2019 Favorite Cards

Deciding on my favorite cards of the year was tough but determining my single most favorite of the year was easy - this Anfernee Simons card that came from Cards on Cards in February.  I love this card.  The emotion and background, which evoke playing ball on outside courts, are a big hit with me.

    This 2018-2019 Upper DeckMarc-Andre Fleury card came to me in a random pack in April.  Upper Deck really does hockey right and photos like this are a big reason why.

Baseball was much tougher to pick a winner but speaking of photos...this is a great shot of Atlanta Braves stud Freddie Freeman.  Emotion is always something fun when caught on film well.  This card came from a random pack of 2019 Stadium Club in September.

This Boba Fett came from a blaster of 2018 Star Wars Galaxy cards I opened in March.  I really enjoyed the box but this card is a great rendering of one of Star Wars' iconic characters.  I like this so much it was in the running for top card of the year.  As is, it is a solid #2 and my favorite non-sport card of 2019. 

  

I'm a big fan of the WWE Women's Division cards and this card is from a 2019 Blaster.  Not a flashy card but I like how the Women's division has been spotlighted and this is just a cool card to me and my favorite wrestling card of the year.

  

Another card where the photo sells it.  Snow cards are already a big plus and this one is just too cool with the snow being a prominent part of the picture, the white Colts' jerseys and the camera catching the look in the eyes of T.Y. Hilton.  This was from a random pack of 2018 Donruss Football back in May.

And last but not least this Dale Earnhardt Jr. is tops among my NASCAR pulls this year.  This great shot of Jr. looking all intense came from a pack of 2013 Press Pass in March.  This is a fun exercise I really enjoy.  It's fun looking back at posts from the year and even more fun, and tough, narrowing down my top cards. 

Everyone have a safe and Happy New Year.  I look forward to more fun with cards in 2020.

2019 Contenders Football

2019 Contenders Football:  I always look forward to these cards.  I know some get bored with the similar design over and over but I really like this years effort.  It's something about that circle with the team name and logo.  So simple but I really like it.  Christian McCaffrey is so good and deserves to lead this post off .

Contenders sets have a small base set size so the packs are usually pretty star packed.  This one is no different.

You won't find a ton of inserts but there were four in this pack.  I really like the inclusion of retired greats but wish we'd see them as part of the base set.  The Rookie of the Year card is simple but I like the design.  

The backs are very good though the lack of stats is always annoying.  Seems like they could throw some in there somewhere.  A duplicate of the front photo with the the photo's background added is nice.  Again we see the circle I like so much.

The numbers on the front of the card represent weight (section), height (row) and uniform number (seat).  Again I'm liking this design.  I know it is pretty simplistic but it works for me.

Another of the inserts.  It is a simple way to get a team's draft picks on cardboard.  I like it.  There will definitely be more of these packs in my future.  

BREAKDOWN:

22 – Total Cards
1 – Round Numbers
1 – MVP Contenders
1 – Legendary Contenders
1 – Rookie of the Year Contenders

Rogue One Series 1 Blaster with Relic

Rogue One is my favorite of the new Star Wars movies and I was able to open a hobby box of these two years ago.  This blaster was a gift for Christmas and goes for $11 on Amazon right now.  I'm as big a fan of these cards as I am the movie.  Great design and the inserts make these a win for me.

    Movie stills or screen shots are a staple here.  That card on the right is a Death Star parallel.

Icon, Darth Vader Continuity, and Gallery inserts.  Again the inserts are strong here and a big reason I like this set.

Plenty of cards here highlighting key characters from the movie.  More bland than movie scenes but they serve a purpose.

Heroes of the Rebel Alliance, Blueprint and Villains of the Empire inserts.  I'm a huge fan of the Shoretrooper design.  That said I don't think they have to keep coming up with new variations of Stormtroopers for each movie.  There were two new ones in the movie that came out this month - Sith and the jet pack guys.

More cards that help take you back to moments in the movie.  I like the Empire and Rebellion emblems on each card.  Simple but effective.  This was a fun blaster and fun cards.

This medallion was my pull for this box.  I'm a Stormtrooper fan and I like the AT-ST as well so this is a good medallion for me.

BREAKDOWN:

61 – Total Cards
3 – Green Squad Parallels
3 – Character Icon
3 – Death Star Parallels
2 – Blue Parallel
2 – Villains of the Empire
1 – Montage
1 – Gallery
1 – Blueprint
1 – Blue Squad Parallel
1 – Darth Vader Continuity
1 – Heroes of the Rebel Alliance

Merry Christmas...and a PS4, and Star Wars and Julie Andrews!

Another Christmas that was so special because we were able to have all the youngins here on Christmas Eve.  It was such a fun time.  Of course Santa Clause came again this year and I must have been good to get such great gifts including a PS4.   I know you are saying you know PS5 comes out next year...and you still use a PS3?  I only play a few games so I don't have to have the most up to date console but they did stop making NBA 2K and Madden for the PS3 so it was time.  I'm very excited to get it up and running this week.  I'm also a big Julie Andrews fan and I'm excited for her new book.  I read her first one and loved it.  This one explores her time in Hollywood where her first book was about her life growing up.  I also got a nice blaster of Rogue One Series 1 cards.  My pull will be on the blog soon.

One of the daughters got me this cool light up Star Wars doo hickie.  You can switch between these three patterns as well as choose among about 18 light colors.  These are actual photos of it in the dark.  It will also flash, change colors automatically and other cool stuff.  Love it!

Another daughter got me this shirt.  Too awesome.  They get me.  Again it was a great Christmas.  And while the presents aren't the real reason Christmas was so special I'm always happy when blessed by family and Santa Claus.  Merry Christmas! 

Secret Santa Was Good to Me

Secret Santa was really good to me this year.  Jared at the blog Cards My Mom Didn't Throw Out did me right.  Thank you so much Jared.  It starts with this Bob Horner auto - 2019 Donruss Optic Significant Signatures.  Great card and as I told Jared I've made it a goal to complete my Horner collection as best I can in 2020 so this is a wonderful start.  Thanks to Jon at A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts blog for once again running the Secret Santa gift exchange this year.

He also nailed it with 82 Atlanta Braves cards that are great for the collection.  They hit on so many personal favorites and were needs.  Many are some I've never seen which is always fun.  These three are all PC guys and Braves greats.

Some old school Braves greats were included as well.  I love these guys and I have so few old school Burdette and Niekro cards.  

That's a sweet Albies card and Freddie is such a stud.  Is that a cool looking Klesko or what?  I'm digging it.

There were also some PC guys to include these three guys.  Baines makes that White Sox uni look good.

There were also 72 Red Sox cards and all great players.  It was star after star BoSox player here.  And that Clemons photo seems fitting for some reason.  He really isn't the big baddy we all make him out to be but there was definitely an attitude there.  That Pedro and Kimbrel are cool cards for me as well just because of the photos.

  

And there were plenty of shiny cards as well!  Again big thank you to Jared.  Go check out his blog for plenty of Diamondbacks love as well as other cool card posts.  I hope Secret Santa was just as good to everyone else who participated this year.

  Merry Christmas!

The Christmas Chronicles (Netflix)

A quick shout out to the Netflix original The Christmas Chronicles.  This came out last year but I just got around to watching it.  This was a fun movie.  I wasn't sure after the first few minutes but it really is fun.  Kurt Russell does a great job as Santa Claus.  It isn't your run of the mill take on Santa but definitely a good one.  The quick synopsis is after a father dies two children end up crashing Santa's sled and have to help him finish his night of deliveries.  A good different account of Christmas night.  I definitely recommend this one.   

2019 Rookies and Stars Football

2019 Rookies & Stars Football:  I found these at Target and glad I did.  I really like the base design.  There's a lot going on but it works for me.  I may have to track down singles of these as I'm able to.  

  I can't beat my pull with plenty of big stars from the league.  

The backs are pretty nice.  Lots of color and they include a cropped photo of the front offering.  

The inserts are OK but nothing special.  This was a fun pack.  I like the design and my pull was great.

BREAKDOWN:

10 - Total Cards

2 - RC

1 - Action Packed

1 - On Another Level

NO SPOILERS: Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker Quick Thoughts

Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker:  Yes I liked it.  Did I have issues with it?  Yes.  Do I think others will have issues with it?  Yes.  It is the Star Wars franchise so not everyone is going to be happy.  I definitely wouldn't have gone where they did with some of the plot points.  It's really hard not to spoil anything so I'll stay away from specifics.  The pace is fast, there is plenty of action, I like how most of the characters were handled and the time flew by for me.  Rey and Kylo Ren were definitely the main focus but you'll get plenty of screen time from the rest of the main characters in this wild ride.  There are also some cook new characters as well.  I'll stick by my "I liked it" statement but I'm still digesting some of the major points of the movie.  I do wish they'd done things differently in some regards but name one Star Wars movie where you don't say that.  I can now start reading what others thought, dig into some of the details I might have missed and I'll come back in a few weeks with more thoughts.  Can't wait to see what others think as well.  May The Force Be With You.

  

2019 Topps Star Wars Skywalker Saga Trading Cards with Relic

2019 Topps Skywalker Saga:  Today is the day I should get to see The Rise of Skywalker as our little theater always opens big movies on Thursday nights.  Don't ask me how.  Seen these blasters out for a while now and grabbed one as part of my Steel City Collectibles Black Friday purchase.  I'm happy I did as they are nice cards and great primer for tonight.  

These two will headline The Rise of Skywalker and I do like both cards.  I went back and watched the two previous movies in the trilogy to be ready for the new movie's release.  I really like the card on the right and think the black border would work better with this particular shot.  The base cards come with the black borders while these are green and red parallels.

Plenty of inserts along the way.  These are all fun.  Nothing special about them but no complaints either.

I like the design of the cards.  Fairly simple but you still get a star field in the border and nice shots from the different movies that got us to this point.

A couple more inserts.  Always fun seeing key characters or moments from past movies.  Wish we could have seen more of Bail Organa.

What Skywalker saga is complete without Annakin.  Some good shots though that Order 66 card makes me shiver...younglings...

Kylo's story is a big part of the current saga and of course his parents.  I thought they did a good job with photo selections.  There are a few that aren't as key as these but overall I thought they did a good job.

These blasters come with relics including this commemorative patch.  Doesn't do much for me but I'll take it.

The write-up on the back is simple but good.

This card is actually an ad for Topps Authentics that came in the box but I like the photo though Chewy should be in there somewhere right.  This was a fun box.  I really liked the shot selections and design.  I'm stoked for the movie tonight.  I 'll throw something, sans spoilers, up on the blog sometime soon after the movie if at all possible.

BREAKDOWN:

61 – Total Cards
8 – Orange Parallel
5 – Path of the Jedi
2 – Blue Parallel
2 – Iconic Looks
1 – Allies
1 – Enemies
1 – Skywalker Legacy
1 - Commemorative Nameplate Patch Relic