Donruss Baseball 1991

1991 Donruss:  Dwight Gooden had issues early in his career but still managed 16 seasons.  His 11 with the Mets were very productive pitching to a 157-85 record with a 3.10 ERA.  He didn't have an ERA under 4.67 with any other team.  He won one Cy Young and won a championship with the Mets and the Yankees.

Pretty good pull in this pack including World Series MVP and Hall of Famer, Alan Trammel. Parker is also in the Hall and Dwight Evans had a 20-year career including 19 with the Red Sox.

After 1991, Sammy Sosa would be traded to the Chicago Cubs with Ken Patterson for George Bell.

These backs don't have all the stats we want but it's solid including stats from the last 5 seasons and career highlights.

This design isn't bad but not my favorite Donruss look.  11X Gold Glove winner Omar Vizquel early in his career with the Mariners.  He had 2,877 hits for his career.

The backs of the All-Star cards are nice giving us actual All-Star Game stats as well as career highlights.  I always like All-Star cards, and I especially liked when Donruss put the American League and National League logos on them.  Great look.

BREAKDOWN:
16 – Total Cards
1 – All-Star
1 – Rated Rookie

Random Wax: 2023 Donruss Football

2023 Score:  Trevor Lawrence had one of his best seasons going 13-4 with the Jaguars as they won the AFC South.  A bit of a surprise from the Jags who haven't seen this kind of success during Larence's career.  I am hoping we see more consistency from him moving forward.

Jason Kelce is a 6X All-Pro and one of those guys it's easy to like.  It was tough seeing George Kittle go down with an Achilles injury in the playoffs.  I'm know he'll be back those are never fun.  Maxx Crosby had another double-digit sack season.

Tre Tucker had 57 receptions for the Raiders this season, standing out amongst these three.

This design is okay but not a favorite of mine.  Feels like I've seen similar designs a lot in the past few years from Panini.

Some love for the defense.  All three are studs.

Nice Amon-Ra St. Brown photo.  Not a bad Gridiron Kings design.  Overall, a fun pack with a good pull.

BREAKDOWN:
30 – Total Cards
4 – Rated Rookie
4 – Press Proof Blue Parallel
1 – Gridiron Kings

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

 The Fantastic Four: First Steps: Finally got around to watching this one. In the back of my head, for some reason, I don't think I really wanted to like it.  But I did.  It's a good movie.  I like how the characters, the actors, the plot and how it fits into the Marvel cinematic universe.  It also explained, or I think it did, some of the upcoming Marvel cinematic universe choices. 

The movie's focus is the Fantastic Four as an already established superhero team.  You'll note the retro feel, which is really, really cool and it's critical in how they fit into the Marvel universe.  As seen in the trailer, we also get Silver Surfer and Galactus.  I like both.  There are always cinematic choices when you do these comic characters.  I don't agree with all of them, but I like and enjoyed the movie as did my youngest grandson.  I recommend the movie.  Good stuff.

Random Wax: 2023-2024 Contenders Basketball (2 Packs)

 23-24 Contenders:  Wemby is still a basketball freak of nature.  It is already his 3rd season in the NBA and he's averaging 24 and 10 this year while shooting 38% from deep.  The Spurs are also a top 3 team in the Western Conference and has had some big wins over OKC.

Great pull in these packs.  It is a small set which helps.  This design is a good one for me.  I like Contenders and getting the backgrounds in the photo is a good touch.

Ausar Thompson and Jaime Jaquez Jr. are solid players in the league.  I like the look of Rookie Stallions.

Two Game Night Ticket cards and a Bronze Game Day Ticket Parallel.  Some nice variety for a set that doesn't have a ton.

These Historic Draft Class cards are great.  Two photos and retired greats.  Good combo.

Lauri Markkanen has become one of the best big men in the league.  He averages 27, 7 and 2 while shooting 36% from 3.  He's a true big man at 7-1.

As a reminder the Section is the player's weight, the Row is their height, and Seat is their jersey number.

Another Historic Draft Class retired legend.

Lots of big men love.  And Kawhi, my favorite player in the league, and he's maybe having his best season yet.  He's had to deal with a few injuries, which he can't seem to shake but he and the Clippers have surged of late and are back in the playoff/play-in picture.

BREAKDOWN:
44 – Total Cards
6 – RC
2 – Retired Greats
2 – Game Night Ticket
2 – Historic Draft Class
1 – Stallions
1 – Draft Class
1 – Green Game Day Ticket Parallel
1 – Bronze Game Day Ticket Parallel

2025 Topps Update

2025 Update:   Pete Crow-Armstrong shows up on this 35th Anniversary Topps card and showed up on everyone's radar in 2025.  He hit 31 home runs, had 95 runs batted in and had a .768 OPS.  Huge gain for the Cubs.  He still needs to work on his average and on base percentage, but Chicago has to be happy with what they've seen so far from their Gold Glove centerfielder.

My first look at Update from last year.  Always a bit of a mix of what you might get in these.  Overall, not the strongest pack but I'm happy.

Noah Cameron had a really good rookie season with the Royals going 9-7 with a 2.99 ERA in 24 starts.

Really enjoy the backs of the 35th Anniversary cards.

A couple of Stars of MLB inserts as well as a Boston Red Sox Veteran Combo card.  I like Salvador Perez, and I like that out of the norm photo with the bubble.

This pack was a Christmas present and what a great present.  Cards always work.

BREAKDOWN:
36 – Total Cards
16 – RC
2 – Stars of MLB
1 – Veterans Combo
1 - 35th Anniversary 1990 Topps

Conference Championship Games

 The AFC side of things is pretty straightforward.  Without Bo Nix it is just too much of a stretch to pick the Broncos.  That said, if Denver's defense can force some turnovers and hold New England reasonably, anything is possible.  The Patriots offense hasn't been great in the post season.  They do have a good defense, and I assume they'll try to make Stidham throw the ball and blitz him when he does.  Stranger things have happened, but I have to go with New England.

The NFC is where it really gets tough.  The Seattle Seahawks have a complete team whereas it's hard to bet against MVP favorite Matthew Stafford.  I think I will go with Seattle even though they are dealing with injuries at running back.  I like their defense more than LA's as well.  This should be a fun game.  That's the hope anyway.

Random Wax: 2022 Score Football

2022 Score:  They don't get much better than The Sherriff.  Peyton Manning really is one of the greats in the history of the sport.  He was a 7X All-Pro 1st Team selection and All-Pro selections aren't just handed out.  For context, Rodgers had 4, Brady had 3, Brees 1 and Elway no 1st team All-Pro selections.  Manning's 7 is the most by a QB in history while Jerry Rice and Jim Otto are the all-time leaders with 10 each.  Manning also played in 5 AFC Championship games, winning 4.  And I love these First Ballot inserts.

Matt Stafford and the Rams play the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship today.  Stafford is a 1X All-Pro selection and the favorite to win the MVP this year.

These three haven't made a big impact in the league.  I do like the look of the Throwback Rookie cards.

I like the Celebration inserts as well.  Always fun.

More youngsters.  Hutchinson has been a stud since coming into the league.  Jameson Williams has also been an excellent receiver for the Lions.  Not a big fan of the PROtential design but I like the idea.

Sack Attack is another fun insert, and we get a retired great here.

I'm not a fan of this design per se, but I do like seeing more retired greats.

Huddle Up is a simple insert but for some reason it works for me as well.

BREAKDOWN:
40 – Total Cards
7 – Retired Greats
6 – RC
4 – PROtential
3 - Celebration
3 – Red Parallel
2 – Huddle Up
2 – Sack Attack
1 - Celebration
1 – Throwback Rookie