Mail Day: Trade with Johnny's Trading Spot

Great trade with John over at Johnny's Trading Spot.  Check out that blog.  I sent him a couple Topps SP Holiday cards and an ornament.  He sent me lots of great cards. This John Elway is my favorite.  I may have seen one of these somewhere but I didn't have one 'till now.  Cool card and my favorite of what he sent me just edging out a Dale Murphy card that I'll show off at the end.

Love both these cards.  Gary Matthews didn't play for the Braves long but I've always been a fan of his.  This photo is great and it look like he has some tobacco in the right cheek.  That and the pinstripes uni make this a favorite of mine and somehow I didn't have one.  Ironically he was traded for Bob Walk who is another of my favorite players.  This Murph is a Retro 1986 insert from 2020 Donruss and another card I didn't have.  

A great trio of Braves.  I love that Allen & Ginter Glavine.

Nice cards.  Bob Horner is my all-time favorite player so any time I get his cards I'm so excited.  Nice looking Hank Aaron.

Did I say how big a fan I am of Bob Horner?

Football cards?  Yep!  A few of my favorites here with Dan Fouts, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Tony Dorsett.

John went crazy with the autos and relics.  Loved these.  My favorite is DeMarre Carroll who was an Atlanta Hawk small forward for two seasons.  He had a solid career but wasn't a star.  I think it was his hair I liked the most.  These Hawks and Trail Blazers were really fun.  John really outdid himself with his generosity and taking the time to look for players I collect.  My sincere thanks and hopefully we can do another trade in the future.

I'm not a Turkey Red guy but this is one of the few I wanted and now I have.  I think this is a great looking photo capturing that Braves uni of the era and Murph's batting follow through.

Tampa Bay Wins the Super Bowl!

Super Bowl LV wasn't the game any of us were hoping for but come the end of it we had a definitive winner.  Really the Bucs defense deserved the MVP trophy.  The scheme worked perfectly.  Kansas City couldn't get anything deep and Tampa Bay's front four provided consistent pressure making life for Patrick Mahomes miserable.  Great coaching by the Tampa staff.  And yes Tom Brady and the offense were excellent.  I was rooting for Tom Terrific and he didn't let anyone down.  The Chiefs on the other hand didn't adjust to the defensive scheme of the Buccaneers.  I get that the defense was playing great but you had to think short quick passes would have helped.  I didn't see KC do that consistently.  Great win for the Bucs.  I'm happy for Brady and Gronk but also for Leonard Fournette and the Buccaneers players who helped make it all possible. 

2021 NFL Hall of Fame Class

The Pro Football Hall of Fame will induct Peyton Manning, Charles Woodson, Calvin Johnson, Drew Pearson, Alan Faneca, Bill Nunn, John Lynch, and Tom Flores as part of their 2021 class.  No arguments with any of these.  I love the Hall of Fames across all sports and the honor it is to be inducted so I look forward to this time of the year.  Manning, Woodson and Johnson were no brainers.  Superstars in the sport they probably took the least amount of debate.  I'm a big fan of Drew Pearson from my days growing up in New Mexico and watching the Cowboys every week.  You can see the video of him getting the news here and it was nice to see.  I know Flores' overall coaching record won't wow folks at first look but he won two Super Bowls with the Raiders while winning 61% of his games coaching in Oakland and Los Angeles.  I was a bit surprised Lynch got in but he was definitely one of best safeties in the game.  Faneca was excellent as well.  Seems like NFL players have to wait a long time to be inducted and this guy was one of those but none the less deserving.  Reading up on Nunn he sounds like he had a lot to do with those legendary Steelers teams that started in the seventies.  Great class this year.  I love Peyton Manning as much off the field as I did when he was between the lines.  Woodson is a Michigan alum who was so dominant.  Fun to go down memory lane during this time of year.  Congrats to all the inductees.

Random Wax: 2020 Score Football

2020 Score Football: Tom Terrific kicks this one off.  It'll be amazing if he can take Tampa Bay to a Super Bowl victory in his first year with the team.  It's crazy enough that he had as good a year as he did at age 43.  Great photo on this card.

Not the strongest pack per se when it comes to star power.

These inserts are really busy but I like them.  

Nice Chase Young pull.  He was the real deal for the Redskins this year.  I love Derrick Henry.  Ole boy is a beast!

Julio and the Falcons had a really down year.  Gotta hope new coach Arthur Smith can turn things around.  Their offense is too good to struggle like it does.

Yeah still not getting the Deep Dive inserts.  I got nothing.

It was fun to see the Browns do well this year and I love the Baker Mayfield's commercials where he lives at the stadium.  So funny.  A fun pack and we're one day closer to the big game.  Was this Drew Brees' last season?

BREAKDOWN:

40 – Total Cards

7 – RC

4 – Next Level

3 – Red Parallel

2 – Game Face

2 – In the Zone

1 – 3D

1 – Deep Dive

1 – Huddle Up

 

Random Wax: 2020 Playoff Football

 2020 Playoff Football: Today's and tomorrow's posts will highlight the two starting quarterbacks and likely stars of the game.  Patrick Mahomes is a favorite of mine so this matchup is so tough for me when I try to figure out who to root for.  I've been pretty up front with my man crush on Tom Brady but I have to say Patrick Mahomes isn't far behind him.  We'll kick this one off with this shiny insert.

Good pull in this pack.  There were plenty of other veteran stars apart from Patrick Mahomes to be found.  Surprised to see Philip Rivers retire but I think he's a hall of famer when he hits the ballot.  He's been overshadowed a bit by the legendary quarterbacks that have played at the same time as him.

I like this insert and the fact they include retired greats is even better.  

Great RC pull of Justin Herbert.  Pending Joe Burrow's return from injury he is head of the 2020 quarterback class and the hope for Chargers fans everywhere.  

Like many I really expected Cam Newton to fair better with the New England Patriots.  I feel for both and hope Cam can bounce back next year.

Retired greats are my favorite part of this set.  This was a fun pack of cards. I could have just as easily started this off with Alvin Kamara but  Mahomes takes center stage this weekend.  Great pack with plenty of fun and good players.

 BREAKDOWN:

40 – Total Cards

6 – RC

4 – Retired Greats

2 – Green Parallel

1 – Call to Arms

1 – Thunder & Lightning

1 – Goal Line Parallel (Blue)

2020 Playbook Football Hanger Box

 2020 Playbook Football: Found these on the shelf recently so I figured they'd be a good Super Bowl weekend post.  This Stefon Diggs is one of the orange parallels.  Diggs was a huge addition to the Bills this year.  I didn't see him as a difference maker but I'm glad smarter people than I knew he was worth it.

These is my first look at these.  The design is pretty simple but I'm good with it.  The player's position on the front would have been a good add though.

I'm not a big fan of the inserts.  I have no complaints about them but they don't wow me any.

The backs are pretty nice.  Good color and design.

The rookies stand out as the border color matches the team colors.  I'm good with these cards but probably won't look for more.  With only 30 cards in a hanger box I don't feel I'm getting my money's worth.  Not that we usually do but when I notice it I know the cards aren't for me.

BREAKDOWN:
30 – Total Cards
7 – RC
5 – Orange Parallel
2 – Zoning
1 – Blitz
1 – Next Up

Random Wax: 2019-2020 Chronicles Box Break (Houston Rockets)

2019-2020 Chronicles Basketball: I received these as part of break held by Ben over at Ben's Cards and Collectibles last year.  Great breaks and very affordable. Check him out.  This was a random break and  Houston my team.  With Harden and Westbrook it isn't the worst team to grab that is for sure.  We'll kick it off with his Score red parallel #/149.

These are base Chronicles cards.  I like this deign.  The rest of the set is made up of cards from other sets in the Panini portfolio.  Plenty of variety though the focus is on rookies which means it can be a bit lean on veterans sometimes. 

My pull included two of the these Threads branded cards. Simple clean look.

Prestige and Panini brand cards.  I like the Prestige but it really needs a team logo as does the Panini card.  Fun cards overall. Not a huge fan of Harden who is now a Brooklyn Net but dude is amazing good.  Same goes for Westbrook.  I still have Jazz, Suns and Pelicans to show off some time. 

BREAKDOWN:
10 – Total Cards
7 – James Harden
4 - Chronicles
4 – Russell Westbrook
2 – Panini Threads
1 – Panini
1 – Prestige
1 – Rookies & Stars
1 – Score Red Parallel #/149