Random Wax: 2023-2024 Donruss Basketball

23-24 Donruss:  De'Aaron Fox caught grief during the NBA Finals, and deserved for the most part, but he's really good.  He has career averages of 21 PPG and 6 APG.

Great pull in this pack.  KAT is now a Knick and a champion!  This is a pack I picked up two years ago.

Brandon Miller had another good year with Charlotte averaging 20/4/3 in his 3rd season.  The Hornets seem like they are ready to go to the next level.

Wow, did this pack hit.  I like that SGA photo.  He won his second MVP this past season.

I'm a big fan of New Zealander Steven Adams and that's a great looking Green Laser Holo Parallel.

BREAKDOWN:
30 – Total Cards
3 – Rated Rookie
2 – Green Laser Holo
1 – The Rookies

1993 Bowman Football (Affordable Breaks)

1993 Bowman:   This Jim Kelly is a foil card from this set.  It's not a parallel.  It's the only Jim Kelly card but has a different design from the majority of the cards.

These are from an Affordable Breaks break in 2021 and I'm just getting around to sharing.  The design isn't bad but does feel a bit lacking.  What you see here is the majority of the cards as opposed to the foil cards.  Lots of room for the photos, and the photos are solid, so no complaints there.

1993 would be the year Buffalo went to their 4th straight Super Bowl and the 4th straight year us Bills fans went home crying.  This time they lost to Dallas 30-13 in Super Bowl XXVIII.

Nice Melvin Jenkins photo.  I'm not posting every card I pulled from the break.  Lots of fun memories from this set including The Cajun Cannon Bobby Hebert.

The foil cards seem to have gone to the star players on each team.  Kelly and Thurman Thomas for the Bills while Andre Rison is the only Falcon Foil.  Rison would go on to lead the league in touchdowns in 1993 with 15 and set a career high in receiving yards with 1,242.

BREAKDOWN:
I didn't get a full set of either team but was only one card away from the entire Falcons team set.

1989 Topps Batman Movie Trading Cards Series 2

Topps Batman S2:  Batman took a beating in the 1989 Batman movie much like he does in today's movies.

Scenes like this really hit well.  Bruce Wayne, the only one not cowering while watching the Joker walk away after causing chaos.  Series 2 is identical to series 1 except for a yellow border.  I like the addition of color.

In this series we get some cards that show off inspiration and movie designs.  Nice photo of the batmobile coming down the alley.

Vicki Vale and Batman hanging on for dear life!

A blockbuster in its day, it delivered with plenty of great visuals and affects in an era when hero movies weren't a thing yet.

The stickers (below) were full page stickers.  Not die cut which was the norm for Topps sets during that era.  These are lots of fun and I'll have to do a rewatch sometime soon.  Or maybe in 2029.

BREAKDOWN:
10 Total Cards
1 – Sticker

1986 Fleer Baseball

1986 Fleer:  Sweet Lou was Rookie of the Year, a 5X All-Star, 4X Silver Slugger and 3X Gold Glove selectee.  He won a Championship with the 1984 Detroit Tigers.  He played his entire 19-year career in Detroit and turned 1,527 double plays with shortstop Alan Trammel, an MLB record that will probably never be broken.

This design is one I've always liked for some reason.  Very simple but works for me though more action shots would have been appreciated.  Bill Madlock won 4 batting titles, 2 with the Cubs and 2 with the Pirates, and won a championship with the 1979 Pirates.  Cecil Cooper was a career .298 hitter and Jerry Royster is one of the random favorite all-time players of mine.

The backs have tons of stats which is great.  Not the most visually appealing but I'll take stats any day.  The back of the sticker is solid with fun famous feats.  

Greg Gross hit .287 and had a .387 on base percentage over 3,745 at bats but only hit 7 dingers.  Five of those in one season.  Power was definitely not his thing.

Ron Washington with the great look rocking the hair and Twins uni.  John Franco was a 4X All-Star and twice the Rolaids Relief pitcher of the year.  Fun pack of cards and we'll end it with the always fun sticker.

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
1 – Sticker

1989 Topps Batman Movie Trading Cards Series I

 1989 Batman Trading Cards:  The Batman movie will always hold a special place in my heart.  It was the first great hero movie for me.  It was different from anything we'd ever seen before and while it's not what we expect in today's hero movies, it really hit the mark in 1989.  It was released on today's date that year.

Jack Nicholson's Joker was mean, fun, and a big reason the movie played so well.  His intensity served the character well.  I like the basic design of the set and the nice Batman logo.  Lots of room for the photos.  I would have liked some color on the borders.  Series 2 did give us that, but I'll share a pack of those later this week.

Michael Gough played a really good Alfred.  We didn't have the special effects we get today but they did a really good job giving us plenty of cool set designs and visuals.  The bicentennial parade led us to the climax/ending of the film.

I liked Kim Basinger as the love interest Vicki Vale.

The final fight scene (right) was good.  I don't think of Nicholson as a physical actor, but he and Michael Keaton did a great job.

Again, I really like these cards, and the movie brings back plenty of memories of a movie I still regard highly today.  Below is my sticker from the pack.  I do wish the art matched the Joker movie version.  But still cool.

BREAKDOWN:
10 – Total Cards
1 – Sticker

Random Wax: 2025 Donruss NASCAR 4 Hobby Box Packs with Auto

2025 Donruss:  It's Father's Day and we'll kick it off with a NASCAR post for all the dads who like seeing these guys turn left.  And I'm one of those guys.  Michael Waltrip only had 4 Cup wins in his career, but he was always a great fun driver personality in the sport and he's still active as a NASCAR O'Reilly Series (minor leagues) and NASCAR Truck Series commentator.  His best seasons were 1994 and 1995 when he finished 12th in the rankings both seasons, and he's looking great on this Red Xplosion Auto #/49.

I don't like saying it every time, but this is a boring design.  Just nothing going on on the fronts that scream NASCAR or fun.  Driver car number?  A little car design?  Tire design?  Race track design?  Give me anything people!  "Hurricane" Hocevar is always fun to watch because you don't know what chaos he might bring to the track.  He's only 23 and did get his first win this season and looks to make the playoffs for the first time in his career.

Jesse Love won the 2025 O'Reilly Series Championship (minors).  He's shown on a Red and Blue Parallel.  Two more young drivers appear on these Rated Rookie cards.

Not a fan of Spellbound but pop is a big fan of Kyle Larson.  These inserts allow you to spell out a driver's name if you get all of their Spellbound cards.  Larson has won 2 Championships and is the reigning NASCAR champ.

These Race Kings grown on me more and more though maybe a bit more color around the border would help.  But still, I like that Donruss brought back the cars.  Denny Hamlin is the biggest personality in the sport and for the all the great drivers NASCAR has, there just aren't enough drivers with the big personalities the sport craves.

After winning 10 races in the O'Reilly Series (minors) last season, Connor Zilisch is now a rookie at the Cup level.  He's on a Spellbound Carolina Blue Ice Parallel #/199.

More youngsters in the sport.  Layne Riggs is one of the top drivers in the Truck Series.

And some all-time greats including three retired greats.  We get The King, Richard Petty, Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison both left the sport too soon.  Kulwicki won one championship but died shortly afterwards in a plane crash and Allison passed away at the height of his career in a helicopter crash.  Petty is the all-time winningest racer with 200 wins to go along with 7 Championships.  Joey Logano is no slouch winning 3 Championships of his own.

BREAKDOWN:

32 – Total Cards

5 – Retired Greats

4 – Red and Blue Parallel

2 – Race Kings

2 – Spellbound

2 – Rated Rookies

1 – Signature Series 

1 – Red Xplosion Parallel #/49

1 - Carolina Blue Ice Parallel #/99

Random Wax: 2025 Topps Baseball

2025 Topps:  Ted William's stats are pure video game stuff but I'll cherry pick a few:  

1941: Batted .406
1942: Triple Crown
1943-1945: Served in WWII
1946: MVP
1947: Triple Crown

I've always been a fan of Nolan Arenado, who I know is nearing the end of his career but I'm hoping for a bounce back year.  He's already on pace for his most home runs since 2023.  Matt Chapman had 8 RBIs against the Cubs this month.   What has happened to Chicago?  Zach Wheeler is 36 years-old but he's having another great year for Philly.

What a start to Yoshinobu Yamamoto's career. 2X World Series winner, 1X World Series MVP and an All-Star nod.  And yes, he's doing excellent again this season.

Astros Team Card.  They have dealt with so many injuries this year and it's not surprising they are struggling.

Ronald Acuna Jr.'s bat finally started coming around...and he hurt his hamstring again...  ugh.  Looking good on this Stars of MLB card though.

Some horizontal goodness including this Checklist card featuring the Tampa Bay Rays on the front.

Anthony Rizzo helped the Chicago Cubs get the monkey off their back in 2016 with a championship.  I was okay being happy for Cubs fans who had suffered for so long.

Always enjoy League Leader cards.  Fun pack of cards with a good pull.

BREAKDOWN:

36 – Total Cards

6 – RC

2 – Stars of MLB

1 - Checklist

1 – Team Card

1 – Future Stars

1 – Call to the Hall

1 – League Leaders