Random Wax: 1991 Upper Deck Football (3 Packs)

1991 UD Football:  We'll kick off these three packs with Emmitt Smith.  Was never a fan of the Cowboys or this guy while he played.  Of course they beat my Bills twice in the 90s and no, no I haven't let it go.  Still, I like this card and the photo.

Really good photos and players here.  Love this set and the design.  An all-time great for me.  Terance Mathis was just okay with the Jets but took off a few years later in the Atlanta Falcons offense.

Another good photo.  Fullbacks aren't graceful so it's fitting.  Rathman won two Super Bowls with the 49ers.

I'm a fan of any league leader cards and these Season Leaders cards work for me.  Team MVP cards give us another nice look at key players.  Upper Deck didn't get too fancy and it works.  Could of wedged a team logo in there somewhere though.

Great photo.

Again, just good photos.  Wilson played 17 seasons and won a Super Bowl as a backup with the Dallas Cowboys.

Some of the best checklist cards ever.

A Pro Bowl game photo.  Props to Upper Deck even if we didn't get actual Pro Bowl cards.

These are so much fun.  The memories alone are worth it but Upper Deck delivered a great set.

BREAKDOWN:
36 – Total Cards
5 – Team MVP
3 – Team Checklist
2 – Season Leaders

Random Wax: 2023-2024 Donruss Basketball

23-24 Donruss:  I love that Basketball Reference used Jimmy Butler's hair from the pre-season for his photo.  Worth the look.  He didn't keep it that way.  I think it might have been a joke but he is having a career year shooting from deep.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Evan Mobley has continually gotten better and is having a really good year in Cleveland.  Injuries continue to plague Philly but maybe they can keep it together while Joel Embiid is on the mend.  The new look Rockets are struggling this year.

These three all bring great hair game to the league.  Bufkin doing a Princess Leia thing there?  Dereck Lively is having a good year for Dallas (8 ppg/7 rpg).

Not my favorite Donruss design.  Just doesn't work for me.

Jaren Jackson is having a career year, but his shooting numbers are down.

Max Strus had an amazing fourth quarter against Dallas a few weeks back to help Cleveland pull off a huge comeback win.  Brandon Miller is having a great rookie year and Paolo Banchero is having another good year in Orlando.  Both of those designs are nice looks.

Lauri Markkanen really came out of nowhere for me last year but is having another good season in Utah.  Fun cards.  I'm enjoying the NBA again this year.  Might be pressing the NFL for #1 in my fandom.

BREAKDOWN:
30 – Total Cards
3 – Rated Rookie
1 – RC
1 – Green Laser Holo
1 – Magicians
1 – Franchise Features

Random Wax: 3Bros Baseball Pack

3Bros: Another of the packs I picked up from Dollar Tree in January of 2022.  We'll kick it off with this too cool Tim Raines card.  Every time I see it I think it is Tony Gwynn until I look in his glasses and see Raines running.  Raines went to the White Sox for five years after spending the first part of his career with Montreal.

Appropriate photo for Walker who was known for his defense and more specifically for that strong arm of his.  These MVP cards always felt a little weak to me in design but getting another card of greats from the era is good with me.  Part of the fun is getting cards from across the eras including this Diamond King and Sonny Gray is now the ace for the St. Louis Cardinals (though dealing with an injury to start the season).

Love Fleer stickers and I always liked 1991 Fleer even with that bright yellow border and lack of logo.

The packs each contained 10 cards. You can purchase packs and cards directly from their online website which has some interesting offerings.  

Interestingly enough Manwaring and Carter showed up in last week's 1988 Fleer post.  Fun cards and the '85 Topps Joe Carter pull is very nice.

BREAKDOWN:

10 – Total Cards

5 – 80s Cards

4 – 90s Cards

2 – Hall of Famers

1 – Sticker

1 – 10s Cards

2023 Chronicles NASCAR Blaster

2023 Chronicles:  Chronicles is always fun with a ton of variety.  We'll kick it off with a cool Jeff Gordon Torque.  I really like that photo.  NASCAR is in Bristol, TN today.

Ryan Blaney is the reigning NASCAR Cup Champion.  I'm good with that Zenith card. The Recon isn't bad but I'm still not sure.  I do think I like Vertex.  This is my first look at this set and the blaster was a find when I was purchasing something from Target.com.

That Jeb Burton is a base card, of which there are 20 in the set.  Very small number but of course this set is all about the variety.  I like the Score card on principle but it really needed something in the bottom right corner.  Driver car number, a driver helmet, a tire, a car.  Something.  It looks so blah as is.

Ben Chastain is all smiles.  A guy most drivers aren't fans of, but you can't deny he's got talent.  The Brandon Jones Status Swatches is my relic from the blaster.  

Again the Torque cards are sharp.  And what a name for truck series driver Lawless Alan.  Classics is good looking as well.  

I like the Pedal Metal cards.  Lots going on but I like that we see the car as well as a couple of looks at the driver.  More youngsters than veteran drivers and retired greats in this set.  Not a negative but something to know going in.

My favorite driver of today, Kyle Busch, making a nice appearance on a nice looking Thunder card.  Fun box.  Probably seek out some singles from the box.  I really like the Hailee Deegan card.  Good photo, design and we see her at the track in front of her car.  Makes it stand out from the other cards.  

BREAKDOWN:

25 – Total Cards

5 – Green Parallels

3 – Vertex

3 – Chronicles

2 – RC

2 - Score

2 – Torque

2 – Luminance

2 – Pedal Metal

2 – Donruss Classic

1 – Recon

1 – Mosaic

1 – Zenith

1 – Thunder

1 – Elements

1 – Titanium

1 – Luminance

1 – Retired Great

1 – Clearly Donruss

1 – Status Swatches

Random Wax: Kayou Hero Battle Series 1 Legend Booster (2 Packs)

Kayou Hero Battle Series 1:  Been a while since I showed some of these off so let's do two more packs.  This UR Ant-Man is the "rarest" of the cards I pulled. It's a UR and I'll show the order of rarity later.  

A checklist of these cards can be found here.  This set is based around the characters in the Avengers movies. As a fan of that phase of the Marvel universe these are fun.  The grandsons really like them too since they grew up with these movies.  Some of the recent Marvel card releases are more expensive and show the more classic or comic versions of characters which the grandsons aren't as familiar with.

I really like that War Machine card.  To recap these are part of a licensed card game from China.  The card stock is thin, feeling like playing cards and the corners are rounded.  The lack of affordable comic cards set me down this road of cards.   In order they go R, SR, SSR, HR, SGR, LR, UR, MR, and CR in that order from most common to the rarest.  

I really like these cards.  Right in my wheelhouse since I enjoy the movies as much as the next guy.  Details on these sets are hard to find but there I did find this Facebook group helpful.   Nice looking Captain Marvel to end it on.

BREAKDOWN:

12 – Total Cards (2 Packs)

4 - SR

1 – UR

1 – SGR

 

Random Wax: 1990-1991 SkyBox Basketball (3 Packs)

 90-91 SkyBox: I'll kick off these three packs with my #2 all-time favorite player, power forward Buck Williams.  His stats won't wow you but he was a three-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA selection, the 81-82 Rookie of the Year and a four-time All-Defensive player.  He started out with New Jersey and something about his hard-nosed play drew me to him. He was eventually traded for Sam Bowie and a 1st round pick (Mookie Blaylock) to Portland where he would play in two NBA Finals for the Trail Blazers.

Three more favorites of mine from the era.  Jack Sikma has continually moved up the list for me all-time and won a championship as part of the Seattle SuperSonics.  Tripucka and Dantley weren't known for defense but could score.  Sikma and Dantley are Hall of Famers.

Man, Hersey Hawkins could shoot including 39% from deep for his career which really would have played today.  Manute's son Bol Bol is in his fifth season now playing for Phoenix.

Love these backs to include the forward thinking per game averages for stats.  Panini still gives us total three pointers made instead of a percentage.  Really?  

Michael cooper was great defensively while helping win five championships with the Lakers.  Bogues averaged over seven assists per game for his career.

Never ever leave Glen Rice open in NBA2K.  Just saying.  He's fun when he's on your team though.  Great packs of cards.  This design is always fun and the players have so many great memories.  

BREAKDOWN:
45 – Total Cards

Random Wax: 2019 Score Football Hanger Box

 2019 Score: I love this set so let's do a hanger box with NFL free agency starting today.  Hopes and dreams start today for teams and players hoping to improve their teams and positions.  Stefon Diggs is a Buffalo Bill now but I know Buffalo is hoping to upgrade the receiver position through free agency and the draft next month.

Some really good photos here to pair with the design I enjoy so much.  I think this is my 13th post on this set.

Ups and downs for Daniel Jones and Marquise Brown but DK Metcalf has been very good his entire career in Seattle.

Both of these inserts are good.  Colors match the teams and they look good.

Signal-Callers are shiny inserts.  Andrew Luck had just completed the final season of his career and retired to shock the NFL world.

Showing off the backs of these Throwbacks inserts which might be better than the fronts.  That color and design really make these say "throwback".

I found these hanger boxes at Blowout Cards last fall for $12 a piece so I couldn't resist.  None of these three on the NFL Draft inserts has done anything of note in the league.

Fun.

Epix are favorites of collectors and Mahomes and Donald make them even better.

Fitz is a favorite player of mine and I like the Captains inserts.

I like Huddle Up but this isn't an actual huddle.

As always these are fun.  Jessie Bates is a Falcon now.  I wasn't happy with his signing, but he really was good this season.  Another nice photo on that Orakpo card to end this box.

BREAKDOWN:
60 – Total Cards
13 – RC
4 – Purple Parallel
3 – Epix
3 – NFL Draft
3 – Throwbacks
3 – Signal-Callers
2 – Fantasy Stars
2 – All-Hands Team
1 – Huddle Up
1 – Celebration