2009 Press Pass Eclipse Blaster

2009 Press Pass Eclipse:  The NASCAR 2023 Awards Banquet is tonight so let's do some NASCAR.  We'll kick this one off with my favorite driver in the sport, Kyle Busch.  As a two-time champion he knows a thing or two about awards.

These are fun to open and see drivers what is now 14 years ago.  And look at these greats. The design is okay.  Photos stick to the head and shoulder shots for the most part.  Wouldn't have minded a bit more variety in driver photos. That Jeff Gordon is a blue parallel.

Brightest Stars highlighted up and coming stars on the track and they nailed it.  Denny Hamilin is one of the best drivers in the sport today, while Dale Jr. was/is a huge fan favorite but is now retired and an announcer.  Kurt Busch recently retired but won a championship in his career.

These Lunar Mission inserts are different.  

Pathfinders is another insert that is okay but doesn't wow me.  NASCAR and a space theme don't necessarily work together that well.

Solar System inserts are plastic cards.  Here we a Stars Over NYC insert.  Not sure why New York was important but okay.  That Carl Edwards is a Ground Control insert.  They weren't shy in shoehorning the theme into cards.

This Orbital card is one I like.  We have a good driver photo as well as being able to show off the card.  Not saying Orbital is great but I like the look.

More base cards of greats from the sport.  Harvick retired after this season and will move to the Fox Sports booth while Jeff Burton is already an announcer for NBC.

Again, a pretty good look on these Orbital inserts.

The backs aren't bad.  Never see stats on NASCAR cards which is a shame.  They have plenty of stats to share.  Still, these are good.  Nice photos with more variety.  Some of these would have played well on the front.

The rockets on the bottom of the cars just has me shaking my head.

Take Off inserts are another plastic card.  I like those and I like the Brightest Stars cards.  Great Jeff Gordon Photo.

That Burning Rubber raced used "WIN" tire is #/85.  I know I made some fun about the space themes but I really enjoyed these cards.  It's great seeing all the drivers over a decade ago on cardboard.

BREAKDOWN:
40 – Total Cards
6 – Lunar Mission
5 – Brightest Stars
4 – Blue Parallel
3 – Orbital
3 – Take Off
3 – Pathfinders
3 – Ecliptic Path (Plastic)
1 – Solar System (Plastic)
1 – Stars Over NYC
1 – Ground Control
1 – Burning Rubber Race Used “WIN” Tire #/85

Random Wax: 2022 Contenders Football

2022 Contenders:  Kick this one off with Tom Terrific.  If you want to look for a chink in his armor maybe it is that he was an All-Pro only three times.  That said he played in an era with some amazing quarterbacks including Peyton Manning (7) and Aaron Rogers (4) who took some of those selections away from him.  No arguments here.

Really good pull in this pack.  I'm a fan of Mahomes and Henry which helps.

Nice retired great appearance.  Ricky was not a guy you wanted to have to bring down by yourself. I like the photo.

Nice MVP Contenders cards.  I like the Power players inserts as well and I like Taylor.

Don't think I'm a fan of Round Numbers.  Nice George Pickens card and another Power Players.  

When will Justin Fields and the Bears figure it out.  Been a rough few seasons for them both.

Nice Game Day Ticket.  Adams has to be wondering what's going on with his quarterbacks as three different QBs have started games already due to injuries and performance.

Fun pack of cards and a really good pull.  I pulled a Winning Ticket Mahomes which is appropriate.  This pack is a winner.  

BREAKDOWN:

22 – Total Cards

5 – Green Parallel

2 – Power Players

2 – Game Day Ticket

1 – Retired Great

1 – Winning Ticket

1 – Round Numbers

1 – MVP Contenders

1 – Rookie of the Year Contender

2023 Topps Archives Blaster

2023 Archives:  I always enjoy Topps Archives and it's no different this year.  These hit our local shelf last week.  This 1965 Topps design is my favorite of the three showcased in Archives this year.  And you can't go wrong with Randy Johnson on the mound in a D-Backs uni.

Matt Olson was a beast this year.  A-Rod was in the day as well and Xander Bogaerts is no slouch.  Great looks of all three of these guys.

Randy Johnson stats greatness.  Love seeing all the stats on the backs of these cards.  The design here is simple but it works.

The 2003 cards are intriguing.  I'm still trying to figure out how much I like these but I think I'm good.  It checks most of the boxes with a logo, nice second photo and plenty of room for nice pictures.  The blue border is different.  Not bad but different and an interesting choice.

The backs are clean and again show us career stats which are great.  Eddie could hit.

Inserts.  That Albert Pujols is a 1989 Topps Doubleheader.  There is a card of Paul Goldschmidt on the back mirroring the front design.  No bad.  The Bill Mazeroski is a 1969 Topps Single Player Foil Rainbow while the Miggy card is a 1957 Topps Hit Stars.  The '89 is my favorite of these though it wasn't really the best design back in the day.

This 1956 design is one that is growing on me. I really like having two good sized photos here.

Could use a team logo of course.

Simple backs.  No lifetime stats but a decent write-up.  Brett's career totals are fun to look at.  And look at the emphasis on fielding back then.

More youngsters including this Green Parallel Baby Boomers #/99.  The Baby Boomers design feels out of place with the Archives brand.

This was a fun box.  I'll end it with a personal favorite of mine, Dale Murphy.  Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

BREAKDOWN:

56 – Total Cards

18 – 1956

17 – 1965

17 – 2003

13 – RC

11 – Retired Greats

3 - 1969 Topps Single Player Foil Rainbow

1 - 1957 Topps Hit Stars

1 - 1989 Topps Doubleheaders

1 – Baby Boomers Green Parallel #/99

Random Wax: 2022-2023 Donruss Basketball (3 Packs)

22-23 Donruss: This Green Laser Holo Parallel shows off one of my favorites in the game today, Domantas Sabonis.  He's having a solid year but the Kings are struggling after winning the division last year.

These are from three packs of those small eight card packs you find sometimes.  Pretty good pull considering.  That really is a nice Ja photo.  He's still suspended but should hit the floor in mid-December.

Jalen Duren is having a good year at center for the Pistons.

Lonzo Ball is out this year with injury.  John Collins has moved on to Utah and is doing a solid job there.

We'll look at some backs which are solid.  The backs look nice.  No real complaints outside of wanting to see career stats.

Porzingas has had a good start to his Celtics tenure while Cade Cunningham is doing well (23 PPG/7 APG) after coming off an injury marred last season.  Nice Jaylen Brown photo highlighting his focus on the ball.  In my mind he's shooting a jump shot upon geting the ball.

BREAKDOWN:
24 – Total Cards
4 – Rated Rookie
3 – Green Laser Holo Parallel

2023 Topps Baseball Holiday Mega Box

2023 Holiday:  Happy Thanksgiving!  This guy has much to be thankful for.  He'll get a ton of money this offseason.  And he deserves it.  Guys like this don't exist.  You see the Santa hat which means this is one of the two SP cards I pulled.

These hit the shelves this month and are always fun.  This year's Topps design is already a good one.  Add a holiday take with snow and it's a win.  I do like it.  Topps doesn't shy away from this being a holiday set.  I want to see the snow and we definitely do on these.

Nice Julio and Volpe pulls.  That Meneses is Metallic Parallel.  Youngsters made up 45 of the 100 cards in this box.

Excited to pull this Acuna relic.

Only 200 cards in this set so your pull should usually be a pretty good one.

No word yet on whether or not Zack Greinke will retire but that doesn't have to keep us from enjoying a look at some of the great stats he's put up over his career.

Another SP with that Joey Votto (candy cane bat) who is also at a turning point in his career after being released by Cincy.  A guide to the variations can be found here.

Gotta have ornaments for those folks putting up their Christmas tree this weekend.

Votto had a stellar career with the Reds.

These are fun and I look forward to them.  Pretty good box I think.  And Cutch is excited for some turkey.  Let's do it!

BREAKDOWN:

100 – Total Cards

37 – RC

5 – Metallic Parallel

4 – Topps All-Star Rookie

4 – Topps All-Star Rookie/RC

2 – SP

1 - Relic

1 – Die Cut Ornament