – RC

1 – Pure Players

Random Wax: 2024 Topps Baseball Hanger Box

2024 Topps:   He's like "what, no more baseball until 2026?".  Randy Arozarena is now in Seattle and put up a career-high 27 home runs for the surprising Mariners.  Seattle was within one game of making it to their first World Series.

Devers and Verlander are now Giants.  Pete Alonso is a free agent looking for his payday after another big season in New York.

Elly De La Cruz has lived up to the hype and had a career high in hits (166) this season.

Great photo in this Willi Castro horizontal take.

Charlie Morton one of the two Yellow Parallels I pulled.  We also have a Rainbow Foil Parallel, and 1989 Topps Baseball insert.

Really nice-looking Checklist card.

More youngsters including Pete Crow-Armstrong.  He had a really good second full season in Chicago hitting 31 dingers for the Cubs.  He appears on a Stars of MLB insert.

The backs are solid with all the stats we want.  Topps, do this with your basketball cards!  Alonso has been very consistent in his career.

Finally get a 2025 World Champion in Mookie Betts.  These Stars of MLB are nice but there just hasn't been enough variety with this insert's design over the years.

The League Leader cards are really nice including the headshots on the back.  These will be fun to look back at for years to come.  The fronts look good, and we see history in a snapshot of time on the back.

This is a design I like and as always, we get solid photos from Topps like we see here.

Team Card.

Fun box of cards.  More good photos here and we'll end it with a 2023 All-Topps Team.  Still not sure about that design but I really like "all-xxx" teams.  The NBA has "All-NBA" and the NFL has "All-Pro" selections for each season.  MLB has silver sluggers I guess but it's not the same. 

BREAKDOWN:
59 – Total Cards
13 – RC
4 – Stars of MLB
2 - Checklist
2 – Yellow Parallel
1 – Team Card
1 – Future Stars
1 – Team Leaders
1 – All-Star Rookie Cup
1 – 1989 Topps Baseball
1 – 2023 All Topps Team
1 – Rainbow Foil Parallel